Mo Dao Zu Shi: Astray

The Path of Cultivation, Part Three

Chapter warning: Dealing with the menstrual period

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Other than being a cultivator, Pan Chun also learned the ways of the farmer.

As a resident of Xuhou, Pan Chun was expected to do fieldwork and help meet the farming quota. The farmers were charged taxes and expected to forfeit a portion of their crops to the region's governing body. Pan Heng, even as a rogue cultivator, chose to help out as well.

Pan Chun worked in the rice fields and took care of root crops. She used a hoe to tend to the soil, remove weeds, and harvest the root crops. These tasks helped build her arm strength and increase her stamina, apart from her usual cultivation training.

Pan Chun also led an ox to plow fields and dispense fertilizer. It took her a while to get used to the smell...

The female ox designated to Pan Chun was affectionately named Blossom. During their first meeting, the farmers patted Blossom's side and grinned at Pan Chun, explaining that she would be under her care from now on. When Blossom, chewing on some hay, looked into Pan Chun's eyes, it was love at first sight. And they became inseparable since.

Pan Chun, being a suburban woman, had never farmed before. She didn't have much exposure to it in schooling or popular media either. Historical C-dramas and web novels generally covered stories of the upper class and nobility. In a way, she could understand why. People wanted to lose themselves in the romance of the rich and luxurious since peasant life wasn't very glamorous. Farming was hard work. Really hard work.

Pan Chun wiped the sweat off her brow as she tilled the field. Finishing her work with aching arms, she rested against Blossom's side, panting. Her hands were caked with dirt and her forehead was drenched in sweat. "This heat is unbearable!"

Blossom, who had been drinking from a pond, turned her head back to Pan Chun. "Moooo."

Pan Chun patted Blossom's side. "Ah. You hate this heat too, don't you, Blossom?"

"Mooo."

After resting, Pan Chun rode atop Blossom, pulling out her dizi for practice. The dizi's tunes resounded through the rice terraces, where other farmers worked steadily with their dogs and oxen. Blossom's tail flicked lazily as she walked on the trail back to the barn. It was truly the idyllic farmer's life.

Growing drowsy from the day's farmwork, Pan Chun tucked her dizi away into her sash and lay down, sprawled out on Blossom's back. The gentle rocking of Blossom's relaxed and steady gait lulled Pan Chun to sleep.

Once Blossom reached the barn, she stopped walking, causing Pan Chun to wake up. Pan Chun noticed that she had not fallen off Blossom with her face planted into the dirt somewhere on the farmland. Touched, Pan Chun held the ox's face in her hands and nuzzled her cheek against it. "You kept me from falling, didn't you? Good girl, Blossom!"

"Moo..."

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So this is what it feels like to have muscles. -  Pan Chun poked and squeezed her arms. As her body gained muscle, her breasts got smaller. Good, she wouldn't have to wrap as much cloth around her breasts. That made cross-dressing a lot easier.

Years of farmwork, sword training, and punching trees with her bare fists made her hands rough and callused. Practicing flying kicks ended with a lot of ass-landing. She ran laps around the perimeter of Xuhou to increase her speed.

Her training was so rough that her blisters got blisters. Sometimes it hurt so much that she wasn't able to do the house chores and farmwork or hold chopsticks, meaning Pan Heng had to feed her. Not wanting her to feel embarrassed, Pan Heng always reminded her that recovery and knowing one's limits were necessary for cultivation training. "Collapsing from exhaustion isn't going to make you stronger. Rest."