Chapter 6 - Chapter 6: Jade Marrow Rice

Before the sun set, Zhang Zhixuan arrived at the edge of Lushan County. The Zhang Clan's spiritual fields were not on the mountain, but ten li southeast of Lushan County, near a spiritual well. This well had appeared three hundred years ago—overnight, an ordinary well began gushing streams of spiritual energy. Though Zhang Clan cultivators had explored the well several times to search for spiritual objects, they found nothing—instead, they gained an extra spiritual well. Especially in the past hundred years, the spiritual energy in the well had grown increasingly abundant. With water from this well for irrigation, the Zhang Clan had opened thirty mu of spiritual fields over a century.Spiritual fields were no ordinary farmland—their soil contained spiritual energy, allowing them to cultivate various spiritual herbs and medicines. For any immortal cultivation clan or sect, spiritual fields were among the most precious assets besides spiritual veins.Zhang Zhixuan activated his Communication Jade Talisman to notify his Seventh Uncle Zhang Mengyuan, who was guarding the fields. Zhang Mengyuan was sixty-eight years old, a Eighth Layer Qi Refining cultivator. His spiritual root aptitude was not good; now that he was old, his vitality had begun to decline. Unless he took some rare spiritual pills, his cultivation would hardly improve further. At his age, he would gradually step back from clan affairs; in over a decade, he would return to the mountain to retire and teach the next generation of cultivators.Ripples emanated from the mist, and suddenly three or four brick houses appeared. A man dressed like a fifty or sixty-year-old farmer pushed open the door, looked Zhang Zhixuan over carefully, and said, "So it's you who's come to take over for me—Nephew Zhixuan. I remember you're not yet an adult; you shouldn't have to contribute to the clan this early, right?""Nineteenth Uncle said the clan is short of hands, so he sent me down the mountain early," Zhang Zhixuan replied, cupping his hands respectfully."No need for formality, Nephew. Since you're here, your cultivation must be quite impressive, right?" Zhang Mengyuan waved his hand dismissively.Zhang Zhixuan studied his Seventh Uncle carefully—Zhang Mengyuan looked unkempt and had a carefree personality. "I broke through another bottleneck a few days ago; I'm now at the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining," he replied."You're truly a rare talent compared to me!" Zhang Mengyuan looked at Zhang Zhixuan with envy and sighed. "When I was your age, I had just broken through to the Eighth Layer of the Innate Realm. It wasn't until the second year after I went down the mountain that I entered the Qi Refining Realm. For over a decade, I lingered in the clan's market shops; then I returned to the mountain to cultivate diligently for five or six years before reaching the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining. I didn't match your current cultivation until I was fifty-one."Among the Le, Meng, Zhi, and Si generations of the Zhang Clan, the Le generation was already elderly—only the Clan Leader had achieved Foundation Establishment. Among the Meng, Zhi, and Si generations (dozens of cultivators), only Zhang Mengling was a Two-Spiritual-Root cultivator; the only other one whose cultivation speed matched Two-Spiritual-Root cultivators was Zhang Zhixuan.The Zhang Clan had over thirty to forty thousand members, but only over a hundred had spiritual roots and could cultivate—including seven married-in or surrendered foreign cultivators. Though the Zhang Clan's rules were inclusive and treated married-in loose cultivators equally, few cultivators were willing to abandon their ancestors to join another clan. These married-in cultivators were all low-grade spiritual root cultivators over forty or fifty years old, basically unable to contribute much to the clan. Instead, their descendants—who inherited the chance of having spiritual roots (ten times higher than ordinary mortals)—often fully integrated into the Zhang Clan.With tens of thousands of clan members and immortal cultivators mixed among them, sometimes cultivators of the same age could be separated by over a dozen generations in terms of lineage. Thus, clan cultivators did not follow mortal lineage rules for address. Instead, they used the generation sequence: Tai, Chu, Le, Meng; Zhi, Si, Tong, Yuan; Guang, Sheng, Ze, Mao. Only direct blood relatives followed their father's generation rank. For example, Zhang Zhixuan's father was of the Meng generation, so he, as a direct son, was of the Zhi generation. By age, he would have belonged to the Si generation.It was said that seven or eight years ago, a cultivator of the Meng generation with exceptional spiritual roots appeared, but was secretly attacked by enemies. Anyway, in the past seven or eight years, this person had vanished without a trace. At the time, this incident caused a great stir—the Clan Leader Zhang Leqian severely punished the clansman who leaked the news, using a flying sword to behead two cultivators who had revealed the secret, to enforce the clan rules.Zhang Zhixuan approached the spiritual well. Nearby, dozens of mu of farmland had been opened up in an orderly manner—most had already been harvested, except for the most important thirty mu, which were hidden behind mist. Zhang Mengyuan led Zhang Zhixuan into the gate, pointed to the mist beside him, and said, "There's a High-Grade Second-Rank Formation here—the Minor Maze Formation. This mist guards the most important thirty mu of spiritual fields. This is the incantation to control the formation; you must memorize it carefully. In no more than ten or so days, after we harvest these mu of Yellow Sprout Grass, I'll prepare to return to the mountain." With that, Zhang Mengyuan took out a book from his bosom and handed it to Zhang Zhixuan.Of the Zhang Clan's thirty mu of spiritual fields, three mu had been cultivated over the years into Middle-Grade Second-Rank spiritual fields, where Yellow Sprout Grass was grown—the main ingredient for refining Middle-Grade Second-Rank Golden Sprout Pills. Yellow Sprout Grass matured only once every five years; when it did, the Zhang Clan's alchemist Zhang Mengquan would come here to mass-produce Golden Sprout Pills.The remaining one point eight mu of spiritual fields had been cultivated even better—now High-Grade Second-Rank spiritual fields, where dozens of various spiritual herbs grew, exuding abundant spiritual essence. Several of these herbs were over three hundred years old; one three-hundred-year-old White Jade Ginseng was already a Low-Grade Fourth-Rank spiritual herb, worth at least fifteen hundred Spirit Stones.The remaining twenty-five mu were low-grade First-Rank spiritual fields, where ordinary Jade Marrow Rice was grown. This rice was also a Low-Grade First-Rank spiritual herb, capable of strengthening internal qi and aiding Innate Realm cultivators in their cultivation. It could nourish the physical body—even Foundation Establishment cultivators, who had not yet mastered fasting, often used this rice as a side dish.This rice took nine months to mature, with a yield of less than two hundred jin per mu—barely enough for the Zhang Clan's cultivators to use themselves. When Zhang Zhixuan first started cultivating, the clan could only supply him with one liang of Jade Marrow Rice per day; after breaking through to the Innate Realm, this increased to three liang; and after entering the mid-stage Qi Refining Realm, he received five liang per day—barely enough for a small bowl.This rice was the size of broad beans, plump and translucent like white jade marrow, containing a trace of spiritual energy. Even ordinary martial artists would not feel hungry for three or four days after eating a small bowl.Guarding the spiritual fields was usually a five-year task. For a young talent like Zhang Zhixuan, whose treatment matched that of Two-Spiritual-Root cultivators, completing one spiritual field guarding task earned him five years of free cultivation time on the mountain.