The Westland was a desolate scar on the landscape of Qinghe County.
It lay five miles west of the city walls, a stretch of rolling hills that ended abruptly at the foothills of the Azure Cloud Mountains. The soil was rocky and yellow, too poor for wheat or rice. The vegetation consisted mostly of thorny shrubs, coarse wild grass that yellowed at the slightest heat, and gnarled trees that looked as if they were perpetually fighting for survival.
"This is it, Brother?" Lin Wen asked, his voice trembling slightly as he looked out at the barren hills. The wind howled through a nearby ravine, sounding mournful. "The elders say bandits used to hide here. And there are wolves in the mountains."
Lin Wanshan stood at the edge of the ridge, the heavy bag of silver tied to his waist. To anyone else, this was a graveyard for ambition. But Lin Wanshan saw the canvas for his masterpiece.
The wind here was strong—good for drying hay. The hills provided natural shelter from storms. And the valley floors, though overgrown with weeds, held moisture.
"It's perfect, Wen," Lin Wanshan said, a smile tugging at his lips. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small pouch that hadn't been there a moment ago—the System's Newbie Gift.
He opened it. Inside lay a handful of seeds that seemed to shimmer with an inner emerald light.
*[Ding. System Task: Initial Sowing. Host must plant the Optimized Pasture Seeds in a 10-mu area to establish the ranch's foundation.]*
*[Reward: Spirit Spring Water Well (Constructible).]*
"We aren't going to build a house first?" Lin Wen asked, confused.
"First, we feed the earth," Lin Wanshan said. "Without grass, there are no cattle. Go find some water. I'll start clearing the brush."
For the rest of the morning, the two brothers worked until their hands blistered. They cleared the thorny bushes from a valley floor near a small, muddy stream. It was backbreaking labor, the kind the original Lin Wanshan would have collapsed from.
But this Lin Wanshan felt the burn in his muscles and welcomed it. It was the burn of creation, not the ache of stagnation.
At noon, as the sun beat down, Lin Wanshan scattered the shimmering seeds. They didn't just fall; they seemed to burrow into the soil with a life of their own.
*[Sowing Complete. Accelerated Growth Mode Activated (Limited Trial).]*
To Lin Wanshan's eyes, a faint green ripple spread across the ground. Within minutes, tiny shoots began to push through the yellow earth. It wasn't instant magic that would shock the world, but it was fast enough that by the time the sun began to dip, the ground was covered in a carpet of vibrant, tender green sprouts—Perennial Ryegrass and Tall Fescue, adapted for this exact climate.
"Brother!" Lin Wen gasped, pointing at the ground. "The grass... it's growing so fast! And it's so green!"
Lin Wanshan wiped the sweat from his brow. "A secret of the ancestors," he deflected. "Come on. We need to go to the market. We have money to spend."
***
The Qinghe County Livestock Market was a chaotic, noisy place located just inside the city walls. The smell was pungent—a mix of manure, sweat, and the metallic tang of blood from the butcher's stalls.
Lin Wanshan walked through the crowd with Lin Wen trailing closely behind. He ignored the sections selling sleek horses for the gentry or the fat pigs destined for the slaughterhouse. He headed straight for the draft animal pens.
Here, the mood was different. Farmers treated their oxen like family members. They were brushing them, feeding them fine hay, and speaking to them gently. A healthy ox was worth ten taels of silver—a fortune to a peasant.
"Sir! Sir! Look at this beauty!" a merchant called out, pulling a rope to show a massive, yellow ox. "Strong shoulders, perfect for the plow. She can work ten hours without rest!"
Lin Wanshan shook his head. "I'm not looking for a plow ox."
The merchant blinked. "Not plowing? Then... for breeding?"
"I'm looking for meat potential," Lin Wanshan said, knowing how absurd it sounded.
"Meat?" The merchant laughed nervously. "Sir, you eat pig. You eat sheep. You don't eat the Golden Ox. That is barbaric."
"Show me the rejects," Lin Wanshan said, his voice hard. "The sick ones. The old ones. The ones the butchers are coming for."
The merchant's eyes narrowed. "You want the trash? Why?"
"I have a farm," Lin Wanshan said. "I have a... method."
The merchant shrugged. Money was money. He led Lin Wanshan to the back of the market, where the smell was the worst.
In a muddy pen, isolated from the healthy animals, stood a creature that made Lin Wanshan's heart ache.
It was a bull, massive in frame but skeletal. Its coat was matted and dull, the color of coal dust. Its left front leg was swollen, and it held it off the ground, breathing heavily. It looked defeated, its eyes dull.
"That one is done for," the merchant said, spitting on the ground. "A good worker for ten years, then it stepped in a hole. Broke its leg. Can't plow. Can't walk. The butcher is coming at sunset to turn it into cheap jerky and glue."
Lin Wanshan stepped closer to the fence. The bull huffed, a low, rumbling sound of warning, but also of pain.
He looked at the bull with the eye of an expert. Underneath the matted fur and the protruding ribs, he saw the skeleton. Wide shoulders. A deep chest. Strong hindquarters. It was a rare genetic throwback—a Black Plains Ox. With the right genetics and care, this beast could be the progenitor of the Angus line.
"How much?" Lin Wanshan asked.
"For that bag of bones?" The merchant sneered. "Three taels. But you'll have to slaughter it yourself. It can barely walk."
"I'll take it," Lin Wanshan said instantly. "And the cows in the next pen."
He pointed to a group of ten cows in a nearby pen. They were a motley crew—some yellow, some black, some spotted. They were old milking cows whose milk had dried up, or heifers too scrawny for hard labor. They looked at him with dull eyes.
"The whole lot?" The merchant's eyes widened. "That's... 20 taels for the cows and the bull. But the cows are dry! They won't give you calves!"
"I'll take them," Lin Wanshan repeated, counting out the silver. He spent 23 taels in a flash.
"Brother!" Lin Wen hissed, grabbing his arm. "That bull is dying! And those cows... they look so old! Why are we buying garbage?"
"Because, Wen," Lin Wanshan whispered, watching the black bull, "diamonds are found in the rough."
He walked over to the black bull. The merchant had handed him the rope. The bull looked at him, expecting a blow. Instead, Lin Wanshan reached into his robe and pulled out a small vial—the **Genetic Optimization Serum (Type: Bovine)**.
"Easy, big guy," Lin Wanshan murmured, stepping into the mud. The bull snorted, but it was too weak to charge.
In one swift motion, Lin Wanshan jabbed the needle into the bull's neck muscle and pressed the plunger.
The reaction was immediate. The bull shuddered violently. Its muscles twitched under its skin. The dullness in its eyes seemed to flicker.
*[System Alert: Genetic Modification initiated. Subject: Black Plains Bull. Integrating Angus (Aberdeen) genome. Bone structure repairing. Muscle density increasing. Estimated completion: 24 hours.]*
"He's having a seizure!" the merchant yelled. "Don't die here! It's bad luck!"
"Give me the rope," Lin Wanshan ordered Lin Wen. "And buy those two horses."
He pointed to two sturdy, unglamorous horses in a nearby stall—working horses, strong legs, not fast, but durable.
"I want to see the butcher's face tomorrow when this 'trash' walks out of here," Lin Wanshan muttered.
***
The procession back to the Westland was pitiful.
Lin Wanshan rode one of the work horses, leading the line. Lin Wen led the other horse, which carried supplies. Behind them stumbled ten scrawny cows and, limping heavily but with a strange new light in its eyes, the massive black bull.
Villagers working the fields by the road stopped to stare.
"Look! It's the Magistrate's son-in-law!"
"Is he insane? He bought Old Zhang's broken bull?"
"And those cows! They look like walking skeletons!"
"He's throwing his wife's money into the river!"
The laughter followed them all the way to the Westland. Lin Wanshan kept his back straight, ignoring them. He was focusing on the system interface.
*[Herd Management Interface]*
* **Bull (Captain):** Health 15% (Recovering). Breed: Native x Angus (Transitioning).
* **Cows (10):** Health 30%. Fertility Rate: Low (System Boost Available).
* **Sheep (0):** N/A
* **Horses (2):** Healthy.
By the time they reached the valley, the sun had set. The wind was cold. The "ranch" was nothing but a muddy field with a few patches of strange, fast-growing grass.
"Brother, what do we do now?" Lin Wen asked, shivering. "We have no house."
"We build one," Lin Wanshan said, dismounting. He walked to the black bull. The animal was standing on all four legs now. The swelling in the leg had gone down visibly. It was looking at the green grass Lin Wanshan had planted earlier.
"Eat," Lin Wanshan said, untying the rope.
The bull hesitated, then lowered its massive head. It took a bite of the Optimized Ryegrass.
The effect was instantaneous. The bull chewed vigorously. It seemed to taste something it had never tasted before—pure energy. It tore into the grass with vigor.
Suddenly, a shadow detached itself from the darkness of the nearby woods.
"Halt!" a deep voice boomed.
A man stepped out. He was huge, nearly a head taller than Lin Wanshan, with shoulders like a bear. He wore tattered military trousers and a torn shirt. A nasty scar ran from his left eyebrow to his jaw, distorting his lip.
Lin Wen screamed and hid behind the horse.
"I am Zhao Tiezhu," the man said, his voice like grinding stones. He held a rusted iron rod. "I saw you coming. You have food?"
Lin Wanshan didn't flinch. He looked at the man—calloused hands, stance of a soldier, eyes that were desperate but not evil.
"We have no food," Lin Wanshan lied calmly. "Only grass and stubborn cattle."
"I can work," Zhao Tiezhu said, his stomach growling audibly. "I was a sergeant in the Iron Wall Army. Discharged. No family. I heard you bought the Westland. No one else would hire a scarred man."
Lin Wanshan looked at the man, then at the system prompt that appeared.
*[Potential Employee Detected: Zhao Tiezhu. Skills: Combat (Intermediate), Construction (Basic), Animal Handling (Novice). Loyalty: 0.]*
"I can't pay you much," Lin Wanshan said. "Silver is tight. But I can give you a roof, grass to sleep on, and as much beef as you can eat in the future."
"Beef?" Zhao Tiezhu looked at the scrawny cows. "You are a madman. But I am hungry."
"Then pick up that axe," Lin Wanshan pointed to the tool on the ground. "We need to build a shelter before the wolves smell the blood. Can you fight wolves?"
"I have killed three," Zhao Tiezhu said, picking up the axe. "On the northern frontier."
"Good," Lin Wanshan nodded, extending a hand. "Welcome to the Westland Ranch."
The big man looked at the hand, hesitated, then shook it. His grip was like iron.
"Work starts now," Lin Wanshan said. "Captain needs a barn."
As the three of them worked under the moonlight, cutting wood and building a makeshift lean-to, the black bull in the field let out a low, powerful moo. It wasn't a sound of pain anymore. It was a sound of claim.
This land was theirs. And the dynasty had no idea what was coming.