Pest Exterminator Kong Jiao

The exhausted youth trudged out of the mud shrouded in frosty mist, each step shallow, then deep.

Even as he walked, his body swayed from side to side. His drooping eyelids were dull and lifeless; anyone with eyes could see just how greatly Kong Jiao had been drained. This was plainly the sign of spiritual power overexertion.

"Senior Brother Mu, check whether the spirit rice has been harmed."

Kong Jiao's vision had darkened, and his breathing came fast. After informing Mu Tian, he ignored the mud coating his legs and simply sat cross-legged at the edge of the spirit field, entering meditation to recover his spiritual power.

Even when breaking the formation in the underground cavern, Kong Jiao had never depleted his spiritual power so severely.

The spiritual power throughout his body had nearly been completely exhausted.

It was as though all the strength in his body had been sucked away along with it, leaving his vision dark and his spirits listless.

Mu Tian knew Kong Jiao was in poor condition and did not disturb him.

While Kong Jiao meditated, Mu Tian hurried into the field, crushing the thin layer of ice over the mud beneath his feet as he inspected the spirit rice.

Kong Jiao remained in meditation for a full hour.

It took an entire hour to refill his completely empty dantian.

"Eh!" Kong Jiao did not immediately rise. Instead, as he examined his physical condition, he let out a quiet cry of surprise.

After a brief daze, his expression turned wry.

The spiritual energy that had refilled his dantian seemed to be slightly greater in quantity than before, and even more refined.

Constantly exhausting my spiritual power and replenishing it could count as a form of tempering it, I suppose! Kong Jiao seemed to gain some insight.

This method of cultivation was not much worse than cultivating with the Spirit Spring.

It was just that the weakness after his spiritual power ran dry was truly unpleasant. Kong Jiao felt that, at the time, he had barely even possessed the strength to breathe.

If not for this opportunity, Kong Jiao would never have come to suffer such hardship.

Thinking of the opportunity, Kong Jiao gradually gathered his thoughts and sank his gaze into the depths of his consciousness, looking at the Cloud-Pattern Stele.

The writing upon it had not changed.

'Help the spirit farmers of the Cangwu Sect eliminate the insect infestation to obtain +2 opportunity points.'

It seemed he had not yet met the trigger conditions for this opportunity.

Kong Jiao did not think it would be so simple. After all, he had waited two whole years for the opportunity at the Miscellaneous Books Pavilion before matters finally took a turn for the better.

With that thought, Kong Jiao withdrew from his cultivation state and opened his eyes.

Bright sunlight filled his vision.

Mu Tian sat beside him, smoking his dry tobacco. His sun-darkened face was unusually full of smiles.

Noticing that Kong Jiao had awakened, Mu Tian quickly tossed aside his pipe and said with undisguised excitement, "Junior Brother Kong, you're awake. Do you feel any discomfort?"

"I'm fine now." Kong Jiao rose and moved his limbs before asking, "How are the spirit fields?"

"They're all dead. Those damned Marrow-Eating Insects were all frozen to death by Junior Brother's frost." As Mu Tian spoke, he was so excited he nearly began dancing with joy.

The insect infestation that had plagued him for days had finally come to an end.

"Also, I checked the condition of the spirit rice. It's fine! Spirit rice is cold-resistant and wasn't harmed by Junior Brother's frost."

"That's good." Hearing Mu Tian's report, Kong Jiao also breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, the insect infestation was tied to the opportunity behind this matter.

Looking at the sickly spirit rice in the field, Kong Jiao said with some emotion, "It's just that the spirit rice has suffered a severe loss of vitality after the infestation. This year's harvest will probably still be affected."

"The impact shouldn't be too great. Once those Marrow-Eating Insects freeze to death, their corpses will fall into the fields and become the richest fertilizer. I read all this in books." Mu Tian flicked away his ash as he replied, sounding utterly assured.

As he spoke, Mu Tian seemed to recall something. With great solemnity, he took five mottled spirit crystals from his robes and held them out before Kong Jiao.

"These are the spirit crystals I promised Junior Brother."

"Then I'll accept them without further ceremony." Kong Jiao received the spirit crystals with a grin.

Mu Tian had been right. The Marrow-Eating Locusts Kong Jiao froze to death with the Frost Breath Technique ultimately became nourishment for the spirit rice.

Within a few days, the spirit rice that had previously been limp and withering became lush and flourishing, every grain on the rice ears plump and full.

Mu Tian's mouth would not close from his smile. He kept muttering, "A bumper harvest, a bumper harvest."

Kong Jiao's removal of the infestation from Mu Tian's spirit field was only the beginning.

After all, the infestation in the Cangwu Sect had not harmed Mu Tian's fields alone.

When other spirit farmers suffering from infestations saw the state of Mu Tian's fields, they were all greatly astonished.

Naturally, they came to seek advice.

Mu Tian told them everything he knew and informed the other spirit farmers of Kong Jiao's contribution.

Moreover, he deliberately sought to repay the favor. Whenever he had time, he would intentionally bring people to Kong Jiao.

Before long, more and more spirit farmers came to Kong Jiao to have their infestations removed.

Kong Jiao had to head out every few days. He was so busy he could barely keep up, with hardly any time to rest.

The Cangwu Sect had countless spirit fields. If he truly visited one place a day, he would not finish even after an entire year.

But Kong Jiao's cultivation was limited, and he could visit at most one or two places each day.

Moreover, every removal of an infestation was a test of endurance for Kong Jiao.

The spiritual power within him was emptied time and again, then filled time and again.

Tempered in this manner, his spiritual power grew ever richer and purer, while his cultivation advanced at an astonishingly gratifying pace.

Of course, it was also related to Kong Jiao's unceasing daily cultivation.

No matter how tired he was each day, Kong Jiao insisted on cultivating at the Spirit Spring in the underground cavern every night.

He removed pests and tempered his spiritual power by day, then cultivated diligently by night, never relaxing for even a moment.

Even Shangguan Yuzhou, who occasionally visited the underground cavern, could not help clicking his tongue in amazement.

"This senior brother has seen so many outer sect disciples in the Cangwu Sect, yet I've never seen one as desperate as Junior Brother Kong. Could it be that Junior Brother Kong has some blood-deep vendetta and is thinking of risking his life against his enemy?"

"Still, it is a good thing that Junior Brother Kong cultivates diligently, but you must know when to ease and when to tighten. Don't stretch yourself too taut."

Shangguan Yuzhou naturally said this out of concern for Kong Jiao.

Kong Jiao merely rolled his eyes at him.

His talent could not compare to Shangguan Yuzhou's, so he could only make up for clumsiness with diligence.

If he too could spend every day outside either competing in swordsmanship or reading books, while his cultivation still shot upward, he would want to rest as well.

Time passed day by day.

Kong Jiao's skill at removing infestations from spirit fields had long spread among the outer sect's spirit farmers.

It was not only spirit farmers plagued by Marrow-Eating Locusts who sought him out. Spirit farmers suffering from other infestations also came to Kong Jiao one after another.

And indeed, in most cases, wherever Kong Jiao went, the pests were gone.

He gradually gained a modest reputation in the outer sect.

Furthermore, removing pests from spirit fields did not only benefit his cultivation.

The spirit crystals he earned were also one reason Kong Jiao worked so desperately.

With a stable daily income of five spirit crystals, he earned one hundred and fifty in a month.

Heavens, such an income was an extremely considerable sum even in the entire outer sect.

Wealth stirred people's hearts. Several disciples cultivating the Frostfall Wheel-Nourishing Scripture began joining the work of eliminating pests from spirit fields as well.

Yet there were only seven or eight people in the entire outer sect who cultivated the Frostfall Wheel-Nourishing Scripture. More than half possessed considerable cultivation and looked down on the muddy work in the spirit fields.

As for the rest, whose cultivation was not high, their understanding of the Frost Breath Technique was far less profound than Kong Jiao's.

Even if they could eliminate the infestations, their results were vastly inferior to Kong Jiao's.

Naturally, some spirit farmers sought them out as well, but their numbers were far fewer than those who came to Kong Jiao.

After all, he was the first to eat the crab. Whether in reputation or ability, he far surpassed those people.

The unbroken busyness continued for three whole months.

Fewer and fewer spirit farmers came to Kong Jiao for pest removal.

It was not because Kong Jiao's business had been stolen, but because the busy farming season had arrived—the time to harvest the spirit rice.

The spirit farmers were all occupied with harvesting their own spirit rice.

At last, Kong Jiao could breathe easy.

Then, to his delight, he discovered that after three months of day-and-night effort without a moment's rest, his cultivation had somehow come within a single step of the fourth stage of the Wheel-Nourishing Realm.

He estimated that in another ten days to half a month, he would be able to break through to the fourth stage of the Wheel-Nourishing Realm.