Chapter 051

Chapter 51: A Two-Pronged Approach

Wei Yun Xi quickly followed up, asking earnestly, “Senior Brother, doesn’t the sect have an Enforcement Hall? How can something like this be allowed to happen?”

Fan Si gave her a meaningful look and replied, “The cultivation world honors strength above all. Grand Righteous Sect has thirty to forty thousand Outer Sect disciples alone. Even the Enforcement Hall disciples can’t guard you day and night; oversights are bound to happen occasionally. If you’re lucky, nothing might occur this time, or the Enforcement Hall may intervene in time. But can you guarantee your luck will always hold?”

Yun Xi exchanged a glance with Zong Hao, clearly understanding Senior Brother Fan Si’s unspoken message. Although they had the Wei Clan behind them, distant water could never quench an immediate thirst. To make matters worse, their Little Uncle had recently taken an outside mission and left the sect. Perhaps those hidden watchers were seizing this chance, testing the waters. If the Wei Clan’s Golden Core Elder didn’t intervene now, future harassment towards the Wei disciples would only worsen.

At the end of the day, the struggle was all for cultivation resources. The Wei Clan had some foundation—certainly not comparable to those grand cultivation families, but far stronger than those disciples without backing. This made them an easy target for disciples looking to take shortcuts.

Having understood clearly, Yun Xi and Zong Hao solemnly thanked Fan Si again before returning to their thatched hut to discuss their strategy.

Fan Si had been willing to offer advice because he noticed Zong Hao was about to break through to the seventh layer of Qi Refining, and it was worth establishing a good connection. Besides, the two juniors were sensible—he had only casually mentioned wanting to manage both plots of spiritual farmland, and they had immediately stepped back. This pleased him, prompting him to give them extra guidance.

Back at the fields, Yun Xi first activated the protective barrier around her own farmland, safeguarding the nearly mature spiritual rice. Afterward, she hurried to the field Zong Hao was managing.

“Younger Sister Yun Xi,” Zong Hao began anxiously, “It looks like we’ll need a two-pronged approach. If we delay any further, I’m afraid we’ll be schemed against.”

“You’re right. Let’s act immediately,” Yun Xi responded decisively. “You should use spiritual stones to breakthrough to the seventh layer of Qi Refining in the hut. With stronger cultivation, we can better protect ourselves. I’ll activate the field’s array to ripen this season’s spiritual rice quickly, then harvest it right away.”

Zong Hao’s slightly plump face twisted in pain at the thought. “But accelerating the growth requires ten low-grade spiritual stones! And if you’re helping with my field first, what about yours?”

Yun Xi waved her hand dismissively, saying, “At a time like this, we must focus on the bigger picture. Like Senior Brother Fan said, if we hesitate to use these stones, all our hard-earned harvest will end up in someone else’s storage pouch. Then these three months of effort would have been wasted, and we might even get punished for failing the sect mission. The loss we suffer now can be made up once we deliver the required rice to the sect. Just consider it as us earning ten fewer spiritual stones.”

After pondering briefly, Zong Hao agreed with Yun Xi’s reasoning. Without further delay, he went inside the hut, activated an isolation array, sat cross-legged, and held a spiritual stone in each hand, fully immersing himself in breaking through to the seventh layer of Qi Refining.

Seeing Zong Hao settle into his cultivation, Yun Xi took out the formation disc for the farmland, embedded ten low-grade spiritual stones, and activated the acceleration array. She watched as the stones’ spiritual energy quickly flowed into the rice, speeding up their ripening.

She then sat cross-legged on the ground, staring at the spiritual rice plants now almost as tall as herself, carefully planning her next steps. Fan Si’s words made her realize clearly that even cultivating within the sect was not without danger. After dealing with Chen Feng tunneling into her field at night and now these hidden spies, she had to be even more cautious. Until she possessed true self-defense capability, she must stay low-profile and vigilant.

Once Zong Hao broke through to the seventh layer of Qi Refining, she would also outwardly adjust her cultivation to the fifth layer. Sometimes, a higher cultivation level alone could solve many problems.

Whether they should continue taking farming missions afterward was something she planned to discuss carefully with Zong Hao.

Watching painfully as the first batch of ten spiritual stones crumbled to dust, Yun Xi grit her teeth but endured. Seeing the spiritual rice nearing maturity, she resolutely inserted another ten stones. This time, the wait was shorter. By the time the moon reached its peak, the rice had fully ripened, and the second batch of stones wasn’t entirely used up. Yun Xi swiftly retrieved the remaining stones into her storage pouch.

Seeing Zong Hao was still in the hut cultivating, she confidently used telekinesis to begin harvesting, methodically separating the grain and placing the plump, snowy-white Zhen Zhu Rice safely in her storage pouch. Only then did she feel relieved.

When dawn broke, she had already harvested all three acres. Thankfully, her actual cultivation wasn’t limited to the fourth layer; otherwise, even harvesting one acre would have been a struggle.

After finishing, Yun Xi rested, clutching a spiritual stone to recover her depleted spiritual energy, all the while keeping a cautious eye on the hut. She sensed Zong Hao would soon complete his breakthrough.

As the sun rose, Zong Hao finally emerged from the hut, his steps light, a joyful smile brightening his face. However, the next moment his smile froze in shock.

“Yun Xi… w-what happened here?” He stared at his empty, bare fields, wondering if someone had stolen his harvest overnight.

Yun Xi smiled reassuringly, seeing the stable aura of the seventh layer Qi Refining around the young lad, and stood up. “Don’t worry. I accelerated the ripening of your rice, and when you didn’t come out, I harvested it for you first. Only once it’s safely in the pouch can you truly say it’s yours.”

She threw the storage pouch toward Zong Hao.

Catching the pouch, Zong Hao glanced inside, relief and gratitude bringing his smile back. “Thank you so much, Younger Sister Yun Xi! Let’s not waste any more time. Now it’s your field’s turn—I’ll accelerate the ripening while you break through this time. I’ll do the harvesting.”

“Good!” Yun Xi didn’t hesitate—this was the time when mutual support mattered most.

Together they headed to Yun Xi’s field, Zong Hao proudly displaying his newly attained seventh-layer cultivation. Yun Xi strongly advised keeping the protective barrier around his empty field active. Though no rice remained inside, it would still mislead potential spies. Zong Hao readily agreed, not even minding the additional spirit stone consumption.

Upon reaching Yun Xi’s field, they swapped roles. Yun Xi pretended to enter the hut for her breakthrough, while Zong Hao stayed outside, activating the formation to speed the ripening of Yun Xi’s spiritual rice, holding a stone to stabilize his new cultivation level.

Inside, Yun Xi set the isolation array, adjusting her external cultivation level to the fifth layer. Yet she didn’t leave immediately; instead, she took out blank talisman papers and began crafting talismans. Nowadays, she drew twenty talismans daily. With her Divine Sense already matching Foundation Establishment Stage strength, she could now craft second-tier talismans. However, due to her cultivation being limited to the eighth layer of Qi Refining, those second-tier talismans could only reach lower-grade quality. Instead, she perfected her first-tier talisman skills, consistently crafting high-grade or even top-grade first-tier talismans. These not only could earn spiritual stones through sales but also provided her with useful, high-quality talismans for personal use.

Just as she completed today’s talisman quota, she noticed Zong Hao outside had begun harvesting. Yun Xi immediately packed away her tools, closed the isolation array, and stepped out to join him in harvesting.