1: Chapter 1: Twenty Years of Cultivation, the Ending is Farming

"First Layer of Qi Refining."

Zhao Mo looked at the Spirit Testing Pillar; no matter how he looked at it, it was an eyesore.

"It's this damn thing. It hasn't changed once in twenty years of testing."

Since entering the Sect at ten, twenty springs and autumns have passed. For these twenty years, Zhao Mo rose earlier than a rooster and slept later than a dog, practicing diligently every day without a moment's rest.

Twenty years passed in the blink of an eye, and his final outcome was still the First Layer of Qi Refining.

"What cultivation? What longevity? What Grand Dao? I'm giving up. Let it be, let everything just be destroyed."

Zhao Mo planned to give up completely.

"I wonder if I can still marry a beautiful wife if I go down the mountain now?" Zhao Mo rubbed his stubbly chin, feeling a bit melancholy.

Thirty years old, truly an awkward age.

Xiao Ji Village was less than a hundred miles from the Xuan Sect. Because it was near the Xuan Sect's Spiritual Vein, most of the village consisted of spirit fields.

"Senior Brother Zhao, this will be your spirit field from now on."

"This is the Sect contract. If everything is in order, please sign it."

Zhao Mo took it and looked: three mu of Grade One spirit fields, a deposit of ten Low-Grade Spirit Stones, and an annual quota of six hundred catties of spirit rice. If the task was not completed, the deposit would not be refunded, and the spirit field would be reclaimed.

Indeed, the entire Xiao Ji Village was the property of the Xuan Sect. As for those ten Low-Grade Spirit Stones, they were what Zhao Mo had scrimped and saved over twenty years.

Looking at the black soil beneath his feet, Zhao Mo smiled bitterly.

"Twenty years of cultivation, and the final outcome is still farming. Have I been taking a twenty-year detour?"

Carefully examining the three mu of spirit fields, the dark soil stood out from its surroundings. This was caused by the flow of the Spiritual Vein; where the Spiritual Vein arched closer to the surface, ordinary soil would be nourished day and night by leaking Spiritual Qi, turning into spirit fields.

Based on the concentration of Spiritual Qi, spirit fields were classified from Grade One to Nine. Zhao Mo's three mu were naturally the lowest, Grade One spirit fields.

After setting up a simple thatched shack next to the spirit field, Zhao Mo began tilling the soil. After all, time and tide wait for no man.

With one thrust of the shovel, a large clump of black soil was overturned.

With a cultivation at the First Layer of Qi Refining, his True Qi was like a single strand of hair. Aside from slightly increasing Zhao Mo's endurance, it wasn't of much help.

It took Zhao Mo three whole days to till the three mu of land. Having not done manual labor for years, this sudden exertion left him with an aching back and sore limbs, unable to even sleep at night.

"Just a few more shovelfuls. This soil needs to be aired for a few days, so I can finally have a good rest."

Zhao Mo looked at where he stood and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Pei, pei, pei."

Spitting on his palms, Zhao Mo finished the last few shovelfuls. Done.

[You have completed tilling the spirit field. Experience +10.]

"What was that?"

"Is it the System?"

Zhao Mo was almost in tears.

Twenty years. Since he transmigrated to this world at the age of ten, it had been a full twenty years. Over these twenty years, he had almost forgotten his identity as a transmigrator. He never expected to finally hear the voice of the "organization" today.

"Greetings, Host!"

"The Great Farmer System is at your service."

Two lines of subtitles appeared out of thin air in front of Zhao Mo.

After the subtitles vanished, a transparent panel slowly appeared.

[Farmer: Zhao Mo]

[Cultivation: First Layer of Qi Refining (Insufficient experience, cannot level up)]

[Experience Points: 10/100]

[Rewards: None]

"Insufficient experience, cannot level up?"

Zhao Mo stared fixedly at those words, his eyes turning red.

"As long as I have experience points, I can achieve a Breakthrough in the First Layer of Qi Refining?"

Being unable to achieve a Breakthrough in the First Layer of Qi Refining had almost become a psychological complex for Zhao Mo. He thought he would take his first-layer cultivation to the grave, but he never expected to have another chance.

"But how do I get these experience points?"

Looking at the spirit field, Zhao Mo had an idea.

He didn't know who the previous owner of these three mu of spirit fields was, but they hadn't maintained them well. The entire field was overgrown with weeds, and the ridges were broken and uneven.

The exhausted Zhao Mo had originally planned to deal with this tomorrow, but now that he had the System, for the sake of experience points, he naturally had to do it immediately. It would also serve to verify the System.

Taking out a wood-cutting knife, Zhao Mo began hacking at the surrounding weeds.

Perhaps because they were nourished by the spirit field, the weeds nearby grew exceptionally tough. Some weeds wouldn't even break after a single blow from Zhao Mo's knife.

"If only I had some herbicide."

Zhao Mo missed the Blue Star a little.

One spray of Paraquat, and everything withers.

As it grew late, Zhao Mo finally heard that pleasant voice again.

[You have completed weeding around the spirit field. Experience +10.]

"Yes! It really works."

Zhao Mo pumped his fist.

Under the moonlight, Zhao Mo began constructing the field ridges.

Since he planned to plant spirit rice, he couldn't be careless with the ridges. Fortunately, in his past life, Zhao Mo grew up in the countryside on the Blue Star and knew the standards for rice field ridges.

Fifty-five centimeters wide at the bottom, thirty-five at the top, and about thirty centimeters high.

However, the ridges for three mu of land were not something Zhao Mo could finish in a single night, even with his cultivation at the First Layer of Qi Refining.

After finishing a small section, Zhao Mo had to give up. A cloud had appeared out of nowhere and covered the moon; without light, he naturally couldn't continue the work.

The night passed in silence.

At the first light of dawn the next day, Zhao Mo was already out of bed. Shovel in hand, he got straight to work.

Zhao Mo's three mu of spirit fields formed an irregular pentagon. The longest side was about fifty meters, while the shortest was only a dozen or so. The side near the thatched shack was a long one, and it took Zhao Mo more than half a day just to finish it.

"Looks like this job will take two or three days."

Farm work was hard and honest labor. Without machinery, relying solely on manpower could truly be exhausting.

[You have repaired the spirit field ridges. Experience +10.]

After two and a half days, Zhao Mo finally finished restructuring the ridges and gained another ten experience points. His total experience had reached thirty.

"One-third of the way there."

As a man who hadn't been able to achieve a Breakthrough in the First Layer of Qi Refining for twenty years, Zhao Mo was now feeling a bit impatient.

"Next, I'll go fix the irrigation channel. The spirit field also needs to dry in the sun for ten days to half a month anyway."

Zhao Mo looked at the earthen ditch in the distance, which no longer even resembled a channel, and complained,

"The previous owner was really something else. Does this even look like an irrigation channel anymore?"

"Fortunately, I only need to fix the few hundred meters of channel from the spirit field to the village's main artery."

If he had to dig all the way to the reservoir outside the village, Zhao Mo wouldn't be able to plant spirit rice at all this year.

Under the sun, Zhao Mo worked shirtless. In just a few days, his skin had already begun to tan.

"Holy crap, an irrigation channel excavated with Spells? Is this Earth-Splitting Spell plus Petrification Spell?"

Zhao Mo stomped on the channel beneath his feet, his face full of envy.

"I wonder what Realm the expert who did this was at."

Cleaning the petrified channel was much faster than Zhao Mo had originally anticipated.

As Zhao Mo shoveled out the mud bit by bit, the channel was cleared at a visible speed.

In just a day and a half, he had finished everything.

[You have cleared the farmland irrigation channel. Experience +10.]

The sound Zhao Mo loved most arrived.