Chapter 29: Spirit Farms

Translator: GGP |

“With a smack,” sparks flew in all directions on the ground.

Liu Ming felt his hands heat up as the silver hoe almost slipped from his grasp due to a powerful rebound force.

The earth seemed as hard as fine iron; the silver hoe couldn’t penetrate the soil

at all.

Liu Ming was stunned and quickly bent down to examine the ground, only to discover that this place was different from ordinary farmland-the soil was actually purple-red in color.

The roots of the weeds had deeply embedded themselves underground, pulling

all the soil together as if they were one solid mass.

He prodded the purple-red soil with his finger only to find it exceptionally cold and hard.

“Kid, stop poking around. This isn’t ordinary soil, but ‘Rest Soil’, specifically used for growing spiritual rice. Ordinary methods just won’t be able to turn it,” said a nearby burly man with a bare upper body, revealing well-defined muscles, who laughed heartily after seeing Liu Ming’s actions from afar.

“Rest Soil.”

Liu Ming had never heard of this term before and promptly stood up, looking over at the other busy Inner door disciples.

Though the nearby disciples were swinging their silver hoes wildly, their movements landed silently, lifting only a thin layer of soil about an inch deep.

The silver hoes in their hands emitted a faint white light, clearly not just simple tools for hoeing the ground.

“So this is actually an enchanted tool.”

Liu Ming’s gaze returned to the tool in his hands, and he noticed the shallow spirit patterns inscribed on its surface, revealing a trace of surprise on his face.

■■Since it’s an enchanted tool, I’ll have to try infusing it with Yuan Energy,” Liu Ming thought, and instantly, Yuan Energy surged through his body into the silver hoe via his hands.

After a while, his expression changed.

No matter how much Yuan Energy he infused into the hoe, it showed no signs of change, as if his previous efforts were in vain.

Liu Ming frowned, and after some thought, he switched to the magical power he had recently converted, slowly feeding it into the object in his hands.

Moments later, the spirit patterns on the surface of the silver hoe glowed, revealing a layer of soft white light.

Just as I thought!

No wonder only Inner door disciples were here and not a single Outer door disciple was visible. To till this Rest Soil, it seems one must use magical power. Having understood this, Liu Ming stopped thinking and rotated his hands, plunging the silver hoe down once more.

“Thump!”

The silver hoe struck the ground, still making a dull sound, but it managed to lift a thin layer of purple-red soil and some weeds.

Liu Ming exhaled softly and began to work feverishly…

After the better part of a day, Liu Ming sat cross-legged in the field, quietly practicing his breathing. Only after a while did he slowly open his eyes, but when he scanned the field that had only been hoed once, he couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

This Rest Soil was indeed extremely difficult to till. His previous efforts had depleted his magical power several times, and even his arms were beginning to ache unbearably.

What made it even worse, despite having only turned over one layer of the purple-red soil, some new weeds were already poking out from the ground.

They were still tiny, but it seemed the resistance wouldn’t be any less when he hoed the soil for the second time.

As for the other fields nearby, several Inner door disciples in their twenties with profound magical power had already completed their tilling with ease and after reporting to the elder inside the dense forest, they flew off on their clouds.

Other disciples, who appeared to be 17 or 18 years old, had hoed their fields to a depth of several inches, indicating they would likely complete their tasks in half a day.

Seeing all this, Liu Ming could only smile wryly.

He simply couldn’t compare with these senior disciples. With his shallow magical power, taking three days to hoe the ground half a foot deep was just about enough; there was no time to rest any longer.

But what troubled him even more was that he seemed to be the only new disciple here.

However, he thought, that seemed normal.

In the most recent awakening ceremony to become Spirit Apprentices, there had only been a few dozen successful candidates. Since everyone received different tasks at different times and the sect’s tasks varied greatly, gathering together would not be easy.

After pondering for a while, Liu Ming gritted his teeth, stood up again, walked to the edge of the field, and with a flash of white light from his silver hoe, plunged it into the ground once more.

The next morning, all the other fields had been cultivated by those senior disciples, leaving only Liu Ming in the Inner door area.

But by noon, as Liu Ming stood at the center of the field, looking at his swollen arms that were as red as radishes, he could only frown deeply.

At this point, his arms were sore from too much exertion and stung like they were pricked by needles, leaving him unable to continue tilling the soil.

“Indeed, not many new disciples have managed to persist until this moment.”

From behind him, a faint voice suddenly spoke.

Liu Ming was startled and hurriedly turned around, only to see the Spirit Master who resembled an old farmer.

At this time, his gaze toward Liu Ming was filled with a hint of appreciation.

“Greetings, Uncle Master!”

Not daring to be negligent, Liu Ming stepped forward to pay his respects. “Which branch are you from, and what is your name?” the old farmer asked. “Disciple Bai Congtian, under the Jiuying sect,” Liu Ming honestly replied. “Jiuying, that’s Senior Brother Gui’s sect. What is your spirit vein, and you are not a direct disciple, correct?” the old farmer gave him another look up and down before asking further.

“The junior is of triple spirit veins, how could I possibly be a direct disciple, Liu Ming respectfully said.

“Triple spirit veins, that’s a bit low for talent; it’s somewhat regrettable.

Otherwise, with your temperament and perseverance, I would have wanted to take you in as my disciple,” the old farmer sighed after hearing his response. ■■Disciple is ashamed, I do not know which… Uncle Master you are…” Liu Ming’s heart stirred, and he couldn’t help but ask.

“My surname is Su, just call me Uncle Master Su. However, looking at you now, you want to continue but it seems impossible. 1 will pass you a set of body tempering fist now. As long as you practice it a few times, you can get nd of the swelling on your arms entirely,” he said.

“Many thanks for Uncle Master Su’s great kindness,” hearing this, Liu Ming was naturally overjoyed.

“There’S no need for so much gratitude. This body tempering fist is originally a body refining technique that new disciples can practice after a year; I am merely teaching it to you in advance,” Uncle Master Su said indifferently.

With that, he moved his body and posed in a strange stance, beginning to carry out a set of bizarre fist techniques, all the while reciting some mantra aloud. Having seen countless secret techniques on the fierce island in the past, Liu Ming was naturally interested in this similar kind of fist technique. He immediately perked up, using his talent of dual-focused attention, he started memorizing every move and the mantras recited by the old farmer.

As a result, after the old farmer performed the technique only for the third time, Liu Ming had completely memorized it in his mind and managed to execute it flawlessly on the spot.

Seeing this, Uncle Master Su’s face showed an even deeper sense of regret, but without saying anything more, he turned around and left.

Left at the site, Liu Ming became entirely immersed in this body tempering fist, repeating it seven or eight times in one breath, feeling his body grow hot as his swollen arms indeed recovered as before.

Not only that, but he also felt his spirits were even more vigorous than before. Overjoyed, Liu Ming realized that “Uncle Master Su” was no longer by his side. After a moment of thought, he picked up the hoe on the ground and continued with the hoeing.

Three days later, as evening approached, Liu Ming threw the hoe in his hand and stretched his waist as he stood up, finding that the field beneath his feet had now been thoroughly hoed, the soil loosened half a foot deep and not a single weed in sight.

Liu Ming was about to enter the forest to report to “Uncle Master Su” when a whooshing sound came from the sky, and clumps of grey clouds descended one after another.

It was none other than the senior disciples who had been farming with him two days earlier.

These inner door disciples stood silently by the edge of the field, yet each face could hardly hide a sliver of joy.

While Liu Ming was extremely puzzled and about to go over and ask, Uncle Master Su also flew out from the forest on a cloud, heading straight above the spiritual fields.

He held a small golden bowl in one hand while his other sleeve moved repeatedly, and a multitude of golden grains could be vaguely seen descending from the sky, evenly spreading across every field.

Liu Ming hastily dodged when he saw the cloud approaching his field. Moments later, the grey cloud beneath the old farmer paused, and as he tossed the golden bowl high into the air and chanted a spell, it expanded to the size of a tub amid the golden light.

Then, with a “gurgle” from the tub, streams of creamy white spring water spouted forth, turning into raindrops that continuously fell onto every piece of the fields below.

Although he stood outside the field, Liu Ming could still clearly sense the thick Yuan Energy permeating the fields.

Even more bizarrely, as the rain persisted, shoots of green rice seedlings sprouted from the fields, growing visibly faster and starting to form full ears of grain.

An hour later, when the rain suddenly stopped, this hundred-acre land had turned into a golden expanse filled with half a zhang tall giant rice.

-As per the old rules, each person can pick ten spirit ears from their field, and then leave on their own,” the old farmer’s indifferent voice came from the sky, and then he flew back into the forest on his cloud.

The disciples who had been waiting outside the field for a long time bowed in thanks before rushing into their fields to select and cut the rice ears with various tools.

All of them were honest and indeed only took ten ears from their fields, not one dared to take even a bit more.

-Senior Brother, what use are these spirit ears, and why are all the Senior Brothers so happy?” After watching for a while, Liu Ming couldn’t hold back any longer, quickly stepped forward, and grabbed a 17- or tS-year-old young disciple who had finished picking and was about to leave, to ask.

“Hmph, this is spirit rice, which, after being cooked and eaten, provides no small benefit. You’ll find out after trying it yourself,” the young disciple said impatiently and hurriedly left on his cloud.