Ye Qiu walked to the front of the altar, stopped in his tracks, and stared fixedly into its interior without moving.
“Little brat, what are you looking at?”
The Long-Browed Real Person edged closer, craned his neck to peer inside the altar, and saw nothing but black soil.
“Have you never seen black soil before?”
He joked, “Little brat, if you fancy eating some, this poor daoist can dig it up for you.”
“Are you serious?” Ye Qiu replied. “Then dig it for me.”
“What?” The Long-Browed Real Person thought he had misheard and stared at Ye Qiu in astonishment. “Little brat, you really want to eat soil?”
“You offered to dig, did you not? No more nonsense. Get on with it.” Ye Qiu pointed at the altar. “Dig down three chi.”
The Long-Browed Real Person saw that Ye Qiu was entirely serious and asked, “Little brat, you are not joking?”
“Do I look as though I am joking?” Ye Qiu said. “I gave you a heaven-grade mid-rank spirit pill. Helping me dig some soil is hardly excessive, is it?”
“Fine, I shall help.” The Long-Browed Real Person said, “With my cultivation, a single palm strike could create a pit.”
With that, he raised his hand.
“Stop!” Ye Qiu ordered. “No using cultivation. Dig with your hands.”
“Damn it, you are deliberately making things difficult for me?” The Long-Browed Real Person grumbled discontentedly. “Little brat, do not think you can bully this poor daoist just because I look kind-hearted.”
“I have a temper too.”
“I…”
“No more nonsense,” Ye Qiu said. “Start digging.”
The Long-Browed Real Person gave Ye Qiu a long look and noticed that, even while speaking, Ye Qiu’s eyes had never left the interior of the altar.
“Little brat, what exactly are you planning?” The Long-Browed Real Person asked, his face full of bewilderment.
Ye Qiu replied, “Stop talking rubbish. If you want to know what I am doing, just dig the soil.”
The Long-Browed Real Person said, “I can help you, but let us be clear beforehand. Once I have dug for you, the matter of the spirit pill you gave me is settled. We shall be even, neither owing the other anything.”
“Start digging already!” Ye Qiu pressed.
The Long-Browed Real Person rolled up his sleeves, leapt into the pit, and began digging with vigour.
Ye Qiu folded his arms and watched from the side.
As he dug, the Long-Browed Real Person asked, “Little brat, what is worth digging in this wretched altar?”
“Are we supposed to unearth some treasure?”
Ye Qiu shouted, “Talk less, dig more.”
“Hmph.” The Long-Browed Real Person snorted coldly and thought to himself, “Once I reach three chi, I stop.”
Soon, three chi was reached.
The Long-Browed Real Person was about to halt when his eyes suddenly sharpened and shock appeared on his face.
The soil in the altar was no longer uniform black but consisted of five distinct colours.
Moreover, the five colours were arranged in perfect order: azure in the east, red in the south, white in the west, black in the north, yellow in the centre.
Perfectly balanced.
“Five-coloured soil!”
The Long-Browed Real Person could not help exclaiming. A moment later he frowned and said, “Could this be the node where a dragon vein converges?”
He scanned the surroundings, observing the terrain, then added with puzzlement, “No, from a feng shui perspective, this is not the site of a dragon lair at all.”
“Five-coloured soil has appeared, yet there is no taiji halo. This is not a true dragon treasure lair.”
“Strange. How can five-coloured soil appear here?” The Long-Browed Real Person was well-versed in feng shui and knew perfectly well that a true dragon treasure lair must display both a taiji halo and five-coloured soil.
The so-called taiji halo referred to a circular ring resembling the taiji symbol that would appear around a true dragon treasure lair. It was faint, sometimes visible and sometimes not, roughly discernible from afar yet traceless up close, seemingly present from a distance yet absent upon approach, revealed from the side yet blurred from the front.
In ancient times, many emperors, after ascending the throne, would consider their burial site and command feng shui masters to select locations for their mausoleums.
The standard those feng shui masters used for imperial tombs was precisely the presence of both five-coloured soil and a taiji halo.
Neither could be absent.
“Five-coloured soil is here, but no taiji halo. This must be a false lair!” the Long-Browed Real Person muttered under his breath.
Ye Qiu said, “The five-coloured soil here is not the same as the five-coloured soil spoken of in feng shui.”
“Oh?” The Long-Browed Real Person was surprised. “Little brat, what have you discovered? Tell me quickly.”
Ye Qiu replied, “This is an altar, not a true dragon treasure lair.”
The Long-Browed Real Person was momentarily stunned, then slapped his forehead and cried out in sudden realisation, “I understand now.”
“A true dragon treasure lair forms naturally, whereas an altar is constructed by human hands.”
“The five-coloured soil of an altar symbolises the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, and also represents the five directions: east, south, west, north, and centre.”
“According to historical records, in ancient times the five-coloured soil for altars was contributed from all regions, signifying that ‘all land under heaven belongs to the king’.”
“In the manner of ancient imperial sacrifices, a square stone pillar would be placed in the centre of the altar and buried in the soil. It was known as the ‘Rivers and Mountains Stone’ and symbolised the eternal stability of the realm.”
As the Long-Browed Real Person reached this point, he prepared to resume digging, but Ye Qiu grabbed him and hauled him out of the altar.
“Little brat, what are you doing?” the Long-Browed Real Person yelled.
“There is no Rivers and Mountains Stone here. This altar is not for ancient imperial sacrifices,” Ye Qiu reminded him. “Do not forget that this is the Dragon Burial Nest.”
The Long-Browed Real Person paused, then asked, “Then what is the purpose of this altar?”
“The reason the Great Dao Tree could grow here is precisely because of the altar.” With that, Ye Qiu forced a drop of blood from his middle finger and let it fall onto the five-coloured soil.
In an instant, the five-coloured soil radiated intense light, dazzling and brilliant, brimming with divinity.
At the same moment, a vast surge of vitality rushed towards them.
“Such powerful vitality!” The Long-Browed Real Person was utterly shocked.
At that moment, Ye Qiu took the Golden Sacred Tree from his Qiankun bag.
All its leaves had long since been stripped by Ye Qiu, leaving only bare branches.
Ye Qiu casually planted the Golden Sacred Tree into the altar.
Then an astonishing scene unfolded.
The Golden Sacred Tree shook violently. Its trunk grew several zhang taller at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the bare branches rapidly thickened.
Suddenly, Ye Qiu noticed a tender green bud appearing on one of the branches.
Then a second, a third, a fourth.
Tender green buds kept sprouting on the branches, increasing in number.
In the blink of an eye, the Golden Sacred Tree had produced over a thousand green buds, presenting a scene bursting with life.
Moreover, the buds continued to grow rapidly. In an instant, the leaves reached the size of a bowl’s mouth.
After a little longer, the emerald leaves began to change. Finally, they turned golden, like sheets of golden foliage, gleaming brightly.
“Bloody hell, this is not five-coloured soil at all. It is clearly divine soil that forces rapid growth!”
The Long-Browed Real Person stared wide-eyed and exclaimed loudly.
Time passed quietly.
A few minutes later, suddenly, beneath one golden leaf, a golden fruit began to grow.
