Chapter 421: Its Lit

Chapter 421: It's Lit

Qiu Luoye wanted to keep several of his old subordinates with him. Among them were a tiger that had often followed at his side and a rock that had sat outside his door for years.

"Back when I fought Old Shui, that bastard played dirty. He wouldn't face me head-on. Instead, he took his men straight to my home. I left plenty of people behind to defend the place, but the moment they saw Old Shui, they nearly pissed themselves in fright. Only this tiger, this rock, and a few others still had the guts to fight. They have followed me faithfully all these years. Now that this place is becoming Proper Land, I don't want to leave them behind."

Li Banfeng had no idea how to handle the situation. He knew quite a few land deities, but Old Mister Yao was the only useful example that came to mind, and no aberrant creatures followed him.

Then again, Medicine King Gully had once been Bitter Medicine Pass, and Old Mister Yao had guarded the territory even back then. He had most likely never gone through the process of turning New Land into Proper Land.

As for whether the local land deities of other Proper Lands had aberrant creatures serving them, neither Li Banfeng nor Qiu Luoye knew.

Fortunately, Xiao Yeci had found some books containing records of similar cases.

"When a New Land becomes Proper Land, any aberrant creatures that want to stay with it must become a Pactkeeper Spirit."

Qiu Luoye nodded as though he understood. "So you are saying I just need to give them a new name? That's easy enough. Just teach me how to write Pactkeeper Spirit. Give me a month, and I guarantee I can teach them!"

Xiao Yeci was a little afraid of Qiu Luoye. She stole a glance at Li Banfeng, unsure whether the local land deity was joking.

Li Banfeng, however, looked completely serious. He knew Brother Qiu meant every word. "Miss Xiao, you better explain this carefully. I don't think simply changing their name is enough, is it?"

Xiao Yeci nodded. "Of course not. Pactkeeper Spirits can only move within a fixed area, and the local land deity has to mark out the boundaries for them. Once New Land becomes Proper Land, these territories become known as secret realms or forbidden grounds. You can find them all over Puluo Province. In most of them, the local land deity's contract is hidden somewhere inside, and the Pactkeeper Spirits are bound to the territory. They cannot leave it. Their job is to guard the contracts on behalf of the local land deity."

Qiu Luoye thought it over for a long while before he finally understood what Xiao Yeci meant. "So someone needs to watch over the contract I made with the land. Perfect! This job happens to be perfect for these old fellows of mine! This is easy! I don't even have to pick a new place. I will mark out five kilometers of land right beside my house and have these fellas guard it. I feel perfectly at ease having them guard my deed."

Li Banfeng had a nagging feeling that something was wrong, though he could not quite put his finger on what it was.

Xiao Yeci turned to Qiu Luoye. "A lot of people probably know where your house is, right?"

Qiu Luoye glared at Xiao Yeci and questioned, "What are you trying to do?"

Xiao Yeci hurriedly shook her head. "Please don't misunderstand. I don't mean anything by it. According to the records, when a New Land becomes Proper Land, the land deity gets one chance to move the contract with the land. You can dig them up and bury them somewhere else. Wouldn't you rather choose a new location?"

That was when both Li Banfeng and Qiu Luoye finally saw the problem. Far too many people knew where Qiu Luoye lived.

New Land was vast and sparsely populated. Aberrant creatures might possess intelligence, but they were nowhere near as scheming as humans, so few ever dared set their sights on the deeds.

Proper Land was another matter entirely. Whether it grew into a small town or a great city, the population would increase dozens of times over. If word got out about where Qiu Luoye lived, there would probably be a queue of people waiting to dig up his deeds. He really did need to move them.

But where should he put them?

Qiu Luoye scratched his head. "I will have to think this over properly. What sort of place would be a good forbidden ground?"

Xiao Yeci said, "From what I have read, there doesn't have to be only one forbidden ground. Some land deities set up more than a dozen across their territory, so no one knows which one actually contains the deeds."

That only gave Qiu Luoye an even bigger headache as he said, "This is far too much trouble. I heard Old Mister Yao lives deep in the mountains, and plenty of people know where his home is too. I will just do what he does. Find myself a mountain, build a house there, and have these old brothers of mine guard the place with me."

Xiao Yeci added, "Once you have chosen the place, you will need to sign a contract with the Pactkeeper Spirits. After that, they can never leave the forbidden ground again."

Tiger was not very pleased with this as it complained, "Never leave for the rest of our lives? Can't a few of us take turns standing guard? One group watches the place while the others go down the mountain and live a little?"

Xiao Yeci shook her head. "I am afraid that would be rather difficult. You don't exactly see tigers strolling about all over Proper Land."

She had a point. Aberrant creatures were not allowed to wander freely through Proper Land.

Qiu Luoye nodded. "The young lady's right. Once this place becomes Proper Land, you lot won't be able to go wandering about either. You might as well stay home with me. I will be there too, so you won't get bored."

Tiger agreed readily enough. "I am willing to stay with Master Qiu. I don't mind never going down the mountain."

Xiao Yeci lowered her voice. "You really should think this through. Once you become a Pactkeeper Spirit, that's what you will be for the rest of your life. You won't even be able to become a roaming aberration."

Tiger flicked his tail. "What's so wonderful about being a roaming aberration? I am staying with Master Qiu."

The Rock did not say a word.

Qiu Luoye looked at Stone. "What is it? You don't want to stay with me?"

The Rock answered with complete honesty, "If it was back then, I would feel perfectly happy following Master Qiu. But after that young lady sat on me just now, well... my heart's been in a bit of a muddle."

As the rock spoke, a faint blush spread across its surface.

Thump!

Qiu Luoye gave him a kick. "She sat her peachy butt on your face, and somehow it's your heart that got all stirred up? Get lost! I am not keeping you. Go to my place later and collect some cultivation from me, then find your own way in life!"

Besides dealing with the deeds and choosing his Pactkeeper Spirits, Qiu Luoye still had plenty of other work to do. He needed to measure the land carefully and make sure the territory covered the full fifty-kilometer radius required.

Any aberrant creatures with no intelligence at all also had to be relocated as soon as possible. Once the land became a Proper Land, creatures like those might undergo strange changes and turn into genuine threats.

Li Banfeng looked at Xiao Yeci. "Which books did you learn all this from?"

Xiao Yeci said, "There are books about it in both the Lu Family's library and the He Family's library. Big Sis Yuxiu is very kind to me, so she lets me read anything in their collection. The information is all very useful, but it's scattered all over the place. You have to read as you take notes before you can piece everything together properly."

Li Banfeng was quietly impressed. Xiao Yeci was a diligent Literary Cultivator. It was only a pity that she had never been given the right opportunities before.

Qiu Luoye turned to Li Banfeng. "Old Qi, is this one your lover too?"

Xiao Yeci's face went bright red.

Qiu Luoye burst out laughing. "What are you blushing for? You won't come off badly with our Old Qi. Old Qi, this sweetheart of yours is a good one. Much better than the last one."

The last one? Is he talking about Miss Chu? Li Banfeng thought.

At the thought of Miss Chu, Qiu Luoye shook his head vigorously. "That one won't do. In front of everyone else, she puts on such a proper act, but the moment she sees Old Qi, she starts throwing tantrums. This one's much better. Pretty, soft-spoken, and she even reads books. Old Qi, you probably don't know this, but people who read books know an awful lot of words. You better treat this one properly."

The Rock heartily agreed. "Young lady, why don't you come sit on me for a while?"

"GET LOST!" Qiu Luoye roared and sent the rock flying with a kick. He then hurried off to deal with more important matters.

With the Great Families helping out, more and more plots were being activated very quickly, and there was not much wasteland left. Qiu Luoye was not good with numbers, so He Yuxiu brought in a Numerical Cultivator to help him.

After measuring the land several times, they counted each area half a kilometer across as one plot. In the end, they found a problem. Qiu Luoye did not have ten thousand plots.

Qiu Luoye stared at the account book and said, "I won quite a bit of land fighting the neighboring land deities over the years. Then I fought Old Shui once and lost a lot."

Qiu Luoye had won plenty of battles over the years, but he was never good at keeping track of his land. Most of the plots he had won were small. The nine hundred plots he lost to Shui Yongquan, however, were all full-sized.

Qiu Luoye looked at Li Banfeng. "If I don't even have ten thousand plots, can this place still become Proper Land?"

Li Banfeng looked at Xiao Yeci.

Xiao Yeci shook her head. "I don't dare make guesses about this. The books say you need ten thousand plots."

Li Banfeng went back to the Pocket Dwelling. He had already checked Xiao Yeci's information with Wifey before, and everything she said had been correct.

This time, however, even Wifey was not unsure. "Heyaaaa! Husband dear, it is very rare for a New Land to become Proper Land, so I don't know much about it either. I have heard of places becoming Proper Land with only eight thousand plots, but I have also heard of places failing with nine thousand. It would be safer not to take any chances. You don't have ten thousand people yet anyway, so Qiu Luoye can use this time to get a few more plots of land."

***

Qiu Luoye was at a loss. "Where am I supposed to get more land? None of the land deities around here have caused me any trouble. I can't just go stealing their territory for no reason."

Qiu Luoye might have had a bad temper, but he would never bully anyone.

Li Banfeng said, "Why don't we talk to Brother Shui? Maybe he can give us a few plots."

Qiu Luoye shook his head. "How could I bring myself to ask him? I lost that fight. The fact that he didn't dig up my land deed was already him going easy on me. How could I possibly ask him to give the plots of land back?

"Oh, you are too proud to ask and too thin-skinned to beg. How impressive!"

A ball of ghostly fire floated over to Qiu Luoye, and Shui Yongquan appeared within the flames.

Qiu Luoye was startled. "What are you doing here?"

"If I didn't come, where would you get more plots of land?" Shui Yongquan said and pulled out a map. He had already marked several areas on it.

Shui Yongquan said, "Elephant Qiu, I took fifteen kilometers of territory from you back then. I will give you fifteen kilometers back now, but I can't give back the exact same land.

"There's already a Properfolk Village on the old territory, along with quite a bit of developed land. I can't hand all of that over to you. I can give you these areas instead. How does that sound?"

Qiu Luoye did not even look at the map. He looked straight at Shui Yongquan. "Old Shui, why are you helping me?"

Shui Yongquan smiled. "Old Elephant, you have got guts. You really dared to go through with it. You are about to become the land deity of a Proper Land. I would be lying if I said I wasn't jealous. But being jealous is one thing. I still want to see you succeed. One day, if someone asks me whether I have ever seen a New Land become Proper Land, I can tell them I have. It happened right next door to me, and the land deity is my brother, Elephant Qiu!"

Qiu Luoye stumbled over his words. "Old... Old Shui, I don't know what to say..."

"Then don't say anything!" Shui Yongquan exclaimed as he pulled out a contract, cut his palm, and splattered blood on the contract. "Come on, brother."

***

A month later, the last piece of land Shui Yongquan had given Qiu Luoye was finally activated. It was also the last patch of wasteland left in Qiu Luoye's territory.

The plot had originally been meant for Ma Wu, but Qiu Luoye thought better of it. This was the day when every last piece of land would be activated, so there were bound to be plenty of people watching.

Ma Wu's way of activating land was not really suitable for people to watch, so He Yuxiu became in charge of activating this plot of land. A half-kilometer-wide plot was no challenge for He Yuxiu. At noon, she successfully activated the land, and a faint Heavenly Light shone down from the sky.

He Yuxiu walked out of the plot and stood beside Li Qi. "Old Qi, I have activated more plots than I can count, but this is the first time I have ever seen Heavenly Light this beautiful."

It really was beautiful. It did not look like a lamp shining in the night sky. It looked more like the first glow of dawn, with the whole sky around it softly lit.

Li Banfeng could hardly contain his joy. There was only one major problem left now: finding ten thousand people.

Li Banfeng sighed. "This is the difficult part. Old Wu has been offering high prices to bring people here, but not many are willing to move. We only have a little over two thousand people so far. Even with Juan and the others, we only have a little over five thousand. We are barely halfway there."

He Yuxiu made a coy joke. "I am in good shape. How about we start tonight and give birth to the rest?"

Li Banfeng was shocked. "Five thousand?"

He Yuxiu laughed. "There's no rush. We can take our time. Nectarine is healthy too, and Yeci knows how to look after children. The few of us can help you."

Li Banfeng looked up at the bright sky and laughed. Shui Yongquan stood beside Qiu Luoye, and they were laughing too.

Ma Wu was laughing. Lu Chunying was laughing. Miss Chu was laughing. Everyone looking up at the sky was laughing.

Juan brought all the three-headed people out to look at the sky. Little Shan said softly, "Big Sis, our home is lit up."

Xiao Yeci nodded beside them. "Yeah. It's so bright."

Nectarine gently touched Xiao Yeci's hand. "It is. Why is it getting this bright?"

Qiu Luoye blinked. "Isn't it a little too bright?"

A powerful light suddenly shone down, turning Qiu Luoye's entire territory as bright as day.

Shui Yongquan cried out, "This is bad! It's Heavenly Light! Take cover!"