Chapter 335: Yellow Grain Rice
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Within the Golden Sun Prosperous Land.
A protective array rose up into the skies, enveloping the entire 6 hectares of private farmland.
Elemental energy started to fall towards the farm in the form of spiritual rain, nourishing the ground.
This was the Spiritual Gathering Array, personally cast by Fang Yuan. He had only cast this array over his own private farmland, but since he was the guardian of the prosperous land, no one could say anything.
Of course, Fang Yuan knew the reality.
Although the array might seem like it was gathering spiritual energy, it had a hidden effect of sealing the area as well. After all, he was preparing the farm to sow the seeds of the Yellow Grain Rice and therefore, it had to receive different treatment from the other farms.
"With this array, if any of my servants dare to trespass my private farm, I shall kill them instantly. This is only reasonable, for I had already given all of them a warning!"
Fang Yuan thought to himself silently. "This farm is dedicated to collected the plants which would evolve special traits. When I obtain the complete plot of spiritual land, I'll then attempt to plant it in large scales.
"At my current stage, it is sufficient to eat Yellow Grain Rice alone!"
Although he had given up most of his Yellow Grain Rice to the alliance, he had nothing to worry about for he still had the seeds!
"The remaining Yellow Grain Rice that I have now can be used to sow in the 6 hectares of the farm as well as provide for a few of my meals! This way, I can try them first!"
As Fang Yuan arrived at the kitchen, he ordered for the servants to leave before cooking an entire pot of Yellow Grain Rice for himself.
Once the rice had been thoroughly cooked, the fragrance of it made him twitch his nose uncontrollably.
"It is recorded in : The Yellow Grain Rice is large and thicker than usual rice. Harvest is little and it cannot withstand dry conditions. Therefore, it is extremely rare. It is fragrant when cooked as is regarded as food for the deities! In reality, since it has dream properties, it is best suited for dream masters to consume!"
He filled his entire jade bowl with the rice, used his chopsticks and at a mouthful of it.
"Fragrant and of good texture!"
Considering all that he had gone through before, Fang Yuan had already tried most delicacies! Therefore, his palate was not something that could be easily satisfied!
But now, as he swallowed the Yellow Grain Rice, an indescribable soothing feeling started to rise from his stomach, making its way to his heart.
"This rice is soothing and is perfect for me to replenish my elemental energy..."
Fang Yun silently allowed himself to experience the warm and soothing feeling in his dantian. As the warmth gathered, it was like a stream of hot spring water flowing through his entire body. Finally, it became a stream of energy which flowed along his spine all the way up, entering a whole new dimension in his body which he had never known about.
"It is indeed rare to come across spiritual objects which would aid in the increase in magical energy... Most importantly, it is neither of Heaven Grade or Earth Grade, which would allow me to produce them in large quantities. This makes it even more valuable!"
In his actualised dream world, streaks of yellow glow appeared. It was as though something had triggered within the actualised dream world. His magical energy was swiftly restored and mighty force within started to calm down.
In the yellow glow, his magical energy started to combine with his mighty force, resulting in a mercury-like dream elemental force which quickly started to fill up in the actualised dream world.
"Mmm... If I can consume Yellow Grain Rice every day, I can restore my dream elemental force 3 times quicker than before!"
As his True Spirit witnessed the restoration of his dream elemental force, he was relieved and nodded his head. "Needless to say, there is still the benefit of absorbing hints of dream property from the rice. It will be rather significant if I absorb large quantities of dream property... this is great!"
In the outside world, he did not hold back. The appetite of a 4th Meridian Wu Zong was huge. Instantly, he cleared the entire pot of spiritual rice before rubbing his tummy in satisfaction. He was now prepared to head to the farm and move about to aid in the digestion of the rice he just ate.
Once he had left, his spiritual will shook. He realised that 2 servants were rushing into the kitchen. They were greedily sniffing the air and fighting over the metal pot.
"Are they really fighting over the water used to wash the pot...'
With that thought, his mind shook. He looked away and arrived at the farm.
"Mmm... The ground is nourished enough. This is much better than any plots of spiritual land in the mainland!"
He grabbed a fistful of soil. The soil was black and loose. It was shimmering as though one would be able to squeeze oil out of it if they decided to do so. Furthermore, there was a thin white layer above the black soil.
This was not a white layer of snow frozen from liquid water. Instead, it was actualised from elemental force. This was comparable to fragments of elemental crystals and was formed from his very own Spiritual Gathering Array.
"This soil might just be comparable to that in the hollow..."
Thinking about the environment in this prosperous land, he started to think about the environment in Changli Mountain Hollow and shook his head. "Even after the passing of the Sage, the environment there is still much more superior compared to the outside world."
Considering the well-nourished soil in the Golden Sun Prosperous Land, it was possible to plant the Yellow Grain Rice. However, it was inevitable that he would use more resources to produce the harvest of Yellow Grain Rice, much more than he could have harvested. Therefore, a loss was inevitable.
"Taking into consideration the current environmental conditions, I must produce a variant of Yellow Grain Rice which has the least requirements to grow."
Fang Yuan's idea was simple. This 6 hectares of the farm was an experimental farm. He would surely be able to produce Yellow Grain Rice. However, he was gambling on the chances that such a variant would be evolved.
If he could create an evolved variant with a higher grade, that would be even better. However, it was not a must to create it. All that he would look for was variant which could adapt to the current environment.
Once he had the seeds of this variant, he would be able to produce the rice in large quantities in the future when he would obtain the entire plot of his private farm.
"Furthermore, if things did not go as smoothly and if the Yellow Grain Rice is extremely hard to evolve any special traits, considering my level in Botany, it is still possible for me to successfully produce a new batch of Yellow Grain Rice. At least, I would still harvest back whatever I had sowed..."
He took a glance at his stats window:
"Botany [Level 5] ----- You're now a master in the Botany Realm! Any plants planted by you would not only awaken but also develop special traits, the maturity period would also shorten based on the conditions!"
With that, he grabbed his how and started to sow the seeds of the Yellow Grain Rice.
Because of this secret, he could not ask someone else to do it. Furthermore, in order for there to be any chances of special traits evolving, he had to do it personally.
He would harvest whatever he had sowed. This was always the law of nature.
...
"Fang Yuan! Fang Yuan!"
In Realm Alliance Mountain, within a side hall, Li Bo clenched his teeth. As he read the intelligence he had gathered, he started to grit his teeth. "He is just a half-*ssed dream master who had gotten lucky to become a dream master in the Illusionary Divine stage. How does he dare to belittle me... Yes! It's true that I can do nothing about it! However, although my family might not be as influential as the Ye Family, we were still loyal to the Realm Alliance for 3 generations. Surely, you don't have the rights to bully us!"
His face was flushed with anger. As he arrived at the main hall, he knelt down. "Grandfather! You must upload justice for me!"
"What do you have!"
In the centre of the main hall, on a bed of clouds, a silhouette appeared restless.
Their family was weak. No matter how much effort they had put in, there was only one person among the descendants that had successfully become a dream master. Although he was a lowly-skilled dream master, it was already a huge step ahead for the family. They were now on a different level from the average humans. With such a descendant, their position in the Realm Alliance had been cemented. Therefore, many families were jealous of them.
However, looking at things now, it seems as though it was something the family could not settle.
"Grandfather... I was merely following your orders and therefore went after the sisters of the Ye Family. Although you are the head of our family, we have little heritage to speak of. If we can form a relationship with the Ye Family, our standing in the alliance would be assured!"
Li Bo was not a dense person. "Now, the sisters of the Ye Family are closer to Fang Yuan... Of course, I am not going after them because of their appearances. However, it is a known fact that the resources in the alliance are limited. With the uprising of a family, it would lead to the downfall of another. With the talented Fang Yuan getting involved, if he were to marry the sisters, the position of our family in the alliance would be under threat..."
"This... you make sense!"
The silhouette nodded its head before revealing his body. It was a graceful middle-aged man. He was the grandfather of Li Bo, a 4th Tier Illusionary Divine dream master of the Realm Alliance - Li Qin.
"Realm Spirit, give me information regarding Fang Yuan..."
Considering that he was in the Realm Alliance Mountain in the Dream Realm and that he was a 4th Leaf Cultivator, his level of rights were rather high. With a single thought, he had already gained the basic information about Fang Yuan, which was still more detailed than what Li Bo had described.
"He is only in his twenties and is already a 3rd Tier Illusionary Divine dream master? Indeed, a talent!"
After reading a few lines, Li Qin nodded his head as though he had seen his younger self. "With the uprising of a new member, the few like us with weak foundations will have to do something, for our position will be under threat. Never mind about the fact that he is from a powerful faction... Is he now the guardian of the Golden Sun Prosperous Land? Who would've thought that he would have relied on Feng Xinzi and would have Elder Smelter as his backing..."
"Grandfather... Is Elder Smelter that powerful? We have many up and coming dream masters who are talented as well. Who would pay attention to Elder Smelter? Also, don't we have the backing of Elder Green Wood?"
Li Bo hurriedly answered.
"Although you are right, Feng Xinzi has a close relationship with Fang Yuan. Feng Xinzi is a newly-advanced 4th Tier Illusionary Divine dream master and is a powerful dream alchemy master now. His level of rights in the alliance has also been promoted to a 5th Leaf Cultivator!"
Li Qin spoke with a calm voice but in his heart, he felt a little displeasure.
Many years ago, he had joined the Realm Alliance and was willing to do whatever the alliance had requested of him. However, he was unfortunate enough to have lost everything in his generation. Now that he had accumulated enough resources and had achieved a breakthrough to the 4th Tier of Illusionary Divine, he had helped his family secure a standing in the alliance. Even so, he was still considered an outsider and therefore, he remained a 4th Leaf Cultivator.
On the other hand, Feng Xinzi was a direct disciple and was promoted to a 5th Leaf Cultivator immediately after he had achieved a breakthrough to the 4th Tier of the Illusionary Divine stage and was 1 level higher than Li Qin.
Officially, the alliance would explain that this was as such due to the fact that Feng Xinzi was an alchemy master and would be able to contribute much to the alliance. However, no one knew the truth. This was exactly preferential treatment given to the direct disciples!
Outsiders could only look with jealousy. If they were to have any complaints, they would encounter countless troubles within the alliance.
There is still the problem of Fang Yuan...
Although Fang Yuan's background was similar to Li Qin, Li Qin had zero empathy for him.
He had experienced hardships before. Therefore, in his warped mind, he would want to see others experience similar hardships like him before he would be satisfied.
Although Fang Yuan had it tough when he had just joined the alliance, with his current position now, he would have to look out for himself. Notwithstanding the hatred they had between each other, Li Qin would still be perturbed to see how Fang Yuan had advanced to a 3rd Leaf Cultivator in such a short period of time.
With that, he concluded. "After all, Feng Xinzi is not Fang Yuan. Feng Xizi is newly promoted and has limited influence. Therefore, he might not put in all his effort to help Fang Yuan... Grandson, just you wait. I will set things right for you!"
Within the same alliance, it was not possible for them to have internal conflict. It would do both parties no good if they were to get into a conflict.
However, Li Qin was extremely familiar about the loopholes in the rules of the alliance and knew how to go about dealing with Fang Yuan. After all, he had personally experienced it for himself and had earned this experience through blood, sweat and tears.
'Since the ancient times, high-ranking officials would pressure those of lower ranks. Even though the Realm Alliance might be less uptight over rules, the same phenomenon still applies. It is too simple for me to deal with him without leaving any traces behind... Hehe, after all, he is a new member and deserves to undergo some hardships. If he is not put under pressure, he would not develop and improve. This is my effort in training you!'
Li Qin laughed to himself and was filled was satisfaction at the fact that he was about to take revenge for his grandson.