High School Student with Immortal Race System

After a night of Cultivation, Yang Shen’s Qi and Blood Value had recovered somewhat.

Ever since the Training Camp, he’d noticed that not only had his daily "Cultivation time" increased, but so had the length of time he could stare at the Rising Sun.

When he stared directly at the sun, it felt as if a warm current was surging through him. ’Of course, it might just be the heat from the sun...’

During his previous fight with the "Giant-mouthed Woman," Yang Shen had felt his dynamic vision improve, and his night vision had also become a bit clearer.

Otherwise, he never would have been able to last so long against someone at the Mid-stage of Marrow Refining.

Of course, the biggest hit had been landed by the woman herself.

It made Yang Shen quite embarrassed. It’s not every day a girl pours her heart out to you right after you meet.

With the monthly exam just three days away, Yang Shen had no intention of holing up at home. The Training Camp had changed too much for him, stirring a restless heart.

There were so many things he wanted to do.

For instance... he wanted to start investigating how to put his "Spirit Plant Inheritance" into practice.

After breakfast, Yang Mo and Yang Man were sent off to elementary school, while Lei Lv and Lei Yi remained at home.

Knowing Lei Lv’s personality, he would undoubtedly be engrossed in comprehending the "Qi Cultivation Guiding Technique." The two "Spirit Gathering Eyes" in the house should help him. If he got stir-crazy, Yang Shen had suggested he could try the Celestial Platform; the view was great.

As for Yang Shen, he shouldered his backpack, hopped on a two-yuan bus, and headed for the outskirts of Jinshui District.

This was the suburbs of the suburbs, meaning that beyond the main urban area, the landscape was a sprawling, undeveloped expanse. A small portion was woodland, but the rest was almost entirely farmland.

He had found his destination for the day online. He hoped to learn a bit about how "High Source" agricultural products operated within society.

He’d been buying groceries for years, but the selling side was a complete mystery to him. He didn’t even know where the produce at the market came from.

An hour later, when he got off the bus, the roadside was nothing but farmland. The only sign of modernity was the utility poles. There were barely any cars on the road, a testament to Jinshui District’s "excellent" economic standing.

After another twenty-minute walk, he finally reached a plot of land cordoned off by a wall.

"High Source Strawberry Picking Farm."

Below it was a handwritten sign on a styrofoam board: 400 yuan/hour, 300 yuan/kilogram.

Yang Shen clicked his tongue. ’These prices are... something else!’

It was one of those family-friendly U-pick farm places. Yang Shen had done his homework before coming: strawberries are extremely perishable. Though the yield is high, transportation and storage are a huge hassle. The moment they’re picked, the countdown on their shelf life begins, and if they’re not picked, they rot on the vine.

During peak season, they flood the market. When the market can’t handle the supply, some farms convert a portion of their crop to "on-site picking" to make money off tourists instead.

Yang Shen found the owner, a man in his forties, sitting in a glass booth and doubling as a human parking gate.

"Sir, I see the sign says 400 yuan per hour and 300 yuan per kilogram. Are those two different pricing models?"

The owner shook his head. "It’s both. Whether you pick anything or not, it’s 400 for the hour. Then, you pay 300 per kilogram for any strawberries you do pick."

Yang Shen stared, stunned.

’Who does business like this?’

’This is basically robbery, and they’re hitting you twice!’

The owner, probably used to complaints about the price, explained without being asked, "This is a High Source variety. If you buy it at the supermarket, it’s 500 a kilogram, and that’s for the gift-boxed ones! Besides, people are definitely going to snack while they’re in there. Lots of them start chowing down on the spot, which is why we charge for the time."

Yang Shen frowned. "How many strawberries... would you have to eat to raise your Qi and Blood Value by 0.1?"

"Ten or twenty pounds, maybe."

"You’d have to eat them like regular meals?"

The owner gave him a thumbs-up. "You can eat ten or twenty pounds of rice?! In that case, you’re one of a kind."

"High Source food is a luxury for improving your quality of life. If you’re just trying to raise your Qi and Blood Value, getting a shot in the ass is the most effective way. And don’t you go thinking this is expensive..."

"All High Source crops are incredibly precious. Just this special greenhouse costs over a million! The seedlings are several hundred yuan each and can only be used for one harvest. Then there’s the special fertilizer. All the money gets vacuumed up by the big corporations. We sink millions into this just to earn a living wage."

Yang Shen glanced at the plainly dressed man. The cloth shoes on his feet looked like they were one bad ankle-twist away from bursting open at the toes.

"If you have millions to invest, why grow strawberries?"

The man slapped his thigh.

"Millions my ass! It’s a bank loan! I’m saddled with a 30-year loan for this greenhouse. I don’t have a choice *but* to keep growing! If I stop for even a day, the bank could foreclose!"

Yang Shen’s mouth fell open. ’This world is too complicated.’

After observing from the outside for a while longer, he decided to fork over the exorbitant fee and go in. He planned to ask the owner for a tour and a chat.

His reason? A high school social studies project.

The owner clicked his tongue. "You go to Wenhua High? Well, that’s a life, I guess... In this society, if you don’t practice Martial Arts, you’ll never get ahead. You might even get yourself killed by someone with Martial Arts Psychosis. Just consider this an early introduction to the school of hard knocks."

Inside the greenhouse, the furrows were narrow and the ground was covered in black plastic sheeting. The paths weren’t even wide enough to walk with your feet side-by-side; it was clear they had maximized every inch of space.

The owner pointed to the complex equipment near the entrance. "This monitors temperature and humidity. That one monitors soil fertility. High Source crops have to be grown under extremely standardized conditions, or it’ll affect the Source Content."

"The seedlings are from ’Seed Origin Technology.’ Eight hundred yuan a pop, and they degrade after one harvest, so you have to buy new ones every year. Same goes for the fertilizer. Someone comes every year to test the soil, then they create a custom blend."

Yang Shen gently lifted a strawberry still on its runner. It was a deeper red and more lustrous than a normal strawberry.

Its size wasn’t anything special, though. In fact, it was a little smaller than average.

Yang Shen released a faint stream of Spiritual Power from his palm, attempting to identify the plant with his "Spirit Plant Inheritance."

The feedback he received was...

...that in the Cultivation System, this could indeed be recognized as a "Spirit Fruit."

...albeit a very, very low-grade one.

But this also confirmed a theory he had: ’The vast array of "High Source" foods on Cyan Blue are, in essence, Spirit Plants.’

’And those "High Source" meats could probably be considered "low-level demonic beasts"...’

’It’s just that the two worlds seem to be on completely different paths.’

’On the Cultivation Side, they followed a path of pure "small-scale agriculture." A Cultivator would manage their own plot of land, select seeds, sow them, and nurture them with Spiritual Qi. The "quality" of the resulting Spirit Plants was much higher.’

’Aside from basic staples like Spirit Rice and Spiritual Wheat, the focus was primarily on true "Spiritual Medicine," which had all sorts of wondrous effects.’

’Extrapolating from this model, the population on that side—or rather, the number of Cultivators—is probably not very large.’

’On Cyan Blue, however, nearly thirty percent of the population has a Martial Cultivation of at least the Skin Refining realm. That’s over a billion people. The demand for "High Source" food is astronomical, and societal development is more modernized, following a path of mass production.’

’The growers don’t need to know Magic or understand the underlying principles. They just need to buy the equipment and follow the instruction manual.’

’In other words, all that’s needed is a laborer... or rather, someone to saddle with a loan.’

’The techniques and technology are monopolized by large corporations, making traditional agricultural experience worthless.’

’It’s hard to say whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.’

’The quality is lower than on the Cultivation Side, but the total volume is terrifying. High Source strawberries alone account for millions of tons a year... and that’s not even mentioning all the other miscellaneous crops. There are thousands of High Source foods and medicines on the market.’

’The system is also incredibly detailed, with grading, logistics, inspections, and supermarket distribution channels... For a high school senior like him, trying to break into that was a total pipe dream.’

’Plus, the larger the scale, the more startup capital and external support you need. You have to rent land, and in the end, all the money gets funneled to the big corporations and the banks...’

’So, when you crunch the numbers...’

’...small-scale agriculture is the way to go! It has to be small-scale agriculture!’

Given the Jianghuai Yang Family’s "Tree Burial"-level wealth and an average age that was practically "three and up," they were in no position to go legit anytime soon. He had to start small and focus on quality.

’So... it can’t be food. It has to be medicinal herbs.’

’Using the "Spirit Plant Inheritance" for large-scale cultivation is a long-term goal. For now, I have to find a way to go the boutique route!’

’That way, even if it’s hard to sell, I can just consume it myself to aid my Cultivation!’

After wandering around the strawberry greenhouse for a while, Yang Shen made sure to eat his money’s worth—he had paid for entry, after all. Then, he headed to a wholesale market for medicinal herbs.

Compared to food products, many medicinal herbs were wild-harvested from the mountains. The quantities were smaller, and as a result, the regulations were a bit more lax. Almost every herb shop owner would buy miscellaneous goods from foragers. As for the price, they had their own equipment to measure the "Source Content."

Most of the items at the herb market were already processed and had no potential for replanting. Yang Shen spent hours wandering around and only found a single useful specimen.

It was called "Jade Marrow Grass," a classic medicinal herb that was quite effective for those in the "Marrow Refining" stage.

There were artificially cultivated versions, which were low-grade and typically bought up by large corporations to make Supplements, as well as wild-harvested ones, which had a low and inconsistent yield.

To actually benefit from the effects of "Jade Marrow Grass," just eating it raw was difficult; it needed to be combined with other herbs. Gritting his teeth, Yang Shen spent 2,000 yuan on three stalks of medium quality, which he carefully placed in his bag.

His startup capital was far too small. These three stalks of "Jade Marrow Grass" were just a baseline. He wasn’t even sure if he could keep them alive, since this particular plant wasn’t mentioned in his "Spirit Plant Inheritance." It was a local specialty of Cyan Blue.

So, after taking the three stalks of Jade Marrow Grass, pots and all, back home, Yang Shen set out again. Before nightfall, he arrived at the mountain where his Training Camp had been held.

He came prepared, intending to do some exploring in the mountains.

——————