Winter Has Arrived!!! (Please Bookmark, Please Vote)

The Start of Winter arrived.

The temperature plummeted, and the villagers of Azure Stone Village began burning the charcoal they had prepared during the summer farming lull.

The villagers only ventured out occasionally to work in their vegetable plots; the rest of the time, they stayed indoors to keep warm.

This special season also left the idle young couples of Azure Stone Village indulging in carnal pleasures all day to pass the time, inevitably bringing many little lives into being.

The spirit plants growing in the six mu of Spirit Fields on Azure Stone Mountain also ripened one after another amid the bone-piercing winter winds.

Azure Stone Mountain's summit.

"One grain, two grains... forty-three grains!"

Ling Pengyun crouched beside the two mu of Yellow Jade Spirit Rice, narrowing his eyes as he carefully counted the grains of Spirit Rice on each ear.

From the two mu of Yellow Jade Spirit Rice, Ling Pengyun selected ten ears from each plot for inspection.

He found that each of those twenty ears held at least around forty plump Spirit Rice grains.

Normally, an ear of Yellow Jade Spirit Rice only held around thirty grains. Only when the yield increased would the number of Spirit Rice grains on each ear rise.

The number of Spirit Rice grains on every ear had increased by roughly thirty percent, and a smile appeared on Ling Pengyun's face.

"Once the husks are removed, these two mu of Yellow Jade Spirit Rice should yield nine hundred jin of Spirit Rice per mu without a doubt!"

"Once the year ends and the elders come to harvest this Spirit Rice, I'll be able to receive my dividend in Spirit Rice!"

"Then, once I sell the dividend Spirit Rice, I must buy more Spirit Fruits to consume and speed up my cultivation!"

Thinking of the Spirit Rice dividends, Ling Pengyun inevitably thought of the Mystic Water Iron Mine dividends.

Although the Lineage would sell part of its interests in the mine to the Hundred Spirits Sect, his share of the dividends should be secure.

If the Lineage broke its agreement, the hat of dishonesty would be placed upon the Ling Clan's head for a lifetime.

In the future, few clansmen would likely dare trust the Lineage again.

For this tiny bit of profit, the Ling Clan would see its family bonds crumble apart, its members distrust one another. Perhaps a hundred years from now, there would no longer be a Ling Clan in the Cultivation World—only a batch of Rogue Cultivators surnamed Ling.

"According to what Third Grandfather said back then, that mine contains at least nearly a hundred thousand jin of Mystic Water Iron Ore! With a ten-to-one refinement ratio between ore and Mystic Water Iron, it should yield nearly eight or nine thousand jin of Mystic Water Iron in the end, worth forty to fifty thousand Spirit Stones."

"I can receive ten percent, so I should get four thousand Spirit Stones. But it will probably take quite some time to receive all four thousand Spirit Stones!" Ling Pengyun calculated silently and muttered to himself.

Mining a vein was not something that could be completed overnight. Spirit Iron Ore was extremely hard; mortals could not mine it, and only cultivators could extract it.

In the Cultivation World, it was common for a small Spirit Iron Mine to take more than a hundred years to excavate.

By that calculation, Ling Pengyun's four thousand Spirit Stones would be distributed over a hundred years, at forty Spirit Stones per year.

"If that's the case, then relying on the mine dividends and investing alongside the Lineage to buy a second-rate Foundation Establishment Spiritual Object before I turn sixty is probably impossible!"

"I'll have to think of another way to earn Spirit Stones!" Ling Pengyun secretly decided.

A second-rate Foundation Establishment Spiritual Object sold for at least seven or eight thousand Spirit Stones on the market.

Ling Pengyun and the Lineage would each contribute half, meaning both sides would need to provide at least four thousand Spirit Stones.

"Hunting demon beasts for Spirit Stones is far too dangerous. I might die in the jaws of a demon beast before even reaching sixty. It's safer to earn Spirit Stones through the path of a Spirit Plant Farmer!"

"Yet based on the Spirit Rice dividends I can earn as a Spirit Plant Farmer each year, I can probably make around thirty Spirit Stones. Adding the forty Spirit Stones from the mine dividends each year, I'm still some distance away from gathering four thousand Spirit Stones before turning sixty!"

"I need to raise my Spirit Plant Farmer rank faster. Then the Lineage will value me more and send me to manage a Spirit Vein with more Spirit Fields, allowing me to earn more Spirit Stones!"

With that thought in mind, Ling Pengyun increased the spiritual power he used to nourish the Thorn Vine over the following period, allowing it to recover from the injuries it had suffered due to the Ink Cloud Poisonous Snake as soon as possible. Only then could he improve the Thorn Vine's cultivation and bring it into the Qi Training Middle Stage.

For a Spirit Plant Farmer to advance in rank, two strict requirements had to be met. First, the spirit plant secret technique had to reach the corresponding level. Second, the Natal Spirit Plant had to reach the corresponding level.

For example, if Ling Pengyun wished to advance to a First Rank Middle Grade Spirit Plant Farmer, he needed to comprehend the Lingxiao Ripening Technique to the beginner stage of its second layer, while his Natal Spirit Plant, the Thorn Vine, needed to enter the Qi Training Middle Stage.

By year's end, winter had already lasted for more than a month.

Bone-piercing winds swept over the fallen snow, blanketing the ground in a thick layer.

With the temperatures plummeting, the villagers of Azure Stone Village went out even less often. Aside from a few cold-resistant varieties, the vegetables in their plots had all been harvested, so there was no longer any need to go out frequently to water them.

And the winter's sole activity, "making babies," only grew more and more intense.

The villagers of Azure Stone Village were extremely enthusiastic about making babies. If one of the children born possessed a Spirit Root, they would enjoy a life free of worries, wealth, and glory.

On the day of the Winter Solstice.

Ling Ruguo, already one hundred and ten years old, braved the falling snow and rode an Immortal Spirit Crane down onto Azure Stone Mountain's summit.

Ling Pengyun, dressed in a loose winter Daoist robe lined with fur by the Ling Clan, had long since heard the Immortal Spirit Crane's cry and was waiting at the summit.

His gaze fell upon Ling Ruguo's face. Seeing that the deathly aura on it had deepened further and that his entire aura had completely fallen from the Qi Training Late Stage to the Qi Training Middle Stage, Ling Pengyun could not help feeling downcast.

Third Grandfather probably does not have much time left!

Now one hundred and ten years old, Ling Ruguo was relying on his cultivation to sustain his lifespan. Once his cultivation completely drained away, he would only have a few days left to live.

"Pengyun, you truly have not tarnished your name as a Spirit Plant Farmer. The spirit plants managed by Peng Cheng and the others who left the Lineage at the same time as you to guard Spirit Veins still need nearly another month before they mature!" Ling Ruguo leaped down from the Immortal Spirit Crane's back. Seeing that all three kinds of spirit plants in Azure Stone Mountain's six mu of Spirit Fields had ripened, with spiritual energy swirling around them, he did not need to guess to know that they had likely been mature for quite some time. The expression on his face brightened considerably as he spoke with a smile.

Ling Pengyun frowned. Rather than feeling pleased with himself, he looked worried and said, "Third Grandfather, your cultivation has already fallen back to the Qi Training Middle Stage. It is winter now, so why are you still the one coming to harvest the spirit plants? If you encounter danger, then..."

Ling Ruguo understood Ling Pengyun's good intentions and replied kindly, "The Lineage lacks manpower. Among the clansmen who can leave the Lineage, none are at the Qi Training Late Stage. Those lads at the Qi Training Middle Stage are not even as strong as I am. Besides, before the New Year, I planned to visit my disappointing grandson, Ling Dong, so I took on this task!"

Ling Pengyun could only sigh helplessly.

There were few hands and vast lands. Though this meant the Lineage treated its clansmen very well—as could be seen from their monthly stipends—the shortage of manpower was a disadvantage at many times.

Thanks: Qing Feng of Zhuji for the monthly pass