Dao Master's Identity Empowerment, Passing on the Dao by Substituting One Plum Tree for Another

Within the Jiang Residence's quiet chamber.

Jiang Tu sat steadily as the sky beyond the window slowly brightened. Dawn had not quite broken; a few lingering stars hung alone in the heavens.

His mind rapidly replayed tonight's killing.

His first move had yielded no small harvest!

Killing Rong Yidao had given him more than 300 points of cultivation feedback, worth at least two years of bitter cultivation!

The three Straw Figures had each gained their own enhancements as well.

The Earthwalking Straw Figure was clearly more spirited than before. Its eyes were no longer so hollow. So long as it did not frequently show its face while impersonating Rong Yidao, it should not give itself away. At the very least, it would no longer stumble over every sentence as it had before.

With the Myriad-Forms Straw Figure coordinating things from the middle and working in tandem with it, things should be steadier still.

The Myriad-Forms Straw Figure itself had improved as well. Its control range had expanded from three hundred li to four hundred li. Previously, the distance from his home to Welcoming Wind City had nearly pushed the limits of his control range. Now, he had a little more room to maneuver.

As for the Spirit-Wisdom Straw Figure... its changes were the smallest. Other than growing a tiny bit taller, it did not seem to have changed much. Still, it gave Jiang Tu some wild thoughts. If it kept growing, would it eventually become a perfect miniature replica of Tu Yun?

Little Tu Yun seemed to have become a young lady now as well. She had grown graceful and slender, with several more traces of quiet poise. If she could shed her shell as a little demon pill and become a young lady, that would certainly be a delightful change.

What he cared about most, however, was the underlying law of the sequence that this accidental experiment had proven—Cultivation Persistence! The process of receiving feedback from killing someone made him think of the Reverse Inheritance Method mentioned by Luo Jin's phantom.

A master passing cultivation to a disciple was forward inheritance, while cultivation returning after one's death was reverse inheritance. Now, it seemed that thanks to Cultivation Persistence, it was not only masters and disciples who received feedback upon each other's deaths. So long as cultivators belonged to the same sequence, there should be feedback.

That made the question worth pondering deeply!

If Agricultural Path cultivators could kill one another and seize each other's cultivation, would some ill-intentioned people completely lead this road astray? Rather than diligently farming and spreading enlightenment far and wide, would they instead rely on slaughtering fellow cultivators to advance?

Agricultural Path cultivation took farming as its foundation, the earth as its root, and bonds of inheritance as its flesh and blood. If people truly abandoned the original heart of the sequence and took crooked, wicked paths, what changes would occur? He did not even dare imagine it, but he guessed the consequences would be extremely dire!

He could only hope the sequence would never head in such a direction...

The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became!

After simply handling the aftermath and confirming that no problems remained, he rose, intending to rest.

Before leaving the quiet chamber, his expression suddenly froze as another brand-new thought surfaced in his mind. On a sudden whim, he thought—

If cultivators of the same sequence could gain cultivation feedback by killing each other, then what happened when other cultivators killed Agricultural Path cultivators? Those Farmers initially selected by the Daoist Sect, the earliest batch to die sudden deaths—where had their cultivation gone? Had it flowed into the Daoist Sect's land, or into the bodies of certain Daoist Sect True Persons?

Judging by Wang Congyun's situation, Daoist Sect cultivation and Agricultural Path cultivation should not be able to coexist. But were they truly unrelated...?

In a daze, he recalled Wang Congyun's warning from more than a decade ago.

—Never trust Daoist Sect true qi. Especially do not let them channel qi into you to heal your injuries.

There was no doubt about it: Daoist Sect true qi had a problem!

When Daoist Sect cultivators killed agricultural cultivators, could they also obtain some unknown benefit?

He did not know.

Back then, he had only felt that there was treachery within the Daoist Sect and something had gone wrong with its cultivation. Now, considering the sequence's "Cultivation Persistence," he felt the problem might not be so simple. That only made him increasingly interested in Daoist Sect cultivation.

Just what Dao did the Daoist Sects of the Eastern Ten Prefectures cultivate? When would the answer be revealed?

Would it be revealed through evolution, or in reality?

Jiang Tu returned to the bedchamber.

Morning light faintly glimmered, a streak of blue-white appearing along the horizon.

Zhou Ning'e had not slept all night. Leaning against the headboard, she looked thoughtful yet tense. Though she had always been composed, suddenly hearing that her husband had gone out to kill someone had thrown her heart into turmoil. At the sound of footsteps, she abruptly raised her head. Seeing Jiang Tu return safely, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

She hurried over to inspect him closely. Only when she saw not a single wound on her husband did she relax slightly.

"Husband... I know you always plan before acting and would never act rashly, but my heart has still been terribly anxious. You returned so quickly—did everything go smoothly, or did you discover something strange in Welcoming Wind City and retreat in time?"

She was not someone who talked much or asked too many questions. Over their years of marriage, she had long formed the habit of never prying.

But tonight's matter was too significant for her not to ask.

"What does my wife think?"

"I think my husband is vastly, vastly better than that filthy little man. No, even putting my husband beside that scum for comparison would be an insult to you... Judging character to infer the result, perhaps it succeeded...?"

Jiang Tu did not answer directly. Smiling faintly, he said, "In a few days, tell Father-in-law that the Welcoming Wind City trade route may continue... The cosmetics business is flourishing. How could we abandon it halfway? However, from now on, Old Zhou House must hand over an additional thirty percent of its monthly net profit to Rong Yidao for networking expenses and favors. Rong Yidao is boundlessly greedy; this is the proper tribute to offer him, so outsiders will not grow suspicious. What do you think, my wife?"

Hm?

So had it succeeded or not? Her husband was... speaking with a hidden meaning?

Zhou Ning'e blinked. As she carefully savored his words, understanding dawned in her heart...

Little Jiang Liu had not returned, which meant the plan to kill and substitute one plum tree for another had succeeded! Her husband had apparently become the true Agricultural Path steward of Welcoming Wind City!

Her heart suddenly opened wide; with one thought unbound, heaven and earth became vast!

As she reflected, the affection and admiration she felt for her husband could not help increasing by several degrees.

She had always been one to be content with what she had. Originally, she had merely hoped to marry a good man. Even before her husband had revealed a shred of his secrets, she had already found him deeply satisfying. Love had gradually taken root in her heart, and she had been willing to spend her whole life in harmony at his side.

As more and more of her husband's secrets unfolded before her, she came to understand his character and capabilities more deeply. Naturally, the admiration in her heart grew with each passing day.

She even faintly felt inferior, rarely giving rise to the feeling that she was not a suitable match for him. But she had never been someone willing to lag behind, belittle herself, or wallow in self-pity. Since her current abilities could not match his, she would work harder and make up the gap between them in other ways.

She would make sure her husband could never leave her, rather than making him retreat and hide his gifts to match her.

For husband and wife to grow in both directions and run toward each other—that was a healthy love and marriage.

"My husband is truly remarkable. Without a sound, you can scheme across a hundred li and alter the entire situation of a region... I admire you tremendously! But isn't this like passing things from your left hand to your right? Filling your own pockets?"

"More than that. This Dao master identity can do far more than merely this... Father-in-law is already advanced in years. When he is gone a hundred years from now, if all the Zhou Household's assets return to the Jiang Residence, it would be far too conspicuous... Having the identity of Rong Yidao outwardly manage the Zhou Household's affairs and put on a show would be safer instead."

Zhou Ning'e's smile gradually faded as she fell into brief thought.

She knew in her heart that her father would one day pass away. Even if Premium Quality medicinal pills continued nourishing him and extending his life, a person's lifespan had its ordained limit. In the end, one could not defy heaven and change it. It was not as if she had never considered how much jealousy the Zhou Household's vast fertile fields and century-old estate would attract after merging into the Jiang Household.

But if someone as endlessly greedy as Rong Yidao stood in plain sight, carrying out exploitation and even swallowing most of it bit by bit, others would only think the Zhou Household had been forced into helplessness. Their envy and jealousy would turn into pity and sighs.

Her husband took one step while thinking ten steps ahead. He had even considered this!

"My wife need not look at me like that. I have merely grown older, and with nothing else to distract me at home, I naturally think a little more..."

Come to think of it, tonight had only been his first time killing someone. Yet perhaps because he was nearing fifty and had grown more experienced, more steady, with a heart as still as water—or perhaps because killing someone from a hundred li away was not as cruel or direct as killing nearby—his heart had not rippled in the slightest. He even felt like laughing.

A threat that had hung above his neck had been resolved so lightly, and after death, it would continue offering him contributions. How could he not be pleased?

As time passed, the identity of Field Steward Dao master would allow him to do more and more things he could not do himself...

While the husband and wife of Xiaopei County whispered tenderly and fell asleep in each other's arms, with no words spoken through the night, Welcoming Wind City was far from peaceful. Undercurrents surged.

After waves of disturbance rippled through the Rong Residence that night, many servants and guards awoke and immediately looked about, rushing inside and outside.

But strangely, they found nothing.

Everything inside and outside the courtyard was peaceful and perfectly normal. The cracked earth from before, as well as every trace of outsiders, had already been silently erased by the Spirit-Wisdom Straw Figure's Earth-Shifting Art. It was difficult to detect anything...

Shortly afterward, the Daoist Sect's hidden agents in the city were no fools. They vaguely sensed movement here.

In the dead of night.

Tap, tap, tap!

Whoosh!

A figure in black climbed high and descended low, leaping over eaves and walking along walls until he arrived outside the Rong Residence. From above, he overlooked the scene within.

His name was Qi Kaizhen, an inner disciple of the Daoist Sect who had undergone Second Dao Reception. This time, he had descended the mountain for training under orders to secretly monitor Welcoming Wind City's three Field Stewards. He was also currently the Daoist Sect disciple with the highest cultivation in Welcoming Wind City. Cautious by nature, he had come to investigate at the first sign of trouble.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

He swiftly formed hand seals and silently recited an incantation. Golden light flashed over his fingertips, which he wiped across his eyes. Gold immediately filled his pupils, and every detail of the grass, trees, and plants in the courtyard entered his sight!

This was the Daoist Sect's Twenty-Four Forms of the Two Qi Dao Art, the [All-Seeing Art], which greatly enhanced one's eyesight and allowed one to observe even the tiniest details!

Holding his breath and focusing, he faintly saw that the earth's qi here was chaotic and mixed, as if some disturbance had taken place. But when his gaze passed through the walls and probed the inner residence, he saw Rong Yidao sleeping soundly on his bed from afar, with not the slightest abnormality visible.

Qi Kaizhen frowned. After observing carefully for a while longer without discovering anything, he could only attribute it to Rong Yidao practicing Agricultural Path arts.

Dispelling the All-Seeing Art, he swiftly departed. As he flew through the air, only one thought occupied his mind.

—Why hadn't that bastard died yet?

To be honest, he dearly wished Rong Yidao would simply die. A filthy wretch who abducted men and bullied women was an embarrassment to the Daoist Sect while alive, and they hidden Daoist Sect sentries still had to waste effort watching him. What suffering for nothing!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Amid swift shifts and turns, his figure vanished into the morning mist once more.

Within the Rong Residence, Rong Yidao turned over and continued sleeping. A sleek snow-white calico cat sprawled lazily atop the wall, licking its paw as it watched Qi Kaizhen leave.

Time flew like a shuttle; the sun and moon turned in their course.

In the days that followed, Rong Yidao thoroughly restrained himself in accordance with the Daoist Sect's sacred decree. The women abducted into the residence were released one after another. Even the overbearing guards were replaced by proper martial men from legitimate martial arts schools, who treated others politely and worked with earnest attitudes.

At first, these martial men were unwilling to work for Rong Yidao, and the freed women did not dare show their faces either, fearing the Rong Residence would change its mind again.

But several months passed without the Rong Residence forcibly taking anyone else, while Rong Yidao's manner of controlling his subordinates gradually changed with the passing days.

Slowly, people began testing the waters by sending calling cards and gifts to the Rong Residence—proper bribes and tributes. Rong Yidao accepted every offering, and once he accepted it, he would handle the actual matter. The accumulated grievances of the people and petitions from every quarter were also dealt with one by one through people he dispatched, working in coordination with the city lord.

Though his methods were darker, his exploitation harsher, and he plucked every feather from every passing goose, he truly got things done. He had begun to show something of the bearing a Dao master guarding one region ought to possess.

Moreover, during every annual harvest season, Rong Yidao personally appeared beside the fertile fields to preside over the harvest.

The fertile lands under Welcoming Wind City produced greater yields and richer harvests year after year. Gradually, a group of Agricultural Path cultivators influenced by him began to emerge, along with small quantities of fine seed varieties appearing in the fields. Welcoming Wind City as a whole flourished anew, faintly seeming to surpass its former self.

The Rong Residence, inside and out, was also clear and orderly.

Gradually, the other two Field Stewards once again tested the waters by visiting him. Rong Yidao naturally could not speak elegant words, but with the Myriad-Forms Straw Figure secretly coordinating matters, his disguise was barely sufficient.

As time passed and each day brought new changes, his filthy reputation did not entirely disperse, but it faded considerably.

By the fourth year after the Field Stewards had spread out in all directions—Jingtai Era year forty-eight.

Early spring.

Grass grew, orioles flew, and all things revived.

Rong Yidao had already straightened out the relationships within and beyond Welcoming Wind City, and the new era rolled forward like a mighty current.

Welcoming Wind City issued a public notice, posting announcements declaring—

"Field Steward Dao masters Rong Yidao, Hu Ting, and Zhang Guangdao of Welcoming Wind City will jointly establish an agricultural academy within the Rong Residence to carry out enlightenment. Farmers will be widely admitted to study Dao inheritance. All who farm diligently and revere the earth may come seek instruction—!"

On the day the notice was posted throughout the city, commoners spread the news far and wide. For a time, Welcoming Wind City became livelier and more prosperous than ever before!

Many commoners remained wary of Rong Yidao's fierce reputation and initially did not dare visit. But the other two Field Steward Dao masters personally stepped forward to testify, while the city lord openly endorsed and vigorously promoted this endeavor of enlightenment. In addition, Agricultural Path cultivators newly born among the fields proactively came to study.

The [Rong Residence Agricultural Academy] was thus established in grand fashion, its doors thronged with visitors and an unending stream of people coming and going.