That said, the Land Reclamation tax was indeed steep. "Small Reclamation" cost ten lower-grade spirit stones each time, while "Great Reclamation" cost twenty spirit stones each time.
Ordinary Rogue Cultivators simply could not afford it and could only grit their teeth and go.
Yet some Rogue Cultivators believed that Land Reclamation meant venturing deeper into rarely trodden primordial lands, where the gains would be greater, and thus awaited it eagerly.
Unlike Rogue Cultivators, cultivation lineages were different. They had to enter the Wilderness for Land Reclamation and could not hire substitutes!
However, they could freely select personnel from within the Lineage. If they truly lacked enough people, they could also pay double the Land Reclamation tax to make up a "small shortfall."
But no matter what, independent of human will, the opportunity-and-danger-filled "Great Reclamation" was drawing near at last.
"What? Less than three miles outside the market, a shop's cargo convoy was ambushed and slaughtered?"
That day, Lin Changheng had just stepped out of the Xu Family Alchemy Shop when he heard the shopkeepers of the two neighboring stores discussing it.
"Yes. They say it was the Ge Family's. Not only were all their goods looted, but several family cultivators were killed as well. Severed limbs were strewn everywhere; not one survived. Those bandit cultivators are getting far too rampant!"
"This market will... ahem, this is the inevitable result. I just didn't expect the chaos to come so quickly. Before, the Wang Family would certainly have flown into a rage and cracked down hard. But now... it seems we must notify our Lineage and prepare properly."
"Precisely, precisely! When the time comes to withdraw, we must have the clan send more cultivators to meet us! We must ensure nothing goes wrong!"
One shopkeeper nodded, then hesitated somewhat. "But... were the ones who acted truly bandit cultivators?"
The other shopkeeper froze at that, then fell silent. After a long while, he finally squeezed out two words. "Watch your words."
Afterward, the two men each picked up a small stool and returned to their respective shops without another word, their tacit understanding flawless.
Lin Changheng, who had stood in front of the Xu Family Shop for quite some time and had in fact "overheard" most of it, grew solemn as well.
Had the situation outside the market already descended into such chaos?
When he withdrew with the Xu Family, would he run into such rotten luck too?
He had always been cautious and had never left the market. Yet now, even he began to feel uneasy.
"No. I need to mention this to Master Mo. Whether it's bandit cultivators, enemies, or something else outside the market, the Xu Family must take it seriously!"
Having made up his mind, Lin Changheng immediately turned back, went up to the second floor, and knocked on Master Mo's door. Only after discussing the matter for a long time did he leave.
"Still not enough!"
Although Lin Changheng had six talismans on him, he still lacked any sense of security. His gaze flickered as he pondered in secret.
Half a month passed in a flash.
Master Mo reported the matter to the Lineage and received a response.
The Xu Family had already taken action, joining forces with five or six Qi Refining lineages with whom they had close ties to discuss their joint withdrawal.
They agreed to leave the market at the same time.
Several lineages also responded, deeming the arrangement appropriate.
In addition, the Xu Family sent an elder at the late Qi Refining Realm and two key members at the Qi Refining Middle Stage quietly to Zichuan Market, where they began transferring a portion of their supplies and spirit stones back to the clan in advance.
This was to avoid taking everything away in one go when the time came, concentrating the risk too heavily.
As one of the top three figures in the Xu Family Alchemy Shop, Lin Changheng naturally had the right to know the inside details.
But citing the principle that "success comes through secrecy," he refused to learn any deeper details.
In truth, Lin Changheng had considered one step further.
If the plan went through perfectly, then all would be well and everyone would rejoice.
But if something went wrong and accountability was demanded, then with less seniority than Master Mo and less personal standing than the shopkeeper, he would inevitably end up covered in trouble.
Better not to know.
He would keep himself out of it!
Master Mo and Xu Qianyou were both taken aback. The two old men exchanged glances, surprise in their eyes, before openly agreeing that he had a point and complying with his request.
Thus, in the end, Lin Changheng knew only a vague outline.
A few more days passed.
Lin Changheng arrived at the Xu Family Alchemy Shop as usual.
The moment he entered—
"Brother Lin."
A rather simple and honest-sounding voice, mixed with delight, rang out beside Lin Changheng's ear.
"Hm? Fugui?"
Lin Changheng looked toward the voice and saw a male cultivator with dark skin, thick brows, large eyes, and a slightly plump build, grinning broadly at him.
The two approached each other and patted one another on the shoulders, clearly both delighted.
Fugui's surname was also Xu, but he was not a descendant of the Blackwater River Xu Clan.
Rather, he had been an immortal seedling discovered in the mortal world, a farmer's son who had not come from the same town as Lin Changheng.
At the Spirit Root testing assembly, he had barely qualified as possessing a Lower-Grade Spirit Root with eleven strands of water spiritual resonance, and had been selected into the Xu Family alongside Lin Changheng.
The two got along fairly well and found plenty to talk about.
Later, when faced with the two paths offered by the Xu Family, his choice differed from Lin Changheng's path as a guest cultivator. He resolutely decided to marry into the Xu Family.
According to the Xu Family's rules,
Those with Lower-Grade Spirit Roots could choose three Xu Family women.
Those with mixed Spirit Roots could choose only two.
At the welcoming banquet for the Xu Family's immortal seedlings, high-spirited and full of vigor, he set his sights on three graceful, youthful, and charming mortal women of the Xu Family.
Though these three Xu Family women had no Spirit Roots, they were still descendants of cultivators. They could not escape the matter of marriage, but they did possess some choice in whom they married.
Xu Fugui's Lower-Grade Spirit Root ranked among the best of the newly arrived immortal seedlings. The women understood the situation well and none of them refused.
Thus, he embraced three beauties at once!
There were no elaborate rites. That very night, he entered the bridal chamber.
Later, when Lin Changheng was about to depart for Zichuan Market, Xu Fugui came especially to see him off, deeply reluctant to part. Lin Changheng had also asked what he thought before marrying into the Xu Family and how he had found it afterward.
Xu Fugui smiled, a trace of slyness appearing amid his honest manner.
"What does it matter whether I married in or not? Heh heh, anyway, all the children I have will bear the surname 'Xu.'"
"Back then, the old squire in our village took two beautiful wives and made everyone green with envy. Who could have imagined that a down-and-out fellow like me would now marry three at once and surpass him so easily?"
After warily looking around and confirming no one was paying attention, he finally lowered his voice and said that everything else was fine these days, except it was too hard on his kidneys. He asked Brother Lin to keep an eye out in the market for some secret technique to replenish yang...
Lin Changheng had laughed and agreed readily before leaving.
"I heard that Brother Lin finally became an alchemy master. Ten years of hopes have finally come to fruition."
The two had never stopped exchanging letters, though not often—one letter a year.
"You're doing well too, Fugui. You've broken through to the fifth layer of Qi Refining."
"Heh heh, it's all thanks to my fifth son. He possesses a Mid-grade Spirit Root, which earned me a considerable reward from the clan. Still, I have to thank Brother Lin for finding the Dragon Essence Secret Technique for me..."
Lin Changheng nodded. He knew about this matter and had even sent a gift for it.
This was also the Xu Family's way of buying a horse's bones for a thousand gold, intending to spur all the immortal seedlings to work harder at having children instead of staring at their own pitiful cultivation all day.
Only by having more children would there be a higher chance of producing cultivation talent, and only then might Lower-Grade or Mid-grade Spirit Roots appear.
But bearing descendants with Spirit Roots was no easy matter. In ten years, Xu Fugui had fathered six children. Only his third child had possessed a Spirit Root, and it had been a mixed Spirit Root.
His fifth child, however, had unexpectedly possessed a Mid-grade Spirit Root.
But his sixth child was once again a mortal.
Before you continue