Chapter 96: Choosing, finally!

Kian stopped in the middle of the path and let the system panel hang in front of him.

Valiant King was tempting in a raw, stupid way—conquer land, grow stronger, repeat—but it meant becoming a warlord, and warlords attracted armies, assassins, and sect elders who liked their maps stable.

Was he really willing to walk a path of thorns and blood?

At that point, he wouldn’t even be able to trust his own wives.

That was too sad!

Kian shook his head. Not for him!

He didn’t want to be a Valiant King.

Golden Warrior was worse.

Hunting cultivators stronger than himself while he was only Stage Six would get him killed before he reached Stage Seven, and he already had Su Chen’s faction to worry about.

Why would he live on constant seeking-death-mode?

Kian shook his head on that as well.

Silent Swimmer was dead on arrival.

Kian wasn’t that interested in swimming and he actually had some thoughts about giving this particular technique to Xiao Cui.

That cutie was a natural swimmer.

After that, there was...

Ninefold Star Body promised power, but star essence and celestial paths were rare, scattered, and depended on luck he didn’t control.

That left the last one on the list, and the more he stared at it, the more it stopped looking like a consolation prize.

The Divine Farmer gave cultivation strength from farms, plants, and land he nurtured.

It wasn’t flashy.

It didn’t make him a slayer of men or a conqueror of waters. But he had already planned a spirit herb garden, spirit chickens, and a permanent island base with the girls.

This technique would feed that exact future, compounding quietly while everyone else bled and schemed.

He already had too many conflict paths on his plate—Stealing other people’s women, family members, and fortune to grow stronger. Scheming against others.

Sucking Hero, Twin Heart, Iron Skin, Wind Step, the Art of Blood Beasts. Everything was conflict related and blood seeking.

Adding another one that demanded him to kill stronger warriors or claim hostile ground would only multiply his chances of dying young.

Why would he do that when he could add one stable art?

Kian thought about the red glow toward Su Chen’s sect, the yellow in the guard district, the crimson sea around his new home.

Danger already pressed in from every direction. He didn’t need a technique that forced him to run toward more of it.

The farmer path was quiet, steady, and it would let him build a foundation no one could steal with a single battle.

That was the kind of strength that lasted.

He selected the Divine Farmer.

There was no need for hesitation once the mind was settled.

The system chimed, and a warm green light bloomed in his dantian, spreading through his meridians like roots pushing through soil.

For a moment he felt the island’s ground hum beneath him, a low pulse of connection that hadn’t existed before.

Kian exhaled slowly and rolled his shoulders.

"Peaceful," he muttered, then smirked. "At least I have one ability that looks peaceful."

Before the green light had fully faded, a new system window slid across his vision, smaller and cleaner than the others.

It was shaped like a long, flat tablet of pale jade, and at the top were three simple words:

[Farm Status.]

Kian stopped walking.

Below the header, the panel was almost entirely blank.

There was no crop list, no livestock count, no soil grade, no spirit yield. Just an empty field and a single pulsing line near the bottom.

[No designated farm land.]

[Please select a location to register as your first farm.]

[Warning: The selection only works with Land that you own by contract or by spiritual acceptance of the land’s owner.]

[Once you have a land designated, you can grow your farm to level up in cultivation.]

Kian stared at the message for a second, then laughed under his breath.

"Of course," he muttered. "Nothing starts without me doing the work first."

He closed the panel with a thought and turned back toward the house.

The island was already the obvious choice—safe, green, and full of untouched soil. He would make it his farm.

But a piece of land didn’t become a farm just because he stood on it. It needed seeds, animals, tools, fencing, feed, and all the sharp little things that made a place produce instead of just exist. It even had to be fertile soil.

But Kian was not worried about that. If it were not fertile, he would use unique techniques to make it fertile.

First, though, he had to buy stuff. And he wasn’t going to carry all of that through the city by himself like some mortal errand boy.

Kian found Feimei still at the low table, though the letters had been pushed to one side and she was jotting something on a fresh slip of paper.

"I’m going to the city," he said. "Not for long. I’ll be back with supplies and then I’ll bring it all over to the island with me."

Feimei looked up, one brow lifting. "Supplies?"

"Seeds, feed, fencing, tools, chickens. Maybe a plow. Maybe fifty plows. My new technique needs a real farm, not a campfire."

She let out a soft huff that was almost a laugh. "You choose the strangest things to be serious about, baby. But I guess you probably chose the farmer technique for yourself, that’s good."

Kian nodded.

He didn’t waste another breath. He stepped out of the house and cut through the side alleys toward the western market, the one that stank of hay and hot metal.

The morning crowd was already thick, but he moved through it without stopping to haggle.

He wanted the boring work done fast.

At the seed stalls he bought moonpetal starters, frost grass seeds, spirit rice, and a bag of black root cuttings.

At the animal yard he pointed at three cages of glossy spirit hens and a sack of crushed shell feed.

At the smith stall he bought two iron plows, a roll of wire fencing, and a box of good hand tools.

Paying took longer than choosing.

The coins clicked out in neat stacks while the workers he had hired from the labor corner loaded sacks into carts.

Two men heaved the chicken cages up.

The hens squawked once and then went still, feathers ruffling through the wooden slats.

He led them back to the house and had them carry everything inside the front courtyard.

The men moved without asking questions, stacking sacks of feed and bundles of fencing against the wall, lining the cages near the inner door.

They took their copper and filed out fast, not one of them looking at the windows.

It was clear that Kian had a lady inside and that Kian was a strong cultivator. Who wanted his ire?

No one.

Kian locked the gate behind them and waited until the last sounds of their cart faded.

Only then did he crouch in front of the chicken cages and smile.

The hens stared back with the blank, unimpressed expressions of creatures that had no idea what a paradise they had just been dragged into.

Kian gripped the first sack of crushed shell feed and hoisted it over one shoulder.

He reached for the tug from the island in his mind, let the world fold, and stepped out onto the black sand with the sack dropping at his feet.

A second trip brought the roll of wire fencing. The third trip carried a cage of spirit hens in each hand. The fourth brought the plow, the tools, the seed bundles.

Each time he returned to the courtyard, the pile shrank until nothing but empty stone remained.

By then, the girls had woken up and wandered outside the hut. One by one, one pair after another cute set of eyes started staring at him work in the early morning. Each silent and lazily observing.

Xiao Cui stood in the doorway with her blanket still wrapped around her shoulders, watching like she wasn’t sure if the sacks were real.

By then, Feimei had also entered the island.

"Hey, Xiao Cui," Mia said. "How do you feel after yesterday?"

"Tired..." She said, yawning. "Were you guys tired after your first nights?"

"You bet," Jia’s voice came.

She shuffled out last from the hut, still half-asleep, and slumped forward over a low crate with her backside sticking up.

Kian naturally walked behind her with a sack and landed a clean, sharp smack on her rear before moving away.

"Get to work, lazy bums."

Jia yelped and spun around, but he was already passing her a bundle of seed sticks.

"Mia, start unpacking the hens. Jiao Yin, feed the chickens. Xiao Cui, sort the tools and bring me the fencing roll. Feimei, you can lounge and look beautiful, but you’re not allowed to leave until you help with the herb beds."

Not really complaining, the girls scattered into motion, groaning and laughing, the first real noise of the day breaking the island’s quiet.

Only Mia stopped to stare at him, her hands on her hips.

"What?" he asked.

"I need to brush, every one of us do. Where is our brushes?"

Feimei threw it at them, one brush after the other flying to the girls.

"Thought you would need it."

Mia immediately smiled, catching hers and brushing as she walked.

While they worked, Kian walked to the center of the cleared patch beyond the hut and opened the farm panel again.

The empty field still glowed in his vision, waiting.

He pressed his palm to the dark soil and let his Qi sink into the ground in a slow, searching wave.

It was time to designate his farm.

Feimei watched curiously from the side.