CHAPTER 248: CHAPTER 244 EIGHTEEN

Chen Xuan gently pushed open the small wooden door, revealing a tiny courtyard inside.

A small square plot of land.

At that moment, an elderly man in coarse clothes was working.

Indeed!

He wasn’t mistaken; the man was actually pulling out weeds next to the rice stalks.

Not only that, but Chen Xuan couldn’t sense any trace of Martial Artist aura from the man; he was just like a normal old man.

However, the more he appeared ordinary, the more terrifying he became.

Thus, Chen Xuan clasped his hands together in respect and shouted, "Greetings, senior!"

Nonetheless, the elderly man continued working, meticulously inspecting each stalk of rice, and only after a long while did he stand upright and look at him.

Only then did Chen Xuan clearly see his appearance.

A square face, thick eyebrows, skin as smooth as a baby’s, contrasting sharply with his white hair.

Moreover, his eyes, just a glance, made Chen Xuan feel a sense of submission.

He only felt this way with Xia Yi.

"You are not from the Supreme Domain!"

One sentence!

Chen Xuan’s face suddenly changed, surprised that just a glance revealed he wasn’t from the Supreme Domain.

The old man, seeing his expression, smiled, "Refugee from the Lower Realm!"

"Me? A refugee? What do you mean?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Xuan slightly raised an eyebrow in bewilderment.

The old man slowly spoke up, "When the Lower Realm breaks, those like you who escape to the Supreme Domain are collectively termed refugees!"

"I see!"

Chen Xuan slightly nodded, and his heart immediately understood; so that’s what it meant.

Thinking about it, there’s not much problem with saying it this way; losing one’s home, what else could it be but a refugee?

"So, which realm are you from?"

Facing the old man’s inquiry, Chen Xuan didn’t hesitate at all and directly replied, "The Human Realm!"

After all, to him, everything was already broken, so there was nothing to hide.

"The Human Realm?"

The old man mumbled to himself, searching his mind, but it seemed he hadn’t heard of this so-called ’Human Realm’.

"This, old man seems not to have heard of! After all, there are thousands upon thousands in the Lower Realm, too many indeed."

"Thousands upon thousands?"

Chen Xuan caught those three words.

So many!

"Since you escaped from the Human Realm to the Supreme Domain, it’s a stroke of luck; for now, stay on the island, but—"

Suddenly, the old man changed!

An unparalleled pressure appeared, pressing heavily on Chen Xuan.

Under such pressure, even his body began to tremble incessantly.

"Behave, don’t cause trouble on the island, or... immediate annihilation!"

With the word ’annihilation’ uttered!

Chen Xuan felt a terrifying killing intent surging from the old man.

With each breath, cold sweat emerged on his forehead.

"Yes, the young man understands!"

Chen Xuan immediately replied.

As soon as he finished speaking, the pressure and killing intent vanished.

"Phew—"

Chen Xuan breathed a sigh of relief, his gaze towards the old man turning fearful.

Too strong!

"But staying on the island comes with conditions!"

The old man slowly spoke.

Chen Xuan nodded, it made sense; there are no free lunches in the world, if he really wasn’t required to pay anything to stay, he might just look for an opportunity to run away.

"Please go ahead!"

"Every year, you must hand over a thousand pounds of Spirit Rice, otherwise... immediate expulsion!"

Letting him stay... means farming?

He had thought of countless possibilities just now, but never expected this one.

"I’ll arrange for someone to explain it to you later, for now you can leave!"

The old man waved him away.

Although puzzled, Chen Xuan could only bow slightly and leave the small courtyard.

"Early-Stage Immortal Grade, not bad, even stronger than Ning Xin, fits well as a laborer!"

The old man sat on a small stool beside him, muttering to himself.

After sensing Chen Xuan was Immortal Grade, the thought occurred to him.

After all, there wasn’t much time remaining until the deadline to hand over the Spirit Rice.

"Supreme Domain, hehe!"

The old man suddenly let out a cold laugh.

Although it’s the Upper Domain, it’s far more cruel than the Lower Realm, just like this tiny island, tasks given by the higher-ups must be completed, or everyone on the island must leave immediately.

In this vast ocean, filled with countless Demon Beasts, how many from the island could survive then?

Of course, there’s another way, truly owning the island.

But that’s too difficult!

...

After leaving the cottage, Chen Xuan didn’t know where to go.

So he walked back along the path he took before.

But walked for a long time without seeing the person the old man mentioned.

Eventually, when Chen Xuan returned to the row of stone houses, he saw Ning Xin standing by a well.

"That stone house on the far left is yours!"

Ning Xin pointed at the farthest stone house.

"Also... inside the house are items you need!"

"Forget today, tomorrow I’ll take you to the fields, you can choose a plot yourself!"

After speaking, Ning Xin left.

"Cold woman!"

Chen Xuan muttered to himself.

"Alright, let’s just take it one step at a time!"

He sighed deeply in his heart, knowing that from tomorrow he would start farming.

This kind of work he hadn’t even done back in Shuanggang Village.

Unexpectedly, now at the Immortal Grade, he still had to farm.

He then walked towards the stone house on the far left and pushed the door open to enter.

Inside the house, it was just the kind of plain place that could be seen in one glance.

A bed, some farming tools, and nothing else.

Really, it couldn’t be more basic.

"Sigh!"

Aside from letting out a sigh, he could only shake his head.

...

In a flash, Chen Xuan had been on Huaining Island for three months.

At this moment, he was working barefoot in a field of rectangular plots.

"Damn, these things are really damn delicate!"

Chen Xuan bent over, weeding while cursing under his breath.

Three months ago, he officially became the owner of this patch of land after planting the seeds Ning Xin gave him.

The seedlings sprouted fairly smoothly at first.

But as the seedlings grew, weeds gradually appeared alongside them.

Initially, Chen Xuan didn’t pay much attention, but within just two or three days, the seedlings began to wither.

At the time, he was puzzled and thought insects were to blame.

Upon careful examination, this wasn’t the case.

Afterwards, he went to find Ning Xin, and her answer was that he needed to weed around the seedlings daily.

What he was actually growing was called Celestial Spirit Rice!

It was high-grade Spirit Rice, specifically for Immortal-Grade Martial Artists, and once this Spirit Rice was planted, it automatically grew a kind of weed called Spirit-Extinguishing Grass nearby.

It’s the nemesis of Celestial Spirit Rice!

This grass not only grows fast but is also very tough. When the Celestial Spirit Rice is about to mature, even a Grade One Martial Artist would expend a lot of effort to remove it.

Therefore, Celestial Spirit Rice must be grown by a Martial Artist above Grade One.

It was at this point that Chen Xuan finally understood why the old man had him stay on Huaining Island.

But there’s no help for it; he was already stuck in this pit.

And if he tried to leave, the old man probably wouldn’t let him go easily.

"Whew—"

Chen Xuan straightened up, looking at this piece of land, about an acre in size.

After spending more than two hours, he had finally gotten rid of all the Spirit-Extinguishing Grass.

"Brother Xuan...."

At this time, a child’s voice came from afar.

A moment later, Ning Feng appeared on the ridge of the field.

"You little rascal, as soon as I finished weeding, you came, perfect timing!"

Chen Xuan teased him.

Having been on the island for more than three months, Chen Xuan had gradually become familiar with the villagers here.

There were about a few hundred people on the island, mostly ordinary people, while the Martial Artists were mostly high-grade, with Ning Xin being the only Immortal Grade, of course, he didn’t know the village chief’s strength.

Among them, the person he was closest to was Ning Feng.

After all, Chen Xuan was Immortal Grade, and guiding a Grade Two Martial Artist like him was more than enough. Over time, the two got to know each other, and later Ning Long joined them.

"You can’t blame me, I’m just Grade Two, it’s tough for me to take out even one Spirit-Extinguishing Grass!"

Ning Feng defended himself, it really wasn’t that he was unwilling; his strength was simply not enough.

Of course, Chen Xuan knew this and was just teasing him on purpose.

So he asked, "Then what are you here for?"

This kid shared the same laid-back character as him, never looking for him unless he had issues with cultivation or wanted to spar, and of course, Chen Xuan couldn’t use strength above Grade Two.

"Oh, right, today is Sister Xin’s eighteenth birthday, and she asked me to invite you to her place for dinner!"

"Let me tell you, Sister Xin has prepared lots of delicious food!"

Speaking of which, Ning Feng couldn’t help but swallow his saliva.

After all, Ning Xin’s cooking skills were the best on the island but usually, she was focused on cultivation and didn’t cook much.

It was only on her birthday that she would cook herself.

Every year, he looked forward to this day the most.

"Alright, I’ll change my clothes and head over!"

"I’ll go ahead then!"

Ning Feng couldn’t wait any longer and quickly left.

"Tonight, it’s finally a chance to improve the situation!"

Chen Xuan was also looking forward to it a bit.

In the past three months, aside from fish, it was just ordinary rice. The island, other than salt extracted from seawater, had nothing else.

One could say that aside from having a place to sleep, it wasn’t much different from when he first arrived in the Supreme Domain.

He had even asked Ning Xin if the Supreme Domain was all sea and no land.

The answer he got was yes, but it’s very far, very far!

On the island, except for the village chief, no one had left in their entire life.

As for the route off the island, only the village chief knew.

If he wanted to know, he could only ask the village chief.

For now, Chen Xuan had given up the idea of leaving the island because the old man wouldn’t let him leave easily, nor would he tell him the way to leave.

...

Back home, after sorting himself out a bit and changing into clean clothes,

he went empty-handed towards Ning Xin’s stone house.

There was no helping it; he had nothing at all right now. The clothes he wore were also given to him by other villagers on the island.

If he didn’t have those, he wouldn’t even have a change of clothes.

If the women knew about this, who knew how distressed they would be.

Moments later, Chen Xuan arrived at Ning Xin’s stone house.

"Knock knock knock!"

He knocked lightly on the door.

With a creak, the door was opened by Ning Long.

"Brother Xuan, you’re finally here, we’ve been waiting for you!"

"Haven’t I arrived now? You must be hungry!"

Chen Xuan patted his little head before walking into the stone house.