Roar—Boom—
Whimper—
‘Bang!’
‘Bang!’
Xia Jingxing had just finished clearing the weeds in front of his house when he heard the tragic roars of Yao Beasts coming from the dense forest in the distance.
Then came sounds like exploding cannonballs, and a faint white smoke rose into the sky from the distant dense forest.
Hearing these sounds, Xia Jingxing's body subconsciously trembled. Such a powerful attack made his original body, a weakling at the third level of Qi Refining, even worse than that leopard.
“Cultivators at the Peak of Qi Refining are terrifying!”
Fortunately, Li Biao took the initiative to help clear out the Advanced Yao Beasts this time. Otherwise, if he were to cultivate this spiritual field, he might attract these Yao Beasts down the mountain. At that time, not only would there be no harvest from the spiritual field, but his life might also be in danger.
He thought for a moment and decided to use the remaining Banzhu on the ground to build a courtyard wall around the Bamboo House.
The empty house made him feel uneasy.
If it were the zombie apocalypse in his previous life, he wouldn't dare to live in such an exposed house. At the very least, he would make the courtyard wall and fence sturdy and secure.
After clanging for an hour, Xia Jingxing finally built a one-zhang-high bamboo wall three zhang away from the Bamboo House, and also added a door eaves opposite the main entrance of the Bamboo House.
“It’s much safer now!”
‘Hiss—Humph!’
‘Hiss—Humph!’
Xia Jingxing had just sat on the bamboo ladder to rest for a moment when a series of pig grunts came from outside.
Soon after, Li Biao arrived in front of him, holding five Hog Badgers.
The Hog Badgers’ round bodies were covered in a thick, coarse coat of mostly greyish-black fur, interspersed with some brownish markings, and their faces resembled pigs.
“These are the offspring of the Hog Badger Yao on the mountain. Their parents are Late Stage Qi Refining Badger Yaos, and they might sneak down the mountain someday. I’ve taken care of them!”
“Also, there were a few Saw-Winged Owls. Several tigers and leopards, all at the Late Stage of Qi Refining!”
After Li Biao finished speaking, he threw several huge Yao Beast corpses from his Storage Pouch in front of him.
“I’ll keep a few to take back for drinks! These little Hog Badgers are for you to raise!”
Li Biao glanced at the newly built courtyard wall, a look of surprise on his face.
He had heard many rumors about Xia Jingxing’s reputation in the Xia Family: unlearned, spending his days messing around, and only reaching the third level of Qi Refining after ten years of cultivation. He never expected him to be able to build a courtyard wall.
Looking at the sturdiness of the courtyard wall, it didn’t seem like something a novice could construct.
“Did you build this courtyard wall?”
“Yes! Without a courtyard wall, I don’t feel safe!” Xia Jingxing nodded.
Li Biao was immediately speechless upon hearing this. He thought that his heavy-handed attack that day had injured him, causing a mental issue, and he didn’t dwell on it further.
“That’s good! If low-level Yao Beasts come down the mountain, it can offer some defense.”
Then he threw these Hog Badgers into a hastily built fence nearby.
Startled, the Hog Badgers suddenly raised their heads and let out a ‘Roar—’ The front paws dug at the ground, stirring up dust, and the white fur on their noses trembled with each breath as they charged at the fence.
‘Hiss—Humph!’
“Alright! I should go! As per our agreement, if you encounter a life-threatening crisis, you can call me. As for minor matters, don’t bother me!” Li Biao finished placing the items and immediately left on a flying leaf.
During this period, several Foundation Establishment Families around the Xia Family were frequently in turmoil, sending Disciples to investigate from time to time.
He had taken on the Family’s patrol mission. If it weren’t for this incident with Xia Jingxing, he wouldn’t be idle enough to come to this abandoned spiritual field.
“Senior Biao, take care!”
Xia Jingxing watched Li Biao leave before coming to the fence to look at the little Hog Badgers.
Li Biao was a Peak Qi Refining Cultivator, so it was natural for him to be somewhat arrogant. If not for the lure of profit, why would he care about the life and death of a weakling like him?
Every few years, the Family would auction off a Foundation Establishment Pill from the market, and its destination would then be decided by a vote.
The Family’s Genius generation was still young and low in cultivation, requiring eight or nine years to grow. In these few years, the most likely person in the Family to obtain the Foundation Establishment Pill was a Peak Qi Refining Clan Uncle, followed by Li Biao.
However, this Peak Qi Refining Clan Uncle had not contributed much to the Family, and his Aptitude was mediocre. Compared to Li Biao, his chances were much lower.
But for Li Biao to obtain the Foundation Establishment Pill, he would have to marry into the Xia Family and have enough support from Xia Family Cultivators.
Just the incident where Li Biao nearly accidentally killed him, if not handled properly, would lead to a massive reduction in the number of Xia Family Cultivators who supported him. That’s why he reluctantly made a gesture of conscientious compensation.
He was not someone who could be appeased with just a few sweet words.
It’s just that currently, he had no way to deal with the other party, so he could only quickly improve his strength for self-preservation.
The little Hog Badgers, seeing a stranger, again let out frightened ‘Hiss—Humph!’ sounds.
“Oh? This Hog Badger is quite unusual!”
The Hog Badger in the very center was especially active, constantly digging with its pig snout. Its body was like a small dog, the fur on its nose was emerald green, its eyes glowed blue, and it possessed considerable intelligence. Its front and back claws were also sharper than the other four.
Xia Jingxing thought for a moment, then picked up the Banzhu on the ground and reinforced the fence.
Hog Badger meat is tender and plump. If sold in the market, one could fetch sixty to one hundred Spirit Stones. Raising these five would also be a good income.
He glanced again at the several Yao Beast corpses on the ground. The tiger and leopard were twice his size, and the Saw-Winged Owl’s body was half his size, with sharp feathers that could be used for Artifact Refining.
“Yao Beasts in the Immortal Realm are even more dangerous than zombies in the apocalypse!”
“I need to improve my strength quickly!”
He had spent some time in the Family’s library, learning about cultivation techniques, among which he was more interested in Alchemy and Artifact Refining.
But which one he had more talent for, he still needed to verify one by one.
A moment later, Xia Jingxing checked the surrounding environment and activated the mountain protection Formation.
This mountain protection Formation could be activated in three modes: The first, Elementary, could surround this flat land around Banzhu Mountain with mist, making it difficult for outside Cultivators to easily observe. Its defensive power was poor, but it could trap low-level Cultivators and consumed less Earth Vein Spiritual Qi.
The Intermediate mode could defend against Middle Stage to Late Stage Cultivators, and the Advanced mode directly connected the mountain protection Formation to the Earth Vein Spiritual Qi, transforming it into a physical defensive barrier that could resist Cultivators below the Peak of Qi Refining.
However, he learned from Family records that activating the Advanced mode caused great damage to the Formation and consumed an enormous amount of Earth Vein Spiritual Qi, so it should not be activated unless absolutely necessary.
Banzhu Mountain had been uninhabited for many years. If the Formation was not activated and nearby Yao Beasts were allowed to intrude, he feared he wouldn’t be able to keep his own life.
“It’s only Shenshi! First, build a cooking house, then cultivate the spiritual field.”
He picked up the Banzhu from the ground and went to an empty space next to the Bamboo House to start building.
Half an hour later, a simple cooking house was completed by him.
Then he carried the spiritual rake and walked towards the spiritual field.
In the apocalypse, he had his own vegetable patch, but it couldn't compare to the spiritual fields of the Immortal Realm.
With just a light rake of the spiritual rake, the soil was softer than tofu.
With one pull, a large amount of weeds and the roots of ghost face grass were pulled out of the ground, and the soil was also loosened.
An hour later.
Xia Jingxing had cultivated two acres of spiritual field, perfectly square, which looked very pleasing.
He piled the weeds and decaying bamboo poles in the center of the spiritual field and cast a Fireball spell.
The two small mounds in front of him immediately burst into a blazing inferno.
After the burning was complete, he cast an Earth Split spell, burying the charcoal ashes into the spiritual field.
He casually formed a Water Cloud Seal, bringing down a small shower of sweet dew.
“After three to five days of nourishment, it should be ready for planting.”
‘Hiss—Humph!’
Just as he was about to let out a sigh of relief, he heard the grunting of a Hog Badger nearby.
Due to his ability to hear the voices of spiritual plants and his long survival in the apocalypse, his ears were extremely sharp; any slight movement would set off his alarm bells.
He followed the sound and saw a pig snout emerging from in front of the courtyard wall, constantly digging upwards.
The other Hog Badgers in the courtyard were also grunting, cheering it on.
“This Hog Badger is truly restless. Such a sturdy fence can’t even hold it! It even dug a hole in the ground.”
Xia Jingxing felt a pang for his small courtyard and immediately went to the Hog Badger that was making the ‘Hiss—Humph!’ sound.
The moment it showed its head, he slipped a rope around its neck and lifted it up.
The green-nosed Hog Badger twisted its body indignantly, but being suspended, it couldn’t touch him in the slightest.
“What kind of Hog Badger is this anyway? Its digging ability is quite good!”
He immediately became interested and took out the Yao Beast handbook he had copied from the library to examine it.
A moment later, his eyes darted back and forth between the green-nosed Hog Badger and the other Hog Badgers.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up.
“How fortunate! It’s actually a mutated Medicine Seeking Badger!”
The Medicine Seeking Badger’s sense of smell is a hundred times more acute than that of an ordinary Hog Badger, allowing it to find many spiritual medicines and spiritual fruits in the mountains.
