People coming from Tiancheng were, in the vast majority of cases, bad news.

Grain distribution had happened before, but from county to township to village, with layer upon layer of skimming, passing through countless officials and landlords’ hands, what finally reached the villagers was mostly just a pound or two of beans. Even that would be packed in sacks full of sand to increase the weight and showcase the Immortal Official’s generosity and mercy.

And for the “sweetener” of these one or two pounds of beans, villagers had to travel day and night to the divine temple to offer incense to the golden statue.

The old Village Chief led the entire village, young and old, to greet the emissaries from Tiancheng at the village entrance.

Everyone felt uneasy. The Tribute Gathering had just taken place, and those who attended hadn’t yet returned. What did it mean for the new Immortal Official to open the granaries now?

Dust filled the air, strong winds swept the ground, and a huge shadow obscured the red sun.

“Such a large immortal treasure—could it be that the Immortal Official is personally coming to our village?”

“Lower your voice! Do you not value your life?”

The Seven Wonders Treasure Ship slowly descended. With a loud bang, the hull landed on the ground, swaying slightly.

The sand and wind made it hard to see, but everyone immediately prostrated themselves: “Welcome, Immortal Official!”

“Cough, cough.” Zhou Xiao Yun jumped off the deck, covering her mouth and coughing repeatedly. “The sand is so thick—isn’t there even a single tree?”

“Elder, may I ask if this is Xiaolan Village?” Xu Kan Shan followed, helping the Village Chief to his feet.

“Oh no! Senior Brother Song specifically instructed that no one should kneel or make offerings to him,” Qiu Da Cheng called out. “Everyone, please stand up! The new Immortal Official fears people kneeling to him the most!”

The villagers dared not disobey and rose to their feet, but they exchanged bewildered glances. What kind of Immortal Official didn’t want people to kneel?

Ji Xing took out a list: “Let me see what Xiaolan Village has been allocated. Oh, windbreak grass seeds, shrub seeds, millet, cattle and sheep, chicken chicks…”

As she spoke, heavy sacks were thrown down from the ship. The outer disciples lifted them as if they weighed nothing, each carrying three sacks without difficulty.

The villagers saw only the majestic and solemn treasure ship, and the young people coming down from it had an immortal aura, yet they carried chicken necks in their hands and sacks on their shoulders.

The Village Chief timidly approached: “Great Immortal Master, what is this?”

“I was originally a mortal too, just spent a few years in the mountains. How could I be considered an Immortal Master?” Zhou Xiao Yun smiled. “These are gifts from Senior Brother Song, that is, the Immortal Official Song.”

“The new Immortal Official? Gifts for our village?”

The villagers were shocked.

“Yes, every village gets some, though the types of items vary according to local conditions. The total quantity is about the same for everyone.”

The Village Chief bowed toward Tiancheng: “What instructions does the great Immortal Official have?”

There was no such thing as pie falling from the sky. Such an abundance of grain and livestock—what would they have to give in return?

Mothers held their children tightly, and children nervously buried their heads. The elderly supported each other, their expressions wary.

The sacks were piled into a small mountain, but no one dared to touch them, let alone scramble for them.

“Of course there are requirements!” Ji Xing counted on her fingers. “The cattle can’t be eaten; they must be kept for plowing. The sheep and chickens shouldn’t all be eaten either; some must be kept for breeding and laying eggs, so they can multiply in the future.”

“Just, just that?” the Village Chief cautiously asked. “Nothing else?”

“Nothing else! You’re the first village. Everyone, please help out. After distributing these things, we need to hurry to the next village.”

Events proved that not bringing Meng He Ze was the wisest decision Song Qian Ji had made. After breaking through to Foundation Establishment, Meng He Ze’s external aura was fierce and frightening.

Zhou Xiao Yun and Ji Xing were young women, one with a sweet smile, the other lively and cheerful.

Xu Kan Shan and Qiu Da Cheng had spent years frequenting gambling dens at the foot of the mountain and had an easygoing demeanor.

Having these four lead the grain distribution made it easier to dispel wariness and win trust.

The atmosphere at the village entrance changed instantly. Men carried the sacks, and women held chicken chicks and led livestock.

Laughter and joy filled the air, creating a harmonious scene.

The distinctive fragrance of rice wafted out, refreshing the heart and soul.

Someone hefted a sack, listening to the husks rubbing together with a rustling sound, and couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise: “It seems like it’s all grain inside!”

He shouted in wild joy: “It is all grain!”

The villagers surged forward to watch him open the sack—

Full to the brim with golden, unhusked rice that glittered in the morning sunlight.

That brilliance seemed to carry an enticing aroma. The sounds of swallowing and sniffing rose continuously, blending.

Tired and weathered eyes suddenly brightened, almost emitting a green light.

The outer disciples were startled.

“You can’t eat it raw!” Ji Xing didn’t understand the complexities of trading sand for grain. “What are you afraid of? Of course, the grain sacks are full of grain.”

She opened all the sacks, letting everyone see clearly.

There was unhusked rice and also husked millet, each grain plump, like the granary of a landlord’s family during the New Year.

The Village Chief suddenly knelt toward Tiancheng and knocked his head forcefully on the ground. “Thank you, great Immortal Official! Before this year’s autumn harvest, the village won’t go hungry!”

Behind him, the entire village of several hundred men, women, old, and young all knelt, knocking their heads with loud thuds: “Thank you, Immortal Official!”

Children who didn’t understand were pressed down by their mothers, and the elderly, trembling, also got down on the ground.

“Get up quickly!” Qiu Da Cheng was so anxious that bubbles formed in his mouth. “Anyone who kneels is harming us and harming Immortal Official Song!”

Zhou Xiao Yun said softly: “Working in the mountains is hard, but at least meals are guaranteed. Later, we practiced abstinence from food, so we didn’t need to eat anymore. Look at them, they’re the same age as my parents, yet they can’t even eat properly, reduced to nothing but skin and bones.”

All outer disciples came from mortal backgrounds. The scene before them stirred emotions, and they couldn’t help but feel their eyes moisten.

Someone suggested: “Village Chief, the sacks were fine unopened, but now that the millet is exposed and the hens are clucking, who can bear to leave?”

“Let’s kill a chicken. The children haven’t seen meat in three years.”

The Village Chief gritted his teeth: “Light a fire and set up a pot. Let everyone have a full meal first!”

The villagers’ spirits lifted as they ran home to fetch wooden bowls and firewood.

A large pot was set up in the open air, and billowing cooking smoke rose like beacon fires into the sky.

Golden millet mixed with chopped chicken pieces and home-pickled sour wild vegetables.

Before long, it was boiling, bubbling, with hot white steam spreading in all directions.

The scalding meat porridge was ladled into wooden bowls. The sweet aroma of grain, the rich fragrance of chicken meat and oil, and the sour and spicy flavor of pickled vegetables filled the entire village on the wind.

All the villagers stared intently at the pot, inhaling the aroma in deep breaths.

The outer disciples, infected by the surrounding atmosphere, also swallowed at the sight of the rough, simple stew in the large pot.

“Mother, it smells so good!”

Among the village women, Huan Niang had the most dexterous hands, so she watched over the fire and ladled the food. Little Hu clung to her leg without letting go. “I’m so hungry.”

Huan Niang knocked him on the head: “The Immortal Masters must eat first!”

Zhou Xiao Yun hurriedly said: “We’ve all abstained from food. We don’t need to eat. Please, go ahead.”

Only then did the villagers, holding their bowls and standing by the pot, form a long queue. Each person, after receiving a bowl, would say “Thank you, Immortal Official” to Tiancheng.

The meat porridge was still hot. Half-grown children eagerly poured it into their mouths, only to cry out loudly when scalded. Their mothers took away the bowls and cooled each spoonful by blowing on it before feeding their children.

The outer disciples couldn’t bear to watch closely, nor did they want to disturb.

Qiu Da Cheng elbowed Xu Kan Shan: “I don’t regret leaving the sect to come to Qianqu with Senior Brother Song. What about you, Old Xu?”

“Hmm.” Xu Kan Shan turned his head away, wiping his reddened eyes, explaining: “The smoke is too thick; it’s making my eyes tear up. Let’s make a bet.”

“Bet on what?”

“Let’s bet on when, in this place managed by Senior Brother Song, everyone will have meat to eat and clothes to wear.”

When the villagers had eaten their fill, they slowed down, savoring each mouthful carefully.

The chicken bones were sucked clean, yet still not released. Those with good teeth even crunched them up to chew thoroughly.

The Village Chief sighed: “Such a good meal, I’ve only had once in my youth, thirty years ago.”

The atmosphere now was a hundred times more festive than during the New Year.

Yet Zhou Xiao Yun noticed that the woman ladling the porridge wasn’t eating but was carefully watching her direction, seeming to want to speak but hesitating.

She approached proactively: “Auntie, did you want to say something to us?”

Huan Niang was startled: “Immortal Master, do you know Liu Er? The one who presented the curved beam plow.”

Her eyes contained hidden expectation, yet she seemed afraid to hope, as she asked softly, “Is he—is he still alive?”

“Mr. Liu? He’s now the Agricultural Director. Once his leg is healed, he’ll accompany Senior Brother Song to—”

Before Zhou Xiao Yun could finish, the woman suddenly burst into tears and pulled the child behind her forward:

“Quickly thank the great Immortal Master! Thank the great Immortal Official from Tiancheng!”

Zhou Xiao Yun wiped the woman’s tears, while Ji Xing, finding the child adorable, picked him up to play with him.

Ji Xing performed a few small magic tricks, and all the village children gathered around, exclaiming in amazement, giving her a sense of accomplishment.

At parting, a group of children tugged at her skirt, unwilling to let go: “Fairy Sister! Don’t go, don’t return to heaven.”

The village women carried away the children, comforting them: “Let go quickly. The fairy needs to go to the next village to deliver chickens.”

“If you let the fairy go back, children like you in other villages can also eat chicken porridge.”

Little Hu suddenly realized: “I know now, the fairy came to deliver chickens.”

Zhou Xiao Yun almost stumbled.

They had arrived as great Immortal Masters but were leaving as a chicken delivery team.

…

The chicken delivery team visited all the poor villages in Qianqu. Wherever they went, crowds were stirred, and fragrance spread for ten li.

Song Manor in the Immortal Official’s mansion remained quiet.

Zhao Ren’s hoarse screams didn’t even pass beyond the courtyard walls.

As the sun set in the west, Song Qian Ji finished his day’s work.

He spread out a map of Qianqu on the stone table, occasionally tracing with his finger.

From time to time, muffled howls came from beneath the well in the courtyard, mixing with the sounds of insects and birds to form a strange symphony.

When the afterglow of the sunset had disappeared, Song Qian Ji put away the map and finally walked to the well, looking down.

Zhao Ren had gotten his wish and was guarding the entrance to his treasured vault. Yet he was trapped by the formation, unable to move a step.

With a dirty face and haggard appearance, he didn’t dare call out “Junior Brother Song” or “Brother Song,” but directly addressed him as Senior Brother:

“Senior Brother Song, I’ve given you everything, three times over. You should give me a way out now.”

“Wait a bit longer,” Song Qian Ji said. “Leave after your wounds have healed.”

Whenever the “chicken delivery team” sent messages that they needed more supplies, he would go to Zhao Ren with his bamboo stick.

Every farmer could potentially be an agricultural expert, a farming master, possibly the next Carpenter Liu who could create new farming tools like the curved beam plow. Naturally, they were far more important than Zhao Ren.

“Brother Song, I’m here!” Ji Chen appeared at the edge of the well, carrying gauze and medicinal powder. “Fellow Daoist Zhao, I’ve come to change your dressing.”

Zhao Ren wanted to cry but had no tears left, wanted to curse but dared not.

Every time he saw Ji Chen’s face, he was reminded of that bloody, painful night.

It was his eternal nightmare.

That night, after Song Qian Ji threw down the bamboo strip, Ji Chen took out a handkerchief made of icy silkworm silk brocade to wipe his hands:

“Senior Brother Song is a cultured scholar, refined and elegant. These hands of yours are meant for holding brushes and chess pieces. Seeing them stained with blood makes me feel uncomfortable.”

Zhao Ren wailed internally: Cultured scholar, my foot!

Is this how your cultured scholars behave?

“So…” Ji Chen took a deep breath and said firmly: “Let me do it from now on. I’ll do these things for Senior Brother Song. Don’t dirty Senior Brother’s hands.”

Zhao Ren nearly died of anger. Is there anyone normal among you?

Song Qian Ji thought, just now you were pale-faced, legs trembling, looking like you were about to vomit. How did you suddenly become so bold?

Don’t awaken something extraordinary. In your previous life, those who died in your formations often suffered endless torment. Let’s skip that in this life.

Song Qian Ji smiled: “When it’s possible to avoid using force, try not to use it.”

“I understand.” Ji Chen nodded, glanced at the trembling Zhao Ren, and silently added the second half of the sentence in his heart:

When it’s absolutely necessary to use force, you must be ruthless. It not only saves energy and time but also gets results quickly.

Song Qian Ji said: “Hurting people is not the goal, just a means. You can bandage him now.”

“Yes, Brother Song!”

Ji Chen worked meticulously on Zhao Ren, carefully picking out the bamboo splinters embedded in his flesh, removing the necrotic tissue, and finally wrapping it with a layer of mundane wound medicine.

Zhao Ren was covered in cold sweat, in unbearable pain: “Just kill me with one sword!”

Ji Chen sincerely said: “Fellow Daoist Zhao, life is precious. Don’t seek death so easily. It’s never too late to turn back from the wrong path and return to righteousness.”

After another dressing change, the howls from the well gradually weakened.

“How is it?” Song Qian Ji asked.

“Almost healed. Cultivators recover quickly, don’t worry, Brother Song,” Ji Chen said confidently.

The “Qianqu chicken delivery team” arrived at the door at that moment, all four members looking jubilant.

Ji Chen immediately went to greet Ji Xing: “Silly sister, did you cause any trouble? Did you make any big mistakes?”

Though he spoke this way, his expression was concerned. He first circled Ji Xing to ensure she was unharmed.

Ji Xing rolled her eyes at him: “What trouble? Wherever I went, the locals called me ‘Fairy Sister,’ okay?”

“The people of Qianqu must not have good eyesight,” Ji Chen said disapprovingly.

“Thank you all for your hard work!” Song Qian Ji smiled.

Qiu Da Cheng said: “It wasn’t hard. Everyone was very grateful to us!”

Ji Chen was curious and excited: “What did people say when you distributed grain?”

“Of course, they said good things.” Xu Kan Shan, facing Ji Chen’s sincere gaze, couldn’t bear to lie, and his smile became somewhat forced. “But some people spread rumors, actually saying—”

“Saying what?”

Zhou Xiao Yun sighed: “They said the new Immortal Official is letting them eat one full meal before death to dispel their grievances, and then he’ll send them to be sacrificed to heaven.”

“What?” Ji Chen looked bewildered. “Sacrificed to heaven?”

“Some also said that the new Immortal Official had cast spells on the grain and livestock, and eating too much would turn them into his puppet slaves,” Ji Xing also sighed.

“Really? People believe this!” Ji Chen laughed in anger.

He found this reasoning bizarre, something an ordinary person couldn’t come up with.

He also felt indignant that after all their hard work, they were being so wrongly accused.

“This is outrageous! Senior Brother Song, what should we do now?” Ji Chen slapped the table.

“What do you mean, what should we do?” Song Qian Ji asked.

“How do we explain?”

“We don’t.”

Song Qian Ji thought that Carpenter Liu’s injured leg should be healed by tomorrow. Meng He Ze, whom he had sent out on a task, should also return soon.

He was very busy, with many ideas for farming and reclamation waiting to be implemented.

What others said didn’t affect his work.

Seeing Song Qian Ji as calm as ever, the four assumed he was well-prepared and felt relieved:

“The common people can’t trust us immediately. Talk is cheap; only time reveals a person’s true heart.”

“We’ll remain unchanged in the face of changing circumstances!”

…

In the southern part of Tiancheng, a mansion second in size only to the Immortal Official’s residence was brightly lit.

The elderly man seated in the place of honor asked: “Has the news been spread?”

A young man standing in the hall respectfully replied: “Yes.”

“What’s the reaction from the Immortal Official’s mansion? Has anyone come out to explain?”

“They…have not reacted at all.”

The entire hall erupted in commotion. Urgency and anxiety were written on everyone’s faces.

The Immortal Official of Qianqu Prefecture held a transcendent position but never concerned himself with worldly affairs. The real power was in the hands of the three great families.

Immortal Officials came and went, but the powerful families remained. They were no strangers to Immortal Officials and had even developed a set of methods for dealing with them that never failed.

Until they met Song Qian Ji, who didn’t play by the rules.

“I heard the new Immortal Official wants to exempt all taxes, only collecting land tax on fields over a hundred mu. The more land you have, the more tax you pay!”

“I also heard he wants to personally travel throughout Qianqu!”

“We’re all in the same boat. If we don’t think of something, we’re all doomed!”

The elderly man in the seat of honor suddenly opened his eyes and with one stern shout, silenced the arguments:

“Mo What, there is still one plan. Though it’s the worst option, it might be worth trying!”