Chapter 7: The Cultivation Method

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At dawn, the sky was just beginning to lighten.

When Shen Qinghe pushed open the wooden door, the mountain mist had yet to disperse.

After a quick wash, she swallowed a fasting pill and hurried toward the Steward Hall of Emerald Spirit Peak.

The morning dew had soaked the hem of her skirt, yet it did nothing to slow her steps.

She vividly recalled her last visit to the Steward Hall’s inner chamber, but today her destination was the outer hall—the place to collect spirit seeds.

In the morning light, the outer hall seemed especially empty, with only a few disciples on duty standing idly in scattered groups.

Her footsteps pierced the morning stillness, drawing curious glances from the disciples.

Ignoring their inquisitive looks, she walked straight to the spirit seed collection counter.

The registrar was a gaunt young man, his head bent as he sorted jade slips on the table.

“Senior brother, I’d like to collect Green Spirit Rice seeds,” Shen Qinghe’s voice was clear in the quiet hall.

The young cultivator looked up, his gaze lingering on her for a moment. “Spirit Field Token.”

Shen Qinghe retrieved a jade token from her storage pouch and handed it over. As the young man took the token, a faint spiritual glow flickered at his fingertips, causing the patterns on the jade to light up.

Suddenly, his expression turned strange.

He looked at Shen Qinghe again, his tone tinged with disbelief. “Are you the one who… killed off the entire field of Purple Cloud Ginseng?”

His words rippled through the hall like a stone dropped in a tranquil lake.

The other disciples turned their heads in unison, their curious stares settling upon her, and for a moment, it felt as if even the air froze.

“That’s right,” Shen Qinghe replied without a change in expression, meeting his gaze calmly. “That’s why I’m switching to Green Spirit Rice this time.”

The young man’s face stiffened, and he cleared his throat awkwardly. “Junior sister… Even Purple Cloud Ginseng, which only requires spiritual energy to grow, you…”

He paused, as if realizing his words were too blunt, and rephrased, “Perhaps you should consider taking on other tasks? The path of spirit planting does require a certain… talent.”

As he spoke, his eyes unconsciously drifted to Shen Qinghe’s hands, the meaning clear: hands that can’t even keep basic spirit plants alive shouldn’t be wasting good seeds.

“Thank you for your advice, senior brother. I will consider it,” she replied, her face serene and her voice devoid of emotion.

Seeing her unruffled response, the young man stopped trying to persuade her. He turned to fetch a bag of spirit seeds from behind the counter and handed it over. “According to the rules, one acre of spirit field is allocated three pounds of Green Spirit Rice seeds. Next time, you’ll have to hand in your harvest before getting more. This time, you’re already an exception.”

“Thank you.” Shen Qinghe took the seeds and reclaimed her spirit field token, ready to leave.

Just then, the young man called out to her in a lowered voice, “If you need the ‘Green Spirit Rice Cultivation Manual,’ you can borrow it from the library.”

Understanding dawned in Shen Qinghe’s eyes.

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Clearly, he feared she would ruin the Green Spirit Rice as well.

She offered a faint, graceful smile. “Thank you for the suggestion, senior brother.”

As she left the Steward Hall, she caught the hushed whispers behind her—just idle gossip, nothing she paid any mind.

Descending the stone steps from Emerald Spirit Peak, she did not detour to the library, but headed directly to the spirit fields.

She already knew all there was to know about cultivating Green Spirit Rice; there was no need to waste time consulting books.

The morning breeze brushed her hair, carrying the earthy scent from the distant fields, and Shen Qinghe unconsciously quickened her pace.

When she arrived, the morning mist still lingered over the fields.

Through the haze, she spotted a slender figure standing quietly at the field’s edge, holding a food box.

The girl turned at the sound of her footsteps.

Liu Qingqing’s delicate face broke into a radiant smile as she hurried over.

“Senior sister!” Her voice was crisp, tinged with mock reproach. “Why didn’t you call me when you came to the fields?”

Shen Qinghe shook her head in mild exasperation and tapped Liu Qingqing’s smooth forehead. “You little imp, neglecting your own cultivation to follow me around all day?”

Liu Qingqing stuck out her tongue and offered the food box like a treasure. “I’m just worried about you, senior sister…”

Shen Qinghe felt both touched and helpless at her junior’s excessive concern.

How could she not understand Liu Qingqing’s feelings?

But in this world where only the strong survive, cultivation was the foundation of everything. Since Liu Qingqing had not taken on the field-tending duties, she should devote her time to training, not trailing after her everywhere.

“You…” Shen Qinghe sighed softly, shaking her head. “Don’t do this again.”

“Hehe, got it!” Liu Qingqing nodded obediently, then opened the box and presented a steaming bowl of porridge. “I made spirit jujube porridge, wonderful for nourishing qi and blood. Please try it, senior sister.”

The surface of the porridge shimmered with plump, tender red dates, gently swaying in the rising steam. The sweet scent of dates mingled with the fragrance of spirit rice, filling the air—a mere whiff was enough to whet the appetite.

Although Shen Qinghe had already taken her fasting pill, she accepted the bowl.

The warm porridge slipped down her throat, sending a gentle heat from her core to every limb.

She felt a lightness in her body, last night’s lingering fatigue swept away, her spirit invigorated.

After finishing the porridge, Shen Qinghe sent Liu Qingqing off, then got down to business.

She drew out the bag of Green Spirit Rice seeds from her storage pouch.

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These were premium seeds, carefully selected by the sect—no further sorting required.

She had chosen Green Spirit Rice precisely because its growth cycle was short, taking only ten days to mature.

However, she had no intention of following the usual cultivation methods.

In her view, the methods employed by Azure Cloud Sect were the simplest form of direct seeding: scattering the seeds across the spirit field and letting them grow as they would.

Though easy, this method wasted a great deal of seed. The three pounds she had received would barely cover an acre. Moreover, direct seeding led to uneven nutrient absorption across the field, resulting in poor growth and lower yields.

Arriving at the field equipment sheds, Shen Qinghe selected several tools and brought them to her own plot.

She lifted a spirit hoe and marked out a rectangular section, roughly a third of her field, to serve as a seedling bed.

After completing the layout, she began to turn over the earth with practiced movements, loosening the soil that had been compacted by yesterday’s footsteps.

Under her skilled hands, the previously hardened soil quickly became soft and crumbly, spiritual energy flickering faintly within its folds.

Once the preparations were done, Shen Qinghe untied the seed bag, reached in, and scattered a handful of seeds across the seedbed. The Green Spirit Rice seeds, like jade-green pearls, fell evenly onto the loose earth.

As she focused on sowing, more disciples arrived.

Seeing her scatter the seeds densely in a small area, they began to whisper among themselves.

“Heavens, is she sowing or making porridge? That’s so dense, nothing will take root!”

“What do you know? She’s making a ‘spirit rice wall’! Imagine them growing all bunched up—what a sight!”

“No wonder she’s the one who managed to kill off the Purple Cloud Ginseng! This sowing technique is something else!”

Still wary of her background as a member of the Shen family, they dared not speak too loudly.

“Keep your voices down,” another senior sister, Li, said in a mock-concerned tone, deliberately loud, “If she kills off another crop, what a disgrace it’ll be. But with her family and a true disciple backing her, even if she ruins another batch, it’s no big deal, right?”

As cultivators, their hearing was keen.

Even though they whispered, Shen Qinghe heard every word, especially Senior Sister Li’s snide remark.

But the opinions of others had never been her concern.