Chapter 89: A Day of Tilling, Trials, and Top-Tier Temptation

“Got it, coming!” Xia Qing hurried after Boss Sheep, leading him toward the bathroom. She took Boss Sheep’s health seriously, spraying him down every day. Of course, with all her care, there was never a parasite to be found on him.

But today, she needed one for a blood sample. “Well, there actually is one. Hang in there, Boss, it’s going to sting for a second. Hold still while I get this parasite off you.”

Boss Sheep immediately tensed, holding his head perfectly still, not daring to move a muscle.

Xia Qing nimbly pulled out a syringe, drew out half a tube of sheep’s blood, then pressed down on the injection spot, soothing Boss Sheep with a gentle whisper. “All done. You’re clean now.”

Finally relaxed, Boss Sheep even let Xia Qing dry him off without so much as a shake. She patiently finished up the cleanup before dashing upstairs to run tests with the Xiang Tester and the Yi Element Tester, checking Boss Sheep’s Xiang and Yi element content.

The results made Xia Qing’s mouth water.

Boss Sheep’s Xiang element level was 0.48%. He was nearly at 0.5%, but still in the ‘greenlight’ safe zone.

His Yi element content was 0.04%, making him second only to spinach among all edible creatures on her territory.

She couldn’t help but want a taste…

And this was Boss Sheep’s reading after he’d lost control once during a Xiang Rain. If not for that, how amazing would his stats have been?

Coming downstairs, Xia Qing caught sight of Boss Sheep, fluff as white as a cloud, and recipes for eighteen ways to cook lamb flashed through her mind. Her mouth was practically watering again.

It suddenly hit her. That lead wolf must’ve left Boss Sheep behind for fear that one day his willpower would slip and he’d end up biting his own friend to death.

Greenlight lamb… how she longed for it.

Wiping away her drool, Xia Qing forced herself to ignore the top-grade ingredient right in front of her and got started on her daily training.

Early the next morning, after her rounds and pest control, Xia Qing dumped the soil from the strawberry seedling pot into a sack. She refilled the planter with fresh dirt, mixed in some crushed and fermented greenlight sheep manure as fertilizer, and got ready for transplanting.

According to the “Spinach Cultivation Guide” Zhang San had given her, using greenlight fertilizer with greenlight plants and watering with clean or distilled water could significantly lower the chance of Xiang Evolution in crops, reduce their Xiang element, and boost their Yi element content.

She hadn’t asked Sun Zhe about it, but Xia Qing was sure his earthworm castings weren’t greenlight grade. Otherwise he wouldn’t sell them two kilograms for just one point.

The guide also noted that because every plant has unique traits, the optimal internal balance of Xiang and Yi elements varies from species to species.

That’s why greenlight toon trees have only 0.025% Xiang and 0.01% Yi, while greenlight spinach registers 0.38% Xiang but a lofty 0.06% Yi.

With the new soil ready, Xia Qing gently arranged the strawberry runners—over half a meter long—inside the fresh planter. She sprinkled spring water to help the two young shoots set roots in the new dirt.

The second Xiang Rain hadn’t touched the strawberries Xia Qing kept on her upstairs balcony. Both plants had now sprouted four runners in total; the longest was past half a meter, the shortest barely as long as a finger.

Watching runners stretch out day by day, with new shoots pushing bravely from the nodes, Xia Qing couldn’t help but feel amazed by nature. At this rate, she’d have plenty of strawberries to eat next year.

After planting, Xia Qing hung up a double-blade plow and headed out to till the fields where she’d cleared Xiang Grass using the weed cutter. With the plow, she turned over the soil, dragging Xiang Grass roots to the surface, and then burned them to finish off the cleanup.

If she waited a few days and let the earth dry before tilling, it’d take even more fuel.

But just as Xia Qing started the rotary tiller outside the village, Boss Sheep darted in front of her, blocking the way and lowering his spiral horns to bar the path.

Xia Qing patted the VIP seat next to her. “Boss, hop in! Let’s till the fields together.”

“Baa!” Boss Sheep didn’t budge, refusing outright.

Xia Qing narrowed her eyes at the clearly disgruntled Boss Sheep. After a moment, her eyes widened. “You want to pull the plow yourself?”

“Baaa—” Boss Sheep lifted his head in agreement.

“Didn’t know you were into this kind of thing, Boss. Alright, you got it.” Xia Qing parked the tiller back in the shed and retrieved the triple-blade sheep-drawn plow, leading Boss Sheep to the field.

Boss Sheep could plow faster than the rotary tiller and didn’t use a drop of fuel. Xia Qing had only meant to spare him the hardship, but never guessed Boss Sheep was such a workhorse.

At the edge of the field, Xia Qing fastened the plow to Boss Sheep and pointed ahead. “Boss, let’s get to work!”

Boss Sheep didn’t move an inch. Instead, he turned his head to look at Xia Qing, his sheep eyes full of scorn.

Xia Qing was left speechless. “Okay, okay—fine, we’ll do it your way. Hold tight.”

Xia Qing hurried up the highland, picked a sack of toon leaves, and tied a bunch to a bamboo pole, dangling it right in front of Boss Sheep’s nose. “Alright Boss, now get to work!”

“Baa!” Boss Sheep pawed the ground a couple times and bolted forward, dragging the triple-blade plow at breakneck speed.

Good thing Xia Qing was a Strength Evolver. Anyone else would’ve struggled just to keep the plow steady. Her own territory covered more than two thousand mu of farmland, but Xia Qing was only cultivating less than five now. Most of the land was left wild, with only eight little insect net shelters she’d built here and there, home to wild grape and redlight peanuts—barely a speck in the vast fields.

Led on by the lure of toon shoots, Boss Sheep happily pulled the plow from the eastern edge of the territory clean to the west, and then all the way back again. Each full loop covered nine mu!

After a lap, Xia Qing paused to feed Boss Sheep some compressed rations, toon shoots, and spring water.

While the pair rested, the birds in the territory sure didn’t. They flocked to the freshly turned earth, pecking for bugs amidst noisy excitement. Only the four egrets stayed aloof, still perched on tree branches, watching Xia Qing.

After a break, it was back to work.

Boss Sheep wasn’t tired, so Xia Qing stuck close behind, steadying the plow. Not only did this save fuel and boost efficiency, but it was great endurance and arm-training too—definitely worth sticking with.

By the third round, Xia Qing started feeling worn out, but Boss Sheep kept charging ahead. Gritting her teeth, she pushed through. As a high-level Evolver, she couldn’t afford to lose to a top-tier ingredient!

Finally, after four rounds, Boss Sheep was spent. After a meal and a drink, he flopped down in the shade for a nap, not even bothering to settle into a proper position.

Xia Qing stretched out on a pile of dried Xiang Grass and sighed. “Boss, now I understand why you do this.”

As a Strength Evolver, Xia Qing felt like she got it. “You want to wear yourself out pulling the plow—it’s your way to train and get stronger, right?”

Naturally, Boss Sheep ignored her, but Xia Qing was convinced she’d guessed right. Once he caught his breath, Boss Sheep wanted another go at the plow. She couldn’t fathom why her usually lazy, gluttonous Boss Sheep was suddenly so eager, but she liked the change.

Man and sheep competed all day, and by sunset they’d tilled over three hundred mu. Even for two high-level Strength Evolvers, that was an insane accomplishment.

A full day of plowing left Xia Qing even more exhausted than the time she’d dug bamboo shoots with Hu Zifeng in the Evolver Forest. By the time she listened to the farming radio that night, she didn’t have the energy to sit at the table and take notes like usual.

When the farming radio finished and Xia Qing finally caught her breath, she turned off the radio, logged onto the Lord Channel, and listened casually to the other Lords chat while beginning her daily practice in target shooting fundamentals and reaction speed drills.

No matter how tired, she refused to skip training.

On the Lord Channel, Lords Four, Five, Six, and Ten were talking about how to clear out Xiang Grass. Xia Qing eavesdropped on their banter, picking up a few new farming tricks herself.

“Xia Qing, are you there?”

Xia Qing was in the middle of a hand stability drill when Tang Huai cut into the farm chat grumpily and called her out by name.