No Grain in the Mountains
The Horse-Faced Jufu twitched a few times in the air, then suddenly tilted its head to the side, and its whole body relaxed.
He had already fainted.
The Jufu family is naturally gifted at jumping.
Before awakening its innate supernatural abilities, this Jufu often relied on its exceptional jumping and charging abilities to defeat its own kind and obtain more food and females.
Even after gaining supernatural powers, he still couldn't change his habits.
Chu Tianshu was unaware of his past, but the cyan internal energy had already surged into Jufu's body, allowing him to sense Jufu's physical structure.
This body type is clearly very good at jumping and throwing.
However, there is no special energy such as internal force or Mind Power within his body.
How he so easily manipulated the earth and rocks is a bit of a mystery.
After roughly figuring out the body's structure, Chu Tianshu threw him to the ground and flicked his finger.
A silver needle was inserted into the center of his skull, slightly in front of him.
He won't wake up as long as the needles aren't removed.
Lu Touqiu had already arrived by this time.
Upon seeing the corpses on the main road north of the village, the clan chief's throat tightened, and his words came out in a hoarse voice.
"What's going on? Why is this horse-faced monkey chasing you?!"
Lu Touqiu grabbed a villager who had returned from a long escape.
That was one of his cousins, usually a very shrewd person who liked to show off his strength, but now he was covered in cold sweat.
"We went into the mountains to trade with the old men for grain, and we encountered this monkey causing trouble. It swung its knife and chopped off our hearts to eat them."
"We lent a hand to the people in the village, Second Uncle Jiao even shot and wounded the monkey, making it run away in a panic."
"Who knew that when we came out of the mountain, this monkey suddenly jumped out from a large patch of withered grass by the roadside and chopped Second Uncle Jiao up with a single stroke."
My nephew was in tears.
Lu Touqiu's lips trembled slightly.
The Second Son of the Jiao Family was the best archer in the village. With a powerful bow, he could hit the target from three hundred paces away.
Lu Touqiu and he had been friends for decades, and yet he was chopped up by the monkey!
Yes, Horse-Faced Jufu is known for his vengeful nature; his own clan members often fight amongst themselves, refusing to back down.
Therefore, although there are many members in the tribe, those who can stay together for a long time, or even share the cave, generally do not exceed ten.
Many of the Horse-Faced Jufu were solitary figures.
The Second Son of the Jiao Family got involved and even shot an arrow, so naturally they were resented.
My nephew was still talking. "We shouldn't have gone into these mountains. We didn't even get much food, and so many lives were lost for nothing..."
Lu Touqiu's somewhat unfocused gaze suddenly sharpened.
"You didn't get any grain?"
His eyes were like sharp knives, and his voice was heavy, "It wasn't lost on the road; it's that we didn't get enough food when we were in the mountains from the start?"
Most parts of the Thin Night Continent haven't had a proper rain for several months.
The fields in Deer Wilderness Village, for example, were not particularly fertile land near a water source.
Reduced production next year, or even total crop failure in some areas, is almost a certainty.
If we don't plan ahead, a famine will ensue once everyone's food reserves are exhausted.
Therefore, as early as last month, Lu Touqiu had already started encouraging people to "go into the mountains to carry grain" based on the experience passed down from their ancestors.
Hundreds of Hundred Li to the north, in the mountains and forests, there is a crop called "Ninefold Root".
The part of it that is exposed above the ground resembles a short bamboo, but its underground roots are enormous and divided into nine veins.
Even if eight of its veins are dug out, leaving only one root, it will still thrive and grow back to its full glory of nine veins the following year.
Although the Ninefold Root is not as easy to digest as the rice that the People of Deer Wilderness are used to growing, it is still a good food that can help them survive a famine.
The Green Grain Elders, is most skilled at cultivating Ninefold Root.
This race, regardless of gender, has thick hair and beards, except that women have less mustache than men.
Similarly, regardless of gender, they all enjoy cutting cloth to make clothes, braiding strips of cloth to style themselves, but they are not good at weaving.
Every household in Deer Wilderness Village gathered up their cloth and even old clothes, bundling them up.
They handed it over to the most capable young men selected from the village, who carried it into the mountains.
If all goes well, they will be able to exchange a large number of Ninefold Root from Green Grain Elders's various mountain strongholds and carefully store them in the cellar.
That would be the life-saving food to help us survive the famine.
If these people managed to exchange their loot for grain, even if they abandoned it along the way while trying to escape, they could easily search for it and retrieve it.
The news from his cousin made Lu Touqiu feel even more powerless after witnessing the villagers' gruesome deaths.
"The old men wearing hats made of withered bamboo leaves said that there had been several earthquakes in the deep mountains this year, which affected their harvest."
"The rhizomes of the Ninefold Root roots are quite thin and weak, far less large and robust than in previous years; some of the rhizomes are even hollow inside."
The nephew cried and complained, "We were unwilling to give up, and after much pleading and persuasion, and with Second Uncle Jiao's help in driving away the monkeys, we finally got them to relent."
"But in the end, the amount of grain received in exchange was still 70% less than expected."
Lu Touqiu loosened his grip, letting his nephew collapse to the ground.
When the legendary divine child appeared before him, the old patriarch did not Shangdu panic.
But with these things piling up, he finally couldn't hold on any longer and stood there, stunned and at a loss.
"If it's 30%, then let's find that 30% first."
Chu Tianshu spoke, and at the same time, he bent the middle and ring fingers of his right hand while straightening the other two fingers, forming a hand seal.
Then it transforms into a peacock spreading its tail feathers, with the index finger and thumb pinched together and the other three fingers spread open.
Finally, it transformed into a sword technique, with a raised hand and a sweeping motion.
These three hand gestures represent, firstly, submission; secondly, exoneration; and thirdly, guidance.
The surrounding air currents and the panic and confusion in people's hearts seemed to be gathered and settled by the first imprint.
The second seal caused the air to expand, which was then transformed into a cool breeze by the third seal, sweeping over everyone around.
Call!!
This cool breeze covered an area of several dozen meters and lasted for a good five or six seconds.
The wind felt refreshing and calming, instantly bringing a sense of peace to people's hearts.
Chu Tianshu's Vertical and Horizontal Seal Art has now reached the point where it can take effect instantly without explicitly uttering the incantation.
Lu Touqiu, glanced hesitantly at Chu Tianshu, not understanding the divine child's intentions, but still gave the order.
"Let's go! Everyone here, follow me and retrieve the grain."
Chu Tianshu then said, "I'll go with you on this trip too, so we don't run into any more monkeys."
Chu Tianshu had never experienced hunger since childhood, but his grandfather had told him several stories about the great famine that had occurred when he was young.
Although he focused on the famine era, he went out to help people exorcise demons and cure evil diseases.
However, the words themselves revealed the cruelty and hardship of the famine era.
It was keenly observed by Chu Tianshu, who had been able to communicate with spirits since childhood.
Even after the family became wealthy, they still insisted on not leaving any rice grains at the bottom of the bowl; holding the bowl with their hand while eating was considered disrespectful; and not resting their chopsticks on the empty bowl after finishing their meal, lest it be seen as an omen of squandering their inheritance...
The habits of the older generation, such as these, may seem a little superstitious, but they actually stem from a lingering fear of famine years, whether intentional or unintentional.
I really don't want myself, or anyone around me, to ever experience something like that again.
Chu Tianshu traveled with them this time, and there were no further unexpected events along the way.
They found the grain and the cart.
However, they also brought back quite a few corpses.
Lu Touqiu no longer bothered to conceal his methods.
He took out dried grass leaves and applied them to the horrific wounds, silently chanting incantations.
The grass blades seemed to grow on the skin, and although the blood still shone red from the inside, it no longer flowed out as turbulently.
The villagers' bodies were all transported back intact.
As Chu Tianshu repeatedly pulled out blades of grass from his pocket, he also noticed that the ends of some of the dry grass were still connected to strings of woven grass sparrows and woven grass dragons.
A sparrow is no bigger than a thumb, and a dragon is no longer than an index finger.
Chu Tianshu smelled the unique scent of the hay and suddenly remembered something.
"Isn't the incense burner at the Deer King Temple filled with straw ash, not incense ash?"
Chu Tianshu asked, "Are you burning these dragons and sparrows in that incense burner too?"
Lu Touqiu sighed, "No, I burned the Immortal Master."
"With the divine child's keen hearing, he probably overheard the village idlers talking about the immortal master."
"There are fragments of records left by our ancestors that mention using straw figures when making offerings to the immortal master."
Lu Touqiu shook the hay in his hand and said, "This skill of mine is a family tradition, and nowadays, there are very few people in the village who can truly master it."
"I created many immortal figures, but I didn't quite understand what to do next, and I felt that each of the immortal figure straw figures lacked the spirit of the original."
Finally, like offering incense, they burned the straw figures one by one.
In many magical philosophies, fire has a pure and sacred aspect.
Burning offerings in formal ceremonies is actually a very common way to express respect.
Lu Touqiu was simply trying his luck.
Chu Tianshu was certain that these methods were indeed somewhat effective.
If Chu Tianshu hadn't intervened to stabilize the soul, Great Immortal Master Yao's soul would probably have been trapped in the Spirit Realm.
"But then again, they didn't make a straw doll in front of me, so how did they summon me down?"
This time, Chu Tianshu inquired about the details of worshipping the immortal master.
Lu Touqiu made no attempt to conceal or embellish, and honestly recounted the whole story.
Chu Tianshu listened thoughtfully.
Lu Touqiu tried hard to control himself, not even glancing at Chu Tianshu out of the corner of his eye, but some thoughts were secretly running through his mind.
"This divine child is indeed very strong, but he seems to have a rather good temper. It's so strange."
"Given such attention to the Immortal Master, and considering his sudden appearance during the ceremony, could it be... that he's not a descendant of the gods, but rather from the Immortal Homeland?"
It is mentioned in the oldest records of the People of Deer Wilderness.
The Immortal Homeland, also known as the Human World.
In this world, many species call themselves humans, all influenced by the messengers from the Immortal Homeland.
Immortal are as terrifying as ghosts and Ghost God. They can kill all the ferocious beasts in the entire mountain and take away all the treasures. They will occupy a mountain alone and not allow outsiders to set foot there.
But there are also Immortal who are willing to teach the ignorant ancestors.
Immortal are far more complex than Ghost God.
There seems to be a rumor that Ghost God and spirits are enemies of the Immortal Homeland because the Immortal provoked the Ghost God first.
They repeatedly disrupted the sacrifices that Ghost God should receive, restrained Ghost God, and even killed Ghost God.
"If he truly is an Immortal, perhaps we can win Immortal favor and help our Zhuangzi survive this year of disaster."
Lu Touqiu began to stir. "Is the divine child interested in the ritual of worshipping the immortal master?"
"I can rally the whole village to do it again."
Chu Tianshu looked up at the crowd and said, "So many villagers have just died. The news is devastating, and people are filled with fear. Can the villagers still have the will to unite and complete the ceremony?"
Lu Touqiu gazes at the vast land and looks up at the sky.
The sun continued to shine cruelly on the earth.
The distant Deer Wilderness Village looked as small as a withered, curled-up hand.
Yes, it will.
Lu Touqiu said, "No one understands better than us grain farmers how much grain we need to eat in a year to survive."
"Once the carts return, every household will realize that there's far from enough food to eat, unless there are a few good rains to help the crops grow."
"Everyone knows that at times like this, there's nothing else that can be done but pray for rain."
Chu Tianshu nodded slightly, his gaze fixed on the distance.
The houses in Deer Wilderness Village, though large, look as small as a fist from this distance.
A solid, tightly clenched fist evoked both feelings of unfamiliarity and warmth within him.
He had never seen such a village in such an open field before, so it was naturally unfamiliar to him.
But he had always loved the feeling of clenching his fist as a human being; it felt incredibly comforting.
(End of this chapter)