Ark Simulator, Don't I Have No Physical Form?

Su Rui was holding a bowl of steaming sweet rice wine, squatting on the street with Nian watching the street performers. Xi stood behind him, her tail almost touching his ankle to prevent him from being bumped by the crowd.

Ling leaned against a tea stall not far away, the steam rising from his jade pipe appearing particularly thick in the humid air.

"This rain..." Su Rui looked up at the sky, her silvery-white hair wet with rain and clinging to her forehead.

Nian nonchalantly took a bite of the fried cake in her hand. "It's alright, Xia Yu comes and goes quickly!"

But this time, she was wrong.

The rain intensified, initially a light drizzle, but later pouring down like a celestial river. Large raindrops pounded on the bluestone slabs, splashing up sprays of water. The laughter on the street was gradually drowned out by the sound of the rain, and people began to frantically search for shelter.

"Something's not right." Ling paused slightly, his blue eyes gazing at the distant horizon. "There's something in this rain..."

Xi's tail suddenly tightened, pulling Su Rui closer to her. "Let's go back to Sister Shu's first."

However, before they had taken more than a few steps, the ground suddenly trembled.

"Boom--!"

A loud bang came from afar, followed by screams from the crowd.

"The river embankment! The river embankment has collapsed!"

Su Rui turned around abruptly and saw that the river in the distance had breached its banks. The turbid floodwaters, carrying mud, sand, and broken logs, roared and rushed towards the farmland and streets like a wild beast out of control!

"Oh no!" Nian grabbed Su Rui's wrist. "Run!"

The four quickly retreated to higher ground, with the floodwaters hot on their heels. In the murky water, some eerie dark shadows could be vaguely seen—not ordinary mud and sand, but some kind of filth washed up by the flood, emanating an unsettling aura.

"This water...is polluted." Xi's voice was as cold as ice. "We can't let it spread to the farmland."

Shu's figure appeared on a high slope not far away. She held a celadon bowl in her hands. The clear water in the bowl remained still in the downpour, as if undisturbed by the outside world.

"Come here!" she called to the four of them.

They quickly regrouped, and Shu's gaze swept over the flood-ravaged farmland, his brow furrowed. "This isn't an ordinary flood; there's 'filth' in the water."

"Filth?" Su Rui was taken aback. "What is that?"

"The accumulated filth from years ago has been washed out by the flood," the millet explained briefly. "If it's not purified, this land won't be able to grow any crops for three years."

A spark ignited at Nian's fingertips. "Burn it clean?"

Shu shook his head. "The filth disperses when exposed to fire, and once dispersed, it becomes even more difficult to remove. It must be rinsed with clean water."

Ling tapped his palm lightly with his pipe. "Purification Water Art?"

"Yes." Shu nodded, "I can't manage alone, I need your help."

Xi had already unfurled the scroll, the ink spreading in the rain, transforming into a barrier that temporarily held back the flood. "Su Rui, stay close to me."

Su Rui gripped her sword tightly and nodded firmly. "I can help too!"

Shu stood on a high place, tilting the celadon bowl in his hand slightly. The clear water in the bowl transformed into a clear spring, flowing into the turbid flood. Wherever the clear water passed, the filth, like snow meeting boiling water, quickly dissolved.

"Nian, go upstream and temporarily seal the breach with fire." Shu quickly assigned tasks. "Ling, use mist to guide the flow of clean water. Xi, your ink is responsible for demarcating the area to prevent the spread of filth."

The three acted immediately. Nian transformed into a streak of fire and rushed toward the riverbank, the scorching heat temporarily freezing the floodwaters; Ling's mist, like silk threads, entwined around the millet's pure water, ensuring it flowed to every inch of polluted land; Xi's scroll unfolded, the ink lines like a cage, trapping the filth in a fixed area, preventing it from escaping.

Su Rui stood beside Xi, looking at the chaotic scene before her, her grip on her sword tightening slightly.

"What can I do?" he asked.

Xi continued writing, but her voice softened. "Your wind blades can assist the mist in allowing the purified water to cover a wider area."

Su Rui nodded, and with a slight turn of her sword, a wisp of breeze swirled around the mist above, helping the purified water flow faster into the distance.

However, the filth seemed to sense the threat and began to gather on its own, transforming into jet-black tentacles, attempting to break through Xi's ink-wash cage!

"They're conscious?!" Su Rui exclaimed in surprise.

"The filth is the product of years of accumulated resentment." Shu's voice remained calm, but beads of sweat had appeared on his forehead. "Don't let it touch your body."

A filthy tentacle suddenly broke through the barrier and lunged straight at Su Rui's face!

Xi's pupils contracted sharply, and Shui Mo instantly reacted defensively, but it was too late.

"Whoosh!"

A flash of blue light appeared, causing the pipe to pierce the tentacles like a sharp sword. The filth emitted a piercing shriek and dissipated into black smoke.

"Focus." Ling glanced at Su Rui indifferently, and as he retracted his pipe, black liquid still dripped from the tip.

Su Rui took a deep breath, and the wind blades on the sword became even sharper, assisting the clean water in washing every inch of the land.

The rain finally stopped when the last bit of filth was purified by the clean water.

The afterglow of the setting sun pierced through the clouds and spilled onto the damp earth. The farmland, washed clean by the water, shimmered with a faint glow, as if coated with a layer of glass.

Nian slumped onto the muddy ground, his Flame Dragon Power completely depleted, even the sparks in his hair had dimmed. "I'm exhausted..."

Ling's pipe was casually tucked into his waistband, and he rarely showed a hint of fatigue. "Next time... don't make me do such meticulous work."

Xi had already closed her painting, but her fingertips were still trembling slightly; maintaining the ink-and-wash cage for so long had taken a heavy toll on her.

Shu, holding the empty celadon bowl, walked up to Su Rui and gently patted his head. "Well done."

Su Rui's tail wagged involuntarily; despite her exhaustion, she felt a great sense of accomplishment.

"What exactly is that filth?" he couldn't help but ask.

Shu gazed into the distance, her voice soft. "It is the memory of this land... the blood of war, the tears of famine, and the forgotten resentment."

Su Rui was stunned.

"But now, they've been washed clean," the millet chuckled. "Next year, the wheat here will grow even better."

Xi's tail quietly wrapped around Su Rui's wrist, as if offering silent comfort.

Nian suddenly jumped up and grabbed Su Rui's neck. "Come on! Let's go back and get something good to eat! I'm starving!"

Ling sighed, but still followed.

Shu stood there, watching the four people's backs, then looked down at the celadon bowl in his hand. A drop of water remained at the bottom of the bowl, reflecting the gradually clearing sky.

Volume 9, Chapter 579: A Sickle That Can Chop People

Three days after the flood receded, the farmland of Great Wilderness City was still in a state of devastation.

The once neat rows of fields were now scattered and broken, with fertile soil mixed with gravel and broken wood piled up in the low-lying areas. Although the land washed clean by the water no longer smelled foul, the hardened mud and fallen seedlings still required a lot of manpower to turn over.

Shu stood on the edge of the field, holding a thick ledger in his hands. His fingertips lightly traced the wrinkled pages soaked in water, and his brows furrowed slightly.

"Seventeen plows were damaged, more than thirty hoes were broken, and most of the sickles were missing..." She closed the booklet and looked up at Nian standing beside her. "A whole new batch needs to be made."

Nian was squatting by the field, idly drawing circles in the mud with her red-hot fingertips. Hearing this, she pouted, "That's it? You want me, a dignified craftsman from Yanlong, to forge hoes?" She tossed her fiery red ponytail, looking unwilling, "Sister Shu, this is a waste of your talent! I just finished developing the blueprints for my new masterpiece last month, and I haven't even—"

Shu smiled slightly, took out a small cloth bag from his sleeve, and untied the rope. Inside lay a piece of blood-red ore, which gleamed like lava in the sunlight.

"The Red Flame Iron mined from the bottom of the volcano was originally intended for you after the autumn harvest."

Nian's eyes lit up instantly, and he rushed forward. "Give it to me!"

With a flick of his wrist, the ore disappeared back into his sleeve. "Get to work."

"..." Nian glared at her with puffed-out cheeks, then slumped his shoulders in frustration after a long while, "Fine, fine! But I want compensation!"

Shu raised an eyebrow. "What compensation?"

Suddenly, Nian grinned, a sly glint in his red eyes. "I want Little Su to be my assistant for three days!"

When Su Rui was dragged into the makeshift blacksmith's shed by Nian, the heat wave that hit him made his scales stand on end.

"Sister Nian..." he stammered, looking at the tools scattered all over the floor, "I really don't know how to forge iron!"

"Who told you to forge iron?" Nian chuckled and shoved a large iron hammer into his hand. "You're in charge of handing me materials, operating the bellows, and—" she suddenly leaned closer, her nose almost touching Su Rui's earlobe, "... wiping my sweat."

Su Rui's ear tips instantly turned bright red, almost bleeding.

Xi's voice suddenly came from outside the shed. "If you dare to mess around, I'll freeze your stove into a block of ice."

Nian stuck out her tongue and turned to light the stove. As she pressed her palm into the firebox, the ordinary charcoal fire suddenly burst into a three-foot-high golden-red flame, and the heat wave forced Su Rui to take two steps back.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid!" Nian grabbed his wrist and pulled him to the bellows. "Let's do twenty warm-up pulls first!"

What followed was nothing short of a disaster. Su Rui frantically pulled on the bellows, sparks flying from the furnace opening; Nian swung his hammer, humming a tune, each strike sending scorching iron filings flying everywhere.

The scariest thing was that she would always "accidentally" brush the red-hot iron towards Su Rui when she turned around, which would frighten the scales on the boy's tail so much that they would stand up.

"Sister Nian! That piece of iron is about to fall!"

"Oh, here it is, here it is--"

"Hot! Hot! Hot!"

Ling, who was watching from outside the shed, silently moved half a step closer to Xi: "Nian is being a bit naughty... Is she doing it on purpose?"

Ice crystals had formed on Xi's fingernails, as if she wanted to give Nian a good beating. "It's obvious."

When Su Rui got his cuff burned by the sparks for the third time, Nian finally had a change of heart (or perhaps he was afraid that Xi would really freeze her stove) and handed him a strange, bluish-gray metal.

"Here, try shaping it with your wind blades."

Su Rui took it blankly. "Huh?"

"Didn't you learn Ink Transformation from Xi?" Nian tapped the cutting board with his pliers. "Pour spiritual energy into it, and imagine it's a scythe."

Su Rui hesitated before grasping the metal block, closing her eyes to recall the penmanship techniques Xi had taught her.

A gentle breeze rose from his palm, swirling slowly around the metal. Surprisingly, the hard metal began to soften like dough, gradually stretching into an arc shape with the airflow.

"Yes! Keep it up!" Nian patted him on the back excitedly, "Pour in some more spiritual energy!"

"But I don't know how--"

Just think of me!

Su Rui inexplicably recalled the face reddened by the furnace fire years ago. Suddenly, her palm felt warm, and a trace of golden-red was indeed mixed into the originally bluish-white wind blade, and the metal surface immediately shone with a quenching-like blue light.

The onlooker, somewhat surprised, put down his glass. "This technique... Little Su is really a bit unconventional."

Xi's icy fingernails shattered with a "crack." Why was it Nian and Su Rui who achieved this resonance? She was clearly the one who knew Su Rui the first.

When the last bit of spiritual energy was exhausted, what lay in Su Rui's palm was a gleaming, curved scythe. The blade was as thin as a cicada's wing, and the edge was adorned with patterns of wind and fire. Several dragon-scale-like protrusions remained on the handle.

"Beautiful!" Nian snatched the sickle and casually slashed it at the wooden stake. Before the blade even touched the surface, the stake split in two with a "whoosh," the cross-section as smooth as a mirror.

Shu appeared at the doorway without anyone noticing, her fingertips tracing the blade. "Windfire Tempering, it's three times sharper than ordinary iron." She looked at Nian meaningfully, "You planned this all along?"

Nian proudly hugged the still-dazed Su Rui: "Of course! My Little Su is a genius~"

Xi's voice drifted over softly. "... My teaching achievements."

But is such a sharp sickle really necessary? It's a farm tool, not a weapon.

Su Rui looked at Nian and Shu with some confusion.

Three days later, at dusk, Nian finally handed over the last farm tool—a steel shovel engraved with flame patterns. When Shu inspected it, the piece of Red Flame Iron had already appeared in Nian's toolbox without anyone noticing.

"Satisfied now?" Su Rui slumped onto the haystack, his arms still covered in coal dust. The past three days of forging had given him a completely new understanding of spiritual power manipulation, but he was also genuinely exhausted.

Suddenly, Nian leaned in, her nose almost touching his. "Not enough?"

"Huh?"

"You said you'd be my assistant for three days, but you didn't say it would just be work~" A small flame ignited at Nian's fingertips. "Come to my room tonight, I'll teach you some more fun games..."

"Nian!" Xi's roar came with the sound of ice spikes piercing the air.

Nian laughed loudly and jumped away, her red hair like a leaping flame in the setting sun. "Just kidding! But Little Su— " She ran backwards, her voice drifting on the evening breeze, "I'll come to you again for the forging next time!"

As Su Rui watched her departing figure, he suddenly noticed something in his hand—a miniature sickle pendant, the result of his first forging attempt. Two small characters were crookedly engraved on the hilt:

[Windflame]

Shu's voice came from behind. "That Nian guy, he's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve."

Xi had somehow appeared on the other side, her tail quietly wrapping around Su Rui's wrist. "... Are you tired?"

Ling leaned against the door frame, puffing out smoke that transformed into a dragon shape intertwined with wind and fire.

In the distant farmland, newly made farm tools had already begun to turn over the hardened soil. Su Rui stroked the sickle pendant and suddenly felt that the backache and pain of the past few days had been worth it.

Volume 9, Chapter 580: The things from last year are useless.