Junior Brother, Please Have a Taste of the Spirit Rice I Grew Myself!

"It's time to weigh your harvest from the past six months!"

At those words, everyone nearby turned to look, their faces full of anticipation.

For the more experienced spirit farmer disciples,

Just looking at the full sacks of spirit rice Li Ye had produced was enough for them to estimate, in astonishment, how bountiful his harvest was.

But now that it was actually time for the official weighing, they still couldn't help looking forward to it.

Xiao Qiang casually tossed the steelyard in his hand into the air. It grew in the wind, turning enormous in the blink of an eye.

It was actually a low-grade Law Artifact!

"Sorry for the trouble, Senior Brother!"

Li Ye cupped his fists and bowed, then immediately used his Law Power to carry the sacks of spirit rice onto the steelyard's weighing pan.

The beam had only just begun to tilt when the counterweight at the other end rapidly expanded, and the numbers on its surface began to change.

Once the beam was balanced again, the number on the counterweight settled at 287 jin.

There was so much!

Several spirit farmer disciples immediately cried out in surprise.

The maximum yield for first-tier spirit rice was only about 500 jin per mu.

Li Ye had harvested this much from half a mu of land. He had practically reached the limit of what a low-grade spirit farmer could achieve!

"Good! Very good!"

Xiao Qiang praised him twice, then looked at Li Ye. "You only need to hand in 100 jin for the task. One jin of spirit rice can be exchanged for one sect contribution point. Will you keep the rest or exchange it for contribution points?"

"I would like to keep it for my own use."

Li Ye answered respectfully.

He wasn't just thinking of eating it himself.

The main ingredients for Grain Avoidance Pills, the introductory pill for the art of alchemy, were various kinds of first-tier spirit rice.

Although Li Ye had already resolved to rely on experience points to improve his skills directly, he still needed to get the necessary practice.

Even if he wanted to make a name for himself, he had to start with low-grade products and work his way up!

Otherwise, if he started out producing pills that only accomplished Alchemists could refine, wouldn't he be telling everyone outright that he was extraordinary and most likely had a secret?

Xiao Qiang made no comment. He simply took 100 jin of spirit rice and returned the rest to Li Ye.

Before leaving, his lips moved slightly as he sent a voice transmission directly to Li Ye.

"When everything is done, come to the main hall to see me."

Li Ye didn't reply aloud. He merely bowed again.

Xiao Qiang paid him no further attention and flew on to the other spirit fields, weighing the spirit rice and taking a share.

"Congratulations, Senior Brother Zhang!"

Li Ye walked up to Zhang Liangfu, who was beaming from ear to ear, and offered his congratulations.

"Hahahaha! I owe it all to your guidance all this time, Junior Brother!"

Zhang Liangfu answered excitedly.

His spirit field's yield had just been weighed, and the spirit rice came to more than 220 jin.

Though it was less than Li Ye's, the figure was still close to the limit of what a spirit rice field could produce.

So, unsurprisingly, he had also earned a chance to take the assessment.

"You earned this through your own hard work..."

Li Ye waved his hand, instinctively trying to deflect the credit so word of him wouldn't spread again.

He had finally found Li Zongyin, who had stepped forward on his own to take the heat for him. Why would he want to draw attention to himself now?

"No need to say more, Junior Brother!"

Zhang Liangfu cut him off at once.

He took a sack of spirit rice from his Storage Bag. It looked to contain about ten jin. Holding it in both hands, he presented it to Li Ye.

"I, Zhang Liangfu, have no way to repay you for sharing your knowledge, Junior Brother Li... Please have a taste of the spirit rice I grew myself!"

"This..."

Tilling the fields was no easy work, and the sentiment behind the gift truly could not be surpassed.

Seeing the determined look on his face, Li Ye couldn't help smiling.

"Then I'll accept it!"

With that, he took the sack of rice from Zhang Liangfu and put it away carefully.

But perhaps Zhang Liangfu's actions had set an example.

Over on the other side, Hu Zhiquan also came over with a small sack containing five jin of rice.

"I, Old Hu, have a family to feed, so I can only be a little stingier... Please have a taste of this spirit rice, Junior Brother. That way, your teaching won't have been for nothing!"

The others looked at one another. Many spirit farmer disciples who had discussed their skills with Li Ye and now had bountiful harvests from their spirit fields made up their minds, set aside a few jin of spirit rice, and walked over to him.

"Junior Brother, this is my spirit rice..."

"Please have a taste of the rice I grew using the skills you taught me..."

"I can only repay your teaching with this..."

Only a few of the spirit farmer disciples who had benefited from Li Ye's teaching and gained a bountiful harvest were willing to set aside some spirit rice to give him now.

Even so, a circle had gathered around him, and the rice sacks of various sizes on the ground held dozens of jin of spirit rice altogether!

"Everyone..."

As Li Ye watched the scene, his heart trembled slightly, and he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Heaven and earth were his witnesses.

The reason he had been willing to help them tend their fields and share his insights into his skills had been entirely to save some experience points. He had planned to improve on his own.

He had never expected that, as he sat and discussed the Dao with them, more and more spirit farmer disciples would be drawn in...

Nor had he expected that, even now, they would still remember the kindness of his guidance.

"Junior Brother, please accept it..."

It was Zhang Liangfu who spoke again, grinning.

"Since you've accepted our spirit rice today, if we come to you with questions in the future, you can't just turn us away!"

"That's right! That's right!"

Everyone hastened to agree.

"Oh, really? Senior Brother Zhang, so that was what you were plotting?"

Li Ye shook his head and looked at everyone.

"Since you've all been so kind, I'll accept it, though I'm unworthy."

"To have so many disciples willingly offer him spirit rice in thanks—this boy truly is impressive..."

The Foundation Establishment elder watched the scene below from the air and couldn't help nodding slightly, his expression approving.

Meanwhile, Xiao Qiang, who was overseeing the weighing of the spirit rice, noticed the commotion, and a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes.

"Giving away spirit rice... A bunch of spirit farmer disciples are actually willing to part with it so readily?"

Ever since Xiao Qiang had begun overseeing affairs here on his master's behalf, he had never seen anything like it.

For a moment, even he couldn't help feeling moved.

"He has such prestige among the disciples, and his skills are no worse... If Junior Brother Li's cultivation were a little higher, he would be better suited than me to oversee this place..."

"What a pity!"

"Hiss... I passed just like that?"

After leaving the main hall, Li Ye muttered to himself.

It had been called an assessment.

But the Foundation Establishment elder surnamed Wang had sat at the head of the hall and merely watched. Aside from a couple of encouraging words of praise, he had said nothing more.

And Xiao Qiang, seated below him on the left, hadn't seemed inclined to make things difficult either.

He had merely chatted with Li Ye for a bit.

After briefly asking about a few key points in tending spirit medicines, he had simply handed Li Ye a wooden token, stating clearly that he could use it as proof to receive planting tasks in the spirit medicine garden.

As a late-stage cultivator, Xiao Qiang had now shown none of the attitude he had displayed when Li Ye first visited him, when he had all but ignored him.

Instead, there had been a hint of goodwill in his words.

The situation had truly left Li Ye scratching his head.

"Is this special treatment for a bumper harvest of spirit rice?"

He shook his head. "I just wonder how Senior Brother Zhang and the others are doing..."

Li Ye patted the Storage Bag containing those dozens of jin of spirit rice, then left without lingering.

Spirit rice wasn't the only thing he had reaped a bumper harvest of today...

Everything he had accumulated on his panel over the past several months was still waiting for him to spend it freely!