Two years passed in a blur.
The famine in the mortal world hadn't eased—instead, it had worsened. The state raised taxes yet again, pushing countless commoners to the brink of despair.
Qingquan Village, once relatively untouched by the famine, was now facing food shortages of its own. Many families found their grain reserves running dangerously low. The land was cracked and dry, unable to yield much of anything. And whatever rice they managed to harvest was almost halved by the taxes they were forced to pay.
Fortunately, Sixth Senior Brother Wen Yushu, a man of great skill, had managed to coax more rice from the parched paddies than anyone thought possible. Thanks to him, Qingquan Village hadn't seen many famine deaths.
Even so, the conditions were dire. Not even Wen Yushu could fully restore the land's former yield. All he could do was ease the worst of the burden. But the drought only worsened with time, and the harvests continued to dwindle.
Deep in the mountains behind the village, Chen Jinshu was searching for wild drought-resistant rice to crossbreed, hoping to help her senior brother develop hardier crops. Wild rice typically survived better in poor conditions, though its yield was low. If she could find a strain to hybridize, it might lead to something remarkable.
She had been searching for three months, but hadn't found even a single viable stalk.
Fwoosh!
"Master! Something just flew toward the village!" Xiao Yin cried out from the air.
Chen Jinshu had also heard it—a faint, high-pitched sound—and caught a glimpse of red streaking across the sky like a meteor. The figure's cultivation was at least near Foundation Establishment.
Ordinarily, she would have ignored such a passing cultivator.
But this one was flying straight toward the village.
"Is Qingquan Village about to be attacked?"
She racked her memory, trying to recall her master's mortal tribulations. She didn't remember the village being destroyed. What she did remember was her master being sold to a brothel by her own father. If not for a kind old woman who taught her to play the pipa, she might not have survived at all.
Had their interference changed the outcome?
If the drought eased because of them, perhaps her master's father hadn't needed to sell her. Maybe she'd remained in the village instead.
If so, then this was an opportunity—more time to gently guide her through the karmic trial.
And now this... this could ruin everything.
Chen Jinshu didn't hesitate. She pulled out a piece of talisman paper and wrote a quick message.
"Deliver this to First Senior Brother, quickly!"
"Right away, Master!" Xiao Yin zipped off.
Chen Jinshu hurried back toward the village, praying the situation wasn't as dire as she feared. But as she neared the outskirts of Qingquan Village, a strong, metallic stench filled the air.
Her stomach dropped.
"Something's terribly wrong."
Cultivators were forbidden to harm mortals—that was a foundational law in the cultivation world. But demonic cultivators had no such restraint. For them, human lives meant nothing more than a few more karmic debts.
Her thoughts turned immediately to her master. Her master's current self—Liu Huameng—still had her memories and cultivation sealed. Could she survive this?
As Chen Jinshu rushed forward, dread weighed heavier with every step. Corpses littered the ground. Some headless, others shriveled dry. Blood was splattered everywhere.
She ran first to Fourth Senior Brother Hua Jingyi's house. Empty. No sign of anyone left behind.
"Half a day left. Our cultivation will be restored in half a day."
It had been exactly one year since First Senior Brother sealed their powers. Now, another year had passed. Just a few more hours remained.
She had planned to summon them today. But fate had thrown a disaster at their feet.
She went to Third Senior Sister's place. Also empty.
As she neared the village entrance, she saw a crowd of villagers trapped by a man in blood-red robes.
A demonic cultivator.
"Haha! My luck's finally turned. I've passed through three villages, and each one was nearly empty—just a few half-dead beggars. But this one—this one's full of life!"
"Immortal, please show mercy!" the village head begged. "Spare us, I beg you!"
"In your dreams! I finally found a place with decent food."
The cultivator grabbed a woman at random.
"Ah! Let me go!" she screamed.
But before her cries could even grow loud, the demonic cultivator drained her dry in full view of the crowd. As her body dropped, lifeless and hollow, the man licked his lips and smiled with sick pleasure. The crowd of sixty or seventy villagers trembled in terror.
"Don't worry. You're next," the man grinned.
With a wave of his hand, his fingers stretched into five crimson threads and pierced the skulls of five villagers. Blood-red energy surged into him.
His aura grew stronger with each soul he consumed.
"Damn it! Will First Senior Brother and the others make it in time?" Chen Jinshu clenched her fists, furious and helpless. She had no spiritual power to use—could only stand and watch as one villager after another was slaughtered.
They had thought sealing their cultivation and becoming mortal would help them guide the village naturally. They hadn't anticipated karmic backlash on this scale. If they didn't pull out now, the consequences could be immense.
In the center of the crowd, Liu Huameng stood surrounded by villagers. The elderly and women formed the outer ring, then the strong young men. The children were in the middle.
The villagers were using their bodies to shield the children.
Chen Jinshu pressed her hand to her lower abdomen, sensing the restriction spell.
Two more hours.
"Two hours... the cabbage will be cold by then," she muttered bitterly.
"Ahhhh!"
"Aaaaah!"
More screams echoed ahead. The cultivator had drained ten more men. The shrieks tore through the air like blades.
Fwoosh!
Suddenly, a golden sword burst from the sky and slashed toward the demonic cultivator.
"Your time is up!" roared Zheng Shaosi.
He controlled his flying sword without holding back. As his Golden Core divine sense descended, the demonic cultivator froze. In the next breath, the sword cleaved him cleanly in half.
The man's eyes remained wide open, frozen in shock even in death.
The villagers stared in stunned silence. And then the sobbing began. Relief, sorrow, disbelief.
More than twenty people had died already—wives, sons, fathers.
"The fiend is dead. The fallen are gone. Mourn them well," Zheng Shaosi said quietly. He cast a final look toward Liu Huameng, standing dazed in the crowd, and sent a message to Hua Jingyi and the others before vanishing into the sky.
Chen Jinshu exhaled deeply.
The demonic cultivator's arrival… it was connected to them, no doubt about it. They had interfered too much. They were never meant to meddle so directly in the affairs of mortals.
Looking back now, she deeply regretted it.
That night, their cultivation was sealed once again.
"You've intervened too much in Qingquan Village. Building a school, developing new rice strains—those are good ideas, but too much interference changes the karmic balance. The famine is part of a larger destiny. From now on, do not interfere again."
"This is my fault," Wen Yushu said with guilt in his eyes. "I shouldn't have tried to create new rice. The village changed too much from the others. I just… I couldn't bear to see them go hungry."
"I got too carried away with the role I was playing…" another muttered.
"Me too… I went too far…"