Song You walked forward.
The starlight was faint at night; he could not truly make out the plants along the roadside, but there was no need to see them clearly.
Everything was already in his heart—
Plum, orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum; pine, cypress, poplar, willow.
The alfalfa that the Red date horse loved to eat, the dandelion of which he had picked only one bloom on Mati Mountain today—oh, and wild chrysanthemums were blooming along the little path up the mountain.
Narcissus, roses; clear lotuses, peonies.
Oranges, pomelos; peas, cucumbers.
These familiar myriad things...
Song You turned to look at the old Swallow Immortal and asked again:
"There are people across the sea too, aren't there?"
"Of course. Some places even trade with Great Yan, and some have declared themselves vassals to Great Yan."
"What about other continents?"
"Of course there are," the old Swallow Immortal replied. "Not only are there people, there are also flourishing dynasties. It is simply that their customs differ from those here, their people look different, and the gods they worship are different as well."
"Do they eat rice too?"
"Of course not—"
At this, the old Swallow Immortal suddenly widened his eyes.
"The Swallow Immortal has been to every place swallows come from and go to. You have likely flown farther than every migratory bird in this world. Have you ever noticed how the foods they eat differ from those of our Great Yan? What their yield per mu is? Whether they can fill one's belly? Whether they are drought-resistant?"
"You mean..."
"I know of several crops whose yield per mu surpasses even Eastern rice. If the Swallow Immortal can find them, they may resolve Great Yan's most pressing crisis and temporarily keep its people's livelihoods stable. Even if they cannot cure the problem at