The Path of Survivor begins with obtaining titles

“Farewell, Aunt Liu and Miss Chun Ying.” Lin Yi escorted them to the door, waved goodbye, then swiftly closed the yard gate behind them.

Staring at the tightly shut gate, with the scent of Spirit Rice drifting out from the yard, Liu Mei Niang spat on the ground in anger, “Damn miser, you deserve to be a bachelor for the rest of your life.”

Next, her gaze turned towards Chun Ying. Seeing the girl looking at her with a hint of resentment, she remarked irritably, “What are you looking at me for? Are you expecting me to take you home too? Hurry up and go, you useless thing!” As she spoke, she shooed her away with dismissive waves of her hand.

Chun Ying started crying softly, while Liu Mei Niang kept an eye on Lin Yi’s gate. After waiting for a bit and seeing no signs of movement, she reluctantly waved one last time and let Chun Ying away.

At this moment, Lin Yi leaned against the courtyard wall, listening carefully for any sounds outside. When he was sure things were quiet, he went back into the house. Seeing the full pot of Spiritual Rice, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

Just then, a pop-up window appeared before his eyes, “[Newbie] gained +5 experience.” This must have been from rejecting the arranged marriage, which also influenced his Path of Survivor. After all, it’s not as convenient to do as you please when you have a family to consider.

After finishing his meal, he began his cultivation, absorbing the spiritual energy in the Spirit Rice.

With the 20% Cultivation Speed bonus, and after a short while, he fully absorbed the spiritual energy. Suddenly, a text appeared before his eyes, “[Newbie] gained +1 experience.”

Lin Yi was secretly thrilled to have gained two points of experience in a day. At this rate, it would take just over a month to level up his title, it seemed like cultivation would be much faster if he had sufficient spiritual energy.

However, he wondered if there was a daily limit on gaining experience. If not, once his Spiritual Field was reaping, he could rent a cave mansion filled with spiritual energy and grind for experience points. The higher the level of his title, the stronger its effects, and the more help he could get in cultivation.

As night fell, Lin Yi lay in bed, thinking about the arranged meeting tonight. According to his knowledge, unless it was a direct relative, someone like him – a Spirit Farmer, wouldn’t be able to invite any outsider into the Outer Sect. The only exception was if it was a Spiritual Field Steward.

He suspected that this meeting was still a scheme by Zhang Yuan Cheng, who even arranged a pure-looking shot for the former honest owner of the body. Even Lin Yi, an experienced man, was slightly tempted by her.

If the date was successful, he would spend all day indulging in marital bliss. Forget about the Spiritual Field, it would likely be impossible to increase his own cultivation levels. This tactic of using beauty as bait was quite ruthless and hard to guard against. However, for Lin Yi, he had no intentions of getting married or having a child at the moment.

The next day, Lin Yi woke up early. After having breakfast, he began studying poisonous herbs. For this task, he specifically bought several books on the production of poison and spent his time researching every day.

Compared to all sorts of lifesaving magical weapons and amulets, poison was more cost-effective option. The poison he was currently focusing on making would cause one’s body to become weak and flaccid, making it easier for him to use when confronted by an enemy.

Suddenly, a pop-up window appeared before his eyes, “In the wake of the host’s daily research into poisons, a resilient poison immunity is developed, earning the title[Fearless of Poison].”

Although initially excited, Lin Yi felt some helpless when he saw the title, as it sounded like something a villain would have. Nevertheless, he examined the title to see the effects it provided: “Poison resistance+5, Poison detection+5, Poison making difficulty -5%”!

Looking at the straightforward trio of effects, he couldn’t care less about how the title sounded melodramatic. These effects could potentially save his life. With the ability to detect poisons, he could sense whether there was poison in advance. Poison resistance was an invaluable attribute which made him less vulnerable amongst cultivators. The reduced difficulty in making poison also increased his potion brewing success rate.

Next, he opened the panel, removed the ‘Little Farmer’ title and equipped the ‘Fearless of Poison’ title.

After equipping the title, when Lin Yi continued to Anmake poison, he faintly felt some insights flowing into his mind, which was perhaps the effect of reduced difficulty in the making. Instead of being expressed in simple and crude data, this effect was conveyed through intuitive understanding.

Although he had obtained a title related to poison, the skill of poison making did not appear on the panel, implying that he hadn’t reached the beginner threshold yet. After all, he had only been studying it for a little over two months.

Lin Yi placed the poison he’d created, along with relevant tools and materials, under his bed within a hidden compartment. Then, he went to the Spiritual Field and began his daily farming tasks.

Of course, he didn’t forget to wear his ‘Little Farmer’ title. Ever since he got this title, he had been watering his Spiritual Field in order, and Cloud Rain Technique was the only beneficial spell that directly affected Spirit Rice.

If the title effect comes true, then the 5% yield bonus would equate to 35 more catties per acre. That’s an impressive total of 700 catties for twenty acres, almost the equivalent yield of an extra acre of land! Of course, this is the total yield for two seasons of Spirit Rice in a year, with the half-year yield being 350 catties per acre.

Besides the yield, there’s also a 5% quality improvement. That means the taste and imbued spiritual energy of the rice might be 5% better. Once it ripens, he wants to try it for himself. If indeed the spiritual energy has increased, he would figure out a way to fulfill his tribute obligations with regular Spirit Grain.

While tending to the Spiritual Fields, Lin Yi started contemplating his future plans. Judging from the titles he had obtained so far, if he consistently focused on one task for around two months, he might gain a related title.

So, he decided to start pursuing a side career. Farming wasn’t a long-term plan; the most common secondary occupations for cultivators were talisman crafting, artifact refining, or alchemy. The former had the least expenses, while the latter two required a massive amount of resources.

He resolved to first practice talisman crafting for one or two months to earn the related title. As for artifact refining and alchemy, he didn’t need to consider those for the time being. Without being able to afford even the most basic pill furnace, there was no way he could practice.

In the Spiritual Field, Lin Yi was continuously bustling about. Despite his efforts with the Gold Finger and Cloud Rain Technique, they were both stuck at the beginner’s bottleneck, unable to break through. If the situation persisted, he only had the choice of waiting for the [Newbie] title to level up when he would receive a breakthrough difficulty effect upgrade.

It was currently noon, and the weather was getting unbearably hot. He looked out at the Cloud Rain Technique he just activated in the Spiritual Field, and couldn’t help stepping into it, letting the spell-induced rain shower upon him, feeling quite cool and even having a slight sweetness to it.

Lin Yi stood in the middle of the field, looking up at the small dark cloud raining down above him. As the saying goes, ‘a timely rain after a long drought’, perhaps the drought-ridden Spirit Rice was feeling as rejuvenated as he was.

Suddenly, a sense of realization emerged within his heart. This inexplicable feeling surfaced in his mind, and without any hesitation, he activated Cloud Rain Technique once more. This time, the dark cloud was much larger, and there was even a faint presence of thunder and lightning activity inside it.

A pop-up window also appeared in front of him, indicating that Cloud Rain Technique gained +1 experience. He quickly opened his panel and read the status, “Cloud Rain Technique (Proficient) 0/200”.

Surprise flashed across Lin Yi’s face. Breaking through Cloud Rain Technique in this unexpected way was as refreshing as finally getting rain after a long drought.