Chương 33: 1.33 What do you mean a guy tried to exterminate a species?

It was the most anticipated day for Ning. Harvest day. He walked along the perimeter of his six acres with steady, unhurried steps. Five acres of basic spiritual grain, and one acre of Frozen Breath Grain. Managing all six had pushed him close to his limit, but now he could finally see the results of months of work. Ning gazed over the fields with the same bright spark Luffy had when seeing meat. Yes, he really was that happy. After all, being a spiritual farmer was not easy.

First came the weeds, then the pests, and then, even worse, the plants themselves were a pain in the ass. Planting spiritual crops was a science. Some stalks grew unevenly. Some absorbed qi too greedily. Some suddenly stopped growing because of a teeny imbalance in the soil's spiritual flow. Fortunately, situations like these were exactly why the Withering and Flourishing Technique existed.

The technique sounded profound, but the logic was simple: take a bit of wood qi from a healthy stalk and gently guide it into a weaker one so both stabilized. The scroll even described it poetically:"Where one withers, another flourishes; where one flourishes, another sustains." Beautiful words. Reality? Far less elegant. Ning crouched beside a pale patch of basic spiritual grain and took a slow breath. He visualized the flow of qi, thin green threads shifting from one plant to another.

Visualization was his foremost strength. Spiritual energy control was a close second. With those two, and his decent elemental affinity, it was no surprise Old Zhou kept saying Ning had a "holy farmer's body." Compared to other new farmers, Ning's progress was downright explosive. [Withering and Flourishing Technique: Starting (34/100)] He rested one hand on a healthy stalk, guiding a stream of qi toward the weaker one. It straightened slowly, its color returning like life flowing back into a sick patient.

Ning exhaled softly. A clean, successful transfer. Of course, the technique wasn't perfect. It required: – Same plant type – Same growth stage – Similar vitality – Close distance If any requirement failed, the spell weakened or backfired. He had even lost two plants at once early on. Ning placed a hand over his heart solemnly at the memory.

"Brave soldiers. You will be remembered." Everyone had quirks when they were in a good mood. Ning's was harmless, he just got dramatic in his thoughts. After all, a little drama hurt nobody right? After checking the remaining rows and finding no more issues, he began harvesting carefully. By noon, the totals were set: 700 kilograms of basic spiritual grain. 120 kilograms of Frozen Breath Grain. Just as he finished counting, a figure appeared at the edge of the field.

On harvest day, who else could it be but Fang Zhu? The man always showed up at times like this. Was it a merchant's instinct? Or did he simply sense a "leek" ready for plucking? This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

"Brother Ning," Fang Zhu greeted with a polite smile.

"You've had a productive season."

"I tried my best," Ning replied.

"Please, go ahead." Fang Zhu knelt beside the sacks, inspecting each batch with the same seriousness a jeweler used when examining gems. He checked the grain by color, luster, density, and even the faint aroma unique to each spiritual crop. Only after that did he weigh each bag by hand.

"Basic spiritual grain, 700 kilograms," he said approvingly.

"Frozen Breath Grain, 120. Excellent quality." Ning smiled modestly.

"I was lucky." Fang Zhu nodded and moved to calculations.

"The sect takes seventy-five percent. You keep twenty-five."

"Understood." Fang Zhu wrote quickly in his ledger.

"Your share is 175 kilograms of basic grain and 30 kilograms of Frozen Breath Grain." Ning felt that familiar pinch in his chest. The same kind of feeling Luke probably had when Darth Vader said, Luke, I am your father. But outwardly, he stayed calm.

"Alright."

"Do you want to sell the usual amount?" Fang Zhu asked.

"Yes. I'll sell 120 kilograms of basic grain, and… let's do 10 kilograms of Frozen Breath Grain."

"Very well." Fang Zhu nodded.

"For basic grain, at one spirit stone per kilogram, that is 120 spirit stones." Ning hummed. If not for his arrangement with Su Fan, he would have sold more. But he needed to send 50 kilograms to Su Fan each harvest. The profit was higher that way. If only Su Fan could handle more volume, Ning would gladly send more.

"And for Frozen Breath Grain, ten kilograms at eleven spirit stones each…" Fang Zhu wrote another line.

"110 spirit stones." He placed a pouch of neatly counted stones into Ning's hands.

"Total: 230 spirit stones." An amount that would have seemed unimaginable before. But with cultivation pills costing 40 stones each, it suddenly didn't feel so large. Frozen Breath Grain was worth eleven times more than basic grain, but it also had a six-month growing cycle, twice as long. Worse, nurturing the high-grade plant drained qi like a sponge; the care was more than double. For now, Ning could only handle two acres of high-grade plants without focusing on other grains.

Any more and he risked burning himself out, a mistake he had already made once. The only way forward was earning the spiritual farmer certificate that reduced the sect tax from seventy-five percent to a fixed fee. But that required three farming spells at Great Accomplishment and at least fifth-stage cultivation. Alas! Ning still had much work to do....

"Junior brother, I saved this quest for you," Si Sihua said cheerfully, glancing at the battle-gearred Ning.

"Thank you, senior sister." Ning discreetly slid her two rice puddings he'd made. To an outsider, it might've looked like a shady back alley deal.

"Hehe, good." She snatched the pudding immediately. Ning checked the mission slip, out of courtesy more than necessity. [Kill the black boar in Black Boar Forest. Each pair of tusks earns one spirit stone.]"Junior brother, this is your fifth batch already," Si Sihua said.

"You're really going ham on those boars." If she knew she made a pun, she didn't show it.

"After all, this mission is very good." Ning could get 1 spirit stone for showing each pair of black boar tusks, signifying a single kill. Here, it was just showing the tusk; no need to hand it in. So, he could sell these tusks for even more income.

"Oh! Junior brother, do you know the backstory for this mission?" Si Sihua leaned closer and asked suddenly.

"No." Ning shook his head.

"Then, you are in luck." Si Sihua spoke quietly as if sharing top-secret gossip.

"Junior brother, I heard that one of the inner sect elders was once humiliated by a black pig when he was just starting out, so he seemed to be determined to exterminate the entire species. For that reason, he had been issuing this mission for quite a while."

"That… makes far too much sense." Ning blinked. Wanting to exterminate the entire species of boar because one of them bested himself during his younger years? Yup, that was a cultivator, alright. If he had to be honest, Ning was not surprised by the amount of pettiness this guy had. After all, this was a cultivation world where one might kill someone simply because they looked at them in the wrong way. In fact, what surprised Ning was the deep pocket of this guy. Issuing such missions costs a pretty penny, y'know?

"It gets even better," she continued.

"At first, he offered five spirit stones per pair of tusks. People swarmed the forest so fiercely that 'Black Boar Forest' almost had to be renamed." Ning imagined it and nodded.

"I can see that happening." Five spirit stones just for showing some tusks. Damn, that was such a steal.

"It got so bad that some disciples bought tusks from outside and smuggled them in or even tried to deceive the mission hall by reusing the tusks they had shown," she whispered dramatically.

"For such a mission, this was to be expected." Ning understood.

"One day, the elder caught them and annihilated the entire cheating ring. After that, everyone behaved. Not satisfied with that, the elder even made some kind of technique to mark these shown tusks permanently, so that disciples could not cheat the system." Ning was getting chills hearing that. This was a guy you absolutely did not want to cross, as evidenced by his success in creating a brand new technique just for a minor problem.

"Finally, the sect leader intervened and forced the elder to repopulate the black boars to preserve the forest's name." The more she talked, the more unhinged the tale became.

"Oh, and the elder agreed happily," she added.

"Apparently, he plans to annihilate them, repopulate them, and repeat the cycle forever so the boars suffer endlessly." Ning paused.

"…Senior sister, what did those boars do to him?"... Thanks for reading~!