Days passed neither too fast nor too slow, but the daylight of summer always seemed to stretch longer than the nights...
Weeding, tilling... Xu Xian, a Golden Core cultivator, spent three full days working on ten mu of spirit fields.
Unlike ordinary land, spirit fields were nourished by spiritual water year-round, making the soil incredibly hard. Xu Xian’s hoe was practically smoking from the friction.
He spent another day clearing the spirit spring and dredging the irrigation ditches to facilitate future watering.
Looking at the newly transformed spirit herb field, an indescribable sense of pride filled Xu Xian’s eyes. That feeling of accomplishment felt even better than when he had broken through to the foundation establishment stage.
Once all this was done, Xu Xian sought out Li Qingshan.
He reached out his hand and asked for money.
The fields were ready, but he needed to plant something. Planting required seeds, and seeds cost money.
Li Qingshan was utterly exhausted by him. He told Xu Xian not to push his luck.
Xu Xian replied that it was fine if he didn't give the money, but everything grown in the field would then belong solely to him, and Li Qingshan wouldn't be allowed a share. He even asked Li Qingshan if he had any objections.
Too tired to argue, Li Qingshan simply said, "Suit yourself."
From his sleeve, Xu Xian practicedly pulled out a piece of spirit paper covered in dense rows of text.
It was a letter of commitment.
Xu Xian insisted that Li Qingshan sign and press his seal on it, just to prevent him from going back on his word later.
Li Qingshan was speechless.
Clearly, Xu Xian had come prepared. Asking for seed money was just a ruse; his true goal was to distance Li Qingshan from any future profits.
"I am truly in awe of you. I must have owed you in a past life," Li Qingshan grumbled, most reluctantly fulfilling Xu Xian's wish.
"Take it and get out. Stop bothering me."
Satisfied, Xu Xian took the letter of commitment and walked away without giving Li Qingshan a second glance.
Fuming, Li Qingshan could only keep telling himself: 'He's just a child. I won't stoop to his level.'
Growing spirit herbs in a spirit field was not something that happened overnight.
Spirit plants weren't just categorized by grade and species; the most important factor was their age.
With Xu Xian starting to plant now, there wouldn't be any profit for decades. Since he liked to tinker, Li Qingshan decided to let him toss and turn as he pleased.
After getting the commitment letter, Xu Xian headed straight for the Merchant Hall.
He selected seeds for spirit herbs that were primarily easy to grow, high-yielding, and had short growth cycles.
There were countless varieties of spirit plants in the world, but very few could be artificially cultivated. Among those, only a handful were high-yield and efficient.
Xu Xian chose two of the easiest ones to raise.
Spirit Void Grass: The main ingredient for Foundation Establishment Pills, with a three-year growth cycle.
Spirit Tail Flower: A primary component of first-grade Qi-Replenishing Pills, with a five-year growth cycle.
Xu Xian bought enough seeds to plant eight mu in one go.
The Merchant Hall disciple selling the seeds kindly reminded him, "Little Grand-Uncle, these spirit grasses and flowers take three to five years to harvest. Have you really thought this through?"
Xu Xian replied in a sophisticated tone, "A mere three to five years is but the blink of an eye. It's nothing..."
The Merchant Hall disciple didn't argue.
At seventeen and already in the Golden Core stage, as long as Xu Xian didn't meet an early end, he was destined to reach the tribulation transcendence stage. By then, with a lifespan of nearly ten thousand years, three to five years truly was nothing.
On the way back, Xu Xian’s luck took a turn for the worse as he ran into Hao Ren.
From a distance, Hao Ren waved and shouted, "Little Grand-Uncle, wait for me!"
Xu Xian didn't even look back; he just broke into a run...
However, Hao Ren's nascent soul cultivation was not for show. In an instant, he caught up to Xu Xian and flew alongside him.
"Little Grand-Uncle, why are you running? Didn't you hear me calling you?"
Xu Xian showed no intention of slowing down. He glanced sideways and said with a straight face, "Who might you be? Do we know each other?"
Hao Ren was stunned on the spot. He hurriedly said, "No way, Little Grand-Uncle, you don't remember me? I'm Hao Ren!"
Xu Xian squinted and smirked. "What a joke. A 'good man'? Then I must be a bad man. How bizarre."
"Good heavens, Little Grand-Uncle, is this really necessary? What kind of memory do you have?"
"Stop following me, or I'll report you for harassment!"
Feigning amnesia? Shifting the blame?
The former sped away, while the latter stood dazed in the sky, questioning himself: "Did I really get the wrong person?"
Back at Zuiwan Residence, Xu Xian began sowing and irrigating. After a few more days of work, everything was finally settled, and he stopped, satisfied.
"Sow a grain in summer, walk the path to wealth in five years."
"Grow well now. My pocket money depends entirely on you all..."
Although Xu Xian knew the money earned from these spirit herbs was a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of building his future Sword Tower, every little bit counted. He had nothing else to do anyway, so it was just a matter of convenience.
His path was long, and he had to save money bit by bit.
As the saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and a vast river is formed by the accumulation of small streams. His twelve-story Sword Tower would have to be earned one merit point at a time.
For the remaining days, Xu Xian began to work on the rest of Zuiwan Residence.
Cleaning, repairing, dredging the pond, and pruning the plants.
While he believed that only a fool wouldn't take advantage of a good deal, he had taken the man's money and occupied his fields; it would be improper not to do some work. Besides, this was his home too now. He had to take care of it.
Li Qingshan watched all this, unsure of what to make of it.
For half a month straight, Xu Xian did nothing related to cultivation. He was either messing around with bottles and jars or running to the spirit herb fields. He did everything except cultivate.
He seemed full of energy and interest in everything—except for actually improving his realm.
Li Qingshan didn't bother to intervene. He wanted to see how long Xu Xian could keep this up.
Fortunately, after cleaning the last small pond, Xu Xian stopped his tinkering and began his cultivation.
However, while others cultivated heaven and earth spiritual qi to raise their realm, he focused on a wide variety of different techniques.
Days passed one by one. Two months flew by, and autumn arrived in the mortal world.
Xu Xian's realm remained stagnant, but he had mastered many technical manuals. The seeds of the spirit grasses and flowers caught the tail end of summer and began to sprout.
Xu Xian’s salary of twenty thousand merit points arrived.
People often came to visit him, but he rejected them all, with the exceptions of Lin Qianqian and Zhang Yang.
Nangong Ning hadn't appeared again since her unsuccessful confession that day.
According to Wen Qingxue, the Supervision Hall had adopted Xu Xian’s suggestion and planned to station a Nascent Soul expert in each of the one hundred and eight branch halls.
Because the Supervision Hall was short-staffed, they were aggressively poaching people from within the sect, offering very high compensation.
Many people had switched over, and Nangong Ning was one of them. She had left for a northern city to take up her post.
She had reportedly left in a hurry and hadn't been able to say goodbye to Xu Xian personally. She had only asked Wen Qingxue to pass on a message: tell Xu Xian to wait for her; she was going to earn money for him to spend.
To be honest, Xu Xian’s resolve almost wavered.
Ye Xianyu accidentally learned about the deal between Li Qingshan and Xu Xian and specifically called Li Qingshan over. She didn't scold him but simply asked about Xu Xian’s recent situation.
Li Qingshan told her the truth: Xu Xian was busy farming as if he were planning something big.
Ye Xianyu asked what he was thinking—letting someone farm his land for free, live in his house for free, and even paying him ten thousand points a month on top of that.
Li Qingshan said he owed it to Xu Xian.
Ye Xianyu had nothing to say to that. To be honest, she only found out after the Yecheng incident that Xu Xian had essentially been kidnapped by Li Qingshan. His current situation could be considered his own fault!
As Li Qingshan was leaving, he grumbled one last thing. He said he finally understood the true meaning of a certain idiom.
Ye Xianyu asked, "Which one?"
Li Qingshan replied, "The dove occupying the magpie's nest!"
Ye Xianyu burst into laughter. "He's the Martial Uncle you chose, haha!"
Li Qingshan: "..."
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