Li Tongya pinched the spell, watching the dense spiritual rain fall into the dark soil, his face pale as he pondered:
"This technique for nurturing Spirit Plants, the Spiritual Rain Technique, really consumes a great deal of mana. Even having cultivated the Chengming Wheel, I can barely release it once. Taking care of the Spirit Plants requires daily attention; it truly requires manpower."
Li Xiangping and Li Tongya measured the spiritual fields of all the villages, finding them pitifully scarce. Lijing Village's spiritual fields were fragmented, but fortunately, the largest patch could barely accommodate the planting of ten White Yuan fruits.
Thus, Li Tongya had someone build a small courtyard at the foot of what used to be barren hills, where he practiced cultivation and farming. Necessities were delivered to him, and life was quite comfortable.
Li Xiangping chose a spiritual field in Jingyang Village to sow Spirit Rice, which amused the villagers of Jingyang to the point of worshipping outside his courtyard daily.
Since he had yet to enter the Zhouxing cycle, Li Tongya closed his eyes and regulated his breathing for nearly half an hour before his mana was restored. Glancing at the time, he saw that Li Yesheng had been waiting with others by the door for quite a while.
As the wooden gate creaked open, Li Yesheng hurriedly bowed and greeted,
"The children from the villages have all arrived, Brother Tongya, are you ready to go now?"
"Mm."
Li Tongya responded softly, and, amidst the eager smiles of Li Yesheng and several men, slowly walked towards the front of the village.
----------
Under the lush, leafy banyan tree at the village head, people sent from all the villages had arrived. The steward appointed by the Li Family led several notable villagers, followed by crowds of children of all ages.
The managers stood under the tree, conversing in low voices, appearing fairly relaxed. The villagers from the other villages seemed anxious and restrained, and dared not speak, simply standing in their places. The children, influenced by the adults, sat obediently on the ground.
Chen Erniu was recently in high spirits, so elated that he could not sleep at night. After toiling in the fields for generations, he finally led a decent life.
Upon learning that he had been assigned to manage Lichuan Entrance, Chen Erniu kowtowed nine times forcefully in front of the Li Family's courtyard, sobbing and pledging fiercely to the Elder Li:
"Grateful for the Elder's trust, I, Erniu, will surely manage Lichuan Entrance's villagers with strict discipline."
Having sought refuge and been aided by the Li Family, married, and bought land thanks to their beneficence, and having his wife's illness treated with their money, Chen Erniu found his fate tightly bound to the Li Family's chariot.
Moreover, with such enormous benefits before his eyes, he, Chen Erniu, would even dare to eat dog excrement!
However, he had long been at odds with Xu Wenshan, since their days as tenants, which led to frequent frictions between the two villages. Only Ren Ping'an stood above the fray in the three villages, managing his village's affairs alone every day.
"Manager Chen..."
Suddenly, an anxious voice called out beside him, and Chen Erniu turned to see that it was Chen Zhanghu from Lichuan Entrance.
As the Chen Clan was predominant in Lichuan Entrance, Chen Zhanghu, being the eldest of the clan, held high prestige in the region. Consequently, everyone recommended he lead the group.
"Will the Li Family's Immortal truly take in our Chen Family's descendants?"
The normally composed and respected elder now looked at the village entrance with an anxious expression, quietly inquiring.
"They say it's about having affinity with the Immortal! And having that Spirit Aperture! Children aged seven to thirteen, as long as Chen Family's children have the Spirit Aperture, the Li Family will take them all in!"
Watching Chen Zhanghu nod again and again, Chen Erniu sneered, but inside, he was full of envy. He bitterly regretted that his own children were either too old, having missed the opportunity, or too young to come for testing.
"The Immortal is here!"
Spotting Li Tongya appearing at the village entrance, Chen Erniu hurriedly greeted him with a smile, thinking enviously:
"I wonder which children from the villages will be fortunate enough to gain an affinity with the Immortal today."
Li Tongya gently saluted with folded hands, smiled at Chen Erniu, and turned to Li Yesheng, saying,
"Let's begin."
However, a wooden platform had already been set up beside the locust tree, and Li Tongya was sitting on it as the people below began to call out names.
"Lichuan Entrance! Chen Lifu!"
Immediately, a member of the Chen Family brought up a trembling child, and Li Tongya placed his hand on the child's shoulder. His mana circulated once within the child's body before he waved his hand and said,
"You may go down."
Upon hearing these words, the two didn't dare to respond and hurriedly descended, while a trace of disappointment flashed in the eyes of Chen Zhanghu below.
"Next!"
...…
Before long, the people from Lichuan Entrance had all gone down, and Chen Zhanghu's face looked grim, seemingly pleading with Chen Erniu with his eyes.
Chen Erniu rolled his eyes and spread his hands, indicating he was helpless to assist.
The deep autumn weather was cool and crisp, and although a large crowd had gathered, it was still breezy under the tree. Yet, everyone was sweating profusely, beating their chests with anxiety after seeing that not a single child from Lichuan Entrance had an Immortal destiny.
Li Tongya, however, was mentally prepared for this scene. The presence of a Spirit Aperture in a being was one in a thousand; if even one child from the villages had it, it was considered breaking even, two would be a gain.
"Jingyang Village! Liu Rouxuan!"
As soon as the words fell, a girl who looked around thirteen or fourteen years old stepped up. Her eyebrows were curved, her eyes bright, as she nervously bit her lip.
Fourteen years old was, in fact, the upper age limit. Li Tongya shook his head helplessly but pretended not to notice and placed his left hand on the girl's shoulder, circulating his mana.
After making a round through the girl's meridians, Li Tongya let out a light "Hmm?" causing the Liu Clan members of Jingyang Village below to become increasingly tense.
To their observation, the Qi flow within the girl's Sea of Qi Acupoint was surging ceaselessly, with a transparent Qi Acupoint pulsing as if breathing on its own.
"Not bad."
Li Tongya opened his eyes and smiled at the girl, gently saying, "Stand behind me."
Liu Rouxuan stared blankly into Li Tongya's eyes, seemingly in disbelief at such an enormous stroke of luck. After a few breaths, she finally realized what had happened and, with a joyous expression, stood behind Li Tongya.
The crowd from Jingyang Village erupted in commotion, everyone wearing expressions of joy, but they refrained from cheering out loud out of respect for Li Tongya. In contrast, Lichuan Entrance lay in a somber silence, and the remaining two villages felt even more apprehensive.
It wasn't long before Jingyang Village and Lidao Entrance had finished their assessments, and sure enough, there were no more with a Spirit Aperture.
"Lijing Village!"
Li Tongya's gaze swept lightly over the children below. Li Xuanxuan was certainly not among them, as the child was only three years old, not yet fully grown, and it would take at least until seven years of age to determine the presence of a Spirit Aperture.
Finally, it was the turn of the children from his own village, and Li Yesheng raised his eyebrow as he began to call out names.
"If Tongya hadn't tested me earlier, I would have been itching to try myself!"
As Li Yesheng loudly called out names, he thought resentfully to himself.
"Ye Qiuyang!"
The child's father, Ye Chengfu, instantly tensed up, his legs going weak as he fixedly stared at the child, about eight or nine years old, on the platform, continually comforting himself:
"The Ye Family is, after all, a branch of the Li Family; surely there must be some trace of an Immortal destiny..."
Watching Li Tongya place his hand on Ye Qiuyang's shoulder, Ye Chengfu closed his eyes and simply sat down on the sandy ground, listening intently.