At the solar term of Grain Rain, the spring light opens up, and the mountain streams turn a deep cyan hue.
With the turn of the new year, spring arrived, and Qin Ming had already sown his first quarterly crop of Gold Spirit Rice early on.
After a month, green sprouts had already broken through the soil across his four mu of spirit fields.
[Name]: Gold Spirit Rice [Trait]: Ripening (Maturity 3%) [Name]: Gold Spirit Rice [Trait]: Faint Spiritual Energy (Maturity 3%) Staring at the two traits that had refreshed inside his spirit fields, Qin Ming felt a surge of excitement in his heart!
In three months, once this season’s spirit rice matured, he would harvest one [Ripening] trait and one [Faint Spiritual Energy] trait.
This meant he could harvest a batch of Beast-Tooth Rice ahead of schedule!
The life of a spirit farmer was dull and monotonous.
Every day, Qin Ming was either tending to his spirit fields or throwing his entire heart into cultivation.
Four white-leaf [Faint Spiritual Energy] traits rested quietly within his sea of consciousness.
Had Qin Ming chosen to consume these four [Faint Spiritual Energy] traits, they would be equivalent to a whole year of bitter cultivation.
Yet Qin Ming didn’t do so.
The gap in magic power required to break through to the Fourth Layer of Qi Condensation was far from just a tiny bit.
This small amount of magic power was a drop in the bucket for his current level.
Rather than using them now, it was better to save them for times of unexpected need.
Near the spirit fields.
Under the control of Qin Ming’s magic power, a cyan magical sword flipped, hovered, and darted about, executing all sorts of fancy maneuvers.
Swish!
Swish!
Swish!
This was the basic Object Manipulation Art that most cultivators could cast.
It was just that in the past, Qin Ming was so poor he couldn’t even afford the lowest-grade inferior flying sword, so he had no way to practice even if he wanted to.
Today was different from the past; he could finally indulge in the thrill of controlling a flying sword himself.
Slash!
Under Qin Ming’s control, the Green-Spirit Sword carved a arc of cyan light through the air, slicing straight onto a nearby boulder.
It sheared off a small chunk of the stone directly.
“Hmm, it feels pretty good to use, but circulating magic power through it is still a bit too clunky and not smooth enough,” Qin Ming muttered to himself, retrieving the Green-Spirit Sword and pulling out a cloth to wipe it down.
Scenes of Deacon Gu of the Spirit Feather Sect unleashing his crimson flying sword to chop the monkey in half with a single strike frequently flashed in his mind.
That was true fluidity and smoothness.
Of course: Compared to Deacon Gu’s flying sword, Qin Ming’s low-grade magical sword was no different from a child’s toy.
Deacon Gu’s magical sword was at least of the high-grade magical treasure rank or above.
There was simply no comparison.
Furthermore, high-tier magical treasures like that were often paired with corresponding sword arts, multiplying their power several times over.
With Qin Ming’s current financial status and cultivation realm, he could only dream about it.
Tucking away the Green-Spirit Sword, Qin Ming practiced the Beast-Taming Art for a while longer.
Without the [Beast-Taming Art] trait, this spell was indeed extraordinarily difficult to execute.
Though hard to master: As a spirit farmer, Qin Ming naturally wouldn’t abandon cultivating such spirit-planting spells.
One had to remember that relying on this spell had saved his little life last time; there was no telling if it would come in handy again in the future.
For the spirit field plots scattered along the mountain slope ahead, relying on others was worse than relying on oneself; he still needed to guard them on his own.
Time flew by in the blink of an eye.
Another three months passed.
The spirit rice matured.
Ever since Qin Ming’s cultivation broke through to the Third Layer of Qi Condensation, combined with his growing proficiency in the Intermediate Spirit Rain Art…
Qin Ming’s quarterly spirit rice yields showed a fine trend of steady improvement.
This season, aside from harvesting two white traits—[Ripening] and [Faint Spiritual Energy]…
He harvested a full 11-plus shi [~550 kg] of spirit rice.
After paying his taxes, he was left with over 390 catties [195 kg].
Counting the spirit rice harvested from last year, Qin Ming’s total spirit rice inventory had now broken past 700 catties [350 kg].
He had now achieved spirit rice freedom—he could eat whenever he pleased.
Within Qingyang Marketplace, the price of spirit rice remained consistently high.
Taking advantage of the price surge, Qin Ming intended to sell another portion.
Shopkeeper Liao’s desire to purchase spirit rice right now was even stronger than his interest in pills or magical treasures.
Additionally, Daoist Long had come looking for Qin Ming several times in succession, all returning empty-handed without any rice.
Next time, Qin Ming would have to spare a portion of spirit rice for him no matter what.
Otherwise, it would be far too embarrassing for the man to keep saving face.
On a certain evening: Qin Ming secretly transplanted several hundred stalks of Beast-Tooth Rice—along with the three stalks carrying traits—into his own small courtyard.
[Name]: Beast-Tooth Rice [Trait]: Advanced Spirit Rain Art x5 (Maturity 38%) [Name]: Beast-Tooth Rice [Trait]: Quality Enhancement x1 (Maturity 39%) [Name]: Beast-Tooth Rice [Trait]: Ripening x5 (Maturity 45%) With everything prepared: Qin Ming applied a [Ripening] trait to the three stalks bearing traits.
In his mind, using a single [Ripening] trait on just these three stalks should allow them to be harvested very quickly.
Under Qin Ming’s slightly nervous gaze: The three Beast-Tooth Rice stalks grew and shot upward wildly.
Half a day later: The growth speed of the three spirit plants only began to slow down once they bore ears of spirit rice.
[Name]: Beast-Tooth Rice [Trait]: Advanced Spirit Rain Art x5 (Maturity 90%) [Name]: Beast-Tooth Rice [Trait]: Quality Enhancement x1 (Maturity 92%) [Name]: Beast-Tooth Rice [Trait]: Ripening x5 (Maturity 93%) “At this rate, since the ripening effect hasn’t completely faded, I should be able to harvest them tomorrow morning.” The next morning: Qin Ming got out of bed and walked out to the small courtyard to take a look.
Those three stalks of Beast-Tooth Rice had matured completely, bearing plump, bountiful grains of Beast-Tooth Rice.
This was Qin Ming’s first time cultivating a Tier-One Lower-Grade spirit plant, and a surge of excitement filled his heart.
He carefully peeled open the outer husk of a single grain of Beast-Tooth Rice and examined it closely.
The mature Beast-Tooth Rice was about the size of a canine tooth.
It was noticeably larger than ordinary spirit rice.
The Beast-Tooth Rice was pure white as snow, crystal-clear, and shaped like a beast’s tooth.
A thin layer of spiritual charm rippled across its surface, while a vibrant crimson red showed through its core.
The spirit rice emitted a unique, faint fragrance.
This was likely the source of the Beast-Tooth Rice’s ability to enhance qi and blood.
‘Though the quality is good, the ones ripened out are still of ordinary quality,’ Qin Ming mused internally.
Once spirit rice entered official ranks, it was categorized by output quality into three grades: Ordinary, Fine, and Supreme.
Qin Ming swallowed his breath, gathered the spirit rice, and hastily picked the three Beast-Tooth Rice stalks with care.
In an instant: Three green-leaf traits appeared quietly inside his sea of consciousness.
“What comes next is the true beginning.” Qin Ming pressed down his surge of joy.
He then shifted his attention toward those several hundred remaining stalks of Beast-Tooth Rice.
This time, he used up one [Ripening] trait and one [Quality Enhancement] trait!
Time slipped by.
Two hours later, the Beast-Tooth Rice in the courtyard shot up frantically.
Perhaps Qin Ming’s luck had arrived once more: His good fortune exploded again!
Among these several hundred stalks of Beast-Tooth Rice, two new traits actually refreshed: [Name]: Beast-Tooth Rice [Trait]: Faint Vital Blood (Maturity 50%) [Name]: Beast-Tooth Rice [Trait]: Faint Vital Blood (Maturity 52%) Qin Ming was stunned.
Every time a trait refreshed, it was closely tied to his next step of cultivation.
This was simply incredible!
Right now, what he lacked most was the power of vital blood.
With a single [Ripening] trait diluted across several hundred spirit plants, its ripening effect had slowed down somewhat.
Seven days later: The small plot of Beast-Tooth Rice inside the courtyard had matured completely.
Qin Ming could no longer hide the wild joy in his heart.
“This is Fine-Grade Beast-Tooth Rice!” [Name]: Beast-Tooth Rice [Trait]: Faint Vital Blood (Maturity 100%, Harvestable) [Name]: Beast-Tooth Rice [Trait]: Faint Vital Blood (Maturity 100%, Harvestable)