A Single Spark

Mid-April of the 2613th year of the Douluo Calendar.

The Barak Kingdom is located in the center of the Lima Plain, more than twenty miles south of the city of Suotuo City.

The scorching sun made everyone in Wild Jujube Village, young and old, listless, mechanically going about their tasks.

Wild Jujube Village is one of the most inconspicuous of the hundreds of ordinary villages surrounding Suotuo City, and even in the entire Lima Plain.

In the center of the village, next to a small square, in front of a stone house, stands a stone tablet about two meters high.

Judging from the quality of the stone, this stone tablet is very new, at least much newer than the stone house behind it that looks quite old.

When the sun was setting and the temperature seemed less scorching, many restless little monkeys came to the small square to play.

Among the dozen or so teenagers and children, two figures stood out from the crowd.

There stood two boys, around ten years old, in front of the stone tablet, each holding a Hoe. They raised the hoe high and swung it down forcefully, turning up a large clump of mud from the ground in front of them.

The two men continued for more than fifteen minutes. Perhaps they were tired, so they leaned on their Hoe, panting, and looked up at the stone tablet.

As you can see, there are three rows of patterns carved on the stone tablet, each row containing three human figures in different poses, with a text label next to each figure, making it a beautiful combination of pictures and text.

The top row of human figures is depicted holding a thin, Hoe -like tool; the second row features a sickle-shaped tool; and the third row depicts an axe.

"Whoosh—"

Yu Si caught his breath, raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and turned to the Cheng Xu beside him, saying, "Brother Xu, once we master this ' Hoe-Swinging Form, will it really improve our physical fitness?"

The Cheng Xu bent down to pick up the water hyacinth at his feet, uncorked it, tilted his head back and took a few gulps of water to moisten his slightly parched throat. He looked up at the stone tablet in front of him and whispered, "It should be fine, right? The steward who came to the village a while ago to help Jianwa and Erni awaken their Martial Soul said that as long as one perseveres in practicing the ' Farmer's Three Forms,' one can cultivate their physique to a level comparable to a level ten Soul Scholar..."

"And have you noticed that since we started practicing this ' Hoe-Swinging Form,' our appetites seem to have increased..."

"Uh~"

Yu Si scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "Brother Xu, you know me. I've never had a small appetite since I was a child. I'm never full. I haven't really noticed whether my appetite has increased recently."

"Don't worry~" The Cheng Xu shook its head and comforted its companions, "The butler said that as long as we switch to planting ' Blue Silver Rice ' at the end of the month, the yield will be enough for all of us to eat our fill every day until the next harvest."

"But," Yu Si pursed her lips, her face hesitant, and said stammeringly, "My father and uncle are a bit unsure about this ' Blue Silver Rice.' If we switch to it and the harvest isn't as good as before, that would be terrible!"

The Cheng Xu opened its mouth, but ultimately said nothing. It knew that this wasn't just Yu Si's family's opinion; at this moment, more than 80% of the households in the entire Wild Jujube Village actually shared similar views with Yu Si's family.

On the one hand, they had high expectations for what the deacon of the Spirit Hall said; but on the other hand, they were worried that if the deacon was wrong, they would have problems eating in the second half of the year and into the next.

Although Wild Jujube Village is located on the Lima Plain, and the nearby "Suotuo City" is known as the "Barak Granary," with every household having a certain amount of grain stored, there is a saying that goes, "A half-grown boy can eat his father to death." These ordinary teenagers who have not yet awakened their Innate Soul Power have already started working in the fields. The result of their daily heavy physical labor is that they all have a huge appetite!

After deducting the taxes paid and the new grain bought up by the merchants in the city, each household had a limited amount of grain reserves.

Some of it was reserved for the next season's grain, and even starving people dared not touch it; the rest was consumed little by little.

After a moment of contemplation, the Cheng Xu took a deep breath, turned its gaze to the ancient-style stone tablet, looked at the simple yet extremely lifelike figure, and slowly said, "Don't worry, whether practicing this ' Hoe-Swinging Form ' can improve one's physique, and whether one's physique can reach the level of a tenth-level Soul Scholar after completing the entire ' Farmer's Three Forms,' is indeed hard to say at the moment."

"But!" the Cheng Xu said firmly, his eyes gleaming, "This ' Hoe-Swinging Form definitely increases our tilling efficiency!"

"At worst, we can cultivate some new land a bit further away and plant the same crops there!"

"Given the remarkable nature of the ' Hoe-Swinging Form, the subsequent ' Sickle-Swinging Form will surely be just as effective for harvesting."

"If we can speed up the tilling, sowing, and final harvesting, even if the ' Blue Silver Rice ' harvest is not ideal, our final harvest shouldn't be worse than before!"

At this point, the Cheng Xu nodded vigorously to increase the persuasiveness of its words.

Just then, a clear voice rang out abruptly behind them. "Young friends, could you lend me your Hoe for a moment?"

"Huh?!" *2

The Cheng Xu and Yu Si subconsciously turned around to look at the person who had suddenly spoken and appeared.

This was a young man who looked to be in his early twenties, with a rather robust build. He had a distinctive face, with a slightly protruding chin, wide cheekbones, a flat face, and a somewhat hooked nose. On this shoehorn-shaped face, he wore a pair of square, black-rimmed crystal glasses. Behind the lenses, his eyes held a mixture of arrogance, youthful vigor, curiosity, and an indescribable cunning.

Of course, neither the Cheng Xu nor Yu Si could clearly perceive this pie chart-like gaze. They only subconsciously felt that this person gave them an invisible sense of pressure, and unconsciously wanted to listen to him.

Yu Si was a beat slower than Cheng Xu, Cheng Xu picked up the Hoe he was holding and handed it to the bespectacled youth. "Here you go."

"Thank you." The bespectacled young man accepted it, a smile spreading across his narrow face as he nodded in acknowledgment.

"N-nothing..." Cheng Xu smiled shyly, raised his hand and pulled Yu Si a few steps to the side, making way for the stone tablet behind them.

Clearly, this bespectacled young man, who appeared out of nowhere, was interested in the "Hoe-Swinging Form," or rather, the "Farmer's Three Forms," inscribed on the stone tablet.

The bespectacled youth looked up and examined the stone tablet in front of him, his gaze fixed on the vividly illustrated figures. He sometimes frowned, sometimes squinted, and sometimes showed a strange expression.

Not long after, after carefully examining all the diagrams, the bespectacled youth, holding the Hoe in his hand, finally began to practice the ' Hoe-Swinging Form, referring to the top row.

Compared to the Cheng Xu and Yu Si, who had been studying for almost half a month, the bespectacled youth's movements were slightly stiff during his first practice. However, judging from the force of his Hoe hoe and the large clump of mud that the blade kicked up as it cut into the ground, it was clear that he possessed considerable strength!

I'm still writing; the next chapter should be before midnight.

Also, you should be able to guess who this bespectacled young man is, right? It's very simple~