Chapter 65: Su Yuan's Farming

Surrounding the spirit fields flowed a spirit-rich river formed by spring water gushing from a spiritual spring at the mountain peak mixed with other water sources, perfectly suited for irrigating the fields. With a thought from Su Yuan, thirty-five spirit fish and Little Cai suddenly materialized mid-air before splashing into the river below. Little Cai looked around in amazement, leaping from the water to hover in the air as she playfully circled Su Yuan. "This will be your new home from now on." Su Yuan chuckled as he patted Little Cai, then examined the condition of the spirit fish before nodding in satisfaction. "You've absorbed enough nourishment from the third-grade spiritual water. Now it's just a matter of slowly refining it and absorbing spiritual energy to advance to second-grade spirit beasts. Little Cai, help them out. Once they reach third-grade and take human form, I'll have plenty of helpers." Little Cai nodded enthusiastically, flapping her fins as if to say "leave it to me." Another thought from Su Yuan summoned Little Li. A small silver fox abruptly appeared on Su Yuan's shoulder, its bright eyes scanning the surroundings. Not seeing anyone around, it asked curiously: "Su Yuan, where is this? You put me away before I could get a good look at all those people earlier!" "You'll have plenty of chances to explore later, don't worry." Su Yuan placed his hand on his sect token. With a flash of light, a slightly smaller token appeared in his palm, which he then hung around Little Li's neck. "Here, with this you can freely access most areas of the sect. The sect is huge with over a hundred thousand resident disciples - more than enough to keep you entertained for ages! There's some contribution points stored inside too, so you can buy whatever you like." Little Li happily played with the token using her tiny paws, clearly thrilled. "Come on, I'll take you to explore Three Peaks Peak and pick up some spirit herb seeds." The little fox immediately nodded in agreement. Su Yuan carried Little Li as he first left Three Peaks Peak. Before long, he returned with his purchases to find Little Li had already slipped away to play. Su Yuan didn't mind - though appearing like an ordinary creature, Little Li was actually a spirit artifact's manifestation. As long as her true form remained unharmed, she would be fine. If she wanted to play, he'd let her enjoy herself freely. Otherwise, wouldn't his promise to her be meaningless? Landing in the spirit fields, Su Yuan took out a spiritual hoe and began tilling the soil. While using spells would be more efficient, actually working the land by hand was more enjoyable when farming. For him, this level of labor was hardly tiring. As he worked, Su Yuan glanced back at the turned earth. While the soil had loosened, the flow of spiritual energy had become completely disordered, seemingly creating negative effects. "Interesting. Farming isn't as simple as it seems." Su Yuan turned back and continued hoeing. With each strike, his true essence followed the magical patterns on the hoe, spreading underground to collide with the earth vein's spiritual energy. The field's energy became more active, yet remained chaotic - some areas extremely vibrant while others stubbornly inert. Raising an eyebrow, Su Yuan checked his system panel and realized his rest time hadn't stopped counting despite all this work. Apparently farming didn't count as cultivation? His interest piqued, Su Yuan started over, carefully tilling while organizing the earth energy. The spiritual veins beneath the fields contained abundant elemental energies, predominantly earth-attribute, though far more sluggish than the air's energy. Each hoe strike used true essence to stimulate and guide this vein energy upward, forming nourishing currents to feed both the fields and future spirit plants. What seemed simple proved unexpectedly difficult - no wonder these second-grade spirit fields had gone unused. Caring for fourth-grade fields would require substantial cultivation strength. Moreover, Su Yuan only managed this thanks to his [Daoist Techniques Naturally] trait allowing him to clearly see the energy flows. Ordinary cultivators had to rely on intuition, making understanding earth energy patterns a specialized study. Thus, spirit farming was one of cultivation's hundred arts, and a significant one at that. Recalling farming texts he'd studied, Su Yuan contemplated further. Spirit plants needed more than earth energy - they also absorbed atmospheric spiritual energy, using the heavens' purity to balance the earth's turbidity in a yin-yang harmony. "Heaven-earth spiritual energy" was always spoken together - rarely did plants absorb only heavenly or earthly energies, except for certain special varieties. "The earth vein energy here is plentiful, but heavenly energy isn't guaranteed!" Su Yuan mused silently. Earth vein energy flowed abundantly without plants needing to actively draw it in, while heavenly energy required their active absorption for proper growth. This distinction explained what made spirit plants special - ordinary vegetation couldn't actively absorb heavenly energy, just as mortals couldn't absorb spiritual energy, preventing them from becoming spirit plants or higher-grade specimens. Pondering this, Su Yuan looked skyward. Though sunlight dominated, he could still perceive the faint Big Dipper constellation present even during daytime. Gazing at the seven stars, he entered a state of enlightenment. His [Seven Stars Shine Bright] trait lit up on the system panel. Simultaneously, [Balance of Work and Rest] also activated. Though his rest had been brief, it sufficed. Entering this trait-enhanced state sharpened Su Yuan's thinking considerably. [Daoist Techniques Naturally] likewise brightened at this moment. The Big Dipper too represented a wonder of heaven and earth! With three traits resonating together, Su Yuan's farming insights coalesced into a new idea. Taking up the hoe again, he struck the earth with metal-attribute infused true essence that spread evenly underground, clearly delineating the earth energy channels while activating them. More crucially, Su Yuan used his true essence to trace a miniature Big Dipper formation on the field's surface, connecting it to the earth energy network to form an integrated whole. Where the seven formation points intersected the earth veins, perfect conditions emerged for normal spirit plant growth. Su Yuan quickly planted seven spirit herb seeds at these locations. Then he drew spiritual water from the river, transforming it into a fine mist that gently nourished the seeds. Releasing his pure wood-attribute true essence, Su Yuan guided the Wood Aspect with his spiritual sense, converting it into vibrant life force that infused the seeds. Under his watch, seven tender sprouts emerged from the soil, growing to about an inch tall with leaves exuding vitality. Starlight from the Big Dipper, drawn by the formation, concentrated specifically on these plants. This starlight carried pure heavenly energy that combined with earthly energy to accelerate their growth remarkably. Yet Su Yuan frowned as he noticed the formation gradually weakening under the earth energy's pressure - his true essence could only sustain it for about three days. This limitation wasn't entirely bad though, since earth vein patterns naturally shifted over time, requiring periodic formation adjustments anyway. Rubbing his chin, Su Yuan declared: "I'll call this farming method the 'Seven Stars Farming Technique' - simple, natural, and worthy of inclusion in future teachings!" The depth behind that single hoe strike alone could occupy ordinary cultivators for years of study - observing earth energy, tracking the stars, channeling starlight, regulating earth currents, determining optimal planting positions... each detail presented significant challenges. Su Yuan took out a jade slip to record his insights systematically. Then producing nine blank books, he divided the knowledge into volumes before storing them away for later placement in Three Peaks Peak's Scripture Pavilion. No rush though - more insights might come soon. As [Balance of Work and Rest] faded, Su Yuan reviewed the jade slip's contents with partially blocked memory and immediately felt dizzy. "Damn! I'm insane - this actually incorporates principles from Yuan Pool's natural restrictions, no wonder the starlight and spiritual energy automatically converge! This is ridiculously complex!" Frowning at the now-obscure knowledge without trait enhancement, Su Yuan shook his head and restored his full memory with sudden understanding. "So that's how it works... still pretty difficult though." Resuming his work, Su Yuan found farming much harder without trait support - his true essence control, earth energy sensitivity, and starlight guidance all diminished incrementally, making the labor genuinely challenging. "Might as well treat it as leisure activity!" Unconcerned, Su Yuan continued farming at a relaxed pace. He also enlisted the spirit fish's help with watering. Thanks to the Seven Stars Farming Technique accelerating plant growth, their water needs increased proportionally. The fish lined up along the riverbank, spraying water onto the plants under Su Yuan's strict instructions to produce fine mists rather than heavy streams. This grueling task left the fish exhausted. Little Cai proudly patrolled above them, swatting any slackers back into the water with her tail like a strict foreman. The fish being smacked would hide underwater to rest before resuming work later. Interestingly, Little Cai only targeted fish slacking after finishing their tasks, ignoring those taking breaks mid-work - making it seem like an amusing game of whack-a-mole that Little Cai thoroughly enjoyed. The fish, however, simply endured it as forced combat and evasion training, creating a peculiar harmony where everyone appeared content.