Chapter 5: The Short Man's Sorrow

  Making talismans is not something that can be accomplished overnight. Even with a simple method like tracing, it's not possible to create a standard talisman in just one day.

  Yuán tiān fàng xià láng háo fú bǐ, shēn zhǎn le yī xià yǒu diǎn jiāng yìng de hòu bèi, yī gǔ pí láo gǎn xí lái. Huàn le jiàn gān shuǎng de yī fu, lái dào chuáng biān dào tóu jiù shuì.

  Wow! When did I develop a habit of changing clothes before bed? Never mind, it's quite comfortable like this, sleep!

  I don't know if it's because I was too tired today or if changing into pajamas to sleep is especially comfortable, but this sleep was so good that I actually forgot to get up early to feed the pigs.

  Bang. Bang bang. Bang. Yu Tian vaguely heard a knock on the door that wasn't too urgent, turned over and wanted to continue sleeping.

  "Bang. Bang-bang. Bang." The knocking on the door was still so rhythmic, like a secret code, neither fast nor slow, and Yuan Tian finally couldn't sleep anymore.

  The sunlight outside poured in, and my newly opened eyes were narrowed again by its brightness.

  Oh no! Slept too soundly and forgot to feed the pigs!

  Yuan Tian suddenly jumped up from bed and hastily ran over to open the door: "Who is it? Why are you knocking on the door so early?"

  Outside the door stood a girl, not very tall, nearly a head shorter than Yuan Tian.

  Her cheeks were slightly shallow, her face was sweet and beautiful, she had two braids, wearing a floral dress. Her pants legs were a bit short, revealing her nice ankles. Her cheeks were slightly red, she lowered her head, her hands constantly fiddling with the hem of her clothes. Apparently because she disturbed Yuan Tian's sleep, she felt a little embarrassed.

  "So it's Xuan Yuan's junior sister. What can I do for you?" Yuan Tian adjusted his collar, revealing his signature dazzling smile.

  Perhaps it was Yuan Tian's radiant smile that gave her great encouragement, Xuan Yu Shu was no longer so reserved, and his two hands also stopped fiddling with the hem of his clothes: "Yuan Shixiong, I should have watered my spiritual field this morning, as we agreed earlier."

  "Good grief! Look at my memory, I was so tired yesterday that I slept and forgot everything. Just wait a minute, I'll feed the pigs first and then go water your spiritual field."

  He grabbed the door and walked towards the pigpen without even changing his clothes. Xuan Yu followed quietly behind him, not daring to let Yuan Tian go first to water the spiritual field and then feed the pigs, after all, feeding the pigs was more urgent, and the spiritual field wouldn't starve if it was watered a bit later.

  The clothes Yuan Tian was wearing were exactly the ones he changed into before going to bed last night. This set of clothes was completely opposite from the tight-fitting one that had been circulating earlier, being extremely loose and oversized.

  A gust of wind blew over, and a white-clad figure floated behind Xuan Yuan Shu, who was worried that he would be blown away. With this build, wearing this white coat and tying a string around it could make him a kite.

  Xuan Yuan Shu naturally didn't dare say this out loud. She wasn't well-liked in the sect to begin with, and only Yuan Tian Shixiong was relatively easy to talk to.

  The surname Xuan Yuan, if placed in a much earlier time. Not to mention the Tianyuan Sword Sect, but also the entire Eastern Continent, was also very famous.

  The Xuan Yuan clan was originally a great tribe in ancient times. Tens of thousands of years ago, their ancestors were a great power. Humans were able to open up a piece of land suitable for survival on the Eastern Continent, where mountains and forests stood tall and monsters roamed, thanks to the merits of the Xuan Yuan family's ancestors.

  But as time passed, since the ascension of this great ability. The Xuan Yuan family began to decline, and it's not clear if all their skills were used up by their ancestors. The descendants of the Xuan Yuan clan had increasingly poor roots, let alone the eight roots of Manchu, even five or more roots rarely appeared.

  By the time of Xuan Yuan Shu's grandfather, only one root bone was left, barely enough to practice Qi.

  Yuan Tian was originally a miscellaneous disciple, and his roots were quite poor. However, he also had two roots, one with wood attributes and the other with water attributes, which were mutually beneficial as water could nourish wood.

  The more root bones there are, the faster the body absorbs the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, and the greater the storage of spiritual power. Especially when breaking through the boundary bottleneck, this is crucial.

  Xuanyuan Shu was indeed straightforward enough, directly without a single root or bone, and simply had nothing in common with ordinary people.

  His grandfather Xuan Yuan Tian took out the token left by his ancestors and found the leader of the Dongzhou Xiuzhenmen sect, who was then sent to the weak Tianyuan Sword Sect as a miscellaneous disciple.

  Although there is no congenital bone, the spiritual energy in the Xiuzhen sect is sufficient. Even if it can't improve cultivation, at least it can prolong life. Who knows, maybe one or two skills will be practiced: Xuan Yuan Tian thought so at first, purely a broken jar's reckless thinking. What ancient Xuan Yuan bloodline, was thrown away eight hundred lifetimes ago.

  Xuanyuan Shu, this little girl isn't here to slack off, don't be fooled by her timid and fearful appearance. Since arriving at the Tianyuan Sword Sect, she's been trying every means possible to improve herself.

  She didn't see Yuan Tian himself planting feed grass, which can save a sum of money for buying feed grass. So she also learned from him and rented a small piece of spiritual land to plant feed grass.

  However, she didn't know the Rain Curse spell, and the outer sect's well wasn't allowed to be used by miscellaneous disciples. Going down the mountain to fetch water would exhaust her and wouldn't be able to irrigate much land. So she made a deal with Yuan Tian, helping to give the spiritual field rain. Every month, she would water it three times, and after three months, she would receive a low-grade spirit stone.

  Although it takes four low-grade spirit stones to water the spiritual field every year, the saved fodder money is not limited to this amount. This little girl still has a lot of heart.

  Add pig feed, Yuan Tian is familiar with it. After adding the feed, he waved his hand and cast a spell of rain, and the water in the tank was full.

  I slept particularly soundly last night, feeling pretty good today, and the spiritual energy inside me seems to have increased. It looks like it's related to yesterday's practice of the Spiritual Rain Technique. This time, the Rain Curse was cast especially smoothly, and that one swing of my hand just now was quite elegant.

  Xuanyuan Shu couldn't help but feel a little envious seeing Yuan Tian fill the sink with water so easily. Her spiritual field was hired to Yuan Tian for irrigation, because the area of the spiritual field was too large and the amount of water used was too great. Even feeding her own white mountain goat required going down the mountain to fetch water, how could she be as carefree as others, waving her hand and filling the sink with water?

  He wanted to learn the Rain Curse from him, but he was too embarrassed to speak up. After all, they weren't that familiar with each other yet. Old Wang, who raised cattle, was quite familiar with Yuan Tian, but he had never taught it to Old Wang. If he were to ask and be rejected, it would be awkward.

  With the feed and water available, the spotted pigs all came up and started eating in big mouthfuls. In order to grab more food, the stout pig heads often collided with each other, making a slapping sound. Seeing the healthy spotted pigs crazily competing for food, Yuan Tian was relieved.

  Xuanyuan Shu's spiritual field was not his first visit, and it wasn't far from his own spiritual field. Without her guidance, Yuantian strode forward with large steps.

  Don't look at Yuan Tian's slender legs, but his strides are really big. With one step, he can cover the distance of two steps by Xuan Yu. Once he starts walking freely, Xuan Yu has to jog to keep up with him.

  Before long, the two arrived at the Zasēden District. The Zasēden was not even a first-rate spirit field, but it was still a type of spirit field after all, and not something that ordinary land could compare to.

  The fodder grass grown on this spiritual field, whether it's fed to common livestock like pigs, sheep and cattle, or to more delicate carnivorous spirits like the plum blossom deer. As long as they are carnivorous spirits, they love to eat this fodder grass. If you try to feed them with ordinary weeds from a mundane field, they absolutely won't eat it. It's not just weeds, even if you offer them grains and vegetables harvested by farmers' hard work, they still won't eat.

  The reason is simple: anything grown in ordinary fields does not contain spiritual energy.

  Upon arriving at the entrance of the Miscellaneous Spirit Field, both of them took out their identity tokens. Don't look down on this small Miscellaneous Spirit Field, it's not easy to get in. Yuan Tian and Xuan Yu Shu had both paid the land rent, which is why they had the right to use the Miscellaneous Spirit Field inside.

  Confirmed without mistake, the guard at the door allowed the two people to enter.

  "Yuantian, your land lease is about to expire in a month. Don't forget to renew it, or else the things on the land will be confiscated." The guard reminded him kindly.

  "Thank you, Yuan Wei." Yuan Tian flashed his brilliant smile, making this thank you particularly sincere.

  Don't hit a smiling face, stretch out your hand and smile at others. While bringing happiness to others, you can also bring convenience to yourself. Although the memory hasn't fully returned, Yuan Tian's mind has always had rich experience in socializing.

  As soon as I entered Lingtian District, I ran into someone head-on.

  "Junior Brother Yuan, when are you going to water my spiritual field? I'm not someone who can't afford spirit stones, are you intentionally trying to make things difficult for me?" Just then, a person came forward and shouted at Yuan Tian.

  His name is Liu Ming, and he didn't enter the sect any earlier than Yuan Tian. He also has a cultivation base of three layers of Qi Refining. However, he is quite arrogant and likes to call himself "Shixiong" (senior brother).

  "It was actually Liu Shixiong, I really don't have time to water the spiritual field. You also know that I've raised a lot of pigs and have my own land to take care of, I couldn't squeeze out any more time to water for you." Yuan Tian didn't want to quarrel with him.

  "What's going on with this little girl, how do you have time to water her spiritual field?" Liu Ming glared with both eyes, pointing at Xuan Yuan Shu with his right index finger.

  Seeing Liu Ming's furious appearance, Xuan Yuan Shu hid behind Yuan Tian. He lowered his head, clasped his hands together, and didn't dare to look him in the eye.

  Luckily, Yuan Tian's clothes were quite loose today, which just happened to block her from view, sparing this little junior sister a fright.

  "Xuanyuan's sister has a weak body and can't carry so much water down the mountain, besides, she also paid me spirit stones." Yuan Tian still had a cheerful face, he didn't want to offend Liu Ming but wasn't afraid of him either.

  "Am I unable to afford spirit stones? Yuan Tian, let me tell you, don't think that just because you have a Rain Curse, you're impressive. My older brother Liu Song is an official disciple of the Outer Sect, and I'll be entering the Outer Sect soon too. There will come a time when you'll be begging for my help." Liu Ming Yue's words became more agitated as he spoke, his eyes bulging and his hands gesturing wildly, looking like he was about to charge forward and fight to the death.

  Liu Ming's hand was about to reach in front of his eyes, but Yuan Tian didn't rush to fight him back, after all, Lingtian District had its administrators.

  "Silence! Whoever dares to make trouble here, be careful I'll break his dog legs!" Yuan's guard's one sentence shocked Liu Ming who was still shouting.

  After being trained by Yuan's guards, Liu Ming became much more honest. He was only at the third layer of Qi training and didn't have any real skills to kill enemies or protect himself. On someone else's turf, if he really got beaten up by Yuan's guards, it would be a waste of effort.

  "A mere gatekeeper, what's so great about that? He's just an outer sect disciple with the same level of cultivation as my brother. My brother is good friends with Zhao Jiajun, the head of the outer sect. Just wait until I join the outer sect, and you'll be in for a surprise." Liu Ming naturally didn't dare say this in front of Yuan Huwei, but instead whispered it after walking a short distance away.

  "Brother Liu is right, our Brother Liu Zhuang and the Chief are like iron brothers, what's one guard?" A miscellaneous disciple who was walking with Liu Ming hurriedly flattered.

  "Get out of here, don't take my brother as your own. That skinny guy Yuan Tian, I won't let him off either. Next month I'll be breaking through the pass. My brother has prepared a spirit symbol for me, saying it will ensure I pass the first layer. Once I become an official outer sect disciple, humph! Yuan Tian and that little girl, I'll deal with them properly." Liu Ming slapped the flattering person in the face, his eyes revealing a fierce glare.

  "Yes! Yes! That little scoundrel Yuan Tian won't be able to jump around for much longer." This person was slapped in the face, but not only did he not get angry, he even hurriedly followed Liu Ming's words and continued speaking.

  "Hmph! I'll get him." Liu Ming stretched out his right hand, making a slashing motion across his neck, the ferocity in his eyes intensifying.

  The apprentice who followed the class was so scared that he shrunk his neck, and he didn't expect Liu Ming to be so ruthless. It's just a small conflict between apprentices, I thought it would be just revenge and that's it, but unexpectedly it went as far as murder.

  This follower named Wang San Chun was now stirred up in his heart. One who would kill at the slightest provocation, this master is not easy to serve.