Immortal Fated Chance

After Zhu Zhen and his group departed, Zhou Ping summoned Zhou Hong, Zhou Changhe, and the others to the main hall.

Zhou Ping looked at Zhou Changhe and said, "Changhe, take some men to the mountains at the village entrance. Clear a few areas and build several small courtyards. From now on, that will be our clan estate. Moving to the mountains will also benefit your bodies."

"Nephew understands." Zhou Changhe cupped his hands, then led the men away.

Afterwards, Zhou Ping turned to Zhou Hong and said, "Big brother, take some men and gather all the villagers at the village entrance. We will head there shortly."

"I will go right away."

Having said this, Zhou Hong left the hall.

Only then did Zhou Ping look at Zhou Minghu. He took out an old land deed and said slowly, "This is the land deed from your great-grandmother's family. As for how to handle it, you decide for yourself."

Initially, he had accepted the land deed because he had no hope for an immortal Fated Chance, assuming his family could only remain wealthy mortal landlords. Naturally, he had valued the fields greatly and planned to seize them.

But now, his family had become an immortal clan and could even improve the aptitudes of future generations. Ordinary fields were now mere worldly possessions; this land deed had become utterly insignificant.

Moreover, he could now seize the fields with ease if he so wished.

However, Zhou Minghu was too heavily influenced by Chen Nianqiu. If his heart and mind were not allowed to be at ease, Zhou Ping feared some accident might occur. Giving him the land deed was not to let him resolve the matter of the fields, but to sever the blood feud.

Zhou Minghu took the land deed, his gaze dark and cold.

"Your son will kill the Wang and Sun families, as well as the descendants of the Qian clan, but not now."

He knew that even though their family had ascended to an immortal clan, they could not handle everything personally. They would always need mortals to do the menial tasks, such as managing business transactions, cultivating the fields, and searching the mountains for herbs.

And Baixi Village was already sparsely populated, with only a few hundred residents. If he slaughtered the Qian, Wang, and Sun families now, the village's population would instantly drop by over a hundred. The others would become terrified and panicked, which would be detrimental to his family's rule. If word got out, it would damage their family's reputation, and they might even be branded as a demonic path.

After a few more years, he could swallow them up silently. By then, he would ensure those three families suffered endlessly.

Zhou Ping nodded. "It is enough that you have made your decision. Should you wish to butcher those three families, your father will accompany you."

Zhou Minghu's eyes glistened with tears, but he still shook his head.

If they slaughtered the three families now, it would cause panic and fear. Other families who wished to pledge allegiance to the Zhou clan would be deterred by terror.

After all, cruelly massacring even their earliest allied wife's clan would burden the Zhou family with the infamy of betrayal and broken faith.

"Let us go. Let us see what is happening at the village entrance."

...

Under the large banyan tree at the village entrance, a dense crowd had gathered. Zhou Hong stood to the side with a group of household guards. There were large families like the Wang and Sun gathered together, as well as small families in clusters of two or three. They whispered among themselves, anxious, constrained, and deeply uneasy.

A burly man said in a hushed voice, "Did you hear? Second Master Zhou has attained the Dao!"

"So many officials came today, and I even saw the county magistrate. He treated Second Master Zhou with such courtesy; he has definitely attained the Dao."

Another peasant farmer scratched his head and said, "I heard from others that when an immortal master attains the Dao, they become immortal and never age. I wonder if it's true."

"It must be true. Old Ancestor Huang from the east of our county-my grandfather was just a wanderer back when he attained the Dao, and he's still alive today."

"Heavens, then from now on, we can't speak carelessly. We have to call Second Master Zhou an Immortal."

Qi Condensation cultivators possessed a lifespan of one hundred and twenty years, and being nourished by Spiritual Qi, their appearances aged incredibly slowly. To mortals with merely half that lifespan, Qi Condensation cultivators were omnipotent immortals who never grew old.

On the other side of the gathering, the Sun clan's patriarch leaned weakly on his cane, and even so, he required Sun Mingcheng's support to stand.

"Mingcheng, Second Master Zhou has become an immortal now. From now on, you must never harbor any stray thoughts." His cloudy eyes could barely see, his body withered like a dead tree, already a flickering candle in the wind. "Our Sun family is the wife's clan of the Zhou family's eldest branch. As long as we remain wholeheartedly loyal to the Zhou family, nothing will happen to us."

"I do not have many years left to live. After I die, you will be the patriarch of our family. Remember, from this day forward, our Sun family is a vassal to the Zhou family. We are their dogs! Do you understand?!"

Before Zhou Ping had attained the Dao, he had still thought about the two families contending after a hundred years, since ordinary immortal masters and mortals had similar lifespans.

But an immortal master who had attained the Dao enjoyed a leisurely lifespan of over a hundred years, and Second Master Zhou was only in his thirties. What could his mortal family possibly use to fight him?

"Mingcheng remembers." Sun Mingcheng lowered his head.

No matter how much resentment he held in his heart, from now on, he could only suppress it deep inside, never daring to speak of it.

After three years of open and covert struggles, the Wang family had split into two factions: one led by Wang Feng, the other by Wang Hui. As for the three brothers of the third branch, they had long been driven apart and turned against each other by these two.

"Cousin, what do you think Second Master Zhou called us here for?" Wang Hui said with a smile to Wang Feng. But one was over sixty, the other forty and in his prime. Standing together, they looked less like cousins and more like father and son.

Wang Feng stood there, ignoring him completely, maintaining an aloof and composed demeanor.

Wang Hui's gaze darkened. This old bastard, relying on his age, stubbornly fought him for the position of patriarch. Now he was acting even more contemptuous. One day, he would make this old relic suffer.

As for the old Wang family patriarch, he had returned not long ago only to die of illness. Wang Du had also wanted to become patriarch upon returning to the village, but he had mysteriously fallen gravely ill and had since become timid and cowardly.

Elder Chen and Qian Fangsu were also surrounded by people. When mortals were panicked and uneasy, they sought to rely on the strong. Because these two were valued by the Zhou family, they had gradually gained prestige and status in the village.

Just then, exclamations erupted from the crowd.

"The Immortal is coming!"

Everyone saw Zhou Ping and his son appear in their line of sight. The ordinary villagers cowered their heads in fear and reverence, while the various clan leaders smiled and stepped forward to greet them, remaining humble and not daring to speak out of turn.

Zhou Ping smiled in response, then walked to the front of the crowd.

"I apologize for disturbing you all today. I have some good news to share with everyone."

"A few days ago, I, Zhou Ping, attained the Dao and was blessed by imperial grace, receiving a formal enfeoffment from the Imperial Court."

As he spoke, the jade token in Zhou Ping's hand flickered, and a golden light emerged, shining brilliantly in mid-air.

Baixi Zhou Clan.

Seeing such mystical methods, many people were so frightened that they knelt and prostrated themselves repeatedly, muttering under their breath and causing a massive uproar.

"An immortal!"

Zhou Ping said in a clear voice, "From now on, the four hills at the village entrance will be renamed Baixi Mountain, and together with Baixi Village, they will be under the governance of my Zhou family."

Then, he pointed lightly towards Baixi Mountain, though in reality, he was secretly activating the formation plate.

The four small hills trembled and rumbled. A massive phantom of a boundary wall manifested, and the ground shook slightly. This terrified the villagers, who knelt on the earth, pale with shock and fear.

"An immortal! A true immortal!"

Such power to shake mountains and move the earth was, in their minds, the absolute proof of an immortal descending to the mortal realm.

Sun Mingcheng pressed his head to the dirt, hearing his own heartbeat pounding like a booming bell, his mind in total turmoil.

"This is what it means to be an immortal who has attained the Dao!"

Zhou Ping's expression remained tranquil. Although the Imperial Court had only granted him four small hills, and Baixi Village was not officially included, the village was completely surrounded by these hills and was already within his grasp. Naturally, he would not relinquish it.

"Although my Zhou family is now an immortal clan, we have not forgotten our fellow villagers and elders. I have decided to test the aptitude of the village's children of appropriate age. If any have an immortal Fated Chance, my family will take them in to cultivate together."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire crowd boiled over.

"Is Immortal Zhou telling the truth? Is he really willing to accept the children of our families?"

The Wang, Sun, and Qian families were stunned, then overjoyed. If their families also produced an immortal, they could bring glory to their ancestors and rise to boundless prominence in the future.

On the other hand, Zhou Minghu and the other Zhou family members changed expressions slightly. Especially Zhou Minghu. Although he knew it was common for immortal clans to recruit outsiders into their ranks, that was only when the main clan was strong and the outsiders were weak. His family currently had only three cultivators. If no cultivators emerged from their descendants in the future, weren't they afraid of outsiders usurping their foundation?

But since it was Zhou Ping's decision, they dared not voice their opposition.

Zhou Ping's choice to select those with a Fated Chance from the villagers was, of course, born of careful calculation.

Every three years, they needed to pay three thousand five hundred jin of spiritual rice. But planting spiritual rice required cultivators to actively channel Spiritual Qi. They couldn't very well have their entire family plant spiritual rice and abandon their own cultivation, could they?

Selecting those with a Fated Chance from the mortal children was his plan to have them farm the spiritual rice for him. And since the children were young, they would be exceedingly easy to control.

Regardless, as long as he possessed the system, cultivators would inevitably emerge from his own bloodline, more than enough to suppress the outer surnames.

"As long as they are children between five and ten years old and possess a Fated Chance, my Zhou family will pass on cultivation techniques to them and take them to Baixi Mountain to cultivate."

Zhou Ping announced once more, prompting the villagers to nod and kowtow in profound gratitude.

"Immortal, I will go bring my child right away!"

Someone shouted, and the scene immediately became chaotic and noisy.

"I'm going too! I'm going too!"

After the time it takes half an incense stick to burn, more than ten children of varying heights stood in a long line before Zhou Ping, looking up at him with fear and profound unease.

Chen Fusheng was naturally among them, looking at his brother-in-law with a bewildered expression.

Zhou Minghu stepped forward to test them one by one. He had received Zhou Ping's secret instructions: if a child's Spiritual Light was below two cun, he was to announce it publicly; if it was two cun or higher, he was to conceal the truth and find a way to kill the child later.

"Begin."

A child, trembling with terror, was led forward by his father. Zhou Minghu placed his hand heavily on the child's shoulder, allowed his Spiritual Qi to circulate through the child's body for a moment, then said calmly:

"Next."

The man beside him showed a look of devastating disappointment, picked up his child, and walked to the side.

Soon, each pronouncement sounded like a death sentence, rendering the crowd increasingly silent, until it was Chen Fusheng's turn.

After three years, Zhou Minghu once again placed his hand on Chen Fusheng, his own maternal uncle.

As his Spiritual Qi circulated, his expression flickered between joy and conflict. Then, he gritted his teeth and no longer concealed the Spiritual Light surging from Chen Fusheng's crown.

"Chen Fusheng possesses aptitude."

Below, Elder Chen was so overcome with emotion that tears streamed down his weathered face. He hugged the old woman beside him and shouted repeatedly.

"My Chen family is going to produce an immortal master! My Chen family is going to produce an immortal master!"

Everyone around looked on with intense envy, especially the Wang, Sun, and Qian families, who desperately wished they were the ones going mad with excitement.

But Zhou Ping remained as calm as still water, though a trace of cold light flickered in his eyes. The Spiritual Light that had surged from Chen Fusheng's head measured a full two and two-tenths cun!

With such a Spiritual Light, if he encountered any further Fated Chance, the possibility of him breaking through to Qi Condensation was extremely high. He took a deep look at Zhou Minghu, knowing that Zhou Minghu had ultimately yielded to the bonds of blood. But since it had already been announced, he could say nothing.

The remaining few children were tested one by one, all with dismal results. However, a surprise came at the very end.

It was a grandson of Wang Hui named Wang Dashi. His Spiritual Light was only one and four-tenths cun, considered extremely poor even among the Low Grade. Yet it made Wang Hui beam with uncontained joy, while Wang Feng on the side looked utterly grim.

But until the very end, no third person with a Fated Chance appeared, leaving the Sun clan patriarch entirely dejected and disheartened.

Qian Fangsu sighed slightly, then returned to his normal composure. As long as he stayed fiercely loyal to the Zhou family's eldest branch, he could ensure his family's wealth and honor. As for a Fated Chance for immortality, he was not overly concerned.

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