I planted the spiritual roots for my people, and they bestowed upon me a body inscribed with incense

Seeing the two leave, Li Yuan made no attempt to stop them. He then took Ling Mi, gathered a few members of the bandit-extermination team, and headed towards Shanyue County, the closest county to the imperial city.

Most of the princes in the imperial city reside in Shanyue County. Daqing consists of six counties: Qingyang County, Qingshan County, Huaihai County, Longling County, Shanyue County, and the imperial city. Of course, there is one special city among them, which is Zhancheng.

Aside from the imperial city, Tianyang County and Shanyue County are the strongest. Tianyang County is where most immortals and rogue cultivators reside, while Shanyue County is where many princes and court officials reside.

As for Zhancheng, it was a huge city built after Shanyue County to defend against the Mosa Kingdom and the Great Wei Dynasty. It was also the place where everyone went when the Immortal was summoned five years later.

As for the other counties, the immortals in Longling County are doing well, but Huaihai County and Qingshan County are the most impoverished counties. However, Huaihai County is home to a Prince of Daqing, namely Ouyang Shuiyan, a prince from another clan.

The distance between Luoshan County, where Li Yuan was located, and Shanyue County was about the same as the distance to Qingyangfang City, so the round trip would take about a month.

If it were Li Yuan alone, he could save at least ten days, but this trip was originally a large-scale preliminary operation.

With Wang Tiezhu and his men escorting them along the way, nothing went wrong, and after fifteen days, they safely arrived in the Shanyue territory.

Li Yuan had already inquired about the place where Prince Qinghe lived before he arrived; it was a valley with relatively abundant spiritual energy.

After Li Yuan transported the spirit rice to the canyon, he used his spiritual power to send a message into the canyon.

"Li Yuan of the Li family of Qingshan County pays a visit to Prince Ouyang of the Zhou family." After a while, a cultivator at the fifth level of Qi Refining emerged from the mist of the canyon.

"Li Yuan of the Li family? My prince invites you in."

Seeing this, the group intended to follow them inside, but the man glanced at the people behind Li Yuan and his expression turned serious.

"No unauthorized persons shall disturb the Prince's peaceful repose."

Seeing this, Li Yuan made a hand gesture to the group, and then followed the cultivator at the fifth level of Qi Refining into the canyon.

After greeting Li Yuan, the men carrying the spirit rice put it down and returned to Qingshan County ahead of him.

Upon entering the canyon, Li Yuan witnessed a scene that surprised him. From the outside, the canyon floor appeared to cover at most ten acres, but once inside, its expansiveness rivaled that of a small fishing village.

Furthermore, Li Yuan's perception revealed that the concentration of spiritual energy in this canyon was no less than that of his own bamboo mountain.

The faint moisture in the air made Li Yuan realize that there might be a spiritual spring here, otherwise there would not be such a high concentration of spiritual energy.

Thinking of this, Li Yuan felt a chill run down his spine. Could he possibly know such a secret?

As Li Yuan was thinking, the cultivator at the fifth level of Qi Refining led him to a thatched hut.

At this moment, Prince Qinghe, like an old farmer, was digging in a medicinal herb garden with a specially made hoe.

The cultivator brought Li Yuan, but he seemed not to see him at all. Only after finishing his work did he wipe the dirt off his hands and then go to the pavilion next to him.

As he sat down, he made a gesture toward Li Yuan.

"Please sit down."

Upon seeing this, Li Yuan bowed to Ouyang Qinghe before sitting down.

"As soon as he sat down, Ouyang Qinghe slowly began to speak."

"Li Yuan, is it? You've come to see me about your Li family's spirit fields?"

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan nodded quickly.

"Your Highness, the Li family's lineage of immortals was established by Your Highness's blessing. We have indeed come here for this matter, but the Li family also pledges allegiance to Your Highness."

Ouyang Qinghe looked at Li Yuan, whose face was full of sincerity.

"There are countless rogue cultivator families in Daqing who want to find a powerful backer. Your Li family is indeed good, but it's not enough to tempt me."

"However, considering that we share the same origin, I can let you act under my name." After saying this, Ouyang Qinghe stopped talking and quietly looked at Li Yuan.

Seeing this, Li Yuan knew that if he didn't offer any benefits, the matter would be difficult to resolve.

Then Li Yuan hardened his heart and slowly said:

"Your Highness, if my Li family were to submit to you, then after deducting taxes, half of the spiritual rice we grow each year would be offered as tribute to Your Highness. I wonder if Your Highness would be satisfied?"

Ouyang Shuiyan glanced at Li Yuan, then said:

"Sixty percent, I want sixty percent."

"As far as I know, only you and your father in your Li family possess spiritual roots. In two years, someone from your Li family will definitely go to Zhancheng. If an enemy attacks at that time, I will definitely protect your Li family bloodline."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan pondered for a moment.

"Alright, let's do as the prince says."

Upon hearing this, Ouyang Qinghe smiled slightly.

"Haha, kid, you know what's good for you."

"Since that's the case, I happen to have a niece who is sixteen years old. Although she doesn't have any spiritual roots, she is quite beautiful. Why don't you marry her to us and thus enhance the friendship between our two families?"

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan's expression froze for a moment, but he immediately realized what was going on.

"Your Highness, I already have a wife. I fear that if I marry her, I will neglect your daughter." Upon hearing this, Ouyang Qinghe's expression hardened.

"Is my niece not good enough for you, fellow Daoist?" At this moment, Ouyang Qinghe had already changed his address of Li Yuan to fellow Daoist.

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan quickly apologized.

"Your Highness misunderstands. I am currently focused on cultivation and cannot even take care of myself, so how could I have the leisure to care about matters of the heart?"

However, I have a younger brother who is a bit younger. If Your Highness is willing, I can agree to this marriage on behalf of my brother.

Ouyang Qinghe glanced at Zhang Yang.

"Very well, there is a difference between immortals and mortals. Your younger brother has neither spiritual roots nor power, so he can focus on taking care of my niece. I have found her a good home."

When Li Yuan saw that Ouyang Qinghe actually had this idea, his face turned ugly. However, since he had already agreed to the matter, he could only forcefully accept it.

After the two discussed for a while, Ouyang Shuiyan suddenly asked:

"Since I have already agreed to protect your Li family, why don't you go back and continue to cultivate your Li family's spiritual veins and develop more spiritual fields? Wouldn't that help your Li family descendants build an even greater empire?"

Li Yuangang was about to speak when he suddenly remembered something and swallowed his words.

"Hahaha, Your Highness is joking. My Li family has no way to cultivate spiritual veins. It's just that there is a place where spiritual energy gathers in the Li family's territory."

After saying this, Li Yuan broke out in a cold sweat. If he had continued along with Ouyang Qinghe's words, wouldn't that have confirmed that the Li family had a method for cultivating spiritual veins?

Ouyang Qinghe stared at Li Yuan for a moment, then slowly said:

"Haha, young friend Li is quite astute, but every cultivator has secrets."

Looking at Ouyang Qinghe's smiling face, Li Yuan's relaxed heart instantly tightened again. He hadn't expected Ouyang Qinghe to be so shrewd and insightful, actually guessing that his family had the ability to gather spiritual veins.

Fortunately, I didn't let it slip and managed to neatly cover up the matter.