After finishing irrigating the Spirit Field, night quietly fell.
Li Mu tidied up the farm tools, returned to the wooden house by the field, walked to a stove made of blue stone bricks in the corner of the yard, and started cooking Spirit Rice.
Soon, the blazing stove fire lit up Li Mu's young face.
The rented Spirit Field of the sect was located halfway up the mountain, with the wooden house courtyard built against the mountain. It had one large and two small rooms, and a courtyard where one could practice swordsmanship. Li Mu had seen the lease agreement; this wooden house courtyard was 60 feet long and 23 feet wide, which, converted to square meters, covered an area of about 150 square meters.
Not far from the courtyard gate lay a pond, and beside it was the sect's Spirit Field. Nestled by the mountains and water, filled with the natural aura of Spiritual Qi, with tall trees and dense forests, the scenery was beautiful and free from any industrial pollution. It was extremely suitable for a pastoral life, far from the city hustle, with no 996 work schedule, no mortgage pressure. This kind of pastoral life was very comfortable indeed.
If not for the hardship of farming, the occasional fierce beasts and demon beasts descending from the mountains, and the occasional appearance of evil spirits and Yin Fiends at night, Li Mu would have no complaints about this pastoral life.
However, there are no ifs. This world is filled with dangers, powerful demon beasts, fierce ghosts, evil spirits, and demon cultivators. They devour flesh and blood, plunder the Essence Soul, refine human corpses, and humans are no longer the supreme spirits of all things but exist like pigs and sheep.
At the same time, in this world, there are powerful cultivators who can live for hundreds or even thousands of years, fly through the skies, escape through the earth, move mountains and seas. They are omnipotent and for a little benefit, they add sword and knife to each other, kill and seize treasures, destroy corpses and obliterate traces, and commit murder without batting an eye.
The original owner's death was unclear, perhaps caused by evil spirits or Yin Fiend, thought Li Mu while looking at the stove fire, with various thoughts arising in his mind.
In this world, personal strength is a matter of life and death, crucial, and it's necessary to urgently raise one's cultivation.
After a day of tiring farming and pest eradication, returning to the courtyard, Li Mu did not relax or rest. As soon as the Spirit Rice and demon beast meat were cooked, releasing fragrant steam, he eagerly began to eat.
Li Mu scooped a large spoonful of steaming white rice from the big iron pot, the translucent grains releasing an aroma mixed with traces of Spirit Charm, the fragrance captivating and heart-stirring.
He couldn't wait any longer, filled a pottery bowl and hastily began to eat, exclaiming "Oh oh" from being too hot.
The scorching Spirit Rice entered his mouth, fragrant and glutinous, sweet and delicious, the clear rice aroma transformed into warm currents circulating through his meridians, warming his whole body, as if a dry riverbed finally met refreshing rain, with Spiritual Qi flooding and cleansing his whole body.
Adding a big bite of demon beast meat, rich in flavor, his mouth was filled with a sense of happiness.
Li Mu wolfed down the food, finishing the entire pot of Spirit Rice and half a catty of demon beast meat in less than a quarter of an hour, still licking his lips hungrily.
Feeling warm all over and extremely comfortable, Li Mu quickly put down his bowl and chopsticks, sat cross-legged on the ground, closed his eyes slightly, and started cultivating the Cyan Wood Technique.
Cyan Wood Technique is a Wood Element Cultivation Technique, only at the Lower Yellow Grade, with limited attack capability. However, it is very suitable for assisting the growth of Spirit Plants. The original owner's ambition was to become a Spirit Plant Cultivator, so Li Mu can only continue cultivating this technique.
Eating Spirit Rice and demon beast meat generates a large amount of warm spirit currents in the body, which will nourish the body and gradually dissipate over time.
Li Mu took this opportunity to cultivate the Cyan Wood Technique, with Spiritual True Essence quickly flowing through his meridians, gathering the warm spirit currents scattered throughout his body.
The first circulation, the second circulation, the third circulation, ...
Time passed little by little, with Li Mu fully operating the Cyan Wood Technique. With the enhanced Spiritual Power from the Spirit Rice and demon beast meat, the cultivation effect was three or four times that of usual cultivation.
In the blink of an eye, an hour passed. Always closed-eyed in cultivation, Li Mu suddenly felt a faint pain in his meridians and had to stop this session. The Cyan Wood Technique is merely a Yellow Level Technique, with limited meridian expansion for cultivation, causing each circulation's effective duration to be too short.
After the tenth circulation, the meridians could no longer withstand the support of the Spiritual Power.
If cultivating a Profound Level Technique, the complexity of the meridian circulation paths would surpass that of Yellow Level Techniques. A single circulation could last at least half an hour, and the accumulation of Spiritual True Essence would become more substantial.
Over time, the accumulation of strength and differences in cultivation techniques will ultimately result in a disparity like that between heaven and earth.
Li Mu sighed, silently looking towards the character attribute column on the virtual screen.
[Cyan Wood Technique first circulation, Cyan Wood Technique Proficiency: +1, Spiritual Qi nourishment, Cultivation Progress +3.]
[Cyan Wood Technique second circulation, Cyan Wood Technique Proficiency: +1, Spiritual Qi nourishment, Cultivation Progress +2.]
...
The log prompts below the character attribute column displayed the results of this cultivation session.
This cultivation raised the Cyan Wood Technique Proficiency by 7 points and Cultivation Progress by 16 points. At this efficiency, reaching the Third-Layer Qi Refining would take about two more months.
However, this is under the condition of daily Spirit Rice and a demon beast meat diet.
Where could he get enough Spirit Stones for daily lavish meals?
"Sigh! Life is too hard!" Li Mu sighed, quickly clearing the tableware, preparing to make talismans to earn Spirit Stones, as relying solely on farming couldn't satisfy his cultivation needs.
He had a familiar panel. If he could raise the Talisman Making Technique level, he could secure a stable source of cultivation resources in the future.
In the wooden house bedroom, the candle flame on the wooden table flickered.
Li Mu sat at the wooden table, holding a wolf hair talisman brush in his right hand, focused on painting talisman patterns on a talisman paper. Weak Spiritual Power was consistently and steadily output through the hand holding the brush, while ensuring the smooth drawing of talisman patterns.
The blank talisman paper, made by peeling multiple layers from Low-tier Demon Beast Hide and processed using a Secret Technique, is thin and light.
Li Mu carefully painted the talisman patterns, fearing that the talisman brush might pierce through the talisman paper, while ensuring that the tip of the brush evenly distributed Spiritual Ink, and that the emitted Spiritual Power was inscribed into the talisman patterns.
Suddenly, with a "poof", the talisman paper spontaneously combusted, startling Li Mu.
Li Mu jumped and kicked, extinguishing the ignited talisman paper by stomping it out, his heart pounding wildly.
Damn it, too scary!
Just trying to make an Exorcism Talisman and it caught fire? What just happened?
It seems a talisman pattern line was drawn crooked?
Because of this error, causing a Spiritual Power conflict?
Hmm! The previous pattern lines were drawn correctly, so the Spiritual Power output was successful!
After extinguishing the burning talisman paper, Li Mu compared the "Spirit Talisman Drawing Strategy", summarizing the mistakes made during the talisman creation.
In the previous world, Li Mu was an experienced programmer, good at summarizing failures and logical reasoning. From this failed talisman drawing experience, he quickly identified the key reason that led to the spontaneous combustion of the rune paper.
Summarizing the failure experience, Li Mu felt he had taken a big step toward successful Talisman Making.
Li Mu took out a new piece of talisman paper and tried again.