Fang Yuan was still unaware that the gears of a great conspiracy had started turning
Quite the opposite, the current Fang Yuan's heart was filled with ecstatic joy.
"This is…"
The moment he entered the paddy field, he was struck by a flash of red.
The entire vermillion jade paddy went through a complete change. All of the grains were large and full, almost to the point of bursting out of their shells, and they gave off a slight spicy fragrance, as though as they were spices, enticing one's appetites.
"The Vermillion Jade Rice is fully grown!"
Fang Yuan instantly burst out in happiness
"Keke!"
"Keke!"
The Flower Fox Ferret was also elated and really wanted to leap forward to help itself to the rice.
Thankfully after this period of training, it finally understood that this spiritual rice was the same as Jade Crystal Rice, and had to first have their shells removed, before being steamed, only then one would be able to taste an unparalleled taste. Otherwise, it would just be wasting a treasure.
Thus, the ferret still maintained its self control, simply staring at Fang Yuan from afar.
"Mhmm, let's harvest it first!"
After that, Fang Yuan returned to his house, retrieved a sickle and other tools, before starting to harvest the rice carefully.
The good thing was that he had already broken through the Rest Gate, hence his stamina was great, surpassing that of an ordinary man, and his magical energy levels were high, thus there was confidence in every motion. With a few swings of the blade, the stalks of Vermillion Jade Rice fell in an organised manner.
From one side, the Flower Fox Ferret saw the scene unfolding before him, licking his claws, but still not daring to go forward to help out.
It was very aware that its future happiness depended on this paddy field. If anything it did scr*wed things up, wouldn't it just cry itself to death?
"Ok we're done, help me move these seedlings back."
Fang Yuan tied up the Vermillion Jade Rice seedlings into bundles, at the same time tossing over the Flower Fox Ferret's share, "Careful!"
After harvesting, the next step would be drying, threshing, deshelling…
When the final step was completed, he gazed upon the shiny red Vermillion Jade Rice, and couldn't help but break into a smile.
The Vermillion Jade Rice in front of him was about the size of a fingernail, sparkled like jade, with a blazing red line that ran through the center, and brought about a spicy fragrance to one's nose.
"This harvest has yielded around 50 pounds, of which we have to keep half for planting…"
On the other side, Fang Yuan piled up the grains with their shells intact in the storeroom. After keeping them properly, he let out a sigh of relief, and looked at the remaining Vermillion Jade Rice, rubbing his hands impatiently, "I'll be the one to taste this spiritual rice…"
From the side, the Flower Fox Ferret had been staring at the Vermillion Jade Rice until it started drooling, but it still did not dare to make a move. Instead, it turned around to munch on a good portion of the husks, rubbing its belly with a look of satisfaction on its face.
"So obedient!"
This series of actions by the ferret did not escape Fang Yuan, and he couldn't help but comment.
Although rice husks were usually used to feed livestock in villages, they could not compare to the husks of spiritual rice. These husks probably had many more times the nutrition and elemental energy of Crystal Jade Rice.
"But… if you're eating so much now, do you still have the space for the cooked Vermillion Jade Rice later?"
Fang Yuan said while rapping the Flower Fox Ferret's little head.
The white ferret rolled its eyes, bared its claws, and stared with a strong desire in its eyes, as though as it could eat everything regardless of the amount.
"Really… I can't deal with you!"
After a long guffaw, Fang Yuan went to draw some water from the spring, and added a steamer basket, placing 1 pound of Vermillion Jade Rice inside.
"This Vermillion Jade Rice is a spiritual plant, so I'd better take care when cooking it. Let's start by steaming it…"
Stuffing the rice straw underneath the furnace, Fang Yuan looked as blazing red light lit up the entire room, which made it seem like the entire kitchen was on fire. On top of that, the fragrance emanating from the steamer made the both of them salivate profusely.
The rice straws were from a spiritual plant, but now it was being used as fuel for a fire. If this was seen by members of Spirit Returning Sect, they would lament about how wasteful Fang Yuan was.
However, to Fang Yuan, wasn't using rice straw to cook rice the proper thing to do?
Moreover, combining these two things could possibly draw out some special benefits too.
"Next time I'll use the rice husks to raise a batch of chickens and duck, then I'll have a complete spiritual feast. That would be really living the life!"
In his heart, there was still that little idea.
As the rice straw burnt easily, hence he had to keep adding more continuously. Once the last bundle turned into fire and vanished, a fragrance 10 times stronger than before filled the entire kitchen.
"The Vermillion Jade Rice is ready!"
Fang Yuan opened the steamer basket, which released a large amount of red gas into the air. The water vapour added onto the bright glow from the Vermillion Jade Rice, which had all turned completely red, like a cloud of fire.
Inside the steamer basket, all of the rice had developed nicely, turning into the size of normal crystal rice. After they absorbed more water vapour, each grain appeared fuller than ever, with a slight hint of fire burning within.
"Keke! Keke!"
Leaping up, the Flower Fox Ferret seemed very impatient.
"Haha… How could your share be any less! Here, eat!"
Fang Yuan took out chopsticks and bowls, giving the Flower Fox Ferret a full bowl, and an identical serving for himself too.
With rice fragrance swirling around him, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva before sending the Vermillion Jade Rice into his mouth.
"Woo…"
In that instant, his pupils dilated.
The Vermillion Jade Rice melted upon contact with his mouth, stimulating his taste receptors like a stream of magma with a dense, fragrant spicy tinge.
This sort of spicy feeling, coupled with the rice's original texture, turned into the best meal. There was no need for any dishes to go with it.
When he finally swallowed the rice, this stream flowed straight into his stomach, immediately turning into icy.
Such spicy rice actually turned into an icy stream after reaching the stomach?
This sensation made it seem like he was inside a dream world. It was as though as after getting steamed for a good half a day inside the kitchen, Fang Yuan went to take a refreshing cold water shower. His whole body felt extremely comfortable, and every inch of his skin felt they were renewed.
The Flower Fox Ferret at the side cleaned out its bowl even faster and stared at Fang Yuan anxiously.
"So greedy!"
Looking down at the remaining amount of rice, he felt a little regretful, but even more fear.
He was afraid that he could not stay disciplined enough, and eventually would take out the last tens of pounds of rice to polish off!
As he saw the look of desire in the Flower Fox Ferret's eyes, he knew that this was not impossible.
"But… Since it's the first harvest, there's no problem to eat a little more today."
Fang Yuan mused while stroking his chin. The taste of Vermillion Jade Rice was simply too good!
Upon hearing this the Flower Fox Ferret jumped up gleefully, almost using its claws to give a round of applause.
…..
"Whew… I'm satisfied…"
An unknown period of time later, Fang Yuan clutched his belly and lay down on the ground, not feeling like moving even a finger.
At his side, there was the similarly full Flower Fox Ferret.
This human and beast did not have any self-restraint, eating over 5 pounds rice. When thinking back about this, Fang Yuan's heart ached.
His original plan was to rely on this harvest to sustain him till the next one, but it seemed like this was no longer a possibility.
"It looks like we still have to exercise some restraint. Otherwise, we'll only be able to eat rice husks and drink porridge, living life counting every grain that we have…"
Fang Yuan was very frustrated.
Who didn't know that even for the Spirit Returning Sect, Vermillion Jade Rice was only consumed by the sect head and his direct disciple? Moreover, it was not something that was eaten daily.
The life that he and the Flower Fox Ferret led would definitely draw many jealous stares if anyone else knew.
"But… The Vermillion Jade Rice seeds that Minister Lin gave me didn't look like this…"
After eating his fill, this afterthought appeared in Fang Yuan's mind. "So this is the effect of Level 3 Botany? I think the spiritual rice of Spirit Returning Sect is probably not as high quality as mine. Moreover, this is still before any mutation has happened…"
"It's time to train!"
When some of the food in his belly had been digested, Fang Yuan stood up, subconsciously turning to look at his stats window. What he saw shocked him, as there were new changes.
"Name: Fang Yuan
Essence: 1.4
Spirit: 1.3
Magic: 1.5
Age: 18
Cultivation: [Martial Artist (2nd Gate)]
Techniques: [Black Sand Palm (Grade 2)]
Skills: [Medicine (Level 1)], [Botany (Level 3)]"
"Essence increased from 1.3 to 1.4?"
It seemed like Essence meant the state of his body. A sum of all of his physical qualities and attributes.
Before this, the only time it rose was when he broke through a gate.
But now, just from a meal of Vermillion Jade Rice, his Essence actually rose by 0.1?
"Even though it should have the greatest effect since this is the first time, but isn't this a little too much?"
Fang Yuan couldn't believe his eyes.
A body's quality was the foundation of everything, and after a single meal of spiritual rice, there were such stunning changes. Then how impressive would those geniuses from families with an unlimited stream of spiritual rice be?
"But… Their spiritual rice might not be as good as mine. Moreover, they do not have these magical fingers!"
With the help of the stats window, Fang Yuan was confident in climbing to the peak of the world, obviously not fearing any geniuses at all.
"Since it is so, one can't travel a thousand miles without accumulating a number of steps over time… So I can't slack for my daily training!"
Very quickly, he immersed himself in Black Sand Palm training.
But today, he felt that something was different.
During the process of training, a stream of warmth spread out from his limbs and bones. It felt like warm water covered his entire body, giving him energy, and a slight numb feeling all over as though as there was an electric shock.
"This is…"
Since he knew something was different, Fang Yuan did a thorough check of his entire body and looking at the stats window, he made a discovery.
"Black Sand Palm's progress bar is filling up really fast. Is this the effect of Vermillion Jade Rice?"
If his progress bar filled up by one part in 10,000 after one round of practicing the palm technique, now it filled up by one part in 1,000!
An increase of 10 times, how scary was that!
"Vermillion Jade Rice's effect should not have anything to do with my progress, so could it be due to my physical state?"
A thought popped into Fang Yuan's mind.
Since Essence was the foundation of everything, now that his base had grown, the difficulty of martial arts training naturally dropped.
At least this was the case for his progress.
"It seems like I must raise my body's quality faster!"
Clenching his fist, Fang Yuan's eyes glittered with excitement.
Vermillion Jade Rice, Questioning Heart Tea, together with the stats window. These were literally helping him cheat at life.