Five days passed.
In the evening, as usual, Li An locked his door, lit a fire, and cooked.
To mask the scent of unripe spirit rice, he mixed in a dozen grains of mature spirit rice each time.
The difference in aroma was slight, and Wang Zilin and Zhang Susu wouldn’t notice.
But caution was ingrained in Li An, a reflex carved into his bones.
Over these days, he harvested about a pound of spirit rice each night.
That was the limit.
His method was so careful—taking only three to five grains per stalk, never the whole ear—that it slowed him down.
He even used his nails to mimic bug bites, further masking his theft.
Li An wasn’t greedy. Spirit rice had many impurities, limiting how fast he could extract spiritual qi.
Right now, his body could handle at most a pound of spirit rice per day.
Any more would be wasted, unabsorbed.
This was thanks to his past life’s cultivation experience. Someone like Wang Zilin, at this stage, could manage only half an ounce daily.
This showed the importance of resources. Cultivating with spirit stones would absorb spiritual qi much faster.
Progress would naturally be quicker.
…
A huge pot of spirit rice was ready. Li An scooped it out and ate heartily.
The flavor wasn’t as rich as fully ripened rice, with a faint grassy taste, but Li An savored it.
He finished the entire pot.
Checking his body, he saw that under the daily nourishment of spirit rice essence, the green sprout in his dantian had grown to the size of a pea.
But it was still just a sprout.
Over these days, his spirit root, damaged by thunder spirit qi, had repaired about one-fifth.
Slow, but he was pleased.
This proved the incredible power of the Art of Nurturing Life and Forging Immortality.
After all, a damaged spirit root usually required a Second Grade pill to have any chance of repair.
A single Second Grade pill was beyond even official disciples, let alone a menial like him.
…
Late at night, Li An slipped into the spirit fields as usual.
After days of observation, he understood the fields better.
Spirit Gathering Arrays surrounded the fields, collecting spiritual qi for the crops.
But the arrays were uneven, making the left side’s soil the poorest, with the lowest-quality spirit rice.
The right was better, the center the best.
Tonight, he crept into the central area, the core production zone and heart of the Spirit Gathering Array.
Under the moonlight, the rice stalks stood tall and dense, their ears plump.
Li An’s movements were practiced, gliding along the irrigation ditch, harvesting as he went.
“Hm?”
A green rice borer on his sleeve caught his attention.
Rice borers, active at night, fed on rice leaves. Larvae looked like maggots, adults like moths.
Bugs in spirit rice fields were normal, but this one was fat, large, and slightly transparent, showing signs of spiritualization!
That was odd. Few borers spiritualized, usually only in their adult stage, and the current spirit rice shouldn’t support it.
Li An took note and moved forward along the ditch.
This area was flat, the ditch water still. But as he went, his skin sensed the water moving, as if something ahead was drawing it in.
He crept closer, feeling dense spiritual qi. At the junction of two ditches, he heard a “glug glug” sound.
A whirlpool.
The field’s water was being sucked into it.
The spiritual qi in the field was also gathering here, carried away by the water to who-knows-where.
On the weeds around the whirlpool, over a dozen large borer larvae clung, nearly all transparent, spiritualized.
“Someone’s stealing spiritual qi!”
Li An realized.
This whirlpool must hide a mechanism or array, siphoning part of the Spirit Gathering Array’s qi.
“This whirlpool causes uneven spiritual qi, leading to all these borers…”
Li An pondered. Who could be stealing?
He glanced instinctively at the peak of Spirit Plant Mountain.
Fan Jie was the only likely culprit.
Stealing from his own charge area!?
But Li An had no urge to meddle.
Instead, he was delighted, collecting all the spiritualized borers from the weeds.
In his old world’s terms, these bugs were high-grade protein!
A thumb-sized spiritualized borer held about as much spiritual qi as a pound of spirit rice.
Without this qi imbalance, the field wouldn’t produce so many spiritualized borers.
For a cultivator just entering Qi Refining, these were rare treasures, but for someone like Fan Jie, Mid-Qi Refining, they were useless.
Other low-tier menials didn’t know how to use them either, due to the slight bug toxin.
So, no one had caught these borers.
Li An got them for free.
As long as the qi remained unbalanced, the field would keep producing spiritualized borers.
“More borers, worse pest damage, less chance my rice theft gets noticed!”
Li An relaxed, gathered the bugs, and continued harvesting rice.
…
The next day, Fan Jie came down the mountain. He had business outside but checked their cultivation progress on the way.
“Wang Zilin, your Cloud and Rain Technique is already showing progress.”
“Zhang Susu, not bad either.”
Wang Zilin was the fastest, Zhang Susu close behind, pleasing Fan Jie.
Especially Zhang Susu, now glowing after reaching Qi Refining, her figure enhanced by spirit rice. Fan Jie’s greedy gaze lingered.
“Li An, what about you?” He turned to Li An.
“Reporting to Immortal, my spirit root is damaged. I haven’t reached the First Layer of Qi Refining yet…”
Li An’s face looked troubled.
“No Qi Refining yet?!”
Fan Jie’s brows furrowed, his jowls quivering. “Only half a month left, and you’re still not at Qi Refining? Did you come to Spirit Plant Mountain to freeload?”
Li An lowered his head, silent.
“Don’t think silence gets you off! I’m telling you, Spirit Plant Mountain doesn’t keep idlers or failures. If you can’t work the fields in half a month, I’ll dock all your monthly rations and kick you out!”
“Got it?”
Li An replied, “This disciple understands.”
Fan Jie snorted coldly. “I’m leaving the mountain for a bit. While I’m gone, don’t take a step up the mountain. If I catch you, I’ll break your legs.”
With that, he left Spirit Plant Mountain.
“Li An, hasn’t your spirit root healed yet?” Zhang Susu asked after Fan Jie left.
Li An shook his head with a bitter smile. “Not yet… I’ll keep trying.”
He returned to his hut.
“Susu, forget him. I heard it takes a Second Grade pill to fix a spirit root. He’ll never get one in his life. He’s doomed to be useless…”
“Come, let’s practice the Cloud and Rain Technique. I’ve made more progress and can share some tips…”
Wang Zilin’s smug voice drifted faintly from outside.
…
Tonight’s dinner was especially fragrant.
Dozens of spiritualized larvae, cooked with spirit rice, gave the rice a hint of meaty aroma.
The spiritual qi and life essence in this pot equaled all the spirit rice he’d eaten over the past half-month.
After finishing, the Life Seed visibly grew, now the size of a peanut.
Its tip was sharp, as if a shoot was about to break through.
…
Another ten days passed.
In three days, their one-month “newcomer period” would end.
That evening, after dinner, Li An checked his dantian and finally smiled with relief.
In his dantian, a vibrant green shoot had “broken through,” sprouting a tender leaf.
Nourished by the Life Seed, his broken spirit root was fully restored.
A miracle!
Even with a Second Grade Pill, healing a spirit root would take about six months.
“With the Life Seed, my vitality and recovery are much stronger. Even without cultivating, as a mortal, I could easily live to 120.”
Li An murmured, then took out his small piece of spirit stone.
A low-grade spirit stone had limited spiritual qi.
Li An knew it was likely one-third of a full stone.
The three of them should get three stones monthly, but Fan Jie kept two, splitting one into three parts for them.
What a dog.
But it should be just enough to reach the First Layer of Qi Refining.
Li An absorbed the stone’s rich spiritual qi, running the Art of Nurturing Life and Forging Immortality to refine it into his body.
Five more days passed.
Li An finally succeeded, entering the First Layer of Qi Refining.
“The Art of Nurturing Life and Forging Immortality is… quite slow.”
Li An woke, his expression mixed.
Even Wang Zilin and Zhang Susu, including time to learn the Breathing Technique, took seven days total.
Actual Qi Refining took no more than two days.
But Li An spent so much longer…
Still, he was pleased. The qi he cultivated was extremely pure, free of impurities.
The path of cultivation is long and tough. Li An’s mindset, tempered over time, stayed firm and calm, unbothered by lagging behind.
He also used the Seed of Long Life to keep his spirit root appearing damaged.
One of the seed’s special effects was masking his state and aura.
…
Fan Jie’s trip lasted over half a month, and he still hadn’t returned.
Three days later, at noon, he finally came back.
“Everyone, gather!”
…
(Chapter End)