Ning lit a stick of spiritual incense in the room.

  During the lecture, the Foundation Building senior had said, “Meditation is the process of locking the monkey mind; doing so leads to enlightenment. Tethering the will leads to transformation into a dragon.”

  Ning had interpreted it in simpler terms: meditation was about restraining the restless mind to gain clarity. Once one’s will was firmly anchored, true transformation could begin.

  Roughly, it was all about focusing on a single thing, without any distractions.

  [Qi Condensation: 1st Stage (99/100)]

  After more than three months of relentless cultivation, he had finally reached this point.

  With the spiritual incense burning, a faint fragrance filled the air, guiding his thoughts into calm focus. It was a product of a Spiritual Incense Master, one of those obscure professions that dealt with incense and its various properties. This particular blend was said to enhance meditation efficiency.

  Fang Zhu had given him five sticks, so for a breakthrough attempt and a chance at deeper focus, Ning didn’t mind using one.

  Breaking through from the first level of Qi Refining to the second was, in theory, a simple task. The method had been explained in detail by the Foundation Building senior; one just needed to follow the steps carefully.

  He took out a Red Bud Pill.

  Sitting in a lotus position, Ning began his assault on the bottleneck.

  Advancing to the next stage required reversing the flow of Qi. The spiritual energy within the meridians no longer flowed steadily as in normal cultivation; it needed to pulse in a rhythmic balance of speed and slowness.

  Simply put, it involved slowly drawing a portion of Qi from the Dantian, then rapidly forcing it back in, over and over, hammering the bottleneck until the Qi Hai acupoint expanded.

  The Qi Hai acupoint was located about an inch and a half below the navel, along the midline of the abdomen.

  Thanks to his daily control exercises, Ning was able to manage the process with steady precision.

  After roughly fifteen minutes, he felt a faint swelling sensation in his Dantian.

  That was the sign; the bottleneck had begun to loosen. The breakthrough was close.

  He gathered more Qi, reversing the flow again. The energy surged through his meridians like a swelling tide, compressing and expanding until, with a subtle tremor, the barrier finally gave way.

  [Qi Condensation: 1st Stage → 2nd Stage (Consolidating)]

  Ning didn’t stop right away. He continued circulating Qi according to the Pure Qi Sutra, smoothing out the flow until it stabilized. Then he opened his eyes, exhaling softly.

  “Well… that was underwhelming,” he muttered.

  He’d expected something more dramatic; a surge of spiritual energy, maybe a flash of light, something with a bit more oomph!

  But… oh well. Being low-key suited him just fine.

  Ning smiled at the breakthrough and focused on the changes after the breakthrough.

  His spiritual energy had nearly doubled compared to before. His body hadn’t grown visibly stronger, but it felt lighter, as if the heaviness inside had melted away. The strengthening of one’s body during Qi Condensation was gradual, each cell subtly absorbing energy over time, unlike Body Cultivation.

  The early and mid-stages of Qi Condensation were all about accumulation anyway. It was a straightforward process; as long as one had decent spiritual roots and some resources, reaching mid-stage was mostly a matter of persistence.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Seeing the changes, Ning couldn’t help but feel satisfied with the increase in spiritual energy.

  “Finally, not a one-pump chump anymore,” he said dryly.

  Previously, even with his fine control, he could only cast Minor Accomplished Spiritual Rain once before running out of energy. Now, with his reserves expanded, he could train longer and push his spells even further.

  Glancing at the green fields outside, Ning smirked faintly.

  “Now then,” he murmured, “it’s harvesting time.”

  ...

  With the arrival of the spiritual grain harvesting season, the spiritual farmers along the riverbanks sprang into action.

  Normally, it was rare to see so many people working in the spiritual fields all day. Now, every field was being tended carefully.

  These spiritual fields weren’t built on spiritual veins, and relying solely on the energy from the veins would have been impossible. The few fields that were vein-rich belonged exclusively to the sect.

  The farmers’ role was to replenish spiritual energy deficits by applying rain, regulating the earth’s energy, and extracting wood-elemental energy to nourish the spiritual grains.

  In the days leading up to the harvest, Ning spent every moment crouched in the fields, never daring to leave.

  Thousands of birds gathered around the nearby lake, waiting for an opportunity to swoop in and peck at the grains. Even a few moments’ negligence could result in significant losses.

  Some wealthy spiritual farmers used protective puppets to guard their fields, like Old Zhou.

  Ning had built a scarecrow out of straw, but the cunning birds quickly saw through it after only a few pecks. In the end, he had no choice but to guard the field himself.

  “Finally, it’s over,” Ning muttered, adjusting the straw hat on his head as he worked through the last of the harvest.

  “Ninety… ninety-one… ninety-three kilograms… one hundred… one hundred and sixteen. One hundred twenty. Not bad!”

  He smiled, satisfied.

  With careful management and high-level cultivation skills, an ideal harvest could reach three to four hundred kilograms per season in an acre of land. Ning, still a beginner, had managed about one-third of that, a very respectable yield indeed. After all, with his level of skill, he was only able to manage one acre, so the yield was in his expectations.

  The sect purchased first-grade spiritual grain at one spirit stone per kilogram, with slight adjustments based on quality. Ning’s batch was excellent; selling it all could net him over 120 spirit stones, a substantial sum, likely 40 to 50 more than his peers who joined at the same time. However, after taxes, his earnings would be far lower.

  Just as he was thinking this, Fang Zhu appeared. “Brother Ning, how’s the harvest?”

  Ning, taking a brief rest on a stool, quickly stood. “Brother, please come in. The harvest is quite good!”

  He gestured to the cloth bag on the ground. “Weigh it yourself, you’ll be surprised!”

  Fang Zhu picked up the bag, feeling the weight. “About 120 kilograms… Brother Ning, that’s impressive.”

  Ning glanced at Fang Zhou, casually picking up 120 kg, and was impressed in his own right. After all, he didn't know Fang Zhu was built like that.

  Of course, without showing his thoughts, Ning just smiled. “Thanks to the guidance of senior brother Zhou. I also had some knowledge of farming before coming to the sect.”

  He wasn’t lying. As a qualified keyboard warrior who surfed through internet, it was natural to come across such things. Especially, there were quite a few things about agriculture in his textbooks as well.

  So, while not proficient, he understood the principles behind crop rotation, the two-field and three-field systems, proper spacing of crops, irrigation techniques, and even the subtle art of fertilization. Moreover, with the help of Old Zhou, he knew which nutrients favored growth in specific soils, how overwatering could weaken roots, and how timing the harvest could maximize yield.

  It wasn’t advanced, hands-in-the-dirt expertise, but it was enough to give him an edge over most newcomers who only followed instructions blindly.

  Of course, it would be even better if he could achieve the state of perfect recall, drawing more memories from his past life to supplement his current one.

  Alas! He could only wait till his cultivation reached a higher level.

  “Did you?” Fang Zhu asked in surprise, recalling Ning’s delicate, pale complexion when they first met. He hadn’t seemed like someone who had spent time in the fields.

  “Yes,” Ning said, “and I’d like to sell you the remaining spiritual grain after taxes.”

  Currently, Fang Zhu was his most reliable channel. According to Old Zhou, Fang Zhu was versatile and well-connected, able to sell the surplus grains efficiently.

  Fang Zhu nodded and began calculating. “Tax is seventy-five percent of your harvest, which is 120 kilograms. Since your grain is high quality, and one spirit stone per kilogram…”

  “30 spirit stones,” Ning answered quickly.

  Fang Zhu looked up in surprise at his speed. “That’s correct, Junior Brother."

  He retrieved the spirit stones from his pouch and handed them to Ning.

  Ning glanced at the spirit stones in his hand.

  There were quite a few compared to the ones he acquired through loans, but this was just the beginning. Spiritual grains were only the first-tier, low-grade spiritual plants. As he becomes more proficient, he could plant higher-tier plants, achieving more profit. Moreover, he could also try to plant more with his recent breakthrough.

  So, despite the low number of spirit stones, Ning was happy with the first pot of gold he earned through his own effort.

  After all, as they say, "It ain't much, but it was honest work."