Rest and Recuperation

The sun sank in the west, fishing boats returned to harbor, and the port rang with noise.

A small boat glided in, carrying none other than Zhao Yi.

Zhao Yi stood tall at the bow. The fishermen on the returning boats recognized him, and wherever his little boat passed, they gave way and bowed to him. Smiling, Zhao Yi returned each greeting.

Resources were scarce at sea to begin with, and the Yunsha Sea Region was newly opened territory, nowhere near as stable as other sea regions.

Mortals and cultivators in the Yunsha Sea Region lived in a symbiotic relationship. Without mortal support, cultivators could not cultivate in peace; without cultivator protection, mortals could not live in peace. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.

An island that prospered was bound to be an island that treated its mortals well!

Nearly a hundred years had passed since his grandmaster established Linghua Island. Its mortal population had grown from the original hundred households to over a thousand today, all through the efforts of three generations of cultivators.

When the boat reached the dock, Zhao Yi stepped onto the pier, stopped a nearby fisherman, and gave him a few instructions. Then he used the Lightness Technique and left the harbor in a few darting movements.

The fisherman who received Zhao Yi's instructions stopped the Jade Pearl Island resident aboard the little boat and told him to rest on the island and return to Jade Pearl Island tomorrow.

Back at Linghua Abbey, Zhao Yi felt a wave of relief, and even the dull pain in his chest eased somewhat.

Why had he been in such a hurry to return to Linghua Island?

Naturally, because he could not stop worrying about the spirit fields. They were Linghua Island's lifeblood.

Zhao Yi had just checked the spirit fields at the foot of the mountain. They were fine; he would use the Rain Transformation Technique tomorrow.

On his second day back, Zhao Yi's injuries had eased somewhat after he took another Spring Return Pill the previous night.

Remembering that he needed to water the spirit fields today, Zhao Yi shouldered his water buckets, tucked away a packet of spirit-nurturing powder, and headed down the mountain.

He arrived at the spirit fields at the mountain's foot. The fields were neatly square, roughly forty paces from east to west and forty from north to south. A stream ran nearby, and the terrain was flat and open, with ample sunlight.

Zhao Yi first inspected the formation laid around the Spirit Field: the Three Talents Spirit-Nourishing Formation. Its name invoked the three talents of heaven, earth, and humanity, lofty in conception and impressive in reputation, but the formation itself was quite simple.

Linghua Island had stood among the Cloudsand Archipelago for nearly a hundred years; it did have some ability!

This was no boast on Zhao Yi's part. They really did possess something of an inheritance!

His grandmaster, Chen Changdao, had originally been a young fisherman who happened to haul up a cultivator's corpse while fishing at sea.

Though young at the time, his grandmaster had extraordinary courage and judgment. He stripped the corpse clean, tied several pieces of fresh fish to it, and threw it back into the sea.

When his master reached this part of the story, Zhao Yi had marveled. His grandmaster truly had possessed extraordinary courage and judgment in his youth!

After obtaining the cultivator's belongings, his grandmaster began cultivating in secret.

His grandmaster had never studied Daoist script, yet by copying a tiger from a cat, he actually succeeded in cultivating. From then on, the youth left his little island, wandered for half a lifetime, and finally settled on Linghua Island.

The inheritance his grandmaster obtained was that of a Spirit-Seeker. Seeking spirits and awakening spirits were among the Hundred Cultivation Arts.

Seeking spirits meant locating spirit veins, Spirit Acupoints, spirit mines, and the like.

Awakening spirits meant gathering spiritual energy and improving the quality of spiritual objects.

Linghua Island's Spirit-Seeking Master Legacy allowed one to cultivate to the Spirit Attraction Stage and become a Spirit-Seeker.

The Three Talents Spirit-Nourishing Formation was one of the low-grade formations recorded within it. Its function was to maintain spirit fields and gradually improve their quality.

Its formation anchors chiefly consisted of three Attribute Spirit Stones, one each of earth, wood, and Water Attribute.

What were Attribute Spirit Stones?

Spirit stones dug from spirit stone mines had no elemental affinity. Attribute Spirit Stones formed in special environments, so their prices were naturally considerable.

Linghua Island had no spirit vein to nourish its spirit fields naturally and could only use the Three Talents Spirit-Nourishing Formation to maintain them.

These two mu were both low-grade spirit fields. Low-grade did not mean poor quality; of the hundred or so islands in the Yunsha Sea Region, only a dozen or so could steadily produce spirit rice.

To establish spirit fields on islands without spirit veins, the fields needed watering with Spirit Liquid. Azure Cloud Island sold spirit-nurturing powder: one spirit stone bought five jin, and one jin of powder could be mixed into twenty jin of Spirit Liquid. Watering one mu of spirit fields once required a hundred jin of Spirit Liquid, exactly one spirit stone's worth.

For the first five years, the fields needed Spirit Liquid every half month, costing at least a hundred and twenty spirit stones over five years.

For the next three years, Spirit Rice was planted annually, and after harvesting, its spiritual energy was returned to the soil.

In the ninth year, the planted Spirit Rice could finally be harvested for use, yielding only a few dozen jin per mu. To increase the yield, one had to keep watering with Spirit Liquid.

Spirit Rice took roughly seven months from sowing to maturity and needed watering at least ten times during that period, requiring ten spirit stones.

The sea was fraught with dangers, and cultivators might return their spiritual energy to heaven and earth at any moment. How many could resolve to nurture spirit fields? They might merely end up sewing another's wedding gown!

This was also why Zhao Yi was so profoundly grateful to his grandmaster and master.

Zhao Yi made his own spirit-nurturing powder. The recipe was simple: the main ingredient was demon beast bones, supplemented with crushed spirit stones and powdered pearls, then finally blended with spirit spring water.

He could keep the cost of producing seven jin of spirit-nurturing powder to one spirit stone, and its effects were no worse than what Azure Cloud Island sold.

Ever since Zhao Yi worked out the recipe for spirit-nurturing powder, Linghua Island had gained another product, earning some spirit stones each year from its sale.

Besides spiritual energy, Spirit Rice also had requirements for sunlight, moisture, and soil fertility.

Thus, Spirit Rice was generally planted in neat square grids, one pace to a square, with a single plant in each.

Looking over the two mu of spirit fields, Zhao Yi sighed. In his present condition, watering all two mu would probably take three to five days.

There was nothing for it. Time to get to work!

In the spirit fields, Zhao Yi bent over and used the Rain Transformation Technique, ensuring that every Spirit Rice plant received its share of rain and dew, while also checking the stalks for pests.

Spirit Rice leaves were as tough as hemp cloth; only pests with strong jaws could chew through them. And because they ate Spirit Rice, these insects contained a trace of spiritual energy. They did not qualify as Spiritual Insects, but they were tasty!

Three or four years ago, they had suffered an infestation of Colorful-Robed Ox beetles. Master and his three disciples, four people in all, had worked for two days before wiping them out.

They caught several dozen large ones, and Zhao Yi fried and ate them all. They tasted good-like chicken, with a satisfying crunch.

Liu Yu and Wang Qing were too timid to eat them. They missed that culinary blessing and naturally received none of the spiritual nourishment either.

Besides pests, seabirds were also a nuisance. As Spirit Rice approached maturity, it gave off a rich fragrance that lured seabirds in to steal it.

Last year, Wang Qing had watched over the rice fields and shot who knew how many with his bow, all of which went to the islanders below the mountain to eat.

It was now June. Counting the days, there were still more than three months until maturity.

Low-grade Spirit Rice ripened once a year. The slightly better, mid-grade Spirit Rice took three or five years to ripen.

Fubo Pavilion on Azure Cloud Island had once auctioned a high-grade Spirit Rice called Purple-Cloud Rice. It ripened once every ten years and was exclusively for Dao Foundation cultivators to eat.

Tsk, tsk. Wouldn't a single mouthful of that high-grade spirit rice prolong your life?

At the thought, even Zhao Yi grew excited. I've got a cheat now too. One day, I'll eat my fill of that high-grade Spirit Rice!

No, I'll eat half a bowl and dump the other half!

By the time he finished tending the spirit fields, four days had passed, and his injuries had improved a little more.

Today, Zhao Yi made a circuit of the island and checked the traps.

That was right: Zhao Yi had buried plenty of traps on the island too.

No wonder I found Daoist Mu so disagreeable. Master and Grandmaster lived on this island for nearly a hundred years without ever thinking to add traps. What a sinister, vicious man!

Zhao Yi spent another long while cursing Daoist Mu inwardly.

After checking the traps, he would normally patrol the sea, which meant circling the waters near Linghua Island to check for sea beasts. If there were any, he would drive them away, never initiating an attack unless absolutely necessary.

Now, however, Zhao Yi's injuries were fairly serious, so he skipped the patrol. Going would only make him bait for sea beasts.

With nothing important to attend to, Zhao Yi threw himself back into intensive cultivation. Cultivation in the Meridian Opening stage meant constantly consuming Spirit Cuisine or spirit pills.

Without either, one could only rely on arduous seated cultivation.

By practicing breathing methods in a quiet, secluded, and pleasant place each day, inhaling clouds and exhaling mist, one could obtain a little spiritual energy from the air through prolonged persistence.

But relying solely on breathing methods to absorb spiritual energy from the air made cultivation progress far too slowly.

Without any spiritual resources to assist him, Zhao Yi would need at least ten years to reach Perfection of Meridian Opening.

And that required sitting in cultivation year after year, day after day, come wind or rain.

Now, with the foundation his grandmaster and master had passed down, though the spirit fields were few, their annual output could at least help the three fellow disciples cultivate a little faster.

But if he wanted to go faster still, he would need to seek another path.

One thing Zhao Yi was quite proud of was developing spirit-nurturing powder, giving Linghua Island another source of income!

On Jade Pearl Island, several dozen li away.

Liu Yu and Wang Qing were helping the islanders test their spiritual roots.

They had been on the island for several days. Apart from meeting the islanders on that first day, the two had remained in cultivation, only finally leaving the Daoist abbey today.

The island had forty-six households, totaling two hundred and twenty-seven people. Those over fifty did not need testing. Even if they showed aptitude, what then? Would they bring them back to the abbey to support them in old age?

In the end, only a hundred and eighty-eight people took part in the testing.

Wang Qing directed them to line up and have their aptitude tested one by one.

A morning passed, and more than half the people were gone, yet they had not found anyone with spiritual roots. Growing bored, Wang Qing found a shady tree and stood beneath it to cool off.

"Hm?"

In the distance, Liu Yu gave a soft exclamation.

Wang Qing looked over toward Liu Yu. A dark-skinned boy in his teens sat quietly on the stool before the table, the spirit stone in his hand giving off a faint glow.

Spitting out the grass stalk in his mouth, Wang Qing darted over in a few movements and looked at the boy with delighted surprise.

He turned to look at Liu Yu, who nodded, his face equally delighted.

Seizing the boy's hand, Wang Qing asked eagerly, "What's your name? How old are you?"

"I-Immortal Master, my name is Chunsheng. I'm fourteen this year."

With Wang Qing gripping his hand tightly, the boy was a little nervous.

"Where's your family?"

"My parents both died at sea. My only family is an older sister, and she married someone on Linghua Island a few years ago."

"Oh, then how do you usually feed yourself?"

Smiling, Liu Yu reached out to remove Wang Qing's hand and asked the question with a smile.

Liu Yu's smile and actions conveyed kindness to the boy, and some of the unease on his face faded.

"Immortal Master, I usually work at the docks in exchange for a little food. Sometimes I go fishing myself, too. That helps fill my stomach."

"In that case, Chunsheng, from now on, stay with us."

Liu Yu spoke.

"Come here. Stand behind me."

Chunsheng looked at Liu Yu, then obediently stood behind Wang Qing.

After an entire morning, they had finally found one. Wang Qing and Liu Yu's enthusiasm rose again. Perhaps they might find another person with aptitude among those remaining.

Unfortunately, people who could cultivate were truly too rare. After everyone had been tested, Chunsheng was the only one with cultivation aptitude.

Waving for the islanders to disperse, Liu Yu arranged for Wang Qing to help Chunsheng pack his belongings at home so he could move up the mountain that very day.