Chapter 23: The Autumn Commencement Assessment

Giving extra training after hours can be justified as a teacher’s care for a talented student. However, using a fourth-tier "Preaching Painting" to help Zhao Xing pass the exam was purely an act of personal favoritism.

The old Minister of Agriculture, having committed such an act of using public resources for private ends for the first time, felt a bit uneasy. Throughout the meal, he remained silent, and as soon as they finished, he told Zhao Xing to leave. Zhao Xing, understanding the tacit agreement, didn’t bring it up either; he bowed respectfully and headed home.

With the old Minister’s help, his basic-tier spells had reached the maximum level. While observing the rubbing of the "Growth of All Things" painting, he had also effortlessly comprehended a mid-tier spell: [Savage Growth].

Agricultural spells are divided only into "practical" and "super practical." This mid-tier spell belonged to the latter.

[Savage Growth: Mid-Tier Spell]
[Progress: 0/9999]
[Effect: Upon casting, it exerts a destructive force exceeding the environment’s carrying capacity, impacting the survival of other species.]

The mastery for mid-tier spells still requires 1,000 points per rank, and the cap remains the same, though the difficulty of improvement increases accordingly.

Why is "Savage Growth" considered super practical? Because it is a spell for intense confrontation! In the process of shortening a plant's maturation cycle, it madly drains the surrounding nutrients with such destructiveness that it exceeds the environment's ability to sustain life. Most importantly, it squeezes out the living space of other plants, even draining their life force to serve as nutrients.

The subsequent evolution path of this spell, after the "Resurgence" version update, has a terrifyingly cool name: "I Alone Am the Law!" It is hailed by agricultural players as a "God-tier skill for internal conflict"—my plants thrive while yours cannot. It is utterly domineering.

The other basic-tier spell gained from the painting’s rubbing was also quite practical.

[Earth Vein Synthesis: Basic-Tier Spell]
[Progress: 0/9999]
[Effect: Draws upon the power of earth veins to synthesize earth energy.]

Earth veins are the foundation of the world, connecting every location to the spiritual veins deep underground, differing only in strength. "Earth Vein Synthesis" is an auxiliary spell that can extract earth energy to make a specific plot of land fertile. Based on this, the ultimate goal is to evolve it into [Five Elements Blessed Land]. This is a spell of the "Geographic Advantage" school, often nicknamed "The Energy Thief."

Unlike "Savage Growth," it is subtle and highly covert. Many veteran "dirty players" love to level this spell to the extreme, sneaking up beside someone else’s blessed land to cast it and enrich their own soil. What is stealing vegetables? I’m stealing the very energy of the earth!

"Old habits die hard... why do I only ever comprehend these 'dirty' spells?" Everyone gains something different from observing the "Growth of All Things" painting, much like the randomness of temple teachings. Zhao Xing figured he must have been a bit of a schemer in his past life.

...

It was already dark when he got home, but not too late. Zhao Xing planned to head to his vegetable garden to test his two new spells. Not long after entering the garden, his little brother came running over with a lantern, full of excitement.

"Big brother, big brother! What are you doing? Are you making a midnight snack?"

Zhao Xing was speechless. "Did your mother not feed you dinner? It’s just barely dark, and you’re already thinking of midnight snacks."

"I ate, hehe, but it wasn't as good as yours." Zhao Zheng seemed to recall something and slurped. Although his big brother liked to beat him up, he had his merits: he cooked delicious food and was always tinkering with tasty dried fruits and candied snacks. "Big brother, I’ll hold the lantern for you! I’ll tend the fire when you cook."

"Go, go, get out of here," Zhao Xing said with a wave of annoyance. "There’s a box of snacks under my bedside table. Go find it yourself, and stop bothering me."

"Thank you, big brother!!!" The little brother hung the lantern on the fence and scampered off.

...

After tinkering for about two hours, Zhao Xing saw that both spells had reached the first rank and stopped grinding. The "Start of Autumn" exam began tomorrow, so he needed to conserve his energy.

At dawn the next day, Zhao Xing got up to wash and prepare to leave. His foster father, Zhao Ruide, was already in the courtyard practicing slow-motion, health-preserving martial arts.

"Foster father, I’m heading to work," Zhao Xing greeted.

Noticing Zhao Xing’s empty hands, Zhao Ruide asked, "Why aren't you carrying a lantern? It’s not like the family is short on such supplies."

"I can already see in the dark," Zhao Xing thought, and his pupils immediately turned a yellowish-green in the night.

"Oh?" Zhao Ruide glanced at him and nodded slightly. "Before you go, go help me wake Zheng-er up."

"Alright." Zhao Xing ran to another room and, without ceremony, kicked the door open. Since last year, Zhao Zheng had been sleeping separately from Lady Cai—a change Zhao Xing had forced, otherwise the doting Lady Cai would have kept bringing the baby to bed for years to come.

"Who the hell dares to disturb me..." The boy started cursing before his eyes were even open, but upon seeing who it was, he immediately swallowed his words.

"Get up! Put on your clothes." Zhao Xing pulled off the thin blanket and hauled Zhao Zheng up. The kid had actually been sleeping while hugging a jar of candied fruit.

"Big brother, big brother, what’s wrong?" Zhao Zheng looked bewildered but obediently put on his clothes.

"Go practice martial arts."

"Huh?" Zhao Zheng frowned. "The rooster hasn't even crowed yet..."

"Hmm?"

"Yes, big brother! I’m dressed!" Zhao Zheng backed down quickly. His brother would be leaving soon anyway; if he resisted, he’d just get a beating, and after practicing, he could always go back to sleep after fawning over his parents.

After waking Zhao Zheng, Zhao Xing left for the Ministry of Agriculture. Lady Cai woke up shortly after, hearing the child crying that he was hungry. She rushed to the vegetable garden, only to let out a gasp of surprise: "Ah! My seedlings from just a few days ago, they’ve already..."

...

"...The Start of Autumn exam will be held in the Hundred Herb Garden."

"It begins at the Si hour on the sixth day of the eighth month and ends at the Wu hour on the ninth."

As he approached within a kilometer of the Ministry of Agriculture, a voice echoed in his ears—it was Chen Shijie’s voice.

"Transmitting sound on the wind, reaching over miles with perfect clarity. A ninth-rank Minister of Agriculture’s strength is truly extraordinary," Zhao Xing mused. This was an advanced application of the [Wind-Rising] spell; his control over vital energy was far beyond that of a mere clerk.

However, there were even more impressive displays, such as Magistrate Li Wenzheng of Gu City, who had once demonstrated the ability to "Resonate like Gold and Jade, Carrying Sound for a Hundred Miles" while issuing a recruitment order, though that had relied on some external power.

Zhao Xing listened carefully for a while and hurried into the Ministry, having roughly grasped the rules. From the Si hour on the 8th of August to the Wu hour on the 9th, it was about four days and three nights. Each clerk could select any number of seeds or seedlings from the "Seedling Area" in the Hundred Herb Garden and then cultivate them in the "Planting Area." Once a clerk entered, they were not allowed to leave.

At the exact Wu hour on the 9th, officials sent by the county office would witness the results, record them, and archive the data. There were three criteria for evaluation: the quality of the seeds or seedlings chosen, the number of plants that survived, and the state of the surviving plants.