The two of them chatted for a while longer before Li Yang took his leave.
The thatched cottage returned to silence. Lu Feng stood up, picked up his spirit hoe, and set to work in his spirit field.
[You performed a spirit rice irrigation task, Spirit Planter proficiency +1]
[You performed a spirit rice weeding task, Spirit Planter proficiency +1]
......
After tending to the spirit field, Lu Feng wiped the sweat from his forehead and sat cross-legged on the ridge to circulate the Azure Wood Formula.
Having broken through to Qi Condensation Layer 2, the total amount of spiritual qi within Lu Feng's body was three times greater than before.
As a result, the number of times he could cast the Spirit Rain Spell had increased to ten.
However, he was not in a rush to raise the proficiency level of the Spirit Rain Spell right now; instead, he wanted to quickly elevate his cultivation realm.
Only then would he possess a certain level of self-preservation capability.
Time flew by, and another five days passed quickly. His cultivation broke through once more, reaching Qi Condensation Layer 3.
At this moment, the total amount of spiritual qi in Lu Feng's body had doubled again, meaning he could now cast the proficiency-level Spirit Rain Spell twenty times.
Looking at the value of 100 still displayed behind the cultivation column, a trace of doubt appeared in Lu Feng's heart.
Because for spells on the panel, the required upgrade values would increase after a proficiency level was raised, yet the value in the cultivation column had never changed.
This left Lu Feng somewhat puzzled.
Still, this was fine; it meant his cultivation could advance very quickly.
After these five days of cultivation, his proficiency in the Azure Wood Formula also reached 199 points.
Lu Feng sat cross-legged inside the thatched cottage, closing his eyes to cultivate. A moment later, the Azure Wood Formula completed another major circulation.
[You circulated the Azure Wood Formula once, proficiency +1]
[Your Azure Wood Formula proficiency has reached 200; the spell's proficiency level has advanced from Minor Accomplishment to Major Accomplishment]
Along with this prompt, a profound and mystical stream of technique memories merged into Lu Feng's mind.
At that moment, Lu Feng's understanding of the Azure Wood Formula rose by several tiers, and his speed in absorbing and refining spiritual qi became three times faster than before.
Right now, his cultivation speed was almost catching up to his past self.
Back when his Spiritual Root was intact, circulating the Azure Wood Formula through one major circulation took about a quarter of an hour.
Now, with the Azure Wood Formula at Major Accomplishment, completing a major circulation took only forty minutes.
He had not expected that a breakthrough in the proficiency level of the Azure Wood Formula would bring such a massive boost to his cultivation speed.
"Haha, if I raise the Azure Wood Formula by another proficiency level, wouldn't my cultivation speed become even more terrifying?"
Lu Feng was brimming with drive and motivation!
Regarding the proficiency levels of techniques, he had learned about them previously in the Tianling Sect.
Techniques, spells, and divine abilities started from Initiation, followed by Proficiency, Minor Accomplishment, Major Accomplishment, and Flawless—five levels in total.
Generally, cultivating a technique to Major Accomplishment meant one had thoroughly mastered it, while the Flawless level was something that, apart from the creator of the technique, other cultivators could hardly ever reach.
Immediately afterward, Lu Feng entered a meditative state once again and resumed circulating the Azure Wood Formula.
Forty minutes passed, and a new message popped up on the proficiency panel.
[You circulated the Azure Wood Formula once, proficiency +1]
Lu Feng felt a secret thrill. At his current cultivation speed, he could circulate the Azure Wood Formula over thirty times a day.
However, he needed to set aside an hour for tending to the spirit field and eating meals.
As for sleeping, it was completely unnecessary, because seated meditation was far more effective than sleep.
And so, another two days went by.
Lu Feng's cultivation finally broke through to Qi Condensation Layer 4, which others referred to as the Qi Condensation Mid Stage.
This breakthrough did not increase the total amount of spiritual qi in his body by much, but the density of the spiritual qi had tripled.
Lu Feng stopped cultivating, walked over to the edge of his spirit field, and cast the Spirit Rain Spell upon it.
Originally, the Spirit Rain Spell would consume one-twentieth of his spiritual qi, but now it only consumed one-sixtieth—a consumption so slight it was virtually negligible.
This was the benefit brought by the increase in spiritual qi density. At the same time, Lu Feng could sense that the concentration of spiritual qi contained within the spirit rain had also slightly improved.
"It seems the cultivation realm also has a certain impact on the effects of spells."
Lu Feng muttered to himself, rubbing his chin.
Just then, Li Yang came running over from the distance in a fluster.
"Hahaha, Brother Lu, Brother Lu! Come take a look at my spirit field."
Lu Feng hurried forward a few steps and asked, "Friend Li, what has you so happy?"
Without another word, Li Yang grabbed his wrist, pulled him over to the adjacent spirit field, and pointed his finger at it, saying, "Brother Lu, look!"
Following the direction Li Yang pointed, he saw that this spirit field was densely planted with tender shoots of spirit rice.
Each seedling was about ten centimeters tall, and the planting density and spacing intervals had all been handled according to Lu Feng's method.
"Oh! Congratulations, Friend Li. You've actually succeeded."
"Haha, it's mostly thanks to Brother Lu's good teaching. The harvest from this mu of spirit field this year definitely won't be small. Furthermore, my other four mu of spirit fields have also started being planted using this method," Li Yang replied with a smile.
Lu Feng was secretly startled, not expecting that Li Yang had actually rented five mu of spirit fields all by himself.
"That's right, Friend Li, there is something I would like to consult you about. I wonder what the current selling price of spirit rice is?"
Earlier, when Lu Feng exchanged the price of five spirit stones for a hundred catties of spirit rice, Li Yang had agreed readily and cheerfully, which indicated that a hundred catties of spirit rice were not even worth five low-grade spirit stones.
"Brother Lu, the current price of spirit rice is three shattered spirit stones per catty."
Lu Feng was momentarily stunned; this selling price came as quite a surprise to him.
One hundred shattered spirit stones could be exchanged for a single low-grade spirit stone, which meant that ninety catties of spirit rice had the exact same value as one low-grade spirit stone.
Calculated on the basis that one mu of spirit field could harvest four hundred catties of spirit rice a year, that amounted to four low-grade spirit stones.
Out of that, half of the spirit rice had to be handed over as land tax.
Thinking of this, Lu Feng finally understood why Li Yang was so poor—spirit rice simply wasn't worth anything.
Lu Feng nodded to indicate he understood, and then he went on to give Li Yang pointers on how to manage the spirit field before the rice headed.
After their chat, Lu Feng returned to his thatched cottage.
It seemed that getting rich by growing spirit rice was definitely out of the question.
However, he had signed a three-year lease with the Chen Clan, and during these three years, he had to figure out a way to earn more spirit stones; otherwise, how could he possibly contend with the massive Tianling Sect?
"If all else fails, should I try alchemy or artifact forging?"
He possessed the proficiency panel, so he didn't need to worry about failing to learn these two cultivation auxiliary professions.
The only difficulty was that alchemy and artifact forging required various materials and corresponding auxiliary equipment.
The prices of these items were not cheap; taking a Tier 1 Qi Replenishing Pill as an example, its ingredients consisted of five types, and the materials for refining a single furnace of Qi Replenishing Pills were generally worth three low-grade spirit stones.
Refining a single furnace could yield at most ten pills, and each Qi Replenishing Pill sold for two low-grade spirit stones.
While the profits seemed huge, this also factored in the Alchemist's handling fee and the risks assumed in case the alchemy batch failed.
After pondering for a moment, Lu Feng dismissed the idea.
He only had five low-grade spirit stones on hand right now and couldn't afford these things at all.
Better to accumulate more spirit stones first before considering such matters.