Li Tongya pinched the incantation seal, watching the fine, dense rain of spirit water fall onto the dark soil. His face was pale as he pondered, "The Spirit Rain Art from this spirit-plant cultivation method truly devours energy. Even having formed the Luminous Understanding Wheel, I can barely release it once. And the spirit plants must be tended every day — we simply need more hands."
Li Xiangping and Li Tongya had surveyed the spirit fields of the various villages, and all were pitifully small. The spirit fields of Lijing Village were scattered and fragmentary, but the largest single plot could barely hold ten White Origin Fruit trees.
So Li Tongya sent men to build a small courtyard on what had once been wasteland at the foot of the hill, where he now spent his days in cultivation and farming. Supplies were brought out to him, and the arrangement was not without its comforts.
Li Xiangping had selected a plot of spirit field in Jingyang Village and sowed spirit rice there. It drew the people of Jingyang Village to gather daily outside the courtyard walls, palms pressed together in worship — a rather comical sight.
Since he had not yet entered the Orbital Wheel, Li Tongya had to sit in silent meditation for nearly half an hour before hisspiritual power recovered. He checked the time — Li Yesheng had already been waiting outside with the men for a good while.
The wooden gate creaked open, and Li Yesheng hurriedly bowed and asked, "The children of the various villages are all gathered. Brother Tongya, shall we go now?"
"Mm," Li Tongya replied in a low voice. Under the warm smiles of Li Yesheng and the men behind him, he walked slowly toward the head of the village.
---
Beneath the great pagoda tree at the village entrance, its boughs lush and spreading, the people from every village had gathered. Each was led by the headman dispatched from the Li family, with several village worthies in tow, followed by clusters of young children, large and small.
The headmen were relatively at ease. They stood in pairs under the tree, conversing in low voices. The villagers from outside Lijing were anxious and constrained, not daring to speak, standing in place. The children had caught the mood of their elders and sat obediently on the ground.
Chen Erniu had been riding high lately, so happy he could not sleep at night. His forebears had scratched at the dirt for generations, and at last he lived a life worth living.
When he learned that he had been dispatched to manage Lichuan Pass, Chen Erniu had knelt before the Li family gate and kocked his head nine times on the ground. To the old master he had wept bitterly and sworn a bitter oath: "With the old master's trust, I will bring the village men of Lichuan Pass to absolute heel!"
He had come as a refugee and received the Li family's relief; he had married and bought land by the Li family's grace; when his wife fell ill it was the Li family who paid for the medicine. These debts had long since bound Chen Erniu fast to the Li family's chariot.
And besides — when vast fortunes are laid out before one's eyes, Chen Erniu would eat dog dung if he had to!
It was only that he and Xu Wenshan had disliked each other since their tenant days, so the two villages often clashed. Only Ren Ping'an held a position above the three villages, content to mind his own business each day.
"Headman Chen…" An anxious voice broke in beside him. Chen Erniu turned — it was Chen Changhu of Lichuan Pass.
Lichuan Pass was mostly populated by the Chen clan, and Chen Changhu was the oldest among them, held in high esteem in the countryside. The villagers had therefore chosen him to lead the delegation.
"Will the Li family immortals truly accept our Chen clan's children?" This old man, ordinarily calm and composed, now wore a face full of unease as he stared toward the village entrance and asked in a low voice.
"They say you need immortal fortune! That you need those apertures! Children aged seven to thirteen — so long as your Chen clan children bear spiritual apertures, the Li family will take them all!"
Seeing Chen Changhu nodding repeatedly, Chen Erniu curled his lip, secretly envious. He cursed under his breath that his own two children were either too old, having missed the window, or too young to be brought forward for testing.
"The immortal comes!"
Seeing Li Tongya appear at the village entrance, Chen Erniu rushed up with a smile, thinking enviously in his heart: *Who knows which of these village children today will find immortal fortune.*
Li Tongya clasped his hands briefly and smiled at Chen Erniu. Turning to Li Yesheng, he said, "Begin."
A wooden platform had already been set up beside the pagoda tree. Li Tongya sat upon it, and below, the naming began.
"Lichuan Pass! Chen Lifu!"
A Chen family member led up a trembling, anxious child. Li Tongya placed his hand on the child's shoulder, circulated hisspiritual power once through the body, shook his head, and said, "Step down."
The two did not dare answer, hurrying down at once. Below, Chen Changhu's eyes flashed with disappointment.
"Next!"
Before long, all of Lichuan Pass had gone down. Chen Changhu's face was ugly, and he looked at Chen Erniu with something like pleading.
Chen Erniu rolled his eyes and spread his hands, signaling that he was powerless to help.
The late autumn weather was cool. Even with so many gathered at midday, the shade beneath the tree was still pleasant. Yet every one of the villagers was sweating. Seeing that Lichuan Pass had produced not a single child with immortal fortune, the rest grew even more anxious.
Li Tongya had been prepared for this. Those bearing spiritual apertures were one in a thousand. If even one among all these village children had the gift, it would cover their costs. Two would be pure profit.
"Jingyang Village! Liu Rouxuan!"
At the call, a girl of thirteen or fourteen stepped up, brows and eyes curved in a smile, bright-eyed, biting her lip timidly.
Fourteen was already at the upper limit of the age. Li Tongya shook his head helplessly, pretending not to notice. He laid his left hand on the girl's shoulder and circulated hisspiritual power.
As it coursed through the girl's meridians, Li Tongya gave a soft "Oh!" of surprise. Below, the Liu clan of Jingyang Village tensed in unison.
Within the girl's Qi Sea acupoint, a current of energy surged and leapt without cease, an aperture of transparent qi pulsing as though it were breathing of its own accord.
"Not bad." Li Tongya opened his eyes, smiled at the girl, and said warmly, "Stand behind me."
Liu Rouxuan stared blankly into Li Tongya's eyes, seemingly unable to absorb this vast good fortune. After several breaths she came to her senses and, radiant with joy, took her place behind Li Tongya.
The crowd from Jingyang Village erupted into a commotion, every face alight with joy. Only Li Tongya's presence stayed their cheers. Lichuan Pass was a stretch of dead silence; the remaining two villages grew only more anxious.
Presently, Jingyang Village and Lidaokou finished their testing. As expected, no more children with spiritual apertures were found.
"Lijing Village!"
Li Tongya's gaze swept slowly over the children below. Li Xuanxuan, of course, was not among them — the boy was but three years old, his body not yet fully formed. Only at seven would it be possible to see whether he had an aperture or not.
At last it was the turn of the home village's children. Li Yesheng raised an eyebrow and began to call the names.
"Had Brother Tongya not tested me early on, I would be tempted to step up and try myself!" Li Yesheng thought bitterly even as he called the names aloud.
"Ye Qiuyang!"
Below, his father Ye Chengfu stiffened all over, his legs going weak, his eyes fixed on the child of eight or nine on the platform. In his heart he kept muttering to himself: *My Ye family is a branch of the Li clan, after all — surely some immortal fortune clings to us…*
As Li Tongya placed his hand on Ye Qiuyang's shoulder, Ye Chengfu closed his eyes, simply sat down hard on the sandy ground, and listened, blankly, for the verdict.