Spirit Plant Entry: Immortality Begins with Farming

The rooster crowed a second time, and Manager Liao's men arrived.

Two carts rolled over the muddy field ridges, four gray-haired pack animals panting heavily. The man surnamed Zhou jumped off the carts, bowed to Chen Yuan, said nothing more, and with a wave of his hand, the people behind him dispersed into the field.

The sickle rises and falls, and swathes of dark golden rice fall. Threshing, bagging, weighing—only the rustling sound and the occasional snort of the pack animals break the silence.

"Forty-two catties—"

"Thirty-eight jin—"

"Forty-five and a half jin—"

Chen Yuan stood on the edge of the field, his mental ledger turning page by page with each count. His shadow shrank shorter and shorter, and as the sun climbed to its zenith, Zhou, the farmhand, came over, wiping his sweat.

"Fellow Daoist Chen, four hundred and eighty catties, no more, no less." He lowered his voice. "The shopkeeper said the money is to be paid in full at once. It'll be calculated at two and a half coins. Last time I paid three hundred, this time it'll be four hundred and twenty spirit stones. Please count it."

A heavy, coarse cloth bag was handed to him. Chen Yuan took it and felt its weight.

He didn't count them on the spot, but just weighed them in his hand and took out another small cloth bag from his pocket and handed it back.

"Hard."

Zhou, the shopkeeper, flicked the bag open with his fingertip and glimpsed ten spirit stones inside. The lines on his face relaxed a little.

He leaned in half a step closer, his breath brushing against Chen Yuan's ear: "The shopkeeper asked me to pass on a message—things aren't peaceful in the market. Old Wu from East Street is gone. They say it was due to a stove explosion, but someone overheard him arguing with someone yesterday, mentioning 'blood ginseng' and 'demonic energy.'" He paused, "You know what's going on."

The cart creaked and groaned away, the hoofbeats of the pack animals sinking into the morning mist. The fields were empty, only rice stubble remained on the ground, dark golden sap seeping from the broken ends.

Chen Yuan gripped the bag of spirit stones tightly and turned to walk back.

Inside the thatched shed, Widow Li was squatting down watering the gray leaf vegetable seedlings, the water ladle hanging in mid-air, motionless for a long time. Hearing footsteps, she suddenly stood up, twisting her apron tightly in her hands.

"Brother Chen, the rice... has it been transported away?"

"Hmm." Chen Yuan put the cloth bag on the table with a dull thud. He scooped up half a ladle of cold water and drank it down, his Adam's apple bobbing as he forcibly suppressed the pent-up anger in his chest.

Widow Li's lips moved slightly: "This morning... Third Sister Liu came. She said since the rice has been collected, then the two-tenths..."

"I know."

Chen Yuan untied the cloth bag, and the spirit stones clattered onto the table, piling up into a small, warm, glowing mountain. He counted out one hundred and forty stones with his fingers and pushed them over.

"These are theirs."

Widow Li stared at the pile of spirit stones, not touching them: "Would they... agree?"

"The contract states 'settlement upon harvest,'" Chen Yuan said calmly. "The rice is harvested, the money arrives, I pay. It's only right and proper."

The words had barely left his lips when a soft, sweet voice drifted in from outside the courtyard: "Fellow Daoist Chen—are you home?"

Chen Yuan didn't move.

The door was pushed open, and Liu Sanniang appeared, dressed in a light green ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), her hair neatly combed, and her face powdered. Li Xiong followed half a step behind her, the dark red cloth strip on his right hand now tightly wrapped and replaced with a new one.

"Oh, counting money?" Liu San Niang's gaze was fixed on the pile of spirit stones on the table, a smile playing on her lips, but her eyes held no warmth. "The harvest seems to be quite good."

"Fellow Daoist Chen, according to our contract, what is 20% again? I'm not good at math, could you give me a hint?"

"The total harvest was 1,600 catties. After deducting the amount handed over to the sect, only 400 catties remained. The market price of Golden Thread Rice is one yuan per catty." Chen Yuan's tone was flat. "Two-tenths of the catties, which is equivalent to eighty spirit stones. This is one hundred and forty spirit stones."

"The market price for golden thread rice is one yuan per jin (500g)," Chen Yuan said, meeting her gaze. "I'm offering one and a half yuan. The extra amount is to thank you both for 'looking after' the fields these past few days."

Liu San Niang and Li Xiong exchanged a glance. Something was quickly conveyed in that glance.

"Fellow Daoist Chen is quite generous." Liu Sanniang smiled again, tied the cloth bag tightly, and put it in her bosom. "Alright, then we're even. But..." Her eyes flickered as she glanced at the potted plant with a faint golden-red hue in the shadows of the corner of the thatched shed. "I heard your blood ginseng is almost ready? This stuff is precious, and the shantytown isn't safe at night, so you have to be careful."

No need for you to worry.

"Indeed, Fellow Daoist Chen is wealthy now, so naturally he has ways." Liu San Niang turned around, swaying her hips slightly. "Brother Li, let's go."

The two figures disappeared outside the door.

Widow Li finally let out a breath, her face still pale: "Brother Chen, you really gave me one and a half yuan? Then we..."

"We don't have many left." Chen Yuan interrupted her, walked back to the table, and began to pack the remaining spirit stones back into the container.

He stopped moving, took out another empty cloth bag from his pocket, carefully counted out three hundred yuan, put it in, and tied it tightly.

This is to be taken to the market to exchange for things.

He then counted out another two hundred and forty coins and pushed them in front of Widow Li.

"Keep these. You'll be farming Uncle Zhao's fields from now on, and the seeds and fertilizer will come from here. The children will also get their medicine and food from here."

Widow Li stared at the pile of spirit stones, her hands trembling: "Too many... I can't..."

"It's not free." Chen Yuan's voice was firm. "Uncle Zhao's fields can't be left to fallow. If you cultivate them well, you keep 70% of the harvest, and I only need 30%. If you don't cultivate them well, you'll have to pay back these spirit stones."

He stopped looking at her, swept the last twenty loose spirit stones into his pocket, put the cloth bag containing three hundred spirit stones in his pocket, and went straight out the door.

Outside the market area, the air was filled with the smells of herbs, minerals, and cheap cosmetics.

Chen Yuan didn't go to Baicaotang. He squatted down in front of several stalls selling ores and sundries, ran his fingers over the rough surface of the hematite, weighed the fragments of Yanyang Stone, and finally stopped in front of a stall belonging to an old man with drooping eyelids.

"To stabilize the situation, is that all?"

The old man glanced at him, then slowly pulled out two dusty, round plates from under the stall. They were about the size of a palm, with blurry runes engraved on their edges.

"Used goods, the array patterns are worn down by 30%, but it can still support a 'Solid Earth Array' with a range of one zhang. It'll be fine for blocking small beasts." The old man's voice was hoarse. "Two, two hundred and eighty spirit stones, no bargaining."

Chen Yuan picked up a paperweight, his fingertips tracing the almost worn-down patterns on it. It was indeed old, the flow of spiritual energy sluggish. But it was good enough.

"Two hundred and fifty."

The old man lifted his eyelids, his cloudy eyes staring at him: "Two hundred and seventy, I'll give you five bloodstones."

Chen Yuan remained silent for a moment, then counted out 270 spirit stones from his cloth bag and pushed them over. He also bought three pieces of hematite and some fragments of blazing sunstone.

The bag immediately deflated by more than half.

By the time we returned to the thatched hut, it was already dark.

Chen Yuan placed the two weights on the door and spread the ore on the table. He pulled out a small wooden box from under the bed, opened the book "Golden Thread Ginseng Cultivation Manual," and stopped his finger on the section on "Yin-Yang Symbiosis."

The candlelight flickered, illuminating the densely packed small characters and simple array diagrams on the paper.

He stared at the blood ginseng in the corner. Golden veins flowed silently in the dim light, its leaves were thick, and its stem was upright, but it seemed... to be waiting for something.

You either go up, or you sink completely. There is no middle ground.

Chen Yuan blew out the candle.

In the darkness, he began to move. He buried the hematite in the soil according to the five elements, scattered fragments of the Flaming Sun Stone around it, and mixed the Bloodstone powder into the fertile soil, carefully spreading it on the surface of the ginseng pot. Finally, he bit his fingertip, and three drops of his blood fell one after another, seeping into the soil.

The ground of the thatched shed trembled slightly the moment the blood seeped in.

The leaves of the blood ginseng move swiftly even without wind, and a layer of dark red emerges from the depths of its golden veins.

The soil began to heat up, releasing a pale red mist. A muffled rumbling came from underground, as if something was churning deep within.

not enough.

Chen Yuan closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into his sea of ​​consciousness.

In the gray fog, the roots of the sapling extended downwards with his will, penetrating the soil and touching the hard and scorching earth vein barrier eight feet deep.

The moment the roots touched, a crack appeared in the barrier.

The raging earth vein fire, like magma finding an outlet, surged upwards and instantly crashed into the meridians!

"Ugh..." Chen Yuan groaned, his teeth clenched, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. He endured the searing pain in his internal organs, channeling the intense heat into the blood ginseng—

boom!

The blood ginseng trembled violently, and the entire plant burst forth with a dazzling golden-red light!

The ceramic pot instantly heated up and turned red, the soil churned as if boiling, the thatched hut trembled, and plaster fell from the walls in a flurry.

Two energy vortexes appeared out of thin air above the blood ginseng, one pale gold and the other dark red, chasing, repelling, and tearing at each other, extremely unstable.

Chen Yuan's face was ashen, and his body swayed precariously. He had reached his limit.

He staggered to the table, grabbed the last piece of blood-patterned stone, and smashed it with all his might at the two spinning vortexes!

The stone exploded into dust in mid-air, and the blood-red dust merged into the vortex.

In an instant, the chase stopped.

The two vortexes slowly approached each other, their edges touching and merging, eventually becoming one, forming a larger, pale gold ball of light with a dark red hue embedded in its center.

The ball of light descended steadily and silently disappeared into the blood ginseng.

All the light, vibrations, and heat instantly subsided.

The blood ginseng stood quietly in the pot. The golden veins on its leaves had completely changed—gold tinged with blood, blood translucent with gold, like ancient runes. The stem had turned dark gold, with fine, vein-like patterns appearing on its surface.

Chen Yuan slumped to the cold ground, leaning against the wall, panting heavily, each breath carrying the smell of blood.

He stared intently at it.

【Name】: Golden-veined Blood Ginseng (Yin-Yang Symbiosis, Fully Mature)

[Entry]: Blood and Qi Essence (Extractable)

[Status]: Perfect, medicinal efficacy doubled.

He stared at those few lines of small print for a long time.

Then, the corners of his mouth slowly stretched into a silent, almost exhausting smile.

He stood up, leaning against the wall, and walked to the blood ginseng. He stretched out his fingers, which were covered in mud and bloodstains, and touched the newly sprouted golden-red leaf very lightly.

The leaf trembled slightly, as if in response.

"Yin and Yang coexist..." Chen Yuan murmured softly.

"From today onwards, you are my advisor."