Chapter 11

Above the Gucheng public field, in the low clouds, a [Flowing Cloud Flying Boat] was floating.

A burly man stood on the bow of the boat; he wore a light green official uniform embroidered with clouds and wheat ears, with a bronze seal and silver ribbon tied around his waist, and a bamboo-woven cage placed by his feet.

The cage looked only a meter square, but at this time, black birds were flying out of it continuously, heading straight for the farmland below.

Beside the cage were two middle-aged men wearing the same official uniform; the difference was that their waists were bronze seals and green ribbons.

These three were Chen Shijie, the main official of the Gucheng Office of Agriculture, Principal Ninth Rank.

The deputy officials in charge of registered fields and equal transport, Gao Linong and Tang Wanchun, Secondary Ninth Rank.

Behind the three, there was another person, wearing an iron ruler at his waist, a literary petty official sent by the county magistrate Wei Wenhe, responsible for recording the entire monthly evaluation, belonging to a proper tool person.

After the black birds in the cage flew out, the literary petty official of the county government began to go through the motions, bowed his hands and asked: "May I ask, Lord Chen, what species is this black bird?"

Chen Shijie turned around and bowed back: "This bird is called 'Grain-Eating Bird', also known as 'Eagle Bird', mostly seen in the north, and I specifically sent people to transport it from my hometown to assess the local agricultural petty officials."

The literary petty official asked again: "What is the content of the Minor Heat assessment?"

Chen Shijie said: "Minor Heat solar term, Yuan Rice tends to mature, Grain-Eating Birds like Yuan Rice the most; this assessment looks at how agricultural petty officials face the natural enemies of farmland."

The literary petty official seemed to have never seen this Grain-Eating Bird and asked carefully: "Similar to locust natural disasters?"

"It won't be that exaggerated, after all, it's just a routine assessment."

The literary petty official took out paper and pen from his waist and asked again: "Please give the detailed scoring criteria, Lord Chen."

Chen Shijie pointed to the cage and said: "The Gucheng public field has been changed by me to the Major Heat solar term, which is scorching and difficult to endure, and will accelerate the consumption of the vitality of the petty officials. One hour later, the Grain-Eating Birds will return to the cage, and I, along with Lords Gao and Tang, will score the petty officials below."

"It depends on the damage to the farmland each petty official is responsible for."

"Those with less than one-tenth damage to Yuan Rice will be rated A."

"Those with less than two-tenths damage will be rated B."

"Those with less than half damage will be rated C."

"If the damage is more than half, there will be no score for this assessment, and they will be punished to replant, using cultivation techniques to accelerate growth; if they can make up for it, they can be supplemented with a C rating."

The literary petty official quickly recorded with paper and pen, then bowed: "Thank you, Lord, for the answer; the subordinate will not disturb the three examiners."

After saying that, he turned and entered the cabin, waiting for the results to come out before letting Chen Shijie approve and report to the county government.

Below the Gucheng public field, it was already in chaos.

No one expected that the exam question would come from the sky, and so suddenly!

The black bird flock hovered above the farmland each agricultural petty official was responsible for.

However, these flying birds were only hovering and had no action for the time being; this was Chen Shijie giving the petty officials reaction time.

Those below who reacted quickly had already begun to cast spells quickly.

[Cloud Walking], [Wind Rising], [Thunder Striking], [Rain Spreading], it was very lively.

Everyone wanted to drive away these uninvited guests at the first time.

"My God, I recognize it, this is the Eagle Bird from the north, specifically eating rice seeds, and it is very difficult to drive away!"

"Damn examiner, there is no such bird in the south at all, and this is taken as an exam question?"

"Chen Shijie is a northerner, this wouldn't be specifically transported by him, right?!"

"Minor Heat assessment, testing natural disaster questions, how can Eagle Birds not count as natural disasters?"

"Ah! My Yuan Rice that just headed! Get out, you stinking birds!"

"……"

Hurried, cursing, and crying, the public field, which was originally quiet, suddenly became ghostly and howling.

Zhao Xing recognized that this was a Grain-Eating Bird at the first time, because he was too familiar with it!

In his past life, when he changed his job as an agricultural official, he encountered this question, and there were often various 'natural disasters' in his territory, and this thing belonged to the kind that was extremely difficult to deal with.

Of course, it was still much worse than 'locust natural disaster', which was extinctive, even the roots were gnawed away.

"What kind of bird is this, how can the wind not blow it away, the rain not stop it, and it's not even afraid of thunder? Brother Zhao, Qian Dong, how should we deal with it... Brother Zhao?"

Chen Ziyu lowered his head to look for Zhao Xing, but found that Zhao Xing had already run to the haystack area.

Only the voice came from the wind: "Don't be stunned, hurry back to your respective fields and think of a way; if it really doesn't work, do it yourself to drive them away, protect as much as you can!"

Hearing Zhao Xing's voice, Qian Dong and Chen Ziyu also acted quickly.

At this time, they couldn't care about anything else; what they were grabbing was time.

At this time, Zhao Xing was very glad that he hadn't slacked off on the grass puppet spell practice these past few days.

Because for now, grass puppet spells were the most efficient way to deal with it.

[You have produced a grass puppet (Re-walking)]

[Grass puppet (Re-walking)]

[Proficiency: 854/9999]

[Effect: Follow orders and walk, cycle endlessly.]

[Grass and Trees as Soldiers proficiency +1]

[You have produced a grass puppet (Re-walking)]

[Grass puppet (Re-walking)]

[Proficiency: 864/9999]

[Effect: Follow orders and walk, cycle endlessly.]

[Grass and Trees as Soldiers proficiency +2]

The proficiency limit of low-level spells is 9999; every 1000 proficiency points increases a level, which is 'spell first turn', meaning the power is on a higher level.

Because Zhao Xing learned the "Willow Transmission Weaving Method", the grass puppet proficiency given was very high, but it hadn't reached the 'first turn' level.

However, what was needed now was quantity, not quality.

"Quick, quick, quick, faster..."

Zhao Xing's hand speed was almost blurred; since taking the 'Dao Embryo Pill', his vitality had increased day by day, and his physique had also improved a lot. Before long, the haystack in front of him became shorter at a speed visible to the naked eye, and at the same time, grass puppets began to run to their destinations.

One, two, ten, fifteen...

A quarter-hour passed, and the black birds landed and began to eat the Yuan Rice.

Seeing this, Zhao Xing's face changed.

His responsible field was five acres, half the size of a football field; now the number of these grass puppets was not enough.

"Cloud Walking!"

Golden light appeared on his fingers, heading straight for the top of his farmland; the clouds were low, shrouding it.

At this time, Zhao Xing was no longer the person from a month ago; the range of Cloud Walking almost shrouded most of the five acres of land.

The effect of the mist slightly blocked the Grain-Eating Birds, but it was only a slight block.

"Thunder Striking!"

Zhao Xing cast another spell; the clouds changed from white to gray, and thunder began to explode, purple lightning flashing.

"Hum~"

The Grain-Eating Birds that fell scattered again, pulling up their body shape.

Only they were still unwilling to leave, hovering above, seemingly looking for an opening to go down, and seemingly waiting for the thunder to stop.

Zhao Xing didn't hesitate anymore and immediately accelerated his hand movements, because he knew this could only block for a while, not forever.

The Minor Heat assessment was to screen out excellent ones from over five hundred people, and the duration would inevitably not be short.

An A+ rating could only be obtained by at most twenty people.

"My best rating before was only B-, mostly C+ or C, just the passing line. There are not many evaluations left, and each one is crucial to me."

Zhao Xing thought to himself, his palm touched, but he touched nothing; it turned out that this haystack in front of him was already empty.

He immediately rushed to another haystack to draw grass and weave, and just at this moment, several figures also ran to this haystack with him to grab 'materials'.

Mastering the grass puppet spell and finding it easy to use was not just Zhao Xing; many petty officials had reacted.

"Get out, I saw this first!"

"What do you mean this is yours, public grass field..."

"Are you leaving or not?!" Zhao Xing picked up a stone and smashed it fiercely at the other person; his face was fierce, his eyes were vicious, and the player's nature that had penetrated into his bones in his past life was revealed inadvertently.

"You, you are so unreasonable..." The person was startled, backed away quickly to dodge, and just wanted to scold angrily, but seeing Zhao Xing's fierce face and holding a sickle, he immediately understood that this was not a person to be trifled with, so he had to run away.

Others saw this and didn't dare to come forward; there were still many haystacks, so it wasn't worth grabbing with such a ruthless character who would smash people if they didn't agree.

Zhao Xing continued to tie grass puppets.