Abundance Village

The night passed quickly. The villagers had settled them in the largest and most comfortable house in the entire village for the night.

Early the next morning, they all got up.

Ning Yao was the first to head out. Rather than packing with the caravan, he took a stroll toward the church deeper in the village.

From a distance, he saw that every villager had gathered there.

But they were not praying in the church, because at some point, the church had been torn down. Instead, they worshipped the small tree formed from one of his leaves, which represented abundance.

They formed a semicircle around it, bowing to the little tree again and again while muttering prayers.

"May the Medicine King hold us in mercy, may Jianmu bring forth life; may all who sow be of one heart and ascend together to paradise."

Ning Yao: "..."

Weren't those my words from yesterday?

And looking at this, no wonder faith power had been constantly flowing toward him.

Ning Yao even spotted Iron Dragon at the very front of the crowd.

Ning Yao did not know what to say. In the end, though, he neither stopped nor supported them, simply turning around and returning to the caravan.

Everyone was washing up or eating the lavish breakfast the villagers had prepared early that morning.

When the caravan boss saw Ning Yao, he warmly called for him to come eat with them.

During breakfast, someone asked where all the villagers had gone. No one knew.

Ning Yao knew, but he said nothing.

Only the caravan boss said that Iron Dragon had already informed him that the village had a ceremony to conduct that morning.

Ning Yao now seriously suspected that Iron Dragon had spearheaded this ceremony.

After they had finished breakfast and packed their luggage, Iron Dragon returned at just the right time.

"Alright, everyone's here. Let's continue our journey!"

The caravan boss called out to everyone, but even as he spoke, his gaze remained fixed on Ning Yao.

Only after Ning Yao nodded did he relax.

"Let's go!"

"Our destination is Tianshui City!"

The caravan boss laughed heartily and led the group toward the village entrance.

A large crowd of villagers had already gathered there to see them off.

The caravan boss was somewhat flattered, and even quickened his pace as he led the group onward.

Though he did not know the exact reason, he could more or less guess that it had something to do with Ning Yao.

He had specifically sought out Iron Dragon last night to ask about it, but Iron Dragon stubbornly refused to say a word. All he would say was that Senior Ning Yao surely did not want too many people to know.

So the caravan boss could only let the matter drop.

After they had traveled some distance beyond the village, Ning Yao turned back for one last look.

The village's old signboard had been destroyed when the cyan wolf bandit leader appeared.

Over the course of a single night, the villagers had already put up a new one.

But instead of "Sky Ox Village," it now read "Abundance Village."

Ning Yao slowly turned to look at Iron Dragon beside him.

"Your doing?"

Iron Dragon hurriedly waved his hands and shook his head frantically.

"No, no, no! It was everyone's idea, Senior, you have to believe me! I swear to heaven! Everyone voted on the new name together. I only made a suggestion!"

Ning Yao: "..."

With a sigh, he ignored Iron Dragon and turned to continue looking at the scenery outside the window.

Iron Dragon merely chuckled. Far from being upset, he quietly sat beside Ning Yao and waited on him.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, nearly half a month had gone by.

During that time, Ning Yao felt his faith power increasing every day, and it was exceptionally pure.

It was probably because those villagers prayed before his leaf every day.

He could even clearly sense several additional streams of faith power during that period.

That in itself was nothing, but the problem was that these newcomers did not seem to be human...

They seemed to be soul beasts...

Ning Yao fell silent.

The leaf he had bestowed was merely a manifested energy form of the abundance within him. Though it was insignificant to him, it was entirely different on the Douluo Continent.

More importantly, like Ning Yao himself, the leaf refused no one who sought its power.

As long as someone prayed to it sincerely, it would bestow blessings upon them.

"Iron Dragon, are there many soul beasts around your village?"

Ning Yao looked at Iron Dragon, who was dozing beside him.

Startled awake, Iron Dragon nodded groggily.

"Ah, quite a lot, Senior. What is it?"

Ning Yao said nothing and merely shook his head.

He hesitated over whether to tell Iron Dragon.

It seems your village no longer has just villagers. A group of soul beasts is happily praying to me alongside them every day.

Ning Yao could roughly guess that the soul beasts had been drawn there by the life force, but he truly had not expected the villagers to accept them and pray alongside them.

Was this not already disrupting the balance between humans and soul beasts on the Douluo Continent?

He neither approved nor disapproved, but he did not intend to interfere.

Ning Yao also wanted to see just what these villagers and soul beasts, who could be considered half his followers, would become.

At this rate, with daily prayers, the humans and beasts in the village should already possess the strength of Soul Saints.

Before long, all of them would likely reach Title Douluo-level combat power.

Just like Iron Dragon beside him. Though he had only prayed once, he had been present when Ning Yao first bestowed abundance and already had a solid foundation. By now, he should have strength above level 70.

It was just that the man did not seem to have noticed yet.

Every day, he only said that he felt stronger.

The next time he made a move, he would probably give himself quite a shock.

The days passed one after another, and before they knew it, another month and a half had gone by.

One morning, they finally arrived at their destination.

Tianshui City.

Sitting in the carriage, the members of the caravan could not help looking around in wonder.

This was actually their first time bringing their business here.

Previously, the furthest they had gone was the kingdom's capital. It was their first time seeing a major city like Tianshui City, renowned throughout the entire Heaven Dou Empire.

"Senior, I want to follow you!"

Sitting in the carriage, Iron Dragon gathered his courage and spoke seriously to Ning Yao.

"?"

Ning Yao turned to glance at him, his eyelids lifting slightly.

"What? You're needed here, aren't you? Why follow me?"

But Iron Dragon only shook his head.

"No, Senior. You saved both me and my family. I want to follow you."

"I've already discussed it with the boss. After this job, I won't do this anymore. If you agree, I'll follow you. If you don't, I'll return to the village."

Go back to the village and pray to me with the other villagers?

Ning Yao understood what Iron Dragon meant.

But follow him?

That was better not. He had too many secrets. He was better off alone.