Chapter 166 – Heaven and Earth Shift, People Return; Seeds Are Sown, Living Ghost - Part 1

The next morning.

The snow had cleared, and the sun rose. The manor lay wrapped in a blanket of shimmering silver, shot through with golden gleams.

Sheng'er was bundled up in a thick cotton jacket, leaning on a tiny walking stick. Her two small footprints, paired with a round hole left by the stick, trailed slowly off into the distance.

That jacket was cozy and warm, the thick collar fluffing up around her so much that she looked like a turtle. All that peeked out was an adorable little face and two crescent-moon eyes smiling happily.

Meanwhile, a murder of pitch-black crows perched everywhere—on decorative rocks, tall trees, and rooftops—watching the bustling courtyard below with their oddly frenzied yet eerily calm gazes.

“One, two, three... One, two, three, four, five...five... One, two...two... Stop flying, stop running away! Waaahhh!”

Ping’an, seated on Xue Ning’s lap, kept craning his head back to count the crows. But every time he reached the number five, the birds took off again, never letting him count properly. After a while, the frustrated little Ping’an burst into loud wails, tears streaming down his cheeks.

Sheng'er immediately burst into laughter.

Yan Yu hurried over, gave Sheng'er a light tap on the head, and scolded, “Stop teasing your brother.”

“Cwy-baybwee~! Cwy-baybwee~!” Sheng'er chimed, giggling. Her unseeing eyes had a pure, childlike beauty, reminiscent of glazed white porcelain.

At first, Yan Yu and Xue Ning were both stumped. Then they realized Sheng'er was trying to say

cry-baby

, meaning Ping’an was too quick to tears.

Hearing this, Ping’an froze for a moment and studied everyone’s expressions. Then, as soon as he realized what it meant, he began bawling even louder.

Both Yan Yu and Xue Ning quickly tried to comfort him, while Sheng'er shook her walking stick and wobbled off across the snowy courtyard.

A swirling mass of crows darted around her, like black flames studded with ruby eyes.

Li Yuan, who had finished his morning exercises, came over to join them, hoping to enjoy some family time. He glanced at the crows overhead—15 in total.

The numbers 18~20 hovered over their heads, which was roughly the level of a ninth rank martial artist. It was relatively low but still leagues beyond the common populace. Last March, there had only been six crows. Somehow, they’d grown by about one bird per month.

Watching his daughter surrounded by these creatures, Li Yuan wondered,

What on earth is going on with her?

But before he could dwell on it, Sheng'er’s sweet, childish voice broke his train of thought.

“Papa, hug! Hug me!” She lifted her right arm high, bracing herself with the walking stick in her left.

How could Li Yuan resist? He strode over, scooped her into his arms, and she immediately tossed her walking stick aside.

Holding his daughter, Li Yuan spun a few joyful circles in the snow before stopping. Then, with her in one arm and the walking stick in the other, he walked to a small pavilion, set the walking stick on the table, and looked over at his teary-eyed son. Taking Sheng'er’s hand, he guided it toward Ping’an.

“You two need to get along,” he said.

Sheng'er smiled brightly and extended her tiny hand to her younger brother.

In response, Ping’an just harrumphed and turned away.

Undeterred, Sheng'er suddenly lunged and grabbed his hand.

“Cwy-baybee, dwon’t cwy,” she said in a cheerful voice.

“Waaah!” Ping’an bawled again, and Xue Ning rushed to soothe him.

“Sheng’er,” Yan Yu said gently, “maybe don’t call your brother a cry-baby anymore, hmm?”

Sheng'er, still too young to explain her feeling, simply snuggled against her father.

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Li Yuan laughed. “Let’s build a snowman!”

Then he glanced around and asked, “By the way, where’s Nian Nian?”

“She’s at the Martial Lodge,” Yan Yu answered.

“No, actually...” Xue Ning chimed in. “She’s been hanging around my place a lot lately. Ever since I set up that little trade caravan, with us mostly selling wine, along with mountain goods and furs...she’s been fascinated. She’s always chatting with the caravan’s manager.”

Yan Yu chuckled. “That child certainly has a knack for trouble.”

Li Yuan turned to Xue Ning. “If Nian Nian wants to buy better materials for her puppets, let her. Don’t worry about the cost.”

She glared at him playfully. “You do spoil her.”

He just grinned, then led his son and daughter to start building a snowman. Soon, he had shaped a small one. Unsatisfied, he made a bigger one. Still not enough, he created a snow house several meters tall, hollowing out the middle and fashioning a small snow table and five snow chairs inside.

Such a feat would be tricky for ordinary folks, but not for Li Yuan.

Yan Yu, Xue Ning, and the others broke into laughter at the sight. Their own childlike glee took over, and they all piled into the igloo, looking around curiously.

Before long, they even brewed tea and sat around the snow table together.

Sunlight streamed through the ice crystals, casting dreamy arcs of rainbow light on the walls.

Ping’an forgot his tears in his excitement, toddling around inside the snow house.

The crows fluttered overhead, while Sheng'er clung to her father’s side.

The whole family was having a marvelous time, right up until the snow house began to melt.

Then, Ping’an’s tears started again.

Sheng'er went over, patted his head, and said, “Dun cawy, dun cawy!”

Xue Ning tilted her head. “Is she imitating a bird?”

Yan Yu sighed. “No, she’s trying to tell him not to cry.”

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

And so the days flowed by, one after another...

With the internal situation stabilized and external threats keeping their distance, the five small counties continued to develop in peace. Apart from perennial poor harvests, there weren’t many real grievances to speak of.

Now that Li Yuan stood behind the five counties, his word carried decisive weight. Acting on the suggestions of Yan Yu and Xue Ning, he opened up more farmland and assigned sect servants, and even some disciples, to help local farmers plant and harvest. They treated it as a form of training. Anyone who completed their farming duties would earn merit points, which could be exchanged for various resources.

He also encouraged the students of the Martial Lodge to take part. After all, the Young Master Riding the Deer needed a mindset of carefree detachment, and tending the fields was just as good a way to temper one’s spirit.

By that time, the Martial Lodge commanded high respect. So when its students led the charge to help out in the fields, the entire region bustled with activity.

Meanwhile, Li Yuan pushed large landowners to reduce the grain tax they demanded of tenant farmers; instead of a fixed payment to the owners, farmers would first set aside enough rice to feed themselves, then hand over whatever remained.

To make it worthwhile for the landowners, Li Yuan granted a limited number of sect spots to their families, so their children could learn cultivation techniques.

In addition, every marketplace now featured a public porridge stall to feed the poor. Sect members helped resettle refugees, giving them small plots of newly reclaimed land. Even if that soil wasn’t especially fertile, it gave them a new start and some hope.

Yan Yu and Xue Ning took charge of all these charitable efforts, while Li Yuan stayed mostly behind the scenes. He claimed none of the credit, attributing every benevolent deed to the two women.

Over time, the people of the five counties began to praise the two as saintesses, and everyone gossiped that the Blood Blade Patriarch truly doted on his wives. After all, he had never cared about the suffering of the common folk; he must have only done all this thanks to those two saintesses.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

June arrived.

Li Yuan paid another visit to the Grand Abode. It did not disappoint. The first batch of disciples there had already dealt with the old business of Lord Ma and the local officials. How did they manage it? By making something out of nothing, borrowing authority, and waving the tiger skin.

That so-called

tiger skin

came partly from Pinecrane Place and partly from Li Yuan himself. Pinecrane Place’s banner was easy to borrow, but Li Yuan’s name was harder.

So Xu Lan, Xu Sheng, and their peers had simply invented a title for him and pieced together a half-plausible backstory. They spread word that Li Yuan hailed from the mysterious Phoenix Lord Immortal Land across the Eastern Sea.

Legend had it this celestial land might exist somewhere, though nobody could prove it. Supposedly, a little street urchin had heard the tale somewhere, and the rumor stuck.

Xu Lan and Xu Sheng dared not proclaim Li Yuan the master of the Phoenix Lord Immortal Land, so they simply presented him as a mysterious envoy from there.

The Phoenix Envoy, for reasons unknown, was gathering local youths, teaching them cultivation, and urging them to revere the hidden ruler of that distant realm.

Xu Lan, Xu Sheng, and six other young disciples even invented a secretive ritual of prostration to worship the Phoenix Lord, symbolized by a strange wooden carving wrapped in black cloth.

In reality, Xu Sheng had simply whittled it himself. But only Xu Lan knew the truth.

Such mysticism, combined with the strength of eight ninth rank martial artists and Pinecrane Place’s loose support, left Lord Ma and the local officials at a complete loss. No one dared bother the Grand Abode anymore.

Meanwhile, more people flocked to the Grand Abode’s fledgling estate, turning it into a small but growing force.

When Li Yuan learned he had suddenly acquired the new title of Phoenix Envoy, he couldn’t help but chuckle. He made no effort to correct the rumor, neither confirming nor denying it.

Instead, he taught those eight disciples the technique to advance from ninth to eighth rank and instructed Pinecrane Place to open a small purchasing channel for eighth rank demonic beast meat.

Eighth rank meat was still rare, but not quite as out of reach as a few years ago. The key factor was that all five counties were now unified, stable, and safe. Trade caravans encountered fewer brigands, and even the small bands of mountain bandits that remained were nothing they couldn’t handle.

Unified government, stability, and good public order naturally spurred commerce.

The Red Ant Guild increased supply once it saw how peaceful the area had become. The Ginger Tavern, having set up its own trading company, built further trade ties. Acquiring resources became much easier. Finally, despite continual poor harvests in the fields, the output of eighth rank beast meat raised in the meat fields had quietly grown.

All of these factors, along with Li Yuan’s behind-the-scenes guidance, allowed the Grand Abode to obtain the cultivation resources it needed. But, as always, they had to earn their own coin.

And so the Grand Abode faced its next hurdle.

Its disciples, already armed with some ability, began recruiting more people. They also doubled down on harvesting mountain goods to sell to Pinecrane Place in exchange for resources.

Pinecrane Place, in turn, sent these high-quality forest products on to Ginger Tavern’s trading network, which sold them elsewhere for profit.

A healthy cycle took shape.