Chapter 103: Conquering Land

Kian took Jia by the wrist before she could start another gloat, pulled her out of the hut, and let the island’s transfer formation swallow them in a rush of cool air.

They landed inside the city house with a soft thud, the windows still dim from the night before.

Jia peeled away first.

"Let’s go buy some land," he said.

"I need to wash the farm off me before I meet anyone who sells land and whatnot."

"Sure, but be quick."

"Alright!"

She vanished down the short hall to the bath.

Kian cleaned himself with a thought, Qi working through his hair and skin like a second set of hands, and by the time Jia came back out in a fresh pale-blue robe with her hair pinned high, he was already leaning against the door with the money pouch tied to his waist.

Where he got the new money from?

Well, at some point, money had become a non-issue. He could get it whenever he wanted from somewhere.

The fat puppet for example.

"Ready to lose some coin?" he asked.

She sniffed, circling on her toes to show him her looks. "I plan to spend it, not lose it. There’s a difference."

"Looks nice."

She smiled and came upto him, then fixed his collars. "Come on."

They left the house and cut through the morning market, past the noodle shop and flower stalls, until Jia slowed in front of a squat two-story building with a wooden sign shaped like a boundary stone.

The characters read "Mulberry Land & Deeds."

Inside, a thin broker with a waxed moustache was on his feet before the door finished swinging shut.

He clapped his hands once, beamed at Kian’s robe, then at Jia’s face, and promptly decided they were rich enough to matter.

Clothes did wonders, after all.

"You know what we are here for," Kian said calmly, walking past the man. "Honor us."

"A pleasure, a pleasure. You’ve come at a perfect time—there are three prime parcels that haven’t touched the public list yet." He gestured toward a back room where yellowed maps covered a table in red string. "Please, come. Tea is already hot."

Jia took a deep breath, feeling warm in her heart.

Kian didn’t have to do it. He didn’t have to give her such a powerful technique, he didn’t have to buy her land. He didn’t have to coddle her all the time either.

He didn’t have to be so nice.

But he was.

She held his sleeve as they entered the room.

A while later, Kian and Jia came out of the back room with the broker bowing at their heels.

The man wrung their hands like he was afraid they might change their minds, then offered them three more cups of tea to go.

Jia declined with a smile. Kian tucked a folded deed into his inner robe, tapped the pouch at his waist as if to confirm the weight had changed, and led her back into the sun.

"That," Jia whispered, bunching the sleeves of her robe, "was easier than I thought. We actually own land now. So simply."

Kian snorted. "Money does wonders indeed. I should make more money."

She bumped her shoulder into his. "WE need to make more money. Not you alone. Don’t worry, I’ll make you rich in a short while."

He smirked and pulled her along. "Come, let’s go see our land."

They hired a carriage at the eastern road gate—an open-sided wooden cart pulled by a stocky ox with bells on its harness.

The driver was an old man with sun-scarred hands and one cloudy eye. Kian gave him the plot number.

The old man clicked his tongue, said, "That far one," and the cart lurched forward.

The city peeled away into low fences and kitchen gardens, then proper farm country.

This was the region where her land belonged.

Fields stretched in every direction, cut by stone wells and narrow irrigation ditches. People moved through the rows with hoes and baskets, thin and sun-darkened.

Jia leaned out of the cart and watched.

Kian could feel the road change under the wheels.

"We are here."

The driver pulled up where the road turned to dirt, at a ditch-choked edge.

Kian jumped down first and caught Jia by the waist.

She landed softly, looking around curiously.

Before them lay an acre of land swallowed by tall yellow grass. A rotted plow sat half-buried in the soil.

Jia unfolded the deed and held it beside the map, comparing marks. "This is it. Our plot."

"It was the Wei family’s before the city took it," the driver said from his seat. "Good people. The father worked this plot for years, grew radishes and winter melon. But he died last spring. The widow tried to carry on with the farm, but with five kids she couldn’t keep up the rent or earn well from the farm. The weeds took the field, then the city took the title."

"Oh, so that’s the history of this plot."

Kian tossed him two low-grade spirit stones. The old man caught them with one palm and made them disappear.

"Need me to wait?"

Kian looked at Jia.

Her eyes stayed fixed on the wasted field, but she gave two quick nods. "No," she said. "We’ll go back on our own."

The driver touched his hat, clicked his tongue, and guided the cart off the road. Jia stepped forward, slapped a dry stalk aside, and waded into the weeds.

Kian followed her into the weeds, snapping the thicker stalks with a flick of his wrist so the path stayed open behind them.

"Babygirl, we can find the family he mentioned," he said. "Have them take care of this field for you. We don’t necessarily need rent, as long as the plot is well taken care of."

Jia turned, a dry stem bending against her hip. "That’s what I was thinking as well." Her voice softened. "The widow and her kids sound pitiful. I’ll find them and offer the land to work."

They waded deeper until the dirt road vanished behind the yellow grass.

At the center of the acre, a wide grey boulder sat half-sunken in the soil like an old tooth.

Jia pulled herself onto it and folded her legs, her pale-blue robe pooling around her.

"Let me mark this land now, with my Qi."

Kian stopped a few paces away and crossed his arms. "Can you do that on any land, or just this one?"

Jia pouted, then shook her head. "Sadly not. Something like a spirit of Conquer is inside me right now. Because I conquered this land, it generated just enough energy to mark it."

She touched her own chest. "The process matters—conquering, buying, winning. I can’t do it on someone else’s land, not even a little."

She took a deep breath.

"Anyway." Jia held out her hand, fingers trembling just slightly. "Can you hold me while I do this? It feels a bit scary. This technique still sounds too good to be true."

Kian climbed onto the boulder behind her and settled close, his chest pressing against her back, arms sliding around her. She leaned into him with a small sigh.

"Too good?" He tucked his chin over her shoulder. "You dragged me through the dirt with that frost grass, remember. You earn what you take, Jia. This is just your share coming due."

A soft laugh escaped her, but it broke into a shiver. "Actually, I knew something was wrong with your Frost Seed. I noticed you switching my seed with yours, and knew yours was good and mine was bad. So let it be."

Kian’s lips twitched. He had indeed cheated, and still lost. "Feimei told you I cheated, right?"

"Maybe?" she asked playfully.

Kian scoffed.

"Heh~!"

She flattened both palms against the grey stone and closed her eyes.

Heat stirred under her skin, thin as smoke, and Kian felt it through her robe.

The boulder warmed beneath them. Jia’s breathing evened, slow and deep, and the air around the weedy field leaned inward, like the land itself was listening.

"There," Kian murmured. "Nothing too good about it. It’s just a really advanced technique. At the end of the day, the person who is behind the blade matters more than the blade." His arms tightened, steady as the pulse of energy bled through her palms and into the stone. "I’ve got you."

A ring of pale gold light flared from the boulder and rolled outward through the grass, marking every edge of the acre before it vanished into the roots.

It was a slow, slow process and byt he time it was done, it took about an hour.

Jia gasped and sagged back against his chest. Kian caught her without shifting, his lips brushing her lips.

She reciprocated, opening her lips a little and touching his tongue with hers.

"Done," he said.

The boulder had cooled beneath them, but Jia still sat with her palms flat.

"Kian, I can feel it." She sounded dazed. "Little sparks, like ten embers settling into my dantian."

She counted under her breath, lips barely moving.

"Ten a day," Kian said, his chest warm against her back. "Every acre of land you hold feeds you that much, if I read the technique correctly."

She opened her eyes and looked at the weedy acre as if seeing a vein of her foundation.

"Huff... Ten now. A hundred acres would be a thousand a day." Her fingers slid over his and squeezed.

Then she leaned back into him, dragged his arms tighter around her ribs, and let out a breath that fogged the morning air.

"Don’t buy more land for me, okay? I’ll work hard myself."

"Yeah."

Kian pressed a kiss to her temple and let the silence hold.