The Rebirth!

Cloudmist Mountain, Lingjiang Temple.

After a round of sighing, Wang Congyun prepared to take his leave again. But the moment he turned, the tassel of the whisk wrapped around his sleeve, forcing him to turn back with a stiff scalp.

"Master...?"

"Congyun." Dong Daozi spoke with patient guidance. "You bear the inheritance of our Daoist Sect and possess the ability to slay low-realm aberrations. Let your master ask you this: during this descent from the mountain, did you truly kill any aberrations? Did you experience the tempering of your Dao heart on the razor's edge between life and death? And, amid the chaos, did you save any innocents?"

Wang Congyun's heart leapt into his throat.

What did that mean? Why was Master suddenly asking this?

Did Master know that he had killed aberrations with the blood from his tongue? Or that he had saved Qin Niangzi and hidden her somewhere safe?

Impossible!

He had acted covertly enough. He had avoided populated areas all the way, and even Big Household Zhou and Jiang Tu did not know where she was hidden. Master could not possibly know.

But what if he did?

What an old silver coin! This was a naked, blatant test! He could not fall into the old man's trap!

A baffled expression appeared on his face as he scratched his head. "Why does Master ask this? This disciple was indeed frightened badly at the time. In my panic, I did kill a few aberrations, but as for a Dao heart... this disciple is dull-witted and truly could not feel anything!"

"The scene was so chaotic that this disciple was already panicking and choosing paths at random just to escape alone, terrified beyond measure. How could I have had any strength left to save other innocent people? It truly shames me... When I first entered the Daoist Sect, this disciple had been determined to uphold justice, to take saving the common people and driving out evil spirits as my duty. Yet when great calamity descended, I could only flee for my own life, heedless of others' lives..."

By the end, he seemed so guilty and ashamed that his voice choked up, and he covered his face as he began to sob.

"Wuwu... This disciple has failed Master's teachings and the Daoist Sect's cultivation..."

Dong Daozi patted his shoulder, his tone comforting. "At the threshold of life and death, everyone wishes to survive. You need not blame yourself. Returning alive is already a great blessing."

At that moment, the tension in his eyes visibly eased.

A moment later.

Once Wang Congyun had steadied his emotions, he wiped away his tears and prepared to leave again. Then his sleeve was wrapped up once more.

Wang Congyun: "..."

Damn it! The old bastard had never been this talkative before! He had always been the more talkative one! Why was the old man pouring words out today as if he had opened a chatterbox?

If he stayed any longer, he really would not be able to keep acting!

Suppressing the torrent of curses in his heart, he turned and asked respectfully, "Master, do you have any other instructions for this disciple?"

Dong Daozi patiently patted the back of Wang Congyun's hand. "Congyun, you have only just returned. I fear you still do not know about the Dajiang County Forbidden Zone?"

Wang Congyun froze. "The Dajiang County Forbidden Zone? This disciple only knows that it has become a forbidden area, thick with aberrant aura, where the living must not approach."

"That was last year's matter." Dong Daozi shook his head slightly. "The Dajiang County Forbidden Zone of today no longer bears that strange and sinister appearance. Instead... it has given birth to rebirth!"

"Rebirth?"

"That is right." Dong Daozi's gaze was distant, his meaning profound. "At the start of spring this year, while Daoists from our sect were exterminating aberrations in the forbidden zone, they discovered by chance that the aberrant aura across many parts of Dajiang County had dispersed on its own. Old trees sent forth new shoots, many new crops sprouted from the earth, and grass and trees grew lush and green."

"What?!" Wang Congyun's pupils contracted. "The aberrant aura dispersed? This... this disciple has never heard of aberrant aura being able to dissipate!"

"It is not only you. This master has cultivated the Dao for a hundred years and has never seen such an aggressive, bizarre thing!" Dong Daozi said slowly. "This is unprecedented. This master personally went to Dajiang County to investigate, and it is indeed true! That aberrant aura which has troubled us Daoist Sects for ten thousand years, impossible to eradicate and clinging like a disease in the bones, has actually shown signs of dispersing for the first time."

Wang Congyun's mind buzzed for a long while before he finally digested the news.

He understood all too well how difficult aberrant aura was to deal with.

That night in Dajiang County, he had seen land eroded by aberrant aura with his own eyes. It was black as charred coal, not a blade of grass growing upon it... Under normal circumstances, such land could never recover! Vast tracts of land in other prefectures had fallen into forbidden zones in exactly this way!

But now, the situation had changed greatly!

"This Daoist has basically confirmed... Wherever the awakened Farmer suffered grievous casualties, it was their flesh and blood flowing into the earth that brought about such rebirth."

"Therefore, in the near future, this master will dispatch a large number of inner and outer sect disciples to the Dajiang County Forbidden Zone to investigate the details. First, to seek the possibility of Agricultural Path Cultivators being reborn; second, to look for an opportunity to reclaim lost land... Rest for several days, then descend the mountain once more! This trial will last as little as ten-odd years, or as long as thirty to fifty years. When you return, this master will personally transmit the Dao to you!"

Wang Congyun said nothing for a long time... The flesh and blood of Agricultural Path Cultivators could disperse aberrant aura and nourish the earth into rebirth.

That was far too inconceivable!

"Yes, this disciple is willing to continue cultivating through experience down the mountain." He backed out step by step, only releasing a long breath of stale air after leaving the room.

Perfect. He did not want to remain on this mountain for another damned moment. A second descent for cultivation through experience was actually a good thing.

Thinking back to that brief display of a loving master and filial disciple just now, lingering fear rose in him again. If Jiang Tu had not shown him the way through the fog, Master might well have silenced him already. His fate might not have been any better than that of the Farmers in Dajiang County.

Brother Jiang, I, Wang Congyun, will remember this life-saving favor!

But what exactly would Dajiang County's rebirth bring? Why did the Daoist Sect place such importance on it? When Master spoke of seeking the possibility of Agricultural Path Cultivators being reborn, was it truly to reclaim lost land, or did he have other designs?

He did not know.

But he could already vaguely guess that the rebirth of the forbidden zone would bring a terrifying upheaval to the Daoist Sect's power structure in Jiang Prefecture!

Over the next thousand years, the changes in the human world would likely surpass those of the previous ten thousand!

Jiang Prefecture was undergoing a great transformation unseen since ancient times!

Spirit River's southern bank, Xiaopei County.

Jiang Family Courtyard, underground farmland.

Jiang Tu crouched beside a ridge of earth, gently lifting the leaf of a new sprout with his fingers, a satisfied smile on his face.

From the end of last year until now, another Premium Quality crop had been added to the underground farmland. There were now eight complete Premium Quality crops in total. The patch of tiny seedlings beside them had also grown neatly, green and flourishing, a sight that soothed the heart.

After six years of exploration, he had basically confirmed a pattern. When cultivating Premium Quality crops, his cultivation improved much faster than when growing ordinary crops. Every new Premium Quality crop he cultivated reliably granted around 10 points of cultivation improvement.

It was not much, but it was steady.

By comparison, the cultivation feedback he received when new cultivators appeared in the real world had grown less and less.

The awakening of a Ninth Grade Farmer only gave him two or three points of cultivation feedback now, rather than the ten-plus points it had given during the early stages of evolution... It seemed that unless he personally went out to spread enlightenment, or more Eighth Grade and above cultivators appeared in the world, it would be difficult for his cultivation to soar forward in one leap.

"Name: Jiang Tu"

"Remaining Lifespan: 33/89"

"Cultivation: Newly Entering the Dao Path (Agricultural Dao Sequence · Eighth Grade · Field Steward) (742/2000)"

"Remaining Evolution Time: 7 years 6 months"

Mm, he was very close to his small goal of ten years of evolution time. Soon, he could evolve for the third time!

He nodded in satisfaction, then looked toward the Sequence Panel—

"Total Cultivators in This Sequence: 4"

"Influence Level of This Sequence: lv0.3"

"Triggered Events"

"(New) The Rebirth of Dajiang County Forbidden Zone (Causality Value +75)"

"(New) Daoist Sect outer sect disciple Ninth Grade 'Farmer' Li Xiaobing successfully advanced to Eighth Grade 'Field Steward' (Causality Value +80)"

"(New) Li Xiaobing was selected as an inner sect disciple of the Daoist Sect and received the Daoist Sect's meticulous cultivation (Causality Value +20)"

"Harvestable Causality Value: 305"

Jiang Tu frowned.

Over the past few months, the Agricultural Dao Sequence had been unprecedentedly quiet. No newcomers had been added, and no old members had died. The two remaining Farmers of the Daoist Sect had not only survived against all expectations, but had even received the Daoist Sect's "meticulous cultivation."

In the past, Farmers who entered the Daoist Sect died quickly and cleanly, without dragging things out. The first wave of dead was probably already reincarnated and reborn.

Now... why had they suddenly changed their nature?

Jiang Tu pondered for a long time, his gaze settling on the news of the "rebirth of the forbidden zone."

There had to be a connection between these two changes!

But what kind of rebirth was it?

He had made inquiries in many places. Farmers in the marketplace would occasionally mention Dajiang County while resting after meals, but all they said were things like, "It's all over," "Too tragic," and "Good thing we weren't there."

There was not even the faintest whisper about "rebirth." It seemed the Daoist Sect had sealed the news away tightly.

For the Daoist Sect to change from murderous maniacs to offering meticulous cultivation... this matter absolutely could not be trivial.

He could not figure it out for the moment, but he had a feeling that before long, the answer would surface on its own.

No matter what, it was a good thing that the total number of sequence cultivators had stopped declining. It was also a good thing that those two Daoist Sect Farmers had survived, forming two Agricultural Path branches with Qin Niangzi and her son—one in the light, one in the shadows—echoing each other from afar.

As for whatever scheme the Daoist Sect had hidden behind the scenes, he could not concern himself with that much for now. He would first live the days before him well!

Splash!

Jiang Tu bent down and poured another ladle of water over that newly added Premium Quality crop. The young sprout swayed, as though it too had gone through a rebirth.