Su Ming quickly repaired that node, then stood up, dusting off his hands.

“Rise!”

As the final hand seal was completed.

Hum—

The “Drizzle Formation” covering the three mu of land emitted a soft hum.

The originally intermittent, unevenly distributed spiritual rain instantly became dense and uniform.

The rain threads no longer fell straight down in a stiff manner, but gently drifted with the breeze, like a layer of gauze draped over the Jade Marrow Mushrooms.

The high ground in the west received moisture, while the low-lying areas in the east no longer accumulated water.

The few mother plants that were originally on the verge of death, nourished by the dense spiritual rain, visibly showed a fading of the grayish decay on their leaves, and their previously drooping leaf tips slightly lifted, as if greedily breathing.

“Incredible!”

Steward Wu abruptly stood up and rushed into the field in three quick strides.

He took out a spirit-measuring plate and walked a circle in the field.

The needle on the plate remained steadily fixed in the exact center, not moving a hair.

“The uniformity of spiritual energy distribution… increased by seventy percent?!” Steward Wu’s eyes widened as he stared at Su Ming as if looking at a monster, “Kid, you tuned this old, decrepit Drizzle Formation to run smoother than a brand new one?”

Su Ming stood to the side, his expression humble, “It’s not that the formation changed, I just made it understand this piece of land better.”

“Good! A great understanding of the land!”

Steward Wu was overjoyed. If these Jade Marrow Mushrooms were saved, his annual evaluation would at least be an “Excellent.”

He cheerfully took out thirty spirit stones and stuffed them into Su Ming’s hand, his attitude doing a complete one-eighty, his face beaming with smiles, the wrinkles blooming like flowers.

“Not bad, someone who gets things done. Brother Su, my attitude earlier was poor, don’t take it to heart.”

Su Ming accepted the spirit stones, clasping his hands in a respectful gesture, “You overstate the matter, Steward. Taking someone’s money to solve their problem is just my duty.”

“Hey, don’t be in such a hurry to leave.”

Seeing Su Ming about to leave, Steward Wu quickly grabbed his sleeve, lowering his voice as if afraid others might hear, “Brother Su, looking at your skill, it’s a waste of talent to only fix these three mu of land. To be frank, in my garden, there are seven or eight more old formations like this that need fine-tuning. Also, there are some delicate medicinal fields that require regular nourishment of seedlings with wood and water spiritual energy…”

Steward Wu rubbed his hands together, his eyes gleaming with shrewdness, “Those Formation Peak disciples look down their noses, hiring them once is as difficult as reaching heaven, and you have to queue. Going through the official channels at the Repair Hall is painfully slow. If you have time, we could do it privately…”

He gave Su Ming a “you know what I mean” look.

Su Ming’s heart stirred.

This was exactly the “long-term meal ticket” he wanted.

But he didn’t show too much eagerness, instead pausing thoughtfully as if weighing the pros and cons.

“This… if I take on work privately, I’m afraid it’s against the rules,” Su Ming said with some difficulty.

“Rules are dead, people are alive!” Steward Wu grew anxious, “This counts as ‘temporary labor.’ As long as I don’t report it, who would know? Besides, I’m using my own private funds to hire you, not going through official accounts, who can say anything?”

Only then did Su Ming “reluctantly” nod, “Since Steward Wu thinks so highly of me, then Su Ming can only respectfully accept. However, I’m usually tied up with miscellaneous duties and can only come during my spare time.”

“No problem! As long as you can come! Payment per job, absolutely no delays!” Steward Wu patted his chest in guarantee.

…

When Su Ming walked out of the Spiritual Plant Garden, the sky had completely darkened.

Su Ming touched the extra spirit stones in his robe and the unexpectedly obtained “Moisture Stone,” his steps light and brisk.

This day, though busy, had been quite fruitful.

Not only did he earn spirit stones, but he also opened up a connection with the Spiritual Plant Garden.

More importantly, he had discovered a way of survival suited to himself.

Within the colossal machine of the sect, besides those lofty elders and true disciples, there were countless middle managers like Steward Wu.

They had real difficulties, needs they didn’t want to go through cumbersome procedures for, and also had small private funds they could freely control.

This gray middle ground was Su Ming’s “blue ocean.”

“Master, the work at the Spiritual Plant Garden is trivial, but it has the advantage of being stable,” Su Ming thought to himself as he walked, reviewing the situation, “Moreover, the spiritual energy here is abundant. In the future, if I use the excuse of repairing formations to incidentally absorb some spiritual energy for cultivation here, or get some seeds, discarded medicinal dregs or something…”

“You kid, you’re becoming more and more like the ‘Way of Survival,'” Lin Yu laughed and scolded, “Plucking feathers from a goose as it passes, and making them say thank you for it. But don’t just focus on earning small change. That task about acquiring Red Copper ore, you should also pay attention. That’s the real big prize.”

“Red Copper ore…”

Su Ming looked up towards the distant Artifact Forging Peak, a gleam flashing in his eyes.

“Not in a hurry. Sharpening the axe won’t delay the chopping. Let me first refine this ‘Moisture Stone’ into the formation, stabilize the ‘Like Water Art’ a bit more, then go tackle that hard nut.”

The night breeze was cool, the young man’s figure gradually blending into the night, like a drop of water silently merging into the vast ocean that was the Cloud Hidden Sect.

Returning to Clear Stream Valley, Wang Defa was waiting in the courtyard with a few people.

Seeing Su Ming return, Wang Defa immediately came forward to greet him, looking mysterious.

“Hall Master, you’re finally back,” Wang Defa lowered his voice, “Someone from the Vessel Hall came earlier, delivering a batch of scrap ‘Red Copper ore slag,’ saying it was for us to practice with. But looking at the quality… heh, it seems quite a bit better than usual.”

Su Ming raised an eyebrow.

Just thinking about Red Copper ore, and it’s delivered to the doorstep?

“Let’s go take a look.”

Su Ming quickly walked towards the backyard storeroom.

In the storeroom, a small mountain-like pile of dark red ore slag was heaped.

Su Ming casually picked up a piece, a trace of spiritual energy extending from his fingertip, his divine sense probing into it.

A moment later, the corner of his mouth curled into a meaningful arc.

This was no scrap slag.

This was clearly the “semi-finished products” from the Vessel Hall folks’ failed refining attempts. Although the copper content within was mixed and impure, the foundation was excellent.

If refined with fire, it would indeed be difficult to purify and easily ruined by burning.

But if using his “Water Refining Method”…

…

No lamps were lit inside the hall, the light was somewhat dim.

Sitting around a mottled long wooden table were all the current core members of the Repair Hall: Old Wang, the Accounting Office supervisor; Zhang Asheng, in charge of technical matters; and Old Li, recently promoted to quality control.

Su Ming sat at the head, idly playing with a low-grade spirit stone. The stone’s glow reflected on his calm face, flickering between light and shadow.

“Does everyone know why I called you here?” Su Ming’s voice wasn’t loud, but it echoed in the quiet hall.

Old Wang rubbed his plump hands, hesitantly saying, “Hall Master, is it because of that batch of ‘scrap’ recently sent by the Vessel Hall? I heard from the people below that someone from the Vessel Hall spread word that our Repair Hall is just a scrap collector, specifically picking up the garbage they don’t want.”

Zhang Asheng was straightforward. Hearing this, he slammed the table, making the teacups jump, “Those bastards are bullying us too much! That’s not scrap! That’s toxic material mixed with ‘Spirit-Eroding Sand’! If we hadn’t noticed and directly threw it into the furnace, a furnace explosion would be a minor issue—all the good materials in that furnace would be ruined! They’re trying to wipe us out!”

Old Li puffed on his pipe tobacco, his brows locked into a deep furrow. He didn’t speak, but the anger in his eyes couldn’t be hidden.

Su Ming didn’t respond, instead placing the spirit stone in his hand on the table with a soft “tap.”

“Spirit stones, everyone likes them,” Su Ming pointed at the stone, “But the way we used to earn spirit stones was through hard work. Replacing broken parts, reconnecting severed pieces—that’s the work of a ‘parts replacement worker.’ Thin profits, and still having to watch others’ moods.”

He stood up and walked to the wall behind him. A huge blueprint hung there, depicting the structural diagram of the incubation formation on Spirit Beast Peak.

“Why was Lei Hu willing to pay a hundred spirit stones for the Spirit Beast Peak business, and even owe me a favor?” Su Ming turned to look at everyone, “Because I didn’t replace his formation plate for him; I solved his fundamental problem of ‘fire and water being incompatible.’ This is called a ‘solution,’ not ‘repair.'”

“Starting today, the Repair Hall is changing its rules.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep