The Divine Rope

Meanwhile, as all hell broke loose in Chengcheng County...

The construction of Gao Family Village's gate had run into a problem.

The problem lay with the ropes.

The wall Li Daoxuan had casually built out of Lego bricks was tall, massive, and broad. Although he had deliberately left a somewhat smaller opening for the gate, it was still two zhang high and two zhang wide.

A gate that size required quite a lot of tree trunks lashed together.

But the straw ropes the villagers brought out fell short in both quality and quantity.

They had few straw ropes to begin with, and the villagers had twisted them by hand using crude techniques. They barely sufficed for tying together table legs, bed legs, plows, pitchfork handles, and the like, but using them to lash together tree trunks as thick as a man's arm was another matter...

"Oh no, the rope here snapped again!"

"Village chief, the rope you brought crumbled with just a gentle tug."

"Who can tie those two posts over there together? They're about to fall!"

The villagers scrambled about in utter chaos.

Watching from outside, Li Daoxuan saw the little people bustle about for over two hours, only for two straw ropes to snap and the entire row of bound tree trunks to fall apart. The poor little people had to start all over again.

What could I use to help them?

His gaze swept over the clutter in his home, then suddenly landed on the fishing tackle bag gathering dust in a corner. A light bulb clicked on above his head.

Fishing line!

He still clearly remembered studying the specifications of various fishing lines for quite some time when he first bought them. One kind, size 0.4 fishing line, had a diameter of only 0.104 millimeters.

Even if it became two hundred times thicker inside the box, its diameter would only be two centimeters. Compared with the villagers' straw ropes, the difference was heaven and earth.

"Gao Yiye! Gao Yiye!"

Gao Yiye, who was frantically twisting straw rope, heard the Heavenly Deity's call and quickly raised her head, her face taking on a respectful, devout expression. Her little face was rather pretty. "Heavenly Deity, what are your instructions?"

"Take this rope and have everyone use it to lash the gate together."

Li Daoxuan snipped off a length of size 0.4 fishing line and slowly lowered it.

Gao Yiye hurriedly called to the villagers. They all looked up and saw a transparent rope slowly descending from the sky. It was only a finger thick and looked very much like a large cooked starch noodle...

Everyone exchanged bewildered looks. "What... what kind of strange rope is this?"

Gao Yiye said, "The Heavenly Deity wants everyone to use this to bind the timber and lash the gate together."

"Huh?" everyone exclaimed.

Their hearts were full of doubts, but no one dared voice them.

Only after that giant starch noodle landed on the ground and they touched it themselves did delight appear on their faces. "This transparent rope is so strong!"

"Much stronger than the straw ropes we twist."

"It may only be a finger thick, but it's stronger than straw rope as thick as an arm."

"Quick, bring a knife! Cut off a length and try binding some timber with it."

The villagers brought over a knife to cut the line, but the fishing line was extremely tough. Cutting through it with their dull knife took considerable effort. By the time they finally cut off a length, their foreheads were drenched in sweat.

Still, the harder it was to cut, the stronger it had to be. The villagers happily cut off several more lengths and bound two pieces of timber together. Then several men split into two groups and pulled hard from opposite sides, trying to snap it. Yet no matter how much force they used, the fishing line held without the slightest strain.

"Sure enough, this stuff is much stronger than straw rope."

"A divine rope!"

"Could this be the Immortal-Binding Rope used by immortals?"

Someone said that offhandedly, and everyone beside him instantly turned ashen. "Oh no, we cut the Immortal-Binding Rope... are we in terrible trouble?"

Gao Yiye burst out laughing. "Look at you spineless lot! The Heavenly Deity said this isn't the Immortal-Binding Rope. It's just his toy. You can use it however you like. It's fine-he has plenty more."

Hearing this, the villagers became even more awestruck. If even the string an immortal used as a toy was this powerful, how incredible must the Immortal-Binding Rope be?

At that thought, some villagers began dropping to their knees again.

Li Daoxuan scolded them irritably. "Stop kneeling, kneeling, kneeling all day long! Spend more time doing something useful."

Imitating his tone, Gao Yiye laughingly scolded the villagers. They sheepishly got back up, scratched the backs of their heads, and joined in making the gate.

With good rope, everyone worked much faster. In no time, they had lashed a row of tree trunks together into something resembling a wooden raft. Standing it upright turned it into a gate panel two zhang high and one zhang wide. They only needed to make two such panels to form a gate that could open and close.

Just then, the villager keeping watch atop the gate opening shouted, "Ah, Gao Chuwu and the others are back! Huh? They've brought outsiders with them."

The villagers put down their work and gathered by the gate opening to watch.

Li Daoxuan, meanwhile, looked straight toward the edge of the Scenery Box...

Soon, Gao Chuwu was the first to run into the Scenery Box. Behind him came a man dressed as a household servant, followed by a plump, fair-skinned middle-aged woman holding the hand of a girl around ten years old. Someone dressed as a maid guarded the girl's side, and behind them were three young men from the village.

The party of eight ran toward Gao Family Village, their faces alarmed and their appearance thoroughly bedraggled.

When Gao Chuwu's group left Gao Family Village early that morning, Li Daoxuan had not yet placed the wall built from Lego bricks into the box, so none of them knew the village now had a wall. From far away, they saw Gao Family Village enclosed by a strange, enormous, multicolored wall and panicked, unsure what had happened back home.

Fortunately, the "sentry" above the gate opening waved to Gao Chuwu's party. "Chu Wu! Chu Wu! You're back?"

Only when Gao Chuwu saw a familiar villager did he relax. Still running, he shouted, "What happened in the village? Why is there suddenly a strange wall?"

The sentry scolded him with a laugh. "What do you mean, a strange wall? This is a gift from the Heavenly Deity! If you dare call it strange, the Heavenly Deity won't give you anything to eat. Then we'll see whether you cry!"

Hearing that, Gao Chuwu's face darkened with fright. He hurriedly shouted at the sky, "Heavenly Deity, I was wrong! I'm a brainless fool, and my words are just farts. Please don't take them to heart!"

Li Daoxuan would never get angry over such a trivial matter. He just kept chuckling.

Gao Chuwu's party raced through the opening in the wall, which still had no gate, and entered the village. The four newcomers, three women and one man, were all rather timid, their eyes cautiously scanning the people around them.

Finally, their gazes settled on the enormous wall and the strange transparent rope, and they could not look away. But as new arrivals, they did not dare ask questions casually and could only keep their doubts to themselves.

Gao Chuwu found Gao Yiye in the crowd, ran over to her, and said hurriedly, "Yiye, tell the Heavenly Deity that those four are Secretary San Shier's wife, daughter, household servant, and maid. He's gone to find a blacksmith for the Heavenly Deity, so please ask the Heavenly Deity to look after his family."