The Eternal Farmer: I Trade My Harvest for Immortality

Chapter 290: Max Level Thick Earth Load-Bearing Art

Da Huang’s rendezvous with the regal, razor-furred golden wolf had finally concluded, and Jin Fugui personally escorted the hound back to the courtyard.

Compared to his imposing, calf-like bulk before leaving for Beast Mountain, the dog now looked entirely hollowed out. His legs visibly trembled, and his frame was noticeably gaunt. It was abundantly clear he had paid a steep, agonizing physical toll for his shameless persistence.

Feeling a pang of genuine pity, Jiang Chen immediately went to the kitchen and whipped up a massive pile of premium, nutrient-rich food.

Da Huang was thrilled. He scarfed down three massive bites, then bolted over to Jiang Chen’s legs, whimpering a pitiful, fawning “ying ying ying.” Having paid his respects, he scrambled back to his bowl. A few bites later, clearly feeling his previous display of gratitude wasn’t sufficiently pathetic, he dragged his exhausted body back to Jiang Chen’s boots, frantically rubbing his massive head against his master’s shins.

Jiang Chen let out a dry, deadpan chuckle. “Eat your food, you masochistic mutt. I have work to do. At least we won’t need to visit Beast Mountain again this year.”

Suitably comforted, Da Huang practically dove into his bowl, burying his entire snout in the food as he chomped and slayed his hunger. From atop the nearby fence, the resident pearl chicken watched the pathetic display with undisguised, cold disdain.

Leaving the animals to their devices, Jiang Chen retreated to his second-floor study and sank into his chair.

He hadn’t been idle lately. While brewing fresh batches of Spirit Wine, he had been meticulously studying the earth-attribute cultivation manuals he’d acquired from the Loose Cultivator market.

He had purchased three texts in total, but his hyper-rational mind knew better than to divide his focus. Biting off more than one could chew was a fool’s errand, especially since each manual prioritized a different fundamental aspect of Earth Qi. Between the Thick Earth Load-Bearing Art, the Ten Thousand Stones Return to Origin Record, and the Kun Yuan Thick Earth Scripture, he selected the first.

He prioritized the Thick Earth Load-Bearing Art because mastering it would grant him immediate control over ambient Earth Qi, significantly enhancing his environmental perception and manipulation. For a spirit farmer, it was the most pragmatic choice.

After weeks of slow, grinding effort, he felt he was finally on the cusp of a breakthrough.

He sat in silent meditation for the time it took to brew a cup of tea. Suddenly, the familiar interface flickered in his mind’s eye.

Thick Earth Load-Bearing Art: Level 1

Effect 1: Perceive earth Qi within a three-meter radius.

Effect 2: Control earth Qi within a three-meter radius.

The effects were incredibly underwhelming.

Jiang Chen wasn’t surprised. It was billed as a high-tier cultivation art, but what he had purchased was ultimately a fragmented, degraded copy. Naturally, the foundational effects would be crippled.

Fortunately, he possessed a trump card no one else in the Azure Realm had.

[Consume 8 years of Lifespan to repair the Thick Earth Load-Bearing Art to completion?]

Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. Only eight years? He distinctly remembered a time when repairing high-tier arts demanded decades of his life at the drop of a hat. Thinking back on those massive expenditures brought a cynical mix of bitterness and relief. The drastic reduction in Lifespan cost boiled down to two logical factors: his vast accumulation of foundational cultivation knowledge, and his enriched mastery of Qi manipulation. The more he understood, the less the system had to compensate for.

“Do it,” he muttered.

Instantly, his mind plunged into the profound, weightless abyss of an Epiphany. Drawing upon his accumulated knowledge, the system seamlessly bridged the gaps in the fragmented text. Flawed meridians routes were corrected, missing incantations were forged anew, and the manual’s true, ancient depth blossomed in his mind.

Moments later, the interface updated.

Thick Earth Load-Bearing Art: Level 1 (Perfected)

Effect 1: Perceive earth Qi within a fifteen-meter radius.

Effect 2: Control earth Qi within a fifteen-meter radius.

Effect 3: Earth-attribute damage reduction +15%.

Much better, he thought. The perfected foundation was solid. Now, to push it to its limits.

[Consume 1 year of Lifespan to raise the Thick Earth Load-Bearing Art to Level 2?]

…

[Consume 11 years of Lifespan to raise the Thick Earth Load-Bearing Art to Level 7 (Max)?]

“Yes.”

Once again, Jiang Chen surrendered to the profound rush of a deep Epiphany. Because the system had already perfected the manual’s theory, this secondary Epiphany was purely dedicated to rapid, flawless execution.

Thick Earth Load-Bearing Art: Level 7 (Max)

Effect 1: Perceive earth Qi within a massive, ninety-meter radius.

Effect 2: Control earth Qi within a ninety-meter radius.

Effect 3: Earth-attribute damage dealt +50%.

Effect 4: Earth-attribute damage reduction +60%.

Effect 5: Damage dealt to Water-attribute targets +50%.

Effect 6: Damage received from Wood-attribute targets -30%.

Effect 7: Earth-attribute negative status effects halved.

Special Effect: Thick Earth Domain. (Projects a thirty-meter absolute domain centered on the caster. Generates an Earth Qi barrier, inflicts a heavy ‘Slowing’ effect on all hostile intruders, and passively increases the caster’s natural Qi recovery by 15%.)

Jiang Chen’s eyes snapped open. With a flicker of movement, he vanished from the study, appearing in the courtyard outside. A few rapid dashes later, he stood before the sealed entrance to the rocky hill.

Before unsealing the cave, he ignited his newly maxed art.

The dormant Earth Qi in his dantian roared to life. It was like dropping a boulder into a still pond—the ambient earth energy within a ninety-meter radius violently surged toward him, rushing up through the Yongquan acupoints at the soles of his feet.

It felt as though icy, refreshing spring water was flooding his veins. As the dense Qi permeated his internal organs, his heart thudded like a war drum, and his kidneys pulsed with hyper-charged vitality. His eyes sharpened, glowing with raw, grounded power.

Simultaneously, his consciousness expanded, sinking into the soil and spreading perfectly across the ninety-meter radius. He didn’t need to open his eyes; he could ‘feel’ every grain of dirt, every buried root, and every microscopic fault line beneath him. The earth had become a direct extension of his own nervous system.

It was an intoxicating, absolute sense of control.

With a casual wave of his hand, Jiang Chen seized the ambient Earth Qi, effortlessly ripping the massive boulder away from the cave entrance and tossing it aside like a pebble. He ducked inside.

As he descended into the subterranean dark, that familiar, bone-chilling cold gnawed at his skin. The atmosphere was incredibly oppressive, the temperature dropping so rapidly it felt as if the sheer frost might freeze his very soul.

At the bottom of the cavern, the mutated Frost Cabbage sat exactly where he had left it, looking for all the world like a pulsating, translucent ice womb. The section he had previously melted had completely regenerated, the icy shell appearing even thicker and more resilient than before.

He had come down here to safely transplant the anomaly into his personal space, so he marched forward.

Yet, with every step he took, a suffocating dread began to weigh on him. He realized with a start that the bone-chilling Yin energy of the cave was actively devouring his Thick Earth Qi. It was a terrifying elemental suppression—a localized phenomenon where the unnatural, watery frost was actively suffocating the earth beneath his feet.

Jiang Chen immediately cycled the Nine Flames Mystic Art. Searing, explosive Fire Qi flooded his meridians, forcefully banishing the macabre chill and wrapping his body in a protective, comforting heat.

Fusing the roaring Fire Qi with his dense Earth Qi, he stepped right up to the pulsing Frost Cabbage. Morbid curiosity gripped him. Should I open it again? The horrific image from his last visit was burned into his memory. He had to know what was inside.

His left hand trembled, instantly glowing with cherry-red, incandescent heat. The air warped and screamed as he pressed his palm toward the shell. The oppressive layers of frost hissed, rapidly liquefying under the sheer, localized inferno.

Once again, the core was exposed.

And what he saw made his breath catch in his throat.

The ice fetus was developing at a terrifying rate. Through the translucent, squelching membrane, he could now clearly make out the faint, macabre suggestion of a human face. It looked exactly like a real, malformed infant suspended in the deep freeze.

Suddenly, the horrific thing gave a violent, sickening twitch.

Jiang Chen’s blood ran cold. It’s growing too fast.

But the true horror wasn’t the fetus itself. Because he was actively channeling the max-level Thick Earth Load-Bearing Art, his seismic perception was dialed to its absolute peak.

He felt a subtle, deeply unnatural vibration.

Directly beneath the Frost Cabbage, deep within the frozen bedrock, the earth Qi was violently warping. Something was down there, heavily influencing the mutated plant above.

Driven by hyper-rational caution and a creeping sense of dread, Jiang Chen forced his consciousness downward, sinking through the soil, past ten meters, probing into the abyss… until his senses ‘brushed’ against something utterly terrifying.

A fragmented, suffocating image violently flashed through his mind…