Eternal Life: Starting with Refreshing the Farmland

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Brightsun Market.

After leaving the Gathering Pavilion, Qin Ming strolled leisurely along the main street of the market.

The street was bustling with cultivators of all kinds, coming and going in a steady stream.

However, it seemed that there were many unfamiliar faces in the market today, more than usual.

As Qin Ming wandered the streets, a young female cultivator in a revealing green robe standing at the entrance of a pleasure house caught his eye.

"Fellow Daoist, care to indulge in some excitement?" she called out, batting her eyelashes at him.

Qin Ming paused for a moment, his expression unchanged, and then quickly walked away without a second glance.

"Oh? A righteous gentleman?" the female cultivator muttered in surprise, her confident demeanor fading.

She rolled her eyes in the direction Qin Ming had left and turned her attention to the next passerby.

After Qin Ming left, a burly man with a scruffy beard emerged from the pleasure house, his eyes narrowed.

"No luck?" he asked.

"Nope, just a clueless fool. How boring," the green-robed woman replied nonchalantly, inspecting her nails.

The man nodded silently and retreated back inside.

---

Once outside the market, Qin Ming couldn't help but scoff inwardly.

'As if I'd fall for that. Free or not, I wouldn't bother with such low-quality temptations.'

'Thankfully, my Dao heart is firm.'

---

By evening, Qin Ming returned to the slum district.

For dinner, he cooked another pot of premium Spirit Tusk Rice and began cultivating the "Hundred Treasures Glazed Sutra."

Over the past six months, the amount of premium Spirit Tusk Rice he had consumed was staggering.

If not for his luck in repeatedly obtaining the "Growth Acceleration" fragment, he would have struggled to sustain his body-refining cultivation.

As Fellow Daoist Ruan had said, this was indeed a "bottomless pit." Ordinary cultivators could never afford such a massive consumption of spirit materials.

Qin Ming had noticed that as he progressed through the layers of the "Hundred Treasures Glazed Sutra," the amount of spirit materials required to enhance his vitality increased exponentially.

Although the cost was high, the results were extraordinary. Even the first three layers of the technique far surpassed the effects of ordinary body-refining methods.

Fortunately, Qin Ming still had a sufficient supply of premium Spirit Tusk Rice.

---

**Knock! Knock! Knock!**

Just as Qin Ming finished his cultivation session, a series of urgent knocks sounded at his door.

He frowned.

'Who could be in such a hurry?'

Qin Ming quickly stored the Spirit Tusk Rice and went to open the door.

Peering cautiously through the crack, he saw Old Cai outside, drenched in sweat and visibly panicked.

Qin Ming opened the door and asked, "Old Cai, what's wrong? Why are you so flustered?"

"Something terrible has happened!" Old Cai stammered, his voice trembling with fear.

"Fellow Daoist Long... he's dead!"

The words hit Qin Ming like a thunderbolt, leaving his mind blank.

This news was truly hard to believe.

"Are you sure? Could there be a mistake?"

"Fellow Daoist Long was a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator. His abilities were far beyond those of ordinary cultivators. How could he have died so suddenly?"

"Did he go to the frontlines?"

Qin Ming's voice was filled with doubt and unease.

Old Cai replied urgently, "How could I be mistaken at a time like this?"

"Fellow Daoist Long didn't go to the frontlines."

"He was killed by bandit cultivators. His body was found in the nearby river, just discovered. Come and see for yourself."

With this shocking revelation, Qin Ming's heart sank.

Without further delay, the two hurried to the riverbank.

In less than half the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, they arrived at the scene.

Qin Ming was shocked to realize that the place where Fellow Daoist Long's body had been found was only a few hundred feet from his own home!

By the time they arrived, a large crowd of nearby residents had already gathered by the riverbank.

Everyone was visibly shaken, pointing at the body and whispering among themselves.

Qin Ming pushed through the crowd and looked over.

"It really is Fellow Daoist Long," he murmured, his disbelief fading.

Fellow Daoist Long's pale body had been stripped bare. All his belongings, including his storage pouch, were gone.

His body was riddled with dozens of gruesome wounds, and his neck and heart had been pierced by magical tools.

He must have died without even having a chance to cry for help.

"This is terrible. I heard Fellow Daoist Wang and the others found the body while washing clothes by the river."

"Indeed. He's been dead for a while. His body must have been stuck under the bridge last night and only washed ashore now."

"Do you think bandit cultivators did this? But with Fellow Daoist Long's strength, what kind of bandit could have killed him so silently?"

The crowd exchanged uneasy glances, a sense of foreboding hanging over them.

The atmosphere grew heavy with tension.

Before long, the Spirit Feather Sect's patrol team arrived in a hurry.

The leader dispersed the onlookers and glanced at the body in the river. Even he couldn't hide his shock.

He knew that if he had encountered the killer, he would have had no chance of survival.

"Could it be a Foundation Establishment bandit? But... it doesn't seem like it," the patrol leader muttered, stroking his chin.

He immediately took out a communication talisman to report the incident to the sect. This was clearly beyond his ability to handle.

---

Qin Ming returned to his home in a daze.

He hadn't expected danger to come so close to him.

"It seems the slum district is no longer safe."

"Brightsun Market is protected by a second-grade formation, which can even withstand Foundation Establishment cultivators."

"I need to make plans to move into the market as soon as possible. It's safer there."

Qin Ming's thoughts raced.

"And the spirit fields... I hope the Spirit Feather Sect will increase patrols."

"Sigh, even farming will be nerve-wracking from now on. This is exhausting."

"Hopefully, the bandit cultivators, after targeting a fat sheep like Fellow Daoist Long, won't bother with lowly spirit farmers like us."

"They probably... wouldn't even look our way, right?"

The death of Fellow Daoist Long deeply unsettled Qin Ming.

If even a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator could meet such a tragic end, Qin Ming couldn't help but feel a heightened sense of crisis.

'The killer didn't even bother to hide the body, blatantly dumping it in the river. It's as if they're flaunting their power.'

'It feels like a deliberate show of force.'

For years, Fellow Daoist Long's presence had deterred petty criminals in the area. Now that he was gone, the sense of security had vanished.

Qin Ming took out the mid-grade Thunder Arrow Talisman and tucked it into his sleeve, feeling slightly more at ease.

'After reaching the third layer of the "Hundred Treasures Glazed Sutra," the effects of premium Spirit Tusk Rice on my vitality have started to diminish.'

'I need higher-quality spirit rice to speed up my body-refining progress.'

'What if I could upgrade the premium Spirit Tusk Rice to supreme quality?'

'But the "Quality Upgrade" fragment hasn't appeared in over six months, except for the first time.'

Qin Ming's eyes gleamed with determination.

He currently had enough premium Spirit Tusk Rice to last a year.

No matter what, he decided to go all in.

This time, he would use his last "Growth Acceleration" fragment on the three acres of Frostbloom Flowers.

He was betting everything on obtaining a "Quality Upgrade" fragment!

(End of Chapter)

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