Mature and Ready for Harvest, [Vitality] Enhanced!

Spring passed and autumn came, bringing another harvest season.

The vast expanse of spirit fields was a sea of green, rippling like waves when the breeze blew across it.

Full heads of rice, each grain like jade, hung heavy, their fresh fragrance wafting through the air.

Above the spirit fields.

A Foundation Establishment elder with white hair and a youthful face stood in midair. Xiao Qiang stood behind him on a flying boat, his eyes lowered and his manner deferential.

Although a disciple had been assigned to watch over the fields, the elder in charge still had to make an appearance when the crops matured and it was time for harvest.

The elder looked down and swept the fields with his Divine Sense, instantly grasping their condition. He nodded in satisfaction.

"The spirit fields are in excellent condition this year. The heads of rice are especially full in several plots; there should be a good harvest..."

"These disciples are much more skilled than those in past years!"

"Mm... you did a good job watching over this place for me!"

"It's my honor to shoulder some of your burdens, Master!"

Having received praise, Xiao Qiang stepped forward at just the right moment and said with a smile,

"Master, there's something you don't know. Among this year's spirit farmer disciples, there's a remarkably generous newcomer named Li Ye. He often shares his insights into his craft with others and discusses what he's learned..."

"The Spirit Plant Techniques of the other disciples around him have all improved to some degree, allowing them to tend their spirit fields more carefully. Their yields have naturally risen quite a bit as well."

"Is that so?"

The elder was a little surprised and said with a smile,

"With such ability, this disciple called Li Ye must already be skilled enough to go to the spirit medicine garden... I'd like to meet him later."

The immortal path prized keeping things to oneself.

Any insight into a craft was worth a great deal, and those who shared so selflessly were truly rare.

But his actions had helped the sect train quite a few highly skilled spirit farmers, which benefited the sect.

As the elder in charge of this place, even if he gave no reward, a few words of encouragement were only fitting.

And Xiao Qiang understood this all the more clearly.

Now that he had mentioned it, provided there were no other problems with Li Ye, his transfer to the Spirit Plant Garden was as certain as a nail driven into a board.

That way, he wouldn't have taken advantage of the boy for nothing and used it to claim credit!

As these thoughts ran through his mind, Xiao Qiang looked up at the sun.

"Master, it's about time... what do you think?"

"Then let's begin. Don't keep the disciples below waiting."

The old man nodded.

At the command, Xiao Qiang immediately descended a little, circulated his Qi, and shouted,

"Begin the harvest!"

As his voice spread across the spirit fields, the disciples below, who had been waiting with their necks craned, instantly got to work.

But unlike the other disciples, who couldn't wait to begin, Li Ye's harvest had long since started.

[You nurtured the first-tier Spirit Plant [Jade Sprout Rice] to maturity. Experience +0.5...]

[...]

[The first-tier Spirit Plant [Jade Sprout Rice] has fully matured. You obtained [Jade Sprout Spiritual Essence] (5%)...]

[...]

Over the past few days, stalk after stalk had matured, their heads laden with grain.

Every day, large amounts of Spirit Plant feedback appeared on Li Ye's panel.

By today, every last stalk had finished giving feedback, and the total he had received had reached a staggering amount.

Listening to the bustling sounds of the spirit farmer disciples harvesting spirit rice around him, Li Ye had yet to move.

As he tended them day and night and the rice plants matured, he had faintly sensed that a tenuous connection seemed to have formed between him and the plants.

Now, gazing at the jade-green rice plants in the spirit field, he actually felt a little reluctant to part with them.

"How sentimental!"

After a brief daze, he suddenly cursed himself with a laugh. A sharp sickle appeared in his hand, and he jumped into the field.

As he cut down handful after handful of rice stalks,

some of the unique spiritual essence belonging to the Jade Sprout Rice Grain also flowed into his body bit by bit.

[...]

[You harvested the first-tier Spirit Plant [Jade Sprout Rice]. Your understanding has deepened. Spiritual essence consolidation +0.1%...]

[You harvested...]

As the messages popped up at intervals, the entire life of a Jade Sprout Rice plant seemed to unfold before Li Ye's eyes, from seed to sprout and finally to maturity.

He gradually became immersed in it.

Before he knew it, he had finished harvesting the entire field, and Li Ye gradually came back to his senses.

Only then did he notice the notifications on his panel.

[You harvested the first-tier Spirit Plant [Jade Sprout Rice]. Your understanding has deepened. Spiritual essence consolidation +0.1%...]

[[Jade Sprout Spiritual Essence] consolidation 100%. Converting into the corresponding trait...]

[Your skill [Planting] has received a level-one [Vitality] enhancement!]

[[Vitality (level one)]: Spirit Plants planted and tended by your own hands will be more likely to survive and possess more tenacious, vigorous vitality.]

"This..."

Li Ye was overcome with joy.

According to Old Man Luo, Elder Ji Qing had already returned to the sect and, after the harvest, would summon suitable spirit farmer disciples to meet him, then select the best among them to cultivate the spirit field at his cave abode.

Gaining such a unique enhancement at a time like this had undoubtedly made Li Ye far more competitive!

And if every kind of Spirit Plant could grant him an enhancement, then over time, as they accumulated one after another, Li Ye hardly dared imagine how masterful his Spirit Plant skills might become!

"Junior Brother Li, what are you standing there for? Hurry up and thresh the rice so you can see how many jin you harvested!"

Nearby, Zhang Liangfu had just caught his breath amid the happy toil of the harvest. Seeing Li Ye standing there with a delighted look on his face, he called out to remind him,

"What's the matter? You didn't expect a harvest like this, and now you're so pleasantly surprised you can't contain yourself?"

He grinned as he joked.

"Hahahaha! The joy of a harvest truly means so much. Forgive me for making you laugh, Senior Brother Zhang!"

Coming back to his senses, Li Ye laughed and answered.

"Isn't this what we've been working so hard for?"

Hearing that, Zhang Liangfu laughed as well.

Their laughter spread and mingled with the chatter and laughter of the others in the spirit fields, becoming part of the lively atmosphere in the blink of an eye.

"Harvest, harvest... it really does bring a special kind of joy!"

He cast a Law Technique, gathering the bundles of rice heads and removing the husks. Jade-green spirit rice grains, translucent as jade, fell like rain into the waiting sacks.

Li Ye watched the sight, feeling moved.

He repeated the process, and before long, several sacks were full.

Then, following the example of the other spirit farmer disciples, Li Ye carefully gathered up every stray rice head and grain scattered across the field and husked them as well.

That gave him another nearly half sack of spirit rice.

But he still wasn't finished.

Li Ye swept his gaze over the bare field, then simply reached out and pulled up the stalks one by one, storing all of them in his Storage Bag along with the many rice husks he had just removed.

They were the roots, stalks, and fragments of a first-tier Spirit Plant, after all. Once dried, they would make perfectly good fuel for alchemy!

He couldn't let them go to waste!

"Hey! What did I tell you? Junior Brother Li, you were born to eat this bowl of rice!"

Zhang Liangfu had popped up again, giving Li Ye a thumbs-up.

"Look how fast you cleaned up! You're no slower than old Zhang here!"

Li Ye glanced at his field. It was spotless, just as it had been when they first arrived at the spirit fields.

"Senior Brother Zhang still has the edge..."

Li Ye replied modestly.

Just then, Xiao Qiang drifted down onto a field ridge, a ledger in one hand and a steelyard in the other. With a faint smile, he said to Li Ye,

"Junior Brother Li, it's time to present your spirit rice and weigh your harvest from the past six months!"