In the Yellow Bud Rice Fields, Chen Mu watched Old Hao’s slightly disheveled retreating figure and couldn’t help but sigh.
“I didn’t want to.”
Chen Mu shook his head, “There is no such thing as an unprovoked kindness.”
“This world that crushes one’s hopes…”
Looking at the items snatched within the Five Ghosts Bag, Chen Mu sighed again.
The loss of these items could be a heavy blow to Old Monk Hao and Shang Huan.
It might leave them without food, unable to pay their dues, unsuccessful in their practices.
“But if I don’t teach them a lesson, what will they do when they encounter someone more ruthless in the future?”
“What’s at stake then might not just be possessions, but their very lives!”
Chen Mu let out a breath, “I’m doing this for their own good!”
“I hope you can become kind and solid individuals!”
Thinking that he may have shaped two good people in this world, Chen Mu’s mood instantly brightened.
After Old Hao’s figure disappeared over Low Mountain,
Chen Mu didn’t bother to pretend to weed any longer.
He straightened up and thick black smoke spread across the fields.
Chen Mu strolled leisurely through the Yellow Bud Rice Fields and with a casual roundabout walk, all the weeds vanished without a trace.
“Planting Yellow Bud Rice isn’t that difficult, is it?” Chen Mu nodded in satisfaction.
According to his estimate, as long as he could hold on until the autumn harvest, he would definitely meet the target for paying his dues.
“Time to go home and make a feast!”
…
In the stone courtyard on the east side, the previously abandoned vegetable patch was cleaned and leveled by Chen Mu, who laid down a floor of green stone slabs.
Using round logs as pillars and wooden planks for the roof, Chen Mu routinely built a wooden shed.
Under the shed, rocking chairs and a low tea table were neatly arranged.
After eating, Chen Mu comfortably nestled into a rocking chair.
Black smoke swirled as items began to materialize out of thin air.
“A half bag of Yellow Bud Rice, that’s enough for five or six days of eating,” Chen Mu said with a twist of his lip.
“Dried Exotic Beast Meat with sinewy muscles, I wonder what the full appearance of this beast is, it looks a bit strange.” Chen Mu pressed the cured meat and nodded in satisfaction.
“I’ll wash it and try making stir-fried flavored cured meat tonight.”
Next, he took out three small cloth bags and dumped them onto the low table.
“A total of seventeen White Jade Coins, this is good!” Chen Mu heaved a sigh of relief, the money was enough for him to eat for four or five months and solved an urgent need.
“This way, there’s no rush to sell the Calming Pills.”
His experience with Old Hao made him distrustful of the new environment.
“I’ll wait until I’ve listened to teachings at the Scripture Transmission Institute,” Chen Mu thought to himself.
He needed to confirm that his Spirit and Soul Unification had no issues.
Chen Mu took out a copper mirror and looked at his face.
In the middle of his forehead, silver threads like waves were faintly visible.
“Old Hao’s face and arms haven’t changed, and his appetite is still normal. What’s with my Spirit Armor Technique?” Chen Mu wondered with confusion.
This was the trouble of having no one to instruct him.
“Should I buy some lessons at the Scripture Transmission Institute?” Chen Mu shook his head.
“I’ll wait until other practitioners arrive, then I’ll go.”
“I won’t make myself a target.”
Chen Mu checked his Skill Panel again, the Seventh Rank Spirit Armor Technique still unshakably increased by one point of Proficiency every hour.
“It’s just eating more and feeling a bit heavier, nothing serious,” Chen Mu shrugged.
If the system recognized it, it at least meant he wasn’t on the wrong path.
“That leaves this thing.” In Chen Mu’s hand appeared a palm-wide brown leather wrist guard.
This item came from Shang Huan’s left wrist.
Chen Mu didn’t care at first, but the pattern on the wrist guard caught his attention.
Black star-like dots connected by silken threads, circling the entire wristband.
There was something similar on the White Jade Coins.
“Magic Artifact?” Chen Mu shook his head in regret.
Without the corresponding Curse Command, the Magic Artifact was as good as useless in his hands.
“I’ll ask around when I get a chance,” Chen Mu set it aside.
After a short rest and tea under the shed, Chen Mu stood up and headed for the Yellow Bud Rice Fields.
The Proficiency of his Planting Skill had surpassed nine thousand.
“It wasn’t easy to grow this Yellow Bud Rice, production can’t decrease.”
“First, I’ll upgrade Planting to Second Rank.”
“If the effect is good, I’ll rent a few more acres of land,” Chen Mu calculated in his mind.
“The harvested Yellow Bud Rice, all stored in the cellar,”
The first day he moved into the courtyard, he dug out the cellar.
“With not a thousand catties of grain by my side, I always feel uneasy,”
…
With the sponsorship of Old Hao and Shang Huan, the number of White Jade Coins Chen Mu had once reached twenty-six.
Even though his appetite increased with each passing day, Chen Mu still remained calm.
He worked the fields every day, collecting Yellow Bud Rice, brushing up on his planting proficiency.
Even the Scripture Transmission Institute’s sermons that he once looked forward to didn’t seem as important.
Old Hao visited a few more times afterwards.
Seeing Chen Mu so down-to-earth and deeply engaged in the Yellow Bud Rice Fields, he gave up on the idea of guiding Chen Mu to sell treasures.
All he hoped for now was that Chen Mu could do well with the Yellow Bud Rice Fields, so he could receive his bonus early.
With no distractions, plenty of food and drink, and steady progress in the Spirit Armor Technique, Chen Mu’s days were exceptionally stable.
…
Half a month later, under the cool pavilion at night, Chen Mu nestled in a rocking chair, stargazing.
The night sky in this world was incredibly clear.
Come nightfall, you could look up to see a sky full of stars.
Not only were there many, but they were also very bright, twinkling with mysterious significance.
Chen Mu gazed at the night sky, lost in thought, his right hand busily popping Fasting Pills into his mouth like candy.
“Since I can’t make the original Fasting Pill, should I try making a 4.0 version of it?” Chen Mu pondered.
He didn’t know how to turn Yellow Bud Rice into the Fasting Pill.
But the idea of transforming Yellow Bud Rice into a 4.0 version of the Fasting Pill was still within his reach.
“Mixing in Exotic Beast Meat, that just might work.”
As he was contemplating, a sudden realization flashed through his mind.
Chen Mu’s action of chewing the Fasting Pills abruptly paused.
He called up the grey wall.
Culinary Skills: 5/10000/Fourth Rank;
As he was musing over the Fasting Pill, his Culinary Skills naturally broke through to Fourth Rank.
He finally understood the ingredients of the Fasting Pill.
“Essence of the Five Grains?” Chen Mu shook his head with a chuckle.
“Alchemical Technique didn’t make it clear, but Culinary Skills did. Heh…”
“A misunderstanding indeed.”
In the end, the Fasting Pill was simply a type of food.
“It’s a pity I still can’t extract it,” Chen Mu shook his head.
Fourth Rank Culinary Skills only enabled him to identify the ingredients, but not the extraction methods.
“Perhaps the Scripture Transmission Institute might have the answer,” Chen Mu contemplated.
“No point thinking about it now, first I need to take good care of the Yellow Bud Rice Fields.”
As he was thinking this, Chen Mu suddenly paused, turning his head towards the direction of the courtyard gate.
“An Exotic Beast?”
The paper Ghosts floating over the field transmitted back a bizarre image.
A group of uninvited guests had barged into the Yellow Bud Rice Fields.
With bodies the size of calves, shiny black fur, branching antler-like horns, and muscles more inflated and exaggerated than those of a past-world bodybuilder.
“Is this… a sheep?”
…
“Black Sheep with Antlers, they eat a lot and grow fast,” Old Hao remarked with amazement as he looked at the black sheep lying in a row in the field.
“You’re lucky to have found out in time; otherwise, they would have ruined two mu of your Yellow Bud Rice in just one night.”
“Two adults and three young, they can sell for two White Jade Coins, you’re really fortunate,” Old Hao looked at Chen Mu with envy.
Chen Mu chuckled, “Can these be eaten?”
“You’re not planning to exchange them for money?” Old Hao looked surprisedly at Chen Mu.
“They can be eaten; some people specifically raise this kind of Exotic Beast to slaughter and sell for money.”
“But… but that’s two White Jade Coins!”
Chen Mu smiled broadly, “No worries, I’d like to try something new.”
After all, he would have to spend money to buy Exotic Beast Meat, so why not just eat this one.
To spend two White Jade Coins to try something new?
I wish I could do that!
Old Hao looked at Chen Mu with mixed feelings.
“This guy’s luck is really damn good!” Discover hidden stories at empire