Chapter 380: Spirit Field

Cultivation has a hundred industries.

The Nine Provinces are vast, and regions have different customs. Cultivators rely on the mountains if they live by the mountains, and on the water if they live by the water, adapting to local conditions and making a living with a hundred industries.

Spirit farming, cultivating and planting spirit rice and other crops, is one of the hundred cultivation industries.

Tongxian City has many mountains and no farmland. The spirit grains and spirit rice consumed there are all bought from an immortal city to the west that makes its living by planting spirit fields.

Mo Hua has grown up, but he has never seen such a large area of spirit fields before.

South of Qianjia Town, there are large stretches of spirit fields, arranged in a checkerboard pattern, totaling about a hundred mu.

Within the spirit fields are lush green spirit rice seedlings, filled with rich water vapor.

The sky is high and vast, white clouds drift by, and the rice fields are lush and spread out, like an emerald carpet, extending into the distance.

Where the distant blue sky meets the spirit fields is a range of towering mountains covered in clouds and mist.

Mo Hua took a deep breath; the air was clear and fresh, his heart felt open and cheerful, his gaze brightened slightly, and he suddenly had an epiphany.

Heaven gives birth to myriad things, and the earth nourishes myriad things.

Heaven is the manifestation of the Great Dao, and the earth is the derivation of the Great Dao.

And within these spirit fields, there are indeed traces of arrays.

On the ridges of the spirit fields, there are some hard soil stones, and on these stones, arrays are drawn.

But these arrays are not complex arrays, just simple soil nourishing arrays, used to nurture spirit rice and store nourishing water vapor.

Mo Hua released his divine sense and perceived that they were all ordinary soil nourishing arrays, with no special array energy, which was a bit regrettable.

Then he thought of going deeper to explore thoroughly.

There are small paths near the spirit fields. Mo Hua walked along a small path for a while, then suddenly frowned.

It was just morning at this time, the morning sun was bright, and there were spirit farmers working in the fields.

These spirit farmers were mostly older, their clothes were worn and stained with mud, their skin was dark and thin, and their fingers were rough and chapped.

They were bent over, as if pressed down by something, unable to breathe.

In the bright morning sun, in the vibrant spirit fields.

These hunched figures, these spirit farmers with wooden expressions, seemed out of place.

Mo Hua sighed.

Walking along, he encountered an old man beside a spirit field.

The old man must also be a spirit farmer, dry and thin, with a face like a waxy yellow wood carving, showing a trace of despair.

He was followed by a small grandson, who was also wiping away tears with his dirty little hands.

Mo Hua's heart ached, so he asked:

"Grandpa, what's wrong?"

The old man turned his head woodenly and saw a clear-faced and handsome young cultivator with clear eyes. He wanted to speak several times but stopped, finally only sighing deeply:

"The fields are ruined again..."

His voice was filled with deep bitterness and hardship.

Mo Hua was slightly startled and asked anxiously:

"How can the fields be ruined?"

The old man pointed to the ridges and said in a hoarse voice:

"The array is broken. Without the array, the spirit fields are barren and cannot store water. The crops in the fields will dry up, and there will be no harvest this year..."

By the end of his sentence, the old man's voice was faintly choked up.

Mo Hua turned his head and looked, seeing that indeed a soil nourishing array on the ridge was invalid. There were only array patterns on it, but no spiritual power flowing.

Mo Hua breathed a sigh of relief. He thought it was some big deal...

It was just a soil nourishing array with only six array patterns.

"This array is simple. I'll help you repair it a bit," Mo Hua said.

The old man was stunned. "You... you know arrays?"

The child beside him also looked eagerly at Mo Hua.

Mo Hua nodded humbly and said, "I know a little."

"This array is quite difficult though..."

"I just learned."

The old man saw that although Mo Hua was young, his demeanor was composed and he looked confident, so he believed him a little. But he was also a bit hesitant:

"What if it gets worse..."

"It's not already worse."

The old man was taken aback and thought that was right. It was already broken anyway, there was no other way. But arrays were related to their livelihood, so he still couldn't let go of his worries.

Hesitating and struggling several times, the old man seemed to have given up and said dejectedly:

"Little brother, you draw it."

He really had no other options.

Mo Hua took out his array pen and dipped it in ink.

The old man's expression was slightly surprised. This young cultivator seemed quite proper...

He involuntarily showed expectation.

Then he saw Mo Hua walk to the edge of the field, holding the pen in his small hand, drawing a few strokes casually, then lifting his head and saying to him in a clear voice:

"Done."

The old man hadn't yet fully registered what happened and hadn't seen Mo Hua draw anything. He said with a look of disbelief:

"This... this is done?"

He took a look, drew a few strokes, and it's repaired?

"Mm." Mo Hua nodded and said, "Very simple."

The old man walked to the edge of the field and looked at the array, seeing that it indeed lit up with a faint yellow light. For a moment, he still felt like he was dreaming.

The water vapor in the fields was also gradually being stored and nurtured.

The spirit rice also no longer looked withered, and its color was a little more emerald green.

The old man couldn't help but laugh. As he laughed, he seemed to think of having a harvest and that he and his small grandson wouldn't starve to death. Then he squatted down at the edge of the field and wiped away tears.

Mo Hua's heart ached inexplicably.

Some cultivators in this world live so humbly.

Just being able to live is already enough to bring tears of joy...

"Thank you, little brother..."

The old man said solemnly, feeling extremely grateful. But he had spent his life dealing with the fields and couldn't say any eloquent words, only saying "thank you."

Mo Hua asked:

"When your arrays were broken before, didn't you ask others to repair them?"

The old man said helplessly: "I asked before. It costs ten spirit stones to repair once, and it breaks after being repaired, then breaks again after being repaired..."

"To repair this array, I used all the spirit stones I had left at home and still owe the Sun family dozens of spirit stones..."

"If I repair it again, even if I give this year's harvest to the Sun family, I still won't be able to clear the debt."

"Sun family?"

The old man pointed towards Qianjia Town and said, "Just in the town, that richest Sun family."

"This array is their ancestral property. The Sun family says that only they know how to draw it, and only they can repair it. So no matter how many spirit stones they ask for, we can only give it to them."

Mo Hua said doubtfully: "Didn't you ask other array masters to repair it before?"

The old man's face was bitter. "There are no other array masters in Qianjia Town..."

"Occasionally there are passing array masters, but out of respect for the Sun family, they fundamentally won't help us."

"The Sun family is a local tyrant. They don't dare to offend them either..."

Mo Hua's mood was somewhat complex.

He looked at the array in the spirit field again and discovered that there were indeed traces of repairs before, but extremely cheap ink was used, the cost was negligible, and the technique was extremely rough, the array level was extremely crude.

It's probably from an apprentice, or an array master with poor skills.

Or perhaps, the Sun family deliberately repaired it perfunctorily.

If it's repaired too well, it's not easy to break, and they can't easily rely on arrays to exploit spirit stones.

Repairing it once costs ten spirit stones...

In the long run, ordinary loose cultivators fundamentally can't afford it.

Mo Hua asked again: "If you can't pay the debt owed to the Sun family?"

The old man sighed and said: "Then sell the children to them. Males become servants, and females become maidservants."

"Once they enter the Sun family as slaves or maidservants, their names have to be changed, and their parents can't recognize them. They can only work like oxen and horses for them..."

Mo Hua's gaze slightly condensed.

He finally knew how the Sun family got so many servants and maidservants to serve them...

As the old man spoke, he came back to his senses and said apologetically:

"I've been talking for so long, you've been listening to this old man complain..."

Immediately he thought of something and showed shame again, "These spirit stones for repairing the array, I..."

He really wanted to give them, but his home was so poor that he fundamentally couldn't take out a single spirit stone.

Mo Hua waved his hand and said, "It was just a small favor, no need."

The old man really couldn't accept it and said:

"Young sir, if you don't mind, please come to my home and have a simple meal."

The old man's expression was very guilty.

Mo Hua thought for a moment and agreed. He also had some things he wanted to ask about.

Along the way, the two chatted a few more sentences.

Mo Hua learned that the old man's surname was Ding, and his family of four lived in Dongshan Village near Qiandeng Town, and they were spirit farmers for generations.

Cultivating spirit fields provided a meager income, which was not enough to support a family.

His son and daughter-in-law went out to make a living and could come back almost once every year or two.

He and his small grandson stayed at home, relying on a few mu of thin fields, which was enough to have a meal.

Old Man Ding invited Mo Hua home.

When Mo Hua saw it, it was not unexpected. His home was indeed empty, very poor.

Old Man Ding said embarrassedly: "This... home really..."

Mo Hua shook his head and didn't mind.

He came from a loose cultivator background and knew what poverty looked like.

Old Man Ding went to light a fire and cook.

After a while, a bowl of porridge, a plate of pickled vegetables, and a local chicken were placed on the table.

This local chicken had just been killed.

When Mo Hua entered the door, he still saw it crowing in the courtyard.

This kind of chicken, although also raised by cultivators and belonging to spirit beasts, had almost no spiritual energy and was not worth many spirit stones, so some loose cultivators also raised a few, feeding them just grass.

But this was also the only chicken in Old Man Ding's home.

The pickled vegetables were bitter and salty.

There was half a bowl of rice in the porridge, but this was only in Mo Hua's bowl.

In Old Man Ding's bowl and his grandson's bowl, it was clear porridge and thin water, without a single grain of rice.

Farmers, yet without rice to eat.

Mo Hua was silent for a while.

"Loose cultivators in Tongxian City are very miserable, but the majority of loose cultivators in this cultivation world are probably even more miserable than in Tongxian City."

Elder Yu had told him these words before, but Mo Hua felt it deeply for the first time.

He thought again about the meals the Sun family ate in the morning, a table full of food, and the rice and meat that was thrown away without being finished...

Mo Hua sighed.

Without cultivation, you can't have brocade clothes and fine food. Relatives work hard, yet they can't eat their fill.

Thank you to book friend Overpass Flowing for the reward of alliance leader!

Second alliance leader, thank you.

I've made a note in my small notebook and will add updates later.

But I'm currently writing slowly, and I also need to stabilize my mindset a bit and detail the outline a bit, so there aren't many updates, I'm sorry.