Progress

"Even if it was an illness, money was more practical than anything else." Ning Zheng did not want to meddle too much. Now that he had gained tangible benefits, it was enough as long as he could use them to cultivate and grow stronger.

He followed the mountain road home. By then, the sky had darkened.

Dinner was quite enjoyable, except that the River Demon Meat from before had finally been completely eaten up after these past few days.

"Come on, let's go fishing." Ning Zheng had returned from work in a good mood. After dinner, he called Ning Jiaojiao over and made preparations by the well before fishing again.

"Off you go."

After securing the fishhook, he gently scooped Ning Jiaojiao up in a bridal carry and tossed her into the well.

With a splash, she entered the water and began expertly swimming through the intricate maze of underground rivers extending in all directions. Small fish occasionally glimmered in the darkness, along with some glowing stones. It was extraordinarily beautiful.

A few minutes later, Ning Jiaojiao sent back a response.

He pulled the fishhook!

Ning Jiaojiao had hooked four River Monsters at once. Their eyes were dull and vacant, and they looked adorably foolish. Two had clamped onto her hands, while the other two had clamped onto her feet, leaving her covered from head to toe.

"Four of them!" Ning Zheng was delighted as he watched from the wellhead. This was the best catch he had gotten in all his years of fishing.

Ning Jiaojiao had also reached the peak of her fishing career.

Ning Zheng discovered that when luck improved, there were always little surprises. Five hundred Luck Value was no joke.

The only problem was that Ning Jiaojiao had clearly cried out a little louder in the well this time. When she was pulled up, her expression was pitiful and aggrieved, clearly not in the best of moods.

But that was only a minor issue. A little coaxing would solve it.

After removing the large iron hook that had pierced through Ning Jiaojiao's chin from the strain, he took her to the kitchen and processed the meat. When he checked the time, it was exactly half past six. In a little while, he could kick those blacksmiths offline.

Getting paid by the day—that was what life was about.

Another day of bounty!

He had originally promised to familiarize them with the process over three days as the Old Steward, but they had finished in only two. It could truly be called a perfect success.

Ning Zheng felt that tomorrow he only needed to go through the motions, after which he could completely let go.

What the eye did not see, the heart would not grieve over.

Every time he looked at them, he felt they caused even more spiritual pollution than the fathers and mothers of Spirit Manor.

After finishing his work, Ning Zheng still saw Ning Jiaojiao looking pitiful, and could not help laughing.

"Stop fussing. The New Year will be here soon, and we'll both be a year older. The Yearly Market will open in just a few days. When the time comes, I'll take you there. I'll buy you whatever you want."

"Really?" Ning Jiaojiao's eyes lit up.

"Really. I'll give you a hundred Magic Coins," Ning Zheng said. "You can buy, buy, buy to your heart's content."

"Okay." Ning Jiaojiao was overjoyed. "I want to buy new clothes and new shoes. Red ones."

The people of this village followed the logic of their daily behavior from when they were alive, so naturally they accepted Magic Coins as well. After all, they circulated among mortals too and were considered a high-grade currency.

Besides, Magic Coins stored the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth, giving these soul bodies an innate and inexplicable attraction to them.

After clearing out the ruins of the Mountain Villa, he was no longer short of money.

He had tens of thousands of Magic Coins on hand. They were the liquid funds the Demon People had not yet taken out to purchase cultivation resources, and they had all fallen into Ning Zheng's hands.

Of course, there had been more resources than that.

But their natal magical artifacts, pills, and various other things had all been exhausted in their frenzied death struggle, leaving Ning Zheng no chance to inherit any of their possessions.

Regardless, it had still been a sudden windfall.

After all, Magic Coins had considerable purchasing power. A few Magic Coins could buy a pound of Spirit Rice.

For some low-level cultivators, having dozens of Magic Coins in their pockets was already quite impressive.

A decent low-level magical artifact could be bought for a few hundred Magic Coins.

Of course, that did not include magical artifacts forged entirely from Magic Copper. Even a single unprocessed, half-finished raw Magic Bronze blank could sell for over a hundred Magic Coins.

It was clear that Ning Zheng was sitting on a mountain of treasure!

Now, Ning Zheng could cultivate while holding this pile of Magic Coins and absorb spiritual energy in large quantities. He simply had no channels through which to spend the money.

"I'm almost at the second realm of the Five Bodies Realm. It'll probably happen tomorrow or the day after."

After returning to his room, he silently exhaled a breath of stale air and sensed the speed of his cultivation. It had been quite fast lately. After his luck improved, even entering a meditative state had become much quicker.

The three essentials of cultivation: Magic Coins were overflowing, but he was still short of the Meat Field and Spirit Rice.

As for Spirit Rice, he would see whether he could get some from Su Yu Niang. If he could not, he would save up Luck Value and find a way to create a channel for purchasing Spirit Rice.

But if he did that, the Luck Value consumed would be high!

Ning Zheng still wanted to save as much as possible. If his own household could produce it for free, how wonderful would that be?

As for the Meat Field?

That was the most precious resource!

The Five Bodies Realm was a realm for cultivating flesh and blood, and it required an extreme amount of qi and blood replenishment.

If Ning Zheng wanted to eat meat now, he still had to hunt River Monsters.

But those were the lowest grade, and the spiritual energy they contained provided far too little help to cultivation!

What was a Meat Field?

Demonic beasts above the Great Perfection of Five Bodies Realm began to achieve the endless circulation of the Five Bodies. After death, their flesh could still leap and writhe, with their blood and flesh multiplying and regenerating.

The consciousness of this class of great demons was erased, leaving behind their physical bodies. Their skeletons were dismantled and laid flat in the soil of a field, each bone serving as a network of roots and veins. Their flesh was planted in the field, where it continually reproduced itself. That was what was known as a Meat Field.

Put more simply:

Their physical bodies—their countless fine blood vessels, bones, and meridians—were equivalent to being spread thinly across the ground.

After being watered regularly, they could be harvested.

It was just that this kind of Meat Field did not have an especially long lifespan either. The amount of flesh that could divide was limited.

And the lively flesh of those Demon People Ning Zheng had cleaned up earlier?

It could indeed be made into Meat Fields.

There was more than enough. Given their realms, each field would be a high-quality Meat Field!

But those were human Meat Fields. Some Demon Cultivators who laughed with a sinister cackle called them Ginseng Fields. Supposedly, whenever they saw another cultivator, they would exclaim: "What a huge ginseng plant!"

Ning Zheng did not want to eat that kind. It was said to bring enormous karmic consequences, and after some time, people who consumed it would basically all become demented and deranged.

Although what he had on hand could be made into several fields, and eating it daily would be tremendously nourishing, allowing his cultivation to grow at astonishing speed...

"If I could hunt a demonic beast at the Great Perfection of Five Bodies Realm and turn it into a Meat Field, it should be enough to feed me for a long time before it ran dry. But what virtue or ability do I have to do that?"

Ning Zheng sighed and pondered.

"In all these years, there has been little movement in this mountainous area near us. The only beast horde I've seen is that group of crows. And the River Monsters in the well."

"If their beast leader reached the Great Perfection of Five Bodies Realm, I would only need to hunt one. That would be enough. I could plant it in a field and eat one meat dish and one bowl of rice soup every day. I wouldn't even dare hope for two dishes and a soup."

Every type of demonic-beast Meat Field had its own characteristics, flavor, and texture.

Some were suited for stewing into soup, some for roasting, and some for nourishing the qi and blood.

The rare ones could even nourish the soul and assist in comprehending the Dao.

Hunting all kinds of top-tier demonic beasts and forging them into Meat Fields was the foundation of many sects' and lineages' continued existence. It was also an important method for attracting talented people.

If his own Mountain Villa had its own Meat Field...

Hmm.

Those Money Boys could not eat it either. After all, they ate soil.