Once Qiu Luoye agreed to the reclamation, Li Banfeng brought his people to Qiu Luoye’s domain that very day.
With more than a thousand homesteaders setting out at once, leaving them to their own devices would have invited total chaos—fights would have broken out over picking plots alone.
Li Banfeng had planned ahead, however. On the road, he handed each person a map with plots already marked out. He had even projected films for the crowd and given them three days to choose their sites, stipulating that conflicting claims would go to whoever chose first.
They had studied the maps, watched the film, and heard all the explanations loud and clear. Yet when they arrived at the domain, some still spoke up asking to switch plots.
Could they switch?
Certainly—outside the plots marked by Li Banfeng, they could choose any plot they liked and serve as their own masters, but there would be no bounty, and they would bear the costs of reclamation entirely on their own.
With the plots settled, offerings were prepared that day. Qiu Luoye answered each one, and trials began the next morning.
Those thousand-plus people were not clearing over a thousand separate plots.
Some banded together in groups of three to five to claim a plot spanning one li square; others gathered in groups of thirty to fifty, or even over a hundred, to tackle a three-li plot.
Any combination was permitted. Li Banfeng awarded bounties by plot; how the money was divvied up afterward was strictly the homesteaders' own business.
Still, he had to guard against incompetent troublemakers.
A few individuals with no cultivation to speak of insisted on trying to clear a three-li plot single-handedly. Li Banfeng sent them packing halfway there, having no time to waste on such nonsense.
Among them, some refused to leave and demanded a debate with Li Banfeng. He promptly sent them off to the Lesser Underworld to serve as fresh rations for the departed souls.
For this round of trials, Qiu Luoye had ordered the anomalies under his command to hold back as much as possible, striving to let these homesteaders succeed.
The first day went smoothly, and the homesteaders passed their trials without incident.
By the morning of the second day, however, over a hundred homesteaders failed in succession and were driven off their plots.
Li Banfeng looked over the hundred-odd failures and found no shortage of seasoned veterans among them.
These veterans had not been greedy, either. Five skilled hands had teamed up for a one-li plot, only to be thrashed and driven out in under five minutes by a single anomaly.
Li Banfeng called over the leader of the five-man team, slipped him some money in private, and asked what had happened.
The leader, a man in his early forties named Zhao Yongtian, said to Li Banfeng, “I’m at Tier Three, and under me are one Tier Two and three Tier Ones. A one-li plot should’ve been more than within our grasp.
“We figured we’d secure this one first to guarantee our capital, and if Seventh Master thought well of us, we’d open up a few more plots to earn a bit extra.
“Who could’ve guessed that a jujube tree would show up this morning? It marched right onto our plot, flailing its branches at us. None of us could withstand a single blow.
“I told you five minutes just so you wouldn't laugh at us, Seventh Master, but truth be told, it took less than thirty seconds to beat us all out.”
What kind of cultivation did this jujube tree possess?
Surely it was beyond Tier Four.
Meng Yuchun had mentioned before that an anomaly barely reaching Tier Four could be sent to test a one-li plot, but that only happened when a local spirit harbored deep resentment toward homesteaders.
Anyone of higher tier was forbidden from conducting trials on such plots, as that violated the covenant.
What game was Qiu Luoye playing? Had he intentionally dispatched someone above Tier Four to test them? Did he not want this venture to succeed?
Li Banfeng frowned and went straight looking for Elephant Qiu. When he reached Qiu Luoye’s dwelling at the foot of Elephant Mountain, he found Qiu Luoye clutching a jujube tree and hurling curses, with quite a few anomalies gathered around.
“Brother Qiu, what happened?” Li Banfeng stepped forward and asked.
Qiu Luoye ground his teeth. “Brother Seven, stay out of this! I’m going to chop this bastard to pieces!”
The jujube tree was unintimidated. “Go ahead! Chop away! Master Qiu, I’ve served you all these years—don’t you go soft now!”
Qiu Luoye truly looked ready to strike, but Li Banfeng held him back. “Let’s get the whole story straight first.”
“No need for explanations!” Qiu Luoye fumed. “This damned tree has reached Tier Five! Sneaking off to a one-li plot to conduct a trial—isn't he deliberately sabotaging me?”
Li Banfeng turned to the jujube tree. “Why did you do it?”
“To survive!” the jujube tree yelled. “If all the land is given to them, how are we supposed to live?”
Watching the commotion from the side, Shui Yongquan sighed. “Too hasty, far too hasty.”
He was not wrong; this situation had indeed been brought on by reclaiming land too quickly.
If a domain conducted ten reclamations a year, it would hardly be an issue. A prudent local spirit would gradually manage the number of anomalies, steadily sending a few to other territories, and the remaining anomalies would scarcely notice any change.
In Qiu Luoye’s domain, however, land was cleared thousands of times a year, and now over a thousand newcomers had arrived at once. Anomalies were densely packed across his territory, and their living space had suddenly been squeezed past bearing. It was inevitable that they would rise in resistance.
Qiu Luoye cared nothing for such nuance. All he wanted was to hack the jujube tree down to make an example of it.
Yet the other anomalies refused to yield. “Master Qiu, if you're killing him, you might as well kill the rest of us along with him!”
One angry word led to another, and Qiu Luoye bellowed, “Fine! Today I’ll grant your wish! I’ll send every last one of you on your way!”
Li Banfeng held Qiu Luoye back once more and asked, “If the entire domain is successfully reclaimed, what becomes of the anomalies living here?”
This was an issue Li Banfeng had always cared about, for he would face the very same problem in the future.
Once an entire domain was reclaimed, newland would transform into proper land, and proper land had no place for anomalies.
Qiu Luoye said, “I’ll arrange a place for them!”
Shui Yongquan shook his head. “How can you arrange it? If you took a century or eighty years to send them off gradually, it wouldn't be an issue.
“You’ve cleared more than thirty percent of your land in a single year—where can you send them? Send them to my domain? I can't afford to feed them!”
Qiu Luoye spat in disgust. “Look at that face of yours! Who said I was sending them to you? I have plenty of friends. Whose doorstep couldn’t take them?”
Shui Yongquan chuckled. “Try sending them and see if anyone dares accept! If you march into someone’s domain with hundreds or thousands of subordinates, who knows what mischief you’re plotting? When the day comes that you fall out with each other, who wouldn't fear you coordinating an attack from inside and out?”
Qiu Luoye swung his trunk, thoroughly vexed.
Whenever he grew angry, his brain practically ground to a halt. Clutching the jujube tree, he was on the verge of slaughtering it when Li Banfeng leaned in and whispered a few words into his ear.
Qiu Luoye froze. “Brother Seven, is there really such a place?”
“There is. Just leave this matter to me.”
Qiu Luoye swished his trunk. “Fine, then you tell them.”
Li Banfeng turned to the crowd of anomalies. “Everyone, heed my advice. I will settle you in a new place, and I guarantee you won’t be wronged! Anyone willing to follow me, we set out in three days. And if you aren't willing to follow me, Brother Qiu won’t mistreat you either.”
For Li Banfeng and Qiu Luoye, this was an ideal outcome that benefited both sides. Li Banfeng’s domain happened to lack anomalies, so this was a massive windfall for him.
It all depended on how the anomalies weighed their options.
Judging by Qiu Luoye’s posture, he was clearly aiming for proper land. If these anomalies wanted to plan ahead, their best move was to follow Li Banfeng to a suitable new home.
Staying behind was not entirely out of the question either. Although their living space was being squeezed, opportunities for testing homesteaders were multiplying, meaning more chances to earn cultivation. So long as they followed the rules, Qiu Luoye was never stingy when it came to rewarding cultivation.
Having at least found a way out, the anomalies dispersed one after another, returning home to weigh their prospects.
Two days later, the trials concluded. The thousand-odd homesteaders had cleared over a hundred plots. Li Banfeng paid out their bounties on the spot and proposed that anyone wishing to earn more could stay behind and continue clearing land.
Nearly twenty percent of the homesteaders departed, but over eighty percent chose to remain.
Money earned from reclamation came hard, walking on the edge of a blade.
Yet Li the Seventh paid generously. Since they had already come all this way, they all wanted to turn another profit!
Qiu Luoye asked Li Banfeng, “Brother Seven, can you hold out? I haven't concerned myself with worldly affairs for years, but this approach of yours must cost an enormous fortune.”
“Don't worry, I can hold out!” Li Banfeng replied, though his cheek twitched as he spoke.
This enterprise was a true money-burner! Gleaming silver dollars were hauled onto the domain cartload by cartload. If his businesses weren't thriving, Li Banfeng would never have dared pull a stunt like this.
While the remaining workers carried on reclaiming land, Li Banfeng led over a hundred anomalies back toward his own domain.
These anomalies were accustomed to an idle, wandering life; they had no interest in conducting trials to earn cultivation and only wanted a peaceful corner where they could drift through their days, so they had made up their minds early.
Yet Li Banfeng’s domain was so remote that the anomalies spent the entire journey grumbling.
“Seventh Master, where exactly are you taking us? It’s not unowned land, is it?
“If it's unowned land, we won’t go. No one hands out cultivation in places like that.”
Li Banfeng smiled. “It has an owner. The local spirit there is wonderful—generous and kind-hearted!”
Once they arrived at the domain, Li Banfeng told the anomalies to find spots to settle down.
The crowd didn’t budge.
“Seventh Master, where is this local spirit? Please invite him out so we can sign a covenant deed first.”
That was fair enough, but how was such a deed supposed to be drafted?
Li Banfeng had never written one before. Afraid of making an embarrassing blunder, he hurried to Meng Yuchun’s residence to learn the proper format.
The contents of the covenant deed were actually quite complex.
The first section laid out the background: on what year, month, and day, and for what reason a certain party had arrived in this domain.
The second section outlined the anomalies' obligations, divided into two main points: first, they had to obey the domain's rules and could not leave their assigned plots without permission; second, they had to obey the local spirit’s commands and fight for the spirit when needed.
The third section covered the anomalies' rights—under what circumstances they would be granted cultivation.
In the deeds Meng Yuchun had drafted for other anomalies, Li Banfeng spotted a clause: *Those who fight valiantly before the mirror shall be handsomely rewarded.*
Li Banfeng asked Meng Yuchun, “What does ‘fight valiantly before the mirror’ mean?”
Meng Yuchun shook his head. “You don't need to write that.”
Li Banfeng drafted a template following the model, returned home, and had everyone help copy it.
Hong Ying was blind, but her calligraphy was remarkably fine. The wife read aloud beside her while Hong Ying put brush to paper, producing over a dozen copies in moments. Her brushstrokes possessed strong sinew without losing elegance, presenting a pleasing sight.
The glove wrote quickly as well. Though its handwriting was somewhat scrawled, it churned out thirty to fifty sheets in the blink of an eye.
Li Banfeng wanted to see the Judge's Brush show off its calligraphy, and the brush was eager to put on a display.
It struggled upright with great effort, flew over to the table, spread out a sheet of covenant paper, dipped itself in ink, and was just about to touch paper when the glove and Hong Ying finished writing every single deed.
Li Banfeng looked at the Judge's Brush and said, “No rush. You can write at your own pace.”
“*Hmph~*” The Judge's Brush wiped the ink off its body and went off to rest.
Li Banfeng could not let it rest just yet; he still needed to meet his new subordinates.
First, he used the projector to set the scene, a task the projector knew intimately.
Next, he borrowed some imposing aura from Hong Ying; as long as he gave her advance notice, she raised no objections.
Li Banfeng then notified the anomalies to wait at a designated spot.
Relying on his advantages as a journey cultivator, he arrived ahead of time, concealed his form, and had the liquor gourd slowly spray spirits to generate a ball of green fire that served as the local spirit’s avatar.
With everything prepared, Li Banfeng gave the Judge's Brush an order: “Fly.”
Half an hour later, Li Banfeng finally lifted off the ground, floating less than a foot high.
Drifting before the gathered crowd, Li Banfeng said nothing; speaking too much only risked exposing his ignorance.
He pulled a deed from his breast pocket and tossed it with precision toward the troublemaking jujube tree. Within five meters, he never missed his mark, and the deed landed squarely before it.
He distributed all the deeds in this manner. No one raised an objection until an ox-headed man shook his head and said, “This deed isn’t right! It’s completely different from Master Qiu’s!”
Li Banfeng had not intended to speak, but here was someone making trouble.
Wasn't a minor difference between covenant deeds perfectly normal? Why did this fellow have to be so pedantic?
In a low, gravelly voice, Li Banfeng asked the ox-headed man, “Where is it different?”
“The quality is worlds apart!” The ox-headed man pulled a deed from his breast pocket—the one Qiu Luoye had returned to him.
Li Banfeng took the deed. It was mounted on a scroll made of exquisite materials and crafted with great care.
Who would have guessed that the rough-hewn Qiu Luoye would put so much thought into his deeds? The contents had to be far richer than what Li Banfeng had written.
Li Banfeng unrolled the scroll, only to find eight large characters written across it: *From now on, follow me, Qiu Luoye!*
Beneath those eight characters was a bloody hoofprint left by the ox-headed man.
The ox-headed man shouted, “On Master Qiu’s deed, I recognized the word ‘Ye’! On your deed, I don't recognize a single word! The quality of this deed is clearly substandard. You aren't trying to swindle us, are you?”
*You only recognize one character, and you think that's impressive?*
Li Banfeng glanced at the jujube tree and asked, “Does anyone else among you know how to read?”
The jujube tree gave a cold snort. “Old Ox is remarkable in that regard. Even I don't recognize that character ‘Ye.’”
The crowd nodded repeatedly, praising Old Ox for his brilliance.
Helpless, Li Banfeng read the deed aloud to them.
***
Once all the deeds were signed, Li Banfeng brought them back to the Portable Abode.
The wife looked over the deeds and said to Li Banfeng, “Dear husband, these signed anomalies represent both the vitality and the fighting strength of our domain. Once we ascend above the clouds, they will all serve as your foundation. But a hundred or so is far too few—you still need to find more.”
*Find more?*
That sounded fine.
Qiu Luoye had nowhere to settle them anyway, so Li Banfeng might as well take them all.
Chapter 406