East Village

New Xuan East Village lay along the eastern flank of Wulong Mountain, right beside the Wu Chao River. In terms of location, it was closer to the Three Xuan Sect than either West Village or North Village, second only to Banshan Village at the foot of Qianzhu Ridge.

Yet distance had not brought East Village closer to the Three Xuan Sect. Instead, it had always drifted outside the sect's sphere. If the villagers' reclaimed farmland had not belonged to the Three Xuan Sect, they likely would not have heeded the sect's summons at all.

As things stood, they obeyed when summoned, but always with a measure of reluctance. They were utterly unlike the other three villages, which regarded the Three Xuan Sect as the pillar supporting their own house.

The reason was that they were all old households from Wu Chao Town, relocated during the town's transformation into Wuchao Market. They still had threads of connection, tangled as silk, with the residents who remained in Wu Chao Town. That dazzling world, where flowers bewildered the eye, was not something the Three Xuan Sect could compare with.

To put it plainly, their horizons were set a little higher.

Zhou Tong received his assignment at noon. After Fang Buai and Madam Liu discussed it, they decided to send him to East Village.

East Village was not large. It was built upon a riverside slope, divided into three sections according to family names, while all the other flat land had been cultivated into fertile fields.

Zhou Tong went straight to the largest Huang family settlement, which contained twenty-eight households in all—half of East Village.

Patriarch Huang's home stood in the best location. He had enclosed a spacious courtyard and built six large houses within it.

He was the man whose word carried the