*Swish! Swish! Swish!*
The sky had not yet brightened, but the fields were already stirring with activity.
Li Yan was seen wielding a sickle, his left hand gathering, his right hand guiding, as large swathes of wheat fell in response, neatly laid out behind him, awaiting bundling later.
After a while, when a faint white glow appeared on the horizon, Li Yan, who had been working with his head down, slowly stood up, stretched his waist and back with a few movements, and turned to look around.
In the distant wheat fields, it was similarly a scene of bustling activity.
The wheat in Li Family Fort had reached the time for harvesting.
The timing of the wheat harvest was particular. As the saying goes, "Nine parts ripe, ten parts harvested; ten parts ripe, one part lost." One could not wait until the wheat was fully mature.
Even the hour of the day mattered. Early morning or evening was preferred, as the stalks were tougher then, less likely to break, and the grains less prone to falling.
After a year of hard work, wasting even a little was heartbreaking.
It had been four or five days since his return, and each night he had been visualizing and preserving his spirit. Though he had not yet succeeded, he had made considerable progress.
The harvest had begun just in time, allowing him to cultivate while reaping without delay.
A strong laborer could cut about one *mu* of wheat in a day.
Li Yan, however, was a practiced martial artist with solid foundational skills. He had also learned the sickle techniques passed down in the countryside, making him deft and efficient. In a single day, he could cut a full one and a half *mu*.
The few *mu* of family land would take only a few days.
Cutting wheat, threshing, drying, and storing—often from early morning to late evening—left even a martial artist like him exhausted, with an aching back and sore waist.
Yet, he found joy in it.
His supernatural abilities often went out of control, making his emotions highly unstable. But after exhausting himself with labor, his mind would empty, making it easier to enter a meditative state.
Before he knew it, several more days had passed.
In the wheat fields around Li Family Fort, the golden waves of grain had vanished, leaving only endless yellow earth and countless stubble stalks.
When the wind blew, dust and sand would rise.
Under the setting sun, the land of Guanzhong appeared even more vast and majestic.
Though the beautiful sight of wheat waves was gone, the common folk were all smiles.
Scholars and poets always thought that fields of golden yellow signified a bountiful harvest, but only those who toiled in the fields knew that hail, rain, or strong winds were all calamities. Only when every grain was safely stored could it truly be called a bountiful year.
And on this very night, Li Yan finally achieved a breakthrough.
In the deep stillness of the night, he sat cross-legged on his bed.
At this moment, his mind was free of external distractions, his breathing faint and almost imperceptible, his consciousness entirely focused on his brow. In the darkness, a glowing human figure silently hovered.
This was the deity he had visualized.
According to the techniques in the *Western Mysterious Cave Scripture*, he visualized his five organs and six viscera, every organ of his body, gathering the faint traces of spiritual light in his brow to preserve his spirit.
The mark of success was an unextinguished preserved spirit.
Even upon waking, with a single thought, the preserved spirit would immediately appear in his sea of consciousness.
Of course, this method was gradual.
As his cultivation deepened, the visualized deity would become increasingly clear.
Monks of other great sects and lineages had their own ancestral masters or immortal templates, but Li Yan now encountered an unusual situation.
His visualization template was the divine statue in his dantian.
This object resided constantly in his dantian, resonating with his mind. He only needed to focus his attention, unlike other mysterious sect monks who often had to gather their scattered thoughts.
This was why his progress was so swift.
At the moment of his successful visualization, the glowing figure in his brow unexpectedly resonated with the substitute statue, rapidly descending and enveloping the statue.
This sudden occurrence caught Li Yan off guard.
Before he could react, the statue underwent another change.
Combining with the light of the preserved spirit, the originally blurry face of the substitute statue began to twist, then took shape, becoming identical to his own.
At the same time, a flood of information surged into his mind.
Li Yan's eyes revealed shock, followed by joy.
His previous sense of the statue had been vague, allowing him only to infer its function from incomplete information.
But after preserving his spirit, the statue was finally fully refined by him.
This treasure was called the "Great Luo Dharma Body."
Beyond substituting for injuries and preserving life, it could also guard the spirit.
The deity he had visualized had fused with the Great Luo Dharma Body.
This brought two benefits.
First, it protected the preserved spirit, akin to the role of a spiritual tower. Even without performing rituals to build a tower for the spirit, it would not dissipate easily.
Second, like the physical body, it could substitute for injuries.
If struck by a curse targeting the soul, the damage could be transferred to the statue, sparing the preserved spirit.
Of course, the spiritual tower still needed to be built.
After all, the Great Luo Dharma Body could only substitute for injuries, not enhance cultivation.
More importantly, the Great Luo Dharma Body could be upgraded further.
By consuming heavenly treasures, its strength could be enhanced, and with enough treasures and a specific ritual, it could reignite the flame of life.
This was equivalent to gaining an extra life!
Unexpectedly, the Great Luo Dharma Body required spiritual refinement.
Li Yan smiled, and with a thought, the preserved spirit returned to his brow. Even with scattered thoughts, the glowing figure remained intact.
Suppressing his excitement, he followed the techniques taught in the *Western Mysterious Cave Scripture*, adjusted his breathing, and focused his mind. His supernatural ability immediately began to change.
Originally, his sense of smell had been out of control, often faint and barely noticeable, occasionally erupting suddenly, leaving him dizzy and disoriented, taking a long time to recover.
But now, that extraordinary sense of smell began to fade.
In the end, it was no different from an ordinary person's.
Li Yan remained calm, pressing his left thumb against the upper joint of his second finger.
This was the Yang gesture, representing the Sun Star Lord.
With the gesture formed, he took a deep breath, and his olfactory ability activated instantly, various scents flooding his nose, growing stronger with his will.
Then, his left thumb pressed the upper joint of his fourth finger.
This was the Yin gesture, representing the Moon Star Lord, and the ability was deactivated.
According to the scripture, supernatural abilities stemmed from the six roots of Yang, not merely physical strength, and their use consumed mental and spiritual energy.
After preserving his spirit and mastering the Yin-Yang gestures, he could freely control the ability.
When turned off, he would not attract malevolent entities.
The dark cloud hanging over his head finally dissipated.
*Thud!*
Just as Li Yan was elated, a stone was suddenly thrown into the courtyard.
In the silent night, it could not escape his ears.
Someone was there!
His brows furrowed, and he rolled off the bed, grabbed the Guanshan blade from the wall, and slipped out the door quietly.
*Thud!*
Another stone landed on the ground.
Li Yan's eyes narrowed, his right hand gripping the hilt.
This was a probing throw, a technique known to those in the martial world.
If a fellow wanderer was present, shouting the code "Spring Code" would prompt the other to leave, avoiding unannounced intrusions that could lead to conflict and blood feuds.
If no one responded, they could enter freely.
He was about to speak to drive the intruder away, but a thought struck him. Forming the hand gesture, he took a deep breath, and the scents within a hundred meters became crystal clear.
Sha Lifei?!
Recognizing the intruder's scent, Li Yan was slightly surprised.
Glancing to the side, he sensed his grandfather Li Gui still sound asleep. He rushed forward, reached the corner of the wall, stepped left then right, and vaulted into the air, flipping over the courtyard wall with a nimble twist.
Standing outside the wall was indeed Sha Lifei.
He looked rather disheveled, his clothes tattered and covered in dust, hiding in the shadow of a jujube tree, his head darting about.
"What happened?"
Li Yan frowned, lowering his voice to ask.
Sha Lifei scratched his bald head, saying bitterly, "Let's talk outside the village. Daoist Wang is here too, waiting at the ruined temple on the back hill."
"Also, can you get some water and food?"
"I've been starving all day…"
…
At the back hill of Li Family Fort stood a mountain god temple.
Such temples were common across the land of Shenzhou. Herb gatherers, hunters, or travelers passing through would often light incense before entering the mountains, praying for safety and protection from spirits and demons.
When the old soldiers of Li Family Fort were still around, the temple's incense was fairly prosperous, as those veterans were skilled archers who often hunted game in the mountains.
Now, fewer people ventured up, and with little of value in the barren hills, the temple's incense had dwindled. Neglected for years, even a corner of its roof beam had collapsed.
At this moment, a bonfire crackled inside the temple.
Sha Lifei and Wang Daoxuan were roasting flatbreads over the fire, wolfing them down with cold water, eating as if they were starved ghosts reborn.
"Bandits raided the village?"
Li Yan sat nearby, somewhat surprised.
No wonder, while he was cultivating, the other wheat reapers like Heidan had returned, but these two were nowhere to be seen.
He had assumed the mourning affairs at the wealthy household were dragging on.
He never expected they had encountered bandits attacking the village.
"Yeah, exactly!"
Sha Lifei grumbled while eating, "The wheat reapers had just left when bandits raided that night. Luckily, the Daoist and I were out getting coffin wood, so we weren't trapped."
Li Yan's brows furrowed. "The Lu family has plenty of guards. Were there many bandits?"
Sha Lifei swallowed his bread with effort, cursing, "Tons of them, a dark mass, impossible to count, but at least three or four hundred."
"I even saw that Qilu bandit leader we met on the road, teaming up with some big-name Guanzhong blade bandits."
"Damn, they slaughtered the entire village. Ruthless!"
"Qilu bandits?"
Hearing this, Li Yan fell into deep thought.
This matter was likely not so simple…
*(End of Chapter)*