After binding with a genius, I became an immortal by exploiting loopholes.

Zhao Demao tried to dissuade him, but he insisted on choosing the end of the village.

It's not that he's stupid, it's that he had no choice.

He hadn't seen those areas in Zhuangdong before, nor had he seen this area in Zhuangwei before. He just closed his eyes and picked whichever one he found.

He chose the back of the village because it was secluded and quiet.

Lu Qingchen squatted down, picked up another handful of soil, and examined it carefully.

Although the soil is compacted, it is not saline, which means it can still be planted.

There are many weeds, but their roots are not deep, so they are not too difficult to clear.

The irrigation ditch has dried up, but the water source is still there, just a bit far away, and it will take some effort to bring it over.

He had a plan in mind.

With the inscription on his person, he could still cultivate the land well, even if the fields were poorly managed.

......

Back in the village, Zhao Demao arranged for him to stay in a mud-brick house at the end of the village, left behind by the previous Lingzhifu.

The room was small, with a wooden bed, a crooked table, and a few broken pottery jars in the corner.

In some places, the thatch on the roof has thinned out, allowing sunlight to see through.

Lu Qingchen stood in the room, looked around without saying anything, put down his luggage, and went to the manor to collect his bedding and basic necessities.

Zhao Demao had two bags of seeds delivered—one bag of Jade Spirit Rice and one bag of Azure Spirit Grass, plus two packets of basic fertilizer.

The items were placed at the door, and the tenant farmer who delivered the message said, "The master sent these to deliver," before turning and leaving.

Lu Qingchen put away the seeds and fertilizer, stood at the door, looked at the sky, and then looked at the barren field in the distance. An idea came to mind.

This house is too dilapidated and far from the fields, making it inconvenient to come and go.

Why not build a simple house by the field? It doesn't matter as long as it's habitable.

The key is its remote location, where no one will disturb you, making it convenient for nighttime cultivation and research of the Daoist inscriptions.

He calculated in his mind how much work it would take to build an adobe house—digging soil, ramming walls, chopping wood, cutting thatch—it would take at least ten days to half a month.

No rush, let's focus on the work in the fields first, and we'll talk about it after this busy period is over.

In the evening, he squatted at the doorway eating dry food. An old tenant farmer carrying a hoe passed by the field and stopped to look at him.

"Are you the new Manager Lu?"

The old tenant farmer's gaze lingered on Lu Qingchen's face for a moment, looking him up and down as if to confirm something.

There was a hint of surprise in his eyes—he probably hadn't expected the new plant grower to be so young.

Lu Qingchen stood up, dusted off the crumbs of dry food from his hands, and nodded: "How should I address you, sir?"

"Li Laosi".

The old tenant farmer put down his hoe, squatted on the edge of the field, took out his pipe, lit it, took a puff, and asked, "Manager Lu, how old are you this year?"

"Not even twenty."

Li Laosi paused in his pipe, looked up and glanced at him again, this time looking more carefully than before.

His gaze moved from Lu Qingchen's face to his shoulder, and then from his shoulder to his hand, as if to confirm whether the young man was joking.

"So young, is he reliable...?"

He muttered something, not loudly, but Lu Qingchen heard it.

Lu Qingchen squatted down next to him: "Uncle Li, how many years have you been farming here?"

"It's been decades."

Li Laosi tapped his pipe on the sole of his shoe. "It's been here since the village was first cleared."

"That piece of land at the end of the village—"

Following his gaze, Li Laosi turned to look at Lu Qingchen, a hint of doubt in his eyes: "Why is Manager Lu asking this?"

"I'll plant there from now on," Lu Qingchen said.

Li Laosi almost dropped his pipe.

His eyes widened, his mouth opened and closed, and it took him a long time to finally squeeze out a sentence: "Plant it there?! Manager Lu, don't be confused."

Li Laosi put down his pipe, leaned forward, and said urgently, "That land is not suitable for planting. You've just arrived and don't know the details. Don't jump into a fire pit."

Lu Qingchen smiled and said, "The land was allocated by the manor lord, so we have no choice but to plant it."

Li Laosi opened his mouth as if to say something, but then swallowed it back.

He sighed, shook his head, put the pipe back in his mouth, took a drag, and smoke slowly escaped from the corner of his mouth.

"Could you tell me what exactly happened with that piece of land?"

Following his gaze, Li Laosi remained silent for a moment before saying, "We've planted them before."

"Have you ever grown it?"

"Yes, the owner tried it in the early years. In the first few years, he could still harvest some things. Although it wasn't as good as other places, it wasn't too bad either."

Li Laosi took another puff of his cigarette. "Later, things just got worse. The seedlings wouldn't grow, the fertilizer didn't help, and watering them was like not watering them at all."

"The manor owner had someone come and take a look, but they couldn't figure out what was wrong."

He paused, put down his pipe, rested his hands on his knees, and looked at the barren field as if he were recalling something.

"Several generations of people have planted it, but no one can grow it well. Gradually, no one is willing to plant it anymore. It has been abandoned for the past few years, and the weeds have grown wildly."

"Hasn't the manor lord thought of a solution?" Lu Qingchen asked.

"I've thought about it."

Li Laosi said, "We invited people from the Lingzhi Temple to come and see. They said the soil wasn't fertile enough and needed to be nurtured. But after two years, it still didn't work, so we just gave up."

He sighed and put his pipe back in his mouth: "Everyone says this land is bad, but no one can really pinpoint what's wrong with it. We've fertilized it and watered it, but nothing grows."

Lu Qingchen nodded, his gaze falling on the barren field, pondering Li Laosi's words.

"Uncle Li, when this land was first planted, was there anything different about it compared to other land?"

Li Laosi thought for a moment, then shook his head: "Nothing's different, it's all the same stuff, except... the harvest is getting less every year."

As dusk deepened, the clouds on the horizon turned a dark red, and a few barks could be heard in the distance.

Li Laosi stood up, tucked his pipe back into his waistband, picked up his hoe, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke: "Manager Lu, there's something I'm not sure if I should say."

"Please speak."

"You're new here and don't know the details. That land is really not suitable for farming."

Li Laosi lowered his voice, "Why don't you go and talk to the manor lord and ask him to exchange it for another piece? Although the pieces in the east of the manor are not as good, they are still better than those in the end of the manor."

Lu Qingchen smiled and said, "We've already broken up, how could I possibly bring it up again?"

Li Laosi opened his mouth, wanting to persuade him again, but seeing that Lu Qingchen didn't seem to be being polite, he swallowed his words and sighed, "Then you'll have to trouble yourself."

After saying that, he shouldered his hoe and left.

Lu Qingchen squatted alone on the edge of the field, looking at the barren field, and went over Li Laosi's words in his mind over and over again.

After a long while, he stood up, patted the mud off his hands, and went into the house.

......

Back inside, Lu Qingchen lit an oil lamp and took out the spiritual plant manual given to him by Elder Sun, reading it page by page.

The wick occasionally sparked, casting his shadow on the wall, flickering back and forth.

After reading for about half an hour, he closed the manual and put it away.

Farming can't be rushed; I have to get up early to work tomorrow. But I can't neglect my spiritual practice either.

He sat cross-legged on the bed, closed his eyes, and focused his mind on his dantian.

Within the dantian, strands of pure energy slowly rotated, like fine silk threads, each occupying its own space without interfering with the others.

He counted silently—exactly one hundred.

There are only eight more strands of pure energy needed to reach the second level of Qi Refining.