Chapter 68

While most of Yujun was in a frenzy due to the locust disaster, the villagers of Tuqiu Village were busy threshing, drying, and storing the spirit grains they had harvested. And just as the entire village was busy with agricultural work, Yang Junshan once again returned to the spirit spring on West Mountain to cultivate.

At Yang Junshan's current age, he should have participated in the family's work and contributed to the agricultural rush. However, it was clear that the family affairs this year did not require his attention. Yang Tian's prestige in Tuqiu Village was at its peak, and many villagers were willing to do the work for his family, even without Han Xiumei lifting a finger; she only needed to oversee the threshing ground.

However, at this time, Yang Junshan was not cultivating in the spirit spring cave but was examining the wound on his shoulder.

That day in the pomegranate grove, when he was slaying the demon locusts, Hu Niu was attacked by a giant locust guard hiding in the trees. To protect Hu Niu, Yang Junshan was slashed by the locust's wings, leaving a one-inch deep wound.

At the time, although Yang Junshan felt the injury was not light, the bleeding from his shoulder was not severe, leading both Su Baozhang and Yang Tian to believe the injury was minor. After descending from West Mountain, the wound on his shoulder had already stopped bleeding and was beginning to scab over. Yang Tian thought it was just a superficial cut, nothing serious.

However, only Yang Junshan knew that the wound was one inch deep. If it were anyone else, such an injury would not be taken lightly, especially since it only bled a little.

Since the sudden appearance of the hidden acupoint in Yang Junshan's body and the activation of the supreme spirit marrow, Yang Junshan had hoped to possess a natural talent like Xu Jing. However, after advancing to the Spirit Acupoint realm, he had not noticed any changes in himself. The idea of having a natural talent seemed more like a fantasy.

It was not until after the trip to Qiwushan that Yang Junshan discovered he could traverse the miasma without worrying about poisoning. Although he was not truly immune to all poisons, his physical resistance to toxins was undoubtedly strong. This injury seemed to further reinforce his belief that he possessed a natural talent, but this time it was different. The rapid healing of the wound was so fast that even cultivators at the Martial Realm did not have time to check the depth of his injury.

Could it be that his body, in addition to its resistance to toxins, also had the ability to heal quickly? What kind of natural talent was this? He had never heard of a natural talent having two abilities.

Shaking his head, Yang Junshan, who was somewhat puzzled, focused his energy on practicing the Mountain Lord Diagram and cultivating the Earth Spirit Technique.

Yang Junshan had already become very proficient with the Tiger Stance in the Mountain Lord Diagram, but in terms of speed, he was still a step behind Hu Niu. Although Hu Niu could not yet communicate with Yang Junshan, he could tell from her cultivation of tiger might that she had likely reached the Tiger Roar stage. Compared to Yang Junshan, the eight diagrams of the Mountain Lord Diagram were clearly more suitable for Hu Niu to cultivate.

Hu Niu's current cultivation, according to Yang Junshan's judgment, should be considered as having awakened a spirit. However, as a demon cultivator, Hu Niu did not need Yang Junshan to find a spirit for her; instead, she began to condense a spirit within her body after being bathed in demon aura. This meant that if Hu Niu were to be skinned and her bones extracted, one or two high-quality spirits might be obtained.

Yang Junshan knew that raising Hu Niu was not just for the benefit of Tuqiu Village, or even for Yang Tian and Han Xiumei, who thought it was for the purpose of slaughtering a spirit in the future. However, Yang Junshan himself knew that Hu Niu's future was bound to be extraordinary. According to his memories from his previous life, all the great demon cultivators had already awakened their intelligence and begun cultivation before the great changes in the world. With Hu Niu's current potential and his own help, her future achievements might not be much worse than those of the great demons from his previous life.

As for Yang Junshan himself, although his cultivation had already advanced to the third level of the Mortal Realm, the third level of the Mortal Realm was an important transitional stage. The cultivation world typically viewed the third level of the Mortal Realm as the middle stage of the Mortal Realm because cultivators often needed to spend a lot of time accumulating and storing their cultivation to ultimately transform their spirit acupoints into a spirit root, laying the foundation for the most basic cultivation roots of a cultivator, and ultimately achieving a steady and explosive growth.

After advancing to the third level, Yang Junshan's cultivation speed suddenly slowed down, which was within his original expectations. The reason was simple: the quality of the spirit he used to open his spirit acupoint was too high, expanding his spirit acupoint far beyond the norm. Filling his spirit acupoint with spirit energy was not easy, let alone the fact that the Earth Spirit Technique he cultivated was known for its steady and methodical approach, being notoriously slow among the cultivation techniques of the Heaven-Shaking Sect.

"To accelerate my cultivation, I can only consider using spirit pills, spirit coins, and spirit veins. The cultivation technique is no help, and as for cultivation experience, I have decades of experience from my previous life, so I am not lacking in that. However, I need to find an opportunity to go out and explore. Since moving from Chenyu County to Mengyu County's Wasteland Town, I have not left Mengyu County. Previously, it was because my cultivation was not sufficient, but now I need to gather some good things to prepare for the future."

After staying in the spirit spring cave for a few days, Yang Junshan returned home with Hu Niu. As soon as he entered the house, he sensed that the atmosphere was different today.

Seeing his second brother cautiously pointing to the hall, Yang Junshan asked, "Is Father back?"

Yang Junping glanced at the hall and said, "He's back, and he's in a bad mood!"

Yang Junshan asked curiously, "Why?"

Yang Junping replied, "I didn't dare to ask. You should ask Mother. By the way, Xu San and Zhang Huzi's father just came over!"

Yang Junshan walked to the hall and heard Zhang the blacksmith cursing, "What? The grain tax for this year is only reduced by one-third? At least three counties in Yujun have suffered from the locust disaster. Without mentioning other things, just in Mengyu County, it would be good if the spirit fields could retain one-third of their usual harvest. And this year, the Heaven-Shaking Sect only reduced the grain tax by one-third? This is like squeezing the last bit of spirit grain from the farmers to maintain their cultivation! You are the village chief, why didn't you try harder to negotiate with the town?"

"Slam!" Yang Tian slapped the table and said, "Do you think I didn't say anything? Do you think the six or seven village chiefs in Wasteland Town are all mute? But the order from the Heaven-Shaking Sect is that the grain tax is only reduced by one-third. What can I do?"

Yang Tian seemed to get angrier as he spoke, raising his voice, "Now, every time I go to the town guard, the other village chiefs make sarcastic remarks. 'Old Yang, your Tuqiu Village is a model for the whole town. The locust disaster only reduced your harvest by one-third, and the Heaven-Shaking Sect's grain tax is also reduced by one-third. Could it be that the Heaven-Shaking Sect is setting the grain tax based on your Tuqiu Village?' I curse their ancestors, what does the grain tax set by the Heaven-Shaking Sect have to do with me? If it really had anything to do with me, I would set a zero grain tax for myself and make everyone else pay the full amount!"

Xu San's voice immediately sounded, "Both of you calm down. This is all due to the grain tax, and it has nothing to do with any of us. There's no need for us to fight among ourselves!"

The hall fell silent for a moment before Xu San asked again, "Brother Yang, what did Commander Liu say?"

Yang Tian grumbled, "Commander Liu avoided the issue. He probably knew it would be hard to explain to the village chiefs. It was always Qian Chunlai who relayed the message to the village chiefs!"

Zhang the blacksmith's voice still carried anger, "Could it be that Qian Chunlai is playing tricks behind the scenes?"

"He wouldn't dare!" Yang Tian said sternly, "He's just a bully who picks on the weak. Qian Chunlai doesn't have the guts to do such a thing, and even Commander Liu wouldn't dare to anger everyone over this. But this also shows that the grain tax reduction set by the Heaven-Shaking Sect is non-negotiable."

Zhang the blacksmith said fiercely, "The Heaven-Shaking Sect is draining the last bit of resources from the people. Don't they fear losing the support of the people in Yujun?"

"Support?" Yang Tian laughed coldly, "What does the Heaven-Shaking Sect care about the support of the people? That massive organization has stood in Yujun for countless years. Who can say how long? As long as the Heaven-Shaking Sect announces the recruitment of outer sect disciples, how many cultivators in Yujun would fight to join? The grain tax and the fixed quota are just a facade, and this is just for the outer sect disciples!"

Xu San, sensing that Yang Tian had more to say, asked with a smile, "Brother Yang, you have shone brightly this time, bringing honor to our village and even our town in Mengyu County. I imagine that in this recruitment of outer sect disciples by the Heaven-Shaking Sect, you will definitely be on the list?"

After saying this, both Xu San and Zhang the blacksmith looked at Yang Tian with envy. However, after Xu San's words, Yang Tian fell silent, smoking his pipe even more vigorously.

Seeing that Yang Tian was not speaking, both of them turned their gaze to Han Xiumei. Han Xiumei said fiercely, "The Heaven-Shaking Sect is unfair. This time, the recruitment of outer sect disciples will not include our family head!"

"Why?" Zhang the blacksmith and Xu San asked in unison. Normally, the three families in the village were in fierce competition, but at this moment, their tone was more one of surprise rather than schadenfreude, truly because Yang Tian's performance during the locust disaster was truly outstanding, and they could not think of any reason that would prevent him from becoming an outer sect disciple of the Heaven-Shaking Sect.

"Ah!" Han Xiumei sighed, her lips revealing a mocking smile, "This is simple. The Heaven-Shaking Sect's criteria for recruiting outer sect disciples this time is based on the village chiefs' performance in collecting the grain tax. The less the harvest, the more the grain tax is collected, the better the village chief's performance, and the higher their loyalty to the Heaven-Shaking Sect. Our Tuqiu Village has such a good harvest, and with our family head's current prestige, collecting the grain tax is naturally easy, leaving no opportunity to show loyalty to the Heaven-Shaking Sect!"

Zhang the blacksmith couldn't help but laugh in anger, "What kind of ridiculous logic is this!"

Yang Tian then said in a deep voice, "There is a rumor in the town that the eldest son of the Xiong family, a prominent family in our county, is just one step away from becoming a true disciple of the Heaven-Shaking Sect. The Xiong family's Elder Changfeng has guaranteed to the Heaven-Shaking Sect that the grain tax in Mengyu County will not be significantly affected by the locust disaster, …"

"What? Why should the entire Mengyu County suffer for the Xiong family's son?"

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