“Chickens lay eggs, eggs hatch chickens…” Qian Duoduo and Huang Guiren counted on their fingers, growing more excited with each calculation.
They reminded each other not to be greedy and finally decided to Cultivate only a thousand mu by the river.
A thousand mu is equal to sixty thousand square zhang. The money earned from selling artifacts produced from a thousand mu would be enough for both of them to enter the Inner Sect.
“Actually, a thousand mu isn’t that big, two hundred zhang wide and three hundred zhang long,” Huang Guiren muttered.
Taking their sickles and carrying their plows and rakes, they went to the river and found the densest patch of weeds to be their first estate.
The first volume of the Encyclopedia of Weapon Refining discussed spiritual plants. It mentioned that dense grass indicated fertile soil.
Qian Duoduo and Huang Guiren were Cultivators after all, and by controlling their sickles with Spiritual Qi, a furious wind swept through, clearing the weeds from the thousand mu of barren land in just half a day.
They called this process “cultivating while reclaiming land,” finding it easy and enjoyable.
Raking out the grass roots was more difficult. The rakes were heavier than the sickles, and the tangled roots required much more effort to clear.
At this moment, Qian Duoduo felt that this thousand mu was a very large area, almost comparable to all the farmland in their village.
Then another thought struck him: did this also mean he was about to become a rich man like a landlord?
This thought excited him, and his movements for plowing and raking grass roots became much faster.
After three more days of hard work, their blue robes were wet and then dry, then wet again, until the thousand-mu estate was finally fully cultivated.
Gazing at the vast expanse of tilled and ridged land, Qian Duoduo leaned on his plow, feeling a little emotional, as if he saw tens of thousands of Spirit Chickens eating grass and insects, laying eggs and hatching chicks…
This estate belonged to him and Huang Guiren; no one could take it, and there was no reason to take it.
If anyone dared to covet it, he would fight with his life, no matter who it was.
“Let’s name the estate,” Huang Guiren said, gripping his rake with an Aura as if he held a great Magic Treasure.
“Let’s call it Buhuan Estate,” Qian Duoduo thought for a moment and said.
“A good name, Jin Buhuan. It’s both Junior Brother’s name and means we wouldn’t trade it even for gold.”
“No. It means ‘Heaven wouldn’t trade it,’ even if Heaven wanted to trade with us, we wouldn’t.”
“Heaven wouldn’t trade it!” Huang Guiren stuck out his tongue. “Alright, I’ll find a large rock and carve those two words on it.”
While he searched for the rock, Qian Duoduo went to Wanjin Pavilion.
Now that the land was cultivated, it was time to sow seeds and release the chicks.
Upon arriving at Wanjin Pavilion, he realized he had been too optimistic.
Even if all his eight thousand plus gold coins were converted into violet clover seeds, it wouldn’t be enough to sow a thousand mu, let alone buy Spirit Chicken chicks.
After much calculation, Qian Duoduo decided to buy two thousand Spirit Chicken chicks, and with the remaining money, he bought violet clover seeds for over a hundred mu. Chickens lay eggs, and eggs hatch chickens, so chickens took priority, and grass came second.
Returning to the estate, the stone tablet was already erected, with the two large characters “Bu Huan” carved upon it.
Qian Duoduo bowed deeply to Huang Guiren, “Hello, Estate Master, come and prepare some chickens.”
Huang Guiren quickly returned the bow, “Hello, Great Estate Master, I’ll catch and slaughter them for you right now, guaranteed delicious and affordable.”
Qian Duoduo and Huang Guiren looked at each other and smiled.
As he sowed the grass seeds, Qian Duoduo felt connected to this land for the first time.
In the past, he always felt like a drifting willow catkin, accidentally blown into this world.
But now, it was as if he was struggling, grabbing a piece of soil, and trying to extend a root.
What he sowed was not just grass seeds, but also himself, Qian Duoduo, from the Mortal world, from an outer village…
Back in the courtyard, under the bright moonlight, Qian Duoduo suddenly noticed that the violet clover had quietly bloomed.
The purple flowers formed a continuous expanse, like an auspicious cloud descending to the ground.
This auspicious cloud, created by himself, looked beautiful no matter how he viewed it.
In the chicken coop by the courtyard wall, a hundred Spirit Chicken chicks were already squatting and asleep.
“Hey, why are there some white things under the chicken coop?” Qian Duoduo walked closer and laughed. It turned out his own Spirit Chickens had laid eggs.
Picking up the eggs, he felt such a sense of wonder.
“Flowers are the eggs laid by grass, and eggs are the flowers bloomed by chickens,” this feeling emerged in Qian Duoduo’s heart.
The blooming of these two forms of life brought sweetness to his days of hard work. It was no less joyful than the happiness brought by Cultivating and leveling up.
Qian Duoduo had always only seen them as tools for making money, but today they brought another surprise.
Qian Duoduo’s heart calmed down. There was no longer the panic of first entering the Jail, no longer the fear of being suppressed by Jin Buque, no longer the anxiety of Cultivating, and no longer the hesitation about whether to take the Artifact Refiner exam.
In his ears, there was the chirping of insects on a summer night: crickets competing, mole crickets courting, Spirit Chickens talking in their sleep, and katydids singing love songs…
In his ears, the roots of violet clover stretched, the new shoots of Spirit Medicine grew tall, and the leaves of wild grass swayed…
The sounds of these lives, emanating from different places, intertwined, forming a heavenly melody.
As he listened, his Spiritual Awareness suddenly became much more sensitive. A current of Qi uncontrollably dispersed from Qian Duoduo’s body, and a barrier within him was pushed down by this vital force, as if a strong wind had suddenly risen on flat ground.
Qian Duoduo was overjoyed, “Qi Condensation Level Four”!
These days, he hadn’t dared to practice the Yongfu Henggui technique, but the Golden Light Technique hadn’t stopped.
It was just that his Cultivation progress hadn’t been fast, and he had originally thought it would take more than a month to Breakthrough. He hadn’t expected that by immersing himself in the heavenly melody of the summer night, he would enter a mysterious state he didn’t know, quickly opening up the unblocked Spiritual Vein.
While he was feeling pleased, Qian Duoduo saw the Spirit Chickens in the coop huddling together, crying out in fright, and several spirit chicken eggs on the ground had turned into a puddle of liquid.
This, this, this, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of heartache.
Although these few spirit chicken eggs weren’t worth much money, they were laid with great difficulty by the Spirit Chickens after growing from chicks to adults.
“Not bad, you’ve actually reached Level Four.”
Qian Duoduo was considering whether to take the broken spirit chicken eggs back to cook them, when Liu Lao, who hadn’t spoken for a long time, spoke from inside the Golden Toad, joking, “I thought you were planning to become a farmer.”
“Uh, I didn’t want to either. But, it’s too hard without money,” Qian Duoduo felt a bit embarrassed.
He had intended to start Artifact Refining, but after a trip to Wanjin Pavilion, he had backed down, and Liu Lao must have known about it.
As an Artifact Refiner, he certainly wouldn't look down on other ways of making money, especially something as un-immortal as being a farmer.
However, Liu Boli also had to understand him. As a poor person from a poor village, the first thing on his mind was to find something to eat and survive first.
“Let’s see how far you’ve progressed in controlling the Golden Rooster Sword.”
Liu Boli didn’t continue to dwell on the Artifact Refining matter, which made Qian Duoduo breathe a sigh of relief.
He pinched a spell and pointed; the Golden Rooster Sword, like a golden ray of light, shot out from the Golden Toad, already ten zhang away, then came to a sudden stop, floating steadily in the air.
This feeling was much smoother, and Qian Duoduo’s spirits lifted. He pinched another spell, and the Golden Rooster Sword, like a golden snake, moved through the air, flying up and down.
The distance passed thirty zhang, forty zhang, and finally, it passed fifty zhang!
Under the invisible pull of Spiritual Qi, the Golden Rooster Sword obediently thrust forward and chopped sideways. Wherever it passed, light shone and wind arose, appearing extraordinarily majestic.
These days of cutting grass and raking the ground also had benefits; after using heavy farm tools, wielding the sword felt like lifting something heavy with ease.
At this moment, if he were to compete with Outer Sect Disciples of the same level on a stage, he might have a good chance of winning.
Secretly delighted, Qian Duoduo recalled his sword and quietly listened for Liu Boli’s voice—he should be teaching Qian Duoduo how to use the Golden Rooster Sword’s sound wave attack now.
“I’ll teach you at dawn,” Liu Lao hadn’t forgotten, knowing what he was waiting for.
“Teasing me again. I’ve waited a month, a few more hours won’t hurt. Just wait,” Qian Duoduo thought to himself.