A golden merit seal settled Longwind's fate; the demon calamity of a troubled age began to reveal itself

The rear hall of the Anping County Yamen.

Late-autumn sunlight streamed through the carved window lattice, casting mottled light and shadow across floor tiles covered in thick animal pelts.

An incense burner smoldered in the hall, its fragrance made from premium calming spices mixed with a little top-grade spirit wood dust. Wisps of blue smoke curled upward, clearing the mind.

Chu Bai sat upright behind a broad rosewood desk, holding a steaming cup of spirit tea.

He was not wearing the crimson official robe that symbolized the authority of his Principal Sixth Rank. Instead, he had changed into a plain, wide-sleeved Daoist robe, his black hair loosely gathered with an ebony pin. He exuded an otherworldly air of returning to unadorned simplicity.

Yet Su Mu, standing below him to report on administrative affairs, scarcely dared breathe.

He knew what terrifying power lay dormant within their county magistrate, who seemed as gentle and polished as jade. It was absolute dominion—the power to drain a county's earth veins with a turn of his hand and make five Foundation-Building Cultivators bow as subjects amid casual conversation.

"Your Majesty, in the half month since the Heavenly Examination concluded, we have essentially completed the resettlement of the fifty thousand refugees from Longwind County."

Su Mu held a thick ledger. Days of relentless work had left his voice slightly hoarse, but his eyes shone with barely concealed fervor and excitement.

"Among these fifty thousand, the elderly, infirm, women, and children have been dispersed among the thirty-six newly built villages outside the city.

"Thanks to the diluted spiritual substance you bestowed, the 'Mystic Origin Breath Soil,' all the wasteland surrounding Anping County has now become spirit fields.

"These refugees are throwing themselves into clearing the land to survive. With the Bloodfang Rice seeds we distributed, we will