The next day, Lin Yi and Old Huang hailed a horse carriage and went to the Outer Sect Sinong Palace to pay their rent. On the mountain path, they could see a continuous stream of carriages heading halfway up the mountain. The scene strongly resembled the process of paying taxes on Earth.
The Sinong Palace collected the rent very quickly. An initially endless line was all dealt with in half an hour and it queued right up to the palace entrance. Once entered, a giant square opened up, where dozens of rent collection points were set up, each with a long queue in front of them.
In front of Lin Yi, several stewards from the Sinong Palace were bustling around. Next to them, a golden grain funnel stood, with a storage bag below that could hold an unknown amount.
As Outer Sect Spirit Farmers were all low-level Qi Refining cultivators, they needed to be meticulous with the resources used for cultivation, let alone possessing a storage bag. Therefore, they mainly came by rented carriages.
As such, next to the collection point, a few Innate Martial Artists acted as laborers, pouring sacks of Spirit Grain into the grain funnel.
While the grain was being poured, one steward inspected the quality of the Spirit Grain to prevent anyone from passing off inferior goods as superior ones or soaking the Spirit Grain in water. Another steward was in charge of weighing, and the last one recorded the rent payment situation.
Soon, it was Lin Yi and Huang De Sheng's turn. Both of them had 20 acres of land each and had to pay 5000 jin (approximately 2500 kg) of Spirit Grain as rent. Bag after bag of Spirit Grain was poured into the grain funnel. Once the weight was reached, the last steward recorded the payer's information.
After paying the Spirit Grain, Lin Yi and Huang De Sheng each took a Swift Movement Talisman and walked down the mountain.
On the way, Huang De Sheng asked, "Little Lin, have you learnt the Decay Technique? Although the Spirit Grain has absorbed a lot of nutrition from the Spiritual Field, there are still some nutrients left on the straw. Using the Decay technique to decompose it into the soil can increase the fertility of the Spiritual Field."
Lin Yi nodded. He had just bought the Decay Technique's Jade Slip in Qing Yun City a while ago, costing seven Spirit Stones. It was relatively cheap considering the technique was quite useless.
When they got back home, they each used the Decay Technique to convert all the straw in the Spiritual Field into soil. They then tilled the soil to help it fully absorb the nutrients, preparing for sowing in the future.
After they finished their work, it was near dusk. Old Huang chuckled and winked at Lin Yi, "Little Lin, I'm off to the Immortal Joy Pavilion. Why not come along? The female cultivators there are more enchanting than the regular girls at the Xun Fang Pavilion."
"You were just telling me to focus on cultivation a few days ago, and now you want to drag me to enjoy myself." Lin Yi laughed at Old Huang's inconsistency. Whenever Old Huang had some Spirit Stones, he would spend them on pleasure.
"Hahaha, I almost forgot. I'll go by myself, you should focus on cultivation." Old Huang burst into laughter, gave Lin Yi a lewd smile, and left.
Lin Yi shook his head, standing at the edge of his Spiritual Field, looking at the night sky. Suddenly, a purple figure shot out from the house behind him and landed on his shoulder.
It seemed to sense his emotions. The little purple creature rubbed its small head against Lin Yi's cheek and made a few chirping sounds.
"Zhi Ling, I'm fine. Go do your work." Lin Yi touched the creature's head and instructed with a smile.
Zhi Ling jumped and disappeared into the night sky. Then, its purple figure flashed in the homes of some Spirit Farmers.
Lin Yi stood still, seeming to wait for something.
After a short while, a familiar figure walked over, smiling, "No. 38 'Bing', you've done a great job with the decay of your Spiritual Field."
"Manager Zhang, I have you to thank for that." Lin Yi replied with a forced smile. He had guessed that Zhang Yuan Cheng would cause trouble now that the harvest from the Spiritual Field was over.
Zhang Yuan Cheng waved his hand dismissively, a crafty look appearing on his rugged face, "Just a small matter. You mentioned earlier that you were planning on reducing the amount of Spiritual Fields you're renting. Now that the harvest has been done, why not reduce it to ten acres?"
"Whatever Manager Zhang arranges, I have no objections." Lin Yi shook his head. His current main source of Spirit Stones was from making talismans; the amount of Spiritual Fields did not matter too much to him.
For example, the remaining 2000 jin (approximately 1000 kg) of Spirit Grain he had this time only fetched nearly thirty Spirit Stones when sold to a shop in Qing Yun City. This was because the shop was buying Spirit Rice, not Spirit Grain, and the purchase price was two Spiritual Pearls per jin.
Upon hearing Lin Yi's response, Zhang Yuan Cheng appeared surprised. Lin Yi's fields had just produced a lot of Spirit Grain, yet he didn't want to plant more - that was bizarre.
For low-level Qi Refining cultivators, within their capabilities, they would like to plant a couple more acres of Spiritual Fields.
"Hahaha, I was just kidding earlier. As a new Spirit Farmer, you managed to take care of twenty acres of Spiritual Field. You have a certain talent for farming. How about I give you forty acres instead?" Zhang Yuan Cheng laughed, then made a suggesting shift in his tone.
"Whatever Manager Zhang arranges, I have no objections." Lin Yi repeated, his face calm. Currently, his Geng Metal finger technique was perfected, and his Cloud Rain Technique was nearly perfected too. Planting an additional twenty acres was no big deal to him.
Zhang Yuan Cheng was taken aback, his face filled with confusion. "Is this kid okay? He actually had no objections to doubling the workload," he thought. Then, he chuckled dryly a couple of times and said, "I was merely joking earlier. You've just started, how could I assign such a laborious task of farming to you? You'll only need to farm twenty acres."
"Thank you, Manager Zhang," Lin Yi spoke calmly.
Zhang Yuan Cheng scratched his head, puzzled by Lin Yi's peculiar behavior. However, he decided it wasn't essential. He looked around discreetly and said, "I've heard that you frequently visit the Xun Fang Pavilion for enjoyment. There's a piece of horrendous news. One of the girls there was mistreated by several men to death. It's too appalling to witness."
"She apparently ran away with a martial artist, but was eventually caught and brought back, which led to her tragic end. I heard that girl was petite. Could she be the one you were interested in?"
A hint of unease settled within Lin Yi, replaced swiftly by a surge of indescribable fury rising from within. He hadn't expected Zhang Yuan Cheng to stoop so low as to involve an innocent person.
He glared at Zhang Yuan Cheng's smirk, itching to rip him to shreds. Yet, he managed to suppress his wrath.
Now was not the time for him to seize power. If he retaliated against the Spiritual Field Manager, it would mean dire consequences. Moreover, he wasn't sure if Zhang was merely bluffing.
"Ah, I see. Thank you for the warning, Manager Zhang," Lin Yi responded dismissively.
Zhang Yuan Cheng was caught off guard by Lin Yi's blasé reaction. He expected Lin Yi to be consumed by rage, perhaps even lash out at him. "There's no need to be so formal; we are all in the same boat."
"By the way, a young and innocent-looking girl, Chunying, has recently joined the Xun Fang Pavilion. I think you'd be interested in her. I had some fun with her before she was sent there. Feel free to visit and share some experiences," he said, with a lascivious smile on his face.
"Oh, thank you, Manager Zhang. I will take a look," Lin Yi replied, his face ever more expressionless.
He had already inquired secretly from Aunt Liu. It turned out that Chunying actually belonged to a Flower Moon Place from another region. After her blind date with Lin Yi, she was kept by Zhang Yuan Cheng in Qing Yun City, apparently for this particular day.
"Ha ha ha, go and have a look then. You can also witness the horrific sight of that runaway girl, who's now being publicly displayed at the entrance of Xun Fang Pavilion. I'd better leave now," Zhang Yuan Cheng guffawed. He clearly believed his devious plan would certainly demoralize Lin Yi.
Just as he was passing Lin Yi's neighbor's house, two large dogs suddenly lunged at him from within the house. Zhang Yuan Cheng was caught off guard; the dogs grabbed hold of his clothes and tore a large piece off.
"You damned dogs, I will butcher both of you!" he roared in uncontrollable rage, releasing his spiritual power in preparation to strike.
Suddenly, the neighbor heard the commotion and swiftly intervened, shouting, "Manager Zhang, stop it!"
Seeing the two dogs whimpering pitifully beside him, the neighbor turned to Zhang Yuan Cheng with a steely glare, "Manager Zhang, if you have a problem with me, deal with me directly. Don't involve my dogs."
These two dogs were his beloved pets, and they had eaten a lot of his Spirit Rice. There was no way he would allow Zhang Yuan Cheng to harm them. Moreover, the compensation that Zhang Yuan Cheng had promised earlier was still unpaid.
"Averting the blame to the victim, eh, Lu? Just you wait," Zhang Yuan Cheng retorted angrily after glancing at his torn clothes. He then stormed off in a huff.
However, not much further along another Spirit Farmer's house, another dog lunged at him from the doorway. Already overwhelmed by fury, Zhang Yuan Cheng was about to strike back, when two more dogs sprang out of nowhere, grabbing and pulling his sleeves, disrupting his powered-up move.
"Manager Zhang is trying to kill a dog! Everyone, come out and see! Our dogs are usually very obedient, if you didn't provoke them, why would they bite you?"
"Yes, everyone else passes by without any problems, how can it be that only you are affected!"
Hearing the doubting voices of the bystanders, Zhang Yuan Cheng roared in rage and stormed off. Still, dogs continued to pour out from every Spirit Farmer's house, making a beeline for him.
In the end, two to three dozen dogs were chasing after him, with the continuous barking sounds and shouts from the dog owners. Incredibly spectacular, inciting laughter from many Spirit Farmers.
Seeing this scene, a smile began to form on Lin Yi's lips. Just as he was about to head towards Qing Yun City, a notification window suddenly popped up in front of him, "Host has endured immense rage, restrained himself from acting impulsively, utilized impressive self-control, and obtained the title of [Little Resilience leads to Great Strategies]."