After that, Xia Kong raised his vigilance to the utmost. His soul power far exceeded his cultivation realm. Though he did not know its precise level, it was certainly far beyond these rank-one and rank-two magical beasts. With his soul power keeping a tight watch, the beasts lurking in the shadows no longer had any chance to ambush him.
Whenever a magical beast approached along the way, Xia Kong detected it first and killed it. A bone-chilling rank-two Crimson Ice Serpent concealed in the grass and five swift rank-one Darkwind Wolves skilled at hunting in packs fell to him in quick, decisive succession. With Xiao Yi Xian in tow, Xia Kong swept forward like a blade splitting bamboo and soon broke out of the dangerous area where the magical beasts had encircled them.
After several battles and stretches of travel, Xiao Yi Xian remained full of energy thanks to the nourishment of the spirit fruits and food, showing no trace of fatigue. The two simply kept going, quickening their pace toward the cave abode.
Dusk settled, and night completely shrouded the Magical Beast Mountain Range. Cold winds began rising through the woods, and darkness blocked their view of the way ahead. Xia Kong decided to stop.
When traveling alone in the past, he had never needed to keep watch at night. He would simply enter the farm space to rest once it grew late. Tonight, he had intended to take Xiao Yi Xian inside with him to shelter from the night and avoid the dangers of the forest, but his attempt failed outright, leaving them where they stood.
Xia Kong understood. The farm space only admitted people he approved of who also trusted him completely. The only reason this attempt had failed was that Xiao Yi Xian still harbored wariness toward him and did not trust him entirely.
Left with no choice, he abandoned the idea. Given the deepening night and the magical beasts prowling around them, Xiao Yi Xian did not refuse his suggestion that they share a tent.
That night, their bodies lay extremely close together. The tent was small, and Xia Kong could even smell Xiao Yi Xian's natural fragrance;
Yet the distance between their hearts was especially vast.
Xiao Yi Xian remained tense, secretly keeping her guard up against the young man beside her, afraid he might do something improper in the dead of night. Xia Kong, meanwhile, silently brooded, unable to let go of her wariness toward him.
Even though he knew perfectly well that it was only natural for a girl traveling alone to be cautious around strangers, he still felt a faint resentment whenever he thought of how sincerely he had treated her, pouring his resources into caring for her, only to receive layer upon layer of suspicion in return.
Around midnight, faint footsteps came from deep in the forest, mingled with the heavy panting of a fierce beast. Drawn by the lingering scent of blood and the aroma of food, a rank-two Crimson Flame Hound followed the trail and quietly approached the tent.
But the moment he came within a hundred meters, Xia Kong's soul power pinpointed him.
Still feeling frustrated, Xia Kong instantly perked up. Rubbing his hands together, he rose and lifted the tent flap. Before the Crimson Flame Hound could attack, Xia Kong shot forward, his Dou Qi erupting with a roar. His fists and palms struck as fiercely as the wind, every blow keeping the beast pinned down. He battered the savage rank-two beast into retreat, cracking his bones and drawing agonized howls until he lost all strength to resist.
One final, clean stroke of Greenwood Sword Qi neatly ended the magical beast's life. With practiced ease, Xia Kong retrieved a fresh rank-two magic core from the beast's skull and put it into his backpack.
He dusted off his hands, lifted the tent flap, and softly told the worried Xiao Yi Xian, "Go to sleep! It's taken care of."
"Mm."
Xiao Yi Xian answered softly, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. The corners of her lips lifted despite herself, and her heart filled with reassurance. With him beside her, even the dangerous nighttime forest no longer seemed so frightening. She closed her eyes, her thoughts gradually settling.
Xia Kong sat quietly for a while, reviewing the battles from the day and that night. He considered flaws in the transitions between his moves and the circulation of his Dou Qi, pondering how to refine his strength and advance further.
Before long, Xiao Yi Xian's deep, steady breathing filled the tent. The girl had fallen fast asleep. Xia Kong turned his head to look at her and saw her slender, frail figure curled up, her waist so delicate he could have encircled it with his hands. The sight stirred his tenderness.
He sighed softly, suppressed the tangled emotions in his heart, and turned away from Xiao Yi Xian before slowly lying down to rest.
At first light the next day, the faint glow of dawn pierced the thin mist among the trees.
Xiao Yi Xian was sleeping soundly, her expression peaceful, with no sign of waking. Xia Kong quietly rose and left the tent. He carefully patrolled the surrounding area, and after confirming that no magical beasts would approach anytime soon and that the vicinity was safe enough, he slipped temporarily into the farm space with a thought.
Inside the space, a new crop had ripened. Xia Kong deftly harvested the twenty level-one plants and sowed fresh seeds. After finishing his daily farming, he habitually glanced at the balances on the panel, and his gaze suddenly froze.
Gold coins: 8,400 Sacred water: 20
Twenty sacred water?
Xia Kong looked utterly bewildered, countless questions welling up in his mind. The number in the sacred water field had inexplicably changed from zero to twenty.
Could yesterday's gains in the mountains have triggered a reward from the space?
He immediately focused and carefully examined his backpack inventory: tier three cucumber ×5, level-three rice ×5, level-three white radish ×5, level-one cherry tomato ×10, level-one potato ×16, and assorted magical beast meat and seasonings.
With one sweep of his gaze, he instantly found the key. The two rank-two magic cores he had been delighted to acquire yesterday had vanished into thin air.
Realization dawned on Xia Kong!
The farm space had automatically absorbed the two rank-two magic cores and converted them into twenty units of sacred water.
He had already suspected that sacred water most likely served to shorten the time crops needed to mature and stimulate plant growth.
The principle was that crops in the farm required vast amounts of energy to grow, and this mysterious, extraordinary farm space was the source of that energy. In other words, as long as he replenished the farm space's energy, he could intervene to accelerate the crops' growth!
The Dou Qi Continent did not have the spirit stones of heaven and earth found in cultivation worlds, but magical beasts' magic cores contained immense, violent Dou Qi. Ordinary cultivators could not directly absorb the raging energy within magic cores. They could only have an alchemist refine them into pills, neutralizing their violent nature so people could use them to improve their cultivation or break through bottlenecks.
But the farm space was a heaven-defying marvel whose grade far surpassed the constraints of this world's laws. The paltry violent Dou Qi within magic cores posed no obstacle to it; it could devour and convert every bit of that energy perfectly.
Xia Kong slapped his forehead, filled with regret. How had it taken him until now to grasp such a simple principle?
He currently possessed a fortune of over four million gold coins. If he spent it all on rank-two magic cores, he could buy more than eight hundred of them and exchange them for at least eight thousand units of sacred water!
To verify sacred water's precise effects, Xia Kong walked to the field of newly sown level-one crops. Following an unseen guidance, he took out a drop of sacred water and gently let it fall onto a seedling.
The pale purple sacred water was clear and lustrous. The instant it touched the seedling, the plant sprouted branches and leaves, ripened, and bore fruit at a speed visible to the naked eye. In mere moments, its growth time dropped straight to zero, and it reached full maturity. The sacred water's purple glow faded completely as well.
That single precise test allowed him to fully grasp the rule: one drop of sacred water equaled one day of growth time for the farm's crops.
He had nineteen drops of sacred water left, and his stock of level-three crops was still enough to sustain his current cultivation speed. After a little thought, Xia Kong stopped hesitating and used all nineteen remaining drops to ripen the other nineteen newly sown level-one plants, then sowed another round of seeds.
With that done, the twenty level-one plants and ten level-two strawberry plants would ripen simultaneously at this time tomorrow.
The large stockpile of nourishing spirit ingredients would then be enough to push every aspect of Xiao Yi Xian's physical foundation-her body, meridians, and stamina-to the peak of her current realm, stabilizing her foundation and laying excellent groundwork for suppressing her woeful poison body in the future. He, in turn, could free up space to grow rank-three crops suited to his own cultivation, amassing strength to attack the Da Dou Shi realm.
With everything planned out, Xia Kong felt thoroughly satisfied. With a thought, he left the farm space and returned to the magical beasts' forest in the morning light.
Before you continue