Li Yan was standing in a field of Spirit Grain. He straightened up, leaning one hand on his hoe while wiping the sweat from his brow with the other. Even with a cultivator's constitution, weeding just two rows of weeds had left him utterly exhausted.
He had accepted this mission a few days ago. When he found his Third Senior Brother, the man had simply taken a hoe from his hut, tossed it to him, and given no instructions. Li Yan hadn't thought much of it at the time. Wasn't it just farm work? He had done plenty of it since he was a child; if not, he wouldn't have dared to accept it so readily. He considered himself an expert. But when he actually got to the field, he was dumbfounded.
After taking the hoe and asking for the location, and following a few of his Third Senior Brother's cold replies, Li Yan mounted his flying spirit artifact and flew toward the Spirit Grain fields.
It was a field of several hundred mu. Each stalk of Spirit Grain shimmered with a golden-green light. Li Yan felt as if he were facing a waist-deep, sparkling wave of grain. He could feel a vibrant fluctuation of spiritual energy from these stalks. A gentle breeze sent ripples through the field, and from a distance, the points of golden-green light swayed in unison, creating a sudden sense of boundless, vibrant life.
The mission he accepted was to weed ten mu of this field in a single day, or else one Low-grade Spirit Stone would be deducted. Li Yan, of course, felt this would be no problem at all. After marveling at the pastoral scenery, he took off his long robe, rolled up his sleeves, and walked between the rows where he saw plenty of weeds. He took a deep breath, planted his feet, and swung the hoe down. With a loud "CLANG," a jolt shot through Li Yan's hands, leaving them numb. The ground, however, bore only a shallow scratch, to say nothing of the cluster of weeds, which hadn't moved an inch. Stunned, Li Yan raised the hoe again, summoned all his strength, and brought it down with a "CLANG" even louder than the first. The ground still only had a shallow mark, not much deeper than before. In disbelief, Li Yan was about to bend down and try to dig at the earth with his hands when a voice came from behind him. "Junior Brother, that's not going to work. Is this your first time?"
Li Yan turned to see a man standing between the rows in another patch of the grain field a few dozen zhang away, also apparently weeding. He hadn't released his Divine Sense earlier, so he hadn't noticed anyone else was here. The other person had likely heard the loud noises and taken notice of him.
Li Yan quickly turned back and bowed. "My apologies for my incompetence, Senior Brother. This is indeed my first time accepting this mission. May I ask for Senior Brother's name?"
The man was of medium height, looked to be in his thirties, and had a short, well-kept beard, giving him a very capable appearance. Li Yan hadn't released his Divine Sense, but he estimated the man was also a Foundation Establishment cultivator. The man hadn't released his Divine Sense either; otherwise, seeing Li Yan's cultivation level, he probably would have addressed him as "Martial Nephew."
"I am Zhang Kui of Four Symbols Peak. And you are, Junior Brother?"
"Oh, I am a disciple of Little Bamboo Peak, Li Yan," Li Yan replied with a smile.
"Oh? Li Yan... Li Yan? I remember now. I think you're the junior brother who joined Little Bamboo Peak a few years ago. I heard Daqiao mention you when we were chatting before." The middle-aged cultivator was startled at first, then after a moment of thought, he chuckled.
Li Yan smiled and nodded, thinking, 'It's not strange to have been heard of from Seventh Senior Brother.'
"What's this? Did Junior Brother Li not get the method from Senior Brother Yun before coming over?"
Li Yan couldn't very well say that his Third Senior Brother had just thrown a hoe at him and that he'd had to press for the location. He could only scratch his head.
Zhang Kui seemed to understand. "Hehe, I see. Let me tell you then. It's not too difficult. The hoes in our hands are not ordinary tools like a farmer's; they are also low-grade spirit artifacts. You need to infuse spiritual power into them when you weed. However, the weeds in these grain fields are most vulnerable to metal-element spiritual power, followed by fire-element spiritual power. If you use wood, water, or earth-element spiritual power, not only will you fail to remove them, but you will actually help their roots spread even more wildly. Like this."
With that, he nodded at Li Yan and then bent down to continue his work.
Li Yan quickly returned the bow. He knew that for the man to offer so much guidance was a kindness; he could have just ignored him. He then recalled that there had been a note when he accepted the mission specifying a requirement for metal or fire spiritual power. He hadn't understood it then and had later overlooked it. So that was the reason.
Thus, he circulated the True Scripture of the Nether Water in his body, and instantly, metal-element spiritual power formed. The next moment, he channeled it into the Spirit Hoe. The hoe glowed faintly with golden light. Li Yan swung it down, and with a soft "swish," the patch of earth was turned over, just as Zhang Kui had said.
And so, Li Yan got busy between the rows. But after less than half an hour, he straightened up, drenched in sweat and his face somewhat pale. The reason was that his spiritual energy was depleted. With his seventh-layer Qi Condensation cultivation, weeding ten mu of land should have been nothing, let alone a hundred mu of the kind mortals farmed. But this Spirit Grain field was very strange, incredibly hard, and the weeds' roots ran nearly three chi deep. If he infused too little spiritual energy, he couldn't uproot them at all. If he infused too much, it was a waste. After just two rows, his spiritual energy was nearly gone. Looking at the vast expanse of the grain field remaining, he couldn't help but sigh. 'Looks like another Spirit Stone has flown away.' It would take him more than ten hours of meditation to recover, so there was no way he could finish within a day.
The days passed in a cycle of earning little and losing much. Two months later, at dusk, Li Yan looked at the ten mu of grain field, its rows clean and weed-free, and a small smile tugged at his lips.
During this period, he had lost quite a few Spirit Stones. Even though he had also taken on the Mowang Bamboo watering mission and added his monthly allowance of Spirit Stones, he still owed the Mission Hall twenty-six Spirit Stones. However, this situation should become less frequent in the days to come.
Although he lost many Spirit Stones, Li Yan learned a great deal as well, such as the efficient use of spiritual power, the rapid conversion between the five elements' spiritual powers, and he also improved the speed of his spiritual power recovery and the purity of his spiritual energy. All of this benefited him greatly. During one of his recovery meditations after weeding, he had even advanced to the late stage of the seventh layer of Qi Condensation. It happened so naturally that he was completely unprepared, and he was, of course, overjoyed.
The days passed, full and busy. Every day, Li Yan was like a diligent little bee, bustling between the Spirit Plant Garden and his cultivation.
On this day, Li Yan woke up early. After a simple wash, he opened the formation of his courtyard gate, intending to head straight for the Mission Hall. He had to hurry and pay back the twenty-six Spirit Stones he owed, or else it would become twenty-seven next month. The interest rates in this sect were terrifyingly high.
But recently, due to a large number of the sect's Foundation Establishment cultivators going out for training, the missions in each peak's Mission Hall had piled up. So, the Mowang Bamboo and Spirit Grain watering missions he was familiar with were still available. He heard from Zhang Kui that Lord Lao Peak's main Mission Hall had an even larger backlog of missions, but he figured that once the Foundation Establishment selection was over, these missions would quickly disappear. For the past few months, his missions had been basically the same as Zhang Kui's. Zhang Kui was not a combat-oriented person either, otherwise he would have gone to the Mission Hall to accept missions that required leaving the sect, which would earn him more Spirit Stones. He had not signed up for this Foundation Establishment competition. In the Malevolent Spirit Sect, there were still many like him who single-mindedly focused on improving their realm in pursuit of eternal life; they were not all battle-crazed lunatics.
Li Yan hadn't taken on any other types of missions recently, focusing solely on watering Mowang Bamboo and weeding the Spirit Grain fields to first earn some Spirit Stones to pay off his debt. After leaving his courtyard, he was about to release his flying spirit artifact when a brilliant light flashed in the sky above the bamboo forest, and a Great Scroll descended.
"Little Junior Brother, hold on. I've come at just the right time," a gentle voice said from ahead.
Li Yan was stunned. He didn't know why his Eldest Senior Brother was looking for him so early in the morning. He quickly bowed. "Greetings, Eldest Senior Brother. If there's anything, you could have just sent a message through the token. I would have gone over. There was no need for you to make a trip."
Li Wuyi had already retrieved his magical artifact and walked over steadily. "Hehe, I thought it would be better to explain this matter in person. Besides, I'm not always in the main hall."
Hearing this, Li Yan felt a sense of doubt. For his Eldest Senior Brother to come find him personally, it seemed this was no small matter.
So he opened the courtyard gate again. The two walked into the courtyard and sat down on the stone bench. Li Yan took out a tea set and poured two cups of tea. He wasn't one for fine food or drink; he usually just drank plain water to quench his thirst. This tea was a gift from Zhang Kui from the Spirit Plant Garden.
Li Wuyi took a sip of the tea and felt it moisten his entire mouth. He couldn't help but nod, then his expression turned serious.
"Little Junior Brother, I've come this time to tell you about an important matter. Recently, Teacher and Martial Mother have both been in seclusion, and I've been handling all affairs on the peak. Yesterday, I received an order from the Sect Master and made a trip to Lord Lao Peak to listen to the instructions of the various Martial Uncles regarding next year's secret realm harvest. Some time ago, Golden Core masters from the Supreme Mystery Teachings, the Pure Land Sect, and the Ten-Pace Courtyard came to our sect to discuss this matter. The three sects proposed that after next year's harvest, they wish to open a small pocket dimension within the secret realm called the Wheel of Life and Death for a grand competition. This Wheel of Life and Death existed tens of thousands of years ago. It was a trial that opened following the secret realm harvest conducted by great cultivators of the Golden Core realm. But later, after the harvest was changed to be conducted by Foundation Establishment cultivators, the Wheel of Life and Death was closed. Only Teacher and the others know the reason for its closure."
"The Wheel of Life and Death should be a Bloodthirsty Magical Artifact refined by ancient cultivators in the secret realm. It takes place within a massive sphere in the secret realm, with twenty paths extending from different directions toward the sphere's core. Each path must be occupied by one high-level cultivator leading thirty-six cultivators who are one major realm below him. These twenty paths are independent of each other and have no connection. Initially, each path is only ten li long, but as the cultivators continuously advance toward the core, the paths will extend further. These paths constantly twist and move within the sphere, like twenty dancing ribbons. From an overall perspective, it looks like they are rotating irregularly within a ball, but the people on them do not feel any shaking. Hence, it is called the Wheel of Life and Death. During this process, two paths will always intersect at their ends as they extend. Thus, no one knows which two paths will intersect. The moment they intersect, the ends of the two paths will stop extending, and the seventy-four cultivators on both paths will meet. At this point, both sides must engage in a slaughter until only thirty-seven or fewer cultivators remain. Only then will the two paths merge into one, and they can continue to advance toward the core."
At this point, Li Wuyi glanced at Li Yan, who was bowing his head in contemplation.
"Little Junior Brother, do you have no curiosity or questions?" Li Wuyi took a sip of tea and asked, seemingly nonchalantly.
"Eldest Senior Brother, I think there must be some reason forcing both sides to fight. Otherwise, they could just wait there until it's over. For example, the entire team dies if they don't reach the core, or a great threat appears after two paths intersect."
Li Wuyi praised him upon hearing this. "Little Junior Brother is truly clever. Although you didn't guess correctly, you've grasped the key point. The Wheel of Life and Death is a competition of speed. The first three teams to reach the end can enter the core of the sphere. This core is divided into four layers. Everyone can reach the first layer, and the teams that arrive will be transported to different levels according to their order of arrival. There will be generous rewards of different grades. These rewards are far more valuable than the harvest outside. However, the items obtained cannot be kept entirely by the individual. Each person can choose one treasure first, or they can forego the treasure and exchange it with the sect for an equivalent amount of Spirit Stones. The rest must be handed over to the sect. This may sound unreasonable, since it was earned by every member of the team risking their lives, so why hand it over to the sect? But even so, everyone scrambles to go. Any single treasure from there might be something you could never obtain in your entire life, perhaps something you might never even see, so they are very precious. The sect has spent vast resources to nurture your growth, and opening the secret realm itself consumes many precious resources, so most of the treasures obtained must be handed over to the sect."
Li Yan nodded at this. He certainly agreed with this view and understood why his Eldest Senior Brother was explaining it to him—it was to ensure that if he went, he wouldn't harbor any resentment toward the sect afterward.
"As long as one reaches the first layer of the core, there will be no more death, just no rewards. In the end, they will be transported out along with the teams from the other three layers. This means that everyone left on the paths will die. That kind of death is watching the people around you die one by one, a mental anguish that is unbearable. One might even go mad and attack their own teammates before dying."
"Because once this sphere is filled with all seven hundred and forty people on the twenty paths, it will automatically activate. From that moment on, the sphere will continuously shrink and compress toward the core. During this contraction, a large black shadow will form at the edge of the sphere. From within, it looks like a massive black curse pressing down from the sky. If a human body touches this black shadow—be it their magical artifacts, magical treasures, or their own flesh and bones—it will instantly turn to ash, with no exceptions. Therefore, when two paths intersect, both sides must fight desperately to open the extension of the path before the contracting sphere's black shadow arrives. Otherwise, they will soon die."