Huan Kingdom, Purple Profound Sect, Inner Affairs Hall.
Figures of all kinds moved busily through the hall, their faces set with urgency.
A large group of disciples had gathered in front of a jade screen, their eyes fixed on the characters flashing across its surface. Some wore solemn expressions, while others occasionally gasped in surprise.
Blending into the crowd was Li Ye, a pale-faced young man with unremarkable looks so ordinary that no one paid him any attention.
His gaze scanned the lines of text rapidly until it suddenly froze as if he had made a decision.
Without hesitation, he turned and swiftly wove through the crowd toward one of the administrative stewards. With a slight bow, he handed over his identity token along with five spirit crystals.
"Senior Brother Luo, I'd like to take Contribution Task No. 5, Category C."
The steward, an elder with a sharp gaze and cultivation at the fifth level of the Qi Refining stage, silently slipped the spirit crystals into his sleeve. But at Li Ye's words, his expression flickered in surprise.
"Are you sure you read it correctly, Junior Brother Li? That task is farming work sowing and tending spirit rice fields. You sure that's what you want?"
His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Li Ye, as though seeing him for the first time.
Strange. Far too strange.
Li Ye had always scoffed at lowly spirit farmer jobs like this.
Born with mediocre talent, he had only managed to join the Purple Profound Sect thanks to his family's connections. But since joining, he had thrown himself into cultivation with reckless determination, seizing every dangerous opportunity in the hope of earning a breakthrough and building a foundation.
Menial, low-risk tasks like tending Spirit rice which were exhausting, time-consuming, and offered little reward after the sect took its share were things he'd always dismissed outright.
But the current Li Ye… was no longer the same person.
He had expected this doubt and responded with a bitter smile.
"I was seriously injured during my last mission, Senior Brother. I need time to recover. Tending the spirit fields seems like the best option for now… I hope you'll understand."
He bowed again, his posture and tone carrying the weight of someone beaten down by harsh reality.
"So that's what happened."
The steward nodded slowly, recalling recent rumors.
He quickly put the pieces together.
With his experienced eye, he could tell Li Ye's spiritual aura was unstable, and there were even signs of his cultivation level slipping.
The kid wasn't in any shape to be taking on dangerous missions.
Everything lined up. It made sense.
Still, the steward couldn't help feeling a bit smug.
This kid never understood the value of steady cultivation. Always bold, always bragging after reaching Qi Refining Stage Four. Looks like reality's finally knocked some sense into him.
Now convinced that Li Ye was telling the truth, and feeling the comforting weight of the spirit crystals in his sleeve, the steward didn't press further and approved the task on the spot.
Though Li Ye had once looked down on spirit farmer jobs, they were quite popular among lower-level disciples and not easy to get.
But, of course, if you knew how to "show respect," things were different…
Li Ye didn't react to the steward's amused look. He offered another polite thank you and left.
Outside the Inner Affairs Hall, he summoned a leaf-shaped spirit boat. Hopping on, he drifted lazily into the sky, heading toward a wide, open plain in the distance.
Clouds and wind brushed past as he soared overhead, gliding above beautiful mountain ranges dotted with pavilions, towers, and grand palaces like something straight out of a fairy tale.
Only now did Li Ye relax. His stiff posture eased, and he let out a long breath.
"Whew… No suspicion. This should buy me some peace and quiet to recover."
He muttered to himself.
Li Ye had only recently transmigrated into this world of cultivation. His nerves had been on edge since the moment he woke up.
Just days ago, he'd been a regular office worker on Blue Star, walking home from work when an out-of-control truck came out of nowhere and hit him right outside his apartment complex. He died on the spot.
The next time he opened his eyes, he found himself in the body of a young cultivator who shared his name and with most of the original's memories merged into his own.
The previous Li Ye came from a Foundation Establishment family, though his particular branch was in decline. Only he and his father remained.
Thanks to great effort and pulling strings, his father had secured him a place in the Purple Profound Sect. But just a few years later, the man died during an expedition, ambushed by rogue cultivators.
From then on, the old Li Ye became obsessed with revenge. He threw himself into every risky mission he could, desperate to gather resources and break through to the next stage.
But if you walk along the riverbank long enough, your shoes are bound to get wet.
On one such mission, he fell into a trap set by rogue cultivators and was severely wounded.
He barely made it back to the sect. Even after taking a rare healing elixir, his father had left him, he couldn't withstand the medicine's powerful effects and passed out.
That was when the current Li Ye took over.
Fortunately, the healing elixir worked well. Though a new soul now inhabited the body, the injuries had greatly improved.
He could move around normally now, though internal wounds remained. With time and rest, he'd be okay. His foundation wasn't damaged.
But the ordeal had cost him dearly.
The original Li Ye had reached the fourth level of Qi Refining, but after the trauma, his cultivation had dropped to the very edge of the third level any further, and he'd fall to the second stage.
Li Ye hadn't even fully adapted to the spiritual power in his body. With lingering injuries and blocked energy flow, he couldn't stabilize his cultivation, much less reverse the decline.
Most of the old Li Ye's resources had already been burned up on pills to aid his cultivation. He had little to no contribution points or spirit stones left.
He couldn't afford any more healing medicine.
On top of that, disciples of the Purple Profound Sect had mandatory contribution quotas each year.
Fail to meet the quota, and you'd be forcibly assigned tasks usually the most dangerous and undesirable ones left over.
Li Ye had failed his last mission and still hadn't met his quota.
If he were forced out again in his current state… it'd be a death sentence.
And if he refused to comply, depending on the circumstances, he could even be punished by the sect or worse, expelled from the mountain gate!
Given all these pitfall-laden realities, Li Ye had no choice but to give up on the idea of simply holing up somewhere to recover.
After carefully sorting through the original host's memories and wracking his brain, he suddenly realized that the task of tending to Spirit rice fields something the former Li Ye had always scorned was the best option for him now.
Not only did it involve no combat risk, but the level of labor required was still within what his injured body could handle. The Spirit rice and contribution points earned could be exchanged for healing medicine to aid in his recovery and stop his cultivation from deteriorating further.
Aside from being out of character compared to his past actions, it was practically the perfect fit.
Taking a small risk and using what little savings he had left for a bribe was worth it.
He had initially worried that occupying the body of someone else might create noticeable inconsistencies, especially if he suddenly behaved in ways completely different from before, which could arouse suspicion among sect members and possibly even lead to him being treated as some demonic infiltrator or spy.
However, after interacting with several of the original host's acquaintances along the way, none of them had reacted strangely.
Everything had gone smoothly so far, and that finally allowed him to loosen the tense knot in his chest.
…
Before long, Li Ye arrived at a wide expanse of spiritual farmland that had already been harvested, leaving only dark, faintly green soil behind.
In a nearby pavilion-like dwelling, he respectfully greeted the disciple in charge of guarding the area Xiao Qiang.
The man was tall and lanky like a bamboo pole, but his cultivation had already reached the late stage of Qi Refining level eight, enough to make anyone cautious.
Someone of his level wouldn't normally be stationed here unless helping out on behalf of his master.
This was the busy planting season, and every day saw new spirit-farming disciples arriving to take on duties.
Among them, a weak and unstable figure like Li Ye, with not even mid-stage cultivation, was utterly unremarkable barely worth a glance.
Sitting in the head seat, Xiao Qiang gave Li Ye a cursory look. After verifying his ID token, he went through the motions and assigned him five plots of land along with the appropriate seedlings.
Then he said coolly:
"These five plots will be under your care for the next year. You'll need to hand over a hundred jin of harvested Spirit rice to the sect in exchange for contribution points. Any surplus, you may either keep for yourself or submit entirely for additional points."
"If your farming skills are poor and the harvest fails to meet the quota, you'll still have to turn in everything and be penalized for the shortfall by deducting contribution points…"
"Any questions?"
Though he phrased it as a question, his tone brooked no disagreement.
"Thank you for the reminder, Senior Brother. I have no questions."
Li Ye bowed respectfully.
"Then go on."
Xiao Qiang waved a hand dismissively and turned his attention back to the book in his hand, as if Li Ye were nothing more than a puff of air.
Seeing this, Li Ye kept his expression steady, suppressing the ripple of emotion in his heart as he quietly took his leave.
…
Stepping onto the farmland and gazing up at the sky, Li Ye sighed and shook his head.
"Farming it is, then. Compared to all the potential dangers, staying alive is still the top priority…"
"Ugh… with the kind of mess this previous body left me, I don't have a choice but to lay low!"
As for everything else, he could only wait until his injuries healed and his cultivation recovered before giving it further thought.
Without any more hesitation, he removed his outer robe, rolled up his pant legs and sleeves, took out farming tools, and still a bit clumsy began working.
At lower cultivation levels, spirit farming wasn't much different from mundane labor. It still meant backbreaking work under the sun and moon.
There was no avoiding the sweat and grime.
Fortunately, the original host had received some training in spiritual agriculture from his father before joining the sect. Though his hands were rusty now, Li Ye at least had a decent idea of what to do with the Spirit rice.
He'd also studied the relevant spelling techniques.
So he wasn't entirely clueless.
Tilling the soil, coaxing the seeds to sprout, planting, covering the ground, watering…
Time ticked by.
Li Ye's breathing gradually grew heavy, sweat the size of beans dripped down his face, and his internal injuries began to stir. He pushed through the pain and barely managed to finish sowing two plots.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, he looked at the rather unevenly scattered seedlings and twitched the corner of his mouth.
"Yep… definitely out of practice."
But this was his first time personally farming, and it wasn't something he could refine immediately. He decided to complete a full round of the process first and see the results before making adjustments.
"Spring Rain Technique!"
He formed a seal with both hands. Pale green spiritual energy shimmered at his fingertips and scattered into gentle spirit rain over a small area in front of him.
Infused with wood-type energy, the drops fell lightly, nourishing the tender seedlings.
Being public sect land, the spiritual veins here were quite decent for a first-grade site better than the spiritual energy at Li Ye's residence.
This fertile ground significantly aided the growth of first-grade and lower-spiritual plants.
As soon as Li Ye cast his Spring Wind Brings Rain technique, a few of the healthier seedlings immediately showed signs of vitality. Their leaves stretched slightly, and their roots began to burrow deeper into the soil.
And just then without any warning, a line of text appeared before his eyes:
[You have barely succeeded in planting a first-grade spiritual plant, Emerald Bud Rice, using crude techniques. EXP +0.1...]
Huh?!