I have a panel that reduces proficiency.

Chapter 19 The Miraculous Effects of Wild Rice

After walking about twenty or thirty steps, Han Laoliu suddenly slowed down.

That unhurried and leisurely pace has somehow turned into a state of being both tense and slow.

After walking a few more steps, he simply stopped.

Han Laoliu suddenly said, "Old Zhao, I just remembered that there's something I need to do at home. My wife told me before she left that I should go back at noon to fix the stove. There's a crack in it, and if it's not fixed, it might collapse. This is important and can't be delayed."

Old Zhao understood the implied meaning from the music.

Han Laoliu didn't have any family troubles; he had simply calmed down and regained his composure.

He was blinded by resentment at Lingfuxuan's price-cutting and just wanted to vent his anger on someone.

Now that I've taken these few steps and the wind has cleared my head, I realize how absurd my actions were.

Even if I'm not afraid of that young apprentice.

But if Lin Xiuyuan is anywhere, offending him will only make you lose face.

Old Zhao said, "Family matters are important. The stove collapsing is no laughing matter. Let's go back."

Han Laoliu said, "Yes, yes, the stove is the most important thing."

Just then, voices came from ahead.

The two looked up at the same time and saw that Fang Shi was already standing in front of Lingfuxuan's stall.

The young man in blue looked Fang Shi up and down and said, "Those who want to buy talismans, go line up over there. We don't accept walk-in customers here."

Fang Shidao said, "I'm not buying talismans, I'm selling talismans. I'm selling talismans for protection against the cold."

Just as the servant in blue was about to speak, a clear voice suddenly came from the side: "Oh?"

Lin Xiuyuan stood up from behind the stall. He was about to go home when he was drawn to Fang Shi's words. He walked over, his gaze falling on Fang Shi, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

Lin Xiuyuan said, "Selling winter-protecting talismans? Let me take a look."

Fang Shi took out a talisman for warding off the cold from his pocket and handed it over with both hands.

Lin Xiuyuan took it, looked at it, and said, "Not bad. It seems that you rogue cultivators are already quite knowledgeable about the rules."

The young servant in blue cupped his hands in greeting to Lin Xiuyuan and said, "Young manager, this gentleman..."

Lin Xiuyuan placed the talisman papers on the table and said, "Take them. Four talismans per paper, payment made immediately."

The servant responded.

Fang Shi took out the remaining two talismans for warding off the cold and handed them over.

The servant took it, counted out twelve fragments of spirit from the money box, and handed them to Fang Shi.

Fang Shi accepted the broken spirit, put it into his pocket, and cupped his hands, saying, "Thank you, young manager."

Lin Xiuyuan ignored him completely, turned around and left. His gaze swept across the room and caught sight of Han Laoliu and Lao Zhao standing in the distance.

He paused, a half-smile playing on his lips, and slowly walked over, hands behind his back.

When Han Laoliu saw Lin Xiuyuan walking towards him, his heart tightened, and his expression changed repeatedly.

Lin Xiuyuan approached and smiled, "Fellow Daoists, are you back here to sell talismans? Or... is there something you're dissatisfied with?"

Old Zhao reacted quickly, cupping his hands in greeting and saying, "Young Master is too kind. We have no complaints whatsoever. Lingfuxuan is fair in its dealings, and we are completely convinced of its fairness."

Han Laoliu also cupped his hands in clasping and said, "Yes, yes, we are completely convinced. We were just... just passing by and thought we'd come and see what was going on. We just remembered we had something to do at home and were about to leave."

Lin Xiuyuan glanced at him and said, "It's good to take a stroll; it's beneficial for both body and mind. Although the scenery in the north is not as good as in the east, it has a more lively atmosphere. Taking a look around will also be good for your cultivation."

After saying that, he smiled slightly and walked away.

Han Laoliu and Lao Zhao stood there, watching Lin Xiuyuan walk away, before finally letting out a sigh of relief.

Both of them had witnessed the scene of Fang Shi selling talismans and knew it was a misunderstanding; the talisman might have been drawn by someone's elders.

Old Zhao said, "Sixth Brother, didn't you just say something happened at home?"

Han Laoliu said, "Yes, yes, yes, there's something I need to do. The matter of the stove can't be delayed."

Old Zhao said, "Then why aren't we leaving yet?"

Han Laoliu said, "Let's go, let's go, we're leaving now."

The two of them turned around sheepishly, one after the other, and quickly walked towards the alley entrance.

Wu Tong squatted down next to Fang Shi, secretly watching Han Laoliu and Lao Zhao.

After Fang Shi finished selling the talismans and the two were pushing their cart back, he leaned closer and whispered, "Brother Fang, did you see that? Old Han and Old Zhao stopped halfway there. Old Han stood there in a daze for a long time, then said something to Old Zhao, and the two of them turned around and walked back. Then the young shopkeeper went over and said a few words to them, and they ran away, faster than rabbits."

Fang Shi said, "I understand."

Approaching the western end of the market and seeing no one around, Wu Tong said again, "Brother Fang, I really don't understand. When that Han Laoliu blocked our way in the middle of the road just now, he was so fierce, like he wanted to devour you. But then his legs went weak, and he didn't even dare to go near Lingfuxuan's stall. What exactly happened?"

Fang Shi asked, "Have you heard the story of 'Nanshanzi'?"

Wu Tong shook his head and said, "Never heard of it. Brother Fang, tell me about it."

Fang Shidao said, "Once upon a time, there was a rogue cultivator named Nanshanzi, who had reached the sixth level of Qi Refining and lived at the foot of Nanshan Mountain. His neighbor took away his land for gathering herbs, and Nanshanzi was furious. He threw his herb basket on the ground and wanted to go to his neighbor's sect to file a complaint."

Wu Tong asked, "And then?"

Fang Shidao said: "Nanshanzi walked away in anger, his steps were like the wind. When he was halfway there, about a hundred paces away from his neighbor's master's gate, he suddenly saw a stone tablet by the roadside with the words 'Quiet Contemplation' engraved on it. Nanshanzi's steps slowed down. At first, he was still unhurried, but then he hesitated and stopped. Finally, he stood by the roadside and remained silent for a long time."

Wu Tong asked, "What's wrong with him?"

Fang Shi said, "It's not out of fear, but out of self-reflection. Nanshanzi turned to his companions and said, 'Just now, I was full of vigor and wanted to go and file a complaint. However, the neighboring sect has a Foundation Establishment True Person in charge, with dozens of disciples. I am just a rogue cultivator, what can I rely on to go? They seized my land, and although they are in the right, they are no match for me. It would be better not to go and be humiliated.' So he turned around and went home, never mentioning filing a complaint again."

Wu Tong asked, "What did your companions say?"

Fang Shidao said, "My companions laughed and said, 'When you came, you were like a tiger descending the mountain; when you left, you were like a sick cat returning to its den.' Nanshanzi sighed and said, 'Anger in the heart is easily aroused and easily extinguished. Halfway there, the wind brushed my face and my heart turned cold. Only then did I realize that he was no match for me.'"

"When Han Laoliu first got angry, it was like Nanshanzi throwing his basket. When he stopped halfway, it was like Nanshanzi reflecting on himself. It wasn't that he didn't want to make a scene, but that he knew it would be pointless and only bring shame upon himself."

Wu Tong said, "I understand, Brother Fang. What should we do if we encounter those two again tomorrow?"

Fang vowed, "We'll see when we encounter it."

……

Fang Shi didn't take Han Laoliu's matter to heart at all.

For those who cultivate themselves, status and position are disregarded; what matters is their level of cultivation.

Those with lower cultivation levels are naturally inferior in the presence of those with higher cultivation levels.

Being humiliated or looked down upon is a common occurrence in this world and nothing to be surprised about.

The year his parents passed away, he was a young man at the second level of Qi Refining, all alone and helpless. The cold looks and scoldings he endured were ten or even a hundred times worse than what he had experienced.

Han Laoliu only stopped him and cursed him a few times, without even getting a hair out of his head. What's the big deal?

So after he returned, he put the matter out of his mind and drew talismans every day without getting tired of it.

Those cold-proof talismans are incredibly profitable—one is equivalent to four protective talismans. Even with a low success rate, they're still more cost-effective than drawing protective talismans.

If you miss this opportunity, you'll never have another chance.

It's not too late to put the matter of cultivation on hold for now.

Seven days passed in the blink of an eye.

On this day, Fang Shi knelt before the talisman table and began to write.

Where the brushstrokes pass, the patterns flow like water ripples, layer upon layer, interlocking.

The first circle was smooth and even, the second circle had no dissipation of spiritual energy, and the third circle was still gathered without chaos. When it reached the teardrop-shaped talisman core, the tip of the brush paused, and magical power was poured in from the fingertip. The stroke was completed in one go without the slightest pause.

With a very faint buzzing sound, a flash of light appeared on the yellow paper, which then disappeared.

[Winter-Proofing Talisman Proficiency +1]

【Winter Protection Charm (Beginner): 60/100】

After these days of arduous training, his success rate with the cold-resistant talismans has greatly improved. Yesterday, he even managed to make four talismans in one go, reaching the limit of his meridian fatigue.

This is the foundation laid by drawing the protective talisman earlier.

Without the tempering of those hundreds and thousands of protective talismans, even if he had mastered the "Minor Water Cloud Technique," he might not have been able to cultivate the cold-resistant talisman to this level within seven days.

Suddenly, Fang Shi smelled a faint fragrance.

The fragrance was delicate and subtle, like the fresh scent of grass and trees emanating from a mountain forest after the rain, faint yet refreshing.

He followed the scent and looked towards the cultivation room.

I put down my pen, got up, and walked over. I saw that the wild rice in the two ceramic pots in the southeast corner had turned completely yellow and was drooping heavily.

The rice grains are plump and round, with a faint halo of light flowing across the husks.

Fang Shi was overjoyed—the wild rice had been planted for two whole months and was finally ripe today.

Judging by its appearance, it's not bad.

He bent down and reached out to lift a grain of rice.

The rice grains on the ears of rice were densely packed together, and they felt hard to the touch. With a little pressure from your fingertips, you could feel the full grains of rice under the husk.

Pinch off a grain, peel off the shell, and you'll see a white grain of rice inside, crystal clear, with a faint glow.

As you get closer to smell it, the delicate fragrance becomes even stronger, penetrating right into your nose.

Fang Shi thought to himself: I haven't eaten lunch yet, so I might as well give it a try.

He moved two pots of wild rice to the yard, found a pair of scissors, cut off the rice ears one by one, gathered them in a bamboo winnowing basket, squatted down, and rubbed the grains off one by one.

Unlike ordinary rice, Lingmi does not need to be dried or baked. It can be eaten as soon as the outer husk is removed during harvest.

After rubbing for about half an hour, all the grains of the two basins of wild rice were rubbed off. I weighed them and they weighed about two pounds.

He took half a bowl, rinsed it twice, put it in a pot, added water, covered it, stuffed a few pieces of firewood into the stove, lit the fire, and then went to the yard to perform a set of the Seven Steps to Invite the Spirit.

[Seven Steps to Summon Spirits Proficiency +1]

【Seven Steps to Invoking Spirits (Beginner): 71/100】

As the pot began to simmer and bubble, a rich aroma of rice filled the entire kitchen.

The aroma was different from the sweet and sticky smell of ordinary rice; it carried a fresh herbal scent that made one feel refreshed.

Fang Shi simmered it for another 15 minutes before finally lifting the lid.

A cloud of white steam rushed towards us, and after it dissipated, we could see that the rice in the pot was distinct, crystal clear, and had a faint luster, like a handful of broken jade.

He picked up a bite with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.

The rice grains are soft and glutinous, not sticky or crumbly. As you chew, a sweet taste melts on your tongue, then transforms into a gentle, refreshing energy that travels down your throat and into your meridians.

They went upstream again and returned to Lingtai.

Fang Shi savored the details, secretly comparing them in his mind.

The spiritual rice grown from this wild rice contains even more spiritual energy than the Jade Spirit Rice sold by Fatty Wang.

After a few more bites, I felt completely refreshed.

If one eats wild rice for a long time, the impurities in one's body will be much less than if one eats Jade Spirit Rice, making it naturally easier to refine one's magical power during cultivation.

Unfortunately, these two pounds of rice, which took two months to grow, were eaten up in just two days.

If you want to eat a variety of foods, but don't have enough spiritual energy, you can't eat them all the time.

However, he wasn't disappointed—after all, it was something he got for free.

Fang Shi ate every last grain of rice in the pot, even scraping up and chewing the burnt rice at the bottom.

He put down his chopsticks, sighed contentedly, got up and walked into the yard, looking at the two empty ceramic pots.

He then retrieved the remaining packet of wild rice seeds from the corner of the wall, counted fifty grains, loosened the soil in the basin again, scattered the seeds, covered them with a thin layer of soil, and carried them back to the cultivation room.

After tidying up, Fang Shi sat down in front of the talisman table, took out the book "Essentials of Talismans", turned to the page on the cold-proof talisman, and carefully read through the few lines of Taoist text again.

These days he has been drawing talismans every day, and his understanding of this talisman has become much deeper than before. Reading it again now, he can see some new meaning between the lines.

Then, he went through the cultivation techniques of the "Little Water Cloud Technique" in his mind again.

These days I've been so focused on drawing talismans that I've fallen behind in my cultivation, but I can't forget to do my daily deductions and summaries.

I carefully recalled the process of how to transform magical power into mist and how the mist permeated the meridians, and I repeatedly deduced in my mind the distribution of spiritual energy in each key point and each section of the meridian.

Furthermore, based on my understanding of manipulating magic power when drawing the talisman for warding off the cold, I summarized several details that could be optimized.

When the spiritual energy passes through the Tanzhong point, there is no need to deliberately slow it down; letting it flow naturally will actually make it faster. When passing through the Jianjing point, the intention should be light; lightness leads to agility, while heaviness leads to stagnation.

Such examples, in total, numbered seventeen or eighteen.

Before we knew it, it was getting dark.

Fang vowed to cook wild rice again and eat it. He felt his mind and body becoming increasingly clear. He then put on a Bright Light Talisman and began to study the "Small Water Cloud Technique" and the Cold Protection Talisman.

It wasn't until late at night that he formed hand seals, silently chanted, and began to use the dust-avoiding technique.

[Dust-Avoiding Skill Proficiency -1]

Fang Shi frowned and dismissed the erroneous idea.

[Dust-Avoiding Technique Proficiency +1]

【Dust Repelling Technique (Proficient): 22/200】

Then he lay down on the bed fully clothed.

Before going to sleep, I performed a set of reclining and returning to my roots ritual. With each breath, my mind relaxed from head to toe, inch by inch.

Soon, Fang Shi fell into a deep sleep.

That night, he had a rare dream.

In his dream, he lay in the earth, his whole body buried in thick soil, never seeing the light of day.

But he didn't feel stuffy or heavy at all.

The soil was soft and warm, enveloping him from head to toe, like an earthworm—no, like a wild rice seed, becoming one with the earth.

He couldn't even distinguish where his body was from the soil; he was completely immersed in it, like a fish in water, free and at ease.

[Reclining and Returning to Roots Proficiency +1]

[Reclining and Returning to Roots Proficiency +1]

【Reclining and Returning to One's Roots (Beginner): 100/100】

[Reclining and Returning to Roots Level Upgrade: Beginner → Proficient↑]