Encounter Again

At Han Qinhu's words, his mood gradually calmed as well.

Still, Shen Changchuan's reaction left him somewhat surprised.

When Shen Changchuan had initially refused,

Han Qinhu had thought Shen Changchuan would stubbornly press on, insisting even after realizing he was wrong.

That, right or wrong, he would forcefully compensate every family behind someone who had died in the line of duty with ten jin of Spirit Grain.

After all, young men were full of hot-blooded vigor.

Few young people recognized when they were wrong.

Or rather, even if they knew they were wrong, they would still grit their teeth and keep going, refusing to turn back until they crashed into the southern wall, not easily changing course.

Or they might feel they had been made a fool of, become enraged, and ultimately vent their fury on others.

It was precisely because of this

that Han Qinhu had noticed something wrong with the death toll during the ambush against the Crocodile Demon, but had too many concerns and had not spoken up in time to warn them.

It was not until this ambush against the Gale Falcon, when the people below had gone far too overboard, causing the compensation costs to soar and the losses to become too great, that Han Qinhu had no choice but to expose the matter before Shen Changchuan.

Yet this outcome was entirely beyond his expectations.

None of the reactions he had anticipated occurred.

Shen Changchuan neither stubbornly pushed onward in order to save face, carrying his mistake all the way through,

nor did he become furious because those below had deceived him.

His expression had remained calm throughout.

It was clear that he had seriously reflected for a moment,

and had truly learned a lesson from this incident.

"Such temperament—my grandson Changchuan truly has the bearing of one who can become immortal!"

A trace of gratified laughter appeared at the corners of Han Qinhu's aged face.

Thinking back to when he had come here to take office half a year ago,

Shen Changchuan had steadily carried out his reforms in Great Bay Village step by step, neither arrogant nor impatient.

When facing Demon Beast attacks, he had remained unhurried as well, planning before acting, and in the end successfully slaying the invading Demon Beasts.

Each of these matters

had been handled with remarkable steadiness.

With such temperament, how could he fail to succeed in the future?

The Han Family

had made the right bet!

"Very well, I'll go announce this to them now."

Han Qinhu slightly set aside his thoughts, bade Shen Changchuan farewell, and withdrew.

The night passed without incident.

The next day,

news also arrived regarding the harvesting of Spirit Grain in Zhao Family Village.

Everything had gone smoothly.

All the Spirit Grain from those two mu of Spirit Fields had been harvested intact.

Perhaps because there were relatively few Spirit Fields over there, no other Demon Beasts had been drawn to attack during the harvest.

However,

because Old Three of the Four Fiends of Heshan had slaughtered Zhao Family Village and set fires everywhere, the Spirit Grain in part of the Spirit Fields had been damaged.

As a result, the final harvest amounted to only 178 jin of Spirit Grain.

But this number did not surprise Shen Changchuan.

He knew full well that those two mu of Spirit Fields had been damaged.

He had estimated long ago that the two mu of Spirit Fields in Zhao Family Village would certainly suffer reduced yields by harvest time.

He had already prepared himself mentally.

"It doesn't matter. When spring plowing comes next year, we'll promote the improved planting methods here over there as well. Naturally, we'll get a greater harvest."

The news of the harvest from Zhao Family Village also lifted Shen Changchuan's spirits somewhat.

He had already planned out next year's spring planting for those two mu of Spirit Fields in Zhao Family Village.

And at this moment,

within Great Bay Village,

Han Qinhu also announced the decision he and Shen Changchuan had discussed the night before: the compensation standard for deaths in the line of duty would be reduced.

The standard had been lowered tenfold in one stroke.

The scale of the reduction could only be called astonishing!

Yet it did not stir much reaction among the villagers.

The villagers all reacted differently.

Some cast meaningful looks toward the families of those who had died.

Others turned pale, as though they had thought of something.

Still others wore expressions of extreme regret, as if they had brushed past a great opportunity.

But regardless of their reactions,

everyone understood perfectly well

that compensation of ten jin of Spirit Grain was far too generous.

It could not possibly last for long.

Thus, they had long been mentally prepared for Shen Changchuan's decision conveyed by Han Qinhu.

Not only did the others not find it harsh, they instead felt that this newly arrived Immortal Master, Shen Changchuan, was an exceptionally generous man.

For though the compensation had been reduced,

those who had died before were mostly the old, weak, sick, and disabled who had deliberately sought death for the sake of the compensation payment, yet the Immortal Master had not pursued the matter.

Instead, he had accepted it all,

and compensated them in full according to the ten-jin standard of Spirit Grain.

Such handling was already more than fair.

Had it been another, more miserly Immortal Master, they might not have given a single thing. They might even have slaughtered the families and relatives behind those who had deliberately died for compensation, killing the chicken to scare the monkeys as a warning because mortals had deceived them!

This was no exaggeration.

Before cultivators, mortals were nothing more than slaves who could be crushed to death at a casual touch.

Shen Changchuan was so generous,

so naturally no one in all of Great Bay Village would, or dared to, push their luck and greedily demand more.

However, they had little mind left to spare for such matters.

Because as all the Spirit Grain was harvested and stored away,

Shen Changchuan had Han Qinhu begin distributing the rewards he had promised from the start.

Compared with the adjustment to the compensation,

this drew even more attention from everyone!

First came Teams Eleven and Twelve.

Their increased yields were thirty-six jin and forty-eight jin respectively.

According to the original agreement, thirty percent of each amount would be taken out and distributed to the members of those two teams as rewards.

After that came Teams One through Ten.

As a reward for the average increase of ten jin per mu across the ten mu of Spirit Fields under their management,

each team would likewise receive thirty percent of the increased yield, which meant three jin per team.

However, since dividing three jin of Spirit Grain among nearly two hundred people was truly too insignificant,

they followed Shen Changchuan's original plan.

The Spirit Rice was mixed into refined rice,

then cooked into a large pot of Spirit Rice porridge,

and distributed at a grand feast, one bowl per person.

But clearly,

no one cared whether there was a feast or not.

Once they received their Spirit Rice porridge, each swiftly returned home, either to eat it themselves or save it for their children, giving them a greater chance to awaken and successfully draw in qi, stepping onto the Immortal Path.

Thus, after the Spirit Rice porridge had been distributed,

Great Bay Village was nearly emptied out.

Everyone stayed in their homes, cultivating with all their might.

Striving for that sliver of possibility to step onto the Immortal Path.

Great Bay Village consequently grew somewhat quiet.

Regarding this,

Shen Changchuan did not interfere.

At present, he was short of cultivator subordinates.

If anyone could successfully draw in qi, that would be a good thing. With a bit more strength, Shen Changchuan would no longer need to worry about the defenses over at Zhao Family Village.

But as someone who had been through it himself, he knew very well that successfully awakening one's spirit and drawing in qi on the strength of merely one or two bowls of Spirit Rice porridge was basically impossible.

Still, if someone succeeded,

he would not lose out.

Shen Changchuan did not pay much attention to the matter.

With an ample supply of Spirit Rice resources,

he turned his attention to the two spells on the panel that had yet to reach completion.

Of those two incomplete spells, one was the Water Dragon Technique,

and the other was Azure Wood Sword Light.

Among them,

he had cultivated the incomplete Azure Wood Sword Light spell for a long time, yet it remained stuck at one percent progress without budging an inch.

This troubled Shen Changchuan, and he wished to find a solution.

But before Shen Changchuan could find one,

he had no choice but to leave seclusion.

Because

the Shen Family's Transport Commissioner had sent someone to collect the Spirit Grain that was to be handed over.

And to Shen Changchuan's surprise,

he knew the person sent by the Shen Family's Transport Commissioner.

It was none other than the garrison commander who had left Great Bay Village not long ago—Shen Shiying!