My Mythical Path to Immortality in Another World

Three months have passed in the blink of an eye. Zhao Xuan's cultivation is progressing steadily. However, in the three months since then, apart from Steward Zhao coming once to take away the captured people, there has been no news.

What's exciting is that Zhao Xuanzhong's spirit grain can finally be harvested.

Q: If you were transported to a world with low productivity and your profession happened to be a farmer, how would you achieve lasting fame?

A: Potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, and hybrid rice.

The reason why the Hundred Saints did not treat all the stars equally, but instead divided the stars into different grades, is because they did not have enough resources.

Cultivators need resources of the same quality, mortals need mortal things, and those who enter a higher level need spiritual things.

When practitioners reach a certain level, they can indeed live on air and dew, freeing themselves from the need for food and drink.

But that requires consuming the body's magical power, and accumulating magical power is not easy, so how could it be wasted?

Therefore, practitioners still need food and water, but ordinary food is too lacking in nutrition.

This requires the use of spiritual objects, among which spiritual grains and spiritual rice are the easiest spiritual objects to cultivate.

Even so, it is still difficult to meet the needs of all cultivators.

Therefore, the Hundred Sages do not enlighten or inspire cultivation in humans below the third rank of Karmic Star.

Even if they are inspired to cultivate, not all of them can reach the next level. These people are physically strong, and their energy expenditure far exceeds that of ordinary people.

A person's need for food is ten times that of an ordinary person, so they can only compete with ordinary people for food.

Humans faced three difficulties in land reclamation. First, wild monsters roamed the land, so large-scale land reclamation could only be done in the wild, putting farmers' lives at risk.

The second difficulty is that the heavens and earth possess spiritual energy, causing plants to grow extremely quickly, so farmers can only cultivate a small amount of land.

Three natural disasters and man-made calamities, a hundred saints battling a great demon in the heavens, and occasional fragments of stars falling to earth, which would destroy a region.

So even though the rice yield here can reach 1,000 catties per mu, and the tax is only 20%, with reductions or exemptions in case of disaster, it is still not enough.

This 20% is the entire tax revenue. You should know that even in the most benevolent emperors of ancient times, the total taxes levied on farmers amounted to half of their income from farming.

Zhao Xuan made his living by farming, and through his work he upheld the Three Jewels, practicing and attaining a high position.

Persistence means perseverance, working diligently day by day, accumulating little by little until you achieve great results.

Actions are virtuous conduct; with virtue, one protects the Way; with a firm resolve in the Way, external demons cannot invade.

Position is a rank or post, blessed with good fortune, revered by all, and grants one's wishes.

Zhao Xuan's practice involved going into the fields every day to weed and catch insects, without relying on external aids.

"Xing" means adhering to the principle of "no work, no food, not a single grain of rice wasted." It means not eating a day without working, and not wasting a single grain of rice during meals.

That's why his cultivation level increased so quickly.

In order to accelerate his cultivation, Zhao Xuan set his sights on karmic positions.

In Buddhism, upholding and practicing the precepts are called discipline. Upholding one precept doubles the speed of spiritual practice, and practicing one precept doubles the speed of spiritual practice.

The rank of practice is increased by one level, doubling the speed of cultivation and also granting the blessing of the two treasures.

For example, Zhao Xuan adheres to one rule and practices two precepts, which means he triples his spiritual practice.

If one's rank is raised by one level, the three times the cultivation will be doubled again, resulting in a six times increase in cultivation.

There are four levels to farming, with the most basic being the farmer.

Above them are the God of Agriculture, the Sage of Agriculture, and the Emperor of Agriculture.

Zhao Xuan pondered that if he could solve the food problem for the common people, he could at least be appointed as the Sage of Agriculture. (A tribute to Yuan Longping)

After three years of research, a new type of wheat has been developed that is resistant to wind, drought, cold, flooding, and pests. Its roots are well-developed and can grow in clusters, leaving no place for weeds to take root.

In Zhao Xuan's mind, if farmers could save time on chores like weeding and pest control, they could cultivate a few more acres or do other things, which would indirectly solve their food and clothing problems.

Zhao Xuan planted three mu of wheat on one mu of land. These three mu of wheat did not cause him any trouble. He was just waiting for the harvest to see how much it would yield and whether it could replace the current wheat seeds.

After a long day of hard work, the harvest of seven mu of fine wheat and three mu of ordinary wheat was completed.

Zhao Xuan weighed the wheat and found that it yielded 2,800 jin, which was a little less than expected, but not by much. Compared to the effort put in, the difference of a few dozen jin per mu was negligible.

Zhao Xuan took out a portion of the hulled flour and ground it into more than ten kinds of pastries and a basket of steamed buns.

Upon closer tasting, the flavor becomes richer and sweeter.

From Zhao Xuan's perspective as a pastry chef in his previous life, these wheat grains were of excellent quality, rich in nutrients such as protein, fat, and sugar.

In other words, although the yield is reduced by tens of kilograms, the nutritional content is still high.

Zhao Xuan pondered for a moment, "Isn't this enough?"

It's pointless to talk about efficiency and nutrition to a group of uneducated people; these things are less important than a few dozen extra kilograms of grain harvested each year.

After thinking for a moment, Zhao Xuan decided to come out of seclusion.

Cultivating one's career path is essentially cultivating one's fortune. One needs to gain fame and reputation and use that fame to do things that are recognized by the masses.

Therefore, the first step in establishing a career is to gain recognition.

If one spends their entire life without interacting with outsiders, how can they gain fame and recognition?

In the past, there was no choice. When there was a choice, people would think about cultivating a high-quality wheat variety before leaving the mountains, so that it could quickly gain fame and be recognized by all.

Looking back now, I realize that life is full of disappointments, and I had been oversimplifying things.

What you learn from books is never enough; most of my understanding of the world comes from books, which leads to a one-sided understanding of the realities of life.

Having just entered the eighth rank and comprehended the second level of supernatural powers, it will be difficult to make further progress in a short period of time. It would be better to leave the mountain.

Zhao Xuan summoned the snake vines and relayed the command. The entire Hundred Spirits Garden seemed to come alive, trembled twice, and then disappeared.

Serpent Vine's innate divine power—Netherworld. A domain-type divine power that can transform a piece of land into Netherworld soil, either to bless oneself or to encompass a region.

The space within the Green Bamboo Staff can hold things, but only those that cannot resist. The Netherworld, on the other hand, can forcibly hold anything that does not exceed the level of the Serpent Vine.

Then the serpentine tendrils split into three branches, which transformed into three streams of light and flew into the Zhao residence.

A golden flower appeared beneath Zhao Xuan, carrying him away as a beam of golden light that vanished.

Three days later, Zhao Xuan had traveled hundreds of miles to Jinyang City, which was thousands of miles away.

Zhao Xuan discovered that the Human Immortal Realm was very similar to his previous life, except that the mountains, rivers, and other features were on a larger scale.

For example, the ancient Zhao state in its previous life was composed of parts of Henan, Hebei, and Shanxi, and was connected to the Yellow River and the Taihang Mountains.

In its previous life, the Yellow River was only a few thousand miles long and a few hundred feet wide, but in the realm of immortals, the Yellow River is hundreds of thousands of miles long and also several tens of miles wide.

A single mountain can easily reach tens of thousands of meters or even hundreds of thousands of meters in height.

The cities built by the human race are also vast, typically spanning a thousand miles in circumference.

So there were basically no towns, only cities that looked like giant beasts perched there.

The State of Zhao had hundreds of cities, but nine of them were the largest, including five fortified passes and four capital cities.

The four capitals were: the initial capital, the main capital, the middle capital, and the secondary capital.

Jinyang City was the first of the four capitals and was the main base of the Zhao family before they rose to power. After the Zhao family rose to power, their influence shifted.

However, Jinyang, as the ancestral home, was still vigorously developed by the Zhao family and became one of the four most prosperous cities.

Zhao Xuan stood outside the city, gazing at the thousand-foot-high city wall, and fell into deep thought.

The city, three thousand meters high, gleamed with streaks of blood and claw marks, exuding a vast and heavy aura that seemed utterly unfit for defense.

Even fifth-grade cultivators cannot fly to such heights. Apart from a few special units, the Zhao army is mainly composed of mortals, and the same is true for other countries.

The city gate was a hundred feet high, and two strange beasts, each a hundred feet tall, looked down at the passersby.

These two beasts are Bi'an and Xiezhi.

In the previous life, this would be out of place, as Bi'an was the god of punishment and prison, and usually sat at the gate of the prison.

The Xie Zhi is the god of justice, and it usually sits in the judicial venue.

But isn't it the same as imprisoning oneself within a city by building a thousand-foot-high city wall?

Using the supernatural powers of the Bixie to unify the power of the city walls, the defense is strengthened.

The Xie Zhi can distinguish between good and evil, and it and the Bi'an complement each other. The stronger the malice, the greater the defense.

Passing through a five-kilometer-long archway, this thing is a tunnel.

Zhao Xuan felt that carving a mountain into the shape of a city wall was easier than building the city wall itself.

Even after passing through the gate, we still hadn't reached the city. Instead, a wide road stretched out on both sides, lined with fields. It was harvest season, and countless farmers were working in the fields.

There were also simple houses with flags hanging on both sides of the road, which seemed to be shops for people to rest and replenish their supplies temporarily.

After walking for several dozen miles, they finally saw another city wall, but this one was much lower, only about a hundred feet high.

The real Jinyang City is inside the city walls.

Although humans occupy the rightful place on earth, demons and ghosts are the mainstream.

Besides the occasional monsters that devour people, there are also beast tides that contribute to the annual population.

Therefore, the human race could only build tall city walls to defend against the beast tides, confining all human production and labor within the high city walls.

The city was divided into inner and outer cities. The outer city was used for agriculture, animal husbandry, and planting, while the inner city was used for residence and trade.

The inner city had strict checks, but Zhao Xuan took out his identity token. The large "Zhao" character on it deterred the city gate guards from making things difficult for him, and they directly escorted him into the city.

This token might not be very useful in other cities, but it's extremely useful in Jinyang.

No country's laws punish members of the royal family. Even if they break the law and incur public wrath, the only punishment is being banished back to their ancestral homeland, with no further official announcement.

The ancestral home of the Zhao state was Jinyang City. Countless royal relatives and nobles lived in Jinyang City, most of whom were not honest people. Those who did not make mistakes were either in their fiefdoms or in the central capital, Handan.

Upon entering the inner city, Zhao Xuan was taken aback by the bustling scene.

The road, several meters wide, was teeming with people, some on horseback, some in sedan chairs, some carrying loads, and some walking.

The street was lined with stalls, and the sounds of vendors calling out their wares, asking prices, and bargaining rose and fell.

Restaurants, eateries, fabric shops, and clothing stores were bustling with people coming and going.

Now I understand what "a prosperous and hedonistic country" means.

Most of the imperial relatives who were demoted to their ancestral lands were people who were content with a life of pleasure. After being demoted, they no longer had any responsibilities, so all they had left was to spend money on enjoyment.

The entertainment industry drives the service industry, the service industry drives agriculture, agriculture drives commerce, and commerce drives industry. As a result, a large number of people flock to Jinyang City, making Jinyang City more and more prosperous.

But even in this Jinyang City, he still felt a sense of unease, indicating that something harmful was hidden within it.

This is the talent that his supernatural powers brought him; the Golden Flower Enlightenment represents the perfection of the Three Treasures.

The Great Dao has three treasures: Heaven, Earth, and Man. The three treasures of Heaven are the Sun, Moon, and Stars; the three treasures of Earth are Water, Soil, and Wind; and the three treasures of Man are Spirit, Energy, and Essence.

The "human" in the Three Treasures of the Great Dao refers to all sentient beings with self-awareness; humans, demons, ghosts, spirits, and gods are all "humans" in the Great Dao.

Zhao Xuan repeatedly used the Golden Flower to enlighten his own essence and energy, and comprehended the aura of perfection.

At a higher level, the three treasures of the Great Dao—human beings, the three treasures of Heaven—the three treasures of Earth—the three treasures of Man—are in harmony with each other.

Therefore, when these four elements are out of sync, Zhao Xuan can sense it within a certain range.

Zhao Xuan guessed that there must be some hidden anomalies in Jinyang City, and that they had even eaten people. This indicated a discord between living beings and between humanity and nature, which was why he was able to sense them.

Of course, since it was only a sense of perfection, and not true perfection, the perception was not clear.

Moreover, even among humans, there are differences between individuals, though not as great as the differences between different races.