NOVEL NEXT Chapter 20 - 20: Two Years Passed
Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Two Years Passed
The sight of my tall, healthy crops filled me with excitement. I retrieved a basket from my storage to gather the harvested crops and got to work.
This was a moment I had been eagerly anticipating for a long time. The absence of Kang Duyi's body was no longer occupying my thoughts. Why should I concern myself with it? If it followed the predictable path of a typical villain, he would resurface in the future to challenge me and likely make a few more appearances before meeting his ultimate demise. It was a predetermined fate, and as a weak cultivator, I couldn't alter its course.
With that in mind, I focused on harvesting my crops. The first ones to be gathered were the potatoes. Initially, no Spiritual Herbs appeared. They were just ordinary potatoes, albeit larger and healthier than what the villagers of Riverside could produce.
However, after continuously harvesting the potatoes, one with Qi emerged! To my surprise, my system sent me a notification about it.
[Spiritual Potato Harvested]
[Beneficial to Cultivation if consumed raw. Cannot be used to make pills.]
I couldn't contain my joy. Finally, I had obtained something that could aid my cultivation, even though I was a bit disappointed that it couldn't be utilized for pill-making purposes.
This revelation raised another question in my mind. Would it be possible to use it in pill-making if I possessed the recipe, or was it an impossibility? Additionally, I wondered what would happen if I were to plant a Spiritual Herb. Would the system further enhance its quality?
Anyway, that fact threw my idea of making pills with my crops down the drain. Everything I was cultivating was just normal crops, as those were the only ones I could get from Riverside.
Still, a potato could improve my cultivation, and nothing stated a maximum number of potatoes I could eat or if it had side effects. Meaning, my diet would change only to Spiritual Food!
I liked the name. I felt it fit. I harvested all the potatoes and vegetables, and based on my calculations, the rate for the crop becoming Spiritual was around 20%.
It wasn't bad. I had no idea if the same rate would apply when I cultivated Spiritual Herbs.
Even if the crops could be used to make pills, I did not have the alchemy furnace or decent mastery over the cultivation art I just got from Zhao Fa.
"It is time to eat and cultivate!" I murmured, taking the basket filled with Spiritual Foods.
The place I chose to cultivate was the cultivator lair underneath my farm. That was the safest place where no one would come to bother me.
I decided to meditate inside that water pond. It helped my wounds heal last time, but I knew Spiritual Springs had more benefits, such as increasing cultivation speed! It was time for secluded meditation...
Two years passed in the blink of an eye. I practiced my Soul Fusion cultivation art every single day, increasing my own cultivation level as well as Big T's, which was basically mine as well.
Within these two years, I managed to reach the peak of the Tenth Layer of the Qi Condensation realm in both of my Dantians! That was quite fast, all thanks to the Spiritual Food I was cultivating on my farm.
My initial thoughts were that the Spiritual Crops would only increase my cultivation speed slightly, not being comparable to pills in any way.
Well, it was true. The crops were much weaker than a pill, but they also had their advantage: I could eat them without side effects!
No one could take pills as they wished. It would make their cultivation unstable, impure, and could hinder their future progress. But I experienced none of those side effects with the crops!
Still, after two years, I had to leave my secluded meditation and leave my farm. The crops weren't helping me out anymore, and to reach the next two stages, the Eleventh and Twelfth layers, I had to go explore the world.
The Qi Condensation realm had twelve layers, and after that came the Foundation Establishment realm. It would be impossible for me to reach the last two layers of Qi Condensation without actual fights, and to reach the Foundation realm, I would need a Foundation pill.
That alchemy art Zhao Fa gave me was indeed extraordinary, but there was a catch he did not tell me. I needed to reach the Foundation realm before starting to practice it!
"Freaking old man tricked me... Well, at least I got a lot of Spiritual Stones!" I cursed.
During these two years, my second Dantian grew increasingly powerful, and the Qi inside became poisonous! Additionally, during my training, I learned a few more martial arts techniques, most of which were related to poison attacks.
It was peculiar. Typically, cultivators would seek out a cultivation art for meditation and then search for martial arts of a similar element. However, I didn't have to do that. As my second Dantian grew stronger, some techniques would randomly manifest in my mind. I still had to practice them, but at least I didn't have to search for them in the world!
Nevertheless, I still desired to acquire more potent martial arts. Cultivators had a wide array of martial arts to choose from within their sects, but as a rogue cultivator, I lacked that luxury.
Anyway, I entrusted Dai Guiren with the care of my farm once again.
"You don't have any crops to tend to," I explained, "but please take care of my fish and chickens."
"Of course, don't worry about it," Dai Guiren replied, as respectful as ever.
Just as I was about to depart, a red-haired boy approached me. He was fourteen years old.
"Uncle Tian Li, why are you leaving?" he asked.
The boy was Tang Yusheng. Among the villagers, he was one who showed potential to become a cultivator. I had discussed this with his parents, and they agreed to let him join a sect.
I made a suggestion to them, stating that in three years, I would become an Elder in a sect and bring him along with me. They agreed, and over the past two years, Tang Yusheng and I had become good friends, with him affectionately calling me "uncle."
"My secluded meditation has come to a halt, and I need to progress by exploring the world. I'll be away for some time, perhaps a few months," I explained.
"A few months? Aren't we supposed to join a sect in one year? Are you sure you'll return in time? And please take care of yourself, Uncle Tian Li..."
I embraced the boy. "Don't worry, I'll be back. Take care of Big F and my chickens while I'm away, and remember to train your body every day, understood?"
"Yes!"
After bidding farewell to him, I watched Tang Yusheng cry as I left Riverside. My destination? A treacherous forest known as the Dark Wood. It was a place where many cultivators went to sharpen their skills, including myself.
Filled with Spiritual Beasts, it was a place where one's life could be lost at any moment.