If one looked at the grain field that looked disorderly yet was exceptionally magnificent… it felt like the art of a master unshackled by rules who made do with what he had.
Then, Xiao Ran mulled over the two questions he had asked.
First, Chen Gongxing had asked him to weed and get rid of pests because he was good at picking grains and was guessing that he was possibly very accomplished at farming. It was a hard thing to ask. If Xiao Ran did not have max-level farming, he could have been tricked.
He guessed that Chen Gongxing knew that he lacked an innate gift and cultivation base, so his standards for him when it came to other talents were unusually high.
They passed the stage of talent and became a round of psychological assessment.
He had two choices—the first was to just go for it with reckless regard for life and death, and the second was to wait to overturn the situation by scrambling to survive.
Theoretically, the second option was the correct answer, but reality was always more complicated. It depended on who and what responsibility that person had when the theory was applied. This was not necessarily the correct answer for everyone.
The Wraith was here now. The Sword-Wielder scurried into the safety of the underground cave instantly when he saw no hope of winning. It seemed like a rational choice, but it did not match the identity of a Sword-Wielder.
The flood came, and they were losing ground. The soldiers and authorities who stood guard retreated at once to higher ground, farming to live past the flooding period in order to survive. Was this right?
Could others survive when the soldiers and authorities ran away? How many innocent citizens would be drowned in the deluge because of this?
There was nothing wrong with farming, but it was the duty of the common people.
If a Sword-Wielder chose to pull out their sword and battle, they could cover so that more disciples would escape into the cave and preserve more hope for the sect.
Xiao Ran thought back to his faraway previous life.
Why had the militants been the first to go when the 1998 China floods had happened? Hadn’t they been scared of dying? Had they been certain that their physical bodies could stop the flood before they’d rushed forward?
The hope of victory had always come from doing something—not predicting it!
Before his master had gone to the battlefield of the Purging Fight, had she known that she could kill dozens of Nascent Soul Wraiths as a Golden Core cultivator?
If countless strong cultivators like his master had not dared brandish their swords against Wraiths, the cultivation world would have been destroyed eons ago.
One should care less about life and death if one refused to give in! This was the way of a Sword-Wielder.
As a Sword-Wielder, Xiao Ran had the system to back him up and found a support pillar in his master, thus improving by leaps and bounds by carrying out acts of devotion…
Basically, he had gotten all the advantages he could get his hands on in the cultivation world.
Now, his master had given him the identity of a Sword-Wielder. If any Wraiths came, he would not be retreating. He would be too ashamed to do that!
Furthermore, his master was a Sword-Wielder who was excellent at fighting. If his master was gone, who would he be reaping DP from?
He had to make sure he protected this wonderful cultivation world and his beautiful but not that intelligent master well!
His wise thoughts were running wild while he was riding the paper kite, but this was also a sincere thought.
It was not like he’d had insight into the middle-aged man’s questioning logic in advance. If he were not being sincere, Chen Gongxing would see it too.
It looked like Xiao Ran had won Chen Gongxing over.
Out of the three tricky inner sect enemies Lin Yunzi had introduced…
The first was Ye Fan, a Foundation Establishment cultivator with a protagonist template that had been rejected by his master due to his less than satisfactory outer appearance.
The second was Jiang Meiyan, a Golden Core cultivator who was pretty but had been rejected by his master due to her exceptional talent.
The third was Chen Gongxing, a Nascent Soul cultivator and human touchstone—as well as the hardest to tackle.
In the end, Xiao Ran had actually resolved to handle the trickiest person by sheer serendipity.
Everything was difficult at first—the saying was true!
Chen Gongxing was a man worthy of respect, but Xiao Ran was not planning to go through too many pleasantries with him.
After he assessed Xiao Ran and before he changed his mind and decided to charge over at him, the latter had quickly taken his two catties of free grains and left Gargan-Grain Mountain. Those were the essence of the grain field!
Upon leaving Gargan-Grain Mountain, Xiao Ran first went back to the outer sect tower, where the items on his list were already.
The rice wine yeast, high-quality fertilizers, vegetable and fruit seedlings, scenic spiritual plants, such as bamboo, maple, and cherry blossoms were all gathered. Other than that, Lin Yunzi also prepared rice and noodles, wheat flour, fresh fruits, and vegetables for Xiao Ran too upon considering that there was nothing to eat on the Sword-Wielding Mountain.
It seemed that this small old guy was determined to suck up to him.
Now that he was certain of it, Xiao Ran did not give him spirit stones this time, planning to repay him with a favor instead.
After storing all the items in the system storage, Xiao Ran boarded his paper kite and prepared to head off to get the last key part of making wine—natural yeast.
According to Baili Qingfeng’s tip, there were a lot of black mushrooms that could make natural yeast in the wild forest at the base of Cricket Hill southwest.
It was like completing missions in a game. It was a bit tedious, but once he thought that the wine he would make would drop DP off his master, Xiao Ran thought that it was quite interesting.
When he arrived at the base of Cricket Hill, the place was rather scenic. Insects and birds were buzzing and chirping noisily until some beasts roared. Then, they began another choir of noise after a while.
Xiao Ran roamed about in the forest and realized that it was easy to find the black yeast mushrooms, as there were a lot of them.
Considering that he might need a lot of them in the future, Xiao Ran dug up quite a number of mushrooms along with the soil, planning to move and cultivate them on the Sword-Wielding Mountain.
All of a sudden, Xiao Ran’s instinct screamed that he was being targeted by someone.
Upon listening to the world, he realized it was not a person. It was a tiger! And it was ready to ambush him from behind…
He could hear its breathing, which was like a slow rumbling engine.
Humans’ fear of tigers was carved into their genes.
Chills ran down Xiao Ran’s back as his hair stood on end.
One should never turn their back to a beast. Furthermore, he could not be dominated by anyone under the level of Qi Refining after cultivating the Art of Resonance. Upon calming down, Xiao Ran turned to face the tiger.
In the dim and dark bramble bush, a large tiger head was vaguely visible.
Noticing that Xiao Ran had discovered it, the tiger stepped out and revealed itself. Its steps were incredibly light, but its body was as imposing as a lofty mountain!
Xiao Ran sucked in a deep breath.
This was a red-spotted tiger, one that was larger in size than a buffalo.
Its patterned body was covered in rare red stripes as it curled its back high like a cliff. Its beady eyes were menacing as they glinted with a terrifying vibe.
The sight of it alone was intimidating. If one was weaker mentally, one would collapse on the spot and become the tiger’s meal.
Ah… Missions always came with a feral monster.
Xiao Ran recomposed his thoughts. He was sure that this tiger was not even in the Qi Refining stage, but to grow so large without cultivating, it had to be a gifted and powerful creature.
He had collected enough black mushrooms, so there was no need to risk staying longer around the beast.
Xiao Ran struck the air with his palm. The strike looked ordinary but felt like a stone thrown into the lake, causing ripples in the air.
Bang!
Instantly, the palm strike resonated with the mist in the jungle and expanded, picking up speed and resonating with the spiritual energy of the trees around.
Bang!
The force of the palm strike accelerated again and finally resonated with space and every dimension…
Bang!
After three amplifications, the palm strike, which had looked ordinary in the beginning, picked up speed suddenly and felt as vehement as a dragon and as fierce as a tide before it landed on the head of the red-spotted tiger.
Bang!
It resonated once more with the body of the tiger.
The red-spotted tiger was stunned at first. Then, its head buzzed and its gigantic body was flung away into the bramble bush.
Xiao Ran checked it out.
Other than a minor concussion, the tiger was not hurt…
It was not an ordinary tiger! It was at least at the Body Tempering peak.
Xiao Ran did not want to engage in battle. A Sword-Wielder did not wield a sword to kill a tiger. If he died because of it, the system would be widowed.
Without any hesitation, he pulled out his paper kite. It was too bad that aid arrived too slowly in a forest.
A booming roar came from the tiger before it pounced on Xiao Ran like a flying dragon with its gigantic size.
Its claws were gleaming coldly like steel, while its fangs were as pointy and cool as a shark’s.
The wind blew, and leaves fell in a flurry. Birds flapped their wings away while other creatures fled from the nearby area.
It was a dangerous situation.
The red-spotted tiger was thick-skinned and sturdy as a mountain, so its one-ton body would flatten Xiao Ran by falling if his hand technique or punches only hurt it physically without flinging it away.
Abruptly, an idea flashed in Xiao Ran’s mind.
He unsheathed his sword in the blink of an eye, sliding it under the red-spotted tiger and moving his sword into the tiger’s stomach.
As the sharp blade pierced the animal’s meaty body, there was a faint tremble of resonance. By leveraging the tiger’s momentum as it pounced, the motion was like drawing a zipper open on the red-spotted tiger’s belly.
Xiao Ran somersaulted and landed in the jungle.
He had not expected the first slide of his life to be this smooth.
When he turned back, the bloody internal organs fell on the ground, successfully burying Xiao Ran’s paper kite.
The tiger lay 30 meters away, breathing its last breaths in a pool of blood. A tremor ran through its body again and again… The tiger kept quivering.
Meanwhile, blood poured from its wound.
Kind-hearted Xiao Ran could not bear to look at it and went forward to help stop the bleeding. These were marvelous ingredients for a spicy blood dish. They should not be wasted.
Hanging on for dear life, the red-spotted tiger did its best to peel its eyes open, only to realize that the one stopping its bleeding was the human it had tried to kill just now. As immense gratitude ran through it, Xiao Ran landed a palm strike and killed it in an instant.
He put the carcass of the tiger into his storage space swiftly before releasing another paper kite and leaving Cricket Hill, thinking that he had to purchase max-level culinary skills now.
…
A quarter of an hour later, a young lady in cerulean chiffon who was almost as petite as a child rode her sword to Cricket Hill. Her features were so innocent that she looked like a dreamy girl.
A middle-aged woman who looked rather beautiful welcomed her in front of the mountain gate.
“Have you managed to dig into Xiao Ran’s information by going to the outer sect this time, Senior Sister Jiang?”
“I’m dying of anger!”
The young girl’s voice was soft with a tinge of sadness. This felt like an innocent first love.
“Those handymen have sealed their mouths. They wouldn’t tell me, no matter how many spirit stones I offered. The Outer Sect Trainer was acting all mysterious, as though this man can only be found in heaven. He said no one gets to meet someone like this here and stuff. Then, he asked me not to be stubborn…”
The middle-aged woman replied, “I can guard the Sword Plain for four hours from tomorrow on for you. Once Xiao Ran appears, I’ll inform Senior Sister immediately.”
“Mm, guess that’s all we can do. Right, did you see my red-spotted tiger? Why didn’t it come to welcome me today?”
“Hmm, I really didn’t see it today. When I was meditating just now, I thought I heard a tiger roar in the forest at the base, though.”
“A tiger roar? Xiao Hong never makes a sound when it hunts.”
Suddenly, the girl gasped.
“Something must’ve happened to Xiao Hong!”