CHAPTER 109 - CULTIVATION INSIGHT FARM-ULAE

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Lady Hoshi covered her mouth with her hands, wide-eyed with shock. Two cute fox ears popped up on top of her head, and a fluffy tail appeared behind her. Her control of her human form tended to falter when she was excited. “She… She’s gained an insight, and she’s breaking through to the next cultivation level!”

I took her by the hand and drew her away from her attendant. “Maybe we should give her some space? This is a good thing, right?”

“This is a very good thing! She’s been stuck in the middle stage of Foundation Establishment for ages,” said Lady Hoshi.

Of course, I knew that almost all the members of the god clans, and a few lucky humans, were cultivators, though half of them were quite low-level. In this world, “cultivation” was what they called the process of growing more powerful by cultivating or growing qi.

The cultivator levels or ranks were, from lowest to highest, Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, and Nascent Soul. In ancient times, people had ascended to higher levels, but these days the highest ranks were Nascent Soul cultivators.

That was the case only for other people. I myself had a different way of leveling up using my System.

Meihui seemed to regain her consciousness for a few seconds. She gestured towards Lady Hoshi, motioning her to move farther away. We obliged, then Meihui sat down on the ground in a lotus position and closed her eyes. She was clearly meditating.

Moments later, I heard a commotion as some sort of fast-moving blur streaked toward us, and when it came to a stop beside Fengying, I saw that it was her husband Deming.

“I’m fine, dear,” said Fengying.

Deming looked her up and down, then nodded. He didn’t say a word and simply stood beside her silently.

“Oh, that’s him, isn’t it?” Lady Hoshi whispered to me while pointing at Deming.

“Yes? That’s my chef, Deming,” I said.

Now that it seemed that we weren’t in any actual danger, my apprentices and the members of my household staff, who had been quiet thus far, started chattering.

“An insight! Is it because of the poem that Teacher wrote?” Kharli asked the others excitedly.

“I saw her practicing writing that yesterday, and I didn’t notice anything unusual,” said Mo.

“That’s because you’re not a cultivator,” said Lari.

Lady Hoshi, meanwhile, seemed quite interested in Deming. “Is it true what they say about him?”

“That he’s a demon in the kitchen? Yes, it’s totally true. I hardly dare even step inside when he’s working there,” I said.

The little fox girl rolled her eyes. “No! I mean, the part about him being extremely handsome!”

“What?” I whipped my head around to check out the object of Lady Hoshi’s curiosity. No matter how I looked, he seemed just like an ordinary gray-haired old man.

“You don’t know? You really don’t know? I can’t believe it,” said Lady Hoshi. “Everybody knows that it’s true.”

“What? How come?”

She giggled and gestured for me to bend down for her to whisper in my ear. “He fled from his old job because the lady of the house fell in love with him. Ever since then, he’s disguised himself as an old man.”

“No way. Wait, what about Fengying, his wife?”

“She’s not a cultivator, so that’s what she looks like,” said Lady Hoshi. “Actually, she looks ten years younger than before. That’s because of your [Dewy Glow Potion], she says.”

Huh? I hadn’t noticed it before, but now that she pointed it out, Fengying definitely looked younger than before.

“That, and the fact that she eats spiritual food every day,” added Lady Hoshi. “Do you think that there’s a chance that your chef will show us his real form?”

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I straightened up and glanced again at Deming. “I’m definitely not going to ask for you. You can ask him if you like.”

Lady Hoshi pouted.

I expected Meihui’s meditation to take at least an hour, maybe even half of a day, but after a mere fifteen minutes, she opened her eyes. Lady Hoshi hopped over to her and gave her a hug.

“How did it go?” asked Lady Hoshi.

“I’m about to break through to the late stage of Foundation Establishment,” she said. The expression on her face was one of amazement. Meihui was always good-looking, and now she was almost blindingly beautiful because she practically seemed to be glowing with delight.

“Yay!” Lady Hoshi hugged her tighter.

Meihui got up and bowed deeply to me. “Thank you very much. You’ve given me a great treasure. Could you please sign this?”

She held out the fan to me and I signed the other side of it with a flourish.

“You’re welcome,” I said.

We exchanged a few more pleasantries and goodbyes, and they left.

“Phew! That was exhausting,” I said to my apprentices. “It’s nice to have visitors now and then, but I still prefer the quiet life.”

“They were nice,” said Kharli.

The others nodded.

Fengying approached me and said, “Deming would like a copy, too.”

“Of the poem? You guys know it’s just a regular one. You saw me practicing my calligraphy,” I said.

Fengying shrugged.

“Well, okay.” I wrote the same poem down on another scroll, signed it with my name, and gave it to her. “Meihui was probably very close to a breakthrough and it was just a coincidence that it happened here. They told me that the qi here is quite intense. It had nothing to do with the poem.”

“May I have a copy, too?” asked Lari.

… And that was why I spent an hour making two dozen copies of the poem. Everyone seemed convinced that it was going to be extremely valuable in the future, so I made a lot of extras in case I needed to give someone a gift later on.

***

Once the excitement of the Fox clan’s visit had died down, I went right back to work.

Last winter, I explored the Mines, also called the Chitinous Caverns, in the Southerlands where I had managed to unlock both the [Mushroom Cave] and [Mini Hydroponic Farm].

I went back to my [Ranch House] and changed into shorts and a T-shirt before using the [Portal Door] that I had affixed to the northern side of my living room wall. The portal had appeared as a buildable option, with a limit of one per house, when I rebuilt the farm. Of course, at the moment the only place that I could go to was the Mines, but it was a very convenient item indeed. I simply stepped through the door and emerged at the lowest level of the Mines.

Though I probably didn’t need to do it, I still put my puppet, Mr. Bear, on [Guard Mode]. Mr. Bear was looking particularly spiffy today since I had recently washed and dried his plush toy body and tied a new black ribbon on his neck. The contrast between the black ribbon and pink plush fabric was really cute.

Since I had “conquered” the Boss, it no longer gave me any trouble. I didn’t see it around much. With my puppet guardian by my side, I took the elevator up to level 90.

The use of the hidden elevator was another reward that I got for reaching the lowest level.

Whistling happily, I went to the [Mini Hydroponic Farm] first. This deep underground, level 90 should’ve been a gloomy, scary place, but this specific area was an ancient temple of healing. Pure white tiles covered the walls and floor, and giant luminous pearls as big as my head were mounted on marble pedestals all around the perimeter of the cave.

I checked the [Hydroponic Kit] I had set up. The nutrient level, temperature, and plants were doing okay, and I didn’t need to do anything yet. In fact, this place wasn’t particularly valuable, since my farming level was still low. I was simply growing ordinary crops like strawberries, tomatoes, chili peppers, mint, rosemary, and carnation flowers in it.

Next, I went to the [Mushroom Cave]. In contrast to the other rooms, this one really was dark, damp, and gloomy, but I didn’t care. It was filled with mushrooms of every shape, size, and color, many of which glowed like something from a fairy tale. I had set up mushroom growing shelves in this cave, and I was quite excited to see that there were plenty of mushrooms ready to be harvested today.

There were so many different varieties of mushrooms here that it was dizzying. All of them were rare gourmet ingredients, though they were only low-grade. Deming loved them since they were like truffles in this world, a food ingredient that gave dishes an earthy and refined taste.

[Celestiaspore:

A button cap mushroom whose light blue cap seems dusted by sparkling silver. Has a delicate, ethereal flavor and aroma.]

The [Mini Hydroponic Farm] gave Farming exp while the [Mushroom Cave] gave Foraging exp. It wasn’t a lot, but I was able to get the exp with very little effort. One could think of it as the player’s reward for beating the Boss. I should be able to harvest mushrooms every three to four days, while the stuff I was growing on the hydroponic farm should be ready in half the time it took on the farm.

“What a haul!” I said to my puppet as I held up a basket full of yummy mushrooms. Somehow, being here again made me revert to my habit of talking to Mr. Bear.

I returned home in great spirits and had a lively dinner with my apprentices who were making fun of me by repeatedly reciting the poem I had written, complete with dramatic gestures and ridiculous expressions on their faces.

“Underneath moon's glow,” intoned Kharli in a sepulchral tone while crossing her eyes.

Mo pushed Kharli’s shoulder down and “whispered” loudly in her ear, “Night whispers, a lullaby.”

“Blossoms unfurling.” Lari crouched down and then got up fast, spreading his arms and twirling like a ballerina.

“Leaping birds in azure sky,” they chorused as they hopped around like demented rabbits.

My lips twitched. The maids lost it and started laughing like crazy at their antics.

“Overcoming shadows, Cascading dreams take flight, Keys to new worlds unlock,” they said, while being in horrible sync and making a series of poses like martial artists, except they kept comedically bumping into each other and falling down.

“Great, you guys are ready for the circus!” I said, laughing until my stomach hurt.

There's never a dull moment at Emberstone Farm!