Chapter 144: The Earth God (Requesting Comments)

On the eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the snow was especially heavy.

On the sixteenth floor of Heping Building, in the conference hall, Lu Dongjun and Chu Er finalized the business deal for the Bailingmen.

Eighty silver dollars: the Bailingmen was transferred from the Li family's name to Chu Er.

The land deeds, property deeds, and all operating contracts were officially transferred to Chu Er; notaries issued documents, and reporters arrived to publish reports.

Eighty silver dollars: Chu Er spent all her savings.

She sold every single one of her outlying residences and all her farmland, leaving nothing behind except the house she lived in.

Aside from her own businesses, she reclaimed all shares she had invested in other people's enterprises.

She still owed over twenty thousand silver dollars in debt, but finally secured the Bailingmen.

With all this commotion, didn't the Chu family step in?

Indeed, no one intervened.

Chu Er's status was very different from other young ladies of noble families.

Five years ago, during the joint reclamation of new land with the Li family, Chu Er's father—the head of the Chu family—was mortally wounded and died; currently, the Chu family is jointly managed by her eldest brother and two aunts.

After receiving her share of the inheritance, Chu Er independently operated her own businesses; for the past five years, she has paid a fixed annual dividend to the Chu family, and no one interferes with how she runs her affairs.

After acquiring the Bailingmen, Chu Er was ecstatic and wandered up and down the building until late into the night.

The Bailingmen wasn't particularly tall or large—only three stories—but it was the flagship of Lüshui City, even more dazzling than Heping Building.

People of Lüshui City might not envy the suits and top hats inside Heping Building, but they all longed for the bright lights and wine of the Bailingmen.

The first floor was a restaurant, with six banquet halls and over a hundred private dining rooms.

The second floor was the dance hall—the heart of the Bailingmen—featuring a grand dance floor, five circular halls, and sixteen private rooms for famous performers.

The grand dance floor, of course, featured live orchestras and top singers, primarily jazz, with classical and modern popular music also common; it could hold over a thousand people, and every year's Song Empress was chosen from among its performers.

The circular halls were smaller than the grand dance floor, each accommodating about a hundred people, ideal for gatherings; outsiders often called them parties.

The performer rooms were special: each could hold a dozen people, and the famous singers performed solo for VIP guests inside.

Imagine being in a private room while a reigning diva sang only for you—what would that feel like?

If things went well, perhaps she might offer something else.

The performer rooms belonged exclusively to the Song Empresses; the room for Xia Yijun was called Yijun Studio, and as long as Xia Yijun remained under the Bailingmen, the room would never change its name.

Only if Xia Yijun were fired by the Bailingmen or switched to another establishment would the room be reassigned to someone else.

Of course, not every Song Empress could claim a private room; Song Empresses came every year, but the Bailingmen had only one such room.

Jiang Mengting, the Song Empress of that year, had her own exclusive room called Mengting Pavilion; later, Chu Er paid a high price to lure her away from the Bailingmen.

After that, no one knew how Ma Wu managed to lure Jiang Mengting away from Chu Er.

None of that matters now.

The entire Bailingmen now belonged to Chu Er!

Chu Er went up to the third floor, which had seventy-six suites; she opened the one with the best view, watching the endless stream of pedestrians and carriages below.

For a moment, Chu Er had a delusion—that the entire city of Lüshui belonged to her.

At present, the most dazzling flagship of Lüshui City indeed belonged to her.

Yang Yanzheng said beside her: "Miss, why don't we open today?"

Because Lu Dongjun had become embroiled in a series of scandals, the Bailingmen had been closed for several days.

The newspaper reports had just been published, and many people had already inquired about booking meals and rooms.

The Bailingmen never lacked business.

But Chu Er didn't want to open today.

"Don't rush. Opening must have good momentum—choose a proper day, host a song concert, and send invitations to all the major families; invite everyone who's anyone!"

Yang Yanzheng frowned but dared not speak.

Chu Er had spent all her family's wealth, and now she wanted to host a song concert.

Getting the place open quickly to recoup losses was the priority—couldn't the concert wait until after the New Year?

Chu Er's orders were law, so Yang Yanzheng had no choice but to prepare; just as he was about to leave, Chu Er added a special instruction: "Send an invitation to Ma Wu—make sure he comes. I want to see if he's itching to get back in.

I'll negotiate a price with him then—if he can make the Bailingmen even more impressive, I'll give him back Xiaoyao Wu!"

…

Ma Wu was reading the newspaper in Lanyang Village when he saw the news that Chu Er had bought the Bailingmen—the paper nearly slipped from his hands.

Bad!

This crazy woman really stirred up a hornet's nest. After years of battling in business, how could Chu Er make such a mistake?

She wanted the Bailingmen too badly.

Ma Wu could understand—had he been in Chu Er's position, he might have done the same; the Bailingmen's allure to any businessman was simply too great.

Ma Wu was already calculating the next turn of events when he quickly spotted a novel on page four.

"The Fallen Young Master and the Devoted Young Lady: A Tale of Love and Vengeance."

Ma Wu had never paid attention to this novel before, but today he noticed it.

The novel's position had changed—it wasn't a short story; it had been serialized for several issues, usually unremarkable, but today it dominated the front page of the supplement.

The position alone didn't catch Ma Wu's attention—the key was that the novel mentioned Lanyang Village.

Ma Wu read the content; though it didn't name Ma Wu or Chu Er, it clearly told their story.

He flipped through old newspapers and found that as Chu Er's news grew, the novel's prominence had steadily risen.

Today, with Chu Er's acquisition of the Bailingmen on the front page, the novel had climbed to the top of the supplement.

Ma Wu had to face a reality: to outsiders, his relationship with Chu Er was no longer simple.

Had Chu Er stirred up the hornet's nest—and would it sting him too?

As expected, it did.

That evening, Ma Wu had someone buy a late edition newspaper—and there, on page two, was a headline: "Ma Junyang May Return to Lead the Chu Family's Bailingmen."

Who the hell made this up?

Who said I'm taking up the Chu family banner?

I don't even bear the Chu surname—why would I carry their flag? Did I marry into the family?

Ma Wu had a premonition—the hornets were coming.

No good—I need to find a place to lie low; any major family might strike at Ma Wu at any moment.

Though he'd hired Zuo Wugang, a sixth-layer Wu Xiu might not be enough; Ma Wu was torn about where to hide when Li Banfeng walked in, dressed in a suit, wearing a top hat, holding a feather duster.

He brushed the snowflakes off his coat and sat by the fireplace, warming himself.

Ma Wu exclaimed in delight: "Brother Li, you're finally back!"

Li Banfeng had been gone for exactly eighteen days—three days going, half a month returning.

The reason for the long return? He had consumed one Jin Yuandan every day.

He had ingested fifteen in total, gaining four years, one month, and six days of cultivation time; combined with his previous accumulated time, his total cultivation now stood at sixteen years, eight months, and seventeen days—drawing ever closer to the third layer.

The third layer required twenty years of cultivation; even if Li Banfeng had started at age ten and trained steadily, he wouldn't reach it until thirty.

Now in his early twenties, he was within reach of the third-layer Liuxiu, and had already attained the third-layer Zhai Xiu—if others found out, they'd bow in worship; if others found out… Li Banfeng probably wouldn't live long.

This thought led Li Banfeng to consider opening new land—somewhere far from prying eyes.

New land was ideal for cultivation: he could catch wandering spirits to feed his wife, hunt rare beasts for Honglian's elixirs; Liuxiu could earn vast amounts of cultivation time in dangerous places without neglecting elixir supplementation—wasn't that a perfect life?

Beyond cultivation, he also wanted to build a refuge in new land—a fallback route in case of dire emergencies.

Li Banfeng had already planned it all on the road, but he lacked experience in reclamation—he needed to consult Ma Wu.

Ma Wu initially opposed it.

His lifelong education had instilled in him a deep prejudice against new land; to Ma Wu, new land was dangerous and not to be lightly entered.

But after a few seconds of silence, Ma Wu suddenly snapped back to reality.

Wasn't he planning to flee and hide?

Wasn't new land one of the best options?

Reclaiming new land had once been risky, but things were different now—they had Zuo Wugang!

Ma Wu pondered briefly, then nodded: "I'll call Da Zhi Guai, and bring along Zhen Jincheng and Cao Zhida—we'll form a team and go reclaim land!"

Li Banfeng shook his head: "Zuo Wugang can't go—if he leaves, no one will hold down Lanyang Village; someone might cause trouble."

Without Zuo Wugang, Ma Wu felt uneasy: "Just Zhen Jincheng and Cao Zhida? Reclaiming land won't be safe."

Li Banfeng shook his head slightly: "In my plan, I won't take either of them."

"Not even them?" Ma Wu gasped. "Brother Li, are you saying we go alone?"

First-layer Huan Xiu plus second-layer Liuxiu—Ma Wu thought it was far too risky for just the two of them.

Li Banfeng said: "My idea is—you tell me the reclamation process, and I'll go alone. You don't even need to come."

"No way! Some things can't be explained—you must come yourself." Ma Wu needed to go to new land to hide.

"If you come with me, how will your cultivation proceed?" Li Banfeng was Liuxiu—walking was cultivation; Ma Wu was Huan Xiu—he couldn't possibly bring a woman along.

Ma Wu thought for a moment: "I'll use elixirs—I've saved a hundred days' worth of cultivation time from previous Jin Yuandan. Reclamation won't take more than a month—I'll treat it as rest. I can handle it."

Li Banfeng agreed: "Fine, we'll go together. First, tell me the reclamation rules—do we need to prepare offerings?"

Ma Wu nodded: "Offerings are simple—just food and wine. The more lavish, the faster the Daitoushen responds."

Li Banfeng thought this was easy: "Then have Xiao Chuan prepare it—bring everything we've got that's best to eat and drink."

"Brother Li, we must be realistic."

"Food and drink? What's there to be realistic about? Are we too poor to afford it?"

We can afford the offerings, but we fear we won't be able to handle it—within a hundred li of wasteland, there's usually only one Land God.

If this Land God accepts our offerings, he'll grant us a plot of land; the more offerings we give, the larger the plot.

Li Banfeng nodded happily: "Bigger is better—the bigger, the better!"

Ma Wu shook his head: "Bigger is good, but you must be able to hold it. The Land God gives the land, but not for free—you must pass his trial.

We sprinkle blood on the plot and seal a contract, which takes effect one day later.

When the land-clearer enters the plot, the Land God gathers nearby aberrations to attack them. If the land-clearer holds out for three days without crossing the boundary, the land becomes theirs. This is called the trial in our jargon.

Li Banfeng understood this rule—the old gatekeeper of Yu Manor had told him: the land-clearer and the new land's owner need not be the same person. The owner goes first to sprinkle blood and seal the contract; the land-clearer enters the new land the next day.

Ma Wu continued: "Plots are generally divided into four categories. The smallest is one li in diameter. The Land God summons ordinary aberrations for the trial. Usually, three to five attacks suffice. With good luck, only one attack comes; with bad luck, it might be ten or more.

For this kind of wasteland, five or six first-layer cultivators can clear it. If you can't find cultivators, a few dozen strong men might still have a chance—but too many people bring other troubles. We'll discuss that on the road."

Li Banfeng recalled Yu Nan's Yu Manor in the new land—it was less than one li in diameter, and some areas still seemed undeveloped. It must be this smallest category.

Ma Wu went on: "The second category is three li in diameter. This is much harder—the Land God summons over a dozen types of aberrations to attack in rotation.

To clear a three-li plot, you need to hire a professional like Dabo Yensi. Dabo Yensi charges exorbitantly; he usually only advises and rarely acts himself, and even then, success isn't guaranteed.

Larger still is a five-li plot. For such land, you need at least one eighth-layer cultivator present to have any hope of success. The Land God sends only ruthless aberrations—Suo E Fu Ren isn't even uncommon.

The largest is a ten-li plot. I don't understand that. I heard the Lu family once teamed up with the Chu family to clear a ten-li plot, but they failed. The Chu family's patriarch died in the attempt.

Brother Li, with our strength today, clearing a one-li plot is already fortune enough. So we must choose our offerings wisely.

If we prepare too many offerings, the Land God might be pleased and grant us a ten-li plot—then our clearing is doomed to fail."

"Fail? So what? We try again." Li Banfeng took it lightly.

Ma Wu shook his head: "No, you can't try again. If you fail, the Land God looks down on you. Within a hundred li, neither of us can ever attempt to clear land again—not as owner, not as land-clearer."

PS: What do you do if you encounter Suo E Fu Ren during clearing?

(End of Chapter)