Chapter 44

Yang Tiangang, as a martial realm cultivator and the village head of Tuqiu Village, owned three acres of low-grade spirit fields for cultivation. Even with the help of a packhorse beast at home, Yang Tiangang and his wife Han Xiumei could only manage to cultivate two and a half acres of the spirit fields.

In fact, Yang Tiangang and his wife had to take time out for cultivation, and Yang Tiangang had to handle various affairs in the village. Therefore, even taking care of one and a half acres of spirit fields with the help of the packhorse beast was already quite good.

Yang Tieniu and Yang Qingniu were both experts at the fifth level of the Mortal Realm, and when they followed Yang Tiangang from Qingshitown to Tuqiu Village, they could only manage to divide three-tenths of an acre of spirit fields each. Later, they took over six-tenths of the one and a half acres of spirit fields that Yang Tiangang couldn't cultivate, and for a fifth-level Mortal Realm cultivator, taking care of six-tenths of an acre of spirit fields was already the limit.

The remaining nine-tenths of an acre of spirit fields that Yang Tiangang had could only be rented to other spirit farmers in Tuqiu Village who had no spirit fields, with half of the annual harvest to be paid as rent to the Yang family.

Even so, many spirit farmers in Tuqiu Village still hoped to rent the Yang family's spirit fields, because the spiritual energy in the Yang family's spirit fields was well-maintained, and more importantly, renting the Yang family's spirit fields also meant access to the spirit well water, which would result in a slightly higher yield compared to other spirit fields.

Although the Yang family was considered a large clan in Qingshitown, there were still many collateral relatives living in poverty, and the Yang family couldn't take care of all of them. In recent years, the Yang family had been actively aligning with the Heaven-Shaking Sect, offering a large amount of cultivation resources to the True Realm cultivator in the Heaven-Shaking Sect, and thus couldn't allocate more resources to take care of those collateral relatives.

At this point, if Yang Tiangang could attract Yang clan members to Tuqiu Village by offering spirit fields, even if it was just for rent, many people would likely come.

In the cultivation world, a spirit farmer who could cultivate three-tenths of an acre of spirit fields could generally support a family of five, and a fifth-level Mortal Realm cultivator could at most cultivate six-tenths of an acre of spirit fields, beyond which they couldn't manage.

If the Yang family could harvest the nine-tenths of an acre of spirit fields rented to the village's spirit farmers, plus the seven-tenths of an acre of spirit fields allocated this time, even after promising two or three-tenths of an acre to Su Baozhang, they could still recruit three to five Yang clan families from Qingshitown to come and join. With the help of their own clan members, Yang Tiangang's control over Tuqiu Village would be even tighter.

After the father-son night talk, Yang Junshan resumed his nocturnal cultivation life, while it was unclear whether Yang Tiangang was moved by his suggestion. However, in recent days, he seemed to have returned to Qingshitown several times, always in a hurry, and Yang Junshan couldn't figure out what his father was doing.

In the evenings, wave after wave of Tuqiu Village residents came to visit, all discussing the division of the spirit fields. Yang Junshan, tired of it, went to the pomegranate forest on West Mountain to seek peace.

After about half a month, one morning, Yang Junshan sprinkled the last bag of spirit soil, which he had dug up in the pomegranate forest, into his family's spirit fields.

The spirit field Yang Junshan was in was the largest in Tuqiu Village, covering one and three-tenths of an acre, and it was the only one that Yang Tiangang and his wife cultivated personally, never entrusting it to others.

Although West Mountain had successfully cultivated three acres of spirit fields, they were actually divided into several plots. The process of cultivating spirit fields was very meticulous, and it was rare to cultivate large, contiguous plots, often resulting in fragmented fields.

The largest spirit field in Tuqiu Village, which Yang Junshan was standing on, was originally two adjacent spirit fields, totaling one and two-tenths of an acre. After being allocated to Yang Tiangang, he used spirit well water and other methods to upgrade a piece of ordinary farmland between the two spirit fields to the spirit field level, merging the two spirit fields into one and increasing the total area by one-tenth of an acre.

The spirit soil Yang Junshan sprinkled was infused with the spiritual energy from the pomegranate forest cave, reaching the mid-grade spirit level. Although it seemed insignificant compared to the vast area of the spirit field, it would at least ensure that the spiritual energy in the soil would not be depleted for the next two to three years.

The grain stalks in the spirit field hung heavily, the grains plump and round. A gentle breeze blew, creating a wave of grain that rippled with a cool, refreshing spiritual energy, indicating another year of bountiful harvest.

At this moment, a beast-drawn carriage was approaching Tuqiu Village from the road leading out of the village. At the same time, a group of about ten people from the village came out to welcome it, led by Zhang Tiesmith, one of the three martial realm cultivators in Tuqiu Village and the father of Zhang Huzi.

Yang Junshan seemed to understand something. When he turned to look at the carriage, he saw a man get off, none other than Zhang Chenghong, the father of Zhang Yueming, the top talent of Mengyu County.

The two men greeted each other warmly, and then Zhang Tiesmith introduced him to the people of Tuqiu Village. Zhang Chenghong immediately became reserved when facing others, and the villagers, after flattering him, all looked proud.

Zhang Tiesmith had already taken action, indicating that the maturity of the spirit fields was imminent, and the spirit farmers in Tuqiu Village were restless. Even Yang Tiangang had invited his seventh uncle-in-law An Xia as a backup in case of any unforeseen circumstances. It was unknown how the largest clan in Tuqiu Village, the Xu family, would respond.

However, all of this was currently beyond Yang Junshan's control. He was now focusing all his energy on refining the immortal spirit and advancing to the second level of perfection.

In recent days, he had been cultivating daily in the spirit spring cave in the pomegranate forest, using the dense spiritual energy there to greatly increase the speed of refining the immortal spirit and making significant progress in the cultivation of the Mountain Lord Diagrams.

Of the eight Mountain Lord Diagrams, Yang Junshan had already cultivated the Lying Tiger Diagram and the Tiger Crouching Diagram. The Lying Tiger Diagram was mainly for healing and recovery, while the Tiger Crouching Diagram greatly increased his physical strength, far surpassing techniques like the Bull Fist. This was just two of the eight diagrams; if he cultivated the remaining six, it was unknown how strong his physical body would become.

However, when cultivating the Tiger Crouching Diagram, Yang Junshan found that his current cultivation level and physical strength were insufficient to bear the load of cultivating the other six diagrams. It was unknown at what level of cultivation or physical strength he would be qualified to continue.

Whenever he cultivated the Lying Tiger Diagram, his bones would make a thunderous sound, a phenomenon that only appeared when he reached the high level of the Mortal Realm in his previous life. The most direct effect of the increase in physical strength was the increase in strength, and now the three-stone carved flower bow felt soft in his hands.

Although he was very satisfied with the increase in physical strength, Yang Junshan still felt some changes in his bones during the cultivation of the Tiger Crouching Diagram. Since he didn't know whether these changes were good or bad, he was somewhat anxious.

The immortal spirit essence from the bear gallbladder had been completely refined by Yang Junshan. Now, outside the immortal spirit acupoint in his gallbladder, a mass of surging immortal spirit essence was like a dammed lake, waiting for the barrier of the immortal spirit acupoint to break, allowing the surging immortal spirit essence to flow in and expand the acupoint.

After several days of cultivation in the pomegranate forest with little progress, Yang Junshan returned to the village. Upon entering, he heard that Xu Jing had already refined a mid-grade immortal spirit, the Wind Messenger, and had even been summoned by the town's governor for questioning.

Everyone said this was the governor's way of showing favor to a future fellow disciple, as once Xu Jing advanced to the third level, she would likely become an outer disciple of the Heaven-Shaking Sect, a talent that the town had not seen in a long time. According to the governor, Xu Jing had brought glory to the entire town.

Today was the day Xu Lei and Xu Jing were betrothed, and the Xu family was hosting a grand banquet in the village. It was said that even the governor had sent a very valuable gift.

Standing in front of the Xu family's courtyard, Yang Junshan watched from a distance as Xu Lei and Xu Jing toasted the guests. Xu Jing, who was usually proud, now exuded confidence and composure, making Yang Junshan feel a bit sympathetic for Xu Lei's future.

"Brother, where have you been these past few days?" Yang Junping suddenly appeared, holding many exquisite snacks, and said with his mouth full, "Brother, you don't know how arrogant Zhang Huzi was a few days ago. He said that the alchemist who came to his house would refine several elixirs to help him open his immortal spirit acupoint, and once he was the first to open it, he would be the undisputed top young expert in Tuqiu Village."

Yang Junshan smiled and said, "A few days ago? Didn't he already call himself the top young expert? So he finally realized he wasn't the real deal?"

Yang Junping stuffed a piece of spirit bean cake into his mouth and said, "That's right, brother. Xu Jing is really strong. A few days ago, when she returned from town and ran into Zhang Huzi, he called her 'Xu Lei's little wife' from afar, and who knows what other lewd things he said. Anyway, it made her angry. Guess what happened next?"

After swallowing the food, he continued, "Zhang Huzi was beaten by Xu Jing! Beaten by her, brother! I never knew she was so fierce! Even Zhang Huzi couldn't match her, no wonder she's an outer disciple of the Heaven-Shaking Sect!"

Yang Junping was excited, but Yang Junshan showed no surprise. Was Zhang Huzi, that little brute, a match for Xu Jing? Yang Junshan had known the answer to this question for a long time.

Just as he was about to leave, he saw his little sister pulling a chubby little boy towards him, followed by a beautiful little tiger cub. She called out, "Big brother, second brother, Seventh Aunt and Uncle have come, and father is calling you two to go back!"

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