While Jiang Ci was learning, Ye Hao gathered quite a bit of information about outer disciples from her.
The entire Baiyun Sect consisted of many main peaks.
The reason Jiang Ci had sought out Ye Hao to learn the Lesser Spirit Rain Technique was that her main peak was Spirit Plant Peak.
Under her name alone, she had five mu of spirit fields.
Moreover, they were First-Tier mid-grade spirit fields, a minor realm higher in quality than the spirit fields of handyman disciples, possessing far more concentrated spiritual energy.
The spirit plants produced from them naturally had a much higher value.
Furthermore, if one wanted to cultivate more spirit fields, one could apply to the sect.
At that point, spending a certain amount of spirit stones could hire an elder of the sect to help reclaim more spirit fields for personal farming.
It was far better than being a handyman disciple.
Furthermore, for self-reclaimed spirit fields, one only needed to hand over thirty percent of the harvest.
The rest belonged entirely to oneself.
...
In the blink of an eye, time moved forward to the end of November.
Jiang Ci had spent nearly a month learning the Lesser Spirit Rain Technique by Ye Hao's side.
She had finally cultivated the Lesser Spirit Rain Technique to the Sixth Layer.
Although she could not compare to Ye Hao, it was still enough to completely outclass other cultivators who also practiced the Lesser Spirit Rain Technique.
"It seems... it's time to harvest."
Ye Hao stood in his spirit field, watching the morning light flood over the field ridges as the vast white waves of rice rolled smoothly.
Evidently, the vast field of white spirit rice was already mature.
The ears of rice were full and lustrous white, their husks glowing with a faint milky-jade sheen, while wisps of thin spiritual energy drifted in the wind among the ears.
With a light sniff, Ye Hao felt a refreshing surge of spiritual energy rush into his lungs.
The rice stalks were tough, shimmering with a subtle silver light throughout.
Heavy ears bent the stalks low.
Spiritual energy misted over the entire spirit field, floating softly between the standing stalks.
As the wind swept across the field, white waves surged up and down, the rustling of the rice accompanied by a faint hum of spiritual energy.
Each grain of spirit rice was plump, its spiritual energy condensed within—entirely different from mundane rice.
"Absorb it."
Ye Hao looked at Ye Yu and Liu Siyu standing nearby, offering a smiling reminder.
At the exact moment a spirit plant matured, it would gather the surrounding spiritual energy, forming a brief spiritual energy tide.
Cultivating at this time would grant cultivators many benefits.
Ye Hao, who possessed various supporting spells for spirit plants, had foreseen this moment far in advance, which was why he had called the two of them over.
"I feel like the time needed for me to break through to Third-Layer Qi Refinement has been shortened by at least a third."
An hour later, Ye Yu finally opened his eyes. After sensing the condition of his body, he let out a long breath of turbid air.
Then, standing up full of excitement, he looked at Ye Hao beside him.
Clenching his fists, he spoke excitedly.
Not long after, Liu Siyu completely emerged from her meditative state. Standing up, she bowed respectfully to Ye Hao and said, "Thank you, Senior Brother. I am now just one step away from Third-Layer Qi Refinement."
The spiritual energy tide brought by the maturation of spirit plants was something one could only come across by chance.
Generally speaking, only spirit farmers who had devoted themselves deeply to this field for over a decade could judge the exact maturation time of spirit plants so accurately.
Furthermore, even if a spirit farmer possessed such an ability, they would never give away such a golden opportunity to others.
Only Ye Hao would do something like this, which filled Liu Siyu's heart with deep gratitude toward him once more.
However, the more this happened, the more inferior Liu Siyu felt in front of Ye Hao.
She had clearly approached Ye Hao with ulterior motives, yet she had ended up enjoying so many benefits from him.
"I also have a clear idea of the approximate maturation times for both of your spirit fields. When the time comes, I will notify you."
"It should allow both of you to break through to Third-Layer Qi Refinement in one fell swoop."
Ye Hao said with a smile.
Liu Siyu could not help but look at Ye Hao. "Senior Brother, could it be that you have already reached Third-Layer Qi Refinement?"
"Mhm. Didn't you notice?"
A soft smile appeared on Ye Hao's face as he looked at Liu Siyu.
The aura around him suddenly shifted, transforming from Second-Layer Qi Refinement into Third-Layer Qi Refinement.
After so much time, revealing a cultivation strength of Third-Layer Qi Refinement now...
...should not attract too much attention either.
After all, the reason he could advance so quickly was entirely due to resources, a fact others were well aware of.
There was a clear trail to trace.
"I didn't expect you to be one step ahead again."
"But I will work hard to catch up with you!"
Seeing that Ye Hao had truly reached Third-Layer Qi Refinement, Ye Yu could not help but clench his fists tightly.
Although a bit discouraged, he remained full of confidence that he could catch up with Ye Hao.
"I will work hard too."
Liu Siyu likewise clenched her fists.
Although she felt her talent was inferior to Ye Hao's...
...she would still try her best to catch up through her own hard work.
"Alright, step back, both of you. I'm going to harvest now."
Ye Hao nodded and gave them a reminder.
"Okay."
Ye Yu and Liu Siyu quickly backed away onto the ridge at the edge of the field.
"Go!"
Ye Hao raised his hand and cast the Ear-Gathering Technique.
A soft, green spiritual light flowed out from his palm, sweeping across the entire spirit field.
The mature ears of white spirit rice detached from their stalks one after another, turning into clusters of lustrous white sheaves that floated in midair, following the spiritual light to gather inside the sacks at the edge of the field.
The white spirit rice piled up inside the sacks, layer upon layer of lustrous white light shimmering as the refreshing fragrance of a bountiful harvest washed over them.
The soil along the ridges still carried spiritual charm, while the roots of the rice stalks retained faint traces of spiritual energy.
The entire crop of white spirit rice was fully harvested, filling the sacks to the brim.
However, he was not done yet. Ye Hao began casting the Dehusking Technique.
He began stripping away the husks from the white spirit rice, and soon, crystal-clear grains of white spirit rice appeared before the eyes of all three.
Sack after sack was quickly filled.
"Let me weigh them!"
Ye Yu, who had been waiting for this all along, hurriedly pulled out a spirit scale he had prepared in advance from his storage bag.
Taking it out, he began weighing the white spirit rice in front of him.
When he finished weighing all the white spirit rice and calculated the total...
...the look Ye Yu gave Ye Hao was like looking at a monster.
After a long moment, Ye Yu finally swallowed hard and spoke up, "Ten sacks of white spirit rice, a total of 965 jin."
"Wait, Ye Yu, the grade of this white spirit rice is a bit different."
"The spiritual energy inside is much more concentrated."
Liu Siyu stepped forward and casually grabbed a handful of white spirit rice, quickly recognizing that half of it was of a higher grade.
"Indeed, just as Junior Sister said, the amount of white spirit rice that upgraded to mid-grade this time is quite large."
Ye Hao walked up as well and soon discerned that at least half of the white spirit rice in this sack had reached mid-grade quality.
It took the three of them a long time to successfully separate them all.
"510 jin of First-Tier low-grade white spirit rice."
"450 jin of First-Tier mid-grade white spirit rice."
After counting again, Ye Yu spoke excitedly.
Yet amid his excitement, a strange expression crossed his face.
"What about the remaining five jin?"
Liu Siyu looked at Ye Yu in total confusion.
Ye Hao, however, suddenly thought of something and could not help looking at Ye Yu. "Could those remaining five jin of white spirit rice... have advanced in rank?"
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