Zhengjing Village, the sky was faintly bright.
When many people on a piece of territory succeeded in reclamation, the Heavenly Lights would illuminate each other, creating an illusion, as if this place were not New Land.
Of course, the Heavenly Light in New Land wasn’t as dazzling as the sunlight in Proper Land. The Heavenly Light from different plots intertwined, appearing not too different from dawn in Proper Land.
How many plots near Zhengjing Village had been successfully reclaimed?
This matter needed careful tallying.
Li Banfeng led the Pioneers to a forest more than five li from Zhengjing Village. Here, they could already see many houses and even a restaurant.
Some hunters, visiting Zhengjing Village for the first time, were curious: how did a restaurant operate here, and where did its ingredients come from?
In New Land, there wasn’t much edible. Previously, most of Zhengjing Village’s ingredients relied on Oranges from the Orange Orchard and fish from the lake, along with some edible wild beasts.
But the situation was different now. Many practitioners of Farming Cultivation had successively succeeded in reclaiming land around the territory, producing plenty of food and raising many livestock.
With a stable supply of ingredients, more people temporarily settled nearby. This included those reclaiming land, hunting, seeking refuge from disasters, cultivating, and filming movies. Consequently, the residential areas expanded from within the village to outside it.
Upon arriving near Zhengjing Village, Li Banfeng saw two old men sitting under a large tree at the village entrance, playing chess.
One was thin and small, the other fat and burly.
The thin old man said, "Are you going to move or not? You’ve been staring at this move for half an hour."
The fat old man pushed a chess piece aside. "What difference does it make if I move? I don’t even know how to play chess. Our guest has arrived; why am I still pretending?"
These two were Shui Yongquan and Qiu Luoye.
Seeing Li Banfeng, Qiu Luoye came over and pulled him aside. "Old Qi, you’ve brought so many people this time. Is there something specific you need our help with?"
Li Banfeng nodded. "There is indeed. People like Duan Wuchou and Liang Wucui have achieved great Gong under me. I want to keep these people by my side permanently."
Qiu Luoye laughed heartily. "What’s the big deal? Keep them if you want! Ma Wu borrowed Ah Qin and Huoling from me; have I ever asked for them back?"
"Brother Qiu, I’m not just borrowing them. I want to take them in permanently, including their Contract Books."
"No problem, I’ll give them to you. But ultimately, they are seeds of New Land. You’ll have to discuss it with Old Shui and use more Technique to cover for them."
Shui Yongquan, standing nearby with a smile, hadn’t said a word.
Qiu Luoye frowned. "What does that mean? Old Shui, are you trying to raise the price? Old Qi brought so many people today; aren’t you going to help with this small matter?"
Shui Yongquan shook his head. "Listen to yourself. I’m not hesitant about helping, but can we postpone the reclamation for now?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Li Banfeng was stunned.
Qiu Luoye couldn’t understand it either. "Postpone what? Old Shui, what’s wrong with you? Did you have your morning wine and get muddled?"
Shui Yongquan smiled. "Let’s not rush. Let’s find a place to talk."
Shui Yongquan had built a wooden hut in his territory, where he usually disguised himself as a hunter to chat with the surrounding people.
Once inside the wooden hut, Shui Yongquan poured tea for the two of them. Qiu Daxiang pushed his cup aside and looked at Shui Yongquan. "Knowing Old Qi was coming today, we agreed to come out and welcome him together. If I had known you had other intentions, I wouldn’t have come out with you. I would have welcomed Old Qi directly into my territory."
Shui Yongquan frowned. "Qiu Daxiang, your words are a bit off."
"Off in what way? What do you really mean?" Qiu Luoye was genuinely angry now. "Have you found a better backer? Are you looking to partner with someone else? Do you look down on me, or on Old Qi?"
"It doesn’t matter if you look down on us; we won’t try to benefit from your connections. Old Qi, I’ll give you the people you mentioned. I’ll have someone hide their identities for you. I still have good men here; I’ll bring them over later, and you can pick whomever you please! I, Qiu Luoye, act with a clear Conscience!"
Shui Yongquan waved his hand. "Old Qiu, this isn’t a matter of Conscience!"
"Then what could it be?" Qiu Luoye pounded the table. "Back when no one came to this wretched place of ours to reclaim land, how many people did Old Qi bring us, again and again? Now that you’ve found a better backer, you want to abandon him? Has your Conscience been snatched away and eaten by you?"
Shui Yongquan sighed. "Let me be frank with you. Within a one-li radius of my territory, there are ten thousand nine hundred plots. Nine hundred of those were given to me by Qiu Luoye."
Qiu Luoye waved his hand dismissively. "Don’t tell me this; I can’t make sense of these numbers!"
"I didn’t ask you to calculate. I’ve already done it for you," Shui Yongquan said, taking out a ledger. "In my territory, over 2,700 plots have been reclaimed. In your territory, over 2,500 plots have been reclaimed!"
Qiu Luoye’s expression grew stern, his gaze icy. "Are you saying that less new land has been reclaimed on my side than on yours?"
Shui Yongquan answered helplessly, "Is there even a need to say it? Can’t you count?"
Qiu Luoye lowered his voice and asked Li Banfeng, "I’m not wrong, am I? It is less than his, right?"
Li Banfeng nodded affirmatively.
Shui Yongquan said, "What I mean is that nearly a third of our two families’ land has been developed. If we continue at this rate, the Inner State will notice us."
Qiu Luoye snorted. "Let them notice. What’s there to fear? We’re reclaiming land according to the rules. Can they interfere?"
"The rules haven’t been violated, but our situation is special. This is Deep Land, not Shallow Land. I’m afraid the Inner State will cause trouble for us!"
The concept was easy to understand.
Shui Yongquan explained, "Deep and shallow refer to the distance from Proper Land. New Land close to Proper Land is called Shallow Land. Qiu Luoye’s territory and mine are far from Proper Land, separated by several layers of New Land, hence they are called Deep Land."
"Logically, the closer one is to Proper Land, the more convenient it is to transport food and supplies. So, the shallower the land, the more Pioneers there will be."
"Old Qi, ask around as you travel. Has any Local Deity’s territory reached thirty percent reclamation? Those plots adjoining Greenwater Bay—what percentage of them has been reclaimed? To my knowledge, not even twenty percent!"
"And now, our two territories, so deep within New Land, have already reached thirty percent reclamation. Such a conspicuous matter—could the Inner State be unaware? If they are aware, wouldn’t they cause us trouble?"
Li Banfeng was very curious. "How could they cause trouble?"
"Hard to say," Shui Yongquan shook his head. "They might send people to stir up problems, or they might destroy our Contract Books."
Li Banfeng understood even less. "You said the Inner State could send people to cause trouble. Can people from the Inner State just come to Puluo State as they please?"
"That they cannot," Shui Yongquan smacked his lips, "but they surely have other methods. I haven’t figured out exactly what those methods are yet."
Li Banfeng then asked, "You said they could destroy your Contract Books. Your Contract Books are buried in your territory. How can they destroy them?"
Shui Yongquan said, "My young friend, you haven’t seen a Contract Book. You only know one part of the story, not the other!"
Shui Yongquan brought out paper and a pen and drew an arch shape. "The Contract Book looks like this. It’s the proof of a Local Deity’s ownership over a territory. All major and minor events occurring within the territory are recorded in the Contract Book."
"When I defeated Qiu Luoye, he ceded thirty li of territory to me, and this event was recorded. If you don’t believe me, we can dig up Qiu Daxiang’s Contract Book right now and take a look. Every single detail is clearly written!"
Qiu Luoye spat disdainfully. "PAH! Why not dig up your Contract Book and take a look?"
Shui Yongquan continued, "Not only is the ceding of territory recorded, but acts of reclamation are also recorded, plot by plot, all written clearly and explicitly."
Li Banfeng maintained his composure. He thought Shui Yongquan was bluffing.
"Are you worried that reclaiming too much wasteland will draw the Inner State’s attention?"
Shui Yongquan said, "With a pile of Contract Books lying around, people from the Inner State definitely can’t be bothered to look through them all. But if one Contract Book suddenly has a large amount of new text, those people from the Inner State will surely take a glance."
Li Banfeng was confused again. "A pile of Contract Books lying where?"
"Lying in the Inner State’s archives, hanging row upon row," Shui Yongquan drew another arch shape. "A Contract Book is divided into two halves. We hold one half, and the Inner State keeps the other. When both halves are put together, they form a ring. If the Inner State destroys their half, it’s hard to say what will happen to our half."
This time Li Banfeng understood.
Li Banfeng felt a little uneasy. Suddenly, he heard Qiu Luoye say, "Let’s not talk about the ring for now."
Qiu Luoye looked at Shui Yongquan and asked, "Old Shui, what are you planning to do?"
Shui Yongquan said, "We have quite a few people in our territories. I’ve roughly counted; with people coming and going, it adds up to more than a thousand. This is all human energy. With human energy, we can accumulate cultivation level. Why rush things?"
Qiu Luoye wasn’t good with numbers, but he knew that more than a thousand people were definitely not enough. "Relying on just these thousand-plus people to accumulate cultivation level—how long will that take? If we do things your way, when will we ever reach the Third Layer?"
"What’s the rush?" Shui Yongquan was very patient. "We have five times the lifespan of ordinary people. Let’s take it slow."
Qiu Luoye was silent for a long time, then walked out of the wooden hut.
Amidst the sound of his heavy footsteps, the dead leaves still clinging to the trees fell one after another.
He turned back and said to Li Banfeng, "Old Qi, bring all your people to my territory. Get ready to reclaim the land. Once it’s done, you can choose anyone from my men."
Shui Yongquan frowned. "Qiu Daxiang, did you even hear what I just said?"
"No, I didn’t hear a single word," Qiu Luoye answered very frankly. "Old Shui, if you want to wait, then wait. Wait as long as you like. I won’t wait. Old Qi is a great benefactor. Heaven has been good to me, letting me meet such a benefactor. I must also be worthy of Heaven’s kindness. I’m going to see this through to the end!"