In the Low Hill Courtyard, Chen Mu sought out Old Hao to gather information.
“It’s never been this busy in previous years.” Old Hao frowned as he took puffs of his pipe.
“This year something’s not quite right. Even the carefully tended medicinal fields weren’t spared.” Old Hao was also deeply concerned.
“How did you deal with it in the past?” Chen Mu asked.
“We had beast repellent medicine powder and intimidating magic artifacts, we could also domesticate exotic beasts to combat and hunt them.”
“Like Director Song?”
“Right,” Old Hao nodded, “It’s said that back in the day, Director Song would domesticate exotic insects to aid in planting and cultivating.”
“Even now, Director Song often collects exotic insects to domesticate.”
Chen Mu nodded in agreement.
The red insect cloud that once obscured the sky truly broadened his horizons.
“Our little patch of land isn’t worth using a magic artifact on.”
“Let’s just buy some beast repellent powder to use in combination, and patrol, drive away, and hunt them ourselves,” Old Hao said helplessly, exhaling a puff of smoke.
“Luckily, all the ones that came in are ordinary herbivorous exotic beasts.”
“Otherwise, we’d only be able to run.”
It had only been a few days of peace.
Chen Mu’s complexion didn’t look too good either.
“Looks like we need to patrol a few more times at night.”
…
Three days later, deep into the night.
On the west side of Low Hill, in the newly leased ten acres of Yellow Bud Rice fields.
A copper bell tolled with a deep clang.
Dozens of fist-sized red rabbits immediately became as if they were drunk, staggering and tumbling about.
Puff puff puff…
Bead-sized black and red pellets flew through the air.
The rabbits, with their fur as hard as metal, were pierced straight through.
“With just this little bit of meat, not even enough for one bite, and it’s such a hassle to deal with,” said Chen Mu as he held up a rabbit by its ear to inspect it.
Suddenly, black smoke billowed, and the red rabbits scattered throughout the field were devoured and cleaned up by the Five Ghosts in an instant.
Just as he finished dealing with them, within the sight of the Five Ghosts another group of red rabbits appeared, forcing him to leap towards the other side of the Yellow Bud Rice fields on Low Hill.
“Did I stir up a rabbit’s nest or something?”
It wasn’t until after midnight, when all was silent, that Chen Mu left two Five Ghosts Yin Spirits to stand guard in each of the two fields.
Only then did he yawn and head back to rest in the Low Hill Courtyard, “If this continues, it’ll be too exhausting.”
For the past five days, with exotic beasts appearing now and then at night, he didn’t get a wink of good sleep.
Old Hao’s Yellow Bud Rice field next door was also suffering from attacks by the red rabbits, and to be able to discover and deal with them promptly, Old Hao had started living right in the fields.
“Sleeping poorly every night, carrying on like this, even a Shell Soul master would end up with a sleep disorder,” Chen Mu shook his head.
…
The next day, after breakfast, Chen Mu watered, fertilized, and weeded the Yellow Bud Rice fields as usual.
After asking Old Hao to help watch over the fields for a bit, he rushed straight to the Scripture Transmission Institute in Tongtian Square.
He stayed there the whole day, only hurrying back to the Low Hill Courtyard as evening approached.
“If you hadn’t come back, I would’ve stopped caring,” Old Hao glared at Chen Mu.
“Thank you, Old Hao!” Chen Mu smiled in thanks, “Come on, let’s go eat.”
Old Hao looked tempted, then sighed and shook his head, “Let’s wait until this storm passes.”
He did want to eat but feared that an exotic beast might appear and damage his Yellow Bud Rice field while he was eating.
After sending Old Hao off, Chen Mu quickly ate his dinner.
Then he took items out of the Five Ghosts Bag and began to tinker with them.
He had spent the whole day at the Scripture Transmission Institute studying various formulations of beast repellent medicine powder.
His proficiency in the Pharmaceutical Technique had risen by seventy to eighty points as a result.
“I’ll have to rely on Mesmerizing Divine Smoke.”
After a day of contemplation and perusal, combined with his experience in Alchemical Technique, he had a preliminary plan.
…
Two days later, at night.
The full moon hung high, surrounded by a dazzling array of stars.
Chen Mu arrived at the Yellow Bud Rice fields located at the foot of Low Hill.
In the center of each acre, he placed a copper basin.
Inside the basin, a pile of medicine powder burned slowly, emitting clouds of white smoke like dry ice fumes, billowing out of the basin, flowing and spreading in all directions.
Soon, the entire field was filled with one and a half meters high of pale white smoke.
The smoke, heavy like cotton, nestled among the Yellow Bud Rice, staying dense and not dissipating.
As the white smoke spread, the sound of insects swiftly died away, and the field became deathly quiet.
Chen Mu stood at the edge of the field, looking down from the Five Ghosts’ perspective.
The Mesmerizing Miasma spread through the Yellow Bud Rice like a cloud in the sky.
Chen Mu nodded in satisfaction, “Now I’ll be able to sleep in peace.”
Indeed, that night he slept exceptionally soundly.
Even the appearance of an unnamed swarm of moths was instantly subdued by the Mesmerizing Miasma, without disturbing Chen Mu’s sleep in the slightest.
…
Half a month later.
It’s unclear whether it was the Inspection Courtyard that exerted its strength, or the Lower Courtyard that pulled some strings.
The storm of exotic beasts attacking the Lower Courtyard had somewhat abated.
At least for Chen Mu and his group, there hadn’t been any beast destroying the Yellow Bud Rice fields for two days.
Low Hill Courtyard.
Chen Mu held a fist-sized wooden spoon, watering the arm-high Nightshade Bellflowers one by one.
Then with a small wooden shovel, he carefully loosened the soil.
After bustling about for half a day, Chen Mu straightened his back, looking contentedly at the twenty-odd Nightshade Bellflowers with a hint of pale yellow.
“Once dried, they should yield about ten pounds, enough to last another half-year,” he said.
…
Returning to the wooden shed, Chen Mu sat down in the rocking chair and habitually checked the experience levels of his skills.
Writing: 6456/10000/Second Rank;
Drawing: 5967/10000/Second Rank;
Culinary Arts: 7870/10000/Fourth Rank;
Pharmaceutical Technique: 4657/10000/Fifth Rank;
Five Ghosts Moving Mountain Curse: 9121/10000/Seventh Rank;
Shapeshifting Technique: 5737/10000/Fourth Rank;
Cloud Mirage Spirit Armor Technique: 8569/10000/Eighth Rank;
Planting: 603/10000/Third Rank;
Sand Containing Technique: 9449/10000/Fourth Rank;
Hundred Intentions Spirit Light Technique: 5578/10000;
“Hundred Intentions Spirit Light Technique is really slow,” Chen Mu shook his head and sighed.
No wonder the Scripture Transmission Institute sold it so cheaply.
“Lucky for me, I’m diligent. If it were anyone else, who knows how many years it would take.”
The Cloud Mirage Spirit Armor Technique was still reassuringly trouble-free.
Unobtrusively, it was once again nearing a breakthrough.
The old friend, Five Ghosts Moving Mountain Curse, did not disappoint him either.
Sand Containing Technique also advanced rapidly.
“Still, I should focus on the Hundred Intentions Spirit Light Technique,” Chen Mu thought to himself.
After all, that’s the fundamental one.
After estimating the advancement time for each skill, Chen Mu stood up to cook.
…
Smoked black meat, chilled marinated meat, blanched seasonal vegetables, flavored cured meat, fish ball soup, and a basket piled into a small mountain of the Qi Family’s old-fashioned stuffed pies. The table was brimming with food.
Before long, Old Hao and Shang Huan arrived together.
“Brother Chen, here’s your thirty percent,” Shang Huan said as he entered, handing Chen Mu a small gray cloth bag.
Chen Mu shook it and felt there were about fifteen or sixteen White Jade Coins inside.
“Not a bad deal, huh?” Shang Huan said with a grin, looking very pleased with himself.
Chen Mu looked at Shang Huan with mixed feelings.
He had provided Shang Huan with over a hundred pounds of “secret roast meat seasoning,” and Shang Huan turned around and sold it for forty to fifty White Jade Coins.
That’s one White Jade Coin for every two pounds.
And that was real roast meat seasoning!
“Aren’t you afraid of getting beaten to death?”
“It’s the bold who get rich, and the timid who starve,” Shang Huan laughed, unconcerned.
Chen Mu silently shook his head.
He didn’t know what strange attribute Shang Huan had awakened.
Whenever it came to counterfeit or adulteration, this fatty always came up with all sorts of wild ideas, and he was incredibly bold.
It might be better to control the quantity of goods a bit.
With the way this fatty was playing, it was likely to draw investigation.
“Let’s eat.”
…
After meals, the three of them chatted casually over chilled tea.
“Been really tired lately? You look like you haven’t fully woken up,” Shang Huan asked, noticing Old Hao’s weary complexion.
“How could I not be tired!” Old Hao complained through a puff of smoke: “It’s all because of those crazy beasts.”
“In the first few days, I dozed off briefly, and an acre of land was gnawed on by a group of black rats.”
“After that, how could I dare close my eyes! I wandered the fields all night.”
“Farming is truly difficult,” Old Hao sighed. “No offense to me, but look at Brother Chen. He’s as young and strong as I am; just ask him if he’s tired.”
Chen Mu sighed with a bitter expression: “How could I not be tired?!”
Every night, I have to set up the Copper Basin Formation in the fields before I can come back to sleep.
More than half a month has passed, and I’ve lost several hours of sleep!
I’m exhausted!