Nestled within one of the Black Wind Forest, as if defying the forest's dangerous reputation, stood a grand and serene mansion—an oasis of peace amid chaos.
Built from aged stone and thick timber, the mansion rose like a relic of a forgotten era, with ivy and blooming roses gracefully creeping up its walls. Sloping roofs crowned its many wings, and arched windows peeked out like watchful eyes. A long stretch of emerald lawn stretched before it, perfectly manicured and embraced by tall, ancient trees whose branches framed the estate like a natural archway. Dappled sunlight filtered through the canopy, casting golden patterns onto the grass. The scent of blooming flowers filled the air. It was a scene straight from a fairytale.
And standing right at the edge of the path leading to the mansion, with jaws slack and eyes wide, were Nie Yong, Hu Jiao'er, and Hu Mei'er.
"Father…" Hu Jiao'er said slowly, turning her stunned gaze to Hu Man, who stood beside them with his arms crossed and a self-satisfied grin on his face. "Since when did you have such a mansion?"
"Haha…" Hu Man let out a hearty chuckle, clearly savoring their reactions. "It was your mother's personal mansion. Whenever she wanted a break from me, she'd come here to relax."
"Oh?" Hu Mei'er blinked, then turned to her sister. "If you had told us there was something like this, we would've taken some breaks from you too."
"In a heartbeat," Hu Jiao'er added.
Hu Man's smile froze on his face. A twitch formed at the corner of his eye. "C-Come on girls... I'm your poor father…" he muttered under his breath.
"But… Father-in-law," Nie Yong finally spoke, still staring at the mansion like he was afraid it might vanish if he blinked. "Isn't giving me this… a bit too much?"
"Oh no!" Hu Man instantly perked back up, his grin returning with a vengeance. "I certainly can't let my son-in-law rot in those crusty High Heaven Pavilion rooms, can I?"
"But this is really too much…" Nie Yong tried again, but then his gaze slid toward the side, where a large wooden chest had been casually dropped next to him.
A chest overflowing with Yang Seeds.
Yang. Seeds.
"And was it really necessary to give me so many of these?" Nie Yong asked, mouth agape.
"We don't really use them," Hu Man replied casually, as if talking about spare furniture. "So I thought, well, if they're useful to you, you might as well have them."
Nie Yong sighed. Well, they were useful. And now he had them. All of them. What kind of ridiculous father-in-law was this?
"Now then…" Hu Man clapped his hands and suddenly turned toward his daughters, reaching out and grabbing them both by the collars in one swift motion.
"Wha—Father?! What are you doing?" Hu Mei'er yelped, flailing. She had never been dragged around before. Not like this.
"If you hadn't been so spoiled," Hu Jiao'er muttered, only mildly struggling, "you'd know."
"Hey!" her sister snapped.
"If you two want to be his wives…" Hu Man said, already taking to the air, "You have to be able to keep up with him!"
"What?!"
With a burst of spiritual energy, Hu Man shot into the sky, dragging the shocked twins behind him like sacks of reluctant potatoes. "Time for a special training!" he called back.
As they disappeared into the canopy, his voice echoed: "See you, son-in-law!"
Nie Yong stood there, dumbfounded.
His gaze flicked from the sky to the mansion, then to the chest of Yang Seeds.
Hu Man... he was really something else.
Nie Yong took a deep breath and turned back toward the mansion.
This place was his now.
A grand estate nestled in the heart of the Black Wind Forest, surrounded by rich soil, vibrant flora, and silence so profound it was almost sacred. And now, thanks to Hu Man's casual generosity, he had more Yang Seeds than most cultivators saw in a lifetime.
He couldn't afford to waste time.
Within minutes, Nie Yong was on his knees, sleeves rolled up and Qi channeling through his limbs as he began planting the seeds across the grounds. He worked quickly but carefully, laying them row after row around the mansion. It wasn't just planting—it was design. Precision. Vision.
By the time a couple of hours had passed, sweat clung to his brow, and dirt was smeared across his arms. But the job was done.
The Yang Seeds now formed a concentric ring around the estate, laid out with deliberate spacing to maximize their exposure to the sun and Qi in the environment. But that was just the beginning.
Inside the chest, beneath the last layer of seeds, he'd found them: Yang Stones. Dozens of them. Maybe hundreds.
He smiled faintly. "Alright. Let's do this properly."
With careful placement, Nie Yong used the Yang Stones to trace the perimeter of the seed field, creating an elegant hexagonal formation that encased the entire mansion in a symmetrical grid of power. Then he laid more stones across the field, crafting orderly stone paths between each set of planted seeds. A final set of stones marked out a square near the heart of the hexagon—just beneath a smooth, flat patch of ground. There, he built a simple platform of stone and grass, the perfect place to sit, breathe, and meditate.
It was beautiful. Functional. His.
In his past life, design had been something he loved. Something he had a talent for. But things hadn't gone his way. With his mother's endless troubles and the constant weight on his shoulders, he had dropped out of high school before even considering university. His dreams had withered before they had ever had the chance to bloom.
And yet, here… now… in this other world, he was building something real. Something meaningful.
But there was still more to do.
He began excavating small canals around the rings of the Yang Seeds—narrow trenches that wound like a living circuit through the garden. Canals were always beautiful. Clean. Orderly. They gave the entire design a natural flow, both physically and spiritually. Aesthetic symmetry, and utility.
In the center of the formation, right beneath his meditation platform, Nie Yong carefully carved out a tiny reservoir, an intersection point where all the canals converged. That would be the heart. The place where the Yang Drops would circulate.
In the original world, Yang Kai could mature a single Yang Seed by feeding it Yang Drops. Nie Yong had more than Yang Kai ever had at this stage—but even then, it wasn't nearly enough for the hundreds he had just planted.
So he adapted.
He slowly poured nearly all of the Yang Drops from his Dantian into the central reservoir. The liquid pulsed as it hit the ground, heat radiating out in slow waves. As the drops sank into the soil, they began to seep through the natural channels, flowing gently into the web of canals like golden veins.
It was a clever workaround. The Yang Qi of the Yang Drops would gradually spread to all the seeds, not enough to fully mature them all at once, but enough to encourage steady growth over time.
Still, Nie Yong frowned.
"It's not enough," he muttered to himself. "If only I had Artifact or Arrays... I could accelerate the flow, concentrate the energy, even automate the process…"
But he didn't. Not yet.
He sat down on the platform, letting out a long breath as the sun dipped lower in the forest sky, filtering through the trees like golden fire.
Even so—what he had created today wasn't bad. Not bad at all.
To be continued...
***
***
How was this chapter? Liked it?