24: Chapter 24 Fixed Pattern

By the following spring, Jiang Yuhe had broken through to the third level.

The lamp in the ancestral house was dimmed low. On the table sat half a bowl of Spirit Rice porridge, mixed with the ground Huilu moss powder prepared by Chen Xiaoyan, and topped with two grains of Grain Rain Spirit Grain that they hadn't been able to bear to eat since last autumn.

Now, whatever little spiritual resources the Jiang Family had were all given to Jiang Yuhe.

Jiang Yuhe already knew how much Spirit Rice the family had saved over the past six months.

The Jiang Family had been busy for a whole year; after paying double taxes and deducting the costs for seeds and Spirit Medicine, what was truly left were just those few small bags. The half-bowl of porridge before her was the last bit saved from the Jiang Family's frugal living.

As the porridge entered her stomach, the Spiritual Qi began to rise, and her Grain Rain Qi sank down along with it.

She sat until the second half of the night, palms resting on her knees, listening to the sound of rain under the eaves, the sound of water by the well, and the soft rustle of Zhao Xing turning over in the east room. She also heard the Grain Rain in her chest descending inch by inch.

By the time dawn was approaching, a wisp of pale green rain pattern emerged on the back of her hand, running from her wrist bone to the base of her fingers.

"Pattern set."

At the third level of Qi Refining, the innate technique "Listening to Rain" was now completely perfected.

Jiang Yuhe opened her eyes; there was no joy in them, only a deeper stillness than before. When using Listening to Rain, she could now cover the entire current area of the Jiang Family; she could receive and perceive every detail of the main house.

Even the faint bit of Qi in Zhao Xing's abdomen, light as a sprout not yet formed by the well, could be faintly heard by her.

Zhou Wang saw it even more clearly in the family genealogy.

The ink under the character "He" was a circle thicker than before.

Jiang Xingchuan stood by the door for a long time, scratching his head, before squeezing out a few words: "Impressive."

Jiang Yuhe nodded.

"If you act less rashly, you will also progress very quickly on the path to Awakening of Insects."

Chen Xiaoyan sneered from beside the stove: "As if he'd listen."

Jiang Xingchuan's face darkened immediately, and he fell silent.

The atmosphere in the room eased up for once. Jiang Chengning closed the ledger and said in a low voice: "Yuhe is at the third level; the next step is the Meridian Changing barrier. Any Spirit Rice the family saves from now on should still be prioritized for her."

Jiang Xingchuan nodded, and Shoushan nodded as well.

Lin Suwen asked: "What about yourself?"

Jiang Chengning smiled: "With first-grade Start of Spring, there's no fear in being a bit slower."

Over at Shuangxi Ferry, chaos broke out three days later.

After Zhao Hengyue and the monk Jinghuai took over the porridge shed, first grain carts appeared by the ferry, followed by white funeral banners.

Jinghuai didn't curse the Zhou Family, nor did he mention the deceased "New Dharma" monk; he only served porridge, marked foreheads, and chanted sutras every day. The public settled down, but then began to ask about another matter.

Where did the monk go? Who killed him? Why wouldn't the Zhou Family say anything?

Some shouted in front of the shed, claiming the Zhou Family had cut off the porridge and killed the monk, and others joined in the uproar.

Several tenant farmers down the mountain who owed rent were already afraid of the Zhou Family's tax plaques, but now with the Zhao Family's guards standing by the shed and a "New Dharma" monk sitting there, their courage grew.

In the afternoon, over twenty refugees and tenant farmers rushed the old tax shed at Shuangxi Ferry and smashed the wooden plaque the Zhou Family had hung at the entrance into two pieces.

Zhao Hengyue did not stop them.

Jinghuai only pressed his palms together and said softly: "Everyone, do not harbor anger."

Once he said this, those people stopped cursing; instead, with red eyes, they threw the broken plaque into the mud and knelt by the porridge shed one by one, begging the Dharma Master to take them in.

When the news reached the Main Peak, Accountant Zhou Chengli said nothing.

The tall, thin old man chuckled instead: "The Zhao Family thinks they've snatched the meat."

Zhou Boyi only asked: "Has everyone been moved out?"

"The tenant farmers with Qi sense were already relocated to Huifeng Dock a few days ago," Accountant Zhou Chengli said. "The merchants who can keep accounts and the shed dwellers who understand Spirit Medicine have also been transferred to Sangyin Small Market and the North Pass Green Station. Those left at Shuangxi Ferry are mostly refugees, rent-owing tenants, and the old and weak who cannot move."

Zhou Boyi nodded.

Shuangxi Ferry was originally an opening at the foot of the Zhou Family's mountain, where goods, people, grain, and taxes all passed through. But ever since the Zhao Family interfered, the Main Peak had been bit by bit moving the truly valuable things away.

Passing Spirit Medicine was diverted to Sangyin Small Market; refugees showing signs of cultivation potential were moved to Huifeng Dock to be raised; and the trade of spring-type spiritual items went through the North Pass Green Station.

Shuangxi Ferry looked bustling, with the porridge shed, white banners, crowds, and grain carts all present, but in reality, its core had already been hollowed out by half.

The Zhao Family gained a reputation, but didn't actually obtain much of substance.

Zhou Boyi said: "As long as it doesn't hurt our foundation, let him make as much trouble as he wants."

Accountant Zhou Chengli agreed.

But what the Cold Households on Duansang Ridge saw was not the Main Peak secretly moving accounts, but only the Zhao Family establishing a foothold at the foot of the mountain. Consequently, that spring, every family became more cautious.

The Ji Family moved first.

On the surface, the Ji Family were newly arrived Cold Households who had just established a foothold at the North Pass; in the family, Ji Huai had reached the Start of Spring and become a Qi Refining Cultivator, and there were several younger ones below him.

The Main Peak placed them at the North Pass, close to Yangqing Dock and the Returning Green Silkworms, so they could often come into contact with Returning Green Silk during their shifts.

Returning Green Silk was the fine thread spun by spring silkworms, which could be used to make Talismans, medicine, and stabilize Qi; it was especially beneficial for cultivating and pattern setting during the Early Stage of Qi Refining.

The Main Peak established Yangqing Dock precisely to replenish their foundation.

Using this duty as an excuse, the Ji Family soon formed marriage alliances with two other families.

One was the He Family of Xiaoliujian.

The He Family possessed a section of Liujian Yin Vine; the dried vine skin could be made into binding ropes and also served as the tendons for low-grade wooden Talismans.

In previous years, the He Family had been suppressed by the Feng Family; once the Feng Family was gone, the He Family finally raised their heads, but they feared they couldn't stand alone.

The other was the Shi Family of Shimen Gap.

The Shi Family was originally inconspicuous, keeping to a corner and guarding a Blue Gravel Sand pit.

Blue Gravel Sand could be used in Talisman ink and could also be sprinkled at the feet of a formation to suppress floating Qi; Cultivators often used it to stabilize small formations before fighting.

The Shi Family had few people and even fewer Cultivators; usually, they just delivered the sand on time and rarely involved themselves in outside matters.

The two Qi Refining members of the Ji Family each married women from the main lineages of the two families to seal the alliances.

The two marriages were not celebrated grandly; they only exchanged gift letters.

At night, Jiang Chengning spread out the ledgers of the several families and explained them to his family.

"Currently, the Cold Households on Duansang Ridge are the Jiang, Sun, Chen, He, Wang, Shi, Ji, and Meng families."

"The Liu Family has merged into our family, and the Feng Family has died out. The Sun Family guards the North Ravine water vein, producing Water Accounts and Ravine Heart Dew."

"The Chen Family guards the Spirit Medicine fields of Dihua Slope, producing Black Mulberry Cores, Huilu Moss, and Rain Water medicine. The He Family has the Xiaoliujian Yin Vine. The Wang Family has Red Pattern Sand on the South Slope, which can be used to refine Fire Talismans and warm furnaces. The Shi Family has Blue Gravel Sand. The Meng Family is new and is currently watching the outer shed of Yangqing Dock for the Main Peak."

When he reached this point, he pointed to the line about the Ji Family.

"The Ji Family doesn't have much of anything, but they are closest to Yangqing Dock and are looked after by the Main Peak. If they form marriage alliances with the He and Shi families, this line at the North Pass will slowly have people."

Jiang Xingchuan had been silent the whole time.

After Jiang Chengning finished, he suddenly said: "That youngest son of the Ji Family is strange."

Everyone in the room looked at him.

Jiang Xingchuan said: "A few years ago at Sangyin Small Market, when Liu Zhaoquan and I went to inquire about Old Grave Slope, there was a medicine boy in the pharmacy who pointed out the road to that Winter Cultivator."

He paused: "Later, I saw the Ji Family's youngest son at Fenchun Terrace; it was him."

Jiang Yuhe asked: "Are you sure?"

"The face is the same," Jiang Xingchuan said. "But the person is different. The one in the pharmacy spoke with absolute confidence, as if he knew everything. This one from the Ji Family is timid and cowering; he's fourteen, but doesn't dare to look people in the eye."

Lin Suwen frowned: "It's not impossible that the medicine boy later reached the Start of Spring and entered the mountain."

"It's possible," Jiang Xingchuan said. "But it's too much of a coincidence."

Jiang Chengning did not speak immediately.

The lamp on the table flickered.

The family genealogy was quiet.

Zhou Wang, within the paper, remembered the snow on Old Grave Slope that night, the decapitated Foundation Establishment Cultivator, Liu Zhaoquan walking into the Qingming Qi as if he had lost his soul, and the road the medicine boy had pointed out so casually.

Now, it had coincidentally linked up with the Ji Family.