Finishing his cultivation, Ji An felt his ears clear, his eyes bright, and his whole body light and comfortable.
After reaching the late stage of Qi Refining, the spiritual energy refined from Yellow Sprout Rice had dropped off sharply. Eating three catties a day, the progress in cultivation was negligible.
Before practicing, he had taken a Shen Yuan Pill, and the refined mana was equal to an entire month's progress in ordinary cultivation. Once again, he marveled at the power of spirit stones.
If I could take pills often to boost my mana, how far off would the ninth level of Qi Refining really be?
Cultivation required the "Four Essentials": techniques, companions, resources, and a place. Now that he was in the sect, he lacked nothing in companionship. Once he broke through to Foundation Establishment, he would naturally have a place to cultivate. Only the "wealth" part had never been abundant.
He possessed two planting techniques at the Perfection stage, and his harvest of spirit grain was among the best of all spirit farmers.
Even so, his life was still tight. Ordinary spirit farmers fared worse, and itinerant cultivators outside the sect lived the most miserable lives of all, lacking wealth, companions, methods, and land alike.
Ji An walked out of his bamboo house. Sunlight had not yet touched the valley, morning mist still lingered, and the small building lay steeped in a gauzy dream.
The air was fresh and damp.
He went to cut arm-thick branches as tall as a man and planted them in a circle of stakes around his yard.
Unnoticed, the sun climbed over the peaks, bathing the valley in light.
He then cut several bundles of bamboo, each as thick as two fingers, and lashed them into a dense fence around the stakes.
There were no large beasts in this valley, but rabbits, field mice, and badgers were plentiful.
His spirit fruit saplings had cost him three spirit stones; they were precious.
Without a protective formation, if a beast wandered in and dug them up, his heart would break.
Lacking any practical combat spells, with only farming techniques at his disposal, he relied on an old axe. By the time he finished the work, half a day had passed, and the sun was sinking westward.
Ji An harvested half the cabbages in his yard, leaving only those growing near the fence.
He then cast the Minor Rain Spell, washing the vegetables clean with spirit rain, followed by the Flamefire Incantation.
These cabbages contained a fair amount of spiritual energy; they were spirit vegetables now.
By carefully controlling his mana output, he could dehydrate them without scorching them to ashes like ordinary weeds.
He had been using this method to make dried vegetables for quite some time; his yard produced far more than he could eat.
In the glow of the setting sun, he planted the two seeds, one on each side of the yard, and cast the Minor Rain Spell again.
Unlike humans, whose five elements were balanced, most spirit plants leaned toward a single attribute.
Yellow Sprout Rice and Jadegrain Rice, for example, were wood-type, though not strongly so.
The spirit peach and spirit apricot he planted now were fire-type. As they grew, they would need frequent Flamefire Incantations to nurture them, as well as a steady infusion of wood energy.
When his grain entered the heading stage, Ji An once again threw himself into busy work.
Now that his talent with planting spells was well known in the sect, he no longer felt the need to hide it.
In the mornings, he went to the fields to make rain and regulate the earth's qi. By day, he roamed the hills searching for lucky trees that produced Wood Essence Pearls. In the evenings, he returned to infuse the fields with wood energy.
After cultivation at night, he always cast the Thick Earth Formula and Minor Rain Spell in his courtyard.
If he still had mana left, he unshakably practiced Sharp Gold Art.
Diligence makes for mastery; idleness brings ruin. Step by step, one can travel a thousand miles.
The sun rose and fell; time hurried by.
Only when all the grain had been harvested and sold, and the spirit grass turned into talisman paper, did Ji An finally catch his breath.
He dragged out a pinewood rocking chair he had made himself, played idly with his spirit-rat carving, and lounged comfortably.
In the afterglow of the setting sun, golden light spilled over the green fence and shone on the two saplings, now more than a foot tall.
Thanks to constant rain and the Thick Earth Formula, even the wooden stakes and bamboo poles of the fence had taken root and sprouted.
Now his little courtyard was ringed with lush greenery, hiding everything inside from outside view.
As the chair rocked back and forth, Ji An thought contentedly:
"If I had a yellow dog and a pot of spirit tea, that would be true cultivation life."
His mind sank into his dantian, where the stone turtle floated up and down within the misty sea of mana.
[Master: Ji An]
[Dao Resonance: 0]
[Spiritual Energy: Kan 415.2, Kun 189.6, Xun 144.8]
[Techniques: Minor Rain Spell (Perfection 37%)
Thick Earth Formula (Perfection 27%)
Withering-Bloom Formula (Great Accomplishment 76%)
Flamefire Incantation (Great Accomplishment 23%)
Sharp Gold Art (Great Accomplishment 85%)]
The rocking chair gradually stilled, and the man upon it gave a faint snore.
The next morning, Ji An called on Huang Feihu for help. Together, they hauled six hundred catties of Yellow Sprout Rice to the Affairs Hall. Ji An offered him ten spirit crystals in payment.
But Huang Feihu waved his hands frantically.
"Senior Brother, I was just passing by. I can't take your crystals!"
His grandfather nagged him daily to learn from Ji An, and he often asked him about planting techniques. How could he take payment? Without another word, he waved and bolted off.
Watching his retreating figure, Ji An simply smiled and shook his head.
Ever since Huang Feihu entered the sect, Ji An often received gifts of dried rabbit meat. His meals now had a touch more flavor and fat.
Many cultivators avoided mundane meat and grain, as they contained little spiritual energy and left behind impure qi that required cleansing.
Ji An, however, didn't mind. He believed that eating meat every so often was part of savoring the cultivation of life.
He entered the great hall, paid his land rent and taxes, then exchanged for seeds ten mu worth of spirit grain, five mu of talisman grass, and fifty seeds of Firecloud Ginseng.
Each Firecloud Ginseng seed costs two contribution points. In one go, he had spent a hundred and sixty.
With his current reserves of mana, fifteen mu of fields was already his limit.
He planned to plant the Firecloud Ginseng in his courtyard. Since it was also a fire-element, it could be managed alongside the spirit peaches and apricots.
But still, he was far too short on crystals. Next season, he would have to go all out!
For now, he resolved to sacrifice some time practicing spells to maximize his cultivation results.
Shen Yuan Pills required crystals to buy, the Spirit-Draining Array needed crystals to activate, and spell jade slips and magic tools all cost crystals. These days, he was dreaming of earning them even in his sleep.
Carefully wrapping the Firecloud Ginseng seeds and tucking them inside his robe, Ji An hefted the cloth bag filled with spirit grain seeds and mounted his talisman bird, heading for the Bihai Market.
Spotting Wei Songnian at his usual stall, Ji An grinned.
"Senior Brother, let's go eat spirit fish later. My treat."
After all the help Wei had given him, it was only right to host a meal and deepen their bond.
Wei Songnian's face broke into a genuine smile.
"Junior Brother Liang has saved up enough crystals to rent ten mu of fish ponds from the sect. He no longer has time to run his restaurant.
"But if we drop by his place, we can still trouble him for spirit fish."
Every three months, Ji An came to him for one of these "mad spending sprees." At this point, he was Wei's third-largest customer.
"Come on, help me pack up the stall. Let's pick up a few bottles of spirit wine and go congratulate Junior Brother Liang properly."
"Alright!" Ji An answered with a smile.