Chapter 67: The Nature Hall’s Art of Taming

After finding his land, Qin Haoxuan didn’t rush to begin clearing it. Instead, he smiled at Pu Hanzhong. “Senior Brother Pu, shall we go see how Junior Sister Xu Yu is faring with her search?”

Pu Hanzhong was still reeling from the shock of their discovery. He only snapped out of it when Qin Haoxuan was already some distance away and hurried to catch up, his heart pounding with an excitement he could barely contain. “Ancestors above, you have finally opened your eyes!” he prayed silently. “You have blessed our Nature Hall with such a brilliant and peerless disciple. The revival of our hall is finally within reach!”

Seeing Qin Haoxuan approach, Xu Yu happily ran to meet him. “Brother Haoxuan, you’re just in time! Can you help us look at the land?”

They were quite a distance from Qin Haoxuan’s own plot, so news of what had just transpired hadn’t reached them yet. Hearing Xu Yu’s request, her guide, Luo Jinhua, simply offered a noncommittal smile. She believed that Qin Haoxuan’s previous success in finding the three spirit springs was pure luck. However, given his relationship with Xu Yu, she didn’t mind if he offered to help. If the land he picked was no good, she simply wouldn’t use it. When it came to Feng Shui, she was confident that besides Yelu Qi of the Summer Cloud Hall, she was superior to every other guide present.

“Let’s leave this to my Senior Brother Pu,” Qin Haoxuan said, stepping aside for Pu Hanzhong. “He just picked out a top-grade plot for me.”

Me? Pu Hanzhong was startled for a moment before he understood. Under the curious gazes of the others, he took out his compass. Haoxuan clearly found that land himself, but he gave me the credit, he thought. Now he’s asking me to do it again. He must have a secret method for finding land that he doesn’t want others to see. He’s using me as a cover! Yes, that must be it! I’ll play along and see what he does.

Qin Haoxuan quickly spread out his Spiritual Sense. Previously, it could only cover about a quarter of a mu, but after absorbing the Undying Witch Fiend’s power, its range had expanded to a full mu, making his search much faster. He walked slowly across the wasteland until he reached a spot near a slope, where he suddenly stopped and began to survey the area, marking it with his eyes.

Pu Hanzhong watched his gaze, getting a rough idea of the boundaries. He then put away his compass and marked out a highly irregular plot of about thirty mu.

Meanwhile, Luo Jinhua was engrossed in her own search, carefully studying the terrain and the spiritual energy of the soil. As she worked her way over, she came upon the very same plot Qin Haoxuan had just marked. She nodded in satisfaction as she examined it, so focused that she failed to notice it had already been claimed. After comparing it with several other promising locations for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, she finally began to mark out the boundaries. When she straightened up, she saw Xu Yu standing behind her and smiled. “I think this plot is quite good. The spiritual energy underground is relatively dense, and the soil particles are rich with it.”

As she finished speaking, she noticed Xu Yu covering her mouth to hide a giggle. Luo Jinhua looked around and was stunned to see that the land she had so painstakingly chosen had already been marked by someone else.

Xu Yu explained with a smile, “Senior Sister Luo, Senior Brother Pu marked this land long before you did. You both chose the same spot. It must be a truly excellent piece of land!”

A wave of indescribable shock washed over Luo Jinhua. She had used every technique she knew, and a good deal of luck, to find this place. She had been confident that not even Yelu Qi could have found it faster. How had a disciple from the Nature Hall beaten her to it? Had the Nature Hall developed some secret art for finding spirit land?

After confirming the plot, Qin Haoxuan called out to Murong Chao, who was still searching for land under the guidance of his senior brother, Xu Hao. “Murong Chao, come over here! My senior brother has found a plot for you!”

At his call, many eyes turned to Murong Chao, who felt a mixture of happiness and frustration. From Qin Haoxuan’s cheerful tone, he knew it was another good plot, which was cause for celebration. But it also meant that Qin Haoxuan had once again outshone him in front of Xu Yu. It made him look like he couldn’t even find a decent piece of land without his help. It was deeply frustrating. Still, he didn’t refuse. The difference between good and bad land was too great to let pride get in the way.

Xu Yu and Murong Chao divided the thirty-mu plot between them. When Elder Chu arrived, Xu Yu informed him, “Murong Chao and I will take this land.”

The elder didn’t even bother with his own calculations this time. He simply looked at Pu Hanzhong with a puzzled expression, wondering if the man possessed some special treasure for finding spirit land, or if the Nature Hall had truly developed a unique new technique. He recorded their plots, gave Qin Haoxuan a few more curious glances, and then departed.

Elder Chu wasn’t the only one with suspicions. Over on the other side of the field, Yelu Qi, who had just found a plot for Zhang Kuang, was staring at Pu Hanzhong with the same speculative gaze. Now that Pu had “found” another prime piece of land for Xu Yu, Yelu Qi was even more convinced that the man had a treasure. How wonderful it would be if that treasure were in my hands, he thought, and a malicious idea began to take root in his heart.

It took the entire afternoon, but the work of selecting land was finally completed just before nightfall. The Guiding Senior Brothers led their respective disciples back to their quarters. The Trial of the Immortal Path was a system where senior disciples guided new ones, teaching them through personal instruction. This covered not just selecting and farming land, but also meditation, and even the specifics of when to eat and sleep. Cultivation was not merely about absorbing Qi; it was a complex and vast field of study.

Qin Haoxuan’s choice of Pu Hanzhong proved to be the most suitable one imaginable. As an Uncolored Seed himself, Pu Hanzhong drew upon the Nature Hall’s years of accumulated experience in guiding disciples with weak foundations. They had even developed rough formulas for how much an Uncolored Seed should eat and sleep, which could then be adjusted for individual needs. It was a methodology far more tailored to the weak than anything the four great halls could offer.

Early the next morning, Pu Hanzhong led Qin Haoxuan to their wasteland plot. Many of the new disciples were already hard at work, clearing their land. Others, however, were standing around shouting, “Recruiting Attendants! Anyone who hasn’t rooted and isn’t confident they can do so in three months, come quickly! Positions are limited!”

Seeing Qin Haoxuan’s confusion, Pu Hanzhong explained. “Disciples who have no confidence in rooting, but don’t want to be sent back home, can become an Attendant to a stronger disciple. It’s the only way for them to stay. They gain the right not to be expelled, but they lose their personal freedom. If their master ever casts them out, it’s the same as being expelled from the sect. Even a disciple who hasn’t rooted has the right to recruit Attendants. But if they choose a poor master who fails to root and is expelled, their Attendants will be expelled with them.”

“The number of Attendants one can recruit depends on their Immortal Seed. Uncolored Seeds can have two, Full Immortal Seeds can have four, Gray Seeds ten, and Purple Seeds can recruit up to fifty!”

“So an Attendant is someone who trades their dignity for the right to stay?” Qin Haoxuan’s eyes glinted. He felt a surge of gratitude that he had already rooted and sprouted. To stay by selling one’s pride would be a painful existence. But if it came down to it, for the sake of one’s family, what choice was there?

Pu Hanzhong paused, then said, “Look at these ten mu of land. If it’s just the two of us, it will take at least half a month just to clear the weeds and haul away the gravel and sand. Then we have to till the soil and plant the seeds. A whole month will be gone. After that, we’ll have to carry water for irrigation every day. You won’t have time for anything else for the next three months. That’s why we also need to recruit Attendants.”

Attendants could help with farming and all sorts of manual labor. Everyone wanted a few to command. But besides the top disciples like Zhang Kuang, Li Jing, Xu Yu, and Zhang Yang, recruitment was difficult. Even Murong Chao, a Gray Seed, stood on his plot and yelled until his throat was sore, and only managed to attract a single person. As for Qin Haoxuan, who was hated by both Zhang Kuang and Zhang Yang, it was a hopeless endeavor.

Seeing Murong Chao’s result, he gave up on the idea entirely. He had made too many enemies. Even the Guiding Senior Brothers from the great halls wouldn’t pick him to avoid trouble. These unrooted disciples, who had survived by their wits, were even more cunning and cautious.

Nearby, Xu Yu, who had already recruited over twenty Attendants, was trying to figure out how to offer some to Qin Haoxuan without hurting his pride. She couldn’t think of a way.

Just then, Pu Hanzhong gave a wry smile. “Junior Brother, don’t worry. Unless you’re an Unsurpassed Purple Seed that everyone wants to cling to, it’s normal not to be able to recruit anyone. No one in our Nature Hall has Attendants. But we have another way. It’s a method the powerful don’t need, and the self-important disdain.”

A spark of hope lit up in Qin Haoxuan’s eyes. “As long as it gets us some help. Tending to ten mu of land is no easy task.”

“The method is to use beasts instead of people,” Pu Hanzhong explained. “We capture them, tame them, and teach them to work. Spirit beasts are the best, but they are too precious and incredibly difficult to capture, let alone tame. But some intelligent and capable wild beasts can also serve as substitutes. For example, the Mighty Ape. They are very strong and quite clever. Teach them something a few times, and they can copy it. And while the sect limits the number of human Attendants you can have, there’s no limit on how many tamed beasts you can use.”

“Senior Brother Pu, where can I buy these Mighty Apes, and how much do they cost?” Qin Haoxuan asked, feeling the ten low-grade spirit stones in his pouch. Surely that was enough to buy a few?

Pu Hanzhong laughed wryly. “You can’t buy them. We have to go into the mountains to catch them ourselves. After we catch them, we tame them. This is the art of ‘Control,’ one of the Six Arts of Cultivation. It is an extremely important field of study.”

(End of Chapter)