Mu Ye was satisfied. At last, he had completed this one-star mission.
"Before I knew it, it's almost dawn..."
"Good thing I'm a Cultivator. I don't have to worry about staying up late."
Mu Ye closed his eyes and silently circulated the Foundation Building Art, letting his mind empty.
Cultivators in the Qi Condensation stage couldn't yet condense Divine Sense. The Foundation Building Art was a common, low-grade technique; not only was it slow to cultivate, it was difficult to improve. But it did have one advantage: it strengthened the body and nourished the essence. Circulating it and letting Spiritual Power flow through the body relaxed the organs, providing a slight restorative effect that nourished the body and revived the spirit.
In truth, Cultivators had little need for sleep. A few hours a day was enough; most of their time was spent meditating and cultivating.
By daybreak, Mu Ye had already risen and started another day of labor.
He had spent all the Spirit Stones he'd saved over the past few years, so now he had to start saving again.
"I've been playing this game for almost two months now..."
In the real world, nothing much had changed. A few laborers at the mine had left, and a few new ones had taken their place.
The Zhu Fengliu next door had already kicked the bucket. He'd died inside one of the rooms at Tianxiang Pavilion in Qinghe Market. Supposedly, he'd been cultivating with someone when he suffered a cultivation deviation, choked up, and died right there on top of the other person.
The Cultivation World was always this cruel. People came and went, lived and died; you never knew who would be next.
Stepping out of the Stone House, Mu Ye was jolted awake by the fresh air.
"There are a lot fewer laborer disciples..."
He looked around and sighed. Suddenly, a somewhat familiar figure appeared in his field of vision.
The man stood in front of a Stone House, bracing himself against a tree trunk.
"Chen the Lame?"
Mu Ye walked over and asked, "Why are you back?"
The man turned around, revealing a fairly handsome face, though it was gray and lifeless, his eyes dull. He studied Mu Ye from head to toe, then froze.
"You're... Mu Ye?"
"It's me..." Mu Ye nodded. Zhu Fengliu had told him about Chen the Lame before.
To be honest, it was pretty tragic.
A classic case of an honest man raising another man's child, only to be kicked to the curb—and having his other leg crippled, too.
Back at Qinghe Mine, he'd been an exceptionally honest Cultivator, the hardworking sort as well. The two of them were both workaholics and neighbors, and they'd gotten along reasonably well.
It was just too bad he'd met the wrong person.
Mu Ye looked him over and saw that his clothes were in tatters. A faint, fishy stench wafted from him; he must have crawled back from the wilderness. With a sigh, Mu Ye took out a few Spirit Coins and handed them to him.
"I heard what happened to you. At least you're alive. From now on, you'd better just stay here and mine... No one's been living in your Stone House."
With that, Mu Ye patted him on the shoulder.
Spirit Coins were made by breaking Spirit Stones into smaller pieces. Cultivators used them to buy everyday odds and ends.
A few Spirit Coins came to no more than the cost of a few of Mu Ye's meals.
Chen the Lame opened his mouth. A glimmer seemed to surface in his murky eyes as he stared blankly at the Spirit Coins in his hand. He didn't come back to himself until Mu Ye had walked away.
Just then,
"Ke ke ke... I never thought this Cultivation World still had a bit of human warmth..."
A strange voice rang out from within him.
Chen the Lame said nothing. He merely gripped the Spirit Coins in his hand and remained silent.
--
Mining in the morning and tending the fields in the afternoon had become Mu Ye's daily routine.
The weeds in his mu of Spirit Field, along with most of the demon insects, had nearly all been cleared away.
"About time to start sowing."
Mu Ye looked at the spotless, immaculate Spirit Field and felt a fair bit of satisfaction.
The burned Stone Stem Grass had turned into fertilizer for the soil, with some left over. There had simply been too much Stone Stem Grass.
In fact, these weeds and the Spirit Field itself formed a kind of cycle. When a Spirit Field went barren, the weeds absorbed its nutrients and drew in the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth, turning into this special kind of weed. Once burned, they made the best fertilizer for the soil.
The only downside was that it was a hassle.
Next came the sowing.
It was late spring, and plenty of Spirit Plants were suited to the season. The easiest to grow and best value for money was naturally Fragrant Spirit Melon Rice.
This Spirit Plant was half fruit and half Spirit Rice. Its ears of rice grew inside melon-like fruits, whose unusual flesh locked in the Spiritual Energy within. It had a sweet aftertaste and a soft, glutinous texture, making it extremely popular among Qi Condensation Cultivators.
Even Foundation Establishment Cultivators enjoyed eating high-quality Fragrant Spirit Melon Rice, despite most of them having already achieved grain avoidance and no longer needing food.
But for many Cultivators, food was a matter of taste. They didn't abandon it entirely just because their cultivation had advanced.
Otherwise, Spirit Plants would never have developed. Without demand, there would be no such thing as Spirit Plants.
Mu Ye had already prepared the seeds.
A mu of land wasn't small, but for a Qi Condensation Cultivator, he could get it done in a single afternoon.
By dusk, Mu Ye had arranged the seeds in neat rows and buried them in the soil. All that remained was to tend them as usual.
Looking at the neatly spaced little mounds of earth, Mu Ye smiled with satisfaction.
Then a series of claps suddenly sounded behind him.
"Well done, well done. I never expected a laborer disciple like you to work so diligently. In just one short month, you've cleared all the Stone Stem Grass from the Spirit Field..."
Mu Ye turned around.
A middle-aged man had appeared at the Spirit Field without him noticing. He was looking at Mu Ye with a broad smile.
Mu Ye recognized him at a glance. He was the Cultivator who had rented him the Spirit Field.
"Did you come here because you need something from me?" Mu Ye asked, growing wary as he watched the man.
"Of course I did."
"I'm not renting out the Spirit Field anymore," the middle-aged man said with a smile. "I'll return your Spirit Stones. Give me back the deed."
"?"
Mu Ye had already suspected as much, but hearing it still made him laugh in anger.
Well, well. So he wanted to freeload off a month of Mu Ye's hard work?
That month, he hadn't just cleared weeds—he'd cleared out the insects, too. Of course, it was also because of the Golden Hawthorn Locusts that Mu Ye had been able to cultivate his Vajra Leg so quickly.
"Sorry, but you've already rented the Spirit Field to me." Mu Ye shook his head. "I've worked so hard all month. You can't just say you're ending the rental and expect me to hand it back."
"Then I'm afraid there's nothing I can do." The middle-aged man shrugged and raised a hand, sending a blast of Mystic Ice Art at him.
The ice shards formed long spikes. There were only a few, but they shot straight toward Mu Ye's vital points. It was obvious the man had cast this technique countless times; he'd long since mastered it.
Mu Ye retreated swiftly, his expression darkening.
"You've already rented the Spirit Field to me... If you attack me like this, you're breaking the rules. Aren't you afraid the Jinshi Sect's enforcement disciples will punish you?"
"Of course I'm afraid. If you were an Outer Disciple like me, I wouldn't dare... But you're just a laborer. What do I have to fear? At worst, I'll be punished for a few months. I'll get a perfectly good Spirit Field for free, then rent it out again at a high price and make a tidy profit."
The middle-aged man laughed. "Kid, you're still too green."
"Besides, in times like these, with these fields out here in the hills and no one around, I can kill you, leave Jinshi Sect's territory, and dump your body somewhere outside. Unless those enforcement disciples happen to come across it, who'd ever know?"
"I advise you to hand over the deed and keep your life. Swallow this for now. Once you've built up a little strength, maybe you can come looking for revenge."
Mu Ye twisted and dodged, narrowly avoiding one ice spike after another.
His body was now well coordinated, with over a hundred apertures opened and exceptionally nimble limbs. And since he'd already expected the man to attack, he managed to evade the strikes.
But one of the ice shards still pierced his arm.
"A Qi Condensation Third Layer Cultivator's spells are way too powerful compared to mine..."
Mu Ye's heart sank. Laborer disciples really did have low status.
It was like those delivery riders in his previous life. If they got into an accident, would some delivery platform give a damn?
It wouldn't even spare them a glance.
Seeing Mu Ye dodge, the middle-aged man looked a little surprised.
"Pretty agile, I'll give you that... Too bad it's useless."
Several blasts of Mystic Ice Art came at him, their plain, unadorned force overwhelming him with a gap in cultivation.
Mu Ye managed to cast the Geng Metal Grass-Cutting Sword, but it couldn't cut through the ice spikes. The Sword Light even shattered after traveling just a few meters.
In a clash of spells, he was no match at all.
The more he dodged, the more injuries he suffered.
"Wait, I surrender!"
"I'll give you the deed!"
Mu Ye slumped to the ground, looking utterly exhausted. Then he took out the deed and clutched it tightly in his hand.
If the deed was torn up, the Spirit Field would become ownerless and return to the Jinshi Sect.
To get it again, the man would have to rent it anew, and that would cost far more.
Otherwise, if the man really intended to kill him, Mu Ye might not have had any chance to fight back at all.
The middle-aged man was overjoyed.
"At least you know when to quit."
As he spoke, he kept one hand behind his back, secretly forming a Mystic Ice Art, then walked toward Mu Ye.
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