149 Chapter 144: Rain and Dew are Shared Equally i
Translator: 549690339 |
He cultivated until dusk and then finally stopped his practice.
Upon standing up, he was startled to find a metallic clinking coming from his skin and a crackling sound from his muscles and bones.
Upon closer inspection, he discovered a layer of stinky black grime on the surface of his arm’s skin. His body felt sticky, and when he touched it, the black odoriferous grime was present all over.
It seemed that the impurities within his body had been expelled.
Feeling an itch in his throat, he actually coughed up a clot of bloody phlegm.
He truly understood what it meant to undergo a rebirth, to be rejuvenated.
Every movement felt lighter and more agile.
In the past, lifting his arms would feel constrained.
But now, it became exceptionally easy, with the sensation of being pulled and tugged by his skin, muscles, and tendons greatly diminished.
These were the benefits brought about by the enhancement of his skin, muscles, and tendons.
Also, when breathing, not only did the breaths become deeper and longer, but the muscles throughout his body, even every single cell, seemed to contract and relax in rhythm. It was as if his entire body could breathe.
In fact, this was due to his body and lungs becoming more coordinated and attuned.
This was beneficial in enhancing his explosive power and endurance.
He checked his current cultivation level.
Qin Niu
Cultivation: Everlasting Spring Technique Acquired Realm level 124/1000 (Medicine King Sutra Mortal Realm Sixfold 591/600), Intermediate Farmer 117.1/1000, Insect Master Low Rank 48/100, Beast Tamer Low Rank 3/100
Lifespan: 108 years
Cultivation Techniques: Everlasting Spring Technique level 2 541/1000, Medicine King Sutra level 2 222/1000
After checking his cultivation, he felt satisfied.
He was already an intermediate farmer; although still weak, compared to before, it was a tremendous improvement.
His cultivation had even made a breakthrough to the Acquired Realm.
Based on his feelings, the soldiers of the Black Armored Army standing guard at the gates of Black Tiger City were probably at this realm.
When he was Mortal Realm Sevenfold or Eightfold, he thought he was pretty strong.
Now he understood that someone in the Mortal Realm was just an ordinary person, not even a martial artist.
Only by stepping into the Acquired Realm could one understand what it truly meant to be a martial artist.
Their combat power was simply incomparable to those in the Mortal Realm.
Now, even though he was only a newcomer who had just entered the first level of the Acquired Realm and practiced a Life-Nurturing Technique not specialized in combat, he was still confident he could defeat five Tenfold Mortal Realm individuals single-handedly.
And he could win decisively.
Of course, that was provided everyone’s martial skills and weapons were of a similar level.
Otherwise, there were too many factors that could affect combat power.
Mental strength, martial skills, weapons, armor, combat experience, etc., any of these could affect the outcome of a battle.
Cultivation was just the most important foundation among them.
“Back home!”
He collected the Banyan Tree Blood, shouldered his basket, and left the maze formed by the banyan tree.
He felt the air was exceptionally fresh.
The only thing that bothered him was the sticky black grime on his body, which was very uncomfortable.
Despite his eagerness to return home, he certainly wouldn’t neglect his beekeeping and termite rearing activities.
With the current insect calamities ravaging the land, the more formidable insects he had in his possession, the more effective they could be at crucial moments.
The Ant Queen was still evolving, and it was uncertain when the evolution would be complete.
Having passed the most dangerous phase, it was now merely a matter of time.
He fished out a crumpled leaf from his pocket, which belonged to the broad- leafed herb. He had dug it up and brought it home to grow in the backyard, and he would practice his Everlasting Spring Technique daily to aid its growth.
He also used the manure from Xiao Nui to fertilize it.
Every time he went to the mountain, he made sure to tear off a small piece of the herb’s leaf to feed the three termites.
However, these three termites had yet to show any changes.
After eating it, the Worker Ant would feed the young ants through trophallaxis.
Qin Niu wanted to see if the broad-leafed herb, which he felt was special, could enable the termites to undergo a new evolution.
Coming down from the mountain, he was returning home earlier today; it was not yet dark.
Along the way, the villagers, seeing his darkened skin, gossiped about him behind his back.
Qin Niu ignored these criticisms, turning a deaf ear.
“Master, you’re back! Quite early today, aren’t you!”
Xiao Qing saw Qin Niu return and, delighted, dropped the broom in her hands and ran to the entrance to greet him.
“Hehe, you came home early to save me the trouble of carrying a lantern down to the foot of the mountain to meet you.”
Qin Niu patted her head.
“Oh, Master Tang, you all haven’t finished work for the day yet!”
He saw inside the courtyard, the Tang Fang brothers and their workers were working overtime, busy with tasks like building walls and laying floor tiles.
“Didn’t you lend us your ducks? And you also gave our Tang Family’s patriarch some advice which, after setting up the buffer zone, really succeeded in stopping most of the locusts from entering the village. Everyone is especially grateful to you, so we wanted to help finish your new house as soon as possible. It’s estimated that it can be completely finished the day after tomorrow!”
Tang Fang turned his head and smiled as he explained.
“Thank you so much! Later, each person can take home a piece of wild boar meat!”
Qin Niu didn’t wait for their consent and, taking Xiao Qing with him, entered the house.
The four hundred pound wild boar yielded nearly three hundred pounds of meat.
Qin Niu had Xiao Qing distribute five pounds of meat to each worker.
The Tang Fang brothers were the foremen and had put in the most effort, so they received ten pounds of meat each.
This made the workers beam with joy, and they repeatedly thanked Qin Niu.
Even if a pound of wild boar meat sold for only three Wen Money, five pounds were fifteen Wen Money.
It wasn’t much money, but Qin Niu’s gesture made the workers very comfortable and filled them with gratitude.
Qin Niu personally cut a piece of meat from the boar king, about ten pounds in weight.
“Master Tang, please give this piece of meat to Tang Caixian and ask her to eat more of it.”
Qin Niu didn’t openly say that eating this meat would aid in cultivation.
One must always guard against others.
After all, Tang Fang might secretly switch it out.
The difference between the boar king’s meat and regular wild boar meat was too great.
To know, that boar king had cultivated a Beast Core and was considered a magical beast.
Tang Caixian was a good girl and had also given Qin Niu an extremely valuable jade pendant. Naturally, if capable, he would take care of her in every possible way.
After sending the workers off and looking at the newly taking shape house, Qin Niu was quite satisfied.
He cut another piece of the boar king’s meat, also around ten pounds.
“Xiao Qing, go give it to Miss Wang next door. Remind Miss Wang that she can eat more of it.”
“Hehe, I knew the master wouldn’t forget Sister Wanyan.”
Xiao Qing seemed young, but she was quite the little devil.
Having tasted the meat buns that Miss Wang had given, her fondness for Miss Wang was quite obvious.
“You’re a little imp, now hurry and go!”
Qin Niu scolded her with a laugh, gave her the meat, and then went into the house to take a bath and changed into clean clothes.
Xiao Qing had already returned after delivering the meat.
“Sister Wanyan says thank you and asks that you visit her for tea when you have time. Actually, she came to look for you twice in the past two days, but since you were not home, she left.”
“I’ve been so busy every day recently; I really haven’t had much time. Next time she comes, tell her to come find me in the evening.”
Qin Niu had intended to say, let her come find him at night.
But then he thought that might be inappropriate.
After all, how would it look for a young unmarried woman to go to a man’s house at night?
Unless one day he married her or they were engaged, that would be a different matter.
“Oh right, Steward Yan Qi from the Yan Family also came looking for you. Learning that you had gone into the mountains, he sat at Wang Furen’s place for a while and then left.”
“Did he mention what for?”
“No, he didn’t say. He just bought the two thousand ducks from Wang Furen.”
“Do you know how much he paid for each one?”
“I really don’t know that.”
Xiao Qing had limited information she could inquire about, and people wouldn’t tell an outsider like her the price of the transaction.
Qin Niu decided to ask Wang Furen about it the next time he saw him.
He felt like selling the ducks now was a bit premature.
The scale of the insect disaster was so large, it definitely wouldn’t stop within a day or two.
With over seven months left until winter, if the locust plague was not dealt with by human effort, it would at least continue to ravage for over six months.
Moreover, their breeding speed would get faster and faster, and it would only get more terrifying over time.