Complete Mastery

[You used crude methods to barely bring a first-tier Spirit Plant [Jade Sprout Rice] to life. Experience +0.1...]

[You used crude methods to barely bring a first-tier Spirit Plant to life...]

[You used crude methods...]

More than thirty identical messages popped up in succession, followed immediately by a screen of light that took shape before Li Ye's eyes.

[Name: Li Ye]

[Spirit Root: Low-Grade Earth-Wood Spirit Root]

[Remaining lifespan: 71 years (5 years lost due to overdrawn vital essence)]

[Skills: Planting, first-tier lower grade (69/1000); alchemy, beginner (2/2000)]

[Plant Spiritual Essence: None]

[Experience: 3.4]

"Huh?!"

Li Ye's expression changed slightly, and his heart began pounding furiously in his chest.

He instinctively looked around.

The spirit farmers nearby were focused on their work and seemed not to have noticed anything amiss. Even those who saw Li Ye turn their way merely nodded, with no other reaction.

From beginning to end, none of their gazes lingered on the space before Li Ye for even a moment.

But when they glanced at the spirit field beneath his feet, strange expressions crossed their faces, and each seemed to hesitate to speak.

With workmanship like that...

When the spirit rice matured, would this fellow disciple fail to meet even the task's minimum requirements and have contribution points deducted?

No one noticed. Am I the only one who can see the panel...?

Li Ye paid their looks no mind.

Rather, he was delighted that the others had only noticed the state of the spirit field.

Without betraying his thoughts, he bent down as if tending the spirit seedlings, though his attention had already settled on the panel of light.

Its few lines were simple and clear, but the information they conveyed sent his thoughts surging.

"I have a golden finger too!"

He was nearly wild with joy.

Saddled with the mess his predecessor had left behind, even someone with a reasonably good state of mind like him had felt lost about the future.

But now things were different!

Without hesitation, he put the only three whole experience points he had into [Planting].

He wanted to test the panel's effects.

As 69 changed to 72, faint sparks of insight emerged in Li Ye's mind, giving him a little understanding of planting techniques.

Although the actual improvement was practically nonexistent, it had the miraculous effect of making him instantly familiar with the Spirit Plant cultivation methods he remembered once mastering. They appeared vividly before his eyes, all trace of unfamiliarity gone.

Such immediate feedback was direct proof that the panel worked!

It actually let me instantly achieve complete mastery of what my predecessor once learned. This effect... does it consolidate my level of mastery?

The thought came instinctively to Li Ye, his mind surging.

But these experience points... can I only get them by tending Spirit Plants?

And what is Plant Spiritual Essence?

After taking several deep breaths and calming himself, he could not help having more questions.

Idle speculation was useless; the most effective way to answer his questions was through practice.

Li Ye stood up and looked at the two fen of land he had already planted. However he looked at it, he found it an eyesore.

This work was far too crude...

Although the Spring Wind Transforming into Rain Technique had a limited range due to his mastery of Law Techniques and his cultivation, with the aid of this excellent spirit field, only twenty or thirty seedlings had survived on the spot and given him feedback. That was enough to show the problem.

The panel's assessments of "crude methods" and "barely survived" also bothered Li Ye.

If the Spirit Plants were cultivated in better condition and the panel gave a higher assessment, would he gain more experience?

Might it even give him feedback for [Plant Spiritual Essence]?

Start over! I have to start over!

Pale green raindrops fell one after another, and an unnatural flush appeared on Li Ye's face, which had grown a few shades paler.

Spirit fields were unlike ordinary land: they were difficult to till, and the various methods needed to cultivate rice seedlings were similarly demanding.

Even though he stopped to rest after every little bit of work,

by the time he had sorted and replanted the rice seedlings across the two fen, Li Ye's physical strength and Law Power had both reached their limits, and his hands, feet, and clothes were covered in mud, half dry and half wet.

He looked as though he had rolled around in the mud.

But he had no attention to spare for any of that. His eyes were full of joy.

[You used skilled methods to bring a first-tier Spirit Plant [Jade Sprout Rice] to life. Experience +0.2...]

[...]

A stream of new notifications appeared, finally bringing his total experience to [234].

After all that work, not every spirit seedling had immediately taken root and given him feedback.

Even so, the harvest far exceeded the previous one, enough to prove that Li Ye's skill as a spirit farmer was now as different from before as mud from clouds.

A small portion of the remaining seedlings appeared to be in good condition. They likely only needed some time, careful tending, and a few more applications of the Spring Wind Transforming into Rain Technique for them all to survive and take root without issue.

Yet even so, Li Ye still had not seen a single notification related to Plant Spiritual Essence.

Are my skills still lacking, or is Jade Sprout Rice itself too low in tier to give that feedback... or does something only trigger when the spirit rice matures?

As a transmigrator, Li Ye naturally had no shortage of ideas.

He had no way to test the latter two guesses anytime soon, but improving his skills was not difficult.

One mu of first-tier spirit field can grow about ten thousand stalks of spirit rice of the same tier...

I'm responsible for five fen of spirit field, so that's around five thousand stalks. If I can bring every one of them to life and get feedback, that's roughly a thousand experience points... enough to raise my Spirit Plant cultivation skill to first-tier middle grade without a problem!

In this respect, both the yield per mu and the density of the seedlings differed considerably from those in Li Ye's home in his previous life.

He could only say that Spirit Plant crops had their own peculiarities; there was no need to dwell on it.

Li Ye fell into thought.

Since planting them and bringing them to life gives experience points, there should be no shortage of them from daily cultivation and maintenance afterward, or even from maturity and harvest...

In that case, even if he still could not obtain Plant Spiritual Essence from Jade Sprout Rice and learn what it did after advancing his skill, it would be of no great consequence.

Li Ye would still have a steady source of experience points to continue improving his various skills.

Of course, this was only speculation for now and would need to be verified later.

But that did not stop Li Ye from imagining the future.

At this point, his gaze could not help falling on [Alchemy] in the panel.

This matter was quite hazy even in his predecessor's memories.

When his predecessor had first begun cultivating, his poor aptitude had made his progress extremely slow, and he had begun considering other paths.

But he was averse to becoming a spirit farmer. Although he had learned the basics while working with his father, he refused to waste his time on it.

After his pleading, his father had specifically sought out some incomplete introductory alchemy texts of no great value from the Lineage's collection for him.

But the Dao of alchemy was immensely difficult. Just learning to distinguish the medicinal properties of plants and minerals in those incomplete texts was beyond the grasp of ordinary people.

His predecessor's interest had been fleeting. Faced with such dry, complicated, and difficult material, and having discovered no particular talent for it, he had naturally given up before long.

With his enthusiasm dampened, his predecessor had lost the drive to study any of the other hundred arts of cultivation.

Instead, he had turned to seeking a better cultivation faction and environment.

Yet Li Ye had not expected that even that little bit of learning from back then could form a corresponding record on the panel.

Things are different now... I have a chance to glimpse a little of the Dao of alchemy too!

Li Ye thought to himself.

The emerald-green seedlings grew ever more lovely and precious in his eyes.

With the panel, the spirit farmer task, which had originally been nothing more than a choice made out of necessity, now inspired Li Ye's utmost enthusiasm.

Although his current injuries and limited Law Power kept him from working for long and made him inefficient,

he had spent the previous two days meticulously completing the planting of four fen of land.

Today, he could finish planting the last remaining fen.

Li Ye rose early and regulated his breathing to get himself ready. Just as he was about to leave, he saw a streak of fire flying straight toward him.

"A voice transmission talisman?"

He casually reached out, drawing it to him with pale green Law Power.

A clear, sweet voice came from it.

"Has your injury improved, Senior Brother Li? We found a task with quite a generous contribution reward. Senior Brother Cai intends to take it, and asks that you come to the Internal Affairs Hall to discuss it."

Li Ye listened without expression, then promptly infused Law Power into the voice transmission talisman and brought it to his mouth. In a mild tone, he said,

"I appreciate Senior Brother Cai's kindness. Please convey my reply to him, Junior Sister Tang: my injury has yet to heal, and for the time being I lack the strength to go out and fight. I truly wish I could help, but it is beyond me. I ask for everyone's understanding."

With that, he let go and allowed the voice transmission talisman to fly away again.

Li Ye watched the streak of fire recede, a cold smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

After entering the Purple Profound Sect, his predecessor had keenly felt how difficult it was to take even a single step alone. Only after several attempts at socializing had he joined the small group led by Senior Brother Cai.

By joining their clique, his predecessor had gained some conveniences.

But during their tasks, Cai and Tang had often played off each other to egg him into taking risks.

He was often the one doing the most dangerous work, yet received little more contribution than the others.

The lion's share went to Senior Brother Cai!

Yet whenever a few others in the group offered him some flattery, his predecessor would be so pleased that he stopped caring about those gains and losses.

And if Junior Sister Tang praised him a couple of times in her sweet voice, the fellow would forget even his own surname on the spot and dare to take any task upon himself!

His predecessor might have enjoyed such treatment, but Li Ye scorned it.

"You left me gravely injured and nearly got me killed. You're lucky I'm not coming after you for it, and now you want to trick me into being your tool again?"

Even though a secret medicine had saved his life, the years lost because it had overdrawn his vital essence were still written plain as day on the panel!

Having been tricked into suffering such a great loss, Li Ye was naturally displeased.

If his predecessor liked being a dog, that was his business.

As for now, no one was going to disturb his farming!

And if he had the chance in the future, he would certainly have to get every bit of his past losses back from them!

"...I ask for everyone's understanding."

Inside the Internal Affairs Hall, several people looked at one another after listening to the calm words from the voice transmission talisman.

Cai Shiwei, who stood at their head, frowned slightly.

A somewhat plump cultivator beside him immediately spoke up in displeasure.

"That Li Ye really is useless, coming from such a small family!"

"He suffered a few minor injuries and now he's making excuses. Could it be those Bandit Cultivators scared the guts out of him?!"

A thin, sharp-mouthed cultivator chimed in, sounding rather indignant.

"We rarely come across a task with such a generous reward. If he delays me... Senior Brother Cai from getting that Spirit-Nurturing Pill, can he bear the responsibility?"

"Given his background and cultivation, if Senior Brother Cai hadn't looked after him all this time... hmph!"

Listening to the two of them go back and forth, Tang Xiaohan felt somewhat displeased herself.

Li Ye had never refused a request from her before, yet she had not expected him to turn her down so decisively today!

"Senior Brother Cai, what do you think...?"

Tang Xiaohan looked at Cai Shiwei, a hint of admiration in her eyes.

He was handsome, with eyes dark as ink. His cultivation had already reached the Qi Refining Sixth Level, only one step away from breaking through to the late stage!

Seeing everyone looking at him, Cai Shiwei relaxed his frown and said with a faint smile,

"Without Junior Brother Li, the task will indeed be considerably more difficult for us to complete..."

"But we're only short one person. With our strength, it's not as though we have no chance..."

He then said a few words in a low voice. Whatever he revealed, it immediately drew a soft cry from Junior Sister Tang and the others.

The sharp-mouthed cultivator said excitedly,

"So Senior Brother has come across such a fortuitous opportunity! In that case, it doesn't matter if Li Ye isn't with us. That's one fewer person to share the contribution with... perfect, just perfect!"

Greatly heartened, the group immediately went to accept the task and hurried out of the Internal Affairs Hall.

Watching the group, now one person short, Old Deacon Luo, who had been eavesdropping all along, was privately surprised.

He actually didn't accept the task with that bunch...

Could Li Ye really have changed his ways and settled down to toil in that spirit field?

Or...

Did the Bandit Cultivators really scare the guts out of him, so badly that he didn't even dare leave the sect now?

A knowing smile appeared on the old deacon's face.