After his Breakthrough, Tian Xiaobao slept soundly in the Spirit Rice field.
Early the next morning, he arrived at the Spirit Rice field with a look of confidence and vigor in his eyes.
After breaking through to the Qi Cultivation Second Layer, Tian Xiaobao clearly felt a significant improvement in both his Qi and physical strength.
Each time he swung his sickle, a noticeable cut appeared on the stalk of the Spirit Rice.
Compared to before, his harvesting speed was more than double what it was before his Breakthrough.
Throughout the day, Tian Xiaobao was like a tireless elf, freely expending his sweat in the Spirit Rice field.
By evening, he had harvested a total of 854 stalks of Spirit Rice, and his experience points had increased by 8.54 points.
Over the next few days, Tian Xiaobao maintained this highly efficient harvesting state.
As time passed, there was less and less Spirit Rice in the Spirit Rice field.
...
Twenty days flew by, and Tian Xiaobao finally finished harvesting the last stalk of Spirit Rice.
He stood in what was once a lush Spirit Rice field, now an empty plot of land, and an indescribable mix of emotions welled up in his heart.
After harvesting the Spirit Rice, Tian Xiaobao began to consider how to transport this precious Spirit Rice back to the market.
This was not an easy task; he needed to consider not only the safety of transportation but also find ways to avoid various risks that might be encountered along the way.
Fortunately, Tian Xiaobao's surname was Tian!
He immediately thought of Eighth Uncle; this elder of the Tian Family still held a certain position and influence in Ding District of Spirit Reef Island.
Tian Xiaobao decided to go find Eighth Uncle, hoping to get his help.
Tian Xiaobao believed that as long as he transported the Spirit Rice with Eighth Uncle and some other Tian Clan, the safety of the transportation would be guaranteed.
After all, although the rogue cultivators were fierce, they would not openly rob the Tian's grain transport team in broad daylight.
Although they were ruthless, they were not foolish; they knew how serious the consequences of doing so would be.
If any rogue cultivators dared to rob the Tian's grain transport team, then they could forget about continuing to survive on Spirit Reef Island.
The Tian Family was powerful on Spirit Reef Island; once provoked, they would certainly exert their full strength to track down the culprits, leaving those rogue cultivators nowhere to hide.
Perhaps some might say, wouldn't eliminating all the Tian make it so the Tian wouldn't know about this matter?
However, this idea was simply unrealistic.
If there truly were rogue cultivators capable of eliminating all the Tian, then why would he bother robbing a grain transport team? Wouldn't it be better to directly rob the main Tian Family?
After all, for those with low cultivation like them, they were not worth the effort of high-cultivation rogue cultivators; it would be somewhat counterproductive.
Thinking of this, Tian Xiaobao quickly opened the Formation and headed to the Spirit Rice field where Eighth Uncle's home was located.
Soon, Tian Xiaobao arrived at Eighth Uncle's Spirit Rice field and called out:
"Is Eighth Uncle in? Xiaobao has something to ask for help."
A moment later, a gap opened in the Formation in front of Tian Xiaobao, and a white-haired but vigorous old man walked out from the Spirit Rice field; it was Eighth Uncle.
He saw Tian Xiaobao and a kind smile appeared on his face:
"Xiaobaozi, why are you in such a hurry to find Uncle? What happened?"
Tian Xiaobao hurried forward, respectfully bowed, and thoroughly explained that he had finished harvesting the Spirit Rice, was uneasy about transporting it alone, and wanted to transport the Spirit Rice with Eighth Uncle and the others.
After listening, Eighth Uncle seemed a bit surprised, then frowned slightly, and after a moment of contemplation, he said:
"Xiaobaozi, why didn't you know that our Tian Clan in Ding District all transport grain on the same day? Didn't your uncle tell you?
Well, it will take some time to form the grain transport team; we need to gather some reliable Family disciples and prepare some methods to deal with rogue cultivators. You go back and wait for news, and don't let your guard down these next few days; make sure to guard your Spirit Rice well."
Tian Xiaobao's heart blossomed with joy, and he quickly bowed again:
"Thank you, Eighth Uncle, Xiaobao understands."
Coming out of Eighth Uncle's Spirit Rice field, a huge weight was finally lifted from Tian Xiaobao's heart.
However, his dissatisfaction with his so-called uncle grew day by day.
Just last year, the Family accidentally discovered a mysterious Secret Realm, which was undoubtedly exciting news. So, Tian Xiaobao's parents embarked on the journey to explore this Secret Realm along with the direct descendants of the Tian Family.
However, when the Tian Clan finally emerged from the Secret Realm, they brought heartbreaking news—Tian Xiaobao's parents had encountered an attack from a second-order Yao Beast in the Secret Realm.
Despite the Family's best efforts to rescue them, they were ultimately powerless, and Tian Xiaobao's parents both perished in the Secret Realm, not even leaving behind their remains.
After Tian Xiaobao held his parents' funeral in the Family, his uncle, Tian Xing, came to his door.
Tian Xing, using the excuse that Tian Xiaobao's parents had just passed away and Tian Xiaobao might be too grieved to cultivate Spirit Rice, expressed his willingness to kindly help Tian Xiaobao cultivate one season of Spirit Rice.
After the Spirit Rice was harvested and sold, Tian Xing would deduct a certain fee, and the remaining Spirit Stone would be given entirely to Tian Xiaobao.
At that time, Tian Xiaobao, due to the sudden death of his parents, was immersed in immense grief and was in a very low mood.
Furthermore, he had always trusted his uncle, Tian Xing, so he readily agreed to his uncle's proposal without much thought.
However, what Tian Xiaobao never expected was that his uncle, Tian Xing, eventually used the excuse of falling Spirit Rice prices and reduced Spirit Rice yields to give him only a meager ten Spirit Stone.
One must know, taking Tian Xiaobao's own first-order Low Grade Spirit field as an example, this was quite a good Spirit field resource!
If managed properly, one mu of Spirit field could yield at least 550 jin of Spirit Rice, and even more than 600 jin if luck was good!
Tian Xiaobao's Family had a full five mu of such Spirit land, so calculating by the lowest yield, these five mu of Spirit land could produce at least 2,000 jin of Spirit Rice!
Moreover, Tian Xiaobao also had some understanding of the price of Spirit Rice.
He knew that although the price of Spirit Rice had indeed fallen last year, it hadn't fallen much.
Before, ten jin of Spirit Rice could be exchanged for one Spirit Stone, but now it had only become ten jin of Spirit Rice for ninety-five broken Spirit.
Even if sold to the Family, the price was only slightly lower, ten jin of Spirit Rice for eighty broken Spirit, but doing so would earn contribution points!
Even calculating by this price, Tian Xiaobao's output of over 2,000 jin of Spirit Rice could bring in at least 150 Spirit Stone in income!
Tian Xiaobao, of course, knew these things, but what could he do? After all, Tian Xing was his uncle, and he couldn't just directly tear off all pretense. So, he could only silently swallow this bitter loss.
However, fortunately, Tian Xiaobao was relatively cautious at the time and only agreed to let Tian Xing manage the Spirit field for one season, not completely handing over the Spirit field to him.
Otherwise, this Spirit field would probably have fallen into Tian Xing's hands.
But he never expected that Tian Xing wouldn't even tell him about such a major matter as transporting Spirit Rice together, which made Tian Xiaobao suspect that Tian Xing had other motives.