Chapter 228: Days Like a Dream

"Brother Yan, regarding this matter…" Zheng Fa thought for a moment, then still shook his head and said, "I can only offer my apologies."

Yan Wushuang was a decent person; perhaps his ideas were a bit naive, but he could still be called a cultivator with a conscience.

Zheng Fa knew that people like him were probably rare in the Xuanwei Realm.

Especially considering his background — to put it bluntly, this man was a beneficiary of the immortal-sect system.

How many people coveted his identity as the son of the Tianhe Sect's Sect Master.

Regardless of whether his ideas were impulsive, they still earned Zheng Fa's approval, even a measure of respect.

But… revolution isn't a dinner party, is it?

Zheng Fa could only offer every form of support except actual support.

Zheng Fa's blunt refusal made Yan Wushuang's expression dim somewhat.

"Brother Zheng, you don't agree either?"

"Who else doesn't agree?"

"Han Lao."

Zheng Fa nodded lightly. That old man Setting Sun Sword Immortal — don't be fooled by his looking like a cranky old radical; all these years he hadn't done anything either.

Presumably because he knew the difficulties involved.

Looking at Yan Wushuang's wounded expression, Zheng Fa could only shake his head.

In the end, Yan Wushuang's current status and resources all came from his identity — yet the moment he truly did as he said,

all of that would become his obstacle.

He considered that he and the other man shared some convergence of paths despite different approaches.

And Zheng Fa's temperament had always been to consider defeat before victory.

That was why he wanted to wait until he had the Heavenly Stele Realm under control before formally pushing forward the new-law research.

Even Zheng Fa didn't think that mastering the Heavenly Stele Realm meant everything was settled.

He actually had an unspoken conjecture about Han Lao's words — Tianhe Zunzhe also had a Heavenly Stele.

In a sense, he too stood in an almost invincible position.

Han Lao said the Tianhe Sect had betrayed Tianhe Zunzhe — but actually there was quite a difficulty here. Given Tianhe Zunzhe's strength, given the current state in the Xuanwei Realm where all power returns to the self,

the fact that the Tianhe Sect's betrayal could make Tianhe Zunzhe so desperate

probably also had something to do with the Heavenly Stele Realm.

Thinking this, Zheng Fa grew even more secretly wary of the Tianhe Sect, unwilling to underestimate these people.

Seeing him lost in thought, Yan Wushuang's expression grew even more dejected, and he said in a low voice: "Han Lao said, let me come invite you…"

"What?"

"He said, if I want to accomplish anything, my only hope is to invite you along." Yan Wushuang explained, "Otherwise there isn't a shred of hope."

"Why does Setting Sun Sword Immortal value it so much?"

Zheng Fa frowned. In his heart he was also somewhat on guard against Setting Sun Sword Immortal — this man's favor was even more baseless than Xiao Xianzi's.

"He…" Yan Wushuang's expression turned strange. "This matter is Han Lao's secret, I cannot reveal it — especially that word!"

Zheng Fa always felt that Yan Wushuang pronounced that word "say" with special emphasis.

"I can only say… Han Lao bears you no ill will, Brother Zheng. In fact, he regards you as the next Patriarch!"

"Hmm?"

Zheng Fa was startled, only to see Yan Wushuang shaking his head frantically, seemingly unwilling to say more.

"Zheng Fa, have you two come up with a plan for that matter?" Xiao Xianzi's voice sounded behind them.

Zheng Fa knew Xiao Xianzi was referring to the demon race's attack on Jiushan Sect — probably because Yan Wushuang was present, Xiao Xianzi spoke vaguely.

"A plan?" Zheng Fa shook his head. "Meet force with force, flood with earth… Xiao Xianzi, why do you ask…"

Xiao Xianzi tilted her head and said bluntly: "I was thinking, if Jiushan Sect is gone, you could come with me."

"Ah?"

Zheng Fa hadn't expected another person coming to recruit him.

Yan Wushuang suddenly looked at Xiao Xianzi, his face plainly saying — Wait, you're poaching him too?

"Protecting one you, I still have that ability…"

Zheng Fa frowned and said: "Xiao Xianzi, do you think the other side's methods aren't just aimed at the Jiushan Sect's headquarters?"

Xiao Xianzi said: "If Zhang Wuyi were still here, and you were still here, I don't know how those people could sleep at night."

Zheng Fa nodded lightly. He had considered this too, but for the moment could think of no way.

With the help of Lei Chi, they could still have one more slim chance of survival…

……

Heavenly Stele Realm, in Banshan City.

Seeing Xiao Qing walked briskly through the city, gently sniffing, smelling the aromas of dishes drifting from every household.

Fewer people ate fish; everyone had grown used to hard times and couldn't bear to eat it every day.

But the joy around the dinner tables had not diminished.

The adults' chatter, the children's noise, the crackle and pop of burning firewood — all of it made Xiao Qing very happy as she listened.

Quite a few people had gathered before the temple. Knowing Lord Lei Shen liked quiet, they simply set up a few cushions outside the temple.

Every day people came to worship, and those few cushions were never empty.

A few elders also sat around under the eaves, chatting idly.

Xiao Qing went over.

"Xiao Qing's here?" One person chuckled: "Have you eaten?"

"I've eaten!" Xiao Qing nodded lightly.

She was not short of food.

"Good that you've eaten, we've eaten too."

The person replied, and there was actually a hint of pride on their face.

But the other few had the same expression on their faces — as if eating a meal was truly something worth being proud of.

"How many years have I lived? Thirty-four years." The old man went on: "Not a single day has passed as well as these days now."

"All thanks to Lord Lei Shen."

"Right."

Xiao Qing smiled smugly.

"Far fewer people have died these past few months, haven't they?" someone asked.

"Yes, in the past, which household didn't lose someone every year? These past few months… seems like I haven't heard of any family's daughter being taken, any family's elder starving to death, any family's child dying of illness from having no milk to drink."

"The few deaths I know of, aside from those struck by lightning in the river valley, were all from going up the mountain."

"Nothing to be done about it." Someone shook their head. "There's a lot of rain in the mountains, the paths are slippery, who knows when you might just fall off…"

"Who goes up the mountain and doesn't die? If no one dies, where would the mountain mushrooms come from? If you ask me, the days we're living in Half Mountain City are already good enough, like a dream!"

……

"Xiao Qing, go find some people, gather the mountain mushrooms from these jars, see how many there are."

Xiao Qing had just walked into the temple when she heard Lord Lei Shen speak.

"Jars?" Xiao Qing slapped her forehead, remembering these jars that Lord Lei Shen had consecrated.

"Mountain mushrooms? Can mountain mushrooms grow in jars too?"

She curiously carried the jars out from behind the divine statue.

Then she went out and called those few elders over.

A group of people picked the mountain mushrooms out of the jars.

Half Mountain City actually didn't have any particularly accurate system of weights and measures — or rather, no one collected taxes, and there weren't many people doing trade, so this sort of thing was useless and should have slowly been forgotten.

So the tallying of mountain goods was always done by the basket.

The few people busied themselves tallying up the mountain mushrooms in the jars.

Xiao Qing ran over to report:

"Lord Lei Shen, in these jars, the jar with the fewest mountain mushrooms only has one-tenth of a basket."

"The most has two-thirds of a basket!"

"Are the mushrooms in the fullest jar the kind you used to eat?"

"Mm! We eat them all the time!"

Xiao Qing nodded.

Zheng Fa looked at that more-than-half-basket of mountain mushrooms and was a little surprised — the yield was too high!

It even surpassed those highest-yield edible mushroom cultivation bases in the modern era.

But to be honest, Zheng Fa's current conditions were actually very rudimentary.

Probably the only difference was the variety.

The most important thing was still the spiritual Qi environment:

The nursing home had spiritual Qi, and many vegetables already grew tall and strong.

The Heavenly Stele Realm was certainly not lacking in spiritual Qi.

Zheng Fa now understood why an environment like Half Mountain City could support these tens of thousands of people.

Spiritual Qi had brought the Heavenly Stele Realm a harsh environment of thunder and rain.

But on the other hand, it had indeed nurtured the living beings within the realm…

……

"Lord Lei Shen, are you saying… these jars can grow mountain mushrooms on their own?"

Xiao Qing stared blankly at the divine statue, and she actually seemed to not quite believe in Lord Lei Shen anymore.

"They don't grow on their own. You take these wood shavings and grass, come to my temple — mm, after consecration, plant this kind of mountain mushroom in, and you can raise them at home on your own. You don't have to use clay jars either, you just need to be careful — if mushrooms grow that look different, you can't eat them."

Zheng Fa explained.

The preliminary strain selection and culture medium screening were done.

He naturally wanted to promote it in Half Mountain City — or rather, promote it throughout the fief.

Half Mountain City was still more of an experimental base.

After all, although Xiao Qing was young, she was fairly capable.

Once results were produced in Half Mountain City, promoting them to other gathering points would be that much simpler.

"We can eat mountain mushrooms without going up the mountain?"

An old man said dazedly.

The others were dumbfounded.

"And eat our fill!" Someone did the math. "Half a basket per jar, raise a few more, that's enough for all of us to eat!"

"……"

After those people left, Xiao Qing sat on the prayer mat, smiling very smugly: "They were saying before that life lately has been like a dream."

"If you ask me, they couldn't live such good days even in their dreams!"

"Because in their dreams there's no Lord Lei Shen like you!"

Zheng Fa watched Xiao Qing muttering away, only to see her start crying as she spoke.

"Lord Lei Shen..."

"Hmm?"

Looking at Seeing Xiao Qing, whose small face was crumpled into a ball from crying, Zheng Fa felt a bit puzzled.

In his impression, this girl Seeing Xiao Qing had always been considered strong.

Before, when she was so hungry she stole offerings to eat, he had never seen her shed a tear.

Seeing Xiao Qing just cried, saying nothing.

Zheng Fa tried to listen to her thoughts, but found that she herself seemed not to know why.

After all, this girl was a mortal; crying and crying, she eventually fell asleep leaning against the base of the deity statue.

She seemed to be dreaming.

"Mother, I won't eat mountain mushrooms anymore... Father, I want Mother to come back..."

"Father... we have food now..."

Zheng Fa's heart gave a jolt.

Suddenly he understood why Seeing Xiao Qing had cried.

"Mother is gone, Father is gone too." In her dream, Seeing Xiao Qing's brows furrowed tighter and tighter, as if she were having some bad dream.

"I must guard the temple Father left behind..."

"..."

"Lord Lei Shen, don't go..."

Seeing Xiao Qing slept in the temple all night.

She was awakened by a burst of noise from outside the temple.

She looked outside and felt as though everyone in the city had come.

They carried loads on poles, held shovels and various other tools, with the momentum of a great undertaking.

"What are you doing?"

In her daze, Seeing Xiao Qing even felt that the Thunder Sect had risen again.

"Repairing the temple!"

The person at the front said.

"Repairing the temple?" Seeing Xiao Qing's face was full of confusion.

"We are going to build a bigger and better temple for Lord Lei Shen!"

As soon as this person spoke, all the people behind him erupted in agreement.

Looking from inside the temple, Zheng Fa saw the expressions on these people's faces—calling them fanatic believers felt like an understatement.

(End of this chapter)