Harvesting Top-Grade Spirit Grain!

The Zhang Family, a cultivation clan!

"Zhang Mu actually died." An elderly Zhang Family member at the Qi Refining Realm spoke in a grave voice. He was none other than Zhang Mu's father.

Since Zhang Mu had already broken through to the late stage of the Body Tempering Realm, the Zhang Family had used his natal blood essence to refine a life-preserving jade pendant for him. The pendant could block an ordinary strike from a Qi Refining Realm cultivator. If its owner died, their direct blood relatives would sense it.

This was a method employed by some major cultivation clans to protect their core disciples.

Now that Zhang Mu had suddenly died a violent death, they received the news immediately.

"Zhang Mu was in the Qingyun Sect. Since he suddenly perished, the murderer must still be in the Qingyun Sect. This matter must be investigated thoroughly, and the Qingyun Sect must give us an explanation. In less than a month, our Zhang Family has already lost three promising youths. Zhang Mu had a chance to enter the outer sect, perhaps even the inner sect. A genius like him cannot be allowed to die for nothing." Another Zhang Family elder spoke.

"I will send word to Zhang Tao and the others, ordering them to investigate this matter thoroughly and identify the murderer." Murderous intent blazed in Zhang Mu's father's eyes.

The Qingyun Sect was not the first to learn of Zhang Mu's violent death. The Zhang Family received the news first and contacted their disciples in the Qingyun Sect the following day to handle the matter.

Chen Huai'an, however, knew nothing about it.

Now, he had cast off his restraints and no longer needed to hide his abilities. His water-carrying speed was astonishingly fast.

As soon as he finished his work, he immediately returned to his quarters and entered the space.

"What exactly is going on? Could this space have a time-acceleration effect?" After entering the space, Chen Huai'an noticed a problem. The Spirit Grain he had planted some time ago was growing far too quickly. In just a few days, it was nearly ripe.

Chen Huai'an had asked around about planting Spirit Grain. It normally took a year to mature, yet his Spirit Grain was about to ripen after only a few days. This should not have been the effect of the Spirit Spring Water, so the flow of time within the space must be different.

But that did not seem right either. Sometimes, he stayed in the space for most of the day without experiencing any abnormalities. He did not feel that time flowed faster inside than in the outer sect, nor was it the sort of place where one day inside equaled several days outside.

Chen Huai'an guessed that there was only one possibility: the flow of time in this space was indeed abnormal, but it affected plants rather than living creatures like himself.

Only that could explain it.

Even if one day did not equal one year, having one day equal several months of crop growth in the outside world was still incredibly heaven-defying.

Then the medicinal herbs he had planted some days ago could grow into spirit herbs in just a few months.

However, he was still exploring the rules of this space and had yet to fully understand them.

For example, he had brought some spirit fruits into the space that he had secretly saved instead of eating during his last visit to the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion. Yet after several days, the fruits remained exactly as they had been when he put them in. They had not evolved into low-grade or mid-grade spirit fruits as he had imagined.

As for the medicinal herbs he had planted, they truly changed with each passing day. But he was not particularly knowledgeable about spirit herbs, so he had no idea how many years of medicinal age they possessed.

"Looks like I'll need to read more books on spirit plants when I have the time. It's a pity that the Servant Peak has such a place, but I need contribution points to enter and borrow books. I need to find a way to earn more sect contribution points." Chen Huai'an looked at the Spirit Grain that was about to ripen. He had work to do today. He needed to harvest the mature Spirit Grain and, while he was at it, study whether this space truly accelerated the growth of spirit plants such as Spirit Grain.

If it was truly as he guessed, then he needed to quickly learn more about planting and caring for spirit plants and make proper use of the space.

Chen Huai'an had heard that the spirit herbs required by high-level cultivators often needed to be decades or even centuries old.

He could not wait until he broke through to a higher realm and needed spirit herbs before planting them. That would waste far too much time. If he planned ahead now, he would certainly not have to worry about high-grade spirit herbs in the future.

While observing the Spirit Grain, Chen Huai'an used some of the firewood and branches he had previously cut down to build a simple shelter inside the space.

If time flowed differently in the space than it did outside, then wouldn't cultivating inside allow him to speed up his cultivation?

If talent was lacking, then he would make up for it with time and resources.

What Chen Huai'an did not lack now were cultivation resources. The spirit stones and pills in his possession were enough to support his cultivation all the way to the Qi Refining Realm.

For cultivators, Qi Refining was not the end. It was the beginning.

Yet for these servant disciples, toiling away on the Servant Peak, the endpoint of their struggle was breaking through to the Qi Refining Realm.

Take Old Li, for instance. Without cultivation resources, he would likely find it difficult to break through to the Qi Refining Realm even until the day he died.

Chen Huai'an did not want to end up like Old Li. Therefore, he had to cultivate even harder and break through to higher realms.

After building the shelter, Chen Huai'an began busily harvesting the Spirit Grain.

Because he had not expected the Spirit Grain to ripen so quickly, Chen Huai'an had not prepared any harvesting tools. He could only use a dagger to cut the rice stalks, making his efficiency extremely low.

Fortunately, his cultivation was there to support him. He was at the fifth level of the middle stage of the Body Tempering Realm, and he worked like a tireless machine, frantically cutting the rice stalks.

After harvesting half the crop, he left the space. He still had to complete his water-carrying task for the day before he could return to the space to cultivate.

Of course, to collect the Spirit Grain, he needed to find some tools. He did not need a sickle just yet, but he had to prepare bags to store the Spirit Grain. He could not simply leave it scattered around the space; that would be far too messy.

Also, now that the Spirit Grain was ripe, he had to find a way to turn it into spirit rice. A stone mill was indispensable. He needed to remove the husks and eat that snowy white spirit rice.

Body Tempering strengthened the flesh and required blood qi, while Spirit Grain could replenish blood qi effectively and even raise one's cultivation.

The Spirit Grain grown in this space was of an extremely high grade. It was even higher in quality than the Spirit Grain he had bought from the Qingyun Sect marketplace, reaching top grade.

He had never even heard of top-grade Spirit Grain being sold in the marketplace, much less seen anyone buy it. Even with spirit stones, one might not be able to purchase such a thing.

Chen Huai'an spent less than half a day filling two large vats with water. The other servant disciples assigned to carry water were also working desperately, and their efficiency had improved considerably compared to before. Even Steward Wu had not expected that.

What Chen Huai'an did not know was that Old Li had been looking for an opportunity to cause trouble for him and teach him a lesson throughout the day's water-carrying work. Yet by the time Old Li finished his task, he had not seen Chen Huai'an at all, leaving him furious and stifled.

"You damned brat. That fellow is deliberately avoiding me. Do you really think that just because you hide from me, I won't be able to make trouble for you?" Old Li stared at Chen Huai'an's room and snarled viciously.