Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 848 Twin Disciples

Lingquan Mountain Plain.

In the hall, Yang Zhengshan sat in the main seat, looking at the two girls in front of him.

The two girls, who looked about seven or eight years old, looked almost identical and were clearly twins.

Two little girls stood with their hands at their sides, each with a smooth, oval face, delicate eyebrows, and a straight, elegant nose. Their chubby, rosy cheeks made one want to reach out and pinch them.

They wore light pink, high-waisted ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), the upper part embroidered with intertwined peach blossoms, the cuffs rolled up with moon-white gauze, and the skirt reaching to their feet, the hem embroidered with delicate butterflies chasing flowers. A pale yellow brocade sash was tied around their waist, with a small white jade double fish pendant hanging from its end. Like little fairies stepping out of a meticulously painted portrait of court ladies, their elegance was tinged with a natural, innocent charm.

Even though Yang Zhengshan rarely takes care of children these days, he can't help but show the kind and gentle demeanor of a loving old man when he sees these two adorable and charming little girls.

"Whose little fairy is this!" Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard, his eyes full of affection.

"Reporting to Uncle, they are the daughters of the Li family of Fuhai, Li Jianning and Li Jianan, both eight years old this year, and they have both mastered the Green Wood Skill!"

Yang Chengyi, who was standing next to him, spoke up in response.

Yang Chengyi is Yang Mingzhen's son. He used to work in the government office on Shenmu Island, and later in the Foreign Affairs Hall. In recent years, he has been in charge of guarding the Da'an Dynasty and also in charge of searching for spiritual treasures in the Da'an Dynasty.

He returned this time because he discovered these two little girls who possessed spiritual abilities.

“Jian Ning, Jian An, hehe, good names, the Li family of Fuhai?” Yang Zhengshan laughed.

“The ancestor of the Li family of Fuhai once served as the Grand Secretary of the Da Rong Cabinet, and his name was Li Siyuan!” Yang Chengyi explained.

Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard and thought for a moment, then retrieved the old man's voice and appearance from the depths of his memory.

Li Siyuan served as an official for forty years, entered the cabinet for more than twenty years, and served as the Grand Secretary for more than ten years. He was the most renowned and virtuous minister during the reign of Emperor Chengping.

"So she's a descendant of Chief Minister Li!"

He had no interaction with Li Siyuan, and naturally, they had no relationship.

Moreover, Li Siyuan had been dead for over fifty years. He retired and returned to his hometown in the first year of Yanping, and died a few years later. Yang Zhengshan was still in Chongshan Town at that time.

However, none of that matters. The key is that these two little girls possess spiritual abilities.

"Very good, would you like to become my disciples?"

He already has five apprentices, and with these two in front of him, he can make a total of seven.

"Disciples greet Master!" The two little girls knelt down obediently and kowtowed, their voices soft and sweet.

Clearly, they had been instructed by someone before they came.

"Hmm, hehe, get up!" Yang Zhengshan waved his hand and gently used his magic to help the two little girls up.

The little girl felt the lifting force that appeared out of nowhere and looked at Yang Zhengshan with a look of amazement, her bright eyes like black gemstones.

"Where are their parents?" Yang Zhengshan stood up and finally couldn't resist ruffling their hair.

“They brought all twelve of them back, and they’re living in the courtyard on Xige Mountain!” Yang Chengyi replied.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly, "Then let's follow the rules and allocate houses and land to them!"

Nowadays, the Spirit Source Land rarely accepts outsiders, but there are exceptions, namely those who possess spiritual apertures and their families.

Everyone who comes to the land of spiritual origin will be allocated houses and land, and will also receive regular subsidies for twenty years, which will be enough to meet their daily needs.

We can forget about becoming extremely wealthy, but we can definitely achieve a comfortable standard of living.

As for the future, they'll have to rely on themselves.

Living in the Spirit Source Land is not difficult. As long as you are hardworking and diligent, you can definitely have enough to eat and wear. Moreover, the Spirit Source Land has abundant resources, making cultivation much easier.

Twenty years is enough time for a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy to become a Xiantian martial artist and receive a cultivation stipend.

As Yang Zhengshan's disciples, the two young girls were also entitled to receive a stipend, calculated based on the lowest level of cultivation.

"Here!"

Yang Chengyi responded.

Yang Zhengshan looked at the two young girls, his face softening with kindness, and said with a smile, "You two go back first, and go up the mountain to cultivate after your families have settled down!"

"Master, shall we continue practicing the Green Wood Technique?" the little girl replied.

Yang Zhengshan looked them over, unsure whether the one speaking was Li Jianan or Li Jianning.

"No, when you arrive, I'll have your senior brother take you to choose a cultivation technique!" Yang Zhengshan said with a smile.

Having a spiritual aperture means that as long as one cultivates the sense of qi, one can go to the transmission hall of the ruins to inherit the cultivation technique, unlike martial artists who need to reach the Heavenly Gang stage to receive the inheritance.

The Green Wood Skill is only the first level of the Green Wood Longevity Scripture, and it may not be suitable for these two little girls to cultivate. So let them receive the inheritance first, and then let them start cultivating.

Before they could begin their cultivation, they had a lot of homework to do, with reading and writing being the most basic and unavoidable task.

"Oh, so what kind of martial arts technique should we practice?"

"You need to learn to read and write first! Hmm, how many words do you know?"

"Oh, is there still reading and literacy?"

“Of course, you can’t even read, so how can you understand the cultivation technique?” Yang Zhengshan said patiently to the little girl.

"But I don't like studying!" The little girl looked aggrieved.

"Oh, what books have you all read?"

"The Three Character Classic, the Thousand Character Classic, the Jade Forest of Children's Learning, the Rules for Students, the Thousand Family Poems, and the Anthology of Ancient Prose—I have already read many books!" the little girl counted on her fingers.

Yang Zhengshan hadn't expected that they had already read so much, but thinking about it, it made sense. The Li family was a scholarly family, and the children started their early education at a very young age.

However, the Li family teaches Confucian classics, which do not provide much help for cultivation.

"Hmm, it seems you can already read. In that case, you can read fewer books!" Yang Zhengshan said with a smile.

The Land of Spiritual Origin also has primers, similar to what the little girl described. However, the Land of Spiritual Origin only uses these primers to teach children to recognize characters.

Once the children can read, the Spirit Source Land begins to teach them knowledge related to cultivation, such as meridians, acupoints, human anatomy, the operation of cultivation techniques, and many other common cultivation knowledge.

In middle school, students will be taught basic knowledge in various fields such as the initial understanding of rune techniques, identification of spiritual plants, taming of exotic beasts, alchemy, and weapon crafting.

Once they are old enough to practice martial arts, that is, after they turn fifteen, they will be allowed to choose one of the martial arts arts to study.

The education system in the Spirit Source Land has now become systematic and widespread, with even the textbooks revised many times. Although the two little girls possess spiritual apertures, their basic education is the same as that of martial artists; the only difference lies in their cultivation methods.

Of course, they don't need to go to school. There are special teachers on Lingquan Mountain who teach them, namely Hongyun and Qingxia.

After chatting with the little girl for a while, Yang Zhengshan was finally able to tell the two apprentices apart.

The one who always asks questions is the older sister, Li Jianning, while the quieter one is the younger sister, Li Jianan.

Although the two girls looked exactly alike, their personalities were quite different. Li Jianing was more lively, seemingly with a million questions in her head, always wanting to know the answer to everything she saw. Li Jian'an, on the other hand, was quieter. Standing next to Li Jianing, she didn't ask a single question from beginning to end, as if Li Jianing had already asked all the questions she wanted to ask.

……

In the Da'an Dynasty, the Li family of Fuhai was a large family. However, Li Jianing and Li Jianan's grandfather, Li Changcun, was only a son of a concubine in the Li family. He had separated from the Li family decades ago.

Li Changcun has only one son, Li Zhenghua, who is the father of Li Jianning and Li Jianan. However, Li Jianning and Li Jianan also have three older brothers, plus their two sisters-in-law and a nephew, making a family of twelve.

In Dukou Town, a covered boat was moored at the ferry crossing, and Li Changcun led his entire family off the boat.

"Changcun, this is it!" Yang Chengyi jumped off the boat, looked at the quaint town, and laughed.

This ferry town is only thirty miles away from Changshou City. You can take a boat directly to Changshou City or go directly to the ancestral hall.

Although the population of Lingyuan Land is only a few hundred thousand, the villages and towns built along the river have reached more than a hundred miles south of Changshou City. The farthest village is located in the new territory expanded by Yang Zhengshan when he was building his foundation.

Towns and villages like Dukou generally do not accept new residents because the residents have lived there for decades and their houses and land are already owned.

The Li family is quite lucky; recently, many houses and fields have become available in Dukou Town, and they also have a very nice courtyard.

Yang Chengyi led the Li family to the gate of a two-courtyard house in the town.

"From now on, this will be your home, and those two small courtyards over there are also yours!" Yang Chengyi pointed to a small courtyard diagonally opposite.

Because of the mandatory family division policy implemented in the Spirit Source Land, there are no large courtyards in the Spirit Source Land. The largest is only a three-courtyard house, but those three-courtyard houses are for the clan elders of the clan council to live in.

The Li family has twelve members. According to the rules of the Lingyuan land, male members must separate their families after marriage. Therefore, Yang Chengyi asked them for three courtyards.

This two-courtyard house is already one of the best in Dukou Town.

The Li family members entered the courtyard and looked at the environment, but they didn't react much.

The courtyard is very beautiful, with three main rooms, four side rooms, four rear rooms in the front yard, as well as a stable, woodshed, kitchen, etc. There are six fruit trees in the yard, and it is the height of summer, when the fruit trees are in full bloom.

"What do you think of this place? If there's anything you're not satisfied with, you can tell me, and I can have someone renovate it for you!" Yang Chengyi said with a smile.

Li Changcun said politely, "Lord Yang is too kind. We are very satisfied with this place."

"That's good. In a couple of days, the yamen runners will distribute land to you, two mu per person. The yamen will also provide you with livestock, farming tools, and seeds. If you encounter any difficulties, you can also seek help from the yamen! Don't worry, the people in the yamen here will absolutely not dare to bully you!"

"If you need anything, just go directly to them!"

Yang Chengyi said.

“Alright, I understand. If I encounter any difficulties, I will certainly ask the constables in the yamen for help!” Li Changcun replied.

Yang Chengyi looked at the Li family members again, thinking that they should also tidy up their new home, and then said goodbye, "If there is nothing else, I will leave first. I will come back in three days to take Jian Ning and Jian An to the clan hall. At that time, the clan hall will arrange two attendants for them."

After saying that, he left the Li family.

After he left, the members of the Li family looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Father, isn't this place too simple?" Li Zhenghua said with dissatisfaction, looking at the somewhat cramped courtyard.

Although the Li family had separated from the main family, they were still from a wealthy and prestigious family and lived a life of great wealth and honor.

But now?

They actually lived in such a small courtyard, without even a servant, and they still had to farm.

"Look at this place, there isn't even a servant. Are we supposed to cook for ourselves?"

"And the land, Father! Your son is a scholar who passed the imperial examination; you can't expect him to farm!"

"I told you long ago, we shouldn't have come. We could have just sent those two little girls, Jian Ning and Jian An. It would have been so much better if we had stayed in Da'an!"

"The imperial court said that if we stay in Da'an, we'll at least be a first-class earl!"

"Father, why did you bring everyone here? What's so good about this place?"

Li Zhenghua couldn't help but complain.

His thinking wasn't wrong. Here, they were just ordinary people. Although they could benefit from Li Jianing and Li Jianan, they didn't have any special privileges.

However, if they stay in the Da'an Dynasty, the court will grant them titles, bestow gold and silver upon them, provide them with mansions, and even grant them official positions.

As the saying goes, when one person attains enlightenment, even their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven. With Li Jianning and Li Jianan being accepted as disciples by Yang Zhengshan, the Li family would naturally rise to prominence in the Da'an Dynasty and become a noble family.

"Shut up!" Li Changcun glared at Li Zhenghua and said, "Watch your mouth and don't go around spreading nonsense!"

"father!"

Li Zhenghua wanted to say something, but Li Changcun glared at him and shut him up.

Seeing that he dared not speak again, Li Changcun then turned his attention to his eldest grandson, Li Yunxiao.

He had given up hope on his son, who was idle, lazy, and utterly hopeless. Fortunately, his grandchildren were all quite good.

"Yunxiao, what do you think?"

Li Yunxiao was in his early twenties, handsome and extraordinary, without the slightest trace of the frailty one would expect from a scholar; on the contrary, he possessed the fortitude of a martial artist.

In fact, Li Yunxiao is also a martial artist, but his cultivation level is not very high. He is over 20 years old and has not yet reached the Acquired Realm.

"Grandpa, this place is wonderful!"

"The rumors are true. There really is a martial arts holy land behind the Shenmu Sect, and this is the martial arts holy land!"

Li Yunxiao's eyes shone brightly, his face filled with barely concealed excitement.

In the present Da'an Dynasty, the Yang family of Liaodong has long become history. People only know the imperial Yang family and have no idea about the former Yang family of Liaodong. Even fewer people know about the existence of Yang Zhengshan.

The practice of cultivating the Green Wood Technique and the search for spiritual apertures were carried out by the imperial court under the guise of recruiting disciples for the Divine Wood Sect.

(End of this chapter)