In the Yellow Bud Rice Fields, Chen Mu watched Old Hao's slightly disheveled retreating figure and couldn't help but sigh.
"I didn't want to."
Chen Mu shook his head, "There is no such thing as an unprovoked kindness."
"This world that crushes one's hopes..."
Looking at the items snatched within the Five Ghosts Bag, Chen Mu sighed again.
The loss of these items could be a heavy blow to Old Monk Hao and Shang Huan.
It might leave them without food, unable to pay their dues, unsuccessful in their practices.
"But if I don't teach them a lesson, what will they do when they encounter someone more ruthless in the future?"
"What's at stake then might not just be possessions, but their very lives!"
Chen Mu let out a breath, "I'm doing this for their own good!"
"I hope you can become kind and solid individuals!"
Thinking that he may have shaped two good people in this world, Chen Mu's mood instantly brightened.
After Old Hao's figure disappeared over Low Mountain,
Chen Mu didn't bother to pretend to weed any longer.
He straightened up and thick black smoke spread across the fields.
Chen Mu strolled leisurely through the Yellow Bud Rice Fields and with a casual roundabout walk, all the weeds vanished without a trace.
"Planting Yellow Bud Rice isn't that difficult, is it?" Chen Mu nodded in satisfaction.
According to his estimate, as long as he could hold on until the autumn harvest, he would definitely meet the target for paying his dues.
"Time to go home and make a feast!"
...
In the stone courtyard on the east side, the previously abandoned vegetable patch was cleaned and leveled by Chen Mu, who laid down a floor of green stone slabs.
Using round logs as pillars and wooden planks for the roof, Chen Mu routinely built a wooden shed.
Under the shed, rocking chairs and a low tea table were neatly arranged.
After eating, Chen Mu comfortably nestled into a rocking chair.
Black smoke swirled as items began to materialize out of thin air.
"A half bag of Yellow Bud Rice, that's enough for five or six days of eating," Chen Mu said with a twist of his lip.
"Dried Exotic Beast Meat with sinewy muscles, I wonder what the full appearance of this beast is, it looks a bit strange." Chen Mu pressed the cured meat and nodded in satisfaction.
"I'll wash it and try making stir-fried flavored cured meat tonight."
Next, he took out three small cloth bags and dumped them onto the low table.
"A total of seventeen White Jade Coins, this is good!" Chen Mu heaved a sigh of relief, the money was enough for him to eat for four or five months and solved an urgent need.
"This way, there's no rush to sell the Calming Pills."
His experience with Old Hao made him distrustful of the new environment.
"I'll wait until I've listened to teachings at the Scripture Transmission Institute," Chen Mu thought to himself.
He needed to confirm that his Spirit and Soul Unification had no issues.
Chen Mu took out a copper mirror and looked at his face.
In the middle of his forehead, silver threads like waves were faintly visible.
"Old Hao's face and arms haven't changed, and his appetite is still normal. What's with my Spirit Armor Technique?" Chen Mu wondered with confusion.
"Since I can't make the original Fasting Pill, should I try making a 4.0 version of it?" Chen Mu pondered.
He didn't know how to turn Yellow Bud Rice into the Fasting Pill.
But the idea of transforming Yellow Bud Rice into a 4.0 version of the Fasting Pill was still within his reach.
"Mixing in Exotic Beast Meat, that just might work."
As he was contemplating, a sudden realization flashed through his mind.
Chen Mu's action of chewing the Fasting Pills abruptly paused.
He called up the grey wall.
Culinary Skills: 5/10000/Fourth Rank;
As he was musing over the Fasting Pill, his Culinary Skills naturally broke through to Fourth Rank.
He finally understood the ingredients of the Fasting Pill.
"Essence of the Five Grains?" Chen Mu shook his head with a chuckle.
"Alchemical Technique didn't make it clear, but Culinary Skills did. Heh..."
"A misunderstanding indeed."
In the end, the Fasting Pill was simply a type of food.
"It's a pity I still can't extract it," Chen Mu shook his head.
Fourth Rank Culinary Skills only enabled him to identify the ingredients, but not the extraction methods.
"Perhaps the Scripture Transmission Institute might have the answer," Chen Mu contemplated.
"No point thinking about it now, first I need to take good care of the Yellow Bud Rice Fields."
As he was thinking this, Chen Mu suddenly paused, turning his head towards the direction of the courtyard gate.
"An Exotic Beast?"
The paper Ghosts floating over the field transmitted back a bizarre image.
A group of uninvited guests had barged into the Yellow Bud Rice Fields.
With bodies the size of calves, shiny black fur, branching antler-like horns, and muscles more inflated and exaggerated than those of a past-world bodybuilder.
"Is this... a sheep?"
...
"Black Sheep with Antlers, they eat a lot and grow fast," Old Hao remarked with amazement as he looked at the black sheep lying in a row in the field.
"You're lucky to have found out in time; otherwise, they would have ruined two mu of your Yellow Bud Rice in just one night."
"Two adults and three young, they can sell for two White Jade Coins, you're really fortunate," Old Hao looked at Chen Mu with envy.
Chen Mu chuckled, "Can these be eaten?"
"You're not planning to exchange them for money?" Old Hao looked surprisedly at Chen Mu.
"They can be eaten; some people specifically raise this kind of Exotic Beast to slaughter and sell for money."
"But... but that's two White Jade Coins!"
Chen Mu smiled broadly, "No worries, I'd like to try something new."
After all, he would have to spend money to buy Exotic Beast Meat, so why not just eat this one.
To spend two White Jade Coins to try something new?
I wish I could do that!
Old Hao looked at Chen Mu with mixed feelings.
"This guy's luck is really damn good!" Discover hidden stories at empire