Rice Thief

Seeing this, Zhou Changwang hurried into his room, took two bottles of pills from beside his bed, and handed them over. "These are Rejuvenation Pills and Life-Creation Pills. They can treat your injuries. Take them quickly."

As he spoke, his gaze could not help drifting toward the wooden table.

The table was made from spiritwood and was exceptionally sturdy, yet his father had left a deep palm print in it with a single strike.

And he had done so without damaging the table as a whole; even the bowls and chopsticks atop it had barely stirred, revealing both tremendous strength and precise control.

"Alright!"

Zhou Qiankun also used his true qi to suppress the injuries within him. Hearing this, he quickly accepted the spirit pills.

After swallowing the two pills one after another, Zhou Qiankun's body shuddered, and color swiftly returned to his face.

Clearly, the medicinal effects of the two spirit medicines were extraordinary. Injuries that should have required more than a month of recuperation had healed by over half at once.

Then he impatiently asked, "What exactly happened?"

"Five days ago, I was ambushed and hunted down by two Innate Realm experts on my way home..."

Zhou Changwang did not hide anything and directly recounted everything that had happened several days earlier.

"It was them?

I knew long ago that those two were up to no good. I even went to their door and warned them before.

I never thought they would truly dare..."

At this point, he was filled with hatred and indignation.

He had never expected his own late return to trigger such an incident.

After eating, Zhou Changwang instructed his father to rest at home. Then, carrying his spirit hoe and bringing Little Spirit Hound with him, he headed straight for the Spirit Fields on the outskirts of the market.

After days of meticulous care, the Spirit Grain in the Spirit Fields had grown even more robust.

The Spirit Rice hanging from the stalks was full and plump as well, on the verge of ripening for harvest.

Along the way, nearly every spirit farmer Zhou Changwang encountered wore a smile.

It was the joy of an upcoming harvest.

"Changwang, you're here.

There's something I need to tell you."

Not long after he reached the edge of his own Spirit Field, Old Xu hurried over, his expression ugly.

"What is it?"

Zhou Changwang froze and asked in confusion.

"The Spirit Rice was stolen."

Old Xu's face was grave.

"What?"

Zhou Changwang was taken aback.

"Several mu of my Spirit Fields were secretly harvested.

They did not steal much, but each mu lost at least thirty jin. Six mu of my Spirit Fields were hit, so that's nearly two hundred jin."

As he said this, Old Xu's face turned incomparably grim, his heart aching terribly.

Two hundred jin of unhusked Spirit Rice would yield one hundred and fifty jin of Spirit Rice. At ten jin per Low-Grade Spirit Stone, that amounted to fifteen Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

He had always been stingy. The Spirit Stones he spent on pest removal were clawed back from Xu Zhong by every possible means the very next day.

Later, he had even helped Zhou Changwang deal with and sell spirit insects, earning a full two Low-Grade Spirit Stones in the process. He had always taken great pride in it, often sighing, "Eating won't make you poor, nor will dressing; fail to calculate, and poverty comes knocking."

Losing fifteen Low-Grade Spirit Stones in one stroke—how could he possibly feel alright?

"You should hurry and check whether your own Spirit Field was robbed."

Old Xu immediately added.

Zhou Changwang nodded and hurried into his own Spirit Field to inspect it.

Only after a good while did he let out a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, although there were signs that someone had trampled through it, no one had harvested anything.

At that moment, Zhou Changwang also realized that the reason the Spirit Rice in his field had not been stolen was not because the rice thief had been kind-hearted.

It was simply because his Spirit Rice was indeed growing more slowly than Old Xu's.

The Spirit Rice in Old Xu's fields had full, Perfection-grade grains. It had already turned from green to yellow and was completely ripe.

The Spirit Rice in his own fields was somewhat slower. It was only beginning to turn from green to yellow. In other words, its true ripening period was still one or two days behind Old Xu's.

Aside from Old Xu's more abundant experience as a spirit farmer, the main reason was that his Spirit Rain Art was stronger, having reached Minor Mastery long ago.

After a Minor Mastery Spirit Rain Art was cast, it contained more spiritual energy, so naturally the Spirit Grain Rice grew better.

Although Zhou Changwang's Spirit Rain Art had likewise reached Minor Mastery, he had only broken through recently. Naturally, the growth of his Spirit Field could not compare to Old Xu's.

The information gathered afterward indeed confirmed this.

Most of those who had been robbed were experienced spirit farmers whose Spirit Rice had already ripened.

As for those spirit farmers with lower Spirit Rain Art proficiency, whose Spirit Grain Rice grew slowly, they had instead escaped disaster.

"Damn it.

We're all spirit farmers at the foot of Long Ridge Mountain, yet those Zhao Brothers are far too cold-hearted. We merely asked them a few extra questions, and they actually chased us away.

I say they were the ones who stole our Spirit Rice.

Only those two brothers live nearby guarding the Spirit Fields.

If it wasn't them, who else could it have been?"

Old Xu came over cursing under his breath.

Just now, he had joined several affected spirit farmers in going to question Zhao Jie and Zhao Qiang. Since everyone had suffered losses, their words had naturally been rather sharp, carrying the air of demanding accountability, so they had been driven out.

Still, Old Xu's words did make some sense.

Among the nearby spirit farmers, only the two of them lived close by. They also kept a Spirit Hound. If someone had been stealing, with a Spirit Hound's keen senses, it would certainly have raised an alarm. Naturally, they were the most likely to have noticed something.

But since they would not say anything, there was nothing they could do.

The Zhao Brothers were both experts above the middle stage of the Qi Refining Realm. Even the Spirit Plant Hall cultivators who patrolled the area gave them three parts courtesy, so no one dared offend them lightly.

So although Old Xu was shouting fiercely now, that was only because they were far away. If he were standing before them, even with ten times the courage, he would not dare utter a word.

"With the Spirit Rice about to ripen, we truly need to be even more careful.

Today it was Old Xu's fields. Tomorrow, it could be mine."

As streams of Spirit Rain Art fell across the Spirit Field, Zhou Changwang also heightened his vigilance.

But the nights in the wilderness were simply too dangerous.

Not only could demon beasts rush down from the mountains and forests, but flying demon beasts might also launch surprise attacks from the sky.

Beyond that, there were also robber cultivators and sinister ghosts and specters that usually appeared only at night...

He was not like Zhao Jie and Zhao Qiang, whose strength had reached the middle stage of the Qi Refining Realm, who carried Dharma Artifacts, and who had a Spirit Hound equivalent to the Second Layer of the Qi Refining Realm guarding them.

With the Spirit Hound able to detect potential enemies in advance, they could remain here overnight. If he did the same, the danger would simply be too great.

"Fortunately, this rice thief does not dare go too far. He only dares pluck twenty or thirty jin from each mu of Spirit Field..."

Zhou Changwang knew that this was because the other party feared the Spirit Plant Hall.

With the Spirit Plant Hall's methods, dragging that person out into the open would not be difficult at all.

It was simply that this sort of petty mischief only harmed a few spirit farmers, so naturally the Spirit Plant Hall would not concern itself with it.

At noon, his father brought him Spirit Rice. After hearing about the matter, he did not say much, merely suggesting that he come over to stand watch at night for the next few days.

Naturally, Zhou Changwang refused.

Though his father had extensive experience surviving in the wilderness, he did not want his father to risk himself over a few mu of Spirit Grain Rice.

Still, this incident had indeed left the nearby spirit farmers uneasy.

There were quite a few who wanted to stay behind and keep watch through the night.

Thanks to reader 4316 for the reward. The first Hall Master of this book—thank you for the support!!!