Chapter 709: Carrying Land to Receive Enfeoffment

Ai was blown a great distance away. Watching her trajectory, Qiu Luoye put down her washboard, thinking she would never return.

But by evening, Ai had returned.

She brought Ayun, Along, and a group of villagers, who hauled several carts of coal and several carts of bricks from the deep mountains. Everyone who participated in the work was given two silver dollars.

Li Banfeng was quite curious. "Are there places to spend money in this village?"

"Yes, there are many places to spend money!" Ayun explained. "Villagers need to spend money when buying things from each other, and older villagers sometimes go out to travel, which also costs money."

"Where can they go?"

"They go to both Neizhou and Waizhou, but most often, they go to Puluozhou."

While the two were talking, the coal from the carts walked down, picked up bricks, and began repairing Ai's house.

Li Banfeng was a man of experience. In Puluozhou, he had seen many instances of puppets, stone figures, and similar entities acting as thugs or laborers.

But using coal to directly hold bricks and build a house was a situation he couldn't quite grasp.

Li Banfeng squatted beside the coal, seeing smoke rising from it as it carried bricks upstairs. Nearby, other coal lumps mixed mortar. They coordinated with each other, quickly repairing the wall that Li Banfeng had blown up.

One small coal lump, after carrying bricks a few times, completely burned out, leaving a wisp of ash that drifted to Ai's side.

Ai took out a glass bottle, collected the ash, and quietly asked, "What do you want to be in your next life?"

Li Banfeng activated his Insightful Spirit Voice and heard a voice from inside the bottle.

The wisp of ash said, "I want to be human."

Ai smiled. "It's not that easy. First, be an insect for a lifetime, then see if you can become a beast. Only then can you think about becoming human. How about that?"

The ash was very stubborn, repeating, "I just want to be human."

Ai sighed. "Alright then. Tomorrow, I'll send you to the coal yard. You'll have to be coal for another lifetime, then try your luck again."

The ash in the bottle agreed.

Li Banfeng sat beside Ai, looking at the bottle and asking, "If it's coal for another lifetime, will it definitely be human in the next life?"

Ai shook her head. "Hard to say. There are countless coal lumps on the back mountain of Hulu Village. It depends on what kind of coal lump it reincarnates into in its next life. If it's a good piece of coal, perhaps it really could become human."

Li Banfeng still didn't quite understand. "Whether the coal lumps of Hulu Mountain can become human, is that decided by you?"

Ai shook her head. "It's not decided by me; it's decided by their own spiritual essence. A lump of coal can accumulate a considerable amount of spiritual essence, but it undergoes little change. Choosing to be coal in the next life is very risky. When it becomes a piece of coal, it might start with ten thousand units of spiritual essence, but after a lifetime of cultivation, it might still only have ten thousand. But being an insect is different. It might start with only three to five hundred units of spiritual essence, but this essence grows quickly. After a lifetime, it might grow to over a thousand, or even thirty to fifty thousand, or it might not grow at all, dying right after breaking its eggshell. No one can say for sure about this."

"You really haven't made it clear; I don't understand at all," Li Banfeng said, asking the ash, "Are you choosing to be a coal lump again in your next life to have a higher starting point?"

The ash did not respond. Ai scoffed at Li Banfeng, "Are you foolish? Why are you talking to a lump of ash?"

The coal lumps burned out one by one. When the last coal lump turned into ash and flew into Ai's bottle, Ai's house was also repaired.

The coal's craftsmanship was a bit rough; the repaired marks were clearly visible on the wall that Li Banfeng had damaged.

Ai, however, was not picky. She called out to Qiu Luoye, "As long as it's livable, why make it so pretty? Wife, let's go home!"

Li Banfeng carefully inspected the house. "It's indeed well repaired. I'll blow it up."

Ai laughed towards Qiu Luoye. "Look how my brother jokes. He wants to blow up the house I just had repaired."

Qiu Luoye said, "Why do you think he's joking?"

Ai froze for a moment, seeing Li Banfeng already upstairs with explosives.

Ai quickly rushed upstairs. "Brother, there's something I haven't taught you yet. Our technique requires precise control. Why don't you blow it up somewhere else?"

That evening, Ai seriously taught Li Banfeng the essentials of precise control. "The key to precise control lies in the order of actions. Regardless of major events, even for small things like eating, drinking, and relieving oneself, as long as the order is correct, you can rein in your craziness. Before eating, cook. Before drinking water, boil it. Before going to the outhouse, check if anyone else is inside. This is called order. Don't think these things are simple; in fact, there's knowledge in every action."

Li Banfeng thought for a long time, feeling that the process was still a bit abstract.

Ai said impatiently, "Let me give you an example. How do you usually 'do things' with your wife?"

Li Banfeng puffed out his chest and said, "Do it! Then it's done!"

Ai poked Li Banfeng. "Is that how you treat your wife? She married you; how will she live her life like this? There's a lot of knowledge in this. I'll teach you step by step—"

The next morning, Li Banfeng learned the order of actions and felt his mind was much clearer.

But as he clarified the steps one by one, Li Banfeng discovered an important issue. "Sister," he said, "we're not truly not crazy. We're just pretending not to be crazy."

Ai laughed. "If you weren't crazy, you wouldn't even be able to enter our sect. And I'll tell you something else: there are always plenty of mad people in this world. They all pretend not to be crazy in front of others; when they're alone, they might be even crazier than us! You still need to continue learning the crucial aspects of our Mad Cultivation Dao Sect. If you have nothing to do these next two days, come wander around the village with me."

Li Banfeng followed Ai and wandered around the village for a few days, discovering two things.

First, the difference between the villagers of Hulu Village when alone and when in front of others was indeed very significant.

Second, Hulu Village was very large, much larger than Li Banfeng remembered.

Besides the gourd head, gourd waist, and gourd belly, Hulu Village had also grown many small gourds. These small gourds formed coal mountains, mining mountains, and countless forests and grasslands.

Ai reminded him, "Don't just come into these forests casually. I've gotten lost here before."

Li Banfeng shook his head. "You're overthinking this. I'm also a cloud traveler/cultivator. How could I get lost in a forest?"

"Are cloud travelers so great?" Ai snorted. "Cloud travelers can find their way because they remember directions and can remember paths they've already walked. These forests change every day, and the direction of Hulu Village also changes daily. It's nothing new for a cloud traveler to get lost here."

Ai led Li Banfeng into a forest and wrote the character 'Yi' on a pine tree.

This was a mark. Li Banfeng asked, "Is this because you're afraid of getting lost?"

Ai shook her head. "This pine tree was originally the end of this forest. Now it's no longer the end. This proves the tree's position has changed, or perhaps the forest itself has grown larger."

"The forest grew?" Li Banfeng looked into the depths of the forest. Amidst the thick fog, he seemed to hear faint whispers.

Ai said, "Land can grow. But this isn't a technique I researched; it's a technique from Neizhou. I studied it for a long time and have learned seventy percent, but there's thirty percent I haven't learned yet."

Li Banfeng asked Ai, "Which thirty percent haven't you learned?"

Ai grabbed a handful of soil and gave it to Li Banfeng. "The new soil stolen from Neizhou, brought to Hulu Village, can also grow. But how to create new soil that can grow—that I truly haven't learned."

Li Banfeng thought for a moment. "Then find time to go to Neizhou and learn?"

Ai smiled. "You know what? I happen to have time these two days. Brother, there are many prominent figures in Puluozhou who have been researching the boundaries for years. They all believe the boundaries are Puluozhou's critical weakness. What do you think?"

This question had crossed Li Banfeng's mind many times. "Actually, there are two critical weaknesses," he said, "and one is even more crucial than the boundaries:"

"'The biggest weakness is new land!'" He Jiaqing was shuffling a deck of playing cards.

He had played three rounds with Zuo Anna, and Zuo Anna hadn't won a single one.

Zuo Anna carefully watched He Jiaqing's shuffling and asked, "Why do you think Puluozhou's biggest weakness is new land, not the boundaries?"

He Jiaqing drew a three of spades from the deck. "This is a person from Puluozhou who first acted as a 'white lamb,' and then became a 'land cultivator' with the help of the Peddler."

"Under the Peddler's unique rule system, Puluozhou offers many opportunities. No matter how humble this person's origin, as long as they seize the opportunity, they could become a ninth-level land cultivator."

As he spoke, the card in He Jiaqing's hand transformed from a three of spades to a nine of spades. The entire process occurred without any unnecessary movements; the playing card changed right in front of Zuo Anna.

"'Upon reaching the ninth level of land cultivation, cultivators face an unavoidable problem. They must go to Neizhou for a complete transformation, undergoing immense physical and mental changes.'"

The card in He Jiaqing's hand changed from a nine of spades to a ten of diamonds. "This transformation is fatal, and fatal to Puluozhou as a whole. These cultivators, nurtured by Puluozhou, instead of becoming Puluozhou's guardians, fall under Neizhou's control and become a force for Neizhou's invasion of Puluozhou."

Zuo Anna took the ten of diamonds from He Jiaqing's hand and examined it carefully. "What you're saying is a bit absolute. As far as I know, not every ninth-level cultivator has to go to Neizhou to advance to the tenth level. Many people have skipped this step, including you. The Peddler should know the method to skip the tenth level. If he is generous enough, he should be able to popularize this method, which would solve this critical issue."

He Jiaqing smiled. "You're not from Puluozhou. Your main enemy isn't Shang Kingdom; it's Tufang Kingdom. Therefore, you haven't deeply considered this issue. There are many ways to cross the tenth level, but every method encounters one unavoidable problem: after advancing to the cloud realm, one needs a territory to maintain their status and gather popularity. This means that all those who cross the tenth level must seize land from existing local deities or accidentally discover unclaimed land. The latter is a low-probability event and not part of this discussion. As for seizing land from existing local deities, that's simply not something an ordinary cultivator can do."

Zuo Anna traced the playing card in her hand and nodded slightly. "You're right. New land is an unavoidable limitation for Puluozhou. However, as far as I know, many local deities who have returned from Neizhou still harbor hostility towards Shang Kingdom and maintain their loyalty to Puluozhou."

He Jiaqing shook his head. "That's just an emotional display. They were mistreated in Shang Kingdom, which makes it difficult for them to think highly of Neizhou constantly. This is certainly a bit difficult. But if Shang Kingdom changed its strategy, produced all the deeds for new land, and threatened the local deities' lives to make them collectively carry out a mission, do you think they would refuse?"

He Jiaqing waved his hand. The playing card in Zuo Anna's hand changed from a ten of diamonds to a ten of hearts. "At that point, they wouldn't refuse. They would completely become people of Shang Kingdom. And these people are Puluozhou's true elites. Because Puluozhou cannot provide the necessary conditions for these elites to grow, that's why we have today's outcome."

Zuo Anna placed the playing card on the table and nodded slightly. "Is this why you need to go to Chaoge again to steal the deeds?"

He Jiaqing collected the playing cards. "You can understand it as my personal ambition, but this is truly about creating opportunities in Puluozhou!"

Zuo Anna nodded. "I can send you to Chaoge."

"That's far from enough. The situation in Chaoge is no longer the same as before. Wenyuan Pavilion must have increased its security, and it's even possible the deeds are no longer there, having been moved elsewhere. I need your cooperation and assistance. I need information about Chaoge, not just a simple ride."

Zuo Anna thought for a long time. "If that's the case, we would need to take on more risks and expend more resources. This help probably wouldn't be free."

He Jiaqing fanned out the cards, displaying them in front of Zuo Anna. "Pick a few cards, give me a list, and I can give you some of the deeds for local deities."

Zuo Anna calculated for a long time and drew three playing cards. "This is my asking price. As for the specific list, I'll inform you after consulting my superiors."

Shang Kingdom, Bo City.

Bo City, originally named Haodu, was the oldest capital of Shang Kingdom. Although its buildings were ancient and its population not large, the city's scale was even larger than Chaoge.

The city still retained the nine-layered gate layout of Shang Kingdom's capital. Within the ninth gate was a huge circular altar, where Qiao Yi was presiding over a ritual.

This ritual was different from previous ones. Previous rituals usually lasted only three days, but this one was to last for ten full days, without any interruption. At this moment, Qiao Yi remained awake, while Xie Gong and Zhu Jin were sleeping. These three rotated, ensuring the ritual had proceeded smoothly for seven days.

In the center of the altar, soil continuously gushed forth. The ritual master led his subordinates, recited incantations, offered sacrifices, then presented songs and dances, and awarded the sacrifices to the attending officials.

The same process had to be repeated continuously without interruption. The ritual master also had three heads, but his workload was much greater than Qiao Yi's; he was about to collapse.

The soil in the center of the altar piled up into a small mountain. The ritual master didn't know what Qiao Yi needed so much soil for. He endured for three days, relying on elixirs, and when the ritual finally ended, he led his subordinates and handed the soil from the altar to Qiao Yi.

Qiao Yi inspected the quality of the soil and ordered it to be sent to the Hunting Gardens at the eight city gates.

The Hunting Gardens were originally royal grounds for grazing and hunting. Bo City's Hunting Gardens were unique, as they were connected to a random entrance leading to Puluozhou.

The newly formed soil from the altar was called 'seed soil'. After a certain degree of processing and treatment in the Hunting Gardens, it needed to be directly cast into Puluozhou through the entrance.

This seed soil would rapidly grow in Puluozhou; this was the process of new land creation. Previously, the processing and handling of this seed soil was always handled by Luo Yanjun. But now, with the Luo family in a unique situation, this crucial task was entrusted by Qiao Yi to his confidant, Yang Yueze, to handle.

This had to be done quickly. Once this seed soil left the altar, it had to be cast into Puluozhou within five hours, otherwise, it would lose its vitality.

Two hours later, Yang Yueze let out a long cry and shook the corner of his chair, indicating that his task was complete and the seed soil had been cast into Puluozhou.

The officials all thought Yang Yueze was efficient and decisive, and praised him one after another.

In reality, Yang Yueze had only done half the job. The seed soil was processed, but it had not been cast into Puluozhou.

He distributed the seed soil to thirteen local deities who were about to take office, awaiting Qiao Yi's command.

After the officials left the Hunting Gardens, preparing to return to Chaoge, Qiao Yi went to the attic and assigned tasks to these thirteen local deities.

"The Great Shang's enfeoffment of the 'Heads of a Hundred Li' has always been based on established land. Today, I, an old man, risk my life to break tradition, allowing you gentlemen to be enfeoffed with the soil itself."

When Qiao Yi said this, Yang Yueze was terrified just listening.

"Enfeoffment with established land means that the land is first formed, and then the local deities each take their deeds before taking office on the new land. This is Shang Kingdom's custom."

"Enfeoffment with soil means that the local deities take the seed soil, scatter it themselves in Puluozhou, and after new land is formed, they directly become local deities."

For Shang Kingdom, enfeoffment with soil was very risky, because no one could guarantee where these local deities would take the seed soil or to whom they would give it.

But enfeoffment with soil was not without precedent. Beggar Cultivator Foxtail was a local deity of new land who was enfeoffed with soil. The reason he was allowed this was to monitor Greenwater Bow.

In enfeoffment with established land, the seed soil was directly cast into Puluozhou. The entrance at the Hunting Gardens was very special; after the soil left, the dispersal location was random, meaning where the new land would form was completely unknown to Shang Kingdom.

But with enfeoffment with soil, the recipient chose the location to scatter the soil themselves. Foxtail arranged his new land beside Greenwater Bay, thus perfectly completing the task of monitoring Greenwater Bow.

That was the original idea, but the outcome was not satisfactory. Near Greenwater Bow, Foxtail's new land was completely eroded, and he almost lost his status. Under Greenwater Bow's coercion, he even became a thug,

eventually dying at Li Banfeng's hands.

Now Qiao Yi was allowing thirteen local deities to be enfeoffed with soil simultaneously. The reason was singular: he wanted these thirteen plots of land to connect.

After the theft of the deeds, Qiao Yi came to a conclusion: He Jiaqing's idea was feasible. If thirteen new plots of land were connected and ultimately placed under the command of one person to be cultivated into proper territory, an empire could be established within Puluozhou.

Of course, this kind of talk couldn't be stated directly. Moreover, these thirteen local deities had to be carefully selected.

These thirteen people chosen by Qiao Yi had endured countless tortures in Shang Kingdom and no longer saw themselves as individuals. Ordinarily, if someone from Shang Kingdom merely smiled at them, they would be filled with gratitude, even willing to lay down their lives for them.

Now that Qiao Yi was allowing them to be enfeoffed with soil, for them, it was an immense favor unimaginable in this lifetime.

Little time remained. Qiao Yi called out the most loyal person among the thirteen. "Liu Bufei," he announced, "Today, I confer upon you the title of General Fenwu. Lead the twelve 'Heads of a Hundred Li' to suppress rebellions, eliminate traitors, and protect the mountains and rivers!"

Liu Bufei knelt on the ground, repeatedly kowtowing.

The other twelve local deities were also granted miscellaneous general titles and kowtowed alongside Liu Bufei until their heads were covered in blood, unable to stop.

Qiao Yi ordered wine to be set out for a farewell. After these thirteen local deities had departed, the utterly exhausted Qiao Yi returned to his residence and fell into a deep sleep.

The moment he fell asleep, Xie Gong quickly awoke. This was their unique telepathy; they could not all sleep at the same time.

Xie Gong carefully sensed the states of Qiao Yi and Zhu Jin. Both were sleeping very soundly.

After resting for a moment, Xie Gong left the residence and took people to look around the area. Learning that the officials who participated in the ritual were already on their way back to Chaoge, Xie Gong felt that something was unusual.

The ritual lasted for ten full days, and now he was still not leaving. Had Qiao Yi done something?

Xie Gong looked at Qiao Yi's face in the mirror. The sleeping Qiao Yi seemed increasingly unfamiliar to him.

Beside the mirror, a spider quickly scurried past.

Xie Gong had intended to crush the spider when he suddenly heard someone report that the carriages and boats were ready, asking if he wished to depart for Chaoge.

To leave or not to leave?

Xie Gong wanted to stay in Bo City to continue his investigation, but he was afraid of arousing Qiao Yi's suspicion.

Amidst his dilemma, the spider had already scurried away.