At first, when Shen Changchuan said he wanted to reform Dawan Village,
Han Qinhu had supported him with all his might,
but deep down, he couldn't help feeling a little worried.
After all,
Shen Changchuan was too young!
He was at the very start of his life,
and Han Qinhu had seen more than a few young people turn good intentions into bad outcomes through a burst of youthful passion and impulsiveness.
Besides, none of them had any experience growing Spirit Fields.
There was no precedent at all
for whether these changes would be good or bad.
Naturally, they felt uneasy.
Fortunately,
the plan Shen Changchuan later came up with wasn't too rash. He had only reorganized the personnel, leaving the original planting methods unchanged and making adjustments only to two mu of experimental fields.
Moreover, the crops in the experimental fields had been planted only after he had thoroughly learned about all kinds of experience from the people working below, then gathered and summarized it.
Every step had been taken with great care,
and Han Qinhu had gradually gained more confidence.
Now, with the harvest season upon them, Han Qinhu actually felt that the outcome was only to be expected.
In truth, he wasn't the only one who thought so.
Every villager in Dawan Village felt the same way.
At first, many people hadn't really wanted Shen Changchuan to make reforms, out of a conservative mindset. They had only agreed to reorganize into groups because he was an Immortal Master, and an Immortal Master's orders could not be disobeyed.
But over the past few days,
the changes in Dawan Village had been plain for all to see.
Everyone had a clear measure in their hearts of whether the reforms were good or bad.
And now,
all twelve mu of Spirit Grain had yielded an increased harvest.
Shen Changchuan's prestige had consequently reached its peak throughout the village.
No one had the slightest dissatisfaction anymore!
No wonder he was an Immortal Master at such a young age. There had to be a reason behind the way he did things.
When Han Qinhu accompanied Shen Changchuan to the edge of the Spirit Fields,
the villagers working nearby all turned to look at them with reverence.
"That's good, then."
Seeing that his reforms had truly worked, Shen Changchuan felt a weight lift from his heart.
"Mm. After the harvest, let's gather the problems the people encountered while cultivating the Spirit Fields, as well as the reasons and techniques that can increase Spirit Grain yields."
"We'll see which team's experimental fields produced the most Spirit Grain—the ones managed by the Eleventh Team or the Twelfth Team. We'll use the best planting manual as our standard, then incorporate and improve on the other methods. Next year, we'll promote this approach everywhere."
After thinking for a moment,
Shen Changchuan spoke.
Though he wasn't a Spirit Planter and didn't understand how to grow Spirit Grain, his understanding of this world was limited to the many miscellaneous books he had read back at the Shen Family Estate.
Fortunately,
he had experience with the industrial civilization of another world and had received a certain level of education.
Shen Changchuan's improvements to Spirit Grain cultivation
were, in essence, nothing more than the inductive and analytical methods used in mathematics, physics, and chemistry.
Collect data, organize and categorize it, observe commonalities, summarize, and verify the conclusions.
These methods might seem simple.
But they were the crystallization of the wisdom of the industrial civilization from his previous life.
In truth,
this wasn't the first time Shen Changchuan had benefited from the wisdom of the knowledge he had gained in his previous life.
The many spells on his panel that had reached perfection were also, in fact, the result of the educational system he had experienced in his previous life.
Shen Changchuan's talent for spell cultivation was far from top-notch.
Although Shen Changchuan's soul had grown stronger than other people's after transmigrating, because he had absorbed and fused with another person's soul,
the most he could gain from that advantage was a better memory.
When it came to comprehending spells, he didn't really have much of an edge.
Compared with the true geniuses of legend, who understood everything at a glance and mastered whatever they learned, Shen Changchuan couldn't have been further behind.
So how had he mastered so many spells at the perfection level?
The first reason was that the panel let him see his cultivation progress.
The second
was the learning methods from his previous life.
For example, drilling through endless practice problems,
and research methods like raising questions, making hypotheses, drawing summaries, and reaching conclusions.
The knowledge and experience from his previous life
couldn't make Shen Changchuan leap straight to the summit in a single day.
But it was like a compass in the midst of a fog, pointing him in the right direction and helping him climb higher one step at a time.
"By the way, now that Spirit Grain yields have increased, once the Spirit Fields have been harvested, let's set aside one-tenth of the extra yield from the ten mu of fields and hold a banquet."
Shen Changchuan gathered his wandering thoughts and spoke.
One-tenth of the extra yield might not amount to much when shared among two thousand people.
But mixed with ordinary polished rice, it would be enough to cook a huge pot of Spirit Rice Porridge.
Appropriate rewards
could better inspire the people below to take the initiative.
And that was exactly what had happened.
The ten mu of Spirit Fields had yielded ten percent more precisely because the Eleventh and Twelfth Teams' profit-sharing incentive plan had stirred the other teams into action, leading them to take such careful care of the fields during this period.
Han Qinhu didn't keep such good news to himself, either.
He announced it to everyone right there and then.
At once, a tremendous wave of cheers rose up all around them.
Some of the older villagers even had tears in their eyes.
They had come to Dawan Village more than a decade ago, hoping to set foot on the path to immortality, but had never once had the chance to taste Spirit Rice.
Immortal Master Shen really was good to them!
He knew how to increase Spirit Grain yields, and he was generous, too.
So when Han Qinhu also mentioned that they would be collecting methods and techniques for growing Spirit Grain, nearly everyone in Dawan Village eagerly volunteered to take part.
Seeing this scene,
Shen Changchuan was in a good mood.
He had managed Dawan Village so well that its future looked bright indeed!
Still in high spirits, Shen Changchuan returned to the courtyard halfway up the mountain,
planning to study the page of fragmentary notes in the Four Evils of He Mountain's Storage Bag and figure out what the Azure Wood Sword Light was all about.
He had spent no small amount of effort on it over the past two months.
He had spent almost as much time studying the Water Dragon Technique, whose progress had already reached 45%.
But the Azure Wood Sword Light was only at 1%!
He could barely manage to cast it. He hadn't even reached the entry level!
The gap between them was simply too great!
This was the first time Shen Changchuan had encountered such a situation.
It looked like he wouldn't need to be involved in the Spirit Grain harvest anymore,
so he naturally planned to focus on puzzling out this unusual fragment of the Azure Wood Sword Light.
However,
before Shen Changchuan could figure it out,
Han Qinhu suddenly hurried over to find him.
He brought important news that had just come in from below.
"What? There have been signs of a Demon Beast recently?!"
Time flew by,
and in the blink of an eye, three days passed.
The day for harvesting the Spirit Grain had arrived.
The heavens were being very kind, too.
The sky was clear and the air fresh,
with a gentle breeze and mild sunshine.
Above them stretched a vast, cloudless sky.
The weather was excellent.
They only had to wait until the Spirit Grain showed signs of being fully ripe before they could start reaping it with sickles.
But at that moment,
Shen Changchuan stood on higher ground beside the Spirit Fields, his hands clasped behind his back,
gazing up at the vast sky above,
a trace of worry flashing through his eyes.
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