Harvest

Harvest

Qin Ming stared fixedly at the three Affixes.

The golden letters flickered in and out of view.

After confirming again and again that there was no mistake, he was so excited he nearly went mad with joy!

Golden Finger!

This was definitely his very own Golden Finger!

Qin Ming had originally believed that, barring any surprises, his path to immortality would come to an end here in this life.

He had never expected hope to blaze anew within him!

Qin Ming suppressed his surging emotions.

Without even washing up, he carefully approached the three Spirit Rice plants and inspected every plant in the courtyard.

He discovered that only those three displayed Affixes.

"Can I harvest them directly?"

Qin Ming reached out and pinched off the three Spirit Rice plants at their roots.

As he gathered the Spirit Rice, one streak of green light and two streaks of white light flashed out from the Spirit Rice before vanishing. They then transformed into three leaves that quietly appeared within his Sea of Consciousness.

The green leaf bore the Affix 'Accelerated Growth.'

The white leaves bore the two Affixes 'Faint Mana' and 'Intermediate Spirit Rain Art, five uses.'

With a single thought from him, they could be used immediately.

Qin Ming returned to his room and shut the door.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, he focused his thoughts on one of the white leaves. The 'Faint Mana' Affix immediately vanished.

In an instant.

A surge of mana suddenly welled up within Qin Ming's dantian, startling him into quickly following the mana circulation route of his family's inherited "Evergreen Skill" and guiding this strand of mana into Evergreen Mana.

"It was clearly only called Faint Mana, yet it contains such abundant mana!"

After a long while.

Feeling the changes in his dantian, Qin Ming's face lit up with the joy of harvest.

"The mana in my dantian has grown by several degrees. It's equivalent to three months of my usual bitter cultivation."

The bottleneck that had trapped him at Qi Refining Layer 2 for so long without the slightest movement now showed faint signs of loosening.

If he could get a few more Affixes like this, Qi Refining Stage Third Layer would not be far away!

What surprised him even more was that these Affixes could be stored directly in his Sea of Consciousness and used whenever he wished. It was truly convenient.

I should stockpile more Faint Mana Affixes like that whenever I get the chance. They might save my life at a critical moment!

Qin Ming secretly made up his mind.

Having tasted the sweetness of it, he was filled with excitement and could not wait to test the effects of the other two Affixes.

But he quickly suppressed the urge.

"Don't get carried away! Stay calm! I must stay calm!"

"I still need to keep my usual routine. My strength is weak right now, so I can't let others notice anything unusual. Steady growth is the way to go."

Having thought it through, Qin Ming got up and went to the kitchen to light the stove and cook, using the Spirit Rice harvested yesterday.

He also stir-fried several delicate little dishes.

Normally, after paying his taxes, Qin Ming would take the remaining Spirit Rice to the market to sell. He lived frugally and exchanged it for cultivation resources needed in daily life.

He could not bear to eat Spirit Rice more than a few times a month.

Spirit Rice also contained spiritual qi. Though it could not compare to the amount contained in an Affix, it was still considered rather precious cultivation sustenance in the eyes of ordinary cultivators.

After eating.

Qin Ming took his Spirit Hoe and headed to his Spirit Field at the usual time.

After taking a stroll around the area, he discovered something.

He had examined every nearby Spirit Field and plant.

Other than a single Spirit Rice plant in his half-mu of immature Spirit Rice that flickered with the Affix 'Faint Mana.'

Not a single other plant displayed an Affix!

In other words, only Spirit Plants he had personally planted could generate Affixes.

Moreover, Affixes appeared only by chance, and the probability was very low.

After all, there were at least tens of thousands of Spirit Rice plants in that half-mu Spirit Field, yet only one had an Affix. The odds were pitifully low.

For three plants bearing Affixes to appear at once in Qin Ming's flowerbed, it was like smoke rising from his ancestral graves—he had stumbled into outrageous luck.

Still, it was fine. He believed that as long as he kept planting, Affixes would eventually appear.

Qin Ming's Spirit Field was located far back along the hillside. Few people came here besides him, and a dense bamboo grove concealed it from view.

Usually, Du Haifu, the supervisor of the Spirit Fields, only showed up when collecting taxes. So long as nothing major happened, he rarely came here to inspect the place.

The Spirit Farmers had finished harvesting their Spirit Rice yesterday, so no one was in the fields now.

Qin Ming stared at the only Spirit Rice plant bearing an Affix in his field, his eyes wide as he carefully observed it for most of the day.

Yet he could never tell what exactly made it different from the Spirit Rice around it.

It truly left him baffled...

Seeing that no one was around, Qin Ming stopped overthinking it and decided to use the other two Affixes.

Du Haifu's words yesterday had given him a powerful sense of urgency.

He absolutely could not go to the frontline War Camp just to throw his life away.

With his current combat strength, he would be the weakest of cannon fodder.

"I'll first accelerate the growth of this half-mu of Spirit Rice and see what happens."

Qin Ming took a deep breath. With a thought, he used 'Accelerated Growth' and one use of 'Intermediate Spirit Rain Art.'

The green 'Accelerated Growth' leaf in his Sea of Consciousness vanished, while 'Intermediate Spirit Rain Art' changed to four uses remaining.

Qin Ming formed a hand seal and pointed toward the sky above the half-mu of Spirit Rice!

A cloud of gray spiritual vapor quickly gathered overhead and soon completely covered the half-mu Spirit Field.

Patter, patter!

Spirit rain descended continuously, accompanied by the effect of Accelerated Growth.

"This Intermediate Spirit Rain Art truly is worlds apart from the Low-level Spirit Rain Art."

"The range of rainfall and the spiritual qi conversion effect have both greatly increased. Most importantly, it can initially draw upon the qi of the Spirit Vein. They cannot be mentioned in the same breath."

Qin Ming carefully experienced the sensations of casting the technique, cherishing this rare opportunity.

He immersed his mind and sensed the mana circulation of the Intermediate Spirit Rain Art.

After a long while.

A flicker of understanding rose in Qin Ming's heart. The difference lay in the precise control of one's own mana and the efficient use of spiritual qi while casting.

The flow of mana during the casting process no longer carried that sluggish, obstructed feeling.

Even Cai Lao Jiu had practiced for several years before raising his Spirit Rain Technique to the intermediate level.

This spirit rain lasted for the time it took to burn an incense stick before it finally stopped.

Of course.

Qin Ming's mana had also been drained dry...

His cultivation was still too low.

His face was pale, his legs weak, and he had no strength even to truss a chicken. He dropped onto the ground and wiped the fine sweat from his brow.

A full incense stick's worth of time!

In the past, that was something he would not even have dared to imagine, let alone with an Intermediate Spirit Rain Art.

"Heh heh! I can keep it up for this long too now!"

"I'm no longer stuck with that three-second drip irrigation from before!"

At this moment, Qin Ming felt as though his confidence had returned to his side.

After resting for a while, he got up and went to observe the effects of the rain.

Only half a day later.

That half-mu of Spirit Rice began to shoot upward wildly at a pace visible to the naked eye.

Just like those crazed plants in his dreams.

This rate of growth continued until the plants had grown more than twice as tall as before, only then beginning to slow.

They were already close to producing ears of Spirit Rice.

"Gasp... this speed... it's a little..."

The combination of Accelerated Growth and Intermediate Spirit Rain Art made even Qin Ming suck in a breath of cold air.

"This is with the Affix from that leaf with the Accelerated Growth effect spread across the entire half-mu field."

"If it were all used on a single Spirit Rice plant, wouldn't it be ready to harvest immediately?"

"Green-quality Affixes must be extremely rare. I'll have to use them sparingly next time."

As Qin Ming marveled at his luck, the Affix on that Spirit Rice plant also changed.

Name: Golden Spirit Rice Affix: Faint Mana (Maturity 70%)

At this rate, he estimated that he could come harvest the Spirit Rice tomorrow morning.

Sure enough.

When Qin Ming returned to the Spirit Field the next morning, that half-mu of Spirit Rice had fully matured.

Not only that, the yield of Spirit Rice from that half-mu had increased by around twenty percent compared to before.

The quality was also better. Every grain was plump and translucent, radiating an enticing spiritual fragrance.

The Intermediate Spirit Rain Art truly lived up to its name. It could directly draw spiritual qi from the Spirit Vein and transform it into rain, providing Spirit Plants with ample nourishment.

What delighted him most was that the Spirit Rice bearing the 'Faint Mana' Affix had already become part of his cultivation.

Qin Ming was filled with sweetness as he began looking forward to the future.

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.

During this time.

After tending to his original three mu of Spirit Fields, Qin Ming sought out supervisor Du Haifu and leased another two mu of Spirit Fields beside them.

After turning over the soil, he planted Spirit Rice seedlings.

He had also used the Intermediate Spirit Rain Art Affix three times, leaving only one use.

Qin Ming had gradually gained some understanding of the tricks behind casting the Intermediate Spirit Rain Art.

He believed that as long as he practiced diligently, it would not take long before he could cast the Intermediate Spirit Rain Art himself, even without using an Affix.

That was the difference between experiencing something personally and blindly cultivating through trial and error.

When Du Haifu saw him come to rent Spirit Fields, he repeatedly praised the boy for finally coming to his senses and put on a show of offering encouragement.

He could not wait to lease out more plots of land, so he could skim even more profit for himself.

But how could he know that Qin Ming was working the land so diligently in order to generate Affixes...

After working for more than half a month.

He had more or less finished arranging all five mu of Spirit Fields.

Now he only needed to wait for the next harvest. Everything else was routine care and tending.

Qin Ming finally had some free time.

Over the next couple of days, he planned to sell some of the Spirit Rice he had on hand and buy a few cultivation items.

Two things, in particular, were urgently necessary.

First was a Storage Bag. Carrying huge bundles every time he went out was truly inconvenient.

Second was a Soundproof Array...

Qin Ming changed into a different set of clothes, hoisted a sack of Spirit Rice onto his shoulder, and headed out.

"Whoa! Fellow Daoist Qin, are you going to the market to sell Spirit Rice? Looks like you had a pretty good harvest!"

"That's rare, Fellow Daoist Qin."

The moment Qin Ming stepped outside, quite a few neighbors nearby greeted him.

After passing through the maze-like alleyways, he arrived at the main road.

At that moment, two cultivators approached him head-on, a man and a woman.

"Fellow Daoist Long."

"Fellow Daoist Qin."

Qin Ming hurriedly set down his sack and gave them a respectful cupped fist salute.

This cultivator surnamed Long before him was the only Late Qi Refining Great Cultivator in their Shantytown. He had already broken through to Qi Refining Stage Eight several years ago.

The female cultivator beside him was Qin Ming's neighbor, Li Yanli. Seeing how intimate the two appeared, she had likely latched onto his thigh.

Security around the Shantytown was not particularly peaceful. Over the years, it was thanks to Fellow Daoist Long's deterrence that some petty scoundrels in the area had not dared cause trouble.

The great reclamation project of the Spirit Feather Sect had drawn a large number of low-level cultivators here, and quite a few Marauder Cultivators had also appeared to set their sights on the place.

Though the Spirit Feather Sect's Enforcement Team patrolled outside, incidents of murder and robbing treasures still occurred from time to time.

After Fellow Daoist Long gave a perfunctory grunt, he left with Li Yanli.

In their eyes, Qin Ming was merely an insignificant low-level Spirit Farmer, utterly beneath their notice.

The fact that they replied at all was only because they were neighbors.

Qin Ming did not mind.

A Late Qi Refining Great Cultivator having a somewhat proud attitude was perfectly normal.

Qin Ming watched the direction the two had come from. It seemed there would be another fierce "battle" tonight.

With a silent sigh, he immediately elevated buying a Soundproof Array to his top priority.

Before long, the enormous archway of "Qingyang Market" came into view.

The market was packed with people, and the cries of hawkers and peddlers rose and fell without end.

Following the main road.

Qin Ming headed straight for the very center of the market, making his way to the back entrance of a shop.

After he knocked a few times, someone came to open the door.

The man recognized Qin Ming at once and asked him to wait while he went inside to summon the shopkeeper.

A short while later.

A middle-aged man emerged from within, dressed in a crimson brocade robe with a white base and gold-thread embroidery.

The shopkeeper was at the sixth level of the Qi Refining Stage. Yet upon seeing a low-level cultivator like Qin Ming, he showed no neglect, greeting him warmly with a professional smile.

"Here to sell Spirit Rice, I presume? Come, come, let's talk inside."

They entered the back courtyard.

Qin Ming set down the Spirit Rice and returned the greeting. "It's all here. There should be a little over a hundred jin."

The shopkeeper nodded and instructed his men to inspect and weigh the rice.

"The Golden Spirit Rice comes to a total of one hundred and eight jin."

"I can purchase it at the market rate of one Lower-grade Spirit Stone per five jin. What do you think, Fellow Daoist?"

"Deal."

Qin Ming nodded readily. He had occasionally come here to sell Spirit Rice before.

Cai Lao Jiu had secretly introduced him to this channel.

He could naturally set up a stall in the market, and he might earn a few more Spirit Stones there, but he would have to pay stall fees and deal with all sorts of trouble.

This way was safer and more stable.

"If you have any more Spirit Rice in the future, you can bring it all here to sell. I'll buy it no matter how much you have."

The shopkeeper took out twenty-one Spirit Stones and several Spirit Crystal Shards and paid Qin Ming.

"By the way, does your establishment sell Soundproof Arrays?" Qin Ming did not leave immediately, instead asking a question.

"Of course." The shopkeeper smiled faintly, patted his Storage Bag, and took out a simple array.

"A low-grade Soundproof Array. Ten Lower-grade Spirit Stones."

Qin Ming clenched the Spirit Stones that had not even had time to warm in his hand and gritted his teeth. "Can it be any cheaper? I'm also buying a Storage Bag."

"Yes. The Soundproof Array is ten Spirit Stones, and the Storage Bag is twelve Spirit Stones. I can knock one off. That'll be twenty-one Spirit Stones."

The transaction was completed.

After leaving the shop.

"Wherever I make money, that's where I spend it. Not a single coin gets to come home with me." Qin Ming could not help sighing.

Afterward, he went to nearby shops to buy some books on Spirit Plants and daily necessities, then hurried home.

This trip out had cost him dearly, but Qin Ming believed he would soon earn even more Spirit Stones.