The Eternal Farmer: I Trade My Harvest for Immortality

Jiang Chen reached out to Senior Brother Chen via communication talisman.

Upon confirming the man was home, he immediately summoned his Giant Leaf and flew toward the residence.

As he approached, however, he noticed Chen Bo was not alone. Standing in the yard with him was a woman.

She had a standard oval face, classically beautiful but sharp, with thin eyebrows and even thinner lips. She wasn’t particularly tall or old, but the burning flame embroidered on her chest marked her affiliation clearly.

Jiang Chen slowed his descent as her voice drifted up to him.

“Cousin, you haven’t returned to the family in a long time,” the woman said, her tone laden with guilt. “Everyone misses you.”

Chen Bo’s eyes flashed with undisguised disgust. He kept his expression flat. “Xianglin, this is my home.”

“The past is the past,” Li Xianglin pressed, unable to help herself. “Why won’t you just let it go?”

Chen Bo sneered. “If your parents had died because of internal family strife, could you just ‘let it go’?”

Li Xianglin faltered, taken aback by the venom in his voice. After a long pause, her voice softened.

“The family has developed well in recent years. If you just return and show a little deference to the new patriarch, you can regain your monthly Cultivation Resources. At least 3 Mid-grade Spirit Stones and 50 Low-grade Spirit Stones.”

Chen Bo remained silent. Since his parents’ death, he had cut ties. The resources that should have been his were distributed to other juniors, forcing him to become self-sufficient through farming.

Now, they were offering scraps in exchange for his submission.

“Senior Brother!”

Jiang Chen chose this moment to land his Giant Leaf, interrupting the tense standoff.

The fence gate was open, though it hardly mattered. The barrier was purely decorative—a line that deterred gentlemen but offered no resistance to thieves.

Jiang Chen glanced politely at the stranger. “Who is this?”

“My cousin, Li Xianglin,” Chen Bo introduced curtly. “She awakened a Fire Spirit Root and was recently promoted to official disciple. She came to discuss medicinal herb planting.”

He then gestured to Jiang Chen. “This is Jiang Chen. A very close Junior Brother of mine, and now a Foundation Establishment Spirit Farmer.”

Li Xianglin quickly clasped her hands in a respectful bow. “Greetings, Senior Brother Jiang!”

Chen Bo didn’t waste time on pleasantries. “You came specifically to find me. Is something wrong?”

“Nothing wrong,” Jiang Chen said. He produced a small storage bag and handed it over. “This is the dividend from Fire Peak for October.”

Chen Bo took the bag, his expression casual. He opened it, peeked inside, and his eyebrows shot up.

“So much?”

“How much?” Li Xianglin asked, her curiosity piqued by her cousin’s break in composure.

She did the math in her head. As a Qi Condensation disciple, she received 1 Mid-grade and 20 Low-grade Spirit Stones monthly.

Chen Bo, being at Foundation Establishment, was being offered 3 Mid-grade and 50 Low-grade by the family. Even if he had saved for years, he likely had a few dozen Mid-grade stones stashed away.

But the spiritual light spilling from the bag suggested a number that made the family’s offer look like a beggar’s alms.

It was like comparing a trickle to a roaring river.

And this was just one month’s dividend?

If this was consistent, wouldn’t he be earning nearly a thousand Mid-grade Spirit Stones a year?

Li Xianglin suddenly understood why her cousin refused to bow to the patriarch. Why would he care about the family’s pittance when he was sitting on a goldmine?

However, the person most shocked was Chen Bo himself.

He knew there would be a payout, but he hadn’t expected an avalanche.

His first instinct was that Jiang Chen and the others had padded the numbers. The incident with the flood and the Harvest Alliance had been tricky; perhaps they were overcompensating to ensure his continued protection and to avoid offending the Alliance.

Seeing the doubt in Chen Bo’s eyes, Jiang Chen quickly explained.

“Although the number of franchisees dropped this month, the direct sales of ingredients and resources multiplied several times over.”

Chen Bo listened to the explanation and reluctantly accepted it. Even so, the reality of the wealth in his hand was staggering.

He had expected maybe a dozen Mid-grade Spirit Stones. To receive nearly ninety was beyond his wildest estimates.

A heavy silence descended on the yard.

Neither Chen Bo nor Li Xianglin spoke, both paralyzed by the sheer volume of wealth on display.

Jiang Chen, sensing his work was done, broke the silence. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave. I still need to visit Fire Peak.”

Chen Bo snapped back to reality and nodded. “Right. Go ahead.”

“Goodbye, Senior Brother. Goodbye, Junior Sister Li.”

Jiang Chen waved, walked out the decorative gate, and summoned his Giant Leaf. With a soft whoosh, he rose into the air and sped toward the distant peaks.

Li Xianglin watched him leave, her throat dry. She turned to her cousin, her voice trembling slightly.

“Cousin… no wonder you look down on the family’s resources. You’ve been rich this whole time.”

The corner of Chen Bo’s mouth twitched.

Rich? He thought, his heart still pounding. I didn’t even know I was rich until five minutes ago!

Fire Peak.

Jiang Chen landed the Giant Leaf smoothly.

A quick scan of the area revealed that the nine combat arenas were empty of fighters. Instead, swarms of apprentices with Gold Spirit Roots were busy repairing and reinforcing the structures.

Jiang Chen didn’t pay them much mind. He headed straight for the forging palace.

If he remembered correctly, Hong Chui was stationed in Forging Room Jia-17.

Likely due to the apprentices being busy outside, no one stopped him. He navigated the halls smoothly until he reached the heavy iron door of Jia-17.

It was quiet. The usual rhythmic clanging and ringing of metal striking metal was absent.

“Is she not here?” Jiang Chen muttered, rapping his knuckles against the thick door.

Knock, knock, knock!

The sound seemed to wake the room. A flurry of heavy footsteps—bang, bang, bang—approached from the inside, and the door swung open.

Hong Chui stood there, grinning broadly. “You’re here, little brother!”

Jiang Chen nodded slightly. “It was so quiet inside, I thought you had left.”

“There’s a difference between forging and refining,” Hong Chui explained, wiping soot from her forehead. “That [Jade Green Gourd] drained a lot of my Spirit Qi and focus. I was taking a breather.”

She ushered Jiang Chen inside.

Compared to his visit seven days ago, the floor was much tidier, with fewer scraps of metal littering the ground.

Hong Chui gestured for him to sit, then walked over to a square bronze tripod. She reached inside and pulled out a small, exquisite gourd.

Jiang Chen took it. It was smaller than his palm, jade-green and cool to the touch. Distinct, intricate spirit patterns spiraled from the mouth down to the base, glowing faintly.

Despite its diminutive size, it felt incredibly dense and heavy.

“The refining process went very smoothly,” Hong Chui said proudly. “It didn’t quite reach the level of a Top-grade Spirit Tool, but it’s solidly High-Quality. The number of spirit patterns is higher than your average tool.”

Jiang Chen nodded in appreciation. He bit his finger, squeezed out a drop of blood, and pressed it against the jade surface, infusing it with his spiritual sense.

The connection snapped into place. Information flooded his mind immediately.

[Jade Green Gourd: High-Quality Spirit Tool]

Effect 1: Internal storage space of 20 cubic meters.

Effect 2: Fresh items stored inside are preserved for extended periods.

Effect 3: When carried, it passively enhances the user’s Wood Spirit Qi absorption efficiency.

Effect 4: Wood-attribute items placed inside are slowly repaired over time.