The Power of the Seventh Grade, New Techniques

Auspicious Land, New Apple City.

Beneath the Buddha Hall, deep within the soil layers.

Luo Dazhuang dragged Li Shitou as they plowed through the mud. His Earth Escape Technique was pushed to its absolute limit, yet Li Shitou had already used the Earth Escape three times today. Being forcibly dragged into the earth now, he instantly felt a intense sense of suffocation and crushing pressure. His lungs felt as though they were filled with mud, and every breath carried a thick, coppery stench of blood.

His body was being repelled by the soil layer, at risk of being forced out to the surface at any moment.

Gritting his teeth, Luo Dazhuang gripped him with a death grip and persevered, pushing forward. He knew he could not hold on much longer, but still he fought desperately onward.

Suddenly—

Boom!

A Buddhist chant exploded from the surface, piercing through several zhang of soil layers and plunging straight underground.

Immediately after.

Brilliant golden Buddha light tore through the night, illuminating the night sky of New Apple City as bright as day.

A giant golden Buddha hand floated high in the air, its five fingers splayed, the patterns on its palm clearly visible. A heavy sense of suppression rushed over them. The transcendent Buddhist arts that survived from the ancient era had ultimately not completely perished with the severance of the immortal path!

An ancient and majestic Buddhist voice resounded across the city!

"The Buddha's heart is merciful and forbids the taking of life, yet our Buddha also possesses a Vajra Wrathful Gaze. Those who slay the Buddhist children of our sect, those who trample upon the majesty of our Buddha sect—must be put to death!"

Before the words faded, the golden Buddha hand pressed down fiercely!

Boom!

Rumble, rumble, rumble—

The earth trembled violently. The Buddha hand struck down, and the entire area where the Buddha hall stood was smashed into a giant palm print, sinking a zhang deep.

The farmers, farmhands, and slaves within the range of the palm print were all beaten into a paste of flesh and blood, indistinguishable as to who was who... Those on the periphery of the palm print were blown away by the gale force winds. Some crashed into walls on the spot, shattering their bones, while others were torn apart by the shockwave, collapsing to the ground and wailing incessantly.

The gathered crowd of thousands suffered casualties of over half in an instant!

The might of a single palm was terrifying to this extent!

Yet... this was not the end.

The Buddha hand did not dissipate, but instead slowly rose, its five fingers closing to form a Buddhist seal. That ancient Buddhist voice sounded once more, bone-chillingly cold—

"Those who instigate chaos shall be put to death. Begone—!"

A streak of golden light peeled away from the Buddha hand, darting into the earth like an arrow off a bowstring, pursuing the fleeing presence deep underground straight away.

Luo Dazhuang felt a sudden chill run through his entire body.

A fatal threat!

The perception echoing from the depths of the earth told him that the golden light was tracking them, and its speed far surpassed the Earth Escape!

His eyes split open in fury, and he instinctively flipped over to shield Li Shitou beneath his body.

Yet Li Shitou found strength from somewhere unknown, stamping his foot down on the other's chest as he rasped hoarsely, "Big Brother Dazhuang, you can still use Earth Escape... flee quickly...! My, Li Shitou's, life has reached its end today... I cannot go back..."

"Crap!"

Luo Dazhuang wanted to curse, but before the words left his mouth, Li Shitou had fiercely broken free from his grip, taking the initiative to meet that brilliant golden light head-on!

"No—!"

Luo Dazhuang reached out a hand, but he could grab nothing at all—

The golden light crashed fiercely into Li Shitou's chest. His body disintegrated inch by inch within the Buddha light, flesh and blood exploding outward like moths flying into a flame.

At the same time, the aftermath of the golden light swept past, engulfing half of Luo Dazhuang's body as well. Flesh and blood rolled open, bare white bones exposed... The intense, searing pain caused his vision to black out as the world spun!

Old Farmer Hall headquarters, seclusion chamber.

Hum, hum, hum.

The earth trembled faintly, and a roaring sound came from afar, shaking incessantly.

The stone gates that had remained unopened for five years burst violently open!

Luo Jin stepped out from within. The agricultural path aura overflowing around his body surged like a spring tide, fusing almost seamlessly with the earth beneath his feet. Every step he took caused the soil beneath him to bulge and recede in rippling waves, as if the earth itself were supporting him as he walked.

Yet that aura was unstable, swelling and receding, fluctuating erratically.

"He has broken through—! The Hall Master has come out of seclusion!!"

"This! This is a new realm?! That's wonderful!!"

Seeing the gates open, the farmers left behind to guard the headquarters were all practically on the verge of tears of joy. Over these past five years, Old Farmer Hall had gone from flourishing to internal division, and then to a bloody overnight uprising in battle. Everyone had been waiting for this moment!

The Hall Master had finally broken out of seclusion!

Yet at this moment, there was not a trace of joy on Luo Jin's face.

He could perceive it... The blood of those who had perished, the blood of over a hundred farmers. An indescribable sorrow, anger, and vexation rose within his heart.

"Something's happened!"

His voice was low. The soil beneath his feet had already parted, and he was about to unleash the Earth Escape Technique to plunge underground, rushing into the thick of the battle array.

Right at that moment—

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

The ground surged violently, splitting open a fissure as a bloodied, mangled figure tumbled out from the earth.

Luo Dazhuang.

Half of his body was shattered!

From the shoulder down, his left arm was reduced to a mere stump of bone. His left eye was ruined, and his face was covered in charred wounds. Covered in blood, he relied on his sole remaining right hand to prop himself up against the ground, his fingers tightly clutching a bloody, severed finger.

Upon seeing Luo Jin, all his strength was drained away. He collapsed heavily to his knees, his forehead striking the dirt.

"Hall Master... Li Shitou... perished beneath the Buddhist arts of a high-level Buddhist cultivator... leaving not even a skeleton behind...! My fault... it was all my fault..."

The moment the severed finger was handed before Luo Jin, Luo Dazhuang could hold on no longer. His entire body pitched forward and he passed out completely.

Luo Jin caught the severed finger, his body shuddering violently.

Five years of seclusion, five years of endurance, five years of quiet cultivation seemed to collapse entirely in this single moment.

How could this be?!

How could this be!

His Seventh Grade aura, already unstable, suddenly became chaotic, churning, spiraling out of control, and collapsing. A scalding, fishy sweetness rushed straight to his throat, and immediately after, a mouthful of fresh blood spewed out. He stumbled and slumped to the ground, his aura actually plummeting!

Pfft—!!

"Hall Master!"

The surrounding farmers rushed forward in a panic. Some propped him up, some went to fetch medicine, and others spun around in anxious circles on the spot.

Yet Luo Jin waved a hand, insisting, "The inheritance of the Buddhist and Daoist immortal paths has not been severed... The Agricultural Path is on the decline! Retreat! Withdraw immediately!! Destroy the headquarters, everyone retreat into Shennong Valley... Without my command, no one is permitted to step outside."

He lowered his head to look at the unconscious, heavily injured Luo Dazhuang, and called out, "Quick, bring premium-quality herbs—!"

The infinite heights above.

Jiang Tu looked down upon all of this, left speechless for a long time.

This, this...

The [First Serf Revolt] event ought to be the first major Agricultural Path event experienced along this evolutionary line!

It was full of twists and turns from start to finish, with not a single dull moment. He simply could not stop watching.

Now that it had finally come to an end, he could not help feeling a bit of lingering emotion.

Li Shitou sacrificed himself, Luo Dazhuang was grievously wounded, and Luo Jin suffered a backlash in his cultivation realm just as he broke through to the Seventh Grade. Afflicted by this catastrophe, Old Farmer Hall suffered heavy losses, and its core cultivators were practically wiped out!

This blow... was truly a bit too massive!

Indeed, the development of things can never possibly be an all-upward trajectory; along the way, various ups and downs and tribulations are bound to be experienced! Within evolution, there is no blessing of "Endless Renewal", and I wonder whether Old Farmer Hall will be able to rise up once more...

Right now, he could only place his hopes on Luo Jin, a good leader, being able to lead the Agricultural Path in a resurgence.

Through this Serf Rebellion, his horizons regarding the evolutionary line and the true history from thirty thousand years ago had also been vastly broadened!

The immortal path has clearly been severed, but the foundations of the Buddhist and Daoist sects are profound! Even after enduring a migration of ten thousand li and the backlash of the immortal path, they actually managed to avoid total annihilation! They still retain certain trump-card powers, and the old Buddha who struck this time is the greatest evidence of this! Behind this, what exactly is hidden?

Some left-behind magical treasures? The legacy of powerful adepts? Or a certain unique inheritance? Does this mean the Buddhist and Daoist sects truly still possess some sort of lingering inheritance... which is what gave rise to today's powerful Eastern Daoist Sect and Western Buddhist Sect thirty thousand years later?

Jiang Tu fell into deep contemplation.

Yet... was the Buddhist inheritance truly an orthodox one? Shouldn't an orthodox Buddhist sect be rooted in compassion?

This time, the old Buddha's strike—killing Li Shitou, the other agricultural cultivators, and those who stirred up the war—was entirely within reason. However, countless others who possessed no ability to resist were likewise swept into the Buddha hand and beaten into a paste of flesh and blood. Slaughtering people by the multitudes at every turn, not a shred of the Buddha's compassion could be seen. This murderous aura was far too ruthless.

There is a problem! Even if the inheritance still exists, a mutation must have definitely occurred within it! It is by no means the orthodox inheritance of the past!

With the Buddhist and Daoist sects forcefully pressing down here, the future development of the Agricultural Path is in grave peril!

At a time like this, Luo Jin's decisive abandonment of everything at Old Farmer Hall and his complete withdrawal into Shennong Valley was the most correct choice! It was also the only choice!

[Year 33]

The [First Serf Revolt] ended in a crushing defeat.

The common folk of New Apple City were thoroughly frightened out of their wits by the Buddha palm. From then on, no one ever dared to look up at the Buddha Hall again.

The Buddhist and Daoist sects began a city-wide purge and clearance of the remnants of Old Farmer Hall, hunting down every single stronghold and sparing not even the villages and towns outside the city. Agricultural cultivators who were ferreted out were executed on the spot, and any farmers, herbalists, or merchants who had past ties with Old Farmer Hall were exiled at best or executed at worst.

Old Farmer Hall suffered a grievous blow to its vitality, with the majority of its core cultivators perishing.

The remaining sixty-and-five cultivators and hundreds of ordinary farmhands fled into Shennong Valley, sealing the valley entrance and completely retiring from the world.

[Year 34]

Shennong Valley ushered in its first harvest since going into seclusion.

The fertile fields cleared within the valley had reached a thousand mu, with over a hundred plants of premium quality crops. Under the nourishment of the fertile soil and water within the valley, the crops grew at an astonishing rate. Even more gratifying was the recovery of Luo Jin's cultivation realm, with his Seventh Grade now firmly consolidated.

He began to explore the new abilities of the Seventh Grade one by one.

The first skill he mastered was an art called the "Pill Pinching Technique".

Luo Jin casually plucked an ordinary ear of wheat, holding it within his palm. As he curled his five fingers, the wheat rapidly withered, shriveled, and disintegrated in his palm, condensing a drop of pure green liquid that coalesced into a pill as his fingertips pinched together!

A faint fragrance of grain drifted out from within it.

—Grain-Avoidance Pill!

A single ear of wheat could be casually refined into a pill that kept a person from feeling hungry for three days!

Luo Jin tested medicinal herbs next. A single stem of hemostatic grass, condensed between his fingers, similarly transformed into herbal liquid and rapidly solidified into two medicinal pills. Their grade and medicinal efficacy were several notches stronger than the herbal pastes and pills brewed over earthen stoves. They melted entirely upon the tongue, consisting of pure medicinal power without any impurities mixed in.

From then on, when farmers in Shennong Valley were injured, there was no longer any need to brew medicine. With a casual pinch, Luo Jin produced concentrated, extracted medicinal liquid and finished pills.

The Pill Pinching Technique became an instinct; he could pluck and refine simultaneously, requiring no pill furnace or flame control, and no cumbersome auxiliary ingredients. There was no limit to the number of times he could use it each day—so long as he had spare energy, he could employ it!

By virtue of the pills from the Pill Pinching Technique, Luo Jin dragged Luo Dazhuang back from the gates of death, but the left arm and left eye he had lost would never grow back. From then on, he grew taciturn, no longer holding any position within the valley. Every day before dawn, he would go out to the fields to weed, only returning after dark.

When others spoke to him, he would at most nod, no longer shouting loudly as he once did. The death of Li Shitou had practically become his inner demon.

Aside from the Pill Pinching Technique, Luo Jin's existing abilities also underwent a comprehensive sublimation.

Celestial Phenomena Perception allowed him to accurately sense the changes in the weather for the next three days, anticipating the trends of minor natural disasters in advance.

Earth Perception expanded in range from a few li around to encompass the entire valley, making the movements of every inch of soil clearly visible, and the walking and speech of those on the surface crystal clear.

The Earth Escape Technique transformed into the Greater Earth Escape Technique, allowing him to carry up to two people while tunneling through the earth simultaneously, with a much greater range, usable four times a day.

The Earthmoving Technique transformed into the Earth-Shifting Art. With a blank press of Luo Jin's hand in the void, a dirt wall would instantly bulge from the ground beside him, as solid and unyielding as bluestone—a powerful strike from a woodchopping knife would only leave a white mark upon it. When he curled his five fingers, the wall would transform back into a row of spikes bursting out from the earth, layer upon layer, as stern and forbidding as a forest!

It offered both offense and defense!

The defensive fortifications of the entire Shennong Valley could be constructed by him alone within a few days.

He believed that the Pill Pinching Technique was merely a beginning; as his cultivation progressed, he would be able to master even more supernatural agricultural arts.

Looking across the entire valley, some plowed the fields, some sowed seeds, and some harvested premium-quality medicinal herbs. Everything finally slowly settled into peace.

Spring passed and autumn came; the valley enjoyed favorable weather, annual bountiful harvests, and peaceful development.

Outside the valley, the encirclement, suppression, and purging by the Buddhist and Daoist sects still continued, but the valley entrance was tightly sealed, and with miasma lingering outside, outsiders simply could not find it.

Thus, five peaceful years passed.

Over the five years, no one mentioned the name of Li Shitou again, yet no one ever forgot him. There were always people offering sacrifices to him within the valley, burning incense and praying every single night, and every year there was a dedicated Serf Day to mourn those agricultural path souls who lost their lives in the Serf Rebellion—