15: The second batch of Jinling rice has yielded a bumper harvest.
Throughout the entire day, Zhang Sheng spent all his time on Refining Essence into Qi and practicing the Thick Earth Art.
The next day, May 12, 2030, at 9:00 AM, Zhang Sheng's Thick Earth Art reached the Adept Level.
Just like with the Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique, at the Adept Level, the Thick Earth Art allowed him to control the output of spiritual power; a mere tenth of a wisp of spiritual power was enough to cast the Spell once.
Now he could quickly increase his proficiency.
That afternoon, Zhang Sheng sowed 6,029 gold spirit rice seeds into two mu of experimental fields.
The second round of breeding officially began.
"My god!"
"Junior Wa, he's worth more than ten of us combined!" Bai Mingzhu exclaimed.
"This is too exaggerated. Casting the Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique to irrigate two mu of land... Is Junior Wa even human?"
Cheng Hao took a gulp of iced Coke. "Junior Sister, you're doing okay. Your and Senior Brother's Spirit Clouds are at least two meters in diameter. My poor Spirit Cloud is only the size of a winnowing fan."
In terms of spellcasting Talent, Cheng Hao was truly heartbroken. As the professor's current second Disciple, he couldn't compare to Zhang Yong above him, nor to his junior sister below him, and now there was even a monster of an undergraduate.
"*Burp*~ Life is just too hard for me."
Time flies during cultivation; another day passed.
At one o'clock in the morning, after finishing his day's cultivation and breeding work, Zhang Sheng didn't return home. Instead, he flipped through the Primordial Chaos Qi Refining Cultivation Technique.
According to the theory of this technique:
The human body is a Minor Universe, and humans exist within the Great Universe; the two together are called Primordial Chaos.
The core theory of Primordial Chaos Qi Refining is to use the human body's Minor Universe to link with the Great Universe, using the body as a foundation to draw in Spiritual Qi from the Great Universe.
The prerequisite is that the Spiritual Qi refined through one session of Refining Essence into Qi must travel through the Meridians guided by the technique for one full circulation; this is defined as one strand of Spiritual Qi.
This strand of Spiritual Qi will then draw an equal amount of Spiritual Qi from the Great Universe—the outside world—into the Qi Sea Dantian.
In this way, by performing circulations with Primordial Chaos Qi Refining, one can absorb Spiritual Qi from the outside world.
Each time, the amount of Spiritual Qi absorbed from the outside is equal to the amount produced within the body through Refining Essence into Qi, referred to as one strand.
After successfully completing a circulation, one enters the Qi Sea Realm.
The Qi Sea Realm is divided into nine layers, cultivating the Qi of Nine Dragons, where the Qi of one Dragon consists of 999 strands of Spiritual Qi.
Zhang Sheng understood now.
Each layer of the Qi Sea Realm actually required 999 circulations. To reach the ninth layer, who knows how long that would take?
Moreover, he discovered a critical issue.
That was—Refining Essence into Qi!
The amount of Qi in each strand was closely related to the level of one's Refining Essence into Qi.
If Entry-Level Refining Essence into Qi produced one wisp of Spiritual Qi, counting as 1, then the Adept Level would produce 2. What about the Proficient level? Or the Transcendent stage? Or the Perfected State?
Looking at it this way, if one had Entry-Level Refining Essence into Qi, the first layer of the Qi Sea Realm would be 999*1. With Adept Level, it would be 999*2.
When the time came, even at the same first layer of the Qi Sea Realm, the difference in strength would likely be immense due to the different levels of Refining Essence into Qi.
Although cultivating Primordial Chaos Qi Refining meant he wouldn't need to consume massive amounts of food anymore, Zhang Sheng decided to first Cultivate the Heavenly Circulation Method to the Proficient level.
He would probably achieve it by tomorrow anyway.
"Cultivation Technique: Heavenly Circulation Method (Proficient: 99/100)"
May 13th.
Zhang Sheng cultivated the Heavenly Circulation Method to the Proficient Realm.
"Five times!"
"Absolutely terrifying!"
Zhang Sheng hadn't expected the Proficient level of the Heavenly Circulation Method to be so powerful. Not only did the refining speed increase, shortening the time for one session from an hour to half an hour...
...but the amount of refined Spiritual Qi was also five times the original amount!
A single session of Refining Essence into Qi could actually generate ten wisps of Spiritual Qi in his Dantian.
However, it wasn't all good news. Zhang Sheng now needed to consume 10 essence food pills for a single cultivation session.
Relying on ordinary food would be completely impossible.
Out of options, Zhang Sheng had no choice but to start cultivating Primordial Chaos Qi Refining.
Anyway, throughout the entire Qi Sea Realm, one could disperse their Qi and restart cultivation.
Time passed minute by minute.
Zhang Sheng began his first cultivation of Primordial Chaos Qi Refining: a strand of Spiritual Qi (10 wisps) within his body traveled along specific Meridians.
Like a harlot enticing customers, it attracted Spiritual Qi from outside the body.
After one circulation was complete, the original 10 wisps of Spiritual Qi in his body, along with the 10 wisps enticed from the outside, returned together to the Qi Sea Dantian.
"Whew~"
Checking the time, three hours had passed.
This was way too long!
Zhang Sheng hurriedly went downstairs and rushed to the experimental base to begin casting Spells to nurture the gold spirit rice seedlings.
Now that the essence food pills were used up, Zhang Sheng had no way to apply for more from the professor.
Refining 10 pills in half an hour required a massive amount.
Zhang Sheng could only temporarily stop cultivating the Heavenly Circulation Method and switch to Primordial Chaos Qi Refining.
Cultivate!
Irrigate with spirit rain!
Cast the Thick Earth Art!
Cultivate!
Irrigate with spirit rain!
Cast the Thick Earth Art!
...And so the day passed. The Thick Earth Art reached the Proficient level, and the Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique reached the Transcendent stage.
"Spell: Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique (Transcendent: 1/100,000)"
Consuming just one wisp of spiritual power, he could manifest a Spirit Cloud a hundred meters in diameter, and his casting speed was several times faster.
Taking care of two mu of gold spirit rice seedlings was now effortless!
The Proficient level Thick Earth Art was also perfectly sufficient.
Early on the morning of May 14th, Zhang Sheng arrived at the lab and found Professor Liu Quan and his seniors all staring at the monitoring screen.
The screen was a sea of gold!
"Junior, are you even human?" Bai Mingzhu shrieked.
"Junior Zhang Sheng, do you still need a girlfriend? What do you think of me?"
Cheng Hao also handed over a bottle of happy water. "Zhang Sheng, from now on you're my senior, and I'm your junior."
Senior Brother Zhang Yong remained smiling and nodded at Zhang Sheng.
"Stop messing around!" Professor Liu stood up, walked over to Zhang Sheng, and patted his shoulder. "I never expected our school to produce such a Genius Spirit Farmer!"
"Spirit Farmer is the specific term used in cultivation civilizations for Talents who engage in growing spirit plants."
"Just now, your senior and I, with the help of AI, counted the statistics. All 6,029 gold spirit rice plants survived, and every single one is a bumper harvest!"
"Look!" The professor clicked the screen to zoom in on one plant.
"This single plant has a full 36 grains, twice as many as your previous batch!" Professor Liu Quan said excitedly. "Write a breeding report and submit it later. I'll take you to the University Committee to claim some rewards."
Today's harvest was within Zhang Sheng's expectations.
When he woke up that morning, Zhang Sheng discovered his skill had reached the Transcendent stage.
"Skill: Gold Spirit Rice Cultivation (Transcendent: 5,119/100,000)"
The yield per plant in the first batch was only nine grains, but in the second batch, it ranged from 9 to 18 to 36 grains.
Zhang Sheng wasn't surprised at all.
After harvesting the first batch of gold spirit rice, Zhang Sheng's cultivation level had reached the Adept Level.
The Adept Level ability allowed Zhang Sheng to grow gold spirit rice with higher yields.
The enhancement from the Thick Earth Art also played a significant role.
However, there was now a major problem.
And that was the harvest!
6,029 plants, and the stalks of each one were like steel bars.
Hydraulic shears were needed just to cut through the stalks.
Fortunately, after Professor Liu made a request to Regiment Leader Zhao, they received help from a squad of Armed Police Officers.