Ding Huan entered his field, where there were still planted immortal rice.
These immortal rice crops were withered and lacked ears, exuding a sense of death from top to bottom.
It seems there is indeed a problem. There's still a month until the time to deliver the rice. For such a situation to produce rice is a strange thing.
Ding Huan also didn't mind. He first arranged a second-level defense magic formation and a second-level shielding magic formation outside his field.
He placed a huge monitoring formation outside the second-level magic formation, and beneath the monitoring formation was another screen array.
The screen array read: "The official is currently working diligently to plant immortal rice. Any damage caused by entering the formation will be borne by the person who triggers it."
Ding Huan was certain that after writing those words, absolutely no one would dare to knock on his forbidden formation again.
Within the second-level magic formation, Ding Huan also set up a fifth-level space triggering magic formation and a fifth-level space defending magic formation.
He came here to cultivate and didn't want to be secretly invaded and abruptly killed.
After completing all the defensive magic formations, Ding Huan opened the immortal rice crops.
Each grain of this rice is over an inch long. When one peels open a grain, it reveals a pale green color. Even without cooking, its subtle fragrance permeates the air, making people feel refreshed upon smelling it.
Indeed, it's a fine thing.
This is still low-grade immortal rice. If it were top-grade immortal rice, wouldn't it be even better?
Having thrown the immortal rice into his cave, Ding Huan went to the field to check on these already withered and near-death immortal rice plants.
If he can save them, he will; if not, he'll just flatten them and plant new rice seeds.
He has limited time, and he must complete the process of planting rice as quickly as possible.
From the introduction of the immortal rice he obtained, he could understand that this kind of rice was not a rice plant, although it also needed water. In the process of planting, it did not need to be inserted into water.
Ding Huan's finger landed on a withered rice plant, and immediately he felt a surge of the essence of consuming laws.
Ding Huan furrowed his brow, unsure whether this was caused by pests or imperfect laws.
Usually, only pests can cause the essence of consuming laws.
He carefully constructed a technique of the Great Universe Art, and immediately, he perceived all the law fluctuations of this rice plant.
In Ding Huan's mind, this kind of rice plant withered before forming into a complete plant, which was almost definitely due to pests or lack of laws.
When the laws of the immortal plant are deficient, to an ordinary cultivator of immortal plants, it is basically beyond saving.
Even if your cultivation is strong, and your understanding of laws is profound, you cannot arbitrarily use laws for the immortal plant.
However, for Ding Huan, this was the simplest problem.
His Great Universe Art is a cradle of laws, not only capable of collecting and refining new laws but also of stripping away and even dissipating them...
In Ding Huan's eyes, his Great Universe Art is the first law in the boundless universe.
To his surprise, this time his guess was completely wrong.
The reason why the rice plants withered was that their vitality was slowly being devoured.
Ding Huan was very puzzled. This was the deepest part of the Immortal Farmer's Department, a place that could be considered a heavily fortified area. Who would dare to devour the vitality of immortal rice crops here?
This is suicide, right?
After several more cycles, Ding Huan was certain that he had not mistaken his senses; it was indeed the vitality being devoured.
Moreover, the devouring of the vitality of immortal rice crops was done very secretly, appearing merely as a lack of wood attribute laws.
This lack of wood attribute laws means that to cultivate immortal plants, one would need to obtain a vast amount of wood attribute treasures from heaven and earth.
It can be imagined that this is basically impossible.
Even a single wood attribute treasure is incredibly precious. Even if they could be used to save some immortal rice plants, it would only be a few.
Such an item that uses a single high-grade immortal crystal to cultivate a single low-grade immortal crystal is simply not worth it. Even if time trees were available, it wouldn't be enough in time.
This must be the result of human intervention. Otherwise, if vitality was being devoured, it wouldn't be concealed to the point where it appeared to be caused by a lack of wood attribute laws.
Indeed, someone is committing suicide.
Ding Huan sighed helplessly. Why can't he just find a quiet place to cultivate?
If he were to find the source, wouldn't that just anger someone else?
The person who could hide here and devour the vitality of immortal rice crops couldn't be a simple character.
If he were to find the other party, it would just bring him trouble.
Even though he knew he couldn't find this person, Ding Huan was clear that he had to find this person.
Otherwise, he would be in trouble. If he had known this beforehand, he wouldn't have accepted the position of Immortal Farmer. It's too late now.
Ding Huan tried to calm himself down and deal with the current problem first.
He was one hundred percent certain that he couldn't leave the Immortal Farmer's Department now.
Ding Huan first set up a gathering-spirit immortal formation for his immortal rice fields and then began to think of a plan.
At the moment, he couldn't easily change into other forms of life. If he could, he would simply change into an ant and follow the location where vitality was being devoured. He was sure that he could find the source in this way.
By combining his Great Universe Art with the Tiangang Dao, he could absolutely integrate himself and the surrounding space into one.
Ding Huan felt that this was safer than simply changing into an ant.
Even the smallest ant has a physical form.
When it gets dark, he will use the stealth technique.
In the eyes of strong cultivators, stealth techniques are just jokes.
Ding Huan is different. After he hides, he can make his qi completely blend with the surrounding space.
Unless they know he is hiding here, otherwise, a sweep of their spiritual perception would simply overlook it.
Hiding in this way, his stealth technique is just a surface-level Dao.
The real reason he can hide is the combination of his Great Universe Art and Tiangang Dao, integrating into all laws within the space and transforming into qi of those laws.
As night fell, Ding Huan had just arranged the gathering-spirit immortal formation for his field when a series of vitality-devouring energies were detected by his Great Universe Art.
After arranging a transmission formation, Ding Huan immediately hid his body and left his field.
As soon as he emerged, Ding Huan integrated his body seamlessly with the surrounding space. At this moment, as long as he didn't move or make a sound, there would be no hint of awkwardness.
It only took a censer of time for Ding Huan to stop.
He looked at the lake with some shock and hesitation.
This lake is used for irrigating the immortal plants in various fields of the Immortal Farmer's Department. The center of the lake has also been implanted with an immortal meridian, and the water is rich in immortal qi.
It's amazing, but now he feels that the source of the vitality of the immortal rice crops being devoured comes from this lake.
Should he go in?
Ding Huan pondered for just a breath of time and then decided to go in.
He is trapped in the situation, with no way to retreat.
Taking a deep breath, Ding Huan immersed himself into the lake.
After entering the lake, Ding Huan's body seemed to have become part of the water, and his entire person was in complete harmony with the essence of the lake water.
After two hours, Ding Huan stopped.
In front of him was a giant stealth formation, which was definitely a seven-level immortal formation. Ding Huan couldn't break this array.
Within the stealth formation, there was a water-repelling formation, which was also above the fifth-level immortal formation.
Ding Huan was very frustrated. He stood outside the formation, staring at the stealth formation in vain.
As a fifth-level master of immortal formations, it is not impossible for him to enter a seventh-level immortal formation.
But it requires time and power.
He is currently unable to operate in plain sight, and even if he were to make a move, the sound of a formation banner being thrown down would still disturb the people inside.
It is certain that there are defense formations and entrapment formations within the stealth formation.
Once the entrapment formation locks in, he would only be able to wait for death.
Ah, his level of formation technique is still insufficient. If his formation technique were stronger, he could directly break the array and enter.
After much hesitation, Ding Huan could only use virtual array patterns outside to set up a fifth-level monitoring immortal formation.
If the monitoring immortal formation were to be discovered by someone, he would immediately dissipate the formation.
This is the most difficult of Ding Huan's array formations, a virtual space monitoring formation. He cannot even produce the slightest breath of life, let alone any fluctuations in spiritual energy.
It's not just that, the Daoist laws and qi of the monitoring formation he arranges must be completely in harmony with the laws and qi of this lake.
Even the slightest discrepancy could lead to discovery.
With his current strength, if he were to be discovered, it would mean death.
Usually, he could complete a virtual array pattern monitoring formation with a flick of his wrist.
The monitoring formation under the water took Ding Huan an entire and a half hours to set up, just barely completing it.
Although there are still some imperfections, Ding Huan dares not delay any longer.
He carefully backed out.
Returning to his own field's cave dwelling, Ding Huan heaved a sigh of relief. He dared not rest now, only watching his monitoring array.
After a whole day passed, Ding Huan discovered through his monitoring formation that the stealth formation had finally opened.
What he saw was a single immortal plant with only one fruit, seven feet in height, and five leaves.
Even though he couldn't smell anything, Ding Huan could also sense a kind of resonance with the soul through his monitoring formation.
This is definitely not a common immortal fruit, but a top-level treasure. It seems that it won't be weaker than the rule-giving fruits he used before.
A man with a refined and ethereal appearance emerged. He frowned slightly, sighed, and said:
"The Immortal Farmer's Department has truly raised a bunch of incompetents. If the immortal rice crops are dead, they should quickly replant them. Can it really be that you want me to change places?"
Only after this guy left, Ding Huan quickly destroyed his monitoring array and retracted the crystal ball.
He had recorded everything that just happened. As long as the guy didn't provoke him, he wouldn't interfere.
judging by his cultivation level, this guy shouldn't be low. It's better if he doesn't encounter him for now.
He had found the problem, and Ding Huan started to arrange the blocking array.
He couldn't destroy the source, but he could easily ensure that the vitality of his immortal rice crops in the field wouldn't be absorbed.
This was because he didn't want to offend people. Otherwise, he would directly integrate some toxic Daoist laws into the vitality of the immortal rice crops. He guaranteed that the one-seed immortal fruit the guy was cultivating here would die.
For survival, Ding Huan didn't dare to arrange the vitality barrier formation.
He worried that the other party would know he had discovered the source of the problem, so he could only set up some law-separating formations.
By using these law-separating formations, he could block the vitality of the immortal rice crops from being absorbed.
（Goodnight!）
