Chapter 74

Descending from the Western Mountain, Yang Junshan and his brother saw the spirit farmers of Earth Mound Village heading one after another to the spirit fields at the foot of the mountain to work. The villagers passing by would often stop to greet the two brothers.

"Fourth Young Master, Ninth Young Master!"

An elderly man, about sixty years old, carrying a hoe, walked up to the two and said with a smile, "I see the two young masters are diligent. You've already made a round trip from the Western Mountain this early in the morning. My eldest grandson is still in bed, he really should learn from the two of you!"

"Grandpa Biao!"

The two brothers did not dare to be disrespectful and hurriedly greeted the old man. Yang Junshan also asked with concern, "Grandpa Biao, your family has been in Earth Mound Village for over a month. Are you getting used to living here?"

"Of course, why wouldn't we?" the old man laughed. "For a spirit farmer, having a piece of spirit field as a foundation and sufficient spirit grains as food is all that matters. With these two things, life has hope. Now, even though we've left Greenstone Town with Third Young Master, life is much more comfortable than it was in Greenstone Town. What more could we want!"

The old man's full name was Yang Zhenbiao. Although he was not a direct descendant of the Yang family in Greenstone Town, he was one of the elders of the Yang family, having started his career with Yang Junshan's grandfather, Yang Lie. Although he did not have the cultivation of a martial artist, he was a seasoned cultivator at the peak of the Mortal Realm, with deep seniority among the non-direct descendants of the Yang family.

After Yang Lie's forced attempt to reach the True Human Realm led to his downfall and death, the power of the Yang family's patriarch fell into the hands of Yang Lie's second wife, Lady Wang. This made many of the non-direct descendants of the Yang family, who were loyal to the direct line, very dissatisfied. Yang Zhenbiao was one of the influential figures among these people.

Originally, they had hoped that Yang Lie's eldest son, Yang Tianchen, would step forward to take over the position of the Yang family's patriarch, bringing the Yang family in Greenstone Town back under the control of the direct line.

Unfortunately, Yang Tianchen was obsessed with becoming an inner disciple of the Heaven-Shaking Sect. Lady Wang's father was a True Human Realm elder of the Heaven-Shaking Sect, the Yang family's greatest support in the sect. At this time, Yang Tianchen was more focused on pleasing his stepmother to achieve his goal and had no intention of competing with her for power.

In the end, to distance himself, Yang Tianchen announced that he was giving up his claim to the position of the Yang family's patriarch. He retained a nominal position as the guardian of Greenstone Town to keep his status as an outer disciple of the Heaven-Shaking Sect, but the actual power of the guardian was in Lady Wang's hands.

Yang Tianchen's actions greatly disappointed the old ministers of the Yang family. Out of necessity, they placed their hopes on Yang Lie's second son, Yang Tiangang, hoping he would stand up and reclaim the clan's power from Lady Wang. Yang Zhenbiao was one of the proposers of this plan.

To consolidate her position and quell the rebellious sentiments of the Yang family, Lady Wang announced that she was only overseeing the clan's power and would return it once a direct descendant of the Yang family reached the fourth level of the Martial Artist Realm. She also suggested that the clan publicly select an heir, which helped to ease the tensions among the Yang family.

At the same time, to split the Yang family's camp, Lady Wang promoted Yang Lie's brother, Yang Junshan's second grandfather, Yang Xi's son, Yang Tianlei, as the next generation's heir, to compete directly with Yang Tiangang, thus forcing Yang Junshan's second grandfather to stand by her side.

Yang Tianlei was the eldest son of Yang Xi and ranked second among the second generation of the direct line of the Yang family. Although Yang Tiangang was the second son of the eldest branch, he ranked third among the second generation of the direct line. Since Yang Tianchen had given up his claim to the position of the patriarch, according to Lady Wang, the next in line should be Yang Tianlei, not Yang Tiangang.

With a True Human Realm cultivator as a backer, the support of the second most important figure of the first generation of the Yang family, and the automatic renunciation of the eldest son of the eldest branch, combined with Lady Wang's own considerable abilities, the young and inexperienced Yang Tiangang was no match. He was defeated in a very humiliating way.

In anger, Yang Tiangang chose to leave the family and went to the remote Mengyu County to become the village chief of a small village, starting a new base.

In recent years, the non-direct descendants of the Yang family in Greenstone Town had not been doing well. After Yang Tiangang established a base in Earth Mound Village, he did not neglect to help them. Although he was alone in Earth Mound Village, he had considered bringing some people over but felt that doing so would be a complete betrayal of the Yang family. It was only after Yang Junshan's persuasion that Yang Tiangang finally changed his mind.

This time, when Yang Tiangang brought Yang Junping back to Greenstone Town for a talent test, he tried to contact some of the clan members who were close to him and persuade them to follow him to the barren land of Mengyu County.

The Yang family in Greenstone Town had also been struggling in recent years. Due to the concentration of a large amount of cultivation resources for the Heaven-Shaking Sect and the ravages of locusts, many non-direct descendants of the Yang family were in dire straits in terms of cultivation and living. However, the Yang family could not ignore these non-direct descendants, so many of them gradually became a burden to the Yang family.

When Yang Tiangang offered to take some people away, it undoubtedly helped the Yang family reduce its burden, which they were more than happy to accept. These non-direct descendants were originally close to Yang Tiangang. Seeing that the barren land of Mengyu County had good spirit fields and a relatively sufficient supply of spirit grains, and hearing the success stories of Yang Tieniu and Yang Qingniu, the thriving scene of Earth Mound Village naturally made them very eager. Yang Tiangang himself could also gather a group of trusted people around him, gradually building up his influence in Earth Mound Village.

The three parties were a perfect match, so when Yang Tiangang returned to Greenstone Town with Yang Junping, he brought five families of non-direct descendants of the Yang family, led by Yang Zhenbiao, to Earth Mound Village.

These five families, totaling 33 people, included eight spirit farmers with cultivation above the Foundation of Immortality, and six young people with cultivation potential or who had already started cultivating. They were all people who could be of help, both now and in the future.

Yang Tiangang was not stingy. He divided the spirit fields that had matured last year and allocated a piece to each family, and also provided some spirit grains, allowing these five families to quickly settle down.

If one were to ask which family in Earth Mound Village, or even the entire barren land of Mengyu County, had the most spirit grains in reserve, it would undoubtedly be Yang Tiangang's family. Not only did his three acres of low-grade spirit fields yield a good harvest every year, but the 150 stones of spirit grains that Yang Junshan secretly transported from the pile of earth under the secret passage in Quwu Mountain were enough to ensure that Yang Junshan's family would not lack spirit grains for several years.

It should be noted that due to the large-scale reduction in the production of spirit grains in Yu Prefecture for two consecutive years, the supply of spirit grains in the entire Yu Prefecture was extremely scarce, causing the price of spirit grains to soar, making it almost impossible to buy even at a high price. If it were not for the fact that Yang Tiangang did not lack jade coins, he might have been tempted to sell 100 stones of spirit grains.

It was precisely because of the ample supply of spirit grains and jade coins that Yang Tiangang dared to plant all the medium-grade spirit fields with spirit herbs. Spirit herbs, although more valuable, have a lower yield and a longer growth cycle, requiring a certain level of strength to cultivate.

After bidding farewell to Yang Zhenbiao, the two brothers arrived at the upper reaches of the Qingshui River. From a distance, they saw Su Baozhang working alone in a small spirit field.

Seeing Su Baozhang drenched in sweat, it was clear he had been working in the spirit field for quite some time. Yang Junshan called out from a distance, "Brother Baozhang, you're up early!"

Su Baozhang wiped the sweat from his forehead, saw the two brothers, and walked over, smiling. "I'm just a slow bird that needs to fly early. I finally have a piece of spirit field, but I don't know how to farm. If I don't work hard to learn, I'll only get a third or fifth of the harvest this year, which would be embarrassing!"

Spirit farmers usually refer to cultivators with cultivation above the Foundation of Immortality, and typically only those with cultivation at the Foundation of Immortality have the right to be allocated spirit fields.

However, this is because spirit fields are in short supply, so they are allocated to those with higher cultivation to ensure a higher yield of spirit grains.

Su Baozhang's cultivation had already reached the peak of the third level, just one step away from the Foundation of Immortality. Additionally, his practice of the Mighty Ox Fist over the past two years had greatly increased his physical strength, making it possible for him to cultivate the spirit fields, albeit with some effort. After repelling the people from Earth Rock Village who came to contest the fields last year, Yang Tiangang allocated three acres of spirit fields at the upper reaches of the Qingshui River to Su Baozhang.

Speaking of the conflict between the two villages last year, apart from Qian Chunlai being hit in the buttocks by Yang Junshan for the second time, which was quite embarrassing, the people of Earth Rock Village were the most dejected.

Originally, the fields of the two villages were separated by a tributary of the Qingshui River. On that day, when the floodwaters rose, the people of Earth Rock Village, incited by Qian Chunlai, tried to take advantage of Yang Tiangang's absence to push the boundary of the fields across the tributary towards Earth Mound Village.

Unexpectedly, Yang Tiangang, with his third-level martial artist cultivation, appeared at the last moment, not only defeating Qian Chunlai but also scaring off the people of Earth Rock Village. Fortunately, Yang Tiangang did not bully the weak, and after they agreed to use the tributary as the boundary and signed the land deed, he did not press further.

When the rain stopped and the floodwaters receded, the tributary changed course, bending significantly towards Earth Rock Village, encompassing a large area of fields that originally belonged to Earth Rock Village, including three acres of spirit fields, which all became part of Earth Mound Village.

The people of Earth Mound Village naturally did not hesitate, and Yang Tiangang, without being polite, immediately led the spirit farmers to divide the three acres of spirit fields. The people of Earth Rock Village, who came to protest, dared not speak up, thinking of Qian Chunlai's current miserable state, who would dare to challenge the village chief of Earth Mound Village!

In that battle, Yang Tiangang and his son cooperated perfectly. Qian Chunlai was not only hit in the buttocks by Yang Junshan again, but the powerful bow force also broke his thigh joint with the talisman arrow.

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