Li Xiang agreed. He had the old-timers tell everyone to get the season’s first winter bamboo shoots ready, but with one condition: guarantee the quality. Don’t try to pass off inferior shoots as good ones and ruin their reputation.

Of course, he would also inspect the shoots himself when they were brought over.

But after making such a bold promise, Li Xiang felt a bit nervous.

’My follower count is only around 120,000 right now. Even though it’s still growing slowly, there are twenty-four households in the village. On average, each family is bound to have three hundred kilograms of winter bamboo shoots. That adds up to over seven thousand kilograms. If I can’t sell it all, that would be...’

Still, Li Xiang thought he should be more optimistic. As long as he tried his best, he would have a clear conscience. If he couldn’t sell them all, it just meant he wasn’t capable enough yet. He would just have to work harder in the future.

Besides, this was just him lending a hand; he would help as much as he could. He only said he would *help* sell them, not that he guaranteed a certain amount would be sold.

Li Xiang went back to digging winter bamboo shoots. He couldn’t just sell them for everyone else and not harvest any of his own, right?

Winter bamboo shoots are typically harvested starting in November, and digging before the winter solstice doesn’t affect the growth of the bamboo. The last time Li Xiang dug for winter bamboo shoots, he had already finished collecting footage for a video, which he edited and posted to his social media account. This time, he decided to do a live stream of the harvest.

It was also a way to build up some hype in advance for selling the shoots online.

With a bamboo basket on his back, a phone stand in one hand, and a hoe in the other, he live-streamed while he dug. And then, everyone noticed something incredible: Li Xiang almost never missed.

Every time his hoe gently probed the ground, he would unearth a plump winter bamboo shoot after just a few digs.

They never saw him come up empty-handed.

His fans flooded the comments: "Is this for real? You didn’t just bury those there beforehand, did you?"

Someone came to Li Xiang’s defense: "Are you kidding? How could he bury them on the bamboo roots and have them still be perfectly attached?"

After all, the final step of harvesting a winter bamboo shoot is to cut it.

The shoots grow on the bamboo’s roots. Everyone had seen, on more than one occasion, how Li Xiang would first clear away the soil around the winter bamboo shoot, then give a light tap with his hoe at the root, and the shoot would be "cut" free.

His movements were clean and efficient—you could call them fast, precise, and decisive. He neither damaged the bamboo root nor mangled the winter bamboo shoot, giving his work an artistic quality that was a pleasure to watch.

What they didn’t know was that Li Xiang was incorporating moves from his Body Techniques, blending strength and gentleness, which was what made it so aesthetically pleasing.

Li Xiang always integrated his Breathing Technique and Body Techniques when he worked. After so many days of farm work, he was increasingly convinced that the legacy he received came from some "farming predecessor."

’The effects of Cultivation are ridiculously good when I’m farming. When I practice normally, it’s actually a bit less effective.’

That fan replied: "I was just joking around. Why are you being so serious?"

One fan lamented, "I went up the mountain with a friend last year to try it out, and damn, we searched for ages, exhausted ourselves, and came back empty-handed. Brother Xiang’s skill is simply masterful. I’m impressed."

Li Xiang chuckled. As he dug, he shared a few tips with everyone.

"Let me show you a move I call ’Treading Mud for Shoots.’"

"Don’t be fooled by my slow, seemingly aimless wandering through the bamboo forest. In reality, with every step, I’m secretly checking the condition of the mud. I know if there’s a shoot underneath the moment my foot lands. If there is, I stop. If not, I keep walking."

The fans were amazed: "There’s a magical technique like that?"

"Why do I feel like it’s similar to tomb raiding? Is there a secret chant or something?"

"Brother Xiang, teach us, teach us! We want to learn!"

Suddenly, Li Xiang stopped. "There are definitely shoots in this spot. And quite a few of them."

"Dig, dig! Let’s see if you’re right."

"Brother Xiang, if there’s nothing there, you’re gonna have egg on your face, haha. You shouldn’t be so overconfident."

"Brother Xiang, why aren’t you digging yet? Are you scared?"

Li Xiang hesitated for a moment before finally telling the truth. "I’m not starting because I’m worried there might be a snake down there. There’s most likely a snake in this spot."

"A snake? What the heck?"

"At this time of year, shouldn’t all the snakes have started hibernating?"

"Oh my god, Brother Xiang, are you telling us there’s a snake hibernating down there? You can tell that for sure too?"

Doubt filled the chat. When Li Xiang said there were shoots, everyone believed him, given his track record of finding one with every dig. Perhaps it was some ancestral shoot-finding technique passed down among rural harvesters.

But saying there was a hibernating snake down there? That seemed a bit far-fetched.

The ground was covered in a thick layer of fallen bamboo leaves, and nobody could see a snake hole anywhere.

"Did you bury a snake there beforehand?"

Seeing this comment, Li Xiang laughed and spoke earnestly to the camera, "Come on, don’t always accuse me of faking things. I’m not that bored."

"I don’t believe you. You must be trolling us."

One fan made a bold declaration: "If you really dig up both a shoot and a snake, I’ll send you a Carnival!"

The chat erupted.

Someone was already offering a Carnival? A single Carnival cost 3,000 RMB.

With one person starting, many others chimed in to support him: "If you really dig up a hibernating snake, I’ll send you a Golden Scale Transforming into a Dragon!"

"Just dig! If you find one, I’ll send a gift too!"

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

"I still believe in Brother Xiang. He never fakes anything."

...

Urged on by his many fans in the live stream, Li Xiang began to dig.

He chose his spot and started scraping away the soil. Sure enough, a plump winter bamboo shoot came into view.

This time, there were indeed quite a few shoots. He dug up three in a row.

"There might be a chain of seven or eight here!" Li Xiang dug along the direction of the bamboo rhizome and, just as he expected, harvested two more.

Then, Li Xiang gently scraped away another patch of dirt.

The moment the dirt was cleared, Li Xiang couldn’t help but take two steps back. The live stream fell silent for a moment, but it quickly erupted into a commotion again.

"Holy crap, there’s really a snake."

"It’s not moving at all. It’s definitely hibernating!"

"Look at that skin and those scales, so green... That’s a bamboo viper! A highly venomous snake!"

"It’s pretty thick, too. Looks a little scary."

"Brother Xiang, hurry and dig it out! We want to see!"

In truth, the reason Li Xiang knew there was a snake nearby was that the system had been constantly prompting him: "Tier Two Mutated Creature detected: Cyan-Scaled Flying Flood Dragon."

He figured it had to be a mutated bamboo viper. They were the most common type of snake in the bamboo forest, and the name sounded similar enough.

Li Xiang’s gaze swept across the nearby bamboo forest, and he even glanced up at the sky a few times. If it were there, his keen eyesight as a Tier One Transcendent would have surely spotted it. At this time of year, snakes were already holing up to survive the cold winter, so Li Xiang guessed it was probably nestled up against the winter bamboo shoots.

This was because growing winter bamboo shoots also emit a small amount of heat. It wasn’t surprising that a cold-blooded creature like a snake would curl up next to them to hibernate.

Li Xiang started to clear the dirt from around the snake, as only about half of its coiled body was visible.

Even through the screen, the fans held their breath, watching with intense nervousness.

’Brother Xiang’s streams are so awesome,’ one person thought. ’You even get to see thrilling scenes like this.’

Someone couldn’t help but warn him: "Be careful, Brother Xiang. If you wake that snake up, you’re toast! Snakes get cranky when they’re woken up, too!"