Spring Plowing

The early spring wind still carried a trace of chill, and people were busy all over the fields.

They broke up the clods of earth, leveled the paddies, and marked out the ridges.

Feng Xu watched from the mountain ridge for a while before returning to the Earth-Vein Spirit Pool to cultivate.

When he had been young in his previous life, he had helped his family farm. After moving to the city, though, he had never touched farm tools again. After so many years, he had long forgotten the process of growing crops.

For now, he could only handle things this way and slowly figure them out later.

Since the land and grain seeds of the Primordial World were so effective, he might as well simplify the process first and improve it later.

Feng Xu settled his mind and began cultivating. That day, the various pains throughout his body gradually weakened, and his body was recovering rapidly.

This truly was a good place.

Although all the cultivation he had gained at Purple Cloud Palace in the dream had vanished, his cultivation experience remained. If Feng Xu needed to open new Grotto-Heavens ahead of time in the future, there would be almost no risk.

Every circulation through the heavenly cycle brought intense pain, but after each bout of pain, the constant ache afterward lessened.

The Battle Mark Feng Xu had inscribed on his body was from the True Immortal realm of the Eight-Nine Mystical Art.

Under the Battle Mark's influence, he was not only cultivating at every moment of every day, but also opening the later Grotto-Heavens ahead of time.

That was why Feng Xu had spent these past few days in constant pain.

"Ah, I wonder whether the new Grotto-Heavens ahead will be like this too."

Feng Xu cultivated in the Spirit Pool for two days. On the third day, he went down the mountain to supervise the tribe's planting.

The rice seeds had sprouted after being treated. Feng Xu demonstrated the process once, then watched everyone work.

Was this what it felt like to be the boss?

Others did the work, yet the power to allocate it rested in his hands. This change in status suddenly made him feel just the slightest bit guilty.

Feng Xu came by once every day to check on the rice seedlings' growth.

They were planted on the first day, emerged on the second, grew tender leaves on the third, and by the seventh day were ready to be transplanted.

Feng Xu's mouth fell open in an O. He knew they grew quickly, but he had never expected them to grow this quickly.

Had he known they were this effective, he would not have raised seedlings at all. Direct sowing would have saved a great deal of labor.

Next came transplanting the rice seedlings: first tossing them out, then planting them.

Feng Xu only led the work for a short while before turning back into a supervisor. He stopped those planting seedlings haphazardly and adjusted anything problematic whenever he saw it.

All the children were called over to help, becoming the main force in transplanting the seedlings.

Not only were they hardworking, they enjoyed it.

That was because if they were not working, they had to go back and learn characters from Feng Yuqi. Whether in a primitive tribe or the modern society of his previous life, children seemed not to like learning to read.

After one winter, Feng Yuqi had mastered more than a thousand characters. Aside from Feng Xu, she knew more characters than anyone else in the tribe.

Feng Xu simply had her become a teacher and teach everyone to read.

Once the rice transplanting was complete, this spring plowing was considered finished. Later care would not require much labor, so Feng Xu began assigning people to build new houses.

They built scattered houses near the planting area as temporary dwellings during the busy farming season. They were mostly crude adobe houses.

At Wild Boar Ridge, they would use the bones of the hundred-zhang boar demon to build houses. That place would become the core residential area of the Wind-Fire Tribe.

The Wind-Fire Tribe's old site would remain untouched for now. It would be improved after Wild Boar Ridge was initially completed.

Feng Xu planned to turn the old site into the tribe's trading and reception center for outsiders.

As for the Blood Pool there, any Human Race member with a good relationship with the tribe and sufficient strength could apply to use it.

Of course, the Blood Pool would not be provided for free.

After all, the Wind-Fire Tribe had Battle Marks and the Spirit Pool. The gap between its strength and that of other tribes would only grow wider.

Besides building new houses, Feng Xu lent the woven plastic bags to Feng Xi and had him pack the tribe's surplus food inside for trade with other tribes.

Feng Xi set out with two warriors.

With his Early Earth Immortal strength, he would face no danger as long as he only visited the nearby small tribes.

Watching Feng Xi lead his group deep into the mountain forest, Feng Xu recalled last year's journey and sighed inwardly.

Hopefully this trip would not be so thrilling and dangerous again.

With the major matters arranged, there were still some minor matters to deal with.

For example, the more than fifty piglets penned up nearby.

Their tusks had already been removed during the winter, and Feng Xu taught the elders how to castrate the piglets.

"Be quick with the knife, but steady as well. Castrate only half of the piglets this time. Consider it practice."

Feng Xu stood beside Feng Ling, guiding her. This half consisted of the most restless piglets.

As the tribe's most experienced healer, Feng Ling learned the fastest. But she hesitated when using the knife, worried about making a mistake.

"It doesn't matter if you make a mistake. The tribe can afford the losses. As long as you can become skilled at it, that's enough."

Feng Xu did not remain idle either. Besides instructing them, he was also castrating pigs himself.

It took him only a few dozen seconds to castrate one piglet, whereas Feng Ling needed several minutes.

Anyone who often performed surgery knew that an operation could not be dragged out too long. The longer it took, the more blood was lost and the greater the risk of death.

He encouraged Feng Ling, but reprimanded everyone else.

These primitive people had no sense of restraint when they used their hands.

For now, these piglets would only be raised for one year, then slaughtered once winter arrived to prevent them from living too long and developing intelligence.

The remaining half would be raised as breeding pigs and could be kept for several more years.

Feng Xu rubbed Little White's head beside him and smiled.

"Look, both were defeated by us. The wolf clan was merely tamed into companions of the Human Race, while boars fell into becoming livestock, raised only so their meat could be eaten later."

He had deliberately brought Little White over so it would understand that he was already treating them rather generously.

It was fine as long as those little wolves behaved. If they did not, then if they ended up in the pot to be stewed, they should not think the Human Race cruel.

The tribe had already given them a chance.

Little White had been following Feng Xu for some time and had gradually adapted to the way humans lived together.

Compared to wolves, domestic dogs indeed had less freedom and more rules, but their lives were much more comfortable as well.

Feng Xu did not restrict its range of movement. He merely warned it which nearby places were dangerous and off-limits, and that it would have no food if it came back too late.

Sometimes, Feng Xu would also hold a leash and take the whole troop of pups out for a walk.

The shift in identity and lifestyle from wild wolves to domestic dogs could easily breed psychological problems. Taking them out for some fresh air was also meant to help them relax.

Everyone in the Wind-Fire Tribe was busy.

They tended the crops, built new houses, repaired warehouses, raised livestock, made pottery, and wove baskets.

The people of the Red Iron Tribe were still here helping build the houses. They would only be allowed to leave after the houses were finished.

There was no helping it. They were desperately short of manpower.

After arranging everything, Feng Xu entered the Spirit Pool to cultivate once more.

With Feng Sui in the tribe, there was no need for him to worry about anything.

This seclusion would last a long time. Unless it was time to harvest the rice or Feng Xi returned from trading, Feng Xu would not emerge.

He needed to heal his internal injuries and refine the Late Earth Immortal boar demon into magical artifacts to equip the Wind-Fire Tribe's warriors.

Feng Xu's current artifact-refining level was limited by his materials and cultivation. At the same cultivation level, he considered himself inferior to no one.

Thinking of it that way, if that experience had not been a dream, then even though his cultivation had not been preserved and he had been left with internal injuries, he still owed Hongjun a great karmic debt.

With the cultivation experience of the Quasi-Sage Peak, his future cultivation would not only involve far fewer detours, but he would also encounter no bottlenecks.

As for the struggle to become the Human Ancestor, Feng Xu had already stopped taking it to heart.

If he still could not compete with others despite having such an enormous advantage, then just how monstrous would they have to be?

Hongjun had said in the dream that Feng Xu was someone chosen by the Great Dao. By that logic, there should not be any other competitors.