Yunyi Villa.
It was past midnight, and the sky was still dark. Mo Hua released his divine sense and swept every corner of the room, but he could no longer detect any trace of the underworld emissary.
Not until dawn did sunlight stream into the room, carrying the fresh dew and a warm, cozy feeling.
The faint yin aura from the previous night had also completely dissipated.
It was as if nothing had ever happened; everything had returned to normal.
Sensing that the yin aura was truly gone, Mo Hua sighed lightly, a trace of concern in his heart. "I wonder when there will be another underworld emissary to come and catch me—"
Mo Hua felt a great pity. If only one day, a few more underworld emissaries would suddenly appear, preferably even fiercer and more brutal, actively coming to take his soul, that would be wonderful.
But he wondered if such good fortune would ever come his way—
Knowing that his luck was never very good, Mo Hua was deeply worried about this.
"What if the underworld emissaries don't come looking for me?"
"Where would I find them?"
Just as Mo Hua was pondering, a knock sounded.
Mo Hua got out of bed and opened the door. At the entrance stood Zhu Muchen, with a baby face.
"Little Senior Brother, how was your rest last night?"
I met a ghost—
Mo Hua silently said to himself, but he naturally couldn't say such a truthful statement out loud. So he said, "Very well, very peaceful, and not lonely."
Zhu Muchen didn't find anything wrong and happily said, "That's good."
Then he invited Mo Hua, saying, "Little Senior Brother, let's go have breakfast. I asked the village head and the others to specially make fruit soup and pastries with freshly picked fruits, and some spiritual vegetables that are very tender. In this rural place, the food is all about freshness—"
Mo Hua nodded: "Thank you for the trouble."
"Little Senior Brother, you're too polite," Zhu Muchen said cheerfully. "It's my honor to be able to personally entertain you."
Mo Hua shook his head with a wry smile.
Afterwards, the two went to the villa's dining hall for breakfast.
A large table was filled with various fruits, vegetables, pastries, and fruit soup.
Although not very expensive, each item was exquisite and especially fresh, showing great care.
Seeing Zhu Muchen, this junior junior brother, being so hospitable, Mo Hua felt a little embarrassed.
After breakfast, not long after, a group of people escorted an elder as they entered.
This elder had a mustache, sharp eyes, and wore dark robes. Mo Hua recognized him; it was the Zhu family's dark-robed elder he had met a few times before.
Mo Hua remembered his name was "Zhu Shoulu," and the people at Yunyi Villa respectfully called him "Elder Lu."
Zhu Shoulu entered the room, glanced at Mo Hua, then lowered his gaze, bowed to Zhu Muchen, and said apologetically, "Young Master Chen, I was delayed by business yesterday and failed to welcome you properly. It is my fault. Please forgive me."
Zhu Muchen waved his hand and said strangely, "We're not strangers, why be so polite? Elder Lu, if you have matters, just attend to them with peace of mind. The clan's affairs are important."
Although Zhu Muchen was the young master of the Zhu family, he had a gentle temperament and was not arrogant.
Zhu Shoulu then looked at Mo Hua, cupped his hands, and said, "Greetings, Young Master Mo."
Mo Hua nodded in return: "Elder Lu."
Zhu Muchen thought for a moment and casually asked, "Elder Lu, how did things go?"
Elder Lu said, "Roughly handled."
Zhu Muchen was curious: "What matter?"
Elder Lu only said, "Some trivial manor affairs, not worth mentioning, so as not to trouble you, Young Master."
Zhu Muchen nodded and didn't ask further.
Whether he knew about the manor's trivial matters or not, it indeed made no difference.
He had more important things to do.
Zhu Muchen asked, "Elder Lu, what arrangements are there for today?"
He wanted to take Little Senior Brother around to see the Zhu family's properties and play host.
Elder Lu cupped his hands and said, "By the patriarch's orders, today I will arrange for the young master to tour the nearby fields and villages, ask some questions to the stewards, verify the accounts, and also let you understand some aspects of the field realm's production and management—"
Before Elder Lu could finish, Zhu Muchen found it long-winded and said, "Alright, alright—" Then he looked at Mo Hua and asked, "Little Senior Brother, would you like to come and see?"
Mo Hua nodded.
Zhu Muchen was overjoyed and said to Elder Lu, "Then let's do that."
Elder Lu gave Mo Hua a deep look, a trace of wariness flashing in his eyes, and said to Zhu Muchen, "Yes, Young Master Chen, I will prepare immediately."
After resting for a while and eating some fruit, the carriage and horses were ready. Zhu Muchen led Mo Hua onto the carriage. Under Elder Lu's guidance, they began an inspection of the Zhu family's fields in the Great Spiritual Field Realm.
This so-called inspection was not complicated; it was just going wherever they looked.
When they arrived at a location, they roughly looked at the operational status, then called over the village head or steward in charge, asked a few questions, and checked a few accounts.
If the answers were good, there were rewards; if not, or if there were shortcomings, they would be reprimanded as a warning.
Mo Hua followed beside Zhu Muchen, silently observing the Zhu family's fields.
After watching for a while, his first impression was that the Zhu family indeed was a great clan, with vast properties. The fields they occupied stretched as far as the eye could see, and it was no exaggeration to call them "great landowners."
The Zhu family's fields were like a sea of green, extending into the distance. Even if Mo Hua released his divine sense, he could not touch the horizon.
And this was just one prefecture, a very small part.
There were more than a dozen other prefectures, and in almost every one, the Zhu family had fields, not necessarily smaller than this one.
Yet, despite the Zhu family's vast land and huge production, they were only one of the four great clans in Kun Prefecture, and not even the largest landowner.
The Lu, Jin, and Wu families had even more land.
Needless to say, above the four great clans, there was the even more expansive Earth Sect.
Mo Hua sighed inwardly.
"By the way, Little Senior Brother, would you like to take a look at the formations in the fields?" Zhu Muchen suddenly asked.
"Formations?" Mo Hua was slightly startled.
"Young Master Chen—" Elder Lu hurriedly said, "This— is not quite within the rules."
Zhu Muchen was a bit displeased: "Little Senior Brother's formation skills are profound and unfathomable. The formations in our Zhu family's fields may not even catch his eye. Why be so secretive and hide them?"
Elder Lu felt bitter inside. His own young master was favoring the wrong side—
Mo Hua also felt a bit embarrassed, but since they had come this far, not taking a look at the formations would be a disservice to his identity as a formation master.
Mo Hua said, "Then let's take a look."
Zhu Muchen: "Good!"
So Zhu Muchen took it upon himself to lead his Little Senior Brother to the formation hub at the head of the Zhu family's fields.
Elder Lu had a strong feeling that this was "inviting a wolf into the house."
But the one inviting the wolf in was his own young master. As an elder, he had no choice but to follow closely to guard against any mishaps.
And Mo Hua, the "wolf," slowly walked up to the Zhu family's field formations, released his divine sense, and with just a few glances, he understood.
Zhu Muchen asked curiously, "Little Senior Brother, how are our Zhu family's formations?"
Mo Hua pondered for a moment, nodded, and evaluated: "Not bad— The south-north direction uses an Earth-Solidifying Formation as the foundation, locking in the soil and nutrients—"
"Around the Earth-Solidifying Formation, there is also a Spring Rain Formation, used to absorb spring rain moisture and moisten the soil—"
"These two formations are arranged together through the array hub."
"By cooperating as single formations, they achieve the effect of a preliminary compound formation and save costs."
"The formation design, although a bit mediocre, is simple and practical. Applied to a large area of spiritual fields, it is neither meritorious nor faulty—"
Zhu Muchen nodded, remembering each point.
Elder Lu, however, was startled.
This Young Master Mo had walked to the field formation hub and said these words in the time it takes to breathe three times.
In the blink of an eye, he could see so many nuances?
He was so proficient in the spiritual plant formations of Kun Prefecture?
Elder Lu frowned slightly, wondering what he was thinking.
On the other side, Mo Hua felt a bit disappointed.
The disappointment was that the spiritual plant formations used in the Zhu family's fields were still too "low-end" in his eyes.
Not only were the types few, the design for the flow of the five elements was not exquisite, and the grades were basically all first or second rank. There wasn't a single third-rank formation.
This greatly surprised Mo Hua.
He had originally thought that since the Zhu family was a great clan, they would have some sophistication in field formations.
But now it seemed that the Zhu family did not attach much importance to field formations.
The formations were all at the level of "usable."
Mo Hua even suspected that these great clans of Kun Prefecture simply had no intention of using "formations" to develop their properties and increase field yields.
Of course, thinking the other way, it was also possible that his own standards were too high.
These "crude" formations might not be bad in the eyes of ordinary cultivators.
Especially since modifying formations over a large area of spiritual fields would be too costly and not worth it.
The Zhu family's lack of vigorous promotion of field formation development was understandable, and there might even be internal reasons he had not noticed.
After all, armchair strategizing was easy.
But in reality, even the smallest matters could encounter obstacles—
Mo Hua silently restrained his thoughts and looked into the distance. Suddenly, his expression froze. He pointed at a row of things that looked like "oxen" made of wood and iron, slowly moving through the fields, and asked Zhu Muchen, "Those things, aren't they—"
"They're wooden oxen," Zhu Muchen said, his eyes sparkling, clearly fond of such things.
These wooden oxen were working in the fields, with some spiritual farmers behind them driving and controlling the direction.
Mo Hua wanted to take a closer look but didn't want to disturb the farmers, so he just swept his divine sense and felt a novelty:
They really were wooden oxen—
In this place called the Great Spiritual Field Realm, people actually used mechanical creations for farming.
But it seemed the number was not large.
In the vast fields, only a few wooden oxen could be seen, not very conspicuous.
Mo Hua asked again, "Are these wooden oxen many in number?"
Zhu Muchen regretfully said, "Very few."
Mo Hua asked, "Why not make more?"
Zhu Muchen sighed, "These wooden oxen are quite expensive to make, and the formation adaptation is difficult. Mass production is not easy."
"Of course, the main reason is— the Great Spiritual Field Realm is vast with many people, and the thing we lack the least is spiritual farmers. Hiring spiritual farmers to work the fields is much cheaper than making wooden oxen—"
Zhu Muchen was interested in mechanisms and had some research on related matters. He continued, "Our Zhu family only made a dozen or so of these oxen, put them in the fields for novelty—"
"But in reality, they can't recoup the cost."
"The true use of mechanical arts is in other paths of cultivation. For spiritual plants, it is very limited and not very meaningful—"
Mo Hua nodded slightly, but his gaze narrowed, lost in thought.
"Formations, mechanisms, spiritual plants—"
After that, the group took another walk through the fields.
Mo Hua mainly stared silently at the wooden oxen. With his powerful divine sense, he could see every joint clearly.
After a while, as it was getting late, the group prepared to leave.
Mo Hua glanced out of the corner of his eye and suddenly remembered something. He walked to the edge of the field, bent down, pulled up a handful of grass, and examined it closely.
Zhu Muchen didn't understand but also crouched beside Mo Hua, staring at the grass in his hand.
After looking for a while, he really couldn't see anything, so he asked, "Little Senior Brother, is this grass problematic?"
Mo Hua frowned and sighed, "No problem"
The grass was too normal, just ordinary weeds, but not ordinary enough. It wasn't the type of grass he was looking for.
Mo Hua was a bit disappointed. Then along the way, he pulled up a few different kinds of weeds, but none of them met his expectations.
"Still not right—"
Mo Hua's gaze grew deep.
A day in the Great Spiritual Field Realm passed like this.
Under Elder Lu's guidance, Mo Hua and Zhu Muchen saw many fields, manors, and accounts.
They also saw formations, wooden oxen, and encountered many spiritual farmers.
Mo Hua gained a preliminary understanding of the Great Spiritual Field Realm.
—
In the evening, everyone returned to Yunyi Villa to welcome Zhu Muchen.
The banquet was the same as yesterday, filled with local delicacies. They ate and drank well, and the atmosphere was harmonious.
Only Mo Hua silently drank the fruit wine in his cup, reviewing the day's observations, lost in thought.
His junior junior brother Zhu Muchen was the young master of the Zhu family.
This time, he was inspecting the properties, a cursory overview, and there seemed to be no special circumstances.
Zhu Muchen was happy with food, drink, and his junior senior brother, and didn't see any problems.
Even Mo Hua, for a moment, found it all quite normal.
The Great Spiritual Field Realm was not at all as he had suspected beforehand; instead, it appeared relatively stable.
The spiritual plant formations, though somewhat "backward," were large in scale and operated smoothly.
Although the wooden oxen were not used, the spiritual farmers had fields to cultivate.
The spiritual farmers of the Zhu family's manors worked hard, but they also got something in return.
As long as they worked the fields for a day, they could still get a meal, just not a wealthy one.
And the village heads of the manors lived a bit better; they could not only eat their fill but also procure some fruits and game to offer to the stewards for favors.
The Great Spiritual Field Realm before him had hardship, but it was completely different from what Mo Hua had heard before, including the causal state he sensed from the Heavenly Mechanism.
"No—"
Mo Hua's heart stirred. He couldn't help but recall the experience of almost having his soul taken by the underworld emissary the previous night. His gaze sharpened as he looked around.
In the hall, Elder Lu was guarding beside Zhu Muchen, eating, drinking, and watching the dance.
Mo Hua sized him up and suddenly said, "Elder Lu"
Elder Lu put down his cup and looked at Mo Hua: "Young Master Mo, do you have any instructions?"
Mo Hua paused, then lowered his voice and slowly asked, "Did someone just die in this manor a few days ago?"
The question caught Elder Lu off guard. His pupils constricted for an instant, and his lips turned pale. But he still managed a forced smile and said, "Young Master Mo, you jest; how could anyone die in this manor?"