The Eternal Farmer: I Trade My Harvest for Immortality

Chapter 298: Revisiting Black Dragon Pool (Part 1)

Seeing the two objects lying perfectly intact amid the smoking ash, Jiang Chen paused in sheer disbelief before carefully hopping down into the eight-meter crater.

The first item was an old acquaintance: a charred fragment of a Life from Death Tree.

But it was the second item that demanded his full attention.

The moment his fingers brushed against the smooth, silvery-white bone pellet, a violent, stinging pain shocked his hand. Had he not preemptively kept his max-level Mystic Wood Golden Body Art fully cycled, the sheer kinetic backlash would have sliced his fingers to the bone.

Even dormant and detached from its master, the sphere was continuously radiating a razor-sharp, highly condensed sword intent. It was acting on pure, residual instinct, desperately trying to protect a master who had been dead for nearly a century.

Jiang Chen’s pulse quickened. His hypothesis was correct. This was undeniably a Lifebound Sword Pellet, a legendary artifact forged by a Metal-attribute Sword Cultivator from their own occipital bone.

More importantly, Lifebound Sword Pellets were organic artifacts. They possessed the unique capacity for boundless growth. By continuously nourishing it with Spirit Qi and rare metals, a cultivator could evolve the pellet from a basic Spirit Weapon into a devastating Magical Artifact, and potentially even higher.

It was a priceless, heaven-defying find.

Jiang Chen carefully wrapped the volatile pellet in a layer of dense Earth Qi to suppress its cutting edge, then pocketed both items. With a powerful leap, he cleared the eight-meter shaft, landing smoothly back on the courtyard grass.

With a wave of his hand, he commanded the surrounding earth. The massive pile of excavated soil surged forward, seamlessly filling the crater and compacting itself until the ground looked entirely undisturbed.

With the threat neutralized, Jiang Chen turned his attention back to the awakened Poplar tree.

The results were instantaneous. Freed from the parasitic drain of the necrotic corpse, the tree, which had looked sickly and withered just moments prior, surged with vibrant, rebounding vitality. The shriveled leaves visibly plumped, and the drooping branches proudly extended outward, casting a massive, protective canopy over the courtyard once more.

Sensing Jiang Chen’s gaze, the entire massive tree began to tremble slightly. It was impossible to tell if the plant spirit was shivering in residual fear from the incinerating flames, or quivering in profound gratitude.

Likely a bit of both.

Regardless, Jiang Chen could clearly feel a wave of absolute, unadulterated goodwill radiating from the tree. It viewed him with deep affection and reliance.

Jiang Chen found the situation slightly amusing. When he had first moved into the courtyard, he had used this exact tree as his personal training dummy. He had relentlessly bombarded its trunk with every basic Cultivation technique he learned.

Who could have predicted that his daily, violent infusions of elemental Qi would inadvertently force an ordinary Poplar to Awaken into a true plant spirit?

Though ‘tree’ and ‘tree spirit’ differed by only one word, the practical difference was astronomical. An ordinary tree was just lumber waiting to be chopped. But an Awakened tree spirit functioned as a massive, living Feng Shui anchor.

As it aged, it would continuously purify and condense the ambient Wood and Earth Qi in the surrounding area. Furthermore, a mature tree spirit acted as a natural ward, actively repelling Yin energy and malevolent entities from the property. In short, having a loyal tree spirit in your front yard was an immeasurable, compounding blessing.

Jiang Chen placed a hand against the thick trunk, offering a mild, reassuring smile. “Let’s coexist peacefully from now on.”

Rustle! Rustle!

The Poplar’s trembling increased, the leaves rustling happily in agreement.

Not that it had much of a choice. Given the power disparity, if Jiang Chen genuinely wanted to eradicate a novice spirit with barely ten years of cultivation, it would only take a single finger. Specifically, one max-level Scorching Sun Finger.

With the morning crisis resolved, Jiang Chen headed back to the stone house to prep breakfast.

After sharing a meal with Da Huang, he grabbed a sack of Top-quality Spirit Rice and walked over to the chicken coop.

The flock had grown to 21 birds, but the original Spirit Hen—the very first one he had ever raised—was impossible to miss. It had grown into an absolute behemoth, dwarfing the rest of the flock and standing among them like a majestic crane surrounded by fat pigeons.

Perhaps because of its massive size and superior mutation, it actively ignored the other chickens, preferring its own company.

Jiang Chen scooped a handful of premium grain and held it out for the giant hen. “I spent some time thinking about it last night,” he said casually as the bird pecked at his palm. “I’ve finally decided on a name for you.”

The giant Spirit Hen paused, tilting its head. A spark of genuine, intelligent curiosity gleamed in its beady eyes.

Jiang Chen grinned. “From now on, you shall be known as… Gege!”

The moment the name left his lips, Gege completely stiffened.

The massive bird looked so profoundly insulted it almost face-planted directly into the pile of Top-quality Spirit Rice. It puffed out its chest and let out a series of harsh, indignant squawks, vigorously protesting the terrible, onomatopoeic name.

Jiang Chen’s eyes lit up, completely missing the point. “Exactly! That’s it! It sounds exactly like the noise you make. It’s a perfect fit!”

Gege gave him a look of utter disgust, turned its back on the premium food, and proudly marched away. As it strutted past the flock, a smaller rooster happened to wander into its path. Without breaking stride, Gege viciously punted the rooster across the yard.

The rest of the flock scattered in terror.

“Wow,” Jiang Chen muttered, genuinely surprised. “She must be thrilled with the new name.”

Leaving the chickens to their drama, he carried the remaining grain to the irrigation pond.

The hierarchy of the water was strictly enforced. The moment he approached, the five prized Dragon Carp instantly surfaced, aggressively shoving their way to the front. Behind them floated the eternally lazy Light Spirit Turtle, and relegated to the absolute rear was the chaotic swarm of skinny Red-Tailed Carp.

Jiang Chen tossed a handful of Top-quality Spirit Rice into the center.

The water instantly boiled as the five Dragon Carp engaged in a violent, splashing feeding frenzy, mercilessly body-checking each other for the premium grain. Only after the elite fish were thoroughly gorged did the Light Spirit Turtle casually poke its head out to snatch the leftovers. Finally, when almost nothing remained, the desperate Red-Tailed Carp were allowed to scavenge the crumbs.

Feeling a twinge of pity for the bottom-feeders, Jiang Chen tossed a secondary handful of standard, high-quality rice specifically for the Red-Tails, ensuring they didn’t starve.

Once the feeding was done, Jiang Chen pulled out his Hydro Orb. With a quick pulse of Qi, he safely sucked the five massive Dragon Carp into the artifact.

He hurried back inside the stone house, bolting the heavy wooden door shut behind him. With a flicker of intent, he vanished from the mundane world, instantly reappearing within the absolute safety of his dimensional personal space.

He had two major landscaping projects on the agenda today: terraform a proper lake for the Dragon Carp, and test the viability of large-scale planting within the dimension.

He wanted to start with the Mutated Spirit Rice. If the dimensional soil proved optimal, he could easily scale his operation to ten, or even twenty acres, establishing total self-sufficiency.

Currently, his inventory of seeds was massive. He had hoarded seeds from the original Variant Mother Rice, the subsequent offspring batches, and most importantly, a healthy reserve of Golden Spirit Rice.

The Golden Spirit Rice was a premium, Metal-attribute crop he had previously cultivated for Chen Tian. While Jiang Chen currently lacked a Metal Spirit Root—meaning consuming the rice offered him no Cultivation benefits—there was absolutely no downside to stockpiling it.

His ultimate goal was complete elemental mastery. He currently possessed Wood Qi (for planting) and Earth Qi (for terraforming). To cast essential agricultural techniques like the Minor Rain Spell, he fundamentally needed Water Qi.

However, according to the inviolable cycle of the Five Elements: Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal, and Metal generates Water. Therefore, before he could Awaken a Water Spirit Root, he first had to cultivate and Awaken a Metal Spirit Root. Naturally, having a massive stockpile of Metal-attribute Spirit Rice on hand would drastically accelerate that future process.

Once his Five Elements achieved Perfection, he would become a self-sustaining ecosystem. He wouldn’t need to rely on external weather or Sect infrastructure ever again.

Of course, to maintain his mundane cover, he would continue leasing his five external acres to Tie Zhu, Mo Yu, and the others. That alibi was non-negotiable.

But for his true empire, the terraforming began now.

Standing in the center of his hundred-acre expanse, Jiang Chen unleashed his Earth Qi.

The ground violently trembled. Following his precise mental blueprint, the rich black soil rapidly caved and shifted, carving out a massive, sprawling basin.

He didn’t just dig a hole; he engineered a proper aquatic ecosystem. He formed three distinct, shallow tributary bays, each measuring roughly fifteen by fifteen meters. The shallow shoals sloped down to a depth of three meters, while the central trench plummeted to a staggering fifteen meters deep.

When he was finished, the body of water occupied a full five percent of his total acreage. Calling it a pond was an insult; he had carved out a legitimate, small-scale lake.

Because the volume was so massive, the reserve water stored in his Hydro Orb barely filled the bottom of the central trench.

When Jiang Chen released the five Dragon Carp into the new habitat, the massive fish looked entirely bewildered. The sheer scale of the new lake dwarfed their old pond, and was arguably more spacious than the natural Black Dragon Pool they originally hailed from.

Looking at the five lonely fish swimming in the massive basin, Jiang Chen rubbed his chin. “This ratio is terrible. It’s completely empty.”

He needed more livestock. He would have to source rare fry from the markets, or perhaps make another discreet trip to the Black Dragon Pool to poach a few more wild Dragon Carp.

Leaving the lake for now, he turned his attention to the soil.

Using his Earth Qi to rapidly till two fresh acres, he planted one acre with the mutated offspring rice, and the second acre with the Golden Spirit Rice.

Once the seeds were sown, Jiang Chen summoned his companion Green Lotus.

The massive, ethereal Green Lotus Domain unfurled, bathing the fields in a rich, emerald light. Simultaneously, he pushed the max-level Four Seasons Sutra to its absolute limit, flooding the atmosphere with accelerated, seasonal time-dilation.

The results were explosive.

The seeds instantly germinated, violently bursting from the soil and shooting upward at a pace visible to the naked eye. In the outside world, a standard crop cycle took three months. Under the combined effects of the Domain and the Sutra within his personal space, Jiang Chen calculated he could force a full harvest every two months.

It was the absolute pinnacle of agricultural speed and efficiency.

The only minor drawback was the projected yield. Because he lacked the ability to cast the Minor Rain Spell, and he didn’t have enough spirit beast manure to properly fertilize the massive expanse, the stalks wouldn’t bear the maximum possible weight. Fortunately, the inherent, hyper-dense nutrients of the dimensional black soil compensated heavily for the lack of fertilizer.

Satisfied that the ecosystem was stable, Jiang Chen exited the dimensional space.

Barely two hours had passed in the real world.

It was late summer, the busiest season for the outer sect. Most Cultivators were chained to their fields, desperately trying to finalize their harvests before the quarterly assessments.

As a result, Jiang Chen’s remote plot was entirely undisturbed.

Even Lin An, his nominal tenant, was nowhere to be seen. The guy’s presence had become increasingly sparse. Initially, Jiang Chen had tasked him with scouting the Loose Cultivator markets for intelligence on rare seeds, talismans, and pills. But lately, Lin An seemed entirely too comfortable living on the road. He only ever returned to drop off requested crafting materials before immediately vanishing back into the wilds. He never even stayed the night.

Jiang Chen honestly didn’t care. Lin An had signed a binding blood contract; betrayal was impossible. Beyond that, the man was entitled to his own life. As long as he didn’t cause trouble and delivered the requested supplies, Jiang Chen was perfectly happy to operate independently.

Since he planned to hike out to the Black Dragon Pool that afternoon to scout for more fish, Jiang Chen started prepping an early lunch.

Just as the stew began to boil, the Jade Green Gourd at his waist vibrated sharply.

With a flick of his wrist, a Communication Talisman appeared in his hand. He recognized the specific Qi signature immediately—it was Lin Yu’s talisman.

It had been months since they had last spoken.

He activated the paper. However, the voice that echoed from the talisman wasn’t Lin Yu’s bright, energetic tone. It was the heavy, distinctly weathered voice of her father, Bai Xiaotian.

Jiang Chen blinked in surprise. “Senior Bai? Do you need something?”

“I have finished the commission,” Bai Xiaotian’s voice crackled through. “I’ve drafted exactly one thousand Yin-suppressing talismans for you.”

“Excellent work, Senior. You’ve worked hard,” Jiang Chen replied, genuinely pleased.

“However,” Bai Xiaotian continued, his tone shifting into a heavy sigh. “I will not be accepting any further commissions. I can’t draft anymore.”

Jiang Chen frowned. “What do you mean? Is something wrong?”

Bai Xiaotian sounded mildly exasperated. “The Formal Disciple Competition is entering its final stages. Have you completely lost track of time out there in the dirt?”

Jiang Chen paused. “I… genuinely had no idea.”

He had been entirely consumed by his farming, pill refining, and corpse disposal. The grand, dramatic tournaments of the inner sect held absolutely zero interest to him.

“Well, it is,” Bai Xiaotian grumbled. “And that is part of the reason. But primarily, I am contacting you because I must leave the Cloud Sea Sect for an extended period.”

“Leave?”

“My wife’s family has encountered a situation,” Bai Xiaotian explained vaguely, his voice tight. “I need to travel back to her province to assist them immediately.”

He let out another, deeper sigh. “Besides, my two profoundly disappointing daughters couldn’t even claw their way past the preliminary rounds of the Formal Competition. There is absolutely no point in them staying here and embarrassing themselves further. I’m dragging them back home with me.”

Jiang Chen’s mouth twitched into a wry grin. “Such harsh words, Senior. I can certainly tell you’re their biological father.”