Behind the Scenes

Following the advice, Yang Chen immediately went to Nineteen Peaks Town and bought back the Insect Luring Powder. The stuff was far from cheap—two bottles cost one spirit crystal. It was not that cheaper options did not exist, but they could not produce immediate results.

This matter could not be delayed. If any unforeseen complications arose, the losses would only grow greater.

That very night, he returned to the spirit fields. After using his token to activate the formation, he scattered the Insect Luring Powder around the edges of several yellowing stalks of Spirit Rice according to the instructions.

After scattering it, he crouched nearby and stared intently. Vaguely, he seemed to see something wriggling within the stems of the Spirit Rice.

Seeing that it truly worked, the gloom on his face eased somewhat.

Though spending the spirit crystals pained him, it was fine so long as the problem could be solved.

He did not continue squatting there to watch. Instead, he went straight back to the wooden hut. The clerk who sold the Insect Luring Powder had said that Rice Devouring Worms were timid, and a martial artist's aura would make them feel threatened.

Before he knew it, it was deep into the night. After cultivating, Yang Chen lay in bed tossing and turning, unable to sleep. He kept feeling that something was amiss. The Spirit Gathering Formation did not merely absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth—it also kept out birds and beasts. If even birds and beasts could not enter, how had the Rice Devouring Worms gotten in?

Rumble!

Just as irritation churned in his heart, a clap of thunder interrupted his thoughts. A few minutes later, a light drizzle began to fall. Outside, fierce winds surged through the gaps in the wooden hut, their howls rising and falling one after another.

A few more minutes passed, and the rain grew heavier. The raging wind and rain shrouded everything between heaven and earth, making the wooden hut seem like a place cut off from the world.

Listening to the wind and rain, the restlessness in Yang Chen's heart gradually subsided. Accompanied by their sound, he fell into a deep sleep.

When he woke again, the rain had stopped at some unknown time.

He opened the door, and the fresh scent after a torrential downpour rushed into his nose.

"I wonder whether that downpour affected the Insect Luring Powder's effectiveness."

Yang Chen stretched lazily, then headed toward those yellowing stalks of Spirit Rice with that thought in mind.

Suddenly, his steps halted, his eyes fixed on an extra footprint along the ridge between the fields.

"Whose footprint is this?"

Doubt rose in his heart. He had accepted this task over four months ago, yet regardless of wind or rain, no one else's footprints had ever appeared on these field ridges.

Just as he had no spare time to wander through the spirit fields assigned to others, no one would waste time coming over to his side either.

Thoughtfully, he walked toward the yellowing stalks of Spirit Rice and discovered several grotesque dead insects at their base.

"It worked!"

Seeing the insect corpses, Yang Chen relaxed. As long as the Rice Devouring Worms were eliminated in time, these stalks of Spirit Rice might yet recover.

After observing them for a while, he inspected all one hundred acres of spirit fields. He examined them meticulously, and fortunately, there was nothing wrong with the other Spirit Rice.

With the Rice Devouring Worm problem more or less resolved, Yang Chen hummed a little tune as he returned to the wooden hut and began that day's cultivation.

Soon, it was afternoon. Yang Chen found another dead Rice Devouring Worm beside those yellowing stalks of Spirit Rice, making him realize that it might truly take two days to kill them all.

After watching for a moment, he began patrolling the other areas.

When he reached the place where that footprint remained, he felt increasingly uneasy and took a few extra looks. That look gave him a fright.

"How is this possible!"

He let out an angry, low shout. Near where the unfamiliar footprint had appeared, several more stalks of Spirit Rice had actually taken on a slightly dull color. The difference was not obvious, but Yang Chen was certain these stalks had developed problems as well.

"Someone is screwing with me!"

At that moment, Yang Chen suddenly came to his senses.

After each harvest of Spirit Rice, the Spirit Planter Guardian would burn the spirit fields with spiritual fire. Under such spiritual flames, no insect eggs could possibly survive.

And once the seedlings had been planted, the formation would be activated immediately. What kind of insect could enter the spirit fields with such precision?

Combined with the symptoms of those stalks of Spirit Rice and this suspicious footprint, everything lined up.

This was no accident. Someone wanted to ruin him.

"Who wants to screw with me?"

Yang Chen's face darkened like still water. The first figure to flash through his mind was Meng Shijun. Since entering the sect over four months ago, he had largely kept to himself and knew only a handful of people, much less made enemies.

After considering it over and over, Meng Shijun was the only one with whom he had any conflict. And the motive fit as well. Before, Yang Chen had not made the rankings, so perhaps Meng Shijun had not considered him a threat at all. Now that he had entered the Cultivation Ranking, he threatened Meng Shijun's position. Combined with their minor conflict, such behavior made sense.

"Again and again!"

Yang Chen's gaze turned cold. Since this had happened once, then twice, it was highly likely to happen many more times. He could not keep making repairs after the fact.

He had neither the time nor that many spirit crystals.

Still, although he suspected Meng Shijun was most likely responsible, everything required evidence. As the saying went, catch a thief with the stolen goods in hand. The supervisors would not believe his one-sided claims either.

At that thought, Yang Chen withdrew the cold glint from his eyes. After scattering Insect Luring Powder near the Spirit Rice, he made another trip to Nineteen Peaks Town.

When he returned, there were four azure-blue stones the size of fingernails in his hand. Once night fell and Xu Qingqing and the others had left, he took advantage of the darkness to bury the four stones separately in concealed corners around the spirit fields.

"If you stop here, there is nothing I can do to you. But if I catch you, do not blame me for being ruthless and merciless."

After burying the stones, Yang Chen returned to the wooden hut and patiently began cultivating.

Another day passed. Before Xu Qingqing and the others arrived, Yang Chen brought the four stones back to the wooden hut and examined them closely.

Under his focused gaze, images unexpectedly appeared upon the four stones. The images showed the scene around the spirit fields.

These stones were naturally no ordinary items, but Recording Stones. However, they were the most basic kind of Recording Stone, with an effective range of only fifty meters. Each cost 1.5 spirit crystals, twice as expensive as a Qi Strength Pill, and they were consumables that could remain active for three days and three nights after activation.

The images on the stones flowed rapidly, but everything was normal. No suspicious person had approached Spirit Field Number Eight.

He was not surprised. No matter how bold someone was, they would still be cautious when doing evil. He had not expected the other party to expose their tracks within a single day.

When night fell, he buried the Recording Stones again.

Days passed one after another. Yang Chen cultivated and patrolled the spirit fields as usual each day. While his cultivation steadily improved, he checked the Recording Stones once daily. Yet the other party seemed extremely cautious and did not appear for a long time.

In the blink of an eye, eight days passed, leaving only three days until the end of the month.

That morning, after waking up, Yang Chen summoned his panel:

[Realm: Qi Martial Sixth Level, Punching Force: 9013 kilograms]

More than twenty days had passed since his last breakthrough. Yang Chen's strength had risen rapidly, and only eight or nine days remained before he reached the Qi Martial Seventh Level.

He had not gone to the Testing Stele this month, so his ranking had continued to fall. It had now dropped to ninety-fifth place. On the Cultivation Ranking, only the last few people remained at the Qi Martial Fifth Level; the vast majority had already broken through to the Qi Martial Sixth Level.

"I wonder how high I can climb this month?"

With his current strength, his ranking would undoubtedly make a staggering leap compared to last time. He simply did not know whether he had a chance to squeeze into the top fifty.

After pondering for a moment, he got up and headed for the spirit fields, beginning the day's first patrol.

"He came."

At one spot in the spirit fields, a cold glint flashed through Yang Chen's eyes. Under his gaze, several stalks of Spirit Rice had once again taken on the appearance of being malnourished.

Without betraying any emotion, he collected the Recording Stones. After finishing his patrol of the spirit fields, he returned to the wooden hut and began reviewing them carefully. In the end, he saw a furtive figure in one of the Recording Stones.