Grim News of a Mountain Bandit Attack

Just as had been said back then, after a long period of construction and planning, Blue Silver Village had become a village with a character of its own.

Every household had planted Blue Silver Grass around its home, and even the roadsides had not been overlooked.

They felt that the grass was not only beautiful but also a symbol of good fortune, one that could bring them a better life.

With such obvious changes in Blue Silver Village, had no one come to find out what was going on?

Naturally, some had, but after arriving, they had found nothing particularly different.

They had merely thought Blue Silver Grass was unusual and rare. Some had even dug up a little to take home,

hoping to see what other uses the grass might have, but in the end, nothing had come of it.

Thus, Blue Silver Grass became well known in the surrounding area and brought the village some outside income.

As for where the village's Blue Silver Grass seeds came from, Zhang Sheng had provided them, of course.

He had discovered that his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul could actually assimilate the seeds of other grasses, turning them into Blue Silver Grass that would then begin to grow.

Through the grass seeds it had infected, the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul received faith energy after they grew, allowing it to evolve slowly.

When Zhang Sheng learned this, three words sprang unbidden into his mind:

Blue Silver Emperor!

Zhang Sheng was beside himself with excitement. He had never known how to make Blue Silver Grass evolve, yet unexpectedly, it had solved the problem on its own.

As long as enough Blue Silver Grass appeared in this world, it would evolve faster and faster.

But for all his happiness, there was bad news too: there were far too few grass seeds.

It was not that he did not want to provide more. Zhang Sheng's Martial Soul ability was limited, and at present, he could only provide a hundred a day.

When Zhang Sheng learned of this restriction, his enthusiasm immediately waned. With so few, when would Blue Silver Grass ever evolve into the Blue Silver Emperor?

At this point, some might wonder: after these grass seeds grew, would they not produce seeds of their own?

Would that not allow the Blue Silver Grass family to expand rapidly? It was a good idea, but difficult to put into practice. After all, they had been created through infection, assimilation, and mutation by Zhang Sheng's Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul.

They could only pass on a single seed, forming one grass seed to wait until the following year to grow again.

They could not spread quickly, and that was a particular headache for Zhang Sheng.

Since rapid propagation would not work, Zhang Sheng could only resort to the slow, painstaking method. At least there was still hope, was there not?

One day, Uncle Dashan suddenly came to Zhang Sheng's estate, saying he had something to discuss with him.

"Eldest Son of the Zhang Family! The village is running a little low on salt. Should we make some more?"

"I made arrangements for that a long time ago. Uncle Dashan, you can just go straight to Lan Xin."

"Oh! As long as you've got it under control. I'll go find that girl Lan Xin, then."

"All right! I won't see you out, then!"

After Uncle Dashan left, Zhang Sheng went to the rear courtyard and began cultivating.

When Uncle Dashan found Lan Xin, he told her about the salt. Lan Xin had no suspicions.

After all, given Uncle Dashan's relationship with them, she naturally took him to the place where the salt was made.

Seeing the salt ore piled on the ground and the finished salt, Uncle Dashan felt particularly reassured.

Now, with Zhang Sheng's help, Blue Silver Village had grain piled as high as a mountain. Hunger was no longer a concern.

Only salt had needed to be purchased from outside, but that problem had already been solved three years ago, so there was no longer any need to worry about running out of salt to eat.

Uncle Dashan left the Zhang estate happily with the salt. As village chief, he had to keep an eye on the village's condition every day.

After all, unlike before, when the village had only a dozen or so households, it now had over a hundred.

Every household needed salt, so consumption was high.

After bringing the salt back, he put it up for sale in the village shop. The price was fairly low, a benefit for the villagers.

There were limits, however. People could not buy as much as they wanted; each household could only purchase a certain amount.

They were not allowed to buy more or sell it outside the village, or they would be driven out at once.

At first, when they saw how snow-white the salt was, they could hardly believe it.

They even thought such fine salt must be expensive. But when they asked,

they found it was actually cheaper than the inferior salt they had bought before. That delighted them.

Some immediately wanted to buy extra to keep at home, while a few clever ones thought of reselling it elsewhere.

But they soon learned how naive their ideas were. The salt was rationed, and it was a benefit the village provided for everyone.

Since Zhang Sheng had supplied the salt, the person selling it did not forget to win him some goodwill, telling everyone where it had come from while making the sales.

And so Zhang Sheng's name spread through the village once again. Now, everyone in Blue Silver Village held him in great respect.

The reason Zhang Sheng was not afraid of people spreading word about the salt was that he could monitor them through the Blue Silver Grass. At the first sign of anything amiss, he would deal with them immediately.

As for whether anyone had dared to reveal it, at least so far, he had not found anyone.

If word got out later, his strength would be such that he would not fear those people.

Moreover, Zhang Sheng had now bought the whole of Blue Silver Village.

He had done so because he feared there might be trouble later on. In any case, he could easily spare that much money now.

That was also why no one from the authorities had come to investigate. This was his territory now.

One day, someone from the county yamen suddenly arrived with some rather bad news.

"Constable Yu! Is your information accurate?"

"Village Chief Zhang! This is reliable intelligence obtained by our county yamen. Those mountain bandits are coming specifically for your Blue Silver Village. It seems they heard there's some kind of treasure here."

"Absurd! I've lived here for decades. How have I never heard of any treasure? That's utter nonsense!"

"Village Chief Zhang! Don't be angry. The most urgent thing now is to find a way to fend off the mountain bandits' attack."

"Right! Right! Right! Let's get past the bandits first. Constable Yu! How many men did the county yamen send this time?"

"Well..."

"Don't tell me you're here alone! Isn't the county magistrate going to do anything?"

"The magistrate said the county seat also needs men to defend it, so he can't spare anyone. You'll have to organize your own people to fend off the enemy."

When Uncle Dashan heard that there would be no reinforcements and they would have to hold off the mountain bandits themselves, his expression turned grim.

But he could hardly blame Constable Yu. After all, he was only following orders.

"Then, Constable Yu, you came here to..."

"Ah! To tell you the truth, I offended the county magistrate, so I was sent here."

Hearing this, Uncle Dashan gave Constable Yu a sympathetic look, but he still asked:

"When will the mountain bandits arrive?"

"Tomorrow night at the latest!"

"Tomorrow night! I hope there's still time!"

After settling Constable Yu in, Uncle Dashan immediately went to find Zhang Sheng, because he knew that only Zhang Sheng could resolve the matter now.

"Eldest Son of the Zhang Family! Something terrible's happened!"

"Uncle Dashan! Slow down! What happened? Why are you in such a hurry?"

Zhang Sheng saw Uncle Dashan rushing over in a frantic haste, his face full of anxiety. Something serious must have happened.

"The mountain bandits are coming!"

"Mountain bandits? Where would mountain bandits come from around here?"

Seeing the puzzled look on Zhang Sheng's face, Uncle Dashan repeated what Constable Yu had told him.

After hearing Uncle Dashan out, Zhang Sheng immediately understood the hidden scheme.

"What a fine way to kill with a borrowed knife. I never thought that dog official would be so greedy.

"Uncle Dashan! Don't panic. Hurry and gather the village's young and able-bodied men. I'll be over shortly."

"All right! I'll get it done!"

Watching Uncle Dashan leave, Zhang Sheng's eyes began to flash with a cold light. This time, he was genuinely a little angry.

"Fools who don't know life from death. You even dare covet what's mine. You're simply courting death!"