บท 4: Lentil
บรรณาธิการ: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"If big brother is at the high-grade Beginner Rank, then I'll have to reach the high-grade Advanced Rank!" Chi Qiaowu said as he continued to plow the land.
Wen Moshan followed his cousin's lead but was completely exhausted by then.
However, to achieve the power of breaking a tree in a single punch, none of them slacked on their work. After a few days, the 1/15 hectare land was almost entirely plowed.
"Not bad. Speed up a little. Once you two are done plowing the land, your foundation will be built, and you'll be able to start learning martial arts. I'll teach you the Crazed Bull Heavy Fist tomorrow," Chi Qiaosong said as he sipped his tea and read the newspaper.
It was an old newspaper.
When he was free, he went to the city and spent a dollar to purchase more than 10 kilograms of old newspaper.
He didn't buy the latest one as it would cost him 50 cents each. However, since his purpose was to learn more about the Daxia Republic and even the entire planet, old newspapers should suffice.
The young man was now reading a newspaper called Fox News. It was one that mainly focused on strange sightings, like wild foxes meditating and such.
The headline in the newspaper said, "General Zhao Consumed a Red Fruit to Reach the Master Plane."
General Zhao was a general in the South Bank Province. He was lucky enough to come across a rare red fruit and was able to successfully reconstruct his spine through that. As a result, he was able to reach the Master Plane of the Three Masters Plane.
The Three Master Plane could be separated into the Guardian Plane, Master Plane, and Grandmaster Plane.
Although the Master Plane was not as powerful as the supreme Grandmaster Plane, those who had reached the former had already obtained destructive power similar to a nuclear weapon.
"This newspaper is from two years ago. I've heard of General Zhao. He's the warlord who took over the South Bank Province and was acknowledged by the Central Government. He's now the provincial military governor of the South Bank Province."
Achieving that status meant that the general now had complete control of the province.
His full title was General Zhao, Provincial Military Governer of the South Bank Province, giving him complete authority over the army of the area.
The Chief of Staff would be the second and third in command. Those who were given the title of General would be the second in command, while those who weren't would be the third in command, which was a position lower than the Minister of Civil Affairs.
"Now that I think about it, our Commander Zhu is an Administrative Officer of the Great Striding Lake region. He's just the first in command of a city, no, three cities.
Commander Zhu was in the Guardian Plane, a rank lower than the Master Plane.
He had a lot of army power, but he couldn't become a Master Plane martial artist, which made it hard for him to conquer the entire Jiangyou Province.
Chi Qiaosong had heard that Master Plane martial artists could defend themselves against attacks from cannons and missiles with just their bodies. That was why just one would be enough to fight an entire army, giving them the power to take over an entire province.
Unlike the Master Plane, Guardian Plane martial artists could not do that, which was why they couldn't direct the flow of the entire war.
That was why, in order to rule over one or even many provinces, one had to achieve the Master Plane.
From what Chi Qiaosong could learn about the Jiangyou Province's history, there were a few Provincial Military Governors, but all of them failed to maintain their positions. As a result, they left behind a lot of mess when they either left or died, and the smaller warlords started to fight over the counties and cities.
"Well, no matter what happens, I hope that Commander Zhu can win." But, in the end, he still hoped that the commander would emerge victorious. One was so that he could return to the academy, but the real reason that he hoped for that was so that peace could come.
He wanted the commander to protect Ink Ridge County longer.
That way, he could continue to farm and practice martial arts. If he could get his hands on more spirit roots, his skills would skyrocket.
Once the farm was plowed, Chi Qiaosong started to teach Chi Qiaowu and Wen Moshan the Crazed Bull Heavy Fist. However, since both of them were still very young, he had only let them train an hour a day.
The rest of the time, he would train himself and plant lentils.
The beans were the best crop to plant for the season.
He had gathered some ashes and feces of chickens from his home and fertilized the land with those. Once he was done, he started to plant the beans and water them with spring water.
"I do hope that these beans are considered spirit plants." Chi Qiaosong was pretty much gambling.
Once he had planted the beans, he repeated his daily life of practicing martial arts, reading newspapers, and teaching for the next few days. He would head into Ink Ridge County from time to time, but since he had no money, there was nothing he could do there.
Initially, he thought that it would take the beans around five to seven days to sprout, but just three days after he had planted the seeds, the beans had already sprouted. At the same time, the information about the farm had changed.
[Level 1 Barren Land: 1/15 hectare (able to plant one spirit root)
Fertilizer: 1 bag
Spirit Root Source (1): Bay Tree (Crazed Bull Heavy Fist fully matured)
External Spirit Root (0): None
Spirit Plant: Lentil]
"It worked!" Chi Qiaosong exclaimed.
The lentils had become spirit plants. Once they had fully grown and were harvested, not only could it increase the farm's experience, but he could also receive a random amount of fertilizer. He was extremely eager to wait for that day to arrive.
He was also looking forward to Commander Zhu returning from the war victorious so that classes at the academy could resume to normal.
Once that happened, he would spend his time learning the energy skill, Purple Cloud Serenity, while looking for other chances to learn more external skills. There was no need to say that the instructors at the academy could teach more than the Crazed Bull Heavy Fist.
"Big brother! The lentils have sprouted!" Chi Qiaowu, who had woken up early to practice martial arts, exclaimed.
"What are we training for today?" Wen Moshan asked.
"You two will continue to practice the first three forms of the skill until you are able to exert the force of a bull. It'll take around three to five months to reach that stage."
"Why will it take so long? I thought it only took you three months to fully master the skill?"
"Because the both of you are stupid and stubborn." Chi Qiaosong wasn't embarrassed when he said that despite the fact that it took the real Chi Qiaosong three months just to grasp the fundamentals of the skill.
The only reason Chi Qiaosong was able to surpass all geniuses now was because of the cheat-like farm.
"Then, I'll do everything you say from now on!" Chi Qiaowu nodded and started to throw punches.
Wen Moshan followed suit, but both of them could only mimic the move as their punches did not have any power.
Chi Qiaosong was able to see that.
Although martial arts were the main focus of the development of the Daxia Republic, not everyone was talented in them. After a few days of teaching the two young boys, Chi Qiaosong could tell that their talents were pretty much the same as the original Chi Qiaosong.
It would be hard for them to succeed as martial artists if they weren't lucky enough.
At the very least, Chi Qiaowu had willpower, which was hard to find in a young person. However, unlike him, Wen Moshan didn't even have any willpower, and it would be hard for him to even enter the Wrestler Plane.
Chi Qiaosong shook his head and decided not to think about the future.
He continued to read the newspapers, trying to obtain information from every corner of the country.
Three more days passed by in an instant.
Leaves had already grown out of the lentils. These plants had grown way faster than Chi Qiaosong had expected. Since he had no experience in farming, he decided to ask his father for opinions.
Mr. Chi was surprised to see the progress as well. "I mean, the weather has been great for the past few days, but this is still too fast. Also, not one of the plants died. This is insane!"
"Maybe because I put a lot of fertilizer?"
"Even so, this hillside plot is not as good as the one we have by our house..." Mr. Chi was completely confused.
However, he didn't put much thought into it. He even hoped that the lentils could grow well so that they could earn some money for it, as they had borrowed some money to pay for Chi Qiaosong's tuition fee.
Mr. Chi even discussed it with his wife at lunch. "The lentils that Qiaosong has planted are growing well. Maybe the weather this year is suitable for planting them. Let's plant some later."
Chi Qiaosong had already understood that it wasn't that the weather was suitable to plant lentils. The amazing part was the farm that came out of his head.
However, he could not tell his parents about the farm yet. Thus, he decided to remain quiet.
Since lentils could be sold for a good price anyway, there was no need for him to stop them.
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