Ling Ruguo's Request (Please Bookmark, Please Vote)

Ling Ruguo jumped down from the Black Steed and took two jade pendants from his robes, handing one of them to the middle-aged strong man, Ling Dong!

Hearing that the "Immortal Elder" had entrusted such important duties to him and appointed him Village Chief, Ling Dong was quite delighted, and the flames of ambition burned in his eyes.

He immediately replied, "Understood, Old Ancestor. I will certainly handle this matter well!"

"Good. Work hard, and do not make any mistakes. Otherwise, even if your father protects you, I will not spare you! Withdraw!" Ling Ruguo said sternly.

Ling Dong knelt and offered his thanks before leaving on trembling legs, clearly frightened badly by Ling Ruguo's words.

Once Ling Dong had gone far away and no one else was nearby, Ling Ruguo handed the remaining jade pendant in his hand to Ling Pengyun.

"Peng Yun, this token and the jade pendant in Ling Dong's possession are a pair. If one shatters, the other will certainly shatter as well!"

"As for Ling Dong's relationship with me, I imagine you have already seen through it. He is one of my grandsons, and also the only son of your Eighteenth Uncle. Unfortunately, he has no Spirit Root, so he was not born within the Lineage. He was sent to be raised in a mortal village when he was young, which is why you have never met him. However, Ling Dong has a good temperament and is capable as well. That is why I recommended him to the Lineage as the Village Chief of Azure Stone Village. I do not have much lifespan left. In the future, I hope you will look after this disappointing grandson of mine."

When he spoke those final words, Ling Ruguo's tone carried a hint of pleading, without the slightest air of an elder.

Ling Pengyun had no objections to Ling Ruguo's descendant serving as Azure Stone Village's Village Chief. Quite a few Lineage members' descendants without Spirit Roots held positions in the mortal world. This was perfectly normal.

Yet Ling Ruguo's plea stirred something within Ling Pengyun.

In his previous life, his parents had also gone around visiting relatives and seeking connections everywhere in order to find him a good job.

Returning to himself, Ling Pengyun understood the meaning behind the words "look after." In the Cultivation World, demon beasts attacking mortal villages was extremely common. Ling Ruguo clearly hoped that when Azure Stone Village encountered danger, he would provide timely support and keep his grandson Ling Dong from falling into peril.

"Third Grandfather, rest assured. Looking after the residents of Azure Stone Village is my duty. If Azure Stone Mountain faces danger, your great-grandson will certainly provide timely support!" Ling Pengyun said solemnly.

"With those words, I can rest easy. Azure Stone Mountain lies at the very edge of An Yang County, so it is bound to encounter demon beast attacks often. These are three First Rank Middle Grade Water Shield Talismans drawn by your Eighteenth Uncle. Do not refuse them!" Ling Ruguo took three sheets of Talisman Paper flickering with blue spiritual radiance from his Storage Bag and stuffed them into Ling Pengyun's hand.

"This..." Ling Pengyun looked at the three Water Shield Talismans in his hand and understood Ling Ruguo's intentions. He feared that Ling Pengyun would not wholeheartedly look after Azure Stone Village.

To avoid making Ling Ruguo overthink matters, Ling Pengyun did not put on airs and directly stored the three Water Shield Talismans in his Storage Bag.

Seeing this, a trace of joy flashed in Ling Ruguo's eyes before quickly vanishing. He looked toward the more than three thousand mortal clansmen in the distance, his expression turning solemn as he spoke.

"Peng Yun, the mortals of Azure Stone Village were transferred here from Xia Zhi Town, three hundred li away. Three years ago, they had already followed us from Cloudwater County and moved to Huai River County. They had barely lived in peace for long before being relocated again, so they likely harbor some grievances. In ordinary times, soothe them more. Use some Spirit Rain to water the grain planted in their fields, or reward them with the flesh and blood of Innate Realm beasts you hunt in your daily life. Show them more kindness. Otherwise, if the resentment in these mortal clansmen's hearts grows deeper and deeper, then when someone with a Spirit Root emerges from this village, it will not be good for the Lineage!"

Ling Pengyun had naturally noticed the resentment carried by these three thousand mortal clansmen. As Azure Stone Village's guardian and a member of the Ling Clan, he naturally had the duty to handle this matter properly, so he immediately replied, "Third Grandfather, I understand!"

"I have said all that needed to be said, and the convoy has been escorted here. I will return to the Lineage first. This old bag of bones of mine does not have much time left, and I still wish to spend more days on Clan Mountain!" Ling Ruguo joked, then cast the Light Body Technique and floated swiftly away.

The reason Ling Ruguo had ridden the Black Steed earlier was also so the convoy could keep up. Otherwise, with his Qi Training Seventh Layer cultivation, even though he had little lifespan left and much of his spiritual power had dissipated, traveling fifteen hundred li in a day would still not have been a problem.

Ling Pengyun watched Ling Ruguo's departing back, his expression somewhat complicated.

"To die on Clan Mountain is a blessing for Lineage cultivators like us! It is only a pity that, before long, the Ling Clan will lose another member."

"Ah!"

Ling Pengyun let out a soft sigh and came back to his senses.

Turning his head toward the crowd nearby, he saw those mortal clansmen lying or sitting on wooden carts to rest. Then he turned toward a dense forest several li away, and an idea came to him.

"I'll give them a hand!"

Ling Pengyun shifted his feet and ran toward the forest.

After the more than three thousand Ling Clan mortals who had moved here rested for two hours, Azure Stone Village's Village Chief Ling Dong led a group of villagers armed with sharp tools toward the nearest forest, only several li away, to fell trees and build wooden houses. Yet they found that all ten thousand trees in the forest had been cut down by sharp weapons and lay scattered across the ground.

Seeing this, Ling Dong, who had countless ties to cultivators, immediately guessed that it was a cultivator's work from the extremely smooth cuts on every tree.

He knew that his Ancestor, Ling Ruguo, had already left and returned to Ling Clan Mountain.

Now, only the young Immortal Elder stationed at Azure Stone Mountain remained nearby. And only this Immortal Elder, who shared blood ties with them, would help them fell trees.

He immediately recalled how, before leaving, his Ancestor had told him to cooperate well with the Immortal Elder of Azure Stone Mountain in soothing the villagers.

"Everyone, these trees were felled by the Immortal Elder of Azure Stone Mountain. Carry them back and build wooden houses directly!" Ling Dong announced loudly.

Upon hearing this, the mortal clansmen present felt some of their resentment toward the Lineage for repeatedly relocating them over the past few years fade away. One after another, they praised the Immortal Elder of Azure Stone Mountain for his kindness.

Because of the thousand trees Ling Pengyun had helped fell, the more than three thousand people of Azure Stone Village saved a great deal of time cutting timber. In just three short days, these villagers built nearly a thousand wooden houses by Azure Stone Lake.

Ling Pengyun, stationed at Azure Stone Mountain, also often went down the mountain to help the villagers of Azure Stone Village reclaim farmland and water their rice crops.

Whether reclaiming farmland or watering rice, such tasks were effortless for a Qi Training Middle Stage cultivator like Ling Pengyun.

The fields were all ordinary soil. With a single Soil Loosening Technique, hard earth could become soft and loose; with a light turn of the soil, it became farmland.

To water the rice in the fields, he merely used the Water Control Technique to draw the lake water from Azure Stone Lake into the sky, turn it into rain, and let it fall to irrigate the fields.

Ling Pengyun even often summoned Spirit Rain to nourish the mortal rice in the fields and hasten its growth.

Such actions earned Ling Pengyun the recognition and gratitude of Azure Stone Village's villagers.

According to what Ling Pengyun learned from Village Chief Ling Dong, the more than three thousand mortals in the village no longer carried the same resentment they had upon arriving. All of them now wished to reclaim ten thousand mu of fertile fields in this barren land and earn money.

This situation also made Ling Pengyun feel that his efforts helping Azure Stone Village's villagers had not been in vain.

Afterward, Ling Pengyun still often went down the mountain and used spells to help the villagers of Azure Stone Village irrigate their fields, but he was no longer as diligent as before, usually going only once every two or three days.