Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Another Year’s Harvest Season

It was golden October. Inside the Memory Array, Chen Mo was already busy at work. This time, Kang and the other three Spiritual Birds were obediently locked inside the wooden cabin to prevent them from eating all the Spirit Rice scattered in the fields. Of course, the primary goal was to guard against Kang. That single chicken could eat several times more than the other three combined!

Harvesting Spirit Rice was now second nature to Chen Mo, and he worked with swift efficiency. However, a single person’s strength was ultimately limited. No matter how fast he moved, it still took him a full day to cut down all the Spirit Rice in the field. To thresh the grain from the ears would take another day or two.

The problem had returned! Currently, fifteen acres of Spirit Fields was manageable. Three days was just three days, and it wouldn’t delay his cultivation too much. Yet Chen Mo knew that as his Realm increased, he had to find a way to extricate himself from farming chores. He should only need to handle the Rainfall to trigger Increased Production, leaving the rest to other "people"!

After much thought, he concluded that hiring hands was out of the question. His unique abilities were not something he could afford to expose right now. As a result, purchasing an Agricultural Puppet was put on the agenda. However, over the past four years, Chen Mo had visited Ancient Dust Marketplace seven or eight times and had never seen any shop selling such puppets. This meant there might not be any within the territory of Purple Cloud Peak at all!

After finishing the harvest of the fifteen acres, Chen Mo straightened his back. Over the next day and a half, he bagged and stacked the Spirit Rice. Just like half a year ago, the yield was six thousand pounds. The two-year grain tax was two hundred pounds per acre, meaning fifteen acres amounted to three thousand pounds. Chen Mo stored the surplus three thousand pounds in his Storage Ring and piled the rest against the outer corner of the wooden cabin, waiting for the Grain Collection Officers to arrive.

The stalks left in the field were handled as usual. He set them on fire and scattered the ashes back into the soil. Once everything was done, Chen Mo waited until dusk to deactivate the Mountain Gazing Shadow Retaining Array, returning the area to normal.

Two days later, the Grain Collection Officers finally arrived. However, only two showed up this time. One was the Female Cultivator named Si Yu, and the other was a new face. As for Niu Youliang, the Pavilion Master of Ancient Dust Marketplace, he was nowhere to be seen for some unknown reason. The two officers seemed to be in a bad mood. They asked a few brief questions and directly collected all the harvested Spirit Rice from the surrounding Spirit Plant Cultivators, not even sparing the broken grains.

Chen Mo still remembered that two years ago, this Female Cultivator had said she would take him as a disciple if he practiced his Flaming Palm to Minor Achievement within two years. Now, he had long reached Minor Achievement in this Magic, but upon meeting again, she didn’t even mention it. Perhaps she had forgotten all about it. Of course, Chen Mo had absolutely no intention of taking her as a master anyway!

As soon as the Grain Collection Officers left, the Spirit Fields around Ancient Dust Marketplace fell into a bleak silence once more. The harvest brought no joy, leaving behind only sighs of sorrow. One insect plague meant two years of wasted effort. The Spirit Plant Cultivators could only grit their teeth and endure another year of hardship.

Of course, compared to those at the Qi Refining Third and Fourth Layers, those who stayed behind in the fields were already considered lucky. If the harvest was gone, they could replant. But if their lives were gone, they were gone for good. Chen Mo had also found out that the Spirit Fields left behind by the conscripted Cultivators hadn’t gone to waste. This time, Purple Cloud Peak and Ancient Dust Marketplace intervened directly, gathering a group of people to act as temporary Spirit Plant Cultivators. As for the coming year? The fields would likely have to be redistributed.

The day after the Grain Collection Officers departed, Chen Mo set off early for Ancient Dust Marketplace. As usual, his first stop was Yi Er San Grain Station! However, to his surprise, the grain shop that normally kept its doors wide open all year round was tightly shut today! There was even a note pasted on the doorboards. Chen Mo stepped forward and read:

[Temporarily closed due to urgent matters.]

These few simple words made him frown deeply. Anything that Song Yunxi would call an "urgent matter" was probably no small issue! After a moment of hesitation, Chen Mo still knocked on the door. He knocked for a long time, but there was no response. Just as he turned to leave, he heard the sound of the door opening behind him.

"Fellow Daoist Chen?"

Chen Mo turned around. It was the grain station’s Steward, Mei Hua.

"Where is Brother Song? Why is the shop closed?"

Mei Hua looked left and right before ushering him inside. After lighting a candle and closing the door tightly, he explained, "Shopkeeper Song knew you would come, so he specifically told me to wait here."

"Does he have business to attend to?"

Mei Hua nodded. "Yes!"

"What is it? Is it serious?"

Mei Hua shook his head. "I don’t know either. He didn’t tell me anything," he thought for a moment before continuing. "About three months ago, he suddenly came to me and said he had to leave for an urgent matter. He told me to guard this place and that Yi Er San Grain Station shouldn’t open for business while he’s away. Everything would be put on hold until he returned."

Chen Mo furrowed his brows.

At that moment, Mei Hua pulled a Sachet from his pocket and handed it over. "Fellow Daoist Chen, before Shopkeeper Song left, he specifically instructed me to give this to you when you arrived."

"What’s inside?"

"I didn’t look." Mei Hua shook his head. Being trusted to manage a shop, Mei Hua was naturally no fool!

Chen Mo took it and gave it a gentle squeeze. It felt like a piece of paper. He didn’t act overly cautious; since Mei Hua said he hadn’t looked, there was no need to hide it. He opened the Sachet directly and took out the note. It was written in elegant regular script:

[Brother Chen, I, Song, have urgent business and must temporarily leave. This matter is of grave importance, and I must go. The timeframe is uncertain. It could be as short as half a year, or as long as two years. Please forgive me.]

The note didn’t say much; it was merely a simple greeting to Chen Mo. Yet, even so, he could feel the man’s sincerity. Even before leaving, Song Yunxi still kept him in mind. This Brother Song was indeed a good person!

"Did Brother Song tell you how long he would be gone?"

Mei Hua shook his head. "No."

Chen Mo handed the note over. "He said it could be anywhere from half a year to two years."

Mei Hua was quite surprised. He hadn’t expected Chen Mo to show him the contents of the note! "What is the Shopkeeper off to do? Acting all mysterious!"

"Let’s not overthink it. We’ll just wait!" Chen Mo cupped his fists and added, "Please let me know when he returns!"

"Definitely, definitely! If Shopkeeper Song comes back, I’ll go straight to your door to invite you!"

"Thank you!"

Song Yunxi’s departure was indeed somewhat beyond Chen Mo’s expectations. However, it was human nature. Unlike Spirit Plant Cultivators who were deeply attached to their land and reluctant to move, merchants traveled far and wide. It was normal for them not to return for quite a while. With Song Yunxi gone, the matter of Breeding would have to be put on hold.

Chen Mo casually sought out three grain shops, taking out the grain from his Storage Ring in advance, and sold seven hundred pounds of Spirit Rice to each. Of the remaining nine hundred pounds, he carted seven hundred pounds over to Niu’s Shop. Having a Storage Ring truly saved him a lot of trouble! Otherwise, pushing a cart with three thousand pounds of Spirit Rice through the Marketplace would probably cause quite a stir!

When he arrived at Niu’s Shop, Wei Wuwei looked utterly astonished the moment he saw him!

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