The Path to Immortality: Starting with the Growth of Bubble Fruits from the Ground

Luoying Mountain Range, Wandao Sect.

At the foot of the mountain, Zhou Mu followed behind Zhou Ye through fields of spirit fields. It was early January, and on the seemingly endless fields, countless spirit farmers, like ants, were cultivating the land and sowing rice seeds.

"Ninth Brother, these two acres of land were allocated to you by the sect. You must take good care of them from now on and make sure there are no oversights, otherwise even I, your elder brother, cannot protect you."

As he spoke, Zhou Ye handed Zhou Mu a wooden token with two numbers engraved on it: '9500' and '9501'.

"Third Brother, I understand."

Zhou Mu lowered his head and took it, a strange look flashing in his eyes.

"Okay, I'm glad you understand. The spirit rice seeds are in the residential area over there. You can find your planting site by following the instructions on the token. I'll come to see you again after this season's rice harvest."

"Take care, Third Brother."

Zhou Ye took a few steps, then suddenly turned back, a half-smile on his face: "Oh right, Ninth Brother, I forgot to tell you, the previous spirit farmer of these two acres of land was relegated to mining in the Cold Iron Mine because the harvest was insufficient for three consecutive quarters."

He paused, then said in a light tone, "I heard he just died last month. You'd better farm hard and make sure you don't follow in his footsteps."

Zhou Mu nodded expressionlessly. After Zhou Ye's figure gradually disappeared, Zhou Mu turned to look at the farmland in front of him, a mixture of joy and melancholy on his face.

"Let's plant the seeds first."

Zhou Mu shook his head and walked quickly towards the residential area.

Zhou Mu has been reincarnated into this world for sixteen years. He originally wanted to seek immortality, but unfortunately, his aptitude was low and he only had four spiritual roots.

The Zhou family is merely a Qi Refining family, with the strongest member only reaching the eleventh level of Qi Refining, and resources are extremely scarce.

When Zhou Mu turned sixteen, the Zhou family gave him two choices: to get married and have children to continue the family line.

Secondly, he could join the Wandao Sect, which the Zhou family was affiliated with, and become a spirit farmer. Of the spirit rice he obtained, 70% would be handed over to the sect, and Zhou Mu could only keep half of the remaining 30%. The other 25% would have to be handed over to Zhou Ye, an outer disciple.

There are many members of the Zhou family like Zhou Mu in the Wandao Sect, all of whom are engaged in the lowest-level jobs such as farming, mining, and raising exotic beasts.

The family's approach is essentially to make use of waste, exploiting those with low aptitude and cultivating those with potential.

"Phew, finally finished. The soil in this low-grade spirit field is really hard to turn."

After most of the day had passed, Zhou Mu wiped the sweat from his face and let out a long sigh of relief.

The two acres he planted were all first-grade low-level 'Huangjing Rice'. It wasn't something that could be done by simply scattering seeds. Instead, he first had to dig trenches a foot deep, then evenly scatter the seeds, and finally cover them with soil. Only then was half of the work done.

When Zhou Mu turned the soil and planted the seeds, he did not use his magic power to enhance himself. He was only at the first level of Qi Refining, and he needed to save the meager magic power in his dantian to complete the final steps.

"Minor Cloud Rain Technique".

Zhou Mu gazed ahead, his hands forming hand seals, his magical power surging, and sparse spiritual rain fell on the farmland, nourishing the seeds underground.

Zhou Mu's "Minor Cloud and Rain Technique" was only at a minor level of mastery, and his cultivation was insufficient. He used it four times, exhausting all his spiritual power, before he could barely irrigate the two acres of spiritual fields.

After that, the rice is watered with spiritual rain every two days and the soil is loosened every three days, continuing for four months until the 'Huangjing Rice' is ready to be harvested.

It is harvested three times a year, regardless of the seasons or weather.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Zhou Mu's life would continue in this manner.

The next day, as dawn broke, Zhou Mu stood beside the farmland, overjoyed.

"Just as I expected, planting higher-grade spiritual plants will yield better results than planting the Zhou family's ordinary rice."

In just one night, the 'Huangjing rice' had sprouted, and the dense, lush green had covered the entire farmland, which looked normal to others.

But Zhou Mu saw it differently; he noticed that each of the ten spirit seedlings had a white bubble on it.

[Polygonatum Rice: Weak Magic Power x6, 1% Maturity]

[Polygonatum rice: ripened twice, maturity level 1%]

[Polygonatum Rice: Minor Cloud and Rain Technique x2, Maturity 1%]

"They even have the Lesser Cloud Rain Technique at the minor completion level. The Myriad Paths Sect made the right choice in coming here."

Since Zhou Mu detected his spiritual root, the Zhou family only gave him an introductory cultivation manual and then ignored him.

Without resources, Zhou Mu, who possessed four spiritual roots, devoted himself to cultivation for several years before finally crossing the threshold of immortality. Only then did the Zhou family allocate him an acre of land to grow ordinary rice that did not reach the required level, with the land divided 80/20 between him and the Zhou family.

It was at that time that Zhou Mu awakened this ability: as long as he planted the crops himself, a very small number of the spiritual seedlings would condense into these bubble fruits during their growth.

However, the bubble fruits that Fanmi obtained were of poor quality and few in number, so Zhou Mu's cultivation progressed at a snail's pace, pitifully slow.

After working hard for several years, when Zhou Mu was sixteen, his family gave him two choices. Zhou Mu decisively abandoned the three wives and four concubines arranged for him by his family and chose to join the Wandao Sect as a spiritual farmer.

Fortunately, Zhou Mu was not disappointed. Of the three types of bubble fruits in front of him, he had never seen the other two before, except for the one that was ripened by the ripening agent.

"Let's try ripening those few plants with 'weak magical power' first and see how it goes."

Six "ripening" fruits were still floating in Zhou Mu's dantian. These were the only fruits he had managed to obtain after two years of work at the Zhou family, and now they were coming in handy.

However, the "ripening" fruits obtained from planting ordinary rice were all gray, and Zhou Mu was unsure whether they would work on high-grade Huangjing rice.

Scanning his surroundings, Zhou Mu saw that the other spiritual farmers had not yet gone out to work. He pressed his finger on the seedling, which was no more than half a foot long. With a thought, the fruit in his dantian burrowed into the seedling along his finger.

The seedlings immediately began to grow rapidly, reaching over a meter in height in the blink of an eye. The heavy ears of rice were full of plump grains, emitting a faint fragrance.

Zhou Mu immediately snapped the rice stalks off by the roots, plucked them off, and then crushed the stalks into ash, which he then scattered in the field.

Following the same method, Zhou Mu soon had three white bubble fruits in his dantian. He used up all six gray "ripening" fruits, and only managed to ripen three grains of yellow rice.

Zhou Mu was mentally prepared, so he wasn't too disappointed.

"Go back and try the salty version."

Zhou Mu immediately walked towards his small courtyard. At this time, many spirit farmers also came out and walked along the path to their assigned fields to begin their day's work. They were of all ages, from teenagers to elderly people with white hair.

Sitting cross-legged, Zhou Mu focused his inner energy on his dantian. He was practicing the Zhou family's "Green Wood Skill," which, apart from being upright and peaceful, had no other advantages.

With a focused mind, a bubble fruit burst open, and a surge of spiritual energy inexplicably flowed into Zhou Mu's dantian. Zhou Mu guarded his mind and circulated his cultivation technique to transform this spiritual energy into Green Wood magic power.

"This is just a small amount of magic power? The effect is so good? It's almost equivalent to my four months of arduous cultivation."

Zhou Mu was astonished. In just one hour, the originally thin magical power in his dantian had become visibly thicker.

"That felt great, keep going."

The remaining two bubble fruits burst open one after another, and the magic power inside was refined by Zhou Mu, causing the magic power in his dantian to rise again.

"It's a pity. If those three had matured as well, I could have broken through to the second level of Qi Refining."

Having experienced the meteoric rise in his cultivation for the first time, Zhou Mu was filled with an uncontrollable greed.

There was nothing I could do; the past few years had been too tough. I had no pills, no spirit stones, and could only watch others use them with envy.

"Four months later, after the two acres of Huangjing rice mature, there should be 1,400 catties of rice. After deducting 70% to be handed over to the sect, there will still be 420 catties of Huangjing rice."

Zhou Mu returned to the farmland, estimated the harvest for this quarter, and set aside 20 jin as seeds for the next quarter, leaving him with 400 jin.

Zhou Mu had no intention of handing over this first pot of gold to Zhou Ye. As long as he stayed obediently within the sect, neither Zhou Ye nor the Zhou family could openly deal with him.

As a Golden Core sect, the Myriad Paths Sect monopolizes the Fallen Lotus Mountain Range by virtue of its strength, making it a top sect in the entire Qin Kingdom, with extremely strict rules.

Although Zhou Mu was a menial disciple, Ling Nong was an internal affairs disciple. The various resources produced by the internal affairs disciples were not only used by the Wan Dao Sect itself, but also became a source of wealth for the Wan Dao Sect.

The Wan Dao Sect alone boasts no less than ten thousand acres of low-grade farmland for growing Huangjing rice, and the rice harvested each quarter is sold throughout the entire Qin Kingdom.

The reason why the Wandao Sect guarantees the safety of its internal disciples is, frankly speaking, to protect one of the sect's many avenues for making money.

"Wait four months, then go to the Imperial Household Department to collect one mu of land."

Zhou Mu set out his next steps. The number and quality of the bubble fruits he obtained today were far greater than those he had obtained at the Zhou family, which clarified his future path of cultivation.

Plant more fields, grow higher quality spiritual plants, and obtain better bubble fruits.