Chapter 38: Cultivating Spiritual Fields and Planting Tea
Inside the Summer Capital Agricultural University.
Xu Zhao looked at Wei Ge again, his face showing some melancholy.
Xu Zhao noticed the job posting three days ago, just after Li Chang'an released it.
He left a message asking about the area and slope, and later added information about his team, which attracted the attention of many netizens.
[This is a professional, from Xiadu Agricultural University. Li Chang'an, look here!]
[Upvote! Upvote! Let the professionals handle the professional tasks.]
However, the afternoon after the job posting was released, Li Chang'an posted another message on Weibo, saying that he had already found someone and thanked the netizens for their comments.
Xu Zhao felt somewhat regretful.
He sighed, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw his mentor walk in.
The tutor put down his thermos and casually asked, "He didn't reply to your question about the terraced field design you mentioned?"
"Yes." Xu Zhao nodded. "They said they've already found someone."
The mentor said, "That's a pity, he was a step too late. Did he reveal whose team he was on?"
“No,” Xu Zhao added, “Xuanling Immortal Mountain is so famous now, no matter which team participated in the design, it will definitely be released in the end.”
The tutor shook his head. "Not necessarily."
She took a sip of water, pondered for a moment, and then said, "See if you can find someone to buy the vegetables he grows. If the quality is really good, we should seize the opportunity to go to his door."
Xu Zhao nodded quickly: "Okay, teacher."
...
According to Tianxuan's design, the lowest part of the terraced fields—that is, the flattest part of the entire foothills—was used as paddy fields to grow rice, water chestnuts, and other crops.
The steeper, uppermost areas are used for dryland farming, where other vegetables are grown.
However, irrigating the terraced fields is a major problem.
Ningjing River is located in a low-lying area, several hundred meters away from Wolu Mountain, making it impossible to use its water for irrigation.
It needs to be diverted from the river flowing down from the cave of the mountain god.
The river flowing down from the mountain god's cave is relatively narrow at the top of the mountain, but becomes tens of meters wide after flowing through the forest.
The river flowed endlessly. Li Chang'an went inside the cave and found that its source was an endless deep pool.
After leaving the mountain god's cave, Li Chang'an used his spiritual power to guide the black sword, splitting several river branches, which eventually flowed into the Ningjing River.
It took him several days just to attract traffic.
In the past few days, under the guidance of the mushroom spirits, they have begun to cultivate the spiritual fields. After a few days, dozens of plots of land, about ten acres in total, have appeared at the foot of Wolu Mountain.
The weeds on these dozens of plots of land were cleared away completely, and the soil became very loose after being turned over.
With the irrigation problem solved, Li Chang'an also joined in the work of cultivating the spiritual fields.
At the same time, formations were set up at the ridges between the two terraced fields.
The tea tree branches given by the tea essence can be placed directly into the core of the formation, where they will take root and continue to grow in the inferior spiritual soil.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, Li Chang'an would fill two buckets with water, one for the mushroom spirits to take back themselves, and the other to Dongfu Sky Island.
Then, he went to the other side of the mountain and cut down trees with Tianxuan.
The two used their spiritual power to chop down the trees quickly, and the broken branches were automatically collected into their storage bags and taken to the banks of the Ningjing River.
The trees were cut into planks to be used to build houses.
—Tianxuan has already designed Li Chang'an's house, as well as warehouses and livestock sheds.
In the past few days, the timber has been prepared, and Li Chang'an has also taken a day to go to Ling'an City to buy bricks.
With all the materials prepared, it was time to start building the house.
The new house was located to the left of the original bamboo house, with Wolu Mountain to the northwest of the main gate, more than 100 acres of open land directly opposite, and a bamboo forest behind it.
It's a bit further away from Ningjing River now.
The extra hundred-plus acres of land after the sacrificial ceremony were just ordinary soil. Since Li Chang'an already had 30,000 acres of inferior spiritual soil on Wolu Mountain, he did not plan to farm on these hundred-plus acres.
He plans to dig a pond of about 60 mu (approximately 4 hectares) on this ordinary soil to grow lotus roots and lotus flowers. He will build livestock sheds between the pond and Wolushan Mountain to raise pigs, chickens, and ducks.
*
Every morning, Li Chang'an would deliver the vegetables he supplied from Xuanling Immortal Mountain, then work with the mushroom spirits to cultivate the spiritual fields. By noon, the mushroom spirits would help him build houses.
The house designed by Tianxuan is an antique-style building with a wooden roof, brick walls, and a bamboo fence outside the courtyard. The roof is equipped with photovoltaic panels that can provide electricity for the entire house. For aesthetic purposes, talismans have been drawn to conceal them.
The house occupies 300 square meters, and the yard occupies 600 square meters.
With the help of the fungal spirits, the house was built in seven days.
Li Chang'an prepared a guest room and invited Tianxuan to stay there.
He hadn't forgotten that Tianxuan's initial request was to live in the Xuanling Immortal Mountain.
On the night Tianxuan stayed, Li Chang'an smelled the fragrance of tea while meditating.
Why did the tea essence suddenly appear in the middle of the night?
Li Chang'an walked out of the room with a puzzled look and saw Cha Jing standing in the courtyard, sneakily peeking into the house, or more precisely, into the room where Tian Xuan was staying.
"Is there something you need?" Li Chang'an asked.
Tea Spirit's body stiffened, and then he said, "Are there other people here at night too?"
Li Chang'an nodded: "Yes, he's the senior who designed the terraced fields for me. He'll be staying here for a while. Why?"
The tea essence explained, "The power he possesses is rather special. I didn't notice it during the day, but this special feeling becomes stronger at night, which is why I came to check on him."
Li Chang'an quietly looked at the tea essence.
Unlike other spiritual plants, the tea spirit possesses profound cultivation and has even cultivated a human form.
In these six thousand years, perhaps the only "human" in the Xuanling Immortal Mountain is Senior Sword Spirit, and Senior Sword Spirit is so indifferent...
This tea essence has rarely seen people, so it has a natural curiosity about humans.
Li Chang'an stepped forward and said, "Senior Tianxuan is already resting. If you are really curious, why don't you come back tomorrow and ask him yourself?"
Tea Essence's shoulders slumped: "...Okay."
After saying that, Cha Jing glanced at Tian Xuan's room one more time before turning and leaving.
The next morning, when Li Chang'an returned after delivering the vegetables, he saw the tea essence and mushroom essence appear together outside his new house.
When Tianxuan first saw the tea spirit, she showed no surprise and greeted it with a gentle smile.
Li Chang'an glanced at him and guessed that Tianxuan must have overheard his conversation with Cha Jing last night.
Li Chang'an greeted the tea spirits and then walked up to the mushroom spirits: "I have to go out today, so I'll have to trouble you to do some work for a while. I'll be back soon."
Tea tree branches were planted on the field ridges. In order to keep the crops neat and beautiful, Li Chang'an planned to plant tea trees on every field ridge.
The terraced fields of Wolushan are gentle, with small steps and a width of at least four or five meters. Therefore, a row of tea trees can be planted on the ridge between almost every two fields.
Today, Li Chang'an is going out to buy tea trees.
"Coo coo..." The mushroom spirits responded one after another.
Although he couldn't understand it, Li Chang'an guessed that it meant he understood.
He smiled and went to fetch water for the mushroom spirits to make breakfast.
After saying goodbye to Tianxuan and Chajing, Li Chang'an left Xuanling Immortal Mountain with the black sword and flew southwest.
There is a tea mountain in the southwest of Ling'an City. Li Chang'an asked Xie Xuan to inquire about it, and it turns out that tea trees can be sold there.
Li Chang'an contacted the person in charge of the tea plantation yesterday, and the person said they would be waiting for him at the foot of the tea plantation at eight o'clock this morning.
Li Chang'an arrived at eight o'clock.
The person in charge was slightly surprised to see him arrive on a sword.
She squinted and looked closely, then suddenly realized, "You're Li Chang'an!"
"It's me," Li Chang'an replied with a smile, clasping his hands in a gesture of respect.
The person in charge smiled so broadly that their eyes crinkled. "Oh my, my daughter is a fan of yours. She used to drag me to watch your videos all the time. Why haven't you been streaming lately?"
"I've been too busy lately and haven't had much time to go live."
As they talked, the two walked together up the tea mountain.
Li Chang'an secretly used his spiritual power to investigate and found that the tea trees planted on this tea mountain were of very good quality, which made him quite satisfied.
Of course, the quality of these tea trees is definitely not as good as that of the tea essence itself.
Li Chang'an didn't mean he didn't want to use the branches of the tea essence to propagate tea; rather, the tea essence itself was of near-divine quality, and if his branches were planted in inferior spiritual soil, they would absorb too much spiritual energy, which would affect the growth of other crops.
That's why they contacted the tea plantation to buy tea trees.
While they were investigating, the person in charge smiled and said, "You don't need to say anything while you're live streaming. It's good for your fans to just watch you work."
Li Chang'an withdrew his spiritual power and said, "Sometimes when I'm working, I can't guarantee that I'll always be in front of the camera. Let's start broadcasting again when I have some free time."
Black Sword is also helping to cultivate the spirit fields, so he can't make a phone stand.
"Alright then," the person in charge said. "You told me yesterday you wanted to buy tea trees. How many do you want? Do you need any cuttings?"
Li Chang'an pondered for a moment, "It's best to buy mature tea trees. If that's not enough, cuttings will do."
"Oh." The person in charge nodded. "It's August now, which is the peak growing season for tea trees. The branches grow quickly and abundantly, making it perfect for cuttings. I don't know how many you need. I only have a few hundred tea trees that are over two years old to sell, of which about fifty are over five years old and have been producing tea steadily."
"I need quite a lot now, probably several thousand plants."
"Several thousand plants?!" The person in charge paused, his expression one of shock.
Could it be that Li Chang'an also wants to establish tea plantations or tea gardens?!
Wouldn't that make them competitors? And since the vegetables grown in the sacred mountain are of such high quality, the tea must be just as good...
The person in charge frowned slightly.
Li Chang'an saw the hesitation and doubt on her face.
He pretended not to notice and said in an unchanged tone, "Yes, I want to grow tea and make it into finished tea. To be honest, since I have established the Xianshan Farm brand, I don't just want to sell vegetables. In the future, I will definitely produce some agricultural and sideline products to expand the product categories of this brand."
If it's processed into finished tea, then it's not in competition with tea plantations.
Their tea plantations are merely raw material suppliers for certain brands; they do not have their own factories or brands.
The person in charge's expression softened slightly, and he looked at Li Chang'an with admiration.
She is an ambitious person, and she admires young people like that.
She smiled and said, "In that case, the quality of our tea will certainly not disappoint you."
Li Chang'an smiled and breathed a sigh of relief.
If the person in charge misunderstands and doesn't want to do business with him, he can simply go to another tea plantation to buy tea.
However, he doesn't have much time to leave Xuanling Immortal Mountain now, so he naturally wants to buy it within Ling'an City as much as possible.
As they spoke, the two had already reached the east side of the tea plantation.
The person in charge pointed and said, "Look, these tea trees over here are for sale."
Although he had already used his spiritual power to investigate, Li Chang'an still carefully examined the condition of the tea trees.
The tea leaves are very fresh, without any signs of insect damage, and the main stems are thick and healthy.
"Okay, then I'll buy them all. And please cut me three thousand cuttings that can be used for propagation."
Li Chang'an's straightforwardness immediately brought a smile to the manager's face. "Okay, I guarantee I'll prune all the branches from old tea trees for you. They'll be absolutely fresh and of the best quality."
Li Chang'an thanked him and readily paid the money.
He had limited time, so he took his leave and returned to Xuanling Immortal Mountain.
*
At noon, the tea plantation delivered the hundreds of tea trees and three thousand branches.
Concerned about potential damage during transport, the tea plantation sent an extra hundred branches.
Li Chang'an used his spiritual power to kill the insect eggs hidden on the tea tree, and only after ensuring that it was clean did he transplant it onto the field ridge.
The remaining branches cannot be planted directly like the branches of tea extract; they need to be allowed to take root.
With the help of Ningjing River water and rooting powder, these branches took root in just three days.
The fungus spirits helped Li Chang'an plant tea, and it took them a whole day to plant all three thousand branches.
These three thousand branches and several hundred tea trees were planted on the embankment of the paddy field. The array set up beforehand ensured that the moisture level on the embankment was just right. Even if water was added to the paddy field to soak it, the water would not affect the inferior spiritual soil on the embankment.
After finishing the tea planting, Li Chang'an began leading the mushroom experts to dig ponds and build livestock sheds.
The pond covers sixty acres, with some parts being one meter deep and others nearly two meters deep.
In the morning, we cultivate the spiritual fields, rest at noon, and start digging ponds at 2 pm. When it gets cooler, we build livestock sheds.
Digging a pond using spiritual power is not complicated; the sixty-acre pond was dug out in just a few days.
After digging, they have to start working on the silt layer.
Li Chang'an was practically spinning like a top with all his busy work.
Seeing how busy he was, Tianxuan tried to help him.
However, just as he used his spiritual power to manipulate the hoe, the black sword that was digging in the ground suddenly emitted a sword cry, its tip pointing at Li Chang'an.
Li Chang'an was startled: "No! Not again!?"
He didn't ask Tianxuan for help, so why is the sword tip pointing at him?!
Tianxuan looked over with some confusion.
Li Chang'an wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said bitterly, "Lord Tianxuan, you should rest. I can keep things busy with the mushroom spirits."
It seems that only the people and spirits originally from this sacred mountain can help him farm and raise pigs; no one from outside can do it.
Tianxuan glanced at the unusual black sword, lost in thought.
A moment later, he smiled and put down the hoe, without asking any further questions, simply nodding and saying okay.
After that, he never thought of helping Li Chang'an farm again.
The only help he can provide is in building houses and designing; he can't actually participate in the farming and pig-raising work himself.
After the water from the Ningjing River was pumped out and soaked in the pond for several days, the three livestock sheds were completed.
The three livestock sheds cover a total area of 15 mu (approximately 1 hectare) and can accommodate thousands of pigs, tens of thousands of ducks, and tens of thousands of chickens.
Looking at the antique-style livestock shed, Li Chang'an stroked his chin and pondered, "It seems I need to find some time to buy piglets, chicks, and ducklings."
However, before Li Chang'an could find the time, something else happened that caught him off guard.
His cultivation has broken through to the Great Perfection of the Foundation Establishment stage; it's time for him to form his core.
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