Chapter 42: Opening the Spiritual Fields

One day, half a month later, while Song Qingming was crafting talismans at home, the sound of Song Qinghe requesting an audience suddenly came from outside the door.

Upon hearing this, Song Qingming hurriedly put down his talisman brush, put away his unfinished materials, tidied his desk, and welcomed Song Qinghe inside.

Seeing Song Qingming, Song Qinghe did not beat around the bush and asked directly, "Qingming, I wonder if you happen to have any artifacts for arranging a Spirit Gathering Array on you right now. Over the past two days, I discovered a spiritual vein with very abundant spiritual energy in a mountain hollow on the western side of the Black Iron Mine. There is also a spring right next to it. I want to cultivate a few acres of spiritual fields there. Could you help me arrange a Spirit Gathering Array?"

After arriving at Spirit Source Mountain, Song Qinghe had behaved uncharacteristically; instead of spending his days in secluded cultivation, he had been wandering all over the mountain. Song Qingming had found this strange but hadn't asked much, only to realize now that he intended to open some spiritual fields here.

The Song family owned dozens of acres of spiritual fields in Mount Funiu, producing tens of thousands of catties of spiritual rice every year. Of this yield, thirty percent was handed over to the Xiaoyao Sect, thirty percent went to the main branch, the Huang family, and the Song family could only keep the remaining forty percent.

After providing for their own twenty-odd cultivators, they could still save about two thousand catties. By selling this spiritual rice in Qinghe Market, the Song family could generate an annual income of over two hundred spirit stones, making it a vital source of wealth for them.

"I saw you wandering around making yourself happy these past few days and thought you weren't used to living here, but it turns out you just can't stay idle. It just so happens that I have a set of array flags on me. I'll go with you to take a look in a moment. Don't worry, leave the array arrangement to me."

A Spirit Gathering Array is a common type of formation used to gather spiritual energy from a spiritual vein. They are generally arranged in spiritual fields or medicinal herb gardens, though some cultivators specifically arrange them in their cultivation caves to ensure sufficient spiritual energy when attempting breakthroughs in cultivation or techniques.

The difficulty of arranging a Spirit Gathering Array was not high; a low-grade formation master like Song Qingming could arrange one with ease. While he was still at Spirit Source Mountain, he frequently helped other clan members arrange such formations, and he even kept a few sets of these array flags on him.

Following his sixth brother, Song Qingming soon arrived at a mountain hollow not far from the western side of the Black Iron Mine. This hollow was located on the mountainside to the right of the mine, providing a high vantage point that overlooked the entire Black Iron vein.

The location was dozens of feet above the base of the mineral vein, and the cliffside was extremely steep. Ordinary mortals could not climb up without external assistance, and even for those dozen or so Xiantian martial artists with some cultivation techniques, climbing up would be somewhat dangerous.

The fact that Song Qinghe could find this place showed that he had put in significant effort during his dozen or so days at Spirit Source Mountain.

The hollow was a triangular platform, only slightly higher at the pointed corner, measuring about twenty feet across, with a stream flowing slowly through it.

Spring water seeped incessantly from a crevice in the mountain at the corner of the hollow, dripping steadily to form a small, clear stream. It flowed between the rugged rocks overgrown with weeds and thorns, passed through the center of the hollow, and tumbled down the cliffside, eventually merging into Crescent Moon Lake several miles away.

Song Qingming carefully sensed the spiritual energy here; it was indeed more abundant than at the foot of the mountain. With just a little tidying up of the platform, there would be enough space to open two acres of spiritual fields.

Taking five three-inch array flags from his storage bag, Song Qingming buried them at various spots three feet underground on the platform, and then took out a first-grade array disk, placing it in the center of the platform.

After performing a set of hand seals, the ground of the platform rippled with spiritual energy, and the spiritual energy within the entire mountain was slowly guided by the Spirit Gathering Array toward this platform.

It took an hour before the spiritual energy gradually stabilized. Together, the two men buried over a dozen spirit stones beneath the ground where the spiritual fields were to be opened. After waiting for a month for the Spirit Gathering Array to slowly refine the spirit stones within, the soil here would absorb the spiritual energy and become a first-grade low-rank spiritual field.

Once ordinary land becomes a spiritual field, one can plant spiritual items such as spiritual rice. The abundant spiritual energy in the field can also shorten the maturation time of these items.

Like spiritual veins, spiritual fields are divided into different grades. The lowest-grade, first-grade low-rank spiritual fields that Song Qingming and his brother were refining could only shorten the maturation time of spiritual items by about ten to twenty percent, even with the care of a spiritual plant master. If they could be planted directly in a second-grade spiritual field, the growth and maturation time could be shortened by at least thirty percent.

Low-rank spiritual fields can only grow relatively easy-to-mature items like spiritual rice and spiritual herbs. Low-grade spiritual rice matures roughly once a year and is the easiest item to profit from in a spiritual field; it is a type of crop favored by all low-level spiritual plant masters in the cultivation world.

Other first-grade spiritual herbs or medicines generally take more than three years to mature. Planting them alongside other crops can result in a decent income over the long term.

The Song family's spiritual fields in Mount Funiu only dared to plant first-grade spiritual rice and herbs. After all, planting high-value spiritual items often attracts the scrutiny of other high-level cultivators. Without sufficient strength to protect them, even if you have the seeds, you wouldn't dare to plant them on a large scale, otherwise, you could easily be targeted and face the extermination of your entire clan. In Qinghe County, only a few Foundation Establishment families dared to cultivate second-grade spiritual medicines at home.

In the cultivation world, spiritual wood and herbs are categorized by age. Medicinal age within two hundred years is considered a first-grade spiritual medicine; between two hundred and one thousand years is a second-grade spiritual medicine; and between one thousand and two thousand years is a third-grade spiritual medicine. There are very few places in the entire State of Wei capable of growing third-grade or higher spiritual medicines. It is said that the Xiaoyao Sect's medicinal herb garden even contains a fourth-grade spiritual medicine that is over two thousand years old.

After opening this spiritual field, Song Qinghe became busy. With Song Qingming's help, the two spent several days using artifacts to carve a staircase of over a dozen feet into the mountainside, making it easier for mortals to come up in the future. To farm spiritual fields, cultivators alone cannot manage all the work; one must also employ mortals to help with trivial tasks. The Song family's dozens of acres of spiritual fields in Mount Funiu utilized several hundred mortals for farming.

They spent a day relocating two families of mortals from Crescent Moon Lake to the platform to help Song Qinghe manage the fields. The two families chosen were overjoyed at the chance to assist an Immortal Master with farming; by staying by the Immortal's side and working diligently and responsibly, they might even receive some immortal treasures as rewards one day.

Once the spiritual energy in the field stabilized, Song Qinghe carved out a new cave dwelling on the side of the platform against the mountain, moving directly from the mine at the foot of the mountain up to the platform. Aside from his daily need to patrol the mine, he mostly stayed on the platform, either cultivating or busy in the spiritual fields.

After Song Qingming helped him set up the Spirit Gathering Array, he soon received the dozen or so spirit stones from Song Qinghe as payment. Although Song Qinghe had reached the fourth level of Qi Refinement later than Song Qingming, he did not show any of the embarrassment Song Qingming had felt right after his own breakthrough.

The reason for this was that he had a cultivator father to support him. Song Qinghe was the son of the second uncle, Song Changwu. After entering the path of cultivation, although his spiritual roots were poor, he had never lacked resources. He was also a spiritual plant master himself, and could earn some spirit stones by helping the clan manage spiritual fields. Combined with his father's subsidies, his life was much easier than that of brothers like Song Qingming, who had to rely entirely on themselves.

Although refining these two acres of spiritual fields cost him dozens of spirit stones, as long as he cultivated the items diligently for a few years and the quality of the field stabilized, he could still earn a significant income, whether by selling the field to someone else or handing it over directly to the clan.

The profession of a spiritual plant master makes earning spirit stones relatively easy in the early stages, whether through planting spiritual items or cultivating new spiritual fields; it is a very stable source of income.

However, spiritual plant masters generally spend their years hidden within the spiritual fields. They are not skilled in combat or hunting demon beasts, so their combat strength is a notch lower than other cultivators. Most cultivators who choose this profession are those who can endure loneliness.

(End of Chapter)