Reclaiming Wasteland and Farming

In a vast wilderness several thousand li from Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain, vegetation flourished luxuriantly.

A sudden dragon roar seemed to rise from beneath the earth. Invisible scorching heat billowed up and spread from the ground, and countless birds, beasts, and living creatures swiftly fled from the thickets.

"This plain is large enough, and the earth energy is rather rich. With ample rainfall, it is well suited for growing millet."

Hovering in midair, Shi Mo looked down below and sensed the earthly fire aura rising from the ground. After a brief moment of consideration, he waved his hand, and a ray of starlight shot over from Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain, revealing a black needle faintly glimmering with circulating starlight.

This black needle was the venomous needle treasure refined by Qinyuan, the only female among the four great Monster Clan demon sages who had previously attacked Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain. Shi Mo had taken it using the Treasure-Dropping Money.

Now, Shi Mo had refined the black needle anew, placed restrictions upon it to seal its poisonous aura, and named it the Ten-Thousand-Poison Needle.

As Shi Mo looked at the black needle before him, a thought stirred, and fiery patterns began flowing across it. Then, vast amounts of black qi seemed to evaporate, transforming into a black gale that swept outward.

Whoosh. Wherever the howling black wind passed, the plants in the wilderness, already somewhat wilted from the steaming force of earthly fire, rapidly withered in great swathes at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"What a poisonous treasure!" Though he had seen the venom of the Ten-Thousand-Poison Needle before, Shi Mo could not help narrowing his eyes at the shocking sight of life and death changing places across the wilderness.

As the life force of those plants in the wilderness was extinguished, the withered vegetation was soon ignited by the power of earthly fire, and a raging blaze spread across the plains.

At the same time, lingering black mist and poisonous aura in the sky above the flame-filled wilderness were steamed away and dispersed by the scorching earthly fire.

Before long, the flames gradually died out. Above the charred wilderness, Shi Mo flipped his hand and took out the Northern Xuanyuan Water-Control Banner. As he activated and raised it, water-attributed energy from heaven and earth immediately gathered.

Dark clouds visibly converged overhead, and rain soon began to fall, its vibrant, life-filled water nourishing the wilderness below.

After the rain, accompanied by muffled dragon roars, the earth in the wilderness rolled like an earth dragon. The entire plain trembled and rose and fell as the hardened soil began to loosen.

"That should do," Shi Mo said, his voice traveling underground. As the wilderness swiftly returned to normal, streaks of crimson-gold light surged into the sky, transforming into divine dragons covered in crimson-gold scales. They all assumed human forms and respectfully saluted Shi Mo. "Master!"

Shi Mo waved for them to withdraw, then looked with satisfaction at the fertile land below. With another wave of his hand, starlight descended from the sky, and vast quantities of millet seeds scattered down like rain, falling evenly across the loose soil.

Immediately afterward, Shi Mo activated the Northern Xuanyuan Water-Control Banner once more. A hazy drizzle fell like sweet dew, and after reaching the ground, the millet seeds in the soil were nourished. The yin and yang qi of water and fire blended together, and the seeds directly took root and sprouted at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In just a short while, the land that had once been wilderness had turned into fields filled with millet shoots. Everything was lush and green, brimming with vitality.

"Watch over these millet fields well. Keep birds and beasts from damaging them, and remove any weeds. Though with the vitality of these postcelestial spirit plants, ordinary vegetation will find it difficult to grow in the fields."

After instructing the transformed Earth-Core Fire Dragons, Shi Mo looked at the millet fields below. After a brief moment of thought, he directly tunneled underground.

Beneath the millet fields, Shi Mo sensed the surrounding network of earth veins. Before long, he made several adjustments and arrangements, mobilizing and strengthening the earth-vein power within this land while secretly setting up a restrictive formation reliant on the earth-vein network.

Having settled the matter of the millet fields, Shi Mo continued searching the surrounding area for suitable places to reclaim wasteland. He began trying to plant spirit-root fruit trees, as well as spirit plants and medicinal herbs suitable for large-scale cultivation.

Before he knew it, Shi Mo had created quite a few fields and orchards throughout the vast region surrounding Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain.

With formations and restrictions regulating rainfall and gathering and supplying energy, the spirit plants and fruit trees Shi Mo cultivated on a large scale naturally grew faster than those that grew normally in the Primordial World, and their quality was better as well.

In the blink of an eye, several thousand years passed. Beneath the Flat Peach Mother Tree atop Eight Treasures Peak of Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain, jade plates filled with spirit fruits of every color were arranged across a stone table more than two zhang long.

Leaning against a fork in the trunk of the Flat Peach Mother Tree, Shi Mo casually summoned spirit fruits to eat. He glanced at the reddish Peaches of Immortality of varying sizes growing on the tree and could not help smiling.

"Peaches of Immortality, Peaches of Immortality, my efforts have not been in vain. I did not hesitate to offend the Monster Clan by setting up the Heavenly Stellar Formation to gather stellar power, and I even used the Three Lights Divine Water condensed by the Northern Xuanyuan Water-Control Banner to nourish you. You finally came through and bore fruit."

"The Peaches of Immortality are about to ripen. There are three kinds of peaches on one tree, likely corresponding to the three different varieties of three thousand peach trees each. Thirty of each kind, ninety peaches in total—that is not too few," Shi Mo murmured.

"Brother Hongyun has been craving them for a long time. This time, I'll bring some along and invite him to gather at Brother Zhen Yuanzi's Longevity Mountain!"

With that thought, Shi Mo could no longer stay at Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain. He picked ten Peaches of Immortality from each of the three varieties, then selected a great deal of the various "local specialties" harvested from his farming over the years. Using the earth-vein network to travel as though making a delivery, he headed for Longevity Mountain bearing abundant gifts.

At Longevity Mountain, beneath the lush Ginseng Fruit Tree, the place looked like a fruit stand. All kinds of fruit lay scattered across the ground, while Shi Mo and Zhen Yuanzi sat in the open space at the center.

"Brother Shi Mo, this..." Zhen Yuanzi was somewhat stunned as he looked at the sheer number of things Shi Mo had brought at once.

"Haha! Brother Shi Mo, could it be that you were transformed from an earth monkey? Why do you like fruit so much?" Accompanied by a familiar, hearty laugh, Hongyun descended from the sky. Seeing the fruits covering the ground, his eyes immediately lit up. "Tsk, tsk, Brother Shi Mo, just how many fruit trees have you planted at Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain?"

"Not many can be planted on Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain itself, so I reclaimed land and planted them around it. As soon as the harvest came in, I thought of letting you two brothers have a taste while they were fresh," Shi Mo said with a smile.

"Good heavens! So many spirit fruits, and some of them I've never even seen or eaten before!" Hongyun said, clicking his tongue in wonder. "But what I most want to taste are the Peaches of Immortality you mentioned, Brother Shi Mo! By the way, have the Peaches of Immortality atop your Eight Treasures Peak ripened yet?"

Seeing Hongyun's expectant expression, Shi Mo smiled faintly and waved his hand. Peaches of Immortality of varying sizes appeared beside them.

"Huh? They really ripened?" Hongyun's eyes shone as he looked at the Peaches of Immortality, clearly delighted. He touched this one and examined that one, but soon furrowed his brow slightly. "Brother, the large, red ones must be ripe, but this one is so small. Don't tell me you picked it before it ripened?"

As he spoke, Hongyun picked up a Peach of Immortality about the size of a fist. "This one looks like it has only just begun to turn red!"