"This is..."

Jiang Xu tentatively reached out, but his hand passed right through the panel in front of him.

’Before I transmigrated, I’d been on a revenge-entertainment binge, staying up all night playing games. The one I was playing was a little Cultivation game. Don’t tell me... I actually died from it?’

’What a joke. To think I’d die from playing a trashy game like this. If I had to go out like that, it should have at least been from a triple-A title.’

Staring at the game-like panel before him, Jiang Xu sized it up.

The contents of the panel weren’t hard to understand. It was clearly Jiang Xu’s character panel, and it was very simple.

Jiang Xu’s eyes went first to the Lifespan section.

Lifespan: 94 years. Not bad at all.

Even in his previous life, in an age of advanced modern medicine, that would be considered a long life.

And in this Cultivation World, while mortals who couldn’t cultivate generally lived longer than the ancients of Earth due to the Spiritual Qi between Heaven and Earth, their average Lifespan was still only about sixty or seventy years.

’If I’d lived this long in my past life, imagine how much I could have collected in retirement benefits!’

As for the Cangmu Skill listed below, that was the ordinary Wood Attribute Technique he was currently practicing, suitable for a Spirit Plant Cultivator.

It was said that frequent contact with Spirit Rice would speed up one’s Cultivation and could even increase one’s Lifespan.

Jiang Xu figured that was probably a lie.

The Magic techniques were all provided for free by the Sect, intended for tending to the Spirit Rice.

The Spirit Rain Technique could gather the surrounding Spiritual Qi and infuse it into the rain, which, when absorbed by the Spirit Rice, would increase the yield and quality of the Spirit Rice.

The Small Cotton Needle Technique was specifically for pest control, and due to the nature of the Magic, it didn’t easily damage the Spirit Rice.

The only thing on the entire panel that left Jiang Xu a bit puzzled was the "Limit-Breaking Points."

’Limit-Breaking Points? What are those?’

’Judging by the name, they should be used to break some kind of limit.’

’I only have 0.094 points right now. That number seems related to my 94-year Lifespan. Maybe I get points each day equal to my Lifespan divided by 1000?’

Jiang Xu felt his guess was probably correct, but he would have to wait until tomorrow to confirm it.

Closing the panel, Jiang Xu still felt a sense of unreality.

He plopped down in the field, running his hand over a stalk of rice. A gentle breeze stirred the green stalks into rippling waves, the heads of grain weaving together to form beautiful, intricate patterns.

RUMBLE—!

An incongruous sound broke the peace. It was Jiang Xu’s stomach.

"There’s that sense of reality I was missing," he muttered.

Jiang Xu rubbed his belly as waves of hunger washed over him. It was his body’s way of telling him it was time to make a sacrifice to the temple of his five viscera.

He calculated the time. He hadn’t eaten in over a day.

Soon after he’d transmigrated, he was called away by Nie Mengyun. After he returned, he spent half the day tilling the land and the other half casting the Spirit Rain Technique. Now he was so hungry he felt frantic.

Back in the kitchen of his small hut, Jiang Xu lifted the lid of the rice container, intending to scoop out some Spirit Rice, but came up with nothing but air.

"Where’s my Spirit Rice?"

Confused, Jiang Xu peered inside, and his heart instantly sank.

The... the rice container was completely empty!

Unwilling to give up, Jiang Xu turned the entire kitchen upside down, but found nothing besides a few seasonings.

What was going on?!

Jiang Xu had a bad feeling.

He searched through his memories and discovered that, indeed, there wasn’t a single grain of Spirit Rice left in the house.

Digging deeper into his memories, he learned that two days ago, Nie Mengyun had told him she wanted to enter the Outer Sect with him, but was just a little short on the cultivation resources needed to reach the Qi Cultivation Third Layer.

As a result, the original owner of this body had given all his remaining Spirit Rice to Nie Mengyun.

"Fuck! You simp! You really deserved to die!" A grief-stricken Jiang Xu stared at the empty rice container, wanting to cry but having no tears.

To be fair, the original owner wasn’t a complete idiot.

He had already reached a bottleneck. As long as he successfully broke through it and entered the Qi Cultivation Third Layer, he would be able to enter the Outer Sect.

Then he would be able to collect the reward given to newly promoted Outer Disciples.

With that, he naturally wouldn’t have to worry about Spirit Rice.

But his mistake was being too confident in himself; he never expected to fail his breakthrough attempt.

Failing to break through a bottleneck wasn’t a big deal. At worst, he could just try again in a week or two.

But he remembered the oath he had sworn with Nie Mengyun and, in a moment of obsession, tried to force the breakthrough. This led to his demise, allowing Jiang Xu to transmigrate into his body.

Great. The original owner was out of the picture, but Jiang Xu, who had inherited everything from him, was left to clean up this mess.

"Heavens! The Spirit Rice I’m growing now won’t be ready to harvest for almost another month. What am I supposed to eat for the next month?"

The Spirit Fields cultivated by servants were the lowest-grade fields on the outskirts of the Profound Origin Sect.

The Spirit Rice here could be harvested twice a year. Under ideal conditions, with good weather and no disasters or accidents, the total annual yield was only six hundred jin per mu. For five mu, that was three thousand jin.

The annual tax to be paid to the Sect’s General Affairs Hall was two thousand four hundred jin.

That meant, at best, a remainder of six hundred jin. And because of various disasters and accidents, the yield was often reduced by nearly a hundred jin, leaving only about five hundred jin.

For a Cultivator in the Qi Cultivation Realm, to ensure steady improvement in their Cultivation, they had to consume at least one jin of Spirit Rice every day.

With the Spirit Rice harvest still a month away, that meant a shortfall of thirty jin of Spirit Rice.

’One Lower Grade Spirit Stone can be exchanged for ten jin of Spirit Rice. The Spirit Stones I have on hand could cover the emergency, but my meridians are damaged now, and I also need to buy Elixirs to heal myself...’

But he couldn’t just starve.

Even an Immortal Cultivator could die if they starved for too long.

So, Jiang Xu decided to find a way to borrow some Spirit Rice.

If he couldn’t borrow any, he would have to spend Spirit Stones to buy some.

As for eating ordinary Mortal Rice, it wasn’t out of the question.

But that was a last resort, to be used only when there were truly no other options.

Eating Mortal Rice wouldn’t increase his Cultivation. Besides, Mortal Rice had less nutrition. To sustain the bodily consumption of an Immortal Cultivator, one had to eat massive amounts of it—at least five or six jin per meal. You’d turn into a bottomless pit.

’I remember I have a neighbor,’ he thought.

Jiang Xu decided to go ask his neighbor for a loan.

...

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

"Who is it?"

The door opened a crack. After seeing who was knocking, the resident opened the door fully.

Inside stood a young Female Cultivator. She was dressed simply and had a plain appearance. She looked at Jiang Xu with wary and confused eyes.

"It’s you? What are you doing here?"

"Fellow Daoist Shen... have you been well lately?" Jiang Xu was, after all, a bit thin-skinned and wanted to exchange some pleasantries before getting to the point.

"If you have something to say, say it. If not, I won’t see you out," Shen Ji said, clearly not falling for his act and sounding very impatient.

"Recently, my Cultivation has reached a bottleneck. I required a large amount of resources to attempt a Realm Breakthrough, which has exhausted my supply of Spirit Rice. Left with no choice, I’ve come shamelessly to your home to borrow some to fill my stomach.

When I am promoted to the Outer Sect, I will certainly not forget the grace of a fellow Daoist who gave me rice to continue my path!"

After speaking, Jiang Xu bowed with his hands clasped.

But faced with Jiang Xu’s sincere words, Shen Ji remained expressionless.

"Heh heh, didn’t you give all your Spirit Rice and Spirit Stones to that Nie Mengyun, Fellow Daoist Jiang? What’s the matter? Not going to borrow from her?"

Jiang Xu, still in his bow, froze.

How did Shen Ji know about that?

Jiang Xu frantically searched his memories. After a good while, he finally recalled that Shen Ji had actually been a servant who entered the Sect at the same time as him. She had even warned the original owner early on to be careful of Nie Mengyun.

But at the time, he obviously hadn’t listened. He even argued with Shen Ji about it, so their relationship was very poor, and they hadn’t interacted in a long time. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Now, the first thing Jiang Xu does is come asking to borrow Spirit Rice. It would be a miracle if Shen Ji agreed to lend him any.

After remembering this, Jiang Xu almost coughed up blood.

This is such a setup!!!

"Is there anything else?"

Shen Ji was already closing the door as she spoke, clearly having no intention of listening to anything else Jiang Xu had to say.

"Wait!"

Jiang Xu stuck his foot in the gap of the door, gritting his teeth against the pain as it was struck, and said:

"Nie Mengyun has already reached the Qi Cultivation Third Layer! She’ll be promoted to an Outer Disciple soon!"