Spirit Aperture

Li Tongya formed a hand incantation, watching fine, dense spirit rain drift down onto the dark soil. Pale-faced, he thought to himself, "The Spirit Rain Art from the spirit plant cultivation method consumes so much. Even after completing the Chengming Wheel, I can barely cast it once. These spirit plants need daily care; we truly need more hands." Li Xiangping and Li Tongya had surveyed the spirit fields across the villages, finding them all pitifully scarce. Lijing Village's spirit fields were scattered and piecemeal, but fortunately, the largest patch was just enough to plant ten Baiyuan fruits. Thus, Li Tongya had men build a small courtyard at the foot of the mountain where the land had once lain barren. He cultivated and tended the crops there in ordinary times, with servants delivering provisions, making for a rather comfortable life. Li Xiangping had selected a patch of spirit field in Jingyang Village to sow spirit rice. This drew the villagers of Jingyang Village to bow and pay homage outside his courtyard day after day, which was quite amusing. Because he had not yet entered the Zhouxing Wheel, Li Tongya had to close his eyes and regulate his breathing for nearly an hour before fully restoring his magic power. Checking the time, he found that Li Yesheng had already been waiting outside with several men for a good while. Hearing the wooden door creak open, Li Yesheng hurriedly bowed in greeting. "The children from all the villages have arrived. Brother Tongya, are we heading over now?" "Mm," Li Tongya gave a low assent, slowly walking toward the village entrance amid the attentive smiles of Li Yesheng and the men behind him. *** Beneath the lush, leafy canopy of the great locust tree at the village entrance, the people sent by each village had all gathered. The stewards dispatched by the Li family led the delegations alongside several village figures, followed by throngs of children of various ages. The few stewards were relatively at ease, standing in pairs beneath the locust tree and chatting in hushed tones. The villagers from the other settlements appeared anxious and restrained; not daring to speak, they stood frozen in place. Influenced by their elders, the children sat obediently on the ground. Lately, Chen Erniu had been riding high, so delighted he could barely sleep at night. After generations of his ancestors had toiled and wallowed in the dirt, he was finally living a proper life. When he learned he had been assigned to oversee Lichuankou, Chen Erniu had knocked his head against the ground in nine resounding kowtows before the Li family's courtyard, weeping profusely as he made a fierce vow to Old Man Li: "Thanks to your trust, Master, Erniu will surely whip those villagers of Lichuankou into complete submission!" When he fled as a refugee, he had received the Li family's relief; marrying a wife and buying land had come from their benevolence; and when his wife fell ill, the Li family had paid for her medical care. Such kindness had bound Chen Erniu firmly to the Li family's chariot. What was more, if staggering benefits were laid before his eyes, Chen Erniu would even dare to eat dog shit! However, Chen Erniu and Xu Wenshan had been at odds ever since their days as tenant farmers, leading to frequent friction between their two villages. Only Ren Ping'an held a detached standing among the three villages, attending to his own village affairs day by day. "Steward Chen..." An anxious call reached his ears. Chen Erniu turned his head to look and saw it was Chen Changhu, a fellow villager who had come along from Lichuankou. The Chen clan made up the majority in Lichuankou. This Chen Changhu was the oldest in the clan and held considerable prestige in the countryside, so everyone had recommended him to lead their contingent. "Is the immortal from the Li family truly willing to accept our Chen family's children?" The old man, usually calm, self-assured, and prestigious, now stared anxiously toward the village entrance as he asked in a low whisper. "I told you, it takes immortal fate! They have to have that damned aperture or whatever! Any child between seven and thirteen—as long as your Chen children have that spirit aperture within them, the Li family will take them all!" Seeing Chen Changhu nodding repeatedly, Chen Erniu curled his lip, yet his heart was rife with envy. He inwardly cursed his luck that his two children were either too old and had missed their chance, or too young to come for testing. "The immortal is here!" Seeing Li Tongya appear at the village entrance, Chen Erniu hurried forward with a beaming smile, thinking with envy, *I wonder which child from all these villages will attain immortal fate today.* Li Tongya cupped his hands lightly in greeting, smiled at Chen Erniu, and turned his head to Li Yesheng. "Begin." A wooden stage had already been set up beside the locust tree. Li Tongya sat atop the platform, and the people below began calling out names. "Lichuankou! Chen Lifu!" Below, someone from the Chen family brought up a trembling child. Li Tongya placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, circulating magic power through his body for a full cycle before waving his hand. "Step down." Hearing this, the two dared not reply and hurriedly stepped down. Below, a flicker of disappointment crossed Chen Changhu's eyes. "Next!" ... Before long, all the candidates from Lichuankou had gone through. Chen Changhu looked grim, glancing at Chen Erniu with an almost pleading look. Chen Erniu rolled his eyes and spread his hands, showing he was powerless to help. The late-autumn air was crisp and cool. Even with so many people gathered at high noon, it remained refreshing beneath the tree, yet the villagers broke out in cold sweat. Seeing that Lichuankou had not produced a single candidate with immortal fate, drums of dread beat in their hearts. Li Tongya, however, had long prepared himself for this outcome. Those endowed with a spirit aperture were one in a thousand. If the children across the villages produced even one, it would cover the investment; two would be pure profit. "Jingyang Village! Liu Rouxuan!" As soon as the voice fell, a girl of about thirteen or fourteen stepped forward. Her brows and eyes were curved and gentle, her eyes bright, and she nervously bit her lip. Fourteen was practically at the upper age limit. Li Tongya shook his head helplessly, pretending not to notice, and rested his left hand on the girl's shoulder to circulate his magic power. After coursing through the girl's meridians for a full circle, Li Tongya let out a soft murmur of surprise. Below, the Liu kinsmen of Jingyang Village instantly grew tense. Within the girl's Qihai acupoint, currents of qi surged ceaselessly, where a transparent qi aperture pulsed steadily as if breathing on its own. "Not bad." Li Tongya opened his eyes, smiled at the girl, and said gently, "Stand behind me." Liu Rouxuan stared blankly into Li Tongya's eyes, seemingly yet to register such monumental fortune. Only after several breaths did the reality dawn upon her, and beaming with delight, she stepped behind Li Tongya. A commotion erupted among the crowd from Jingyang Village. Every face lit up with joy, held back from cheering aloud only out of reverence for Li Tongya. Lichuankou was steeped in gloom, while the remaining two villages grew even more anxious. Before long, testing for Jingyang Village and Lidaokou concluded. As expected, none among the rest possessed a spirit aperture. "Lijing Village!" Li Tongya swept his gaze over the children below. Li Xuanxuan was naturally not among them; the boy was only three years old and still far from grown. He would have to reach at least age seven before they could test for a spirit aperture. Having finally arrived at the children of their own village, Li Yesheng raised an eyebrow and began calling names. *If Brother Tongya hadn't already tested me earlier, I'd have dearly loved to go up and try myself!* Li Yesheng thought with lingering regret as he called out the names in a clear voice. "Ye Qiuyang!" Below, his father, Ye Chengfu, tensed all over, his legs turning to jelly. He fixed his eyes firmly on the boy of eight or nine on the platform, constantly reassuring himself in his heart, *Our Ye family is a branch of the Li family after all; surely we have a bit of immortal fate in our blood...* Watching Li Tongya place his hand on Ye Qiuyang's shoulder, Ye Chengfu closed his eyes, plopped straight down onto the sandy ground, and listened in a daze.