Chapter 827: Busy

Chapter 827: Busy

"Earlier this year?" Upon hearing Gouwa's words, Li Huowang’s heart gave a sudden jolt, and an unsettling thought crept into his mind.

"What do you mean by that?" Li Huowang immediately used his skill to shrink the distance between them, appearing right before Gouwa and lifting him up. "Has it been long?"

"Senior Brother Li, don’t get sick again—no, not that long. It hasn't even passed Qingming Festival yet."

Hearing Gouwa speak thus, Li Huowang let out a long breath and set him down, still grimacing in pain.

"Next time, speak clearly," Li Huowang scolded with some dissatisfaction.

"Ah, ah, ah." How could Gouwa dare argue with a sick Senior Brother?

"Oh, by the way, Senior Brother Li, did you come back today with nothing to do? If you have time, can you manage the village for us?"

"The villagers are getting more and more. You two aren’t here anymore, and just me and Zhao Wu can barely keep up."

"If you're too busy, why not hire people? Do I need to tell you that?" As Li Huowang said this, he suddenly felt a spark of inspiration, gazing at the bustling Niu Xin Village before him.

"Gouwa, does Niu Xin Village currently have grain?"

"Yes, of course! Senior Brother Li, you’re not forgetting, are you? After the solar eclipse, you ordered us to stockpile a lot of grain."

"You gave the order, so naturally we had to store it. We stored quite a bit—enough for all the people in Niu Xin Village to eat for years."

Upon hearing this, Li Huowang’s heart leapt with joy. "Take me to see the granary!"

Soon, under Gouwa’s guidance, Li Huowang arrived at the Bai Family Ancestral Hall.

Turning three bronze monkeys, Li Huowang and Gouwa entered.

When they returned to the secret chamber of the White Lotus Sect, they found that the originally spacious hall and corridors were now packed with various grains—calling it a mountain of grain would be no exaggeration.

Seeing Li Huowang’s wide-eyed expression, Gouwa clearly misunderstood and quickly explained, “Senior Sister Bai moved everything away. Since this place was empty anyway, we just used it to store grain.”

"You know what? This place makes a great granary—it’s big, holds a lot, doesn’t leak water, and most importantly, it’s hidden."

"Even if Niu Xin Village suffers disaster in the future, others won’t easily find this place."

Seeing all this grain, Li Huowang smiled. He had gone through so much trouble trying to gather food, only to discover his hometown had such a massive granary.

"Gouwa, get everyone in the village here! Pack all this grain into bags! I’m going to use it!"

"Use it? How?" Though confused, Gouwa still obeyed immediately.

Though Li Huowang often wasn’t around Niu Xin Village, anyone who lived there knew who really called the shots.

Upon hearing Li Huowang’s command, everyone gathered at the Bai Family Ancestral Hall, bagging the grain from the secret chamber one by one.

"You start packing first—I’ll go check over there," Li Huowang said, drawing his Spine Sword and slicing through the air.

When he appeared in Da Qi, he saw a tattered man squatting on the ground doing something.

"Niu San!! What are you doing!" Li Huowang shouted at him.

Niu San turned around and, upon seeing Li Huowang, widened his eyes in shock. “Nothing, nothing. I’m planting potatoes.”

Li Huowang had left him some grain earlier, and clearly, Niu San didn’t want to live off of handouts forever.

"No need to work so hard! Come here! Get ready to receive grain!"

"Alright!" Tears streaming down his face, Niu San nodded eagerly and ran over, brushing mud off his butt.

Those who remained behind were clearly former residents of Niu Xin Village. Seeing Li Huowang arrive with grain, they cried out “father” and “dad” in tears.

With them present, there would be someone to receive the grain. Bags upon bags of grain were carried to Da Qi and stacked high.

With so much grain to transport, even if the entire village worked day and night, it wouldn’t be finished in a day or two. And the narrow path in the secret chamber meant only one person could carry a bag at a time.

Taking advantage of this time, Li Huowang went to Youdu alone to have Chen Yurong send troops to take over.

But when he arrived in Youdu, he saw someone he had never seen before.

"Subject Liang Yuxuan greets the Immortal!" A weary old man bowed to Li Huowang, followed by dozens of others bowing behind him.

Chen Yurong beside him explained, "Immortal, these are the men I brought—the ones with the large headscarves. If you hadn’t said so sooner, they might’ve starved to death."

Li Huowang stared at the man and asked, "What position did you hold in Da Qi?"

"Subject serves as Registrar of the Imperial Clan Office."

"What kind of official is that?" Li Huowang didn’t understand.

"Replying to the Immortal, it’s a minor official of the fifth rank. I compile the genealogical records of the imperial family, documenting their legitimate and illegitimate descendants, titles, deaths, marriages, and posthumous names."

After hearing this, Li Huowang pondered for a moment and said, "Da Qi is in chaos now. Without rules, there’s no order. Can you organize these people into a temporary court of Da Qi?"

"I can!" Liang Yuxuan answered firmly. After all, their alternative was starvation—better to build a court than die.

Li Huowang looked at the gaunt faces below and nodded. "Fine, then let’s begin. Let me state my ultimate goal."

"Revive Da Qi, so its people can be self-sufficient. Even without me sending grain, they can survive."

Hearing this, everyone present grew tense.

"Immortal, will you no longer send grain?" A young official asked fearfully.

"Did you hear nothing? I said after self-sufficiency! Start working!"

They weren’t sure if these people would be useful, but given the circumstances, they’d try. The key was whether they could succeed.

"Yes!" Everyone bowed and slowly withdrew from before Li Huowang.

As everyone else left, the leader, Liang Yuxuan, stopped at the door and quickly stepped forward, bowing deeply once more.

"Disciple of Minglun Hall, Liang Yuxuan, greets the Immortal." His aura had completely changed from before.

"Minglun Hall?" Li Huowang studied the old man before him, showing no surprise.

He knew there must be cultivators among the people of Da Qi. He was destined to interact with them, since they had better chances of surviving natural disasters.

He hadn’t expected it to be the Minglun Hall, rather than the White Lotus Sect, the Moon Gate, the Aojing Sect, or the Zhongyin Temple—sect groups he had rarely encountered.

Not that he had no contact with them at all. During previous battles with the Fa Sect, there were members from Minglun Hall.

The people they drew could move, and they even had three arms. This person likely had one tucked away.