Everyone else had finished loosening the soil in their fields; only Qin Haoxuan's group of three was still working hard. While everyone else had begun sowing seeds, the three of them looked utterly out of place.
It was not that the three of them were slacking off. The land was simply too dry and hard. According to Elder Chu, crops had to be planted at least three inches deep, yet even digging down a single inch in this soil was extremely difficult.
The other disciples who had finished plowing early wore expressions of undisguised schadenfreude. Serves you right for following Qin Haoxuan and choosing land worse than even inferior fields. You would not even listen to Elder Chu's advice!
Several disciples especially close to Li Jing surrounded him, casting meaningful looks at Murong Chao as they murmured among themselves.
"Your Highness, I think Murong Chao clearly harbors ulterior motives. You value him so highly, yet he is still not satisfied. Without even greeting you, he ran off to mix with Xu Yu and Qin Haoxuan. He simply does not take you seriously."
"Perhaps he is jealous of that Qin fellow. Seeing that there are not many people around Xu Yu, he wants to squeeze in and get a share of the pie!"
"Exactly. Xu Yu is a Purple Seed after all. Although her future achievements certainly cannot compare to yours, Your Highness, if he becomes one of her few friends before she rises to prominence, the benefits later on will surely be considerable!"
"I think that rebellious look in him means he wants to imitate Zhang Yang, doesn't it?"
Listening to their discussion, Li Jing, who had already been displeased, had a sharp glint in his eyes. The way he looked at Murong Chao grew somewhat hostile as well.
It took Qin Haoxuan a full hour to turn over that patch of dry, hard ground. To his relief, after he dug through the top three inches, the soil beneath was clearly much better. Though it could not compare to a medium-grade field, it no longer looked so barren.
Among these two hundred people, quite a few had already finished planting their seeds. Only Murong Chao and Xu Yu were still laboring away with their hoes.
Murong Chao, who came from a military family, looked at Qin Haoxuan's soil and his confidence soared. This land truly was not as bad as it appeared on the surface. Perhaps there would be other pleasant surprises in the future! He had practiced with blades and staves since childhood and was proficient in all eighteen kinds of weapons, but wielding a hoe was different from wielding a greatsword. The hoe refused to cooperate in his hands, and after an hour, he had not even turned over half his field.
When it came to this kind of rough labor, the advantages of Purple Seeds and Gray Seeds could not be displayed at all. Blisters had formed on Xu Yu's thin hands and burst into blood, yet she had dug less than a third of her plot.
Having finished digging his own field, Qin Haoxuan said nothing. He picked up his hoe, walked into Xu Yu's field, and began loosening the soil for her.
At that moment, under Li Jing's signal, those people gathered around him entered Murong Chao's field and deliberately stepped over the soil he had already loosened.
"Senior Brother Murong, do you need help?" One of them deliberately jumped up and down, compacting the loosened soil beneath his feet. He frowned and said, "Oh? Why did you choose such an inferior field? It even hurts my feet to step on it."
"Hurts your feet? Let me try."
"Ah! It really does hurt my feet. Senior Brother Murong, you did not loosen your soil properly. Let us brothers help you stomp it into smaller pieces."
With that, several others began jumping as well. In the blink of an eye, they had compacted much of the soil Murong Chao had loosened.
Just as Murong Chao was about to fly into a rage, he happened to see Li Jing watching him with an angry expression. His heart jolted, and he immediately understood seven or eight parts of what was going on.
Ever since Murong Chao had tested as a Gray Immortal Seed, no one had dared look down on him. Within Li Jing's faction, his status was second only to Li Jing's. Yet Zhang Yang, also a Gray Immortal Seed, had already achieved Rooting while he had not. Those who were dissatisfied with his high position in Li Jing's faction could no longer sit still, and all kinds of unpleasant rumors had risen in a clamor.
He had deliberately kept his distance from Li Jing's people because he did not want to listen to their gossip or endure their cold looks. Murong Chao had even overheard Li Jing's other lackeys discussing him in private, saying that he was also a special Immortal Seed, yet even Zhang Yang had achieved Rooting while he had not. What a worthless piece of trash—His Highness still valued him so highly, and so on.
Disheartened and disillusioned, he had decided to stay farther away from them. Yet he had forgotten that Li Jing was extremely suspicious by nature. Now that he had gotten involved with Qin Haoxuan and Xu Yu, he had happened to violate Li Jing's taboo!
Upon realizing this, Murong Chao instantly awoke from his despondency. He was just about to go explain himself to Li Jing.
At that moment, Qin Haoxuan and Xu Yu, unable to stand those people ruining Murong Chao's hard work, walked over.
With Qin Haoxuan's help, Xu Yu's field had been loosened in less than the time it took for an incense stick to burn. As they were about to rest and prepare to sow seeds, they happened to witness this scene. After looking at Li Jing and Murong Chao's respective expressions, Qin Haoxuan quickly understood what had happened.
Walking up before them, Qin Haoxuan looked calmly at the troublemaker and said, "Would you like to visit my field and see whether my soil has been loosened properly?"
"N-No need..." Qin Haoxuan wore a calm smile, but under the weight of his accumulated prestige, even Zhang Kuang was wary of him. How could they dare offend him? At Li Jing's glance signaling them to withdraw, they fled in panic as though a great burden had been lifted.
After driving them away, Qin Haoxuan said nothing. He raised the hoe in his hand and began loosening Murong Chao's soil. Inspired by Qin Haoxuan, Xu Yu, whose hands were already covered in blisters, also began helping him loosen the soil.
This guy really was a monster!
Watching Qin Haoxuan dig through two plots of such dry, hard land before starting to help Murong Chao loosen his soil, even Elder Chu found it unbelievable.
What he did not know was that Qin Haoxuan cultivated the Great Dao Heart Seed Demon Technique, a superior cultivation art among shamanic arts. The strength of shamanic cultivators far exceeded their imagination. Furthermore, the medicinal power of the One-Leaf Golden Lotus within Qin Haoxuan's body was excessive. Doing this kind of heavy labor, while not comparable to cultivation, still gave the heat within his body somewhere to vent, preventing it from becoming so unbearable.
For a time, Murong Chao's heart was filled with gratitude. Compared with the ups and downs he had experienced at Li Jing's side, Qin Haoxuan's repaying resentment with virtue made him suddenly understand what warmth truly was!
Though he and Li Jing usually addressed each other as brothers, in Li Jing's eyes, he was merely a subordinate, a lackey, an appendage—someone who could be summoned and dismissed at will. When Li Jing was happy, he would offer a sweet date; when he was unhappy, he would beat someone to death with a stick.
Only before Qin Haoxuan and Xu Yu could he feel equality and respect. In that instant, Murong Chao understood what true dignity was!
With Qin Haoxuan and Xu Yu joining in, Murong Chao's field was quickly loosened as well. After loosening three patches of dry, hard land in succession, Qin Haoxuan had only a thin layer of sweat on his forehead. He was still as vigorous as a dragon and fierce as a tiger. After the three discussed it, they decided to follow the crowd and plant Spirit Corn, which was easiest to grow and had the shortest growth cycle.
Ordinary Spirit Corn took one hundred days to mature. But when planted in the spirit-infused soil of Spirit Field Valley and irrigated daily with Spirit Spring water, it could generally be harvested in thirty days. Corn planted in the Spirit Land of Zhang Kuang and Li Jing would take only twenty-five days.
However, corn contained the least spiritual energy. Aside from new disciples occasionally eating it to fill their stomachs, it was generally used to feed spirit beasts.
Including Zhang Kuang and Li Jing, who possessed Spirit Land, all the new disciples decided to plant corn first. They intended to exchange corn for spirit beast manure, fertilize their land, and then plant other crops.
At this point, Qin Haoxuan, Xu Yu, and Murong Chao had become a united little group. The three of them sowed seeds in all three fields together, chatting idly as they worked. Murong Chao's resentment over Qin Haoxuan's punch had completely vanished. Compared to the cautious restraint he had felt beside Li Jing, he instead found this far more free and easy. This feeling of equality and mutual support was truly wonderful.
After sowing the seeds, Qin Haoxuan did not stop to rest even for a moment. He picked up the empty buckets beside him and headed toward the Spirit Spring five li away. Encouraged by Qin Haoxuan, Murong Chao and Xu Yu, who had originally collapsed from exhaustion, looked at each other, climbed up from the ground, each picked up two empty buckets, and followed behind him.
Though there was a Spirit Spring underground, it could only allow them to harvest more and faster than others if they put in the same effort. If others carried Spirit Spring water to irrigate their fields while the three of them sat back and enjoyed the benefits without working, then having a Spirit Spring would be no different from not having one!
Because their fields were the most remote, others needed to carry a load of Spirit Spring water only three li, while they had to carry it five li.
After carrying one load of water, the shoulders of Murong Chao and Xu Yu, who had never carried water before, had been rubbed raw with bloody blisters. Yet they still followed behind Qin Haoxuan without uttering a word. In the eyes of these two special Immortal Seeds, Qin Haoxuan, who was only a weak Seed, had a back so lofty and imposing that it gave them the feeling of gazing up at a high mountain, impossible to surpass.
With a load of water on his shoulders, Qin Haoxuan not only walked as swiftly as if flying, but his buckets remained level and steady without spilling a single drop. Some people tried to surpass Qin Haoxuan in speed, but when they moved as quickly as he did, the Spirit Spring water in their buckets began spilling out. By the time they reached their destination, they were panting and exhausted, with more than half the water gone.
Yet Qin Haoxuan neither flushed nor panted, and there was still just as much water in his buckets. More remarkable still, he maintained this speed for over a hundred loads.
In almost the time it took Xu Yu and Murong Chao to carry one load of water, Qin Haoxuan had already made three trips. After thoroughly watering every inch of his own field, he began carrying water for Xu Yu and Murong Chao as well.
To everyone else, the efforts of those three were simply foolish beyond belief. Their land was worse than the most inferior fields and possessed no spiritual energy at all. No matter how much Spirit Spring water they used to irrigate it, it would be futile.
While they labored bitterly, Elder Chu was not idle either. He secretly reclaimed and sowed two plots of Spirit Land. Yet unlike the other disciples, who had to carry load after load of Spirit Spring water, he merely cast a Spirit Rain Technique. Rain and dew fell evenly over both plots, and they immediately appeared vibrant with life.
After finishing this, Elder Chu looked at Xu Yu and Murong Chao, who were working diligently in the distance, and sighed inwardly. He muttered to himself, "Tomorrow, you will know that you were wrong. The land is so poor that no matter how hard you work, the corn you grow still will not compare to theirs!"
After speaking, he fiercely glared at Qin Haoxuan, who was leading Xu Yu and Murong Chao in their desperate labor, and muttered angrily, "If you had not egged on Xu Yu and Murong Chao, why would I, a dignified Enlightenment Immortal Master and Elder of Spirit Field Valley, need to personally farm land for those two?"
Unable to persuade Xu Yu and Murong Chao to change their minds, Elder Chu feared that they would lose at the starting line. If the sect leader held him accountable in the future, he could not bear that responsibility. Thus, he had no choice but to lower himself and personally do this work.
This planting lesson did not end until night fell. The new disciples who had spent the entire afternoon carrying Spirit Spring water were more or less resentful. To irrigate an entire mu of land, how could fewer than forty or fifty loads of water suffice? Yet for the crops in their own fields not to fall behind those of others, they gritted their teeth and carried all forty or fifty loads, leaving every one of them with aching backs and sore waists.
Only Xu Yu and Murong Chao, infected by Qin Haoxuan's determination, gritted their teeth and persevered. With Qin Haoxuan's help, they, whose route was the longest, were instead the first to finish carrying water.
During the process of carrying water, Qin Haoxuan realized a truth: carrying water was like cultivating immortality. While seeking speed, one also had to seek stability. Otherwise, even if the person and the buckets reached their destination, there would only be a few drops of water left in the buckets, and it would still be of no use! And this water was a cultivator's heart.
Plant the land and carry water; cultivate immortality and cultivate the heart.
Before you continue