Lin Yunzi cupped his hands in a salute and silently withdrew.
The hands counting wheat before the high desk suddenly stopped, froze for a moment, and reluctantly lifted the bamboo hat.
That was an old face with drooping eyelids.
Confirming Xiao Ran's identity, the old man stood up and offered a slight salute.
"Baili Qingfeng greets Senior Brother Xiao."
He sat down after speaking, his voice casual, dry, and slightly discourteous.
"No need for formalities."
Xiao Ran had previously heard Lin Yunzi's introduction regarding this person.
Baili Qingfeng was the Peak Master of Great Valley Peak, the Spirit farming instructor, and a Golden Core cultivator. He excelled at large-scale spirit grain cultivation, boasting particular mastery in channeling wind and digging ditches.
Viewing Great Valley Peak's spirit fields with Xiao Ran's max-level farming insight, Baili Qingfeng met a standard of at least sixty points or higher.
Regrettably, after the Dharma Ending Era, the spirit fields of Great Valley Peak suffered massive drops in yield. Despite several attempts, the old man Baili could not find a good solution. Now advanced in age, he simply gave up, inevitably bordering on dereliction of duty.
Although Inner Sect Instructors and Direct Disciples held the same rank, they typically addressed each other respectfully as Senior Brother or Senior Sister.
Furthermore, spirit agriculture was already a non-pillar industry of Zongzhi Mountain. Coupled with poor yields, its status within the sect declined year by year, constantly lingering on the verge of being forgotten.
There was only one stubbornly eccentric instructor in the entire sect who came to Great Valley Peak every day to farm for two hours.
An event like a Direct Disciple visiting in person happened perhaps once a year.
"Senior Brother Xiao is truly young and promising."
Baili Qingfeng offered a compliment with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
Unlike Lin Yunzi, who genuinely sucked up, Baili Qingfeng's remark of being young and promising carried a hint of sarcasm.
After all, given his Golden Core cultivation, he could crush Xiao Ran a thousand or ten thousand times with a single finger, inevitably looking down upon this mortal who had inexplicably entered the immortal gates.
Without engaging in pleasantries, Xiao Ran cut straight to the point.
"I need top-grade seeds, fresh spirit grain, and natural yeast."
Yeast?
Baili Qingfeng curled his lip and said.
"We are at a time like this, and Senior Brother Xiao still has the mood to brew wine?"
Naturally, Xiao Ran knew what this juncture referred to, but he couldn't be bothered to wrangle and wanted a swift resolution.
"This was ordered by Master."
The old face of Baili Qingfeng stiffened, and he immediately became much more respectful.
"Please follow me to take a look at the granary."
Inside the underground granary, it was well-ventilated, cool, and dry.
Inspecting the grain piles, there were unhusked rice and wheat ranging from the Qi Refining Realm to the Golden Core Realm, though they were at least half-year-old stale grains.
They would do as seeds, but fell slightly short as materials for brewing rice wine.
Baili Qingfeng had two burlap sacks of top-grade grain and wheat seeds packed and gifted them to Xiao Ran for free.
Even so, Xiao Ran still paid two spirit stones.
He did not want to owe this old man a favor.
These stale grains were acceptable in grade, but mediocre in quality, falling short of a max-level brewmaster's discerning eye.
"I need fresh, top-grade grain. I'll be brewing the rice wine tonight."
Brewing rice wine in a single legendary night?
Could it be that the Sword-Wielding Elder deliberately selected a wine-making expert?
Baili Qingfeng no longer dared to be negligent.
"Fresh, top-grade grain suitable for brewing rice wine requires Senior Brother Xiao to personally enter the valley to select and pick them plant by plant. As for the yeast, there are many black mushrooms capable of cultivating natural yeast in the wild forest at the foot of Little Qiong Peak on the southwest side."
With that, he handed the valley's passage jade slip to Xiao Ran.
"Many thanks."
Arriving in the valley region.
The wind blew melodiously, and the river rippled with a murmur.
Xiao Ran walked briskly along the spirit embankment of the rice paddies, weaving through the golden wheat fields.
A gentle breeze approached, and a faint fragrance of grain permeated the world.
Autumn light poured down, brimming with the aroma of wheat ears.
Xiao Ran thought of the scene when he used to pick tea on the tea mountains in his childhood.
The scenery was beautiful, but the tea leaves weren't worth much.
The scenery here was even more magnificent and grand, but the grade and quality of the spirit plants were utterly mediocre, falling far short compared to the medicinal herbs on Hundred Herbs Peak.
After walking a long way, Xiao Ran still failed to find satisfactory fresh grain.
The occasional spirit farming disciples he encountered working in the valley looked quite elderly, lifeless, and devoid of youthful vigor.
Seeing Xiao Ran, these older disciples merely offered symbolic bows of greeting before returning to their respective tasks, with none of them acting as a guide for him.
Xiao Ran walked along the riverbank.
Suddenly, he caught a whiff of an imperceptible, fresh fragrance.
Following the scent to look closer, it turned out to be a few pieces of wheat husk floating down the river! This fragrance was unusual...
Xiao Ran hastily jumped into the water, scooped up a piece of wheat husk, and chewed it in his mouth.
Hn, the appearance was ordinary and the grade was low, but the quality... was simply astonishing! Following the river upstream for seven or eight li, Xiao Ran arrived at a hillside and found a plot of wheat fields spanning a few mu.
The wheat stalks were varied—green and yellow, tall and short, straight and crooked—growing chaotically in the same wheat field.
The wheat grains looked unassuming, each with differing grades and respective flaws.
The only commonality was that every single wheat stalk possessed a distinct yet exceptionally prominent fragrance.
It was a transparency of the highest realm—a free, restrained wheat aroma that did not diffuse for the sake of humanity.
Beside the wheat field, weeds grew in abundance.
A middle-aged man wearing a bamboo hat with stubbly whiskers rested his head on a hoe handle, cradled a longsword in his arms, and lay amidst the weeds.
He wore farming work clothes, held a short wheat ear in his mouth, and hummed a melodious tune under his breath.
The hummed tune carried a gentle, floating spiritual rhythm, seeming to possess a certain magical power that allowed the wheat plants to grow freely.
For a fleeting moment, Xiao Ran felt as though he were looking at... the catcher in the wheat field.
To tend a wheat field like this showed he was clearly no ordinary person.
A sense of respect arose in Xiao Ran's heart, and from afar, he cupped his hands in a salute.
"This junior requires some fresh wheat to brew wine. Can Senior spare some?"
The middle-aged man lifted the corner of his bamboo hat, slightly opened his eyes, and glanced at Xiao Ran's high-grade cyan disciple robes.
He roughly deduced Xiao Ran's identity.
Yet he did not think more of him just because he was a Direct Disciple.
Nor did he look down on him because he was a mortal.
Without joy or sorrow.
"I am not your senior. Help yourself to the fresh wheat."
"Many thanks."
Xiao Ran stepped deep into the wheat field and began meticulously selecting.
He focused down to every single grain of spirit wheat, pursuing not perfection in appearance or high, uniform grades, but rather selecting wheat whose quality infinitely approached perfection.
He picked very slowly and with great patience.
Though the middle-aged man appeared to be in a sound sleep, he could no longer rest.
Because the actions of this newly appointed Direct Disciple...
were beyond the realm of what a mortal could achieve!
He could precisely pinpoint wheat grains possessing flawless quality—even though these grains varied in size, differed in color, and included crooked or deformed ones.
He had met an expert! Could he be a wine-making master specifically sought out by the Sword-Wielding Elder? He remained calm and collected.
Half an hour later, Xiao Ran finally gathered two catties of wheat grain.
Considering it was high-grade spirit wheat with dense and rich wheat juice, brewing ten catties of rice wine with this amount posed no problem.
"These are spirit stones."
Xiao Ran respectfully produced five spirit stones to show his respect.
Instead, the middle-aged man shook his head.
"I have no need for spirit stones. If you genuinely wish to show gratitude, then help me clear out the weeds and pests in the field."
The corners of Xiao Ran's eyes tightened slightly, and he calmly replied, "Senior is joking."
"Oh?"
"In this patch of land, there is not a single redundant pest, nor a single superfluous weed. They are all companion spirit plants and spirit insects meticulously chosen by Senior."
The middle-aged man was slightly startled.
Propping himself on his sword, he slowly stood up.
His stature was very tall, exuding an indescribable sense of vicissitudes.
"It seems Your Excellency has a profound grasp of farming lands."
Xiao Ran respectfully cupped his fists.
"Senior flatters me."
The middle-aged man walked over to the riverbank, looked at the rushing river water, and pulled down the brim of his bamboo hat.
"Might I venture to ask you a question?"
"Please go ahead, Senior."
"If one day, the Wraith besieges Zongzhi Mountain and you face two choices."
The middle-aged man's voice was very calm, carrying a faint trace of vicissitudes and compassion.
"First, you choose to draw your sword, ultimately perishing in the jaws of the Wraith due to an overwhelming disparity in strength between enemy and ally."
"Second, you assess the situation, prudently retreat, slip into a safe underground cave dwelling, and begin secret farming to preserve the spark of the Dao, awaiting the day of a comeback."
"How would you choose?"
Xiao Ran thought to himself.
The second option—surviving ignobly to preserve the lineage and wait for the day of a comeback—was theoretically the absolute correct choice.
Yet upon closer reflection, such a chance at surviving ignobly could only be enjoyed by a few; the vast majority would die at the jaws of the Wraith regardless of whether they resisted or not.
As a sword-wielding disciple under these circumstances, it was impossible for him to disregard the lives of the weak and choose to retreat and farm.
Even though he excelled at farming.
Farming could be accomplished by women and the weak, whereas the duty of a Sword-Wielder was to safeguard the safety of their farming.
"I would draw my sword."
Xiao Ran answered without the slightest hesitation, then added, "But I will not die in the jaws of the Wraith."
In an instant! The river churned up towering waves.
The wheat field rippled with surging billows.
The middle-aged man nodded slightly.
"As expected of the expert chosen by the Sword-Wielding Elder herself. I was being presumptuous."
He saw firmness in Xiao Ran, and he also saw confidence.
And these two points happened to be the most precious qualities of a Sword-Wielder.
Xiao Ran's attainments in farming were exceedingly high, yet his cultivation level was merely that of a mortal, making him look like an outstanding farmer.
But in his eyes, this was an even more exceptional Sword-Wielder with limitless potential.
Curious, Xiao Ran cupped his fists and asked, "How should I address Senior?"
The middle-aged man turned around, removed his bamboo hat, and revealed a face with cracked skin and sparse, curly whiskers, yet brimming with boundless untrammeled ease.
"Chen Gongxing."
Before you continue