Chapter 23: Spiritual Apertures

Li Tongya performed a hand seal, watching the fine, dense spiritual rain fall into the pitch-black soil. With a pale face, he mused to himself

"This Spiritual Rain Technique in the spiritual plant cultivation method is truly consuming. Even after mastering the Chengming Wheel, I can barely release it once. These spiritual plants require daily care; I truly need more hands."

Li Xiangping and Li Tongya had surveyed the spiritual fields of all the villages, and they were all pitifully sparse. The spiritual fields of Lijing Village were scattered and fragmented; fortunately, the largest plot could barely accommodate ten White Essence Fruits.

Thus, Li Tongya sent men to build a small courtyard at the foot of the mountain where the land was originally wasteland. He practiced and farmed there daily, with supplies being delivered to him, making it quite a comfortable life.

Li Xiangping, meanwhile, selected a plot of spiritual land in Jingyang Village to sow spiritual rice. This drew the villagers of Jingyang to worship outside his courtyard every single day, which was quite amusing.

Since he had not yet entered the Zhouxing Wheel, Li Tongya had to close his eyes and regulate his breathing for nearly an hour to recover his mana. Checking the time, he saw that Li Yesheng and his men had already been waiting outside the door for a long while.

Hearing the "creak" of the wooden door, Li Yesheng hurriedly bowed in greeting

"The children from all the villages have arrived. Is Brother Tongya heading out now?"

"Mhm."

Li Tongya gave a low response and slowly walked toward the village entrance amidst the eager smiles of Li Yesheng and the several men behind him.

————

Under the lush, leafy locust tree at the village entrance, the representatives from each village had all gathered. They were led by managers sent by the Li family, accompanied by several village figures and followed by crowds of children of various ages.

The managers were relatively relaxed, standing in pairs under the locust tree engaged in low whispers. The villagers from other villages appeared anxious and restrained, not daring to speak, standing silently in place. The children were similarly affected, sitting obediently on the ground.

Chen Erniu had been riding high on success lately, so happy that he could not sleep at night. After generations of toiling and crawling in the fields, he was finally living a life worth living.

Upon learning he was assigned to manage Lichuankou, Chen Erniu had kowtowed nine times heavily in front of the Li family courtyard, weeping bitterly before Old Master Li and making a solemn vow

"Given Old Master's trust, I, Erniu, will surely make the villagers of Lichuankou behave perfectly!"

He had come as a refugee and received aid from the Li family; he had married and bought land through their grace; and when his wife fell ill, it was the Li family who paid for her medical treatment. This debt of gratitude had firmly tied Chen Erniu to the Li family's chariot.

Moreover, as long as heaven-sent profits were laid out before him, Chen Erniu would even dare to eat dog shit!

However, he and Xu Wenshan had been at odds since their days as tenants, leading to frequent friction between their two villages. Only Ren Ping'an held a transcendent status among the three villages, managing his village affairs independently every day.

"Manager Chen..."

An anxious call rang in his ear. Chen Erniu turned to see it was Chen Changhu, a fellow villager from Lichuankou.

Lichuankou was predominantly inhabited by the Chen clan, and this Chen Changhu was the eldest in the clan with high prestige in the township; thus, the crowd had recommended him to lead the group.

"Is this Li family immortal truly willing to accept my Chen clan's children?"

The old man, who was usually composed and prestigious, now looked toward the village entrance with a face full of trepidation, asking in a low voice.

"They say one must have a spiritual affinity! Must have that... spiritual aperture thing! Children aged seven to thirteen—as long as your Chen clan children possess that spiritual aperture, the Li family will take them all!"

Seeing Chen Changhu nodding repeatedly, Chen Erniu curled his lip, feeling immense envy in his heart. He secretly resented that his two children were either too old and had missed the window, or too young to have come for testing.

"The Immortal is here!"

Seeing Li Tongya appear at the village entrance, Chen Erniu hurried forward with a smile, thinking enviously

"I wonder which of these children from the various villages will actually obtain a spiritual affinity today."

Li Tongya gave a slight salute and smiled at Chen Erniu, then turned to Li Yesheng and said

"Let us begin."

A wooden platform had already been erected beside the locust tree. Li Tongya sat atop the platform, and the people below began to call out names.

"Lichuankou! Chen Lifu!"

Below, a member of the Chen family brought up a trembling child. Li Tongya placed his hand on the child's shoulder, circulated his mana through the boy's body for one revolution, waved his hand, and said

"You may go down."

Hearing this, the two did not dare to respond and hurried off. A flash of disappointment crossed Chen Changhu's eyes below.

"Next!"

………

Before long, everyone from Lichuankou had finished. Chen Changhu's face was grim as he looked at Chen Erniu with a pleading gaze.

Chen Erniu rolled his eyes and spread his hands, indicating he was powerless to help.

The late autumn weather was chilly. Despite the large crowd gathered at midday, it remained cool under the tree, yet the people from all the villages were sweating profusely. Seeing that Lichuankou had not produced a single person with a spiritual affinity, their hearts were pounding with dread.

Li Tongya, however, was well-prepared for this scene. Those possessing a spiritual aperture were one in a thousand; if even one child from all the villages appeared, it would be breaking even, and two would be a profit.

"Jingyang Village! Liu Ruxuan!"

As soon as the words fell, a girl appearing to be thirteen or fourteen years old stepped up. Her eyes were curved and bright, and she bit her lip timidly.

Fourteen years old—she was right at the upper age limit. Li Tongya shook his head helplessly but acted as if he hadn't noticed, placing his left hand on the girl's shoulder to circulate his mana.

As the mana traveled through a circuit of the girl's meridians, Li Tongya let out a soft exclamation of surprise. The Liu clan members from Jingyang Village below couldn't help but grow tense.

They saw that within the girl's Qi Sea acupoint, currents of energy surged incessantly, and a transparent aperture of Qi pulsed continuously, as if it were breathing on its own.

"Not bad."

Li Tongya opened his eyes, smiled at the girl, and said gently, "Stand behind me."

Liu Ruxuan stared blankly into Li Tongya's eyes, seemingly unable to process such monumental good news. After a few breaths, she realized what had happened and stood behind Li Tongya with a face full of joy.

The Jingyang Village crowd below erupted into a commotion. Everyone was filled with joy, but they refrained from cheering out of respect for Li Tongya. Lichuankou remained deathly silent, while the remaining two villages grew even more anxious.

Before long, the testing for Jingyang Village and Lidukou was complete, and as expected, no more individuals with spiritual apertures remained.

"Lijing Village!"

Li Tongya's gaze swept low over the children below. Li Xuanxuan was naturally not among them; the child was only three years old and had not even fully grown; it would be at least until age seven to see if he possessed a spiritual aperture.

Finally, it was time for the children of their own village. Li Yesheng raised an eyebrow and began calling names.

"If Brother Tongya hadn't tested me earlier, I'd really hate to go up there and try!"

Li Yesheng thought resentfully as he called out the names loudly.

"Ye Qiuyang!"

Below, the father, Ye Chengfu, instantly tensed up, his legs turning weak. His eyes were fixed intently on the child on the platform, who looked about eight or nine years old, as he constantly comforted himself

"My Ye family is, after all, a branch of the Li family. There must be some spiritual affinity in us..."

Watching Li Tongya place his hand on Ye Qiuyang's shoulder, Ye Chengfu closed his eyes and simply sat down on the sandy ground, listening in a daze.

(End of Chapter)