Inquiries

Spirit farmers could not harvest spirit fields whenever they pleased.

They had to notify the Spirit Plant Hall.

After all, the Spirit Plant Hall held authority over the sale of Spirit Rice.

Of course, beyond that, the main reason was that the spirit fields here belonged to the Spirit Plant Hall, and most spirit farmers had signed lease contracts with it.

Those with deep pockets were another matter. Once they paid enough Spirit Stones, they could naturally handle the Spirit Rice in their fields however they wished.

But spirit farmers like Zhou Changwang, who lacked sufficient Spirit Stones at the outset and had only paid part of the sum, needed to settle accounts with the Spirit Plant Hall and make up the remaining rent.

When Zhou Qiankun had helped Zhou Changwang lease three mu of spirit fields, they had lacked Spirit Stones, so they had chosen a fixed payment of ten Low-Grade Spirit Stones per mu, plus half the proceeds from the spirit fields as tenant rent.

There was also a supplementary clause in the agreement, meant to prevent spirit farmers from slacking off. If the yield per mu was worth less than forty Low-Grade Spirit Stones—in other words, if the Spirit Rice received by the Spirit Plant Hall was worth less than twenty Low-Grade Spirit Stones—then the spirit farmer himself would have to make up the shortfall.

Therefore, after deciding to harvest today, Zhou Changwang had made a special trip to the Spirit Plant Hall.

Naturally, because many people were harvesting their spirit fields today, the Spirit Plant Hall had also sent over a steward specifically to handle the collection of tenant rent and the purchase of Spirit Rice.

After piling the harvested Spirit Rice to one side and leaving it for his father to watch over, Zhou Changwang quickly found the Spirit Plant Hall steward.

The man appeared to be in his forties. He was lean, with a beard around his mouth. It was not particularly thick, but rather long, swaying in the breeze with a touch of carefree elegance.

Zhou Changwang knew this man. His surname was Chen, his given name Qingfeng. He was at the fifth level of the Qi Refining Realm. He could not exactly be called fair, but he was at least somewhat reasonable.

"Steward Chen, my few mu of spirit fields have already been harvested."

Zhou Changwang stepped forward, cupped his hands, and spoke.

"Zhou Changwang, right? I see that you leased three mu of spirit fields back then and only paid thirty Low-Grade Spirit Stones in rent. Later, you must make up the remaining rent—at least sixty Low-Grade Spirit Stones."

Steward Chen glanced at Zhou Changwang, then raised his eyes to look at the account book in his hands before saying, "Is this year's harvest sufficient?"

"There was a demon infestation in the spirit fields, so one mu suffered a somewhat poor harvest. I hope Steward Chen will be lenient."

Zhou Changwang lowered his stance and discreetly passed over a Low-Grade Spirit Stone.

"Let's take a look first."

Steward Chen flicked his sleeve. The Spirit Stone swiftly vanished, and he followed Zhou Changwang to his family's spirit fields.

"Bring out the scale!"

Two attendants immediately came forward carrying large beam scales.

But just as they were about to step forward, Steward Chen raised a hand to stop them. "Use this scale instead. The ones in your hands are a little old."

As he spoke, a new large scale appeared in his hand. Aside from its newer material, it looked no different from the ones held by the two attendants.

Yet Zhou Changwang knew that the difference between them was enormous.

The large scales in the attendants' hands were commonly known as Little Ghost Scales. A hundred jin of Spirit Rice weighed on them would amount to no more than ninety jin.

The King of Hell was easy to provoke, but the little ghosts were hard to deal with.

Once weighed by that Little Ghost Scale, Zhou Changwang's fifteen hundred jin of Spirit Rice would lose a hundred and fifty jin out of thin air.

And that was what his Low-Grade Spirit Stone had been for.

As for resisting? Refusing to sell to the Spirit Plant Hall?

No spirit farmer had ever considered such a question.

Though the Spirit Plant Hall was located in Phoenix-Cry Cove Market, and though Phoenix-Cry Cove Market was nominally managed by the Bai Lineage, the Spirit Plant Hall was in truth an enterprise of the Clear Spring Sect, an immortal cultivation sect.

And the Clear Spring Sect was the greatest immortal cultivation sect within a thousand li of the surrounding area. It had countless disciples, over a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators, and even Golden Core Realm experts whose might shook the region.

Unless one stopped being a spirit farmer and ceased planting Spirit Rice and spiritual materials...

Otherwise, no one dared resist.

Zhou Changwang had quite a few Spirit Stones on him, but his cultivation was still far too low. If things truly escalated... he glanced at Chen Qingfeng, who was at the fifth level of the Qi Refining Realm, and immediately calmed down, abandoning any such thoughts.

"Yes!"

The two attendants answered.

They began weighing the rice with Steward Chen's new scale.

Bag after bag of Spirit Rice went onto the scale.

After the final tally, and after deducting the rice husks, it came to exactly fifteen hundred jin.

Zhou Changwang knew that this figure was actually a little low, thirty or forty jin less than he had estimated. But this was already an excellent result—at least far better than encountering a Little Ghost Scale.

"Fifteen hundred jin. According to the lease contract, half belongs to our Spirit Plant Hall, which is seven hundred and fifty jin.

"At the current listed price of fourteen jin of Spirit Rice per Low-Grade Spirit Stone, seven hundred and fifty jin of Spirit Rice is not enough to offset the tenant rent of thirty Low-Grade Spirit Stones per mu.

"So you still need to make up ninety jin of Spirit Rice.

"Do you have any objections?"

After making a brief calculation, Steward Chen looked at Zhou Changwang and asked.

"No."

Zhou Changwang shook his head.

The lease contract they had agreed upon back then indeed stated this. He could not really argue against it.

Still, although the Spirit Plant Hall was now only taking back twenty Low-Grade Spirit Stones per mu, which was equivalent to waiving the interest for him,

one should not forget that the price of Spirit Rice was set by the Spirit Plant Hall. The current price of fourteen jin of Spirit Grain Rice for one Low-Grade Spirit Stone was truly far too cheap.

Compared with the normal rate of ten jin for one Low-Grade Spirit Stone, the Spirit Plant Hall was making far, far more.

Zhou Changwang sighed inwardly at the Spirit Plant Hall's black-hearted dealings, and naturally had no favorable impression of the Clear Spring Sect behind it either.

"Then are you selling this Spirit Rice?

"If you are, I can calculate it all into Spirit Stones for you."

Steward Chen asked next.

"Sell!"

Zhou Changwang gritted his teeth, then stepped forward and passed over another Low-Grade Spirit Stone. "However, Steward Chen, I heard that there are spirit fields within the market that are available for lease. Is that true?

"This place is too remote, too far from the market, and too dangerous. So next year, I plan to lease spirit fields within the market to cultivate. Could Steward Chen tell me a little about it?"

"That is indeed the case.

"However, the spirit fields within the market are all closely tied to residences.

"If you want to cultivate those spirit fields, you must lease the corresponding residence in its entirety as well.

"When all is calculated, the rent becomes quite expensive.

"A residence within the market that comes with one mu of spirit field, even in the most remote area, costs at least fifteen Low-Grade Spirit Stones in monthly rent."

Steward Chen swiftly put away that Low-Grade Spirit Stone, then said, "I heard that someone recently got rid of an Ironclad Boar at the foot of Long Ridge Mountain. That wasn't you, was it?

"Looks like you made a huge profit. No wonder you want to move into the market's inner district.

"Still, since you brought this up, and seeing that you are fairly sensible, I'll tell you one more piece of information.

"The outskirts of the market have not been peaceful lately. If you can avoid going out, then absolutely do not go out. If you can move into the market's inner district, that would be best..."

"You mean..."

Zhou Changwang's heart stirred.