Chapter Seventy-Nine: Standing Tall

The chief steward sent by the Spirit Feather Sect to collect this season’s spirit rice was now Du Haifu. However, Elder Gu had come along as well.

Du Haifu stepped off the flying vessel and gazed at Qin Ming’s spirit fields, his eyes filled with nothing but shock. He had never expected that the once destitute and precarious little spirit farmer would soon advance to the rank of a second-tier Spirit Cultivator. Qin Ming had risen to a level that even Du Haifu now had to look up to.

Elder Gu stood atop the flying vessel, silently observing Qin Ming’s fields, his face shadowed and inscrutable, his thoughts hidden.

“Fellow Daoist Qin… shall we begin?” Du Haifu seemed to have something he wished to say to Qin Ming, but with Elder Gu present, he swallowed his words.

Thus, Qin Ming and Du Haifu each took up a spirit sickle and began harvesting the three acres of Five-Colored Spirit Rice. In no time, Qin Ming had single-handedly reaped two acres. Du Haifu, on the other hand, progressed slowly, panting heavily, and after much effort managed to harvest only a small bundle.

The roots and stalks of the second-tier Five-Colored Spirit Rice were extraordinarily tough, and with Du Haifu’s cultivation, his efficiency left much to be desired.

After the time it takes for half a stick of incense to burn, Qin Ming had finished harvesting the remaining half acre. Once he had threshed all the Five-Colored Spirit Rice, he also packed away the straw into his storage pouch. The straw could be used to weave high-grade meditation mats, or burned as excellent fertilizer.

At that moment, Li Yan and his group from a neighboring field, having just paid their own spirit rice tax, approached, seemingly curious to see the yield from Qin Ming’s field.

“Fellow Daoist Li Yan, you’ve harvested a full fifty jin of Jade Crystal Rice this year—you’ll surely take the top prize, won’t you?”

“You know, second-tier spirit rice is notoriously hard to cultivate, and the yield is always extremely low.”

“To get fifty jin out of just two acres of Jade Crystal Rice, you must’ve put in tremendous effort, Fellow Daoist!”

“Ah, it was nothing, really,” Li Yan replied modestly.

He and his fellow Spirit Cultivators then proceeded to Qin Ming’s field, arriving just in time to witness Du Haifu weighing the Five-Colored Spirit Rice.

Neatly arranged before Qin Ming were five large sacks of rice. After weighing each with a large-scale magical device, Du Haifu’s voice trembled as he announced, “Second-tier Five-Colored Spirit Rice, total harvest… five… five hundred and twenty jin.”

“Thirty-five percent must be paid as tax, which comes to… one hundred eighty-two jin.”

After paying the spirit rice tax, Qin Ming deftly stowed the remaining three hundred plus jin of Five-Colored Spirit Rice into his storage pouch.

Not far away, the atmosphere hung heavy with silence. At length, someone finally broke the stillness.

“How much did he get?”

“Five hundred and twenty jin?”

“Did I hear that right? That’s second-tier spirit rice!”

Li Yan’s face soured as though a jar of soy sauce had been smashed open; without a word, he turned and left. The other Spirit Cultivators, understanding the situation, quickly followed suit.

After collecting the tax, Du Haifu returned to the flying vessel to report to Elder Gu. Elder Gu, having witnessed the entire process, took a grain of the Five-Colored Spirit Rice from the bag and examined it closely, his eyes flickering with emotion.

He then leapt down from the vessel, landing directly in front of Qin Ming. Though his rigid face betrayed no anger or joy, he forced a thin smile and asked, “Young friend Qin, might you be willing to sell a portion of this Five-Colored Spirit Rice to this old man?”

He coveted this batch of second-tier spirit rice as well, but Qin Ming’s status was no longer as it once was; gone were the days when he could be bullied and exploited at will.

“Apologies, Elder Gu, but I have other plans for this rice and do not wish to sell it,” Qin Ming replied flatly, giving no quarter. He already knew Elder Gu had schemed against him in secret and saw no reason to feign politeness now. Elder Gu was already on his blacklist.

Elder Gu’s face twitched at the refusal, his heart seething with anger, but he did not lash out then and there.

“Very well! Very well!” he replied meaningfully, casting Qin Ming a glance full of threat before turning back to the flying vessel without another word.

With so many cards up his sleeve, Qin Ming could now speak with his back straight. He no longer feared a newly promoted Foundation Establishment elder.

Afterward, he harvested the two acres of Red-Silver Hemp as well.

Ten days later, Qin Ming took the wooden token for the trial quota he’d acquired from Chen Qiaoling and set out for the Spirit Feather Sect’s trial assessment.

By the time he arrived, nearly everyone else was already there. This time, there were about a dozen upper-grade Spirit Cultivators participating in the trial. Li Yan was among them—some looked supremely confident, while others seemed visibly nervous.

Most of the sect elders had come to observe. When Elder Gu saw Qin Ming among the candidates, his brow furrowed and he turned to Elder Liu, a goat-bearded man beside him, and demanded, “Elder Liu, weren’t we agreed not to give this brat a chance? How did the last quota end up with him?”

Elder Liu looked embarrassed and replied with a forced laugh, “Ah, it wasn’t my intention, but someone came to me for a favor, and I just happened to owe her a debt…”

Elder Gu’s expression shifted, but he said nothing more.

“If this young man truly passes the trial, then that is his fate—let him be,” Elder Zhuang sighed, expressing his stance. In truth, he had always admired Qin Ming’s talent in spirit cultivation and wished to take him as a disciple, but Qin Ming had shown no desire to join the Spirit Feather Sect. The bond of master and disciple simply was not meant to be... not yet.

Soon after, the elders led the dozen or so Spirit Cultivators into a forbidden area. Towering ancient trees and jagged rocks filled the place. At last, they arrived before a grassy field, at the center of which stood seven enormous wooden steles, each over ten zhang tall.

“This is where you will undertake the Grass and Wood Illusory Realm Trial,” Elder Zhuang announced.

“In a moment, you will use the quota tokens in your hands to enter the trial realm. Each of you will experience a different illusory trial. You will know what yours is once inside. Regardless of what the content of your trial is, those who finish in the shortest time will rank highest.”

With that, Elder Zhuang waved his hand, and a beam of white light shot from his palm, striking the array of wooden steles. Instantly, the wood array was activated, radiating a soft green glow skyward—a truly wondrous sight.

Under everyone’s gaze, Li Yan stepped forward, crushed his token, and the array cast a green light down upon him, enveloping his body and instantly causing him to vanish.

Qin Ming watched all this and thought to himself that Li Yan seemed quite familiar with the process—he must have attempted it before.

One after another, the other Spirit Cultivators followed suit, their forms disappearing beneath the green radiance.

Qin Ming too stepped forward, took a deep breath, and crushed his token.

In that moment, he felt his vision blur and his head spin. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a wooden hut.

His gaze fell upon a stone tablet by the hut’s door. He studied it carefully for a long time before finally understanding: this so-called “Grass and Wood Illusory Realm Trial” was created by a prodigious high-level Spirit Cultivator.

Such arrays that allowed one to enter an illusionary realm were not unique to the Spirit Feather Sect; other large spirit cultivation sects possessed them as well. The results from these trials were recognized throughout the entire Southern Wilderness cultivation world.

For Spirit Cultivators, even if one failed the assessment, the insights gained into the Way of Spirit Cultivation—or in other aspects—were of immense benefit. That was why the quota was so precious.

Just as Qin Ming finished reading the introduction, a line of words suddenly appeared on the stone tablet before him:

[Please select the difficulty for your trial in the illusory realm.]
[Grade A, B, C, D, E, F, G]

Qin Ming was surprised. “You can actually choose the difficulty yourself?”

“The greater the difficulty, the greater the benefits?”

He pondered for a moment. Since he had a special advantage, he felt no anxiety and promptly selected ‘Grade A Difficulty.’

Creak!

As soon as he made his choice, the wooden door of the hut swung open on its own. The scene outside made Qin Ming’s jaw drop in astonishment.

“Holy—!”