In other words, in just half a month, this Spirit Rice had already matured several times to reach such a scale.
Thinking of this possibility, Lu Qinghe drew a sharp breath. This was too heaven-defying.
Seeing the ripe grain heads about to shed from their stalks, Lu Qinghe could wait no longer. He rushed into the Spirit Rice field and began harvesting like a man possessed.
He finished quickly. Lu Qinghe estimated the total yield at over two thousand jin-more than double what the outside Spirit Fields produced.
“I just don’t know what this Spirit Rice is actually worth.”
This much Spirit Rice-even eating three meals a day, he couldn’t finish it all. And the mysterious space could keep producing.
Lu Qinghe picked up a grain head, carefully peeled out the seeds, and scattered them across the black soil.
He needed to know. Was this a fluke, or could this mysterious space truly accelerate Spirit Rice growth?
After sowing the seeds, he took one jin of Spirit Rice and stepped out of the mysterious space.
He found cooking utensils, lit a fire, and boiled the rice. Before long, a steaming basin of fragrant Spirit Rice sat before him.
Lu Qinghe ate without hesitation.
The taste was beyond compare. The food in the Menial Disciple courtyard had always been decent, but it couldn’t hold a candle to this.
More importantly, the Spirit Rice contained faint Spiritual Qi. As he digested it, that energy began flowing through him, striking against his acupoints, steadily building his cultivation.
One jin of Spirit Rice matched nearly half a day of seated meditation. Far faster than drawing in heaven and earth Spiritual Qi through breathing exercises alone.
Lu Qinghe did a rough calculation. He could eat about three jin per day. Combined with his regular cultivation, one day’s progress now equaled two and a half days of his previous pace.
With enough Spirit Rice, his cultivation speed could match a four-element spiritual root cultivator’s.
His stomach full to bursting, unable to eat another grain, Lu Qinghe returned to the mysterious space.
The seeds he had just scattered had already sprouted tender green shoots.
Seeing this, his earlier guess was confirmed beyond all doubt.
Joy surged through him. “I’ve struck it rich. A great Fated Chance-a great fortune!”
With this mysterious space and its black soil, he could not only complete his yearly planting quota but accumulate Spirit Rice beyond counting.
Enough to eat every day, with surplus to sell through the right channels-exchanging it for Spirit Stones and pills. New chapters come out on novelping.com first.
But almost immediately, Lu Qinghe forced himself calm.
He had watched his family’s property get seized. He had watched the Affairs Hall swallow his reward whole. He knew the cruel truth: without absolute strength, one must never reveal wealth.
If anyone learned about this mysterious space, he could never keep it. It would bring catastrophe down on his head.
Lu Qinghe swore to himself-no one would ever learn he possessed such a heaven-defying treasure.
This place was desolate and remote. Few would ever pass by. For once, Lu Qinghe felt genuine gratitude toward that Affairs Hall Senior Brother. Without him, Lu Qinghe might never have discovered the space’s true function so quickly.
Before, he had only thought to use it as an oversized Storage Bag. Now it had become his supreme treasure for Defying the Heavens to change fate.
Since the Spirit Field outside was already ruined and Spirit Rice could never grow there, Lu Qinghe abandoned any pretense of tending it. He only needed to hand over one thousand jin to the Affairs Hall after one year.
Lu Qinghe threw himself into cultivation with single-minded focus, never missing his three daily meals of Spirit Rice.
Three days later, he checked the mysterious space. The Spirit Rice inside had already ripened.
He worked out the numbers. Three days to maturity on the black soil. One full year outside. That was over a hundredfold acceleration.
Lu Qinghe cleared a room beyond the edge of the black soil, dedicated solely to stockpiling Spirit Rice.
Day after day, he dared not slack in his cultivation for even a moment. And always, in the back of his mind, lurked the fear that the Outer Sect Disciple from the Affairs Hall might appear without warning.
That would be enormous trouble.
Half a year passed in a flash.
Sitting upright on his meditation cushion, a vortex of Qi materialized above Lu Qinghe’s head.
A crisp snap rang through his body. The shackles of the second layer shattered, and Lu Qinghe stepped into Qi Condensation, second layer.
If the first layer had only made his body light as a swallow and immune to common illness, the second layer was a true threshold.
His Dantian could now store Spiritual Qi. He could employ low-consumption techniques, imbue his fists and feet with spiritual force to increase his speed and striking power.
He could even activate basic Talismans.
Lu Qinghe let out a long breath. He had ground against this Bottleneck for nearly a month before finally breaking through.
Difficult-but also unimaginable, given where he had started.
Drawing Qi into the Body had taken him eight months. At his normal pace, reaching the second layer should have taken over a year and a half.
He had done it in six months. A full year ahead of schedule.
He was confident now. Within two years, he could reach Qi Condensation third layer. That pace already far outstripped four-element spiritual root cultivators.
They needed ten years to reach the third layer. He might do it in five.
One step ahead became every step ahead.
Now, at the second layer, Lu Qinghe could finally act.
Though he had spent these six months in isolated cultivation without encountering another Sect cultivator, he had still gathered information.
The Menial Disciple exchange area-a place where Menial Disciples bartered amongst themselves.
Lu Qinghe planned to trade Spirit Rice for the cultivation materials he desperately needed. Spirit Stones, above all else. He had been in the Sect for fifteen months now.
And the most essential currency in the cultivation world-Spirit Stones-he had never so much as laid eyes on one.
Of course, he couldn’t bring out all his Spirit Rice. His stockpile already exceeded fifty thousand jin. If storage hadn’t become a problem forcing him to scale back planting, the number would be even more staggering.
That much Spirit Rice appearing at once would cause a sensation.
Lu Qinghe planned to bring only thirty to fifty jin. Enough to trade without drawing attention.
For this trip to the exchange area, he had prepared thoroughly.
He had woven a cloth mask. More than that, he had fashioned a set of padding and props, custom-fitted to his frame. Once he put them on, his thin, boyish frame took on the build of a grown man.
He checked himself over, found no gaps in the disguise, and left the Spirit Field, heading toward the Sect.
An hour later, Lu Qinghe arrived at the Menial Disciple trading area.
On the ground, Menial Disciples sat scattered about, their wares spread on cloth before them.
They haggled with passersby who stopped to browse.
Lu Qinghe even spotted pills and Talismans among the goods-though their prices were so steep that no one could afford them.
He found an open spot and set down fifty jin of Spirit Rice.
Then he propped up his sign: Premium Spirit Rice-ten jin per Spirit Stone.
That was the market price he had inquired about.