The wooden courtyards where a dozen or so spirit rice farmers originally lived in Nanyin Mountain were dismantled one by one.
Wanbao Pavilion hired Disciples from Laoshan School, a small School specializing in building houses, to construct an exquisite mountain villa and courtyard on the site of the dismantled wooden courtyards.
Built against the mountain, it drew mountain springs into the villa, which flowed gently into a stream.
Surrounding it were vast spirit rice fields, and under the Gathering Spirit Formation, the entire villa was enveloped in spiritual mist, creating a beautiful and enchanting scene.
“Greetings, Master Li!”
The two guards at the entrance of the mountain villa, seeing Li Mu descend on his sword, immediately greeted him in unison.
“Hmm! The servants and guards can all go back!
You two as well, I don’t need anyone else to serve me,” Li Mu said, gesturing to the two guards from Wanbao Pavilion.
“This, Master Li, if we go back, Manager Wang will blame us!” The guard leader said, looking troubled and hesitant.
“Are you afraid I’ll run away?
Tell Manager Wang this is my intention!” Li Mu said with a stern face and heavy tone.
“Alright! Alright! This junior understands.” The guard leader dared not argue with Master Li anymore and quickly gathered his subordinates, leading a group of maids and guards to withdraw from the mountain villa.
Watching them leave, Li Mu smiled, his expression much more relaxed.
Li Mu thought of something, took out his Spirit Beast Pouch, and released the Crimson Wolf.
“Woof!” The Crimson Wolf fell to the ground, woke up groggily, barked at Li Mu, and then looked around blankly, surveying its new surroundings.
Soon, the Crimson Wolf excitedly ran around the villa, occasionally lifting its hind leg to mark its territory on walls, tree trunks, and other places.
Seeing this, Li Mu felt both annoyed and amused, but he had no time to deal with it.
Before dusk, he needed to tend to the 82 mu of spirit rice fields and replant the Spiritual Plants.
To do a good job, one must first sharpen one’s tools, and this is even more true for techniques.
Li Mu planned to spend 220,000 free proficiency points to instantly raise the Turning Earth Technique to Perfection.
...
“Ding, you consumed one free proficiency point, Turning Earth Technique proficiency +1, Turning Earth Technique Rank increased to: Level Five, Minor Achievement, you comprehended the derived technique: Earth Penetration Technique.”
...
“Ding, you consumed one free proficiency point, Turning Earth Technique proficiency +1, Turning Earth Technique Rank increased to: Level Nine, Perfection, you comprehended the derived Divine Ability: Earth Dragon Technique.”
Waking up from the vast experience of using the Turning Earth Technique and the insights from its derived techniques, Li Mu opened his eyes.
He condensed an earth-elemental spiritual energy in his hand and shot it towards the 82 mu of spirit rice fields.
The ground vibrated, as if an Earth Dragon was rapidly burrowing beneath the surface, rolling through a large expanse of spirit rice fields.
The roots of the White Jade Spirit Rice were all turned out of the ground.
Wherever it passed, the spirit rice fields were perfectly turned over, with the soil soft and just right.
Li Mu deeply felt the power of the Divine Ability - Earth Dragon Technique.
The spirit rice fields could be precisely tilled because this Earth Dragon Technique was meticulously controlled by him.
If he sought destructive power, fully outputting spiritual energy, a single Earth Dragon Technique could instantly collapse 100 mu of spirit rice fields, capable of launching a surprise attack on Disciples.
Like the Harvesting Technique, the derived techniques after the Turning Earth Technique was upgraded also possessed immense offensive power.
Li Mu thought for a moment and decided to use up the remaining 1.9 million free proficiency points.
These free proficiency points were reserved for upgrading the Yin Yang Five Elements Scripture Cultivation Technique, intending to push for Foundation Establishment in one go.
However, currently, due to the lack of Five Elements spiritual items for auxiliary Cultivation, he could only wait until the next batch of Wind Spirit Grass matured.
The first to be upgraded was the Level 5 Quenching Spirit Art, directly raising it to Perfection.
Li Mu focused his Divine Sense on the character's virtual panel and poured free proficiency points into the Quenching Spirit Art.
...
“Ding, you consumed one free proficiency point, Quenching Spirit Art proficiency +1, Quenching Spirit Art Rank increased to: Level Six, your Divine Sense has been greatly enhanced, Divine Sense range increased by: +2000 feet.”
...
“Ding, you consumed one free proficiency point, Quenching Spirit Art proficiency +1, Quenching Spirit Art Rank increased to: Level Seven, your Divine Sense has been greatly enhanced, Divine Sense range increased by: +3000 feet.”
...
“Ding, you consumed one free proficiency point, Quenching Spirit Art proficiency +1, Quenching Spirit Art Rank increased to: Level Nine, Perfection, your Divine Sense has been greatly enhanced, Divine Sense range increased by: +10,000 feet, you comprehended the Divine Soul Divine Ability - Soul Self-Solidification, Micro-Perception.”
The moment the Quenching Spirit Art was upgraded to Level Nine Perfection Realm, Li Mu’s mind exploded with a ‘boom’, and his Sea of Consciousness surged.
He felt his Divine Soul shrink several times, yet the ethereal Divine Soul became substantial, and its power increased significantly.
He also comprehended a minor Divine Soul Divine Ability - Soul Self-Solidification.
This was not a Divine Sense attack Divine Ability, but rather a Divine Soul defense Divine Ability.
The Divine Soul’s resistance to Divine Sense attacks, its recovery power, restoration speed, and so on—the Divine Soul’s defense was comprehensively enhanced.
Without opening his eyes, Li Mu ‘saw’ a changed world.
The world was filled with nine colors of particles: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple, gray, and white.
Under the disturbance of the Heavenly Dao's power, the power of earth veins, and various mysterious forces, they flowed in disorder.
The principles of various techniques, the drawing of spiritual talismans, the condensation of artifact patterns during Artifact Refining—many perplexing issues Li Mu encountered were suddenly resolved when he saw the flow of these ‘micro-particles of spiritual energy’, naturally finding answers from the most fundamental level.
...
In this state of Epiphany, time passed quickly.
When Li Mu awoke, night had already enveloped the earth.
The Crimson Wolf lay at his feet, whimpering softly with a wronged expression, yet it was well-behaved and made no fuss.
“Are you hungry? Have a Spirit Nurturing Pill to fill your stomach first, then go play by yourself.
I don’t have time to accompany you!” Li Mu said with a smile, taking out a bottle of Spirit Nurturing Pill from his Nine Treasures Storage Pearl and pouring out one to feed the Crimson Wolf.
The Crimson Wolf took it in one bite and excitedly ran off after eating the Spirit Nurturing Pill.
Under the night, Li Mu clearly ‘saw’ the Crimson Wolf’s excited frolicking, and he smiled faintly.
He took out a green Jade Slip from his Nine Treasures Storage Pearl.
Earlier at Chen’s Cultivation Method Building, it was inconvenient to accept the Legacy of the Spirit Control Contract, so now was a good time to learn it and then use free proficiency points to upgrade its Rank.
Li Mu immersed his Divine Sense into the Legacy Jade Slip and immediately acquired the Legacy of the Spirit Control Contract.
Based on the Soul, with the Spirit Control Contract Seal as the thread, linking Divine Souls, controlling spirits, establishing contracts and seals, not tolerated by Heaven and Earth.
However, all methods return to one Dao, the Heavenly Dao is not benevolent...
...
“Ding, you have successfully accepted the Legacy of the Spirit Control Contract, you have learned the Spirit Control Contract Seal Technique.”
Li Mu opened his eyes and looked at the character’s virtual panel, immediately seeing the new notification in the log.
The Spirit Control Contract Cultivation Technique was successfully inscribed on the character panel.
After accepting the Legacy of the Spirit Control Contract, Li Mu finally understood why the female shopkeeper of Chen’s Cultivation Method Building had to explain the flaws of this Cultivation Technique to him beforehand.
This Cultivation Technique leaned towards Demonic Technique, focusing on Cultivating Divine Soul Contract Seals to directly enslave the Divine Souls of other living beings, which was not tolerated by Heaven and Earth.
This method had both advantages and disadvantages.
It could perfectly achieve perfect spirit control through direct Divine Soul interaction.
However, the more spiritual beings contracted, the heavier the burden and backlash on the Divine Soul.
There were also ways to reduce the Divine Soul burden and backlash, such as reducing the number of contracted spirits, contracting spirits in their Larvae , establishing intimate relationships, and so on.
Having a general understanding of the pros and cons of the Spirit Control Contract Cultivation Technique, Li Mu no longer had any reservations and began to lavishly spend free proficiency points to increase the Rank of the Spirit Control Contract.
“Ding, you consumed one free proficiency point, Spirit Control Contract proficiency +1.”
...
“Ding, you consumed one free proficiency point, Spirit Control Contract proficiency +1, Spirit Control Contract Rank increased to: Level Three, you comprehended the derived technique - Vassal Soul Possession.”
...
“Ding, you consumed one free proficiency point, Spirit Control Contract proficiency +1, Spirit Control Contract Rank increased to: Level Four, you comprehended the derived technique - Vassal Soul Explosion Technique.”
...
“Ding, you consumed one free proficiency point, Spirit Control Contract proficiency +1, Spirit Control Contract Rank increased to: Level Five, you comprehended the derived technique - Vassal Soul Communion.”
Li Mu opened his eyes and felt a wave of fatigue in his Divine Soul, not daring to continue upgrading the Rank of the Spirit Control Contract.
Others Cultivate Cultivation Techniques through gradual refinement over time, while he relied on acquiring Spiritual Plants and free proficiency points to upgrade.
Although the upgrade speed was fast, suddenly gaining too much ‘technique experience’ after upgrading, even with ‘Soul Self-Solidification’, the increase in so many Cultivation Techniques and the acquisition of a large amount of casting experience at once was a bit much for Li Mu to handle.
Additionally, Earth Rank Cultivation Techniques consumed ten times the free proficiency points of Yellow Rank and Profound Rank Cultivation Techniques, and the Spirit Control Contract was no exception.
Originally, a Cultivation Technique that could be upgraded to Level 5 with 19,600 points, the Spirit Control Contract consumed ten times more, and continuing to upgrade it would require 2 million free proficiency points.
Li Mu gave up on upgrading the Rank of the Spirit Control Contract, as the few derived techniques were already sufficient.
The Spirit Control Contract, which could originally only be Cultivated to Level 2, could now be upgraded to Level 5 with the aid of the proficiency panel.
The Spirit Control Contract truly lived up to its name as an Earth Rank Cultivation Technique.
After Level Three, each subsequent level increase brought a new derived technique, unlike Yellow Rank and Profound Rank Cultivation Techniques, where there was only a certain chance of deriving a technique at Level Five Minor Achievement Realm and acquiring a technique Divine Ability at Level Nine Perfection.
Li Mu’s gaze fell on the other two Earth Rank Cultivation Techniques on the character panel: “Profound Heaven Sword Formation - Basic Chapter” and “Spirit Devouring Body Nourishing Art,” both of which were at Level Three.
However, upgrading these two Cultivation Techniques would require some preparation, especially for “Spirit Devouring Body Nourishing Art,” which would need a large quantity of high-Rank Yao Beast meat.
After some thought, Li Mu gave up on allocating points and instead began farming.
Under the night sky, Li Mu cast a Drying Technique on the spirit rice fields, ‘burning’ the spirit rice seedlings in them.
Then, he cast a Qingfeng Huanyu Technique, summoning a torrential spiritual rain to wash over the 82 mu of Low Grade spirit rice fields.