Chapter 339 – Decision (1/2)

Li Qingshan’s figure attracted quite a lot of attention as he whistled through the air.

A group of disciples of the school of Agriculture were currently tending to their crops in the fields. They raised their heads and pointed at the sky.

“Look, what’s that?”

‘Seems like Li Qingshan!”

The agriculture disciple all marveled at him. Indescribable envy filled their eyes. Before they knew it, Li Qingshan had already become a prominent figure of the academy. All the people that he normally got along with or did not get along with were all renowned figures too.

Recently, there were even rumors that the leader of the school of the Military, Han Anjun, was interested in taking him in as a son-in-law, betrothing the second senior sister of the school of Legalism to him. In just one short year, he had gone from being a disciple of the most humiliating school of Novels to this step. He basically seemed like a figure of legends to cultivators who originated from a similar background to him.

“Hey, Li Qingshan. Doesn’t he come from the same village as you?”

Li Long stood within a watery paddy with bare feet as he neatly arranged the tender rice seedlings. This was not Longevity island, but an island specially allocated to new disciples by the school of Agriculture for farming. He had obtained a plot of land too.

He raised his head and watched the faint blue trajectory vanish into the horizon. He could still remember how his master had once said that Li Qingshan would become an impressive figure in the future. But probably even his master had never imagined he would reach this step!

He lowered his head and smiled. “Exactly. He’s the great hero of our Crouching Ox village.”

During the testing last spring, his wood affinity was evaluated to be low yi. He passed the test for the school of Agriculture and became a disciple there.

Back then, village head Li had sent him off to the Iron Fist school to learn martial arts exactly because he did not want his son to tend to the fields, but he probably never expected he would still return to the fields in the end. The school of Agriculture really was appropriate for a backgroundless disciple of average talent like him.

The plants he grew were crops with a spiritual aspect. They could replace pills and gradually improve his constitution. He could eat whatever he grew, or he could exchange them with his seniors and juniors. If there was a surplus, he could even sell them for spiritual stones.

Compared to the other schools, a life in the school of Agriculture was monotonous and repetitive. They would weed the fields and use true qi to nurture the seedlings in a constant cycle. Many people found it boring, so they would frequently call a few friends and go have some fun in the Clear River city. The young master of the Iron Fist school had invited Li Long to come along several times too.

Gradually, the young master of the Iron Fist school stopped visiting him. Apart from attending classes, he would spend every moment from dawn to dusk in the fields, covered in dirt. He would fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow, almost suffocating from the heavy pressure.

He remembered a year of severe drought when he was young. With his father, he would travel almost ten kilometers along a mountain path for water. When they poured the water they brought back into the fields, it would evaporate in an instant. It had truly been a despairing sight. After a single day, his hands had become covered in blisters.

His grandfather sighed that farming was contending over fate against the heavens. Yes, contending over fate against the heavens. This was not just a special characteristic of cultivators!

Perhaps it was because all his ancestors were farmers, so the blood of a farmer flowed through his veins too. Through this primitive labour, he gradually experienced unprecedented joy. As he watched the seedlings thrive and grow with each passing day as he nurtured them with true qi, they seemed to be nurturing him too.

Before he knew it, his cultivation had broken through the natural barrier for regular Qi Practitioners from the jianghu. He surpassed protector Yan and reached the third layer.

On that day, he laid down in the fields and cried out in joy. As his tears fell onto the fields, he thought back to when the severe drought had ended back then. As heavy rain fell from the sky, he had rolled around happily in the puddles. This kind of joy was well beyond anything sleeping with a woman in the Parlour of Clouds and Rain could offer.

From that day onwards, he made up his mind. Even if the school of Music was holding free, public concerts, he would not be attending them. As Li Qingshan challenged the military disciples, he did not go and watch either. Only today did he suddenly realise that he was no longer envious of Li Qingshan.

An agriculture disciple said, “The test is coming up. I heard he knows the Spiritual Rain technique. Why don’t you get him to water your fields?”

The school of Agriculture also had their way of competing against one another, which was seeing who had tended to their crops better. The victors would receive some rewards.

Li Long brushed off the dirt from his hands and smiled. “I’ll go ask him and see if he has the time.” In the past year, he had not even visited Li Qingshan once. He had found himself to be slightly inferior, and he did not want Li Qingshan to think that he was trying to get on his good side. Now that he no longer felt any envy, he obviously had no sense of inferiority either. And, he could finally return some of his kindness from back then.

When he saw this fellow villager again, Li Qngshan almost struggled to recognise him. His face was tanned, his hands were coarse, and he radiated with a rustic aura. He no longer bore any resemblance to the high-spirited talent of Crouching Ox village of the past anymore. His gentle and mild eyes revealed an aura that differed vastly from before.

When Li Long saw Li Qingshan again, he felt something similar. He was mature and confident, strutting around proudly. His name, Qingshan, had once been mocked for many years in the village, but Li Long could now understand what the name entailed.

Li Long took out a sack of spiritual rice. “I planted it myself. Try it! I’m still lacking a little in terms of spiritual stones, so if you’re not in a hurry, just another year should be enough.”

“There’s no hurry. It doesn’t matter even if I have to wait for another three or five years. It’s not like you can run away.” Li Qingshan opened the sack of rice and took a look. Every single shiny grain of rice was the size of a peanut, radiating with a faintly scented spiritual qi. He praised, “Nice rice. I think this rice is enough to make up for fifty spiritual stones. If you can bring me another three sacks, we’ll be in the clear.”

“Maybe next year. I still need to keep some for myself, whether it’s to eat or to sell!” Li Long nodded gratefully, not because of the spiritual stones, but because of the respect. He glanced past the bamboo forest that covered most of the island. “It really is quite a pity with this land and those bamboo shoots.”

The land allocated to each agriculture disciple would still be limited after all. The school of Novels definitely had the lowest population density in the academy right now.

As one of the main islands, Cloudwisp island was a first-class spiritual ground, obviously much better than the island where Li Long planted the rice. If he could plant here, there would be quite the harvest as long as he tended to them slightly, even without putting in much effort. And, the bamboo shoots that burst out from the ground were filled with spiritual qi as well.