Soothing the Soul

By the time he returned home, it was nearly dark.

Wang Chen passed by his own door without going in, taking out a hoe directly from his Storage Bag.

He began clearing the weeds from the Spirit Field.

These weeds were tougher to cut down than A-share stockholders. He had just hoed them yesterday, yet after a single day, quite a few had grown back.

Luckily, he rented only a small amount of Spirit Field, and he was already thoroughly familiar with farm work.

So after toiling beneath the stars and moon, he finally got it done.

He did not forget to cast Rainfall at the end.

By the time the starving Wang Chen actually returned home, the Dog Hour had long passed.

"Squeak, squeak!"

A Big White Rat was squatting on the table. The moment it saw him, it immediately stood up and squeaked twice.

There was a faint note of grievance in its cries!

"Ah!"

Wang Chen slapped his forehead. "Xiao Bai, I'm sorry."

He had forgotten that he had a mouse at home waiting to be fed!

The Big White Rat twitched its nose and turned its head aside, as if making a silent accusation.

You said that as long as you had a bite to eat, you'd make sure I never went hungry.

Liar. You're all liars!

Wang Chen rubbed his hands sheepishly and gave the Big White Rat a couple of strokes. "Don't be mad, Xiao Bai. I'll make a feast tonight!"

He went into the kitchen, first taking out a large chunk of beast meat and placing it on the chopping board, then pounding it with a wooden stick.

Demonic Beast Meat contained very little fat. Its texture was tough and dry, with a great deal of sinew and membrane within.

Repeated pounding broke up the flesh and tendons, greatly improving its texture.

Once it felt about right, he put it into a bowl and marinated it with soy sauce and spices.

Next, Wang Chen took out the parts he had custom-made at the Blacksmith Shop and began assembling the Rice Milling Machine.

The Rice Milling Machine consisted of a machine shell, roller, Rice Knife, Processing Hopper, rice sieve, and other components. Limited by manufacturing technology, the motor had been replaced with a Hand Crank, and the structure had been simplified.

The assembly work itself was also very simple.

It had to be said, the Hammer Master's craftsmanship was superb.

Every component had been forged from Refined Black Iron. Even the Machine Shell Sheet Metal had been worked beautifully.

The precision was completely up to standard.

Wang Chen had personally watched the craftsman take a small knife and shave at the Metal Parts a few times, perfectly resolving the issue Wang Chen had pointed out.

The efficiency was astonishing!

Once the Rice Milling Machine was assembled, Wang Chen eagerly brought over some Spirit Grain and poured it into the hopper.

He began milling rice by hand.

His Rice Milling Machine could process unhusked rice into polished rice in one go, separating the rice grains from the husks at the same time.

As the roller continuously turned, the Spirit Grain underwent rough processing through the threaded teeth on the roller.

Then the snow-white Spirit Rice was pushed to the outlet and fell out.

The husks, meanwhile, passed through the rice sieve and were discharged beneath the machine shell.

Success!

Looking at the individual grains of White Corn falling into the large bowl, Wang Chen could not help but smile.

Hand-cranked rice milling was admittedly not very efficient.

But compared to pounding rice in a stone trough, it was more than ten times better.

He only used the Rice Milling Machine to meet his household needs. He was not opening a Rice Pounding Workshop, so there was no need for great speed.

It felt as though his quality of life had improved by a notch!

After milling enough Spirit Rice for one meal, Wang Chen lit the fire and started cooking.

Right after that, he wrapped the nearly finished marinated Demonic Beast Meat in broad leaves, tied it up with hemp string, then coated it with water and yellow mud before stuffing it into the stove to roast slowly.

"Squeak, squeak."

The Big White Rat scampered to Wang Chen's side and stared blankly at the glowing red stove fire.

Sitting in front of the stove, Wang Chen reached out, picked it up, set it on his lap, and gave it a kiss.

Xiao Bai was a very clean Spirit Mouse. Its body was not dirty in the slightest, nor did it have any strange odor.

And Wang Chen did not treat this intelligent Spirit Mouse as a pet.

It was more like Wang Chen's family!

In this world where he had no relatives to speak of, Xiao Bai's companionship kept Wang Chen from feeling quite so alone.

Big White Rat thoroughly enjoyed Wang Chen's petting, flicking its tail in bliss.

Wang Chen asked curiously, "Xiao Bai, where did your husband run off to? You two didn't get divorced, did you?"

He hadn't seen Brocade Mouse for several days.

But judging by Big White Rat's usual demeanor, nothing major should have happened.

"Squeak, squeak!"

Big White Rat squeaked twice in reply.

Unfortunately, Wang Chen didn't understand mouse language.

Demonkind could be divided into transformed demons, Spirit Demons, Great Demons, Demon Kings, Demon Lords...

Beyond those were Heaven Demons and Demon Gods.

Xiao Bai was clearly a transformed demon. It needed to dissolve the transverse bone in its throat before it could speak human language.

Only then would it become a true Spirit Demon!

Wang Chen hadn't expected to communicate with Xiao Bai normally anyway.

He was merely making conversation.

When the fragrance of rice drifting from the iron pot took on a faintly scorched aroma, Wang Chen put out the stove fire.

Then he pulled out the "Beggar's Monster Meat" stuffed into the stove's firebox.

The moment he smashed apart the scorching-hot, hardened mud shell, an intense burst of meat fragrance erupted forth!

Xiao Bai, crouching beside Wang Chen, was practically drooling with craving.

Chuckling, Wang Chen set the roasted meat on the table and ladled out two bowls of fragrant rice.

The large sea bowl was for himself, and the small bowl was for Xiao Bai.

Of course, Wang Chen didn't forget to add slices of roasted meat to Xiao Bai's bowl.

"Eat."

He reached out and tapped Big White Rat on the head. It immediately buried its face in the bowl and feasted with abandon.

It ate so deliciously!

Wang Chen also cut himself a large chunk of monster meat.

He had eaten insect meat every day for some time and was long sick of it.

Now that he had changed flavors and added seasonings, the taste was so good he nearly swallowed his own tongue!

Wang Chen was deeply grateful that he had taught himself cooking and handicrafts back then for the sake of making videos.

They had all come in handy now.

In this strange world without phones, computers, or the internet, good food could soothe his soul.

By the time he finished this hard-won dinner, the night was already deep.

Xiao Bai carried off a rice ball Wang Chen had shaped and returned to its nest, while Wang Chen went to the quiet room to cultivate.

Having exchanged for the subsequent portions of the Five Elements Technique today, he was able to resume his daily cultivation.

As Wang Chen advanced from the early Qi Condensation stage into the middle stage, he had opened up a new meridian. As a result, the time it took him to complete one full Mana circulation had increased considerably.

His cultivation speed slowed accordingly.

Five Elements Technique · Experience +1

Five Elements Technique (Level 4): 1/400

Wang Chen completely ignored the notification messages that popped up in his field of vision, focusing wholeheartedly on comprehending the true meaning of the higher-level technique.

Over the long, long years to come, he had no idea how many more identical nights he would have to endure.

The next morning, the sound of the Dingyang Bell roused Wang Chen from his dreams.

After getting up and washing up briefly, he made breakfast to fill his stomach, then returned to the quiet room to cultivate.

After finishing his "morning lesson," he went to work in the Spirit Field.

Wang Chen no longer took on the profitable job of clearing Earth Rhinoceroses.

So he had to tend these ten mu of Spirit Fields well. If the harvest suffered, that would be truly disheartening.

"Doggy!"

Just as Wang Chen was plowing and loosening the soil for the Spirit Rice in the fields, Old Sun from next door appeared again.

"Where did you go yesterday?"

He shouted excitedly, "The Village Chief came by to hand out Formation Flags for everyone to plant in their Spirit Fields. He said a Purple Mansion cultivator would come today to clear out the insect pests, and you missed it!"

Wang Chen could not understand why the old man was so happy. "There aren't any Earth Rhinoceroses in my Spirit Field."

"What if you missed one?"

Old Sun grinned so widely his gums showed. "I asked for one too. It's a good thing to clear the field again. Too bad I can't collect it on your behalf, or I'd have asked for one for you as well."

He looked as though he had scored a huge bargain.

Yet Wang Chen vaguely felt that things were not so simple!—

The second update is here. Please vote.

PS: Recommendation votes do not really do much. The main reason I am asking for them is to see how many readers are supporting this, so I can roughly gauge the follow-up readership results (#^.^#)