Something Big Happened!

Late at night.

Wang Chen lay in bed, tossing and turning.

Sleep eluded him.

It was not because the bedboards were too hard, but because his heart was far from calm.

Though he had accepted the fact that he had transmigrated and resolved to survive well in this place, Wang Chen's nerves were not so thick that he could simply cast aside all worry and care.

Through the original owner's memories, he discovered that this world was anything but peaceful. It was filled with every kind of danger.

The Yunyang Sect outer sect had one hundred thousand Qi Condensation disciples, while the inner sect had eight thousand.

Two hundred Purple Mansion cultivators, and three Golden Core True Persons!

Its power could be called formidable.

By all reason, such a sect should have been an excellent place to shelter.

Yet most of the sect's cultivation resources were concentrated in the hands of the True Persons, the Purple Mansion cultivators, and their disciples and kin.

Outer sect disciples sharpened their heads to squeeze into the inner sect, while within the inner sect, open and covert struggles abounded, with shady dealings layered upon shady dealings.

A minor cultivator from the Bottom Layer of the outer sect like Wang Chen simply had no control over his own fate.

Forget the unattainable Golden Core True Persons—even a speck of dust flicked up by a Purple Mansion cultivator could become a crushing mountain if it fell upon his head.

It could grind him into powder with ease!

And once he left the mountain gate, demons and monsters ran rampant through the Outer Region, Bandits and Ruffians roamed unchecked, and the life of a Rogue Cultivator was even more dangerous and difficult.

As for the Mortal World, there was no spiritual energy to nourish him, no Spirit Grain or Pills to consume.

A cultivator who lived among mortals for too long would swiftly fall in cultivation.

In the end, he would become an ordinary mortal.

And live an even more miserable life!

Wang Chen thought it over and over.

He decided...

To lie low.

He would work hard at farming to keep himself alive, slowly uncover the secrets of the Cultivation Panel, and accumulate strength bit by bit.

He did not seek to become an immortal or a saint. As long as he stayed alive, that was enough.

As he thought, Wang Chen's emotions gradually settled, and before he knew it, he drifted into dreamland.

"Doggy!"

"Doggy, are you home?"

The shouting from outside woke Wang Chen from his sleep.

He rubbed his eyes and found that it was already daylight.

"Doggy! Doggy!"

The repeated urging left Wang Chen no choice but to hurriedly throw on an outer robe, get out of bed, and open the door.

Outside the gate of the small courtyard enclosed by a fence stood an elderly man dressed in hempen clothes, his face creased with wrinkles.

"Grandpa Sun?"

Wang Chen asked groggily, "What happened?"

This anxious-looking old man was his neighbor, also a spirit plant farmer in the Yunyang Sect outer sect.

The old man's surname was Sun, and everyone called him Old Sun.

He was at the fourth layer of Qi Condensation.

Though Old Sun's cultivation was not much, he had spent his entire life planting Spirit Fields in the outer sect and possessed a wealth of experience.

At present, he had contracted thirty mu of land.

"Something terrible has happened!"

Old Sun shouted in frantic alarm, "I just found an Earth Rhinoceros in the Spirit Fields!"

An Earth Rhinoceros?

Wang Chen jolted, involuntarily growing tense.

The Earth Rhinoceros was not a rhinoceros, but a kind of beetle that loved gnawing on the Leaf Sheaths of Spirit Rice.

There were quite a few pests in the Spirit Fields, such as Gray-eyed Moths, Green Rice Worms, Leaf-eating Ants, Long-horned Snails, and so on.

There were corresponding methods for guarding against and eliminating all these pests.

Earth Rhinoceroses alone were the hardest to deal with!

"Doggy, hurry and check your own field."

After roaring that, Old Sun turned and left. "I need to go to Old Zhang's family and ask for help!"

Earth Rhinoceroses rarely appeared.

Yet whenever one was found in a Spirit Field, there was bound to be one nest—or several.

Perhaps even an Insect Swarm!

It would not be Old Sun's family alone that suffered from this scourge.

Thinking of the Earth Rhinoceros's destructive power, Wang Chen's scalp went numb.

The Spirit Rice planted in spring would be ready for harvest in another month.

If it was hit by pests now, the harvest at the end of summer would inevitably be greatly reduced.

If he failed to hand over the full Field Rent then, he would one hundred percent be driven out of the Outer Sect.

The Scribe of Agriculture overseeing the Spirit Fields did not care about the reason. Fail to complete the task, and you had to get lost—there was no room for favors.

Wang Chen immediately headed into his own Spirit Field.

When he had cast the Cloud and Rain Spell yesterday evening, the nourished Spirit Field had brimmed with life, and quite a few weed sprouts had emerged again.

These weeds possessed extraordinarily tenacious vitality. Their fine roots burrowed deep underground, making them difficult to remove completely; even after the main roots were dug out, they could still sprout anew. They had to be diligently dug up and shoveled away.

But Wang Chen had no time to worry about weeds now.

He walked step by step along the field ridge, concentrating fully as he searched for pests hiding among the rice leaves.

This was no easy task.

Ten mu of Spirit Fields was neither particularly large nor particularly small.

To swiftly find an Earth Rhinoceros the size of an infant's fist among tens of thousands of Spirit Rice plants more than half a man tall—

It required not only experience, but luck as well!

Wang Chen searched back and forth through two mu of the Spirit Field, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

He had not expended much physical strength, but his mind was stretched taut.

It was naturally a good thing if there were no Earth Rhinoceroses. What he feared most was that they were there, but he failed to find them!

Without blinking, his gaze swept over every stalk of Spirit Rice as Wang Chen repeatedly activated his Spiritual Sense, empowering his nose, mouth, eyes, and ears.

Spiritual Sense born from Qi Refining could greatly enhance a cultivator's Perception ability.

Unfortunately, Spiritual Sense was not Divine Sense. It could only receive passively and could not be projected outward to scan.

Otherwise, with a sweep of Divine Sense, dozens or even hundreds of mu of Spirit Fields could be scanned in a single breath, and no pest would be able to hide.

That required Purple Mansion cultivation.

Wang Chen searched with all his strength through nearly half the Spirit Field, yet still found nothing.

Rather than relaxing because of this, he grew even more tense.

All of a sudden, Wang Chen's vision blurred, and the Spirit Field before him transformed into a vast expanse of deep emerald green.

It was as if he heard the surrounding Spirit Rice murmuring to him, conveying some sort of message.

One voice among them was especially clear.

Wang Chen's attention naturally turned toward it.

His gaze sharpened.

Amid the lush green, he spotted a piercing speck of black.

Wang Chen subconsciously blinked.

His vision instantly cleared, and his gaze locked firmly onto a Black Beetle clinging to a Spirit Rice stalk.

An Earth Rhinoceros!

The Earth Rhinoceros looked much like a Unicorn Beetle. Its entire body was glossy black, and a curved, razor-sharp horn protruded from its head.

Its claws gripped the rice stalk tightly as it greedily gnawed on the still-unripe rice ear.

Having found his target, Wang Chen held his breath and slowly approached the Spirit Rice where the Earth Rhinoceros was perched.

An Earth Rhinoceros's shell was incomparably hard—even a mortal's knife could not chop through it.

It was also extremely alert. The moment it sensed danger, it would immediately burrow underground.

You could not dig it out even if you tried.

Therefore, to kill an Earth Rhinoceros, he had to strike without warning and kill it in one blow!

Wang Chen stared at the target and silently raised his right arm.

He curled his right thumb, ring finger, and little finger, bringing his index and middle fingers together to form a Sword Finger.

He pointed it at the Earth Rhinoceros three feet away.

Mana from his Dantian coursed along the meridians in his arm straight to his Sword Finger, and dazzling golden light flared from his fingertip.

"Go!"

Wang Chen suddenly gave a sharp cry and thrust his Sword Finger forward like lightning.

A fierce beam of force shot from his finger in an instant.

Gengjin Finger!

The Earth Rhinoceros crouching on the Rice Stalk instinctively sensed danger and released its claws, dropping toward the ground.

But the golden gleam flashed past, slicing the infant-fist-sized beetle into two!

"Ha!"

Wang Chen laughed aloud after landing the strike.

It felt unbelievably good!

First update delivered.

PS: During the new-book period, updates are tentatively set at two chapters a day, released together at around nine in the morning.