The Eternal Farmer: I Trade My Harvest for Immortality Chapter 28

Compared to her older brother Sun Jin, Sun Mu fell somewhat short.

She appeared cautious and careful, lacking Sun Jin's composure. To put it bluntly, she lacked confidence in herself.

Fortunately, because the pests were discovered relatively early this time—most having just crawled out from the puddles and depressions—there weren't many on the Spirit Rice itself.

Therefore, no actual losses were incurred; this counted as a blessing in disguise.

Adhering to the principle of asking when unsure, Jiang Chen spoke to her. "What kind of bugs are these?"

Sun Mu struggled to control her sword pill; only after several seconds did she manage to speak. "Rice planthoppers."

"Rice planthoppers?" Jiang Chen memorized the name.

Seeing her internal spiritual energy was about to run out, Sun Mu quickly stopped to rest before continuing, "They're very common in the springtime, especially right after it rains."

Jiang Chen then asked accordingly, "Is there any permanent solution?"

Last winter, "Winter Awakening Insects" crawled out from the black soil. This spring, after the rain, "Rice Planthoppers" emerged. If pests appeared all year round, he would constantly need help from others.

Truthfully, although it wasn't strictly costly, it was somewhat troublesome.

Sun Mu sat cross-legged, slowly recovering her expended spiritual energy, then said, "This is a natural phenomenon. If you want to avoid it, you either find us to help or install a formation."

"A formation, huh." Jiang Chen pondered thoughtfully.

Sun Mu nodded. "Many Spirit Farmers, especially those reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, almost all hire Earth Spiritual Root formation masters to install a Low-grade Metal Slaughter Formation to avoid losses."

Jiang Chen quickly pressed, "What is the price of a Low-grade Metal Slaughter Formation?"

Sun Mu frowned. "Last year, hiring a formation master to install a Low-grade Metal Slaughter Formation cost about ten Mid-grade Spirit Stones. But every so often, you need to hire a Metal Spiritual Root disciple to input spiritual energy to maintain the formation's operation, so roughly eleven in total."

Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow. "Why 'last year'?"

Sun Mu sighed helplessly. "Everything has gone crazy expensive this year!"

Last year, many things were quite cheap. But this year, with the Formal Disciple Grand Competition only two years away, plus the five major forces deliberately controlling market prices to fleece the common disciples, prices changed daily.

Last year, installing the formation only cost eleven Mid-grade Spirit Stones. This year, maybe twenty Mid-grade Spirit Stones were needed. Thus, it seemed he couldn't afford to install one anytime soon.

A long time later, the pests were finally cleared completely by Sun Mu.

The reason it took so long this time was mainly because Sun Mu herself had a low cultivation realm and low spell level. To prevent damaging Jiang Chen's Tier-2 Spirit Rice, she had deliberately slowed her pest removal speed.

But the reward Jiang Chen gave was not Tier-1 Spirit Rice, but twenty jin of Tier-2 Spirit Rice!

Last time, when Sun Jin came for pest removal, he was given fifty jin of Tier-1 Spirit Rice. Converted to market price, that was only five Low-grade Spirit Stones.

This time, the Tier-2 Spirit Rice, calculated according to the current market ratio of 1:1.5, was roughly fourteen Low-grade Spirit Stones—nearly a triple increase!

"Expensive, too expensive." Jiang Chen felt his heart bleed with pain.

Only now did he realize how heaven-defying multi-elemental spiritual roots, especially having all five spiritual roots, truly were.

If only he had a Metal Spiritual Root, he wouldn't need others for pest removal.

If only he had an Earth Spiritual Root, he could install formations alone.

If only he had a Water Spiritual Root, he could perform the Minor Rain Spell daily.

Finally, the Spirit Plant harvest day arrived.

Jiang Chen stood on the field ridge, operating the Evergreen Art to sense the Spirit Rice's condition.

"The quality is unchanged, but the yield has indeed greatly increased." Jiang Chen nodded slightly.

Last winter, he had only loosened the soil himself and used a little fertilizer.

This spring, however, he had Tie Zhu loosen the soil, fully fertilized the field, found Lin Yu to perform the Minor Rain Spell, and applied the terrifying boost of the fifth-layer Evergreen Art. Even experiencing one natural spring rain drenching contributed. Finally, the yield broke three thousand jin, reaching an astounding 3,500 jin.

His previous efforts were clearly worthwhile.

Now, subtracting the 1,000 jin submitted for the task, plus the 800 jin provided to Chen Tian, plus Tie Zhu's soil loosening fee of 50 jin, plus Jin Fugui's 150 jin...

If calculated according to the earlier market ratio where Tier-2 Spirit Farm Top-quality Spirit Rice traded at 1:1.5, the remainder equaled ten Mid-grade Spirit Stones.

Now, adding the previous 800 jin of Top-quality Spirit Rice...

"If I save carefully, maybe I can install the formation this year?" Jiang Chen's eyes lit up brightly.

Then, he decisively picked up his daily spirit tool sickle and began happily harvesting.

When the Spirit Rice was fully harvested, Jiang Chen looked at his attribute panel.

This harvest added 7,000 days to his lifespan.

Although the yield increased, the days added didn't increase by much. Converted, he now had roughly one hundred and forty years of lifespan.

For a cultivator, one hundred-plus years wasn't much. But considering Jiang Chen had just started, he knew he could keep increasing it.

He rested for a while, then turned his gaze onto the Spirit Clover.

This was the Spirit Plant he had bought from the Foundation Establishment cultivator Wang Ze. According to him, it was a slightly higher grade than Spirit Rice.

Of course, what Jiang Chen cared about most was the thing's value. If it was worthless, then he had been tricked by Wang Ze, and there would be no need to continue planting it thereafter.

[Three-leaf Clover: Not Mature]

[Two-leaf Clover: Not Mature]

"Actually split into two batches? Even the names are different." Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow.

It seemed that although the name was "Four-leaf Clover," the value should actually be calculated according to quality. From the current situation, the three-leaf clover was a higher grade than the two-leaf clover.

It was a pity that because he had no planting experience, not a single four-leaf clover had grown out.

Since they would mature tomorrow, Jiang Chen didn't hurry. He turned and walked toward the wooden hut. Having been busy for so long, he should eat a proper meal to reward himself.

Time passed quickly, and the next day arrived.

After multiple inspections, they finally reached the point of maturity.

[Three-leaf Clover: Mature]

[Two-leaf Clover: Mature]

"Fully mature." This time, Jiang Chen didn't take a sickle; he used a hoe to dig.

Finally, the three-leaf clovers brought Jiang Chen 510 days of lifespan. The two-leaf clovers brought 482 days of lifespan.

Together, it was close to a thousand days.

Jiang Chen was not surprised by this result.

First, his planting method was wrong. Second, it was a small-scale trial.

He knew this Spirit Plant itself was small in size, plus it hadn't reached the final "Four-leaf" quality. If he covered the entire Tier-2 Spirit Farm with them and achieved "Four-leaf" quality, then the added days would definitely surpass harvesting Spirit Rice produce.

But currently speaking, Spirit Rice was more cost-effective for Jiang Chen. It was both sellable and edible, whereas the Four-leaf Clover had an unknown value, and the sole seller was Wang Ze.

Next, Jiang Chen deliberately waited a few days to match the timing of most Spirit Farmers. Then, he took his harvest and left, intending to first go to the Core Management Office to submit his task.

After that, he would find Wang Ze to see if he needed help harvesting, and then see if he wanted these clovers!