Free Web NovelOn the country road at sunset, the setting sun painted the shadows of two people. They walked along the light and shadow cutting line of the wheat field, passing through the floating mix of light and dark.
The young girl led him by the hand, walking ahead. The wind blew her hair, carrying a faint fragrance to the young man's nose.
She used her other hand to smooth her hair, but she was unwilling to release his hand.
Li Mo suddenly felt the scene before him was familiar yet unreal.
It was as if he had seen it in a dream, forgotten it upon waking, and only felt like he had experienced it before when encountering a similar scene.
He thought of Monet's "Woman with a Parasol," but a sunset version... Then Li Mo was startled.
"Fairy Sister, is this the way back to the village? Why are the trees getting more desolate the further we go?"
Ying Bing was startled, looked around, and frowned, saying, "This isn't the way back to Li Mo's village? It seems it really isn't..."
Li Mo: "??"
"Fairy Sister, you're not directionally challenged, are you?"
"How could that be? I was just thinking about something a moment ago."
"That's true."
Fairy Sister must have come specifically to save him that day.
Although he didn't know why, if she were directionally challenged, how could she have found him so precisely?
It just doesn't seem possible... It doesn't seem possible... Possible... Half an hour later, Li Mo looked seriously at the distance, where a group of pheasants were glaring fiercely, their claws digging at the ground.
These pheasants were extremely protective of their territory and could also fly; even tigers would suffer if they entered their territory.
Since they were already here.
On the way back, Li Mo carried a few solidly frozen pheasant ice sculptures on his back.
"So, Fairy Sister, you originally just wanted to eat wild pheasant meat?"
"Exactly, that's right."
Fairy Sister maintained a cold demeanor, making it impossible to associate her with being directionally challenged. She then said,
"Alright, let's go back quickly, it's almost dark."
Then she followed closely behind Li Mo.
Li Mo: "..."
By the time they returned home, the last ray of twilight had just faded.
The blacksmith's forge was lit, but it was emitting cooking smoke. The wild pheasant bones were stewed into soup, the meat was shredded for hand-pulled chicken, and the scraps were stir-fried into spicy and sour chicken giblets. One chicken, three dishes, perfectly arranged.
Ying Bing's fingertips held a needle made of ice crystals, threading it by the firelight.
"If only it could always be like this."
Li Mo thought.
And it was true.
The jiangshan sheji map seemed to have been fast-forwarded.
For the next ten years or so, life was like this, with men farming and women weaving. During this process, Little Blacksmith Li became Blacksmith Li, and the children in the village back then all grew up.
The old Clan Chief also passed away. When he died, he handed the key to the village ancestral hall to Li Mo, asking him to personally carry his ancestral tablet into the hall, which meant he became the new Clan Chief.
Of course, during this time, the area and population of Great King Village doubled. The Thousand Forms Art provided the village with more abundant productivity.
Moreover, over these ten-plus years, demons and monsters could no longer pose much of a threat to the village. In the past, if they were unlucky, it was very possible for only a few scattered individuals from an entire village to survive.
Now, two or three ordinary ones were just large beasts.
This unique martial art also spread to several neighboring villages, and more and more people learned it.
Everyone said that it was Xianzi Niangniang from the Heavenly Clan who was spreading the Dao.
"I just want to watch some rural romance stories!"
"If it's all fast-forwarded, what am I watching?"
"I'd love to watch the whole ten years. Such a short time passes in the blink of an eye."
Of course, only a small portion of people were dissatisfied with the jiangshan sheji map's time jumps.
After all, each round of natural disaster was spaced fifty years apart.
Shang Qinqing's dissatisfaction was mainly because she was still in her rebellious phase at several thousand years old.
"Earth City seems to have already submitted to the rule of Heaven City?"
"The difference between Heaven City people and Earth City people is like that between Earth City and Human City..."
"Oh right, three people are participating in this Heavenly Human Trial."
"Jiang Yu's idea is good. If the three cities could become one whole, the probability of overcoming difficulties together would be much greater, after all, the people of Human City can't even try to fight against natural disasters."
"Why do I feel like his whole approach is familiar? Inner City, Outer City, beyond the Central Divine Continent..."
Many Jianghu people who came to Dijin from other places looked at each other.
They laughed and laughed, then suddenly couldn't laugh anymore.
"Ahem, if things develop like this, the top spot in this trial will probably go to His Highness the Crown Prince?"
"After all, every one of his decisions can affect the entire Heavenly Human City, while Li Shaoxia and Han Xianzi have been playing at a farm stay."
What's more, although Li Shaoxia had practiced the Thousand Forms Art for many years, he was essentially born in Human City.
His lifespan would, at most, reach its end after the first round of natural disaster.
But no one knew whether Han Xianzi would return to Heaven City at that time, so it was hard to make a definitive judgment for now.
At this moment.
In the jiangshan sheji map, Jiang Yu's decrees had already begun to radiate outwards through Earth City.
In the ancestral hall of the remote Great King Village, two men and one woman were sitting beneath the ancestral tablets.
They wore exquisite and luxurious clothes, and their every gesture exuded the authority of a superior. Although not as innately divine as the Heavenly Clan, they were clearly distinct from the villagers gathered inside and outside the ancestral hall.
"Who is the Clan Chief?" frёewebηovel.cѳm
The middle-aged Earth City man, who was leading them, took a sip of tea, frowned, and spat it back out. freēwēbnovel.com
"I am."
Li Mo walked out without glancing sideways and sat squarely opposite him.
The three Earth City envoys exchanged glances, all finding Great King Village a bit strange. Ordinary country bumpkins, upon seeing them, would either be trembling with fear or fawning.
What was wrong with the people of Great King Village and the surrounding villages?
"We are here to deliver a decree from the Heavenly Clan of Heaven City. The requirements are very simple."
"From now on, you will replace all the ancestral tablets in the ancestral hall with those of the Heavenly Clan lords, and the grain collected each year will be split seventy-thirty with Earth City."
Having said that, he calmly wiped his mouth.
The villagers in the ancestral hall looked at each other.
"How can ancestral tablets be replaced?"
"We work hard all year, how can we only get seventy percent?"
"Seventy percent is theirs!"
Ignoring the noisy villagers, the leading middle-aged Earth City man looked at Li Mo:
"Clan Chief, what do you think? No matter how much it costs, it's not as important as the safety of your descendants."
"As far as I know, Heaven City people don't need to eat, unless they're craving something. What do they need so much grain for?"
Li Mo neither agreed nor refused, but instead raised a question.
The three of them: "?"
How did he know that Heavenly Clan people didn't need to eat unless they were craving something?
The younger Earth City man was not as composed and said impatiently, "Naturally, it is for us."
"But isn't it the Heavenly Clan who protects us?"
"First it is us; what we cannot handle, then it is the Heavenly Clan. Therefore, the offerings and reverence are for the Heavenly Clan of Heaven City, and the grain is given to us."
Li Mo stared at him: "With a thirty percent harvest, even in a good year, everyone can barely manage a thin gruel to fill their stomachs. If so, wouldn't we become muddle-headed livestock just trying to survive?"
"Being alive, what's wrong with being a bit abject? If it weren't for the large scale of your Great King Village, how many people would want to be livestock but not even get the chance."
Clang—
A sickle was slapped onto the table.
Li Mo asked again: "This, can it survive?"
"It can survive, on its knees."
Clang—
A forging hammer was then slapped onto the table.
"This, can it survive?"
"It can survive, but not many."
The hammer was picked up and placed on the sickle, the two stacked together.
"This, plus «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» this, can it allow everyone to live with dignity?"
