Chapter Thirty-Eight: I Spoke Out of Turn

When Zhou Changwang appeared in the spiritual fields, carrying the armored boar, all the spirit farmers were astounded.

Among them were those who knew of Zhou Changwang’s spiritual field and how, in recent days, it had suffered from the rampage of demonic beasts. Some even secretly relished his misfortune, waiting to see him make a fool of himself.

After all, not long ago, he had made quite a name for himself by using his Geng Metal Finger spell to rid Xu Zhong’s fields of an insect plague. On top of that, apart from the Zhao brothers, he was the only one at the foot of Mount Changling who had purchased a spirit hound. The occasional envious glances he drew from others were enough to burn a hole through a person.

Yet none of them had expected Zhou Changwang to be so bold as to venture alone into Mount Changling to slay a demon beast.

And not only had he dared—he had succeeded.

The massive form of the armored boar, with its thick plating, drew every gaze.

“Changwang, did you really kill this armored boar yourself?” Old Xu’s face was filled with disbelief.

He and Xu Zhong, along with several other night watchmen, had come face-to-face with the beast but had been too intimidated by its size and charging power to make a move. After all, they were spirit farmers, not warriors. Aside from their basic agricultural spells, they knew little of offensive magic.

Precisely for this reason, they were all the more shocked that Zhou Changwang had managed to slay the creature.

“Just lucky,” Zhou Changwang replied with a nod, not boasting in the least.

Demon hunting might seem impressive, but that was only because his audience consisted of spirit farmers. Any wandering cultivator who dared to roam the wilds had killed their share of demon beasts. If one became arrogant over such feats, they would not even know how they met their end in the mountains.

This time, he had acted only out of necessity, to protect his own spiritual field. If he had allowed the beast to continue its rampage, his losses would have been immense.

“This armored boar, if you sell it, could fetch at least a hundred or two low-grade spirit stones. Its hide can be used for talisman crafting, and it might even have an inner core. I hear that the inner cores of demon beasts are excellent alchemy materials—one is worth at least a dozen low-grade spirit stones,” someone said, unable to hide his envy.

“I’ve heard whether a demon beast has a core depends on luck, especially for low-level beasts. Some are of bloodline descent, and out of ten, maybe only one will have a core,” another, seemingly more knowledgeable, explained.

“Regardless, Fellow Daoist Zhou has certainly struck it rich this time. One action, and he’s earned almost as much as we do in a year,” someone else remarked sourly.

“But that’s Zhou’s own ability. You all know how fast and accurate his Geng Metal Finger spell is—where he points, it strikes. The armored boar was simply doomed to this fate once it crossed him.”

…

A crowd gathered around the corpse of the armored boar, discussing and critiquing. Some checked the beast’s body more closely and, upon discovering the fatal wound was indeed caused by the Geng Metal Finger, found their respect for Zhou Changwang’s skills growing.

They, too, had mastered the Geng Metal Finger spell, but at the basic level its power was limited. Even those who had cultivated it to proficiency could only cast it over a short distance of six or seven meters. Who would dare use it to hunt demon beasts?

Only with the spell at the “minor accomplishment” stage could one extend its range to fifteen meters or so, enough to hunt demon beasts with some safety.

After the excitement subsided, the crowd soon dispersed. After all, everyone was a spirit farmer, and the work in the fields was never-ending.

“Changwang, what are you planning to do with this armored boar?” Old Xu sidled up to him once the crowd had thinned, asking cautiously.

“Why do you ask?” Zhou Changwang cast him a sidelong glance.

“Well, I recently made friends with the manager of Lin’s Restaurant. His business is booming and the demand for demon beast meat is high. If you’re interested, I could make the introduction and help you sell the beast,” Old Xu said with a smile.

He’d gotten a nice benefit previously by helping Zhou Changwang buy spirit insects.

“That won’t be necessary. Don’t forget what my father used to do,” Zhou Changwang replied, shaking his head calmly.

While he hadn’t said much about the armored boar’s rampage in his fields, Old Xu and the others had been on night watch, responsible for guarding and repelling threats. They had done nothing as the beast wreaked havoc in his field. He would not make a fuss, but he had taken note, and he would not allow Old Xu to profit again at his expense.

“True, I spoke out of turn.” Old Xu’s face showed a trace of embarrassment.

Zhou Changwang paid him no further heed, leaving the field to tend to the spiritual rice flattened by the armored boar. One by one, he set them upright, then used the Accelerated Growth spell to restore their vitality, finishing with the Spirit Rain spell to nourish them.

Though the spiritual rice still looked somewhat wilted, its growth was no longer impeded.

“Come to think of it, I wonder if the Withered Wood Rejuvenation spell I just learned would work on these crops as well?” The thought crossed Zhou Changwang’s mind.

Although primarily a healing spell, as a wood-element technique, it should naturally benefit spiritual plants.

No sooner thought than done.

Zhou Changwang calmed his mind, channeling his spiritual energy to form one rune after another.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths…

As time passed, the rune structures were drawn one by one.

Ten, eleven, twelve breaths…

At the fifteenth breath, the surrounding spiritual energy was swiftly drawn in.

A special radiance gathered.

Withered Wood Rejuvenation +1.

He pointed at the patch of spiritual rice before him.

The points of radiance fell like a gentle spirit rain, evenly distributed across the field.

Immediately, the spiritual rice, previously wilted from the damage, began to recover its vitality. Some of the grains, still shrunken and dry a moment ago, now seemed to absorb copious spiritual energy and became plump and full in the blink of an eye.

Many of the spiritual stalks, bent under the weight of the grain, took on a look of exuberant growth and prosperity.

“It really works. The only pity is that the spell’s range is too limited. For a single acre of field, I’d have to cast it at least five times to cover everything,” Zhou Changwang rejoiced inwardly, though he also noted the spell’s limitations.

The effect of Withered Wood Rejuvenation on spiritual rice was even greater than he had imagined. If used regularly, it would surely boost the yield from five hundred catties per acre to six or even seven hundred.

He had heard that spiritual plant masters could achieve yields of a thousand catties per acre. He had once doubted it, but now it seemed those masters must have mastered one or two intermediate or even advanced spiritual planting techniques.

Unfortunately, he had learned this spell too late. The rice was already mature; any increase in yield now would be minimal.

Nevertheless, with this spell, he could at least make up for some of his losses. Not to mention, there was still the seven- or eight-hundred-jin armored boar. If all went well, it should bring in a hundred or so low-grade spirit stones.

…