Azure Stone Village Harvest Feast (Please Bookmark, Please Vote)

When Ling Pengyun was fourteen, he relied on the spiritual energy feedback from the Thorn Vine's transition from innate to Qi Training to break through from the Qi Training Third Layer to the Qi Training Fourth Layer.

The Thorn Vine that Ling Ruda had carefully selected and given to Ling Pengyun already possessed decent aptitude. With Ling Pengyun's nurturing, reaching the First Rank High Grade within a hundred years would not be a problem.

Later, Ling Pengyun infused a mouthful of primordial yin-yang energy into its body, greatly improving its aptitude.

Ling Pengyun had a premonition that within two years, his Thorn Vine would surely break through its cultivation once more under the nourishment of his spiritual power and advance to the First Rank Middle Grade.

By then, as its Master, Ling Pengyun would naturally receive another round of spiritual energy feedback from the Thorn Vine and break through another layer of cultivation.

With a little more confidence, Ling Pengyun's heart also brimmed with fighting spirit. He did not dream of surpassing Ling Pengxing, who possessed a Dual Spirit Root. He only hoped to catch up with him and not fall too far behind.

At the same time, he greatly admired Ling Pengxing for possessing a Dual Spirit Root.

Third Brother has outstanding talent and has always cultivated bitterly, rarely taking time for amusement. With aptitude like mine, how could I waste too much time?

With a silent sigh, Ling Pengyun cast aside the clutter in his mind and turned his attention back to the sword art in his hands.

After memorizing the method of cultivating the sword art, Ling Pengyun sat cross-legged and closed his eyes, contemplating it.

From then on, besides absorbing First Sun Power in the morning, watering with Spirit Rain, casting the Ripening Technique once every three days, cultivating, comprehending spells, studying the Lingxiao Ripening Technique, nurturing the Thorn Wood Vine to recover its injuries, and absorbing Moonlight Power at night, Ling Pengyun added one more task to his daily routine: comprehending the sword art.

This packed every day of his schedule to the brim, leaving his time exceedingly tight.

As it happened, the rice in Azure Stone Village had also ripened during this period, so Ling Pengyun no longer needed to water it with Spirit Rain and bestow his favor upon it.

During the days Ling Pengyun had been busy with the matter of the mineral vein, the several thousand mu of rice planted by Azure Stone Village's more than three thousand villagers had all been harvested through their joint efforts.

That afternoon, after the harvest was complete, every villager of Azure Stone Village who had just returned from cutting rice in the fields was gathered outside the village's crude Ancestral Hall by Village Chief Ling Dong.

Standing atop a step, Ling Dong called out joyfully to the villagers around him.

"Fellow clansmen, today is a day of great joy for Azure Stone Village. It is our first year since moving here, and also the first time we have harvested rice!"

"Today is worth commemorating. I have gathered everyone here to discuss making this day Azure Stone Village's Harvest Festival, a unique festival belonging to our village!"

"And every Harvest Festival, we shall all gather together, set out several hundred tables, and celebrate in merriment together. What do you all think?"

Today was already a joyous day, and every household in Azure Stone Village had brought home at least several thousand jin of harvested rice.

Furthermore, the Ling Clan's mortal clansmen had always possessed strong cohesion. Upon hearing Ling Dong's proposal, they all voiced their agreement.

Even those who were stingy and unwilling to contribute funds toward a Harvest Feast did not dare to go against everyone's wishes, and could only agree helplessly.

Hearing the surrounding voices of agreement, Ling Dong's smile deepened even further.

In order to strengthen his authority as Village Chief, he announced another piece of good news.

"Everyone, the Lingxiao Guard and I have prepared for this day for nearly a month. We hunted close to a hundred wild beasts and obtained more than ten thousand jin of beast meat. With the help of that immortal on Azure Stone Mountain, we used ice to freeze and preserve it. Even now, that ten thousand jin of beast meat remains incomparably fresh and tender."

"At tonight's Harvest Feast, all of you shall share this ten thousand jin of beast meat!"

"The women in the village who are skilled at cooking will have to work especially hard!"

"And men like me should not sit idle either. Setting out the tables and cleaning up these minor chores will be our responsibility!"

"As for the rice and other vegetables at tonight's Harvest Feast, we shall all contribute together to provide them. What do you think?"

These words truly drove the emotions of Azure Stone Village's villagers to their peak.

To ordinary mortals without martial strength, beast meat was a precious commodity. Being able to eat it once every three days was already considered quite good.

Today, the village was willing to provide ten thousand jin of beast meat for free merely to hold a feast. This act made many villagers exceedingly satisfied with the still-young Village Chief, Ling Dong.

As for the rice and vegetables at the Harvest Feast, how much could they possibly cost? They were likely not even worth half as much as the beast meat at the feast.

"Village Chief, wise indeed!"

"..."

The many villagers of Azure Stone Village cheered and leapt for joy.

Even those stingy villagers were the same, their faces already split in broad smiles as they thought about how they would definitely gorge themselves on meat that night.

That night, through the combined efforts of Azure Stone Village's more than three thousand villagers, the celebration proceeded very smoothly. Several hundred large tables were set out on an open patch of ground in the village, each laden with eighteen lavish dishes.

It was an excellent meal.

More than three thousand villagers ate meat by the mouthful and drank wine by the bowlful, cheering freely for the joy brought by this year's harvest.

This sleepless night also thoroughly vented the resentment Azure Stone Village's villagers had felt at being forcibly dispatched by the clan to reclaim this barren land.

Happy days always passed quickly. Once the Harvest Feast was over, the next day, Azure Stone Village's villagers returned to their arduous labor—burning the rice stalks cut from the fields within those fields, drying the grain, and attending to all manner of trivial tasks.

Afterward, they dried this year's rice grain under the blazing sun for another five consecutive days, bringing Azure Stone Village's massive grain-drying effort to an end.

The following day, Ling Dong, as Clan Head, led the Lingxiao Guard in escorting several dozen horse-drawn carts loaded with nearly one hundred thousand jin of rice, along with several hundred household men, out of the village.

The vast convoy traveled along the broad road they had only recently built, heading toward Xia Zhi Town.

More than ten days later, the convoy that had gone to sell the rice returned to Azure Stone Village.

This trip brought back quite a bit of gold and silver, as well as large quantities of clothing and other supplies to endure the winter.

However, most of the gold and silver earned from selling the rice was used to purchase young cattle and sheep, fish fry, fruit tree saplings, vegetable seeds, and the like.

The young cattle and sheep would be raised until they matured, then slaughtered to meet Azure Stone Village's villagers' daily need for meat.

The fish fry would be released into Azure Stone Lake to multiply on their own, increasing the lake's fish population.

The fruit tree saplings would increase Azure Stone Village's income.

The vegetable seeds were for planting and supplying daily meals.

As for next year's rice seeds, they would be bought after spring arrived the following year. Buying them now would be too early.

The mortal clansmen of Azure Stone Village, as well as the entire Ling Clan territory, followed a one-crop-per-year practice. After the rice ripened at the Autumn Equinox, they left the rice paddies empty, allowing the remaining matter to rot and fertilize the fields, increasing the soil's nutrients for the following year and yielding a better rice harvest.

For some time afterward, Azure Stone Village's villagers either expanded their rice fields or repaired their houses, planted fruit trees, and handled various other trivial tasks.

Thanks to Sui Meng Angel for the 500-point reward.

Thanks to Wen for the monthly vote.