New Life!

Cloudmist Mountain, Lingjiang Temple.

After a bout of emotional reflection, Wang Congyun prepared to take his leave once more, but the moment he turned, his sleeve was caught by the tail of a horsetail whisk, leaving him with no choice but to bite the bullet and turn back.

"Master...?"

"Congyun," Dong Daozi guided him patiently, "you carry our Daoist Sect's heritage and possess the ability to slay low-tier anomalies. Your master asks you this: when you went down the mountain this time, did you truly kill any anomalies? Did you experience the tempering of the Dao heart on the razor's edge of life and death? And did you rescue any innocents in the panic?"

Wang Congyun's heart gave a violent jolt.

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

Could Master know he used tongue-tip blood to kill anomalies? Or that he rescued Qin Niangzi and hid her in a safe place?

Impossible!

He had been sufficiently covert throughout, avoiding human habitation all the way, and even Big Household Zhou and Jiang Tu did not know the location of the hideout; Master had no way of knowing.

Yet what if he did?

What an old fox! This was bloody probing right to his face! He could not fall for his trap!

A look of confusion appeared on his face as he scratched his head. "Why does Master ask this? Your disciple was indeed frightened out of his wits at the time and killed a few anomalies in the panic, but as for the Dao heart... your disciple is dim-witted and truly cannot feel anything of the sort!"

"In such chaotic circumstances back then, your disciple was fleeing in blind terror and utter fright even just to save himself, so how could I have the spare energy to rescue other innocents? It is too shameful to speak of... when I first entered the Daoist Sect, your disciple was single-minded in upholding justice, taking the salvation of the common people and the expulsion of evil spirits as my bounden duty, yet when catastrophe struck, your disciple only looked out for his own escape and disregarded the lives of others..."

As he spoke to the end, he seemed filled to the brim with guilt and shame, his voice choking up until he covered his face and wept.

"Sob, sob... Your disciple has failed Master's teachings and let down the Daoist Sect's cultivation..."

Dong Daozi patted his shoulder, his tone comforting. "In the crunch of life and death, everyone holds a desire for survival. You need not blame yourself; returning alive is already a fortunate blessing."

At that moment, the look in his eyes visibly relaxed.

A moment later.

Wang Congyun's emotions settled slightly, and wiping away his tears, he prepared to withdraw once again, only for his sleeve to be caught once more.

Wang Congyun: "..."

Damn it! The old bastard didn't used to talk this much either! All he did was talk more and more now! Why was he pouring it all out in a continuous stream today like he had opened the floodgates?

If he stayed any longer, he really wouldn't be able to keep up his act!

He forced down the internal cursing and turned to ask respectfully, "Master, do you have any other matters to instruct your disciple in?"

Dong Daozi patiently patted the back of Wang Congyun's hand. "Congyun, you have just returned, so I am afraid you do not yet know about the matter of the Dajiang County forbidden zone, do you?"

Wang Congyun started in surprise. "Dajiang County forbidden zone? Your disciple only knows that place has already become a restricted area, filled with anomaly qi and forbidding to the living."

"That was all last year's affair," Dong Daozi shook his head slightly. "The forbidden zone of Dajiang County today no longer resembles its former bizarre state, but rather... has given birth to a new life!"

"New life?"

"That's right." Dong Daozi's gaze grew profound and meaningful. "At the beginning of this spring, when our sect's Daoists were exterminating anomalies in the forbidden zone, they accidentally discovered that the anomaly qi in many areas of Dajiang County had dissipated on its own, with old trees sprouting new shoots, countless new crops growing from the ground, and lush vegetation everywhere."

"What?!" Wang Congyun's pupils constricted. "The anomaly qi dissipated? This... Your disciple has never heard of anomaly qi being able to dissipate!"

"It is not just you; in a century of practicing the Dao, your master has never witnessed such an astonishingly bizarre event either!" Dong Daozi said slowly. "This is an unprecedented occurrence in history. Your master personally went to Dajiang County to investigate, and it is indeed true! The anomaly qi that once troubled our Daoist Sect for tens of thousands of years and was as difficult to eradicate as attached bone-rot has actually shown signs of dissipating for the very first time."

Wang Congyun's brain buzzed with a ringing sound, taking a long time to digest this news.

He had profound personal experience of how tenacious anomaly qi was.

On that night in Dajiang County, he had seen with his own eyes the land eroded by anomaly qi, black as charred wood and barren of all vegetation... According to conventional principles, those lands could never possibly recover! Large swaths of fallen forbidden zones across other prefectures and lands had all come about in this exact manner!

Yet now the situation had undergone a massive change!

"I have basically confirmed... Wherever the 'farmers' who awakened their wisdom suffered heavy casualties, their flesh and blood surged into the earth to bring about this kind of new life."

"Therefore, your master intends to dispatch a large number of inner and outer sect disciples to the Dajiang County forbidden zone to investigate the details in the near future. On the one hand, to seek the possibility of the Agricultural Path Cultivators' regeneration, and on the other hand, to seize the opportunity to find the ability to recover lost territory... Rest and adjust yourself for a few days before heading down the mountain once again! For this trial, short of a decade or two or as long as thirty to fifty years, upon your return, your master shall personally bestow the Dao upon you!"

Wang Congyun remained silent for a long time... The flesh and blood of Agricultural Path Cultivators could make anomaly qi dissipate and nourish the earth to be reborn.

This was simply too fantastical!

"Understood, your disciple is willing to continue heading down the mountain for trial." He backed out step by step, exhaling a long breath of turbid air only after stepping out of the room.

Just as well, he did not want to stay on this mountain for even a single second longer, and a second trial down the mountain was actually a blessing in disguise.

Recalling that brief moment of masterly benevolence and filial devotion just moments before, a lingering fear gripped him once more; if not for Jiang Tu pointing the way and clearing his doubts, he likely would have already been silenced by his master, and his fate might not have ended up any better than the "farmers" of Dajiang County.

Brother Jiang, this life-saving grace—I, Wang Congyun, have firmly noted it down!

However, what exactly would the new life of Dajiang County bring? Why would the Daoist Sect attach such great importance to this matter? Was what Master called seeking the possibility of the Agricultural Path Cultivators' regeneration truly for recovering lost territory, or did it harbor other motives?

He did not know.

Yet he could already faintly guess that the new life of the forbidden zone would bring terrifying, earth-shaking changes to the Daoist Sect landscape of Jiang Prefecture!

Over the coming thousand years, the shifting vicissitudes of the mortal world would likely far surpass the past ten thousand years of history!

Jiang Prefecture was currently undergoing an unprecedented great upheaval through the ages!

The southern bank of the Spirit River, Xiaopei County.

Jiang Family Courtyard, underground farmland.

Jiang Tu squatted by the ridge, his fingers gently brushing the leaves of a new sprout with a satisfied smile on his face.

Since the end of last year, another premium-quality crop had been added to the underground farmland, bringing the total to eight complete premium crops, while the small patch of seedlings growing beside them also looked neat and verdant, a comforting sight to behold.

After six years of exploration, he had basically confirmed a pattern: when cultivating premium-quality crops, his cultivation progress was much faster than when planting ordinary crops, and each time a new premium crop was successfully cultivated, he steadily gained around 10 points of cultivation enhancement.

It was not much, but its strength lay in its stability.

In contrast, the cultivation feedback brought to him by the birth of new cultivators in the real world was becoming less and less.

The awakening of a ninth-grade farmer only fed back two or three points of cultivation, unlike the early stage of evolution where it readily reached a dozen or so points... It seemed that unless he personally stepped out to spread enlightenment, or more eighth-grade and above cultivators were born in the world, it would be difficult for his cultivation to achieve a sudden and rapid breakthrough.

Name: Jiang Tu

Lifespan: 33/89

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

Remaining Evolution Duration: 7 years and 6 months

Mhm, the small milestone of ten years of evolution duration was very close, and a third evolution would soon be upon him!

He nodded in satisfaction, then looked toward the sequence panel again—

Total Cultivators in This Sequence: 4

Sequence Influence Level: lv0.3

Triggered Events

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

(New) Outer Sect Disciple of the Daoist Sect, Ninth-Grade Farmer Li Xiaobing, successfully advanced to Eighth-Grade Field Steward (Karma Value +80)

(New) Li Xiaobing selected as an inner sect disciple of the Daoist Sect and carefully cultivated by the sect (Karma Value +20)

Harvestable Karma Value: 305

Jiang Tu frowned.

Over these past few months, the Agricultural Path sequence had been unprecedentedly peaceful. No newcomers had been added and no old members had died. Not only had those two surviving farmers of the Daoist Sect survived against the norm, but they had actually received the "careful cultivation" of the Daoist Sect.

In the past, the farmers who entered the Daoist Sect died quickly and cleanly without a moment's hesitation, and the first wave of the deceased had probably already been reincarnated and born anew.

Now... how did they suddenly change their tune?

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

There had to be a connection between these two changes!

Yet what kind of rebirth could it possibly be?

He made inquiries in various quarters, and the common farmers in the streets and alleys would occasionally mention Dajiang County over their tea and meals, but no matter how they spoke, it was always with exclamations like "it's completely over," "too tragic," and "thank goodness we weren't over there."

As for any news regarding a "rebirth," there was not a whisper of a rumor, indicating that it had been heavily sealed off by the Daoist Sect.

To be able to make the Daoist Sect alter its normal demeanor from a murdering fiend to providing careful cultivation... the weight of this matter was definitely not light.

He could not figure it out for the time being, but he had a premonition that before long, the answer would float to the surface on its own.

Regardless, the fact that the total number of sequence cultivators had stopped falling was a good thing, and the survival of those two Daoist Sect farmers was also a good thing, echoing the two bright and dark branches of the agricultural path formed alongside Qin Niangzi and her son from afar.

As for whatever schemes the Daoist Sect harbored behind the scenes, he could not manage that much for now; he would just live out the days right before him first!

Splash!

Jiang Tu bent over and poured a ladle of water over the newly added premium crop. The new seedling swayed, as if it too had experienced a rebirth.