Autumn Wind Sweeping Leaves

In Decency Village, the sky was just beginning to lighten.

When many people successfully cultivate a piece of land, the sunlight filters through them, creating the illusion that it is not a new place.

Of course, the sunlight in the new land is not as dazzling as the sunlight in the Proper Land. The sunlight from various Land Block intertwines, making it not much different from the dawn in the Proper Land.

How many Land Block have been successfully reclaimed near Decency Village?

This matter needs to be properly investigated.

Li Banfeng led the pioneers to a forest, more than five miles away from Decency Village. Here, they could already see many houses and a restaurant.

Some hunters were visiting Decency Village for the first time and were curious about where the ingredients for their restaurant came from.

There aren't many things to eat on the new land. In the past, most of the food for Decency Village came from oranges in the Orange Garden, fish from the lake, and some edible wild animals.

But now the situation is different. Many Farming Cultivator land in the surrounding area, growing a lot of food and raising a lot of livestock.

With a stable supply of food, more people temporarily settled nearby, some to clear land, some to hunt, some to escape disaster, some to cultivate themselves, some to film movies... The houses expanded from inside the village to outside the village.

When they arrived near Decency Village, Li Banfeng saw two elderly people sitting under a big tree at the village entrance, playing chess.

One was thin and small, the other was fat and burly.

The thin old man said, "Are you going to make a move or not? You've been watching this move for half an hour."

The portly old man pushed the chess piece aside. "What difference does it make whether I move or not? I don't know how to play chess anyway. Everyone's here, what am I pretending for?"

These two people are Shui Yongquan and Qiu Luoye.

Upon seeing Li Banfeng, Qiu Luoye approached and pulled him aside, saying, "Li Banfeng Seventh Brother, you brought so many people this time, is it because you need our help?"

Li Banfeng nodded and said, "There really is something. Duan Wuchou and Liang Wucai have done a lot of good for me, and I want to keep them by my side."

Qiu Luoye laughed heartily, "I thought it was something serious, just keep them! Ma Wu borrowed Aqin and Huo Ling from me, when did I ever ask him for them back?"

"Brother Qiu, I'm not borrowing them, I'm asking you for them, and I want their contracts as well."

"Sure, I'll give it to you. But they are from the new land after all, so you'll have to discuss with Old Shui and use more techniques to cover them up."

Shui Yongquan stood to the side, a smile on his face, but didn't say a word.

Qiu Luoye frowned. "What do you mean? Old Shui, you want to raise the price? Seventh Brother brought so many people today, aren't you going to help with this little thing?"

Shui Yongquan shook his head and said, "Look at what you're saying. I'm not hesitant to help, but could we postpone the land reclamation for now?"

Upon hearing this, Li Banfeng was stunned.

Why would Shui Yongquan have this attitude?

Don't the Local Earth God all hope for land reclamation?

Even the Qiu Luoye couldn't understand. "Slow down what? Old Shui, what's wrong with you? Did you drink too much this morning and get drunk?"

Shui Yongquan laughed and said, "Don't rush, let's find a place to talk."

Shui Yongquan built a wooden hut on his own land and usually pretended to be a hunter, chatting with the people around him.

Upon entering the wooden cabin, Shui Yongquan poured tea for the two of them. Qiu Daxiang pushed the cup aside, looked at Shui Yongquan, and said, "Knowing that Seventh Brother was coming, we agreed to come out together to greet him."

"If I had known you had other intentions, I wouldn't have come out with you. I would have just taken Seventh Brother to my territory."

Shui Yongquan frowned and said, "Qiu Daxiang, what you said is a bit off."

"What do you mean by 'different'? What exactly do you mean?" Qiu Luoye was truly angry. "Have you climbed the social ladder? Are you looking for someone else to partner with? Do you look down on me, or on Seventh Brother?"

"It's fine if you look down on us, we won't benefit from you. Seventh Brother, I'll give you all the men you mentioned. I'll have someone cover their identities for you. I also have some good men here, I'll bring them all later, you can choose whichever you like! I, Qiu Luoye, do things with a clear conscience!"

Shui Yongquan waved his hand and said, "Old Qiu, this isn't a matter of conscience!"

"What else could this be?" Qiu Luoye slammed her fist on the table. "Back then, nobody came to this wretched place to cultivate the land. How many people did Seventh Brother bring to us? Now that you've climbed the social ladder, you're going to dump them? Do you have any conscience left?"

Shui Yongquan sighed, "To tell you the truth, in my territory, there are 10,900 pieces within a mile radius, and 900 of them were given to me by Qiu Luoye."

Qiu Luoye waved her hand and said, "Don't tell me that, I can't figure it out!"

"I didn't ask you to calculate it; I've already done it for you," Shui Yongquan said, pulling out an account book. "On my territory, over 2,700 plots of land have been developed, and on your territory, over 2,500 plots have been developed!"

Qiu Luoye' face was grave, his gaze icy as he said, "Could it be that the new land I've cultivated is less than yours?"

Shui Yongquan said helplessly, "Is that even a question? Can't you count?"

Qiu Luoye lowered her voice and asked Li Banfeng, "Am I right? It's less than his, isn't it?"

Li Banfeng nodded firmly.

Shui Yongquan said, "What I mean by saying this is that nearly 30% of our two families' land has been developed. If this continues, the Inner State will take notice of us."

Qiu Luoye snorted and said, "So what if they're watching? What's there to be afraid of? We're clearing the land according to the rules, what business is it of theirs?"

"We haven't broken any rules, but our situation is special. We're in deep water, not shallow water. I'm worried about what kind of trouble the Inner State might cause us!"

Li Banfeng was stunned for a long time.

What is deep earth, and what is shallow earth?

The concept is easy to understand.

Shui Yongquan explained, "The so-called 'deep' and 'shallow' refer to the distance from the Proper Land. New land that is close to the Proper Land is called shallow land. The Qiu Luoye's Territory is far from the Proper Land, separated by several new lands, so it is called deep land."

Logically speaking, the closer to the Proper Land, the easier it is to transport food and supplies; therefore, the shallower the land, the more people will be needed to cultivate it.

Seventh Brother, ask around along the way, see if any Local Earth God has already developed 30% of their land? How much of that land right next to Green Water Bay has been developed? As far as I know, less than 20%!

Now that we two brothers have already expanded so deep into this territory, reaching 30%, do you think the Inner State doesn't know about this? If they find out, do you think they won't cause us trouble?

Li Banfeng was curious. "How can they cause trouble?"

"It's hard to say," Shui Yongquan shook his head and said, "They might send someone out to cause trouble, or they might destroy our contract."

Li Banfeng was even more confused. "You're saying that Inner State sent people out to cause trouble, but can people from Inner State just come to Pro State like that?"

"That's not possible," Shui Yongquan smacked his lips, "But they must have other methods. I haven't found out what those methods are yet."

Li Banfeng then asked, "You said they could destroy your deeds? Your deeds are buried on your land, how could they destroy them?"

Shui Yongquan said, "Young brother, you've never seen a contract; you only know one side of the story!"

Who says I've never seen a contract?

I've seen two of them!

Of course, this matter cannot be revealed.

Shui Yongquan brought paper and pen and drew an arch shape. "This is what a contract looks like. It's proof that the Local Earth God occupies the land. All the major and minor events that happen on this land are recorded in the contract."

"When I defeated Qiu Luoye, Qiu Luoye ceded thirty li of land to me. This is recorded. If you don't believe me, let's dig up Qiu Daxiang's contract now and see for ourselves. Every single stroke is written clearly!"

Qiu Luoye spat and said, "Pah! Why don't you dig up your contract and take a look?"

Shui Yongquan continued, "Not only are there records of the land ceding, but also of the land reclamation. Every single piece is written down clearly."

Li Banfeng remained unmoved, believing that Shui Yongquan was making things up.

He had seen two contracts, Mountain Pulling Master and the Bei Wushuang, neither of which contained any record of land reclamation.

Etc.

Has anyone started cultivating those two areas?

That place was much more remote than the area with the Shui Yongquan and the Qiu Luoye's Territory.

Before, there had been no pioneers in the Mountain Pulling Master's Territory. You Tao, He Yuxiu, and Zhang Wanlong successively succeeded in reclaiming the land. At that time Local Earth God had become Li Furong.

There are probably no successfully cultivated Land Block in the territory of Bei Wushuang, so Li Banfeng has never seen any records of it.

So, what the Shui Yongquan said must be true.

"Are you worried that clearing too much wasteland will attract the attention of the Inner State?"

Shui Yongquan said, "With a bunch of contracts laid out here, the people of Inner State will definitely be too lazy to look at them. But if a contract suddenly has a lot of extra text, those people from Inner State will definitely take a look."

Li Banfeng was still confused. "Where's that pile of contracts?"

"They are displayed in the library of Inner State, hanging in rows," Shui Yongquan drew an archway again, "The contracts are divided into two halves. We have one half, and Inner State keeps the other half. The two halves of the contracts together form a circle. If Inner State destroys their half, it is hard to say what will happen to our half."

This time, Li Banfeng understood.

My Wife once said that the words on the contract could be seen Inner State, because the contract was divided into two parts, and both sides changed simultaneously.

If there are any major changes, they are immediately apparent when the items are hung in rows.

The Wife changed the name of the Mountain Pulling Master to Li Furong. This change is not too big and should not attract the attention of the Inner State.

Probably not...

Li Banfeng felt a little uneasy, when he suddenly heard Qiu Luoye say, "Let's not talk about the circle for now."

The Qiu Luoye seemed a little scared.

Does he also have moments of fear?

Qiu Luoye looked at the Shui Yongquan and asked, "Old Water, what are you planning to do?"

Shui Yongquan said, "There are quite a few people in our two territories. I've roughly counted them; there are over a thousand coming and going. That's all there is to it."

"With popularity, we can accumulate cultivation points; why rush it?"

Qiu Luoye couldn't calculate the numbers, but he knew that a little over a thousand people definitely wouldn't be enough. "How many years would it take to accumulate cultivation with just over a thousand people? At this rate, when will we ever reach the third level?"

"What's the rush?" Shui Yongquan said patiently. "We have five times the lifespan of an ordinary person, so let's take it slow."

The concept that the Cloud Above Second Layer has five times the lifespan was something Li Banfeng had never heard of before.

But that's not the key issue right now. The key issue is that Shui Yongquan doesn't want to continue clearing land.

After a long silence, the Qiu Luoye emerged from the wooden house.

With heavy footsteps, the withered leaves remaining on the trees fell one after another.

He turned to Li Banfeng and said, "Seventh Brother, bring your men to my territory and prepare to clear the land. After it's done, you can choose any of my men you want."

Shui Yongquan frowned and said, "Qiu Daxiang, did you hear what I just said?"

"No, I didn't hear a word," Qiu Luoye answered very frankly. "Old Shui, if you want to wait, then wait. You can wait as long as you want."

I won't wait. Seventh Brother is a benefactor. God has been kind to me, allowing me to meet such a benefactor. I must repay God's kindness and see this through to the end!