Fang Qingyuan didn’t believe in coincidences. He believed that behind every coincidence lay an unknown cause.
Two infants, two tal Spirit Roots—the odds were simply too low. Such cases might exist elsewhere, but for it to happen right before his own eyes, Fang Qingyuan refused to believe it. ’There must be sothing else I’m missing.’
Fang Qingyuan first asked Qu Wei if anything unusual had happened in the past year. Qu Wei shook his head, saying he didn’t know. He had barely even left the Tea Garden’s gates all year.
Hearing this, Fang Qingyuan provisionally ruled out external factors. The greatest anomaly was now the Tea Garden itself.
Every year at the Qingfeng Tea Garden, across its ten acres of tea trees, each plant had a chance of producing Gold Attribute Spiritual Materials around the ti of the Qingming Festival.
The tea leaves themselves were mutating. The variety of tea tree was nothing special, yet ordinary leaves were transforming into Gold Attribute Spiritual Materials—a truly miraculous phenonon.
The fact that both children were conceived around the Qingming Festival further suggested there was sothing strange about this place.
People from Tianshan Villa had co to investigate before, but after several rounds of tests, they found nothing. In the end, the matter was dropped.
’Perhaps their previous thods were inadequate,’ Fang Qingyuan mused. ’They failed to uncover the Tea Garden’s true secret.’
With this in mind, Fang Qingyuan asked:
"Qu Wei, tell , did the people from the Villa ever try digging underground?"
Qu Wei studied Fang Qingyuan’s expression, thought carefully for a mont, and then replied with certainty:
"Yes. I heard the Steward say they sent an Immortal Master down. He used an Earth Escape Technique to see what was below, but ultimately, he found nothing."
Fang Qingyuan’s eyes narrowed as he asked again,
"How deep did he go? Do you know?"
Qu Wei replied,
"At least a hundred zhang. I heard the Immortal Master say afterward that his Spiritual Power was too low to go any deeper."
A depth of a hundred zhang was the limit for a Qi Refining Cultivator using the Earth Escape Technique. A Foundation Establishnt Cultivator could manage over three hundred zhang, but the previous Steward didn’t think such a small matter warranted disturbing the peak lords.
A few years ago, before Lechuan’s arrival, Tianshan Villa had only four Foundation Establishnt Cultivators: the Villa Head and the lords of the Three Peaks.
The Steward could only ask Qi Refining Cultivators to help investigate. He didn’t have the courage to ask a peak lord for assistance.
In the previous Steward’s opinion, if nothing was found at a hundred zhang, digging deeper would be a waste of ti and energy, since the tea trees’ roots only extended five or six zhang into the earth.
Eventually, unable to find the cause, the Steward gave up his search for the truth. For one, he was swamped with miscellaneous duties; for another, plenty of other strange phenona had occurred.
The Cultivation Realm was filled with countless mysteries. A normal person couldn’t possibly investigate every single one they encountered.
Having learned what happened before, Fang Qingyuan had an idea. ’Other Cultivators couldn’t go deeper, but I’m different.’
’I have the Immortal Mansion to support . If there’s no air underground, I can release so from the mansion. If I get tired of tunneling, I can just absorb the surrounding earth into the Immortal Mansion, creating a space to rest. That way, I won’t have to maintain the Earth Escape Technique constantly.’
’Even if I can only descend twenty zhang at a ti, by repeating the process, I can go as deep as I want—barring any issues with Geomagnetic Power.’
With a plan forming in his mind, Fang Qingyuan was eager to test his theory. But first, he had to deal with the situation before him.
Fang Qingyuan had Qu Wei summon everyone. In front of the assembled crowd, he announced:
"You are the tea farming households of this garden, registered under Tianshan Villa. Now that two children with Spirit Roots have been born among you, I have decided to take you all under my personal patronage. Are you willing?"
The fifteen families of tea farrs present, numbering just over a hundred people in total, were all ecstatic upon hearing Fang Qingyuan’s words.
Compared to their previous status, becoming the governed people of an Immortal Master was a dream co true for any ordinary mortal.
This change in status ca with preferential treatnt, much like the privileges enjoyed by a Scholar in the history of Fang Qingyuan’s past life. These tea farrs would no longer pay taxes to Tianshan Villa and would be considered a cut above other mortals.
Furthermore, whenever the sect distributed benefits, the people under an Immortal Master’s jurisdiction were given priority.
In a sense, to change one’s status was to change one’s entire way of life.
Of course, the sect deliberately controlled the number of mortals who could enjoy this privilege. According to sect regulations, an Outer Sect Disciple could take on twenty households as subjects, an Inner Sect Disciple fifty, and a Core Disciple one hundred.
It was a classic case of "when one person achieves enlightennt, their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven." The sect’s original intent was to show favor to its disciples’ families and relatives—a simple way to win their hearts and minds.
Fang Qingyuan had long ago sold the twenty-household quota he received as an Outer Sect Disciple, trading it for cultivation resources to help him break through to the Qi Refining Fourth Level.
Now that he had been promoted to Inner Sect Disciple, he had a new quota of thirty households that he had yet to use. This was the perfect opportunity.
’I must keep this group of people under my control,’ Fang Qingyuan resolved. ’With two promising seedlings with tal Spirit Roots, I can nurture them to beco powerful assets for in the future.’
Moreover, once they beca his governed people, he would hold the power of life and death over them. According to Great Zhou Law, an Immortal Master could not attack a mortal without cause, but punishing one’s own governed people was a clear exception.
Since these mortals chose to beco Fang Qingyuan’s governed people and enjoy special privileges, they had to be completely loyal to him and accept all the consequences that entailed.
If any of them dared to gossip about their master, Fang Qingyuan could kill them on the spot, and no one would have the right to interfere.
Fang Qingyuan had no intention of letting anyone else discover the secret of the Qingfeng Tea Garden, so he needed to take every possible precaution.
As the crowd cheered, Fang Qingyuan raised a hand to quiet them. He then took twenty Low-grade Spirit Stones and two Magical Artifacts from his storage bag and handed them to Qu Wei.
"You and the Liu Family will each take ten of these Spirit Stones as a reward. Have your children carry these two Magical Artifacts with them at all tis to protect them from any unforeseen accidents."
After Qu Wei accepted the items, Fang Qingyuan added,
"Also, from the annual harvest of Qingfeng Silver Hao Tea, you will give ninety percent. You can sell the remaining ten percent. The money you earn should be a considerable sum, which you can use to improve the lives of your people here."
Spirit Stones could be exchanged for gold and silver, but the reverse was not true. It was a completely one-sided exchange, a result of how incredibly precious Spirit Stones were, especially to mortals.
Upon hearing this, Qu Wei led everyone in kneeling and kowtowing to thank Fang Qingyuan for his benevolence. Fang Qingyuan accepted their gesture without demur.
Fang Qingyuan’s generosity toward Qu Wei was primarily for the sake of the two future Cultivators. If he wanted them to be grateful to him, he had to start instilling that loyalty from a young age. These gestures were rely a small down paynt on their future allegiance.
"In a few days, I will have a Steward from the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall co to update your household registers. Don’t wander off in the anti. Oh, and have the two children been nad yet?"
Becoming Fang Qingyuan’s governed people didn’t require them to change their surnas. If he tried to force them, it would cause unnecessary trouble if others found out.
You could take a person’s life, but you could not force them to take your surna. This was a peculiarity of the Great Zhou Law.
Qu Wei chuckled and said,
"When my son was born, his mother nearly died during labor. He himself was frail and ca close to death as well. That’s why I nad him Qu Wujie, hoping he would live a life without disaster or hardship, full of peace and joy."
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