Chapter Thirty-Five: Little Shadow

Zhou Changwang fell silent.

He knew his father’s mind was set, and that this was a decision made after deep and careful thought. As his father had just said, he had spent the first half of his life living for others—Zhou Changwang didn’t know how things were before, but at least for the last twenty years, his father had busied himself for his sake, rushing about to avenge his mother. Now that his father wished to finally live for himself, Zhou Changwang truly couldn’t bring himself to refuse.

“All right, as long as you know. In the world of cultivators, always be careful. No matter how many spells or treasures you have, nothing is more important than your own life. As long as you’re alive, there is always hope—only then is there a future worth speaking of,” Zhou Qiankun warned.

Zhou Changwang nodded solemnly.

…

After some persuasion, apart from a few spirit farmers who were either too poor or too proud to care, the majority, for the sake of their own spiritual fields, handed over two low-grade spirit stones each.

Thus, the night watch plan organized by Old Xu and others was able to proceed smoothly.

There were five in total who, enticed by the reward, willingly became the night watchmen of the fields. Among them were Old Xu, Xu Fugui, and Xu Zhong, whose field had been particularly ravaged.

Old Xu tried to persuade Zhou Changwang to join them—after all, just one night’s watch earned at least two low-grade spirit stones.

But Zhou Changwang declined. It wasn’t that he looked down upon such a sum. Even though he had a decent amount of spirit stones, he never considered earning them to be an easy thing. If possible, he’d like to earn more. But he always remembered that the dangers of the wild weren’t negated simply because others had passed through safely; perhaps it was just a matter of probability, but he would never wager his safety on mere luck.

As long as he was present, he assumed danger would surely follow. Until he possessed the strength to protect himself, all he could do was minimize his outings and avoid putting himself in harm’s way.

…

In the days that followed, with the patrols of the night watchmen, there were indeed no more spirit rice thieves. However, the frequency of beast incursions began to increase.

All five night watchmen were cultivators from the fields, with limited strength—the strongest among them was only at the third level of Qi Refining. Relying on numbers, they could at most scare the beasts away; to actually slay them was a daunting task.

So, losses among the spirit farmers were still unavoidable.

Fortunately, these losses remained within acceptable bounds. While there were complaints, no one blamed the night watchmen. After all, their presence had indeed prevented more thefts.

“The third day…” Zhou Changwang’s expression was grim.

A large patch of his spirit rice had been flattened in his field, and a small area was chewed clean. For three days in a row now, a beast had been rampaging in his field.

When he discovered this on the second day, he had immediately sought out Old Xu. The old man admitted to seeing the beast—a full-grown Iron-armored Boar—but it was so massive that none of the watchmen dared confront it. They were even hesitant to try and drive it away, so all they could do was watch as it sauntered off into the mountains at dawn.

Now, on the third night, the beast was back. It seemed to have claimed Zhou Changwang’s field as its own den, rolling about every night.

“I can’t just sit and wait for disaster any longer. I must deal with this problem myself,” Zhou Changwang said, heart aching as he gazed at the flattened spirit rice. As a spirit farmer, nothing was more infuriating than having his crops destroyed.

Over the past three days, he’d lost no less than three hundred catties of spirit rice. That was money—at the current rate of thirteen catties per low-grade spirit stone, that amounted to more than twenty stones. After a year’s hard work, and deducting the rent for the fields, he might not even have that many left.

How could he not be furious?

“Little Black, it’s your turn,” Zhou Changwang called out.

After much deliberation, he had finally decided to act. The area near Changling Mountain was regularly patrolled by members of the Spirit Plantation Hall, so the risk was not high. The beasts that survived here were mostly equivalent to first or second-layer Qi Refining stage—at most, some might reach the third layer. Anything stronger would have been hunted down by patrols, which always included one or two experts above the fourth layer.

With such reasons in mind, Zhou Changwang dared to take action himself against the beast plaguing his fields.

At his call, the little spirit hound came bounding over joyfully. In just a few days, it had grown even sturdier. Its glossy black fur inspired Zhou Changwang to give it the simple nickname, Little Black.

As the pup ran up to him, Zhou Changwang patted its head, cast a calming spell, and pointed to the trampled field. “Go, see where that beast is hiding.”

The spirit hound growled softly, as if understanding, and began sniffing about. As a spirit beast of the burrowing breed, its sense of smell far surpassed that of any ordinary dog. Even as a pup, it could easily track the Iron-armored Boar, which had no way of masking its scent.

In no time, the hound gave another low growl and darted off in pursuit. Zhou Changwang followed without hesitation.

Soon, they crossed his fields and reached the base of Changling Mountain. There stood a barrier of thorny spirit vines, meant to keep the mountain beasts from rampaging into the fields—cultivators from the Spirit Plantation Hall had planted them, dense and stretching for who knew how many meters.

But now, there was a gaping hole in the barrier, clearly smashed open by brute force.

“As expected, not small at all. Five hundred catties is probably an underestimate,” Zhou Changwang thought, his face growing grave as he compared the size of the breach. An adult Iron-armored Boar usually had the strength of a second-layer Qi Refining beast, but this one… were it not for the reserves he kept in secret, he wouldn’t dare take it on.

…

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