North of Chen Village lay a stretch of farmland covering about three mu.
The field was within the village boundaries and relatively safe, so Chen Mu chose it for his first experiment.
Not far outside the village were more than a hundred mu of farmland. Those fields produced poor harvests, yet villagers had to spend time guarding them, driving away pests, and fertilizing them. It was a great deal of trouble.
In the past, anyone assigned to farm the fields would complain bitterly. Even if they did well, they could only put food on the table and clothes on their backs. If they did poorly, they often needed relief from the village, so hardly anyone was willing to do it.
Holding a handful of small flags, Chen Mu walked around the field, observing it carefully as he went.
Ever since he had made the Five Elements Chaos Talisman his Life-Bound Talisman, he had found himself especially sensitive to the five elements.
He didn't know whether the world of his previous life had been the same, but matter in this world seemed to be made up of the five elements.
Thus, in Chen Mu's eyes, the five elements beneath the field were in complete disorder.
His solution was to use the Five Elements Talisman Flags he had made to bring order to the land and make it better suited to plant growth.
Among the five elements, earth gave rise to metal, metal gave rise to water, and water gave rise to wood. Naturally, earth was the most abundant element in the soil.
To make the land suitable for plants, he first had to make earth give rise to metal. Chen Mu took several Metal Element Talisman Flags and planted them at key points where the earth element was concentrated.
Nourished by the earth element, the Metal Element Talisman Flags could attract minerals from the surrounding soil, increasing its nutrients and making it fertile.
Chen Mu then took several Water Element Talisman Flags and spaced them evenly around the field.
Metal gave rise to water. Metal represented ultimate hardness, while water represented ultimate softness. When things reached their extremes, they turned into their opposites; when yang reached its peak, yin was born. This was the turning point among the five elements.
Stimulated by the metal element, the Water Element Talisman Flags could produce water, moistening the land and nurturing all things.
Finally, Chen Mu placed Wood Element Talisman Flags in the center of each mu, drawing the wood element to gather around the field and fill it with vitality.
With everything done, Chen Mu stopped.
He could sense the wood element in the field slowly growing denser. He believed that anything planted here would surely yield twice the result for half the effort.
Still, he wasn't entirely satisfied.
In his vision, the five elements could form a perfect closed cycle. If he could put all five to use in the field, they would circulate and generate one another without end. The wood element ultimately produced would inevitably undergo a transformation, and the results would certainly be far better than they were now.
But he hadn't yet figured out how to use fire and earth here. Besides, getting the five elements to cycle required more than understanding alone; he also needed a Divine Soul strong enough to support the formation of the entire structure.
If he could do that, it would mean he could set up talisman arrays. That would only be possible once he reached at least the Five-Mark Realm.
The results had already met his expectations, though, so he didn't rush. He would gradually improve it later.
Over the next few days, Chen Mu began instructing the villagers to plant rice, vegetables, and some fruit in the field.
Although the talisman flags were in place, it would still take some time before their effects became visible.
So he simply built a shelter beside the field, where he cultivated while observing the changes in the farmland.
Recently, Chen Mu had made a discovery worth celebrating.
Whenever his Divine Soul improved, his cultivation of the Acala Heart Sutra sped up as well.
He had never understood why he cultivated the Acala Heart Sutra so much faster than Duoduo.
Only recently, while teaching Duoduo to cultivate, did he realize that he subconsciously used his Divine Soul to draw in Spiritual Qi when he cultivated. As a result, he absorbed several times as much Spiritual Qi as she did each time.
It seemed the Acala Heart Sutra was a cultivation technique particularly well suited to talisman masters. Unfortunately, he couldn't teach Duoduo the Dao of Talismans yet. Otherwise, things would have been even better.
After making this discovery, Chen Mu immediately adjusted his cultivation schedule.
He devoted the vast majority of his time to cultivating his Divine Soul. A stronger Divine Soul would also speed up his cultivation as a martial artist, allowing him to maximize his cultivation efficiency.
Time flew, and half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
In the farmland outside Chen Village, many villagers were busy harvesting rice, their faces glowing with the joy of a bountiful harvest.
Chen Hongjie came to inspect the fields. Looking at the rice paddies heavy with grain, he beamed with delight.
Chen Mu, who was working in the field shelter, noticed Chen Hongjie's arrival and came out to greet him.
"Third Uncle, you're here!"
"A Mu! We really have you to thank this time! I was worried that with the hunting team so short-handed this year, the village wouldn't have enough food to get through the winter. I never expected you to increase the fields' yield five- or sixfold so quickly. You've put out the fire at my eyebrows!"
Chen Hongjie smiled, full of praise.
"Haha, Third Uncle, that's not all I can do! Just wait and see. By next year, the harvest from these fields will at least quadruple again.
"And I'm planning to grow medicinal herbs too. Then the people in the village won't have to worry about being unable to find herbs to treat their illnesses anymore."
Chen Mu patted his chest proudly, a broad smile on his face.
Chen Hongjie looked at Chen Mu's still-childish face, overcome with emotion. He could hardly believe that a boy not yet ten years old could have brought such enormous changes to the village.
"A Mu, as a talisman master, you could find a larger tribe outside the village to take you in, and you'd certainly have a much easier life than you do now.
"Instead, you have to stay here and suffer alongside us. The village has held you back."
Chen Mu shook his head, his gaze resolute. "Third Uncle, you mustn't say that. How could there be a me without Chen Village? I'm a member of the village too. There's no question of anyone holding me back."
Chen Hongjie was deeply gratified and laughed heartily. "Good, good, good! Haoran's son indeed! I don't know how that little head of yours grew, but you know everything at such a young age. Haha..."
Then he noticed several village carpenters behind Chen Mu, sanding wooden blocks, and couldn't help asking out of curiosity.
"A Mu, what are those round wheels you've got the carpenters making for? Are they for improving the farmland too?"
Chen Mu thought for a moment and explained, "They're wheels. I saw how hard the villagers worked carrying rice back to the village on shoulder poles, so I'm planning to make a few handcarts. That way, everyone will have an easier time."
"Handcarts?... Oh! Like the horse-drawn carriages people ride in the city?"
Chen Hongjie pondered for a moment, then his eyes lit up. "You even know how to make carriages? Did that talisman master of a teacher teach you that too?"
"Yes!"
Chen Mu knew it would be hard to explain, so he had no choice but to attribute everything to that elusive teacher of his.
Although Chen Mu had never made a handcart in his previous life, he had studied physics. For such a simple mechanical device, all he needed was a little time to put it into practice, and building one wouldn't be difficult at all.
During the process, however, he discovered that the physics of this world differed somewhat from what he had learned in his previous life.
The greatest difference was Spiritual Power.
Spiritual Power was everywhere in this world. It was active by nature, contained tremendous energy, and had an enormous influence on everything.
Even so, the physical effects observed in this world were consistent with those in his previous world, so Chen Mu's knowledge of physics was still valid.
But he found that the physics knowledge he considered simple was difficult for people born and raised in this world to understand.
That was determined by their way of thinking-a shackle on their understanding of the essence of all things in the world.
So even when he explained the principles to the carpenters making the wheels, they couldn't understand them and could only follow his instructions step by step.
Chen Mu could sense that the reason he had been able to receive the Rune Ancestor's inheritance in its entirety was his way of thinking.
His ability to see through to the essence of all things without being misled by appearances, together with the logic and learning skills he had acquired as a programmer, were the foundation on which he could establish himself in this world.