Chapter 305: The Cultivation of the Land God

When Li Banfeng opened his eyes, a stunningly beautiful woman was cleaning his wounds.

Midway through wiping, she sighed in admiration: "This little thing has so much spirit!"

Li Banfeng scrambled up in panic, pulling on his clothes, and asked the woman: "Do we know each other?"

The woman smiled: "You just cleared land on my territory, and now you pretend you don't know me?"

"Are you the Land God?"

The woman nodded: "I'm Meng Yuchun. What's your name?"

"I'm Li Qi. All this should be written in the contract."

"I've prepared the contract. Sign your name."

Li Banfeng wrote his name, pressed his fingerprint, burned the contract, and sprinkled blood upon the land.

"These are all things that must be done before clearing land."

Meng Yuchun explained: "I'm different from other Land Gods. In the past, anyone clearing land here followed this ritual."

"How many people have cleared land here before?"

"Only you. That's why the ritual has always been this way."

Li Banfeng stared at the woman before him: "Don't you think this ritual is too hasty?"

Meng Yuchun shook her head and smiled: "It's been over half a year since I became Land God. You're the first living person to enter my territory.

This place is this desolate—why should I cling to useless rules when I'm just waiting to see if I'll ever rise above this?"

The place truly was desolate. Li Banfeng looked around and asked: "Why did you choose this place?"

"Did I get to choose? They gave me whatever land they wanted—I had to take it."

The origin of the Land God was exactly what Li Banfeng wanted to know.

Meng Yuchun spoke with a blunt honesty, even more direct than Qiuluoye. If treated sincerely, he might learn something.

"Must you go to Huineizhou to become a Land God?"

"Of course. Otherwise, how do you ascend a level?"

Ascend a level?

Li Banfeng asked: "What level is your cultivation base now? If you don't want to say, it's fine—I know it's rude to ask others about their cultivation."

Meng Yuchun laughed: "You should already guess—I'm only at level one. I've been here half a year in this dump. How many levels could I possibly rise to?"

Li Banfeng hadn't guessed: "What do you mean by 'level one'?"

Meng Yuchun paused: "Your cultivation base isn't low, but your knowledge is lacking. I'm certainly not 'earth-skin level one.'"

Earth-skin level one?

That term sounded familiar.

Right—the coachman had mentioned it.

On his first ride with the Yaowanggou coachman, Qiu the Monkey had asked the coachman's cultivation level, and the coachman had said he was earth-skin level one. Li Banfeng, then a greenhorn, hadn't paid attention to his phrasing.

Now he realized: "earth-skin" didn't refer to a specific level—it denoted a stage of cultivation.

In Puluozhou, within Li Banfeng's familiar range, all cultivation levels were likely part of the earth-skin stage!

"Then what's your current level called?"

Meng Yuchun said: "I'm currently cloud-top level one. Don't try to extract more from me—I'm not your master, nor your wife. Why should I teach you so much?"

Li Banfeng sat beside Meng Yuchun and asked sincerely: "I'm skilled at clearing land. I'll clear much more here in the future. Give me a few pointers, and I'll repay you with plenty of help."

Meng Yuchun gave him a withering look: "What good is one person clearing land? My territory's population won't grow!"

"It can grow. I know many skilled land-clearers—I'll bring them all here. Little by little, this place will become a proper land."

Meng Yuchun frowned: "Why should I believe you?"

"Don't believe me? We can make a contract. Within a month, I'll bring others to clear land. Isn't that better than waiting half a year for no one to show up?"

Meng Yuchun thought for a moment: "Your cultivation base is indeed high. Some things you'll learn eventually. I'll tell you what I can—don't press me on what I can't."

Li Banfeng nodded: "Let's start with cloud-top level one. Do you need to reach earth-skin level ten to ascend to cloud-top level one?"

"Of course. And it must be a fully formed earth-skin level ten."

"What's a fully formed level ten?"

Meng Yuchun explained patiently: "To rise from nine to ten, you must pass the Tribulation Crossing. If you succeed, your body is destroyed, your soul ascends intact, and only then can you reach the cloud-top. Only after reaching the cloud-top can you enter Huineizhou—and only then do you gain cloud-top level one cultivation."

"What if you fail the Tribulation Crossing?"

"That's complicated—it depends on the extent of damage.

Success means your body is destroyed, your soul ascends, and remains perfectly intact.

If your soul is damaged but not severely, there's still a chance to recover.

If damage is under two-tenths, you can use various methods to repair it until fully restored, then still have a chance to enter Huineizhou.

If damage exceeds two-tenths but is under five-tenths, repair becomes nearly impossible.

Such souls drift into Puluozhou as wounded demon-spirits—the most formidable among Puluozhou's evil spirits, able to survive indefinitely, which is their only fate.

If soul damage exceeds five-tenths, the soul sinks into the earth and slowly dissipates. A few, nourished by a dwelling, become household spirits.

Such household spirits are rare. If you encounter one, it's a blessing for a dwelling cultivator."

Li Banfeng nodded repeatedly.

His wife's level must exceed level ten—what fortune could compare?

Li Banfeng asked again: "What if the soul is completely destroyed?"

Meng Yuchun blinked: "You mean the soul is destroyed, but the body remains?"

Li Banfeng nodded.

"That's a broken cocoon—the worst fate. Such people used the wrong sequence during Tribulation Crossing, becoming walking corpses: neither dead nor alive, sometimes even kept like livestock."

Li Banfeng had seen broken cocoons—the Senior Brother at Jianren Gang, in the Saint's service, was likely just a fighting beast.

Li Banfeng continued: "After succeeding in Tribulation Crossing and entering Huineizhou, do you become cloud-top level one?"

"No. Entering Huineizhou only means you've reached the cloud-top—like a beginner cultivator, you have no level, and your lifespan remains unchanged."

"No change in lifespan? Isn't it supposed to triple?" This contradicted what Li Banfeng knew.

Meng Yuchun shook her head: "That's a common misconception. To triple your lifespan, you need cloud-top level one cultivation. To gain that level, you need Huineizhou's reward."

A reward?

"How do you earn a reward?"

At this, Meng Yuchun hesitated. She didn't want to speak directly of Huineizhou.

"I don't want to say. Can I show you instead?"

"Show me how?" Li Banfeng didn't understand.

Meng Yuchun let out a bitter laugh: "Maybe I'm getting old—I've lost all shame."

She turned her back and unfastened her long robe.

The robe slid slowly down, pooling below her knees.

Li Banfeng saw her pale skin, covered in dense, pitted scars.

Meng Yuchun said: "See? This is how rewards are earned.

I won't give my body to them like other women, to serve them. I chose to be a thug, even a servant.

Whether servant or thug, I was treated like livestock.

I've lost count of how many beatings I endured, how many years I was beaten, before I earned cloud-top level one cultivation—and the right to become a Land God."

Li Banfeng's eyes trembled. He asked Meng Yuchun to put her clothes back on, then said: "How did you endure it?"

"What else could I do? This wasn't even the hardest. The hardest was… they killed my household spirit—in front of me, they tore it apart and ate it alive. I was a coward. I didn't dare make a sound."

Silence stretched between them. Meng Yuchun lowered her head: "I shouldn't have told you this. They forbid us from speaking of them.

I haven't spoken to anyone in so long—in Huineizhou, no one wanted to talk to me. Here, I see no living soul."

Li Banfeng sighed: "So you're a dwelling cultivator."

Meng Yuchun nodded: "All dwelling cultivators hate traveling cultivators. That's why I went easy on you."

Li Banfeng lowered his head and pressed his fingers to his brow.

He had always strived to raise his cultivation, always dreamed of reaching level ten to gain triple lifespan.

But what was the cost behind triple lifespan?

To be treated like livestock?

Could he accept that?

"After becoming cloud-top level one, you returned to Puluozhou?"

Meng Yuchun nodded: "I returned. They granted me new land and made me Land God.

I could've stayed—if they favored me, I could've remained in Huineizhou as a servant, continuing my cultivation."

"Still as a servant?"

"Many want to be servants. It depends on whether they're willing to grant it."

"What's the point of being a slave?" Li Banfeng didn't understand.

"In Huineizhou, you can keep increasing your cultivation."

"Can't you increase cultivation outside Huineizhou?"

"You can—but you need population.," Meng Yuchun gestured to the barren land around them. "A Land God's cultivation depends on population. The more people, the faster your cultivation grows.

But look—does this place look like it has any population?

Cloud-top level one cultivators live about three hundred years, and with elixirs, you might extend it a bit—but never beyond five hundred."

By the time I die of old age, I probably won't even make it to the second level of Cloud Above.

Li Banfeng asked: "Does advancing to the second level of Cloud Above extend your lifespan? Or does lifespan only change once you reach the tenth level of Cloud Above?"

Meng Yu shook his head: "I don't know. I don't even know if Cloud Above has a tenth level. I don't know what the second level is like.

No one ever told me anything. In Neizhou, I'm no different from livestock—no one wastes words on an animal."

Did all local gods go through this?

What about those stronger than local gods? Did they go through this too?

Did the peddler, the Train Eunuch, and the Old Bitter Woman all have similar experiences?

That doesn't make sense!

How could people with their temperaments ever become servants in Neizhou?

Li Banfeng asked: "Is it impossible to reach Cloud Above unless you go to Neizhou?"

"It's possible!"

Meng Yu spoke only two words, but they instantly sharpened Li Banfeng's focus.

"How?"

"Steal and rob."

Li Banfeng shook his head: "I'm an upright man. Let's talk about robbery first."

"Robbery means taking from local gods—stealing their position, their identity, their cultivation base."

Li Banfeng immediately grew serious: "How do you do it?"

Meng Yu said: "Do you know the local god of Green Water Bay—the Green Water Beggar?"

"I don't know him, but I've heard of him."

"His cultivation base was stolen—taken when he was at the ninth level."

Green Water Bay was once called Beggar's Bay; it wasn't his territory—it belonged to the beggar cultivator Yuan Shoulü."

When the Green Water Beggar was at the ninth level, he defeated Yuan Shoulü, who was on the second level of Cloud Above, seized his position as local god, forcibly absorbed Yuan Shoulü's cultivation base and position, and ascended to the second level of Cloud Above—preserving both his soul and body, becoming the most formidable local god!"

Li Banfeng pinched his chin, unable to grasp how the process could have worked.

Ninth level defeating second level of Cloud Above?

How many levels did that span?

How could he possibly have won that battle?

PS: No matter how you look at it, you couldn't win!

(End of Chapter)