Chapter 29 – The Genius Returns

The day Yanxi returned was nothing special. Lynn Naya’s house was just a wooden frame, the ground was covered in loose dirt, and the dust from the constant foot traffic was thick in the air, coating everyone’s face in a layer of grime.

Lynn Naya was discussing the autumn harvest with Scarface Qing. The farm was far from the foot of Mount Yu, so it was unaffected by the beast attack. The soil there was fertile, and the crops were growing well. Barring any natural disasters, it would be a bountiful harvest this year. At that moment, she felt something moving toward the safe zone.

She immediately jumped onto the roof. Her sight, which was far superior to a normal person’s, allowed her to see a beast’s corpse as tall as a small mountain moving toward her.

“What’s wrong?” Scarface Qing also climbed onto the frame, his face tense. “What happened?” Please don’t tell me what happened a few months ago is going to happen again.

Lynn Naya shook her head, reassuring him. “It’s not a bad thing.”

When the beast’s corpse drew closer, she finally saw two figures walking ahead of it. One was white-haired, dressed in green robes, a silver spear slung across his back; his sleeves stirred though there was no wind, and his bearing was nothing short of extraordinary. The other was black-haired, clad in dark robes, a longsword at his waist. He gripped a rope dragging the beast’s carcass, muttering curses under his breath, his face twisted with dissatisfaction.

Lynn Naya’s gaze fell on the green-robed man. She could feel the spiritual energy coming from the man in black, but she couldn’t feel the man in green’s presence unless she saw him with her own eyes.

This person’s cultivation must be very high. He must be Yanxi.

As Lynn Naya watched, several streaks of light shot across the sky. They were coming to greet the two.

Lynn Naya was curious. These two have such high cultivation. Why aren’t they putting the beast’s corpse in a storage bag and flying back to the Dao Palace? When the beast’s corpse was dragged into the safe zone, she saw that there were dozens of emaciated… people following behind it.

Maybe those are people.

Oh, they are people.

Although their bodies were much more hunched than normal, and their faces were a strange reddish color, they could speak. Lynn Naya could already see them talking to the Dao Palace disciples.

Were these people saved from the outside?

There are still people alive out there?

Many thoughts flashed through Lynn Naya’s mind. She glanced at Scarface Qing, who was still trying to get a better look. She told him, “Go over there now.” Since these people were brought back, they would be taken care of. The Dao Palace disciples weren’t familiar with the matters at the foot of the mountain, so they would probably hand the responsibility over to the mortal in charge. “There might be something going on over there. Go and see if there’s a chance for you to show your face.”

It was too far away—ordinary people couldn’t possibly see what was happening over there. She could excuse it by claiming that her internal energy had reached minor completion, allowing her to overhear things beyond normal hearing.

But she couldn’t go as far as to act like she could foresee the future. So instead, she told Scarface Qing to settle people as close as possible to their three households.

If she said that, Scarface Qing would have to be forced to doubt her, even if he didn’t already.

As soon as he heard there was a chance to show his face, Scarface Qing jumped off the roof without another word.

Becoming a branch hall master was never his goal. If he had a chance, he wanted to be the top leader.

After Scarface Qing left, Lynn Naya didn’t get closer. Who knows what was so special about that genius? What if he notices something strange about me? It wouldn’t be worth it.

It’s better to watch from a distance. Her sight was lost in the crowd, so she shouldn’t be easily noticed.

Lynn Naya thought that the two of them would go up the mountain as soon as they entered the Dao Palace’s territory, but she was surprised to see that even after the other disciples had gone back up the mountain, the two were still there. The green-robed man even sat down at the edge of the safe zone and started to cultivate.

“…”

As for the man in black, he was dissecting the beast’s corpse.

After a short while, the disciples who had gone back up the mountain came down again. This time, they brought a DaoPalace steward with them.

Then, Lynn Naya saw the man in black cut off a piece of the beast’s meat, and a sack of grain would appear on the ground. He would cut off another piece, and another sack of grain would appear. After an hour, only a small portion of the beast was gone, but the grain on the ground was already two stories high.

“…”

Are they exchanging meat for grain with the Dao Palace?

Their unexpected actions made Lynn Naya think that they might be different from the other Dao Palace disciples.

At least since she had arrived, the Dao Palace had always been arrogant and indifferent. They would sacrifice everything for the sect, even their lives, but they didn’t care about the mortals at the foot of the mountain.

If they didn’t need mortals to produce spiritual root seeds for them, they wouldn’t care about the lives of ordinary people at all.

But these two seemed to be different.

Were they getting the grain for themselves? Cultivators didn’t eat common food.

With the farmlands destroyed and food in short supply, the Dao Palace might not let most of them starve, but they might not care about the rest. If they had more food, more people would survive.

Lynn Naya was suddenly filled with a hint of hope.

The trade was still going on, and Scarface Qing, who she had sent over, came back. He was followed by the group of people from outside.

The Dao Palace disciples had indeed handed these people over to Scarface Qing.

As they came, the new people were stared at by everyone. Everyone on the side of the road looked at them with a mix of curiosity and pity, even though they were already pitiful themselves.

“Are these people from outside?”

“Oh my goodness, how did they survive? They’re so thin.”

“Why are their faces so red?”

“They were as skinny as skeletons. Honestly, if they hadn’t been standing, I might have thought they were skeletons come to life” This was said by a carpenter working on Lynn Naya’s roof.

Scarface Qing heard it and cursed, “Go on, get out of here, don’t say such nonsense!” He then shouted to his wife, who was in charge of cooking. “Sister Xue, can you get some water or borrow some from the neighbors? And is there any food? We need some food now! Someone is about to starve to death!”

Xue Yong’s wife came out, “We have water. I just got some fresh water this morning. The food will have to wait. I have to make it now.”

“Then make it now! It’s an emergency!” Scarface Qing said. He looked at Lynn Naya and temporarily settled the fifty or sixty people in their three families’ courtyard. He then went inside to get some water himself.

When the water came, the red-faced people in the courtyard gulped it down until they were full. After they were done, the bucket was empty.

“Do you need more?” Scarface Qing asked the oldest man with the red face.

The old man shook his head and said weakly, “Thank you.” He didn’t say anything else.

Lynn Naya could tell they were very weak. Although she had a lot of questions for them, since they were now in ScarfaceQing’s care, she wasn’t in a hurry. She would have a chance later.

In that short time, someone else came over. He was carrying a sack of grain and gave it to Scarface Qing, saying the man in black had ordered it. And it was clear why the grain was given to Scarface Qing.

Scarface Qing didn’t say a word. He borrowed firewood and a pot from the neighbors and cooked all the rice in the sack.

At this point, Lynn Naya was certain that the grain was what the two cultivators were getting for the mortals.

In the evening, Lynn Naya went up the mountain to water her plants as usual. When she came down, she saw the man in black distributing food to every household. It wasn’t a lot, only a pound per family, and it was all polished rice.

“If you didn’t get any, you’ll get some next time. There will be more.” the man in black said. He didn’t have any of the arrogance of a cultivator.

When he got to Lynn Naya’s family, he saw the thick yellow dirt in the courtyard and asked Scarface Qing why he was digging an underground shelter.

Scarface Qing told him, and he nodded. “That’s a good way to avoid disaster. You are very clever. If you build it well, it might last for a few hundred years.”

“I didn’t think of it myself.” Scarface Qing said, not taking the credit. But he also didn’t plan on revealing Lynn Naya. Before the man in black could say anything else, he quickly asked, “Can our houses really last a few hundred years?”

“They couldn’t before, but now we’re back,” the man in black said with a smile. “Alright, I’m going to the next house. See you later.”

“Alright, safe travels.” Scarface Qing watched the man in black go to the next house. When Lynn Naya returned, he clicked his tongue. “That’s the first time I’ve ever seen such a…” He thought for a moment. “A gentle cultivator. After talking to him, I finally understand what my teacher meant by ‘as gentle as a spring breeze.’”

“That’s because you see him as a bigshot. As long as he acts a little bit normal, you’ll think he’s kind. You treat him the same way others treat you,” Lynn Naya said. “Think about today when you talk to others. I’m sure you’ll get the same compliment.”

“No, that won’t work. Some people need to be dealt with harshly. Otherwise, things won’t get done.”

Lynn Naya smiled at that and didn’t say anything else.

In her spiritual sense, the man in black slowly walked away. Lynn Naya looked at the man in green who was still cultivating. As she went down the mountain, the stars began to appear in the sky. Tomorrow would probably be a good day. She wondered if they would still be in the mortal area.

She slept soundly that night.

The next day, when Lynn Naya woke up, the green-robed man at the edge of the safe zone was gone, and the man in black was also nowhere to be found.

In the evening, when she came back from the mountain, she saw that a new group of Dao Palace disciples had replaced the old ones in the same spot, and a new beast was on the ground. Only the man in black was still there, cursing as he cut up meat and sold it for grain.

Lynn Naya stood on the side of the road and watched for a while before she smiled.

Maybe these two can really keep humanity safe for twenty years.

In the following days, the two would go out on every clear day and bring back all sorts of strange beasts. Some were as big as a mountain, while others were small and exquisite. But the meat, fur, and bones of these beasts were all sold to the Dao Palace, and the grain they received was given to the ordinary people.

It didn’t matter how many people the meat saved, but the constant stream of beast corpses brought a long-lost sense of security to the mortal area.

The eyes of the once-numbed people slowly began to shine with hope.

Everyone took up their axes and started cutting down trees from outside again. Before winter came, they had to build a strong house that would last for many, many years.