Symbiotic panel, I am cultivating immortality in the world of immortality

Chapter 169 When Rice Flows into Rivers
"This puppet..."

Li Ye frowned slightly.

Logically, a puppet should be bound to the cultivator's own combat experience, but this puppet seemed to be very adept at both dodging and attacking.

It looked as if it had been forged through countless trials.

So is this an inherent ability of the puppet?
That's true. If it's just a puppet that can automatically transform, it probably won't be of much interest to the Puppet Hall. But if it's a puppet with combat experience, or even a certain level of intelligence...

That would be great.

He suddenly wondered if a puppet made of spiritual materials could develop intelligence or even a soul, and thus be considered a kind of spirit beast or spirit plant.

The same applies to the Bamboo and Locust Spirit Scroll, and even to Master's ruler.

"The method of spirit possession, is it?"

"So you have to learn puppetry to learn this? Do you really have to fall into the trap of puppetry?"

He thought about it and decided to put the idea aside for the time being.

The puppet can help him withstand most of the external pressure, so he can farm here in peace—since the other party is so eager to cause trouble, it means that farming here is indeed useful.

Thinking of this, he called out to the people in the distance, "You should have some preserved seeds of Dawn Rice here, right? Where are they? Bring them over."

"Yes, yes, yes!"

A thin young man hurriedly ran to the village ancestral hall, retrieved a burlap sack, and placed it in front of Li Ye.

The other children who were still playing around also gathered around, not saying a word, but looking at Li Ye with eager anticipation.

Even children worry about food.

This is the most basic and also the most important thing.

"Don't worry."

"With me here, there won't be any problems."

Li Ye's voice remained gentle, even overshadowing the warm glow of the Sun and Moon Ring. He picked up a handful of Dawn Rice seeds from the bag and swung them around—

"Wow!"

In an instant, rice seeds fell like rain.

That seemingly casual wave of the hand actually caused all the Dawn Rice to fall into the places they wanted.

These rice grains, which had been stored in the spirit-sealing bag for hundreds of years, had long since withered, and their vitality was almost completely gone. However, the characteristics of the sunlight and the willpower of the people here made that last bit of vitality even more tenacious.

After coming into contact with the land thoroughly soaked by spiritual water, vitality, rain and mist and all kinds of fertilizers, they absorbed nutrients almost thirstily.

—When they were still "young," they had never tasted such complex, yet incredibly delicious, spiritual energy.

It can be said that they are much stronger than the small patch of Xiguang Rice that Li Ye planted in the clouds. In terms of both environmental adaptability and growth ability, they can be considered as mutants selected by time in a sense.

It can be said that if we take it back to the sect, this seed alone would be a huge gain—a spiritual seed that only becomes stronger with the passage of time.

He let some random thoughts pass through his mind, then waved to the children and young people left behind in the village in the distance and said:
"Don't try to sow seeds the way I do it."

"Come on, I'll teach you how to plant rice."

For Li Ye, planting rice seeds is a very simple matter; just scatter them like that, and that's basically it.

But he knew he couldn't stay there forever, and simply showing off would be useless to the villagers, so he taught very seriously and would occasionally demonstrate on the spot.

Soon, his hands were covered in mud, and his shoes and the corners of his Taoist robe were also covered in mud, but he was so engrossed in it that he couldn't pull himself out of it.

Time passes slowly.

He only came to his senses when the puppet silently walked to his side, held up a branch of the Jianmu tree in both hands, and handed it to him.

"Ah."

He took the branch from the Jianmu tree and, with a wave of his hand, put the puppet into the Jianmu space, where the spiritual energy would continuously nourish it.

The elderly people, who had arrived with hoes, pitchforks, and other weapons, were about to express their gratitude when they witnessed this scene. Old Jiang asked in confusion:

"Exalted Immortal."

Where did that immortal go?

"We also want to thank him; if it weren't for him, we would definitely have been seriously injured."

Li Ye glanced at them and replied, "He used up too much of his magic power and went to rest in my cave. He's not a talkative person, so I'll just relay his message for you."

"Now you should all be concerned with how to plant rice seeds. Come on, I'll teach you."

Without saying a word, he pulled the old people over. These people were the ones whose ancestors had heard about how to plant Xiguang rice, and he himself only knew the general idea.

Their desire for food and their joy in crops immediately made them put aside all other thoughts and concentrate on learning from Li Ye.

On the still-damp earth, old people, children, and young people gathered around Li Ye, listening to him explain how to plant rice. One by one, the grains of rice were carefully planted into the spiritually rich soil by these people's withered hands.

Along with the seeds, their aspirations were also buried.

That expectation of crop growth, of a bountiful harvest, and even some hidden desires for them to shelter them, are buried beneath the soil, growing alongside the seeds as they sprout.

With Li Ye's help, the rice plants grew at a visible speed, their plump ears heavy and their husks resembling tiny golden suns, radiating a warm glow.

The rings of the sun and moon in the sky continued to emit bright light steadily, reflecting off the light on the ground as if they were one.

……

Inside the city of the other shore.

In the heart of a brightly lit, magnificent architectural complex, within a classically exquisite courtyard, the guardian of the Hell Path silently raised his head and gazed upon the Dawn Village, bathed in sunlight.

She stood up, her long, flowing black hair cascading to the ground, smooth and soft, like a gently flowing stream that spread in all directions, all the way to the entire city of the other shore.

She raised her hand, which bore obvious traces of puppet splicing, and fanned the air in front of her. In this silent and deathly city, there seemed to be a faint fragrance of rice.

"Master of the town!"

Just then, a tall woman strode over, carrying a long sword. She placed the sword on the ground and bowed respectfully, saying:
"It seems to be a disciple of the Four Seasons Demon Sect sent by the Earth Wish Fox Envoy, the Star Tracing Demon Lord."

"Just give the order and I'll kill him!"

The woman's voice was filled with fanatical resolve; if she killed Li Ye, she would surely face a vengeance as devastating as a tsunami or a landslide.

The current Nascent Soul cultivators of the Four Seasons Sect can't defeat them, so they'll definitely ask for help from the Deity Transformation stage. And if the Deity Transformation stage can't defeat them, then the old guys from above will come.

The garrison commander slowly turned around and said in a calm, still tone:

Why throw your life away?

"Or do you want to die?"

Her long, flowing black hair seemed to possess a spirit, slowly wrapping around the woman's body and spreading upwards along her legs. The cool touch made her feel as if she were being entwined by a magical snake.

However, this spirit snake had no coldness or fishy smell at all; instead, it carried a delicate floral fragrance as it burrowed into her skin and consciousness.

It was as if a fragrant bed was woven around her, softly enveloping her and making her want to fall into a deep sleep.

"Ah... phew!"

Just as her consciousness was about to sink into the embrace of the flowers, she gasped for breath and came back to her senses, her breathing sounding like a broken bellows.

With no more thoughts in his eyes, he prostrated himself in an almost full-body prostration: "My lord, I was wrong."

"Hmm." The garrison commander's voice remained calm: "If you made a mistake, then correct it. Use this body to cause some trouble for that little guy."

The soul is reforged in the furnace.

"..."

The woman's eyes showed even greater terror, but she dared not object at all, and slowly left the courtyard step by step.

But the gate to the courtyard was not closed.

Because another woman dressed in a red palace gown, exuding elegance and grace, arrived here and knelt down, saying, "That little fellow doesn't seem to have any doubts about what he saw."

I observed him from afar, and his mind was as calm as still water.

Should we... send him out?

—This has happened a few times before. After all, the disciples of the Four Seasons Sect have cultivated a fairly firm Dao heart in the fields. When they encounter this situation, they will kick the other party out.

So as not to let them start farming here anytime and anywhere and affect their plans.

The garrison commander had already turned around, his back now to the woman in palace attire.

"Let's wait until the rice is ripe."

"Isn't there a little girl who wants to cross to the other side to see her parents? Let her steal some rice."

"I haven't eaten rice in a long time, and I'm actually craving it."

Thousands of years of waiting had made her almost forget what Xiguang Rice tasted like—its plump, chewy texture, carrying the warmth of the sunlight…

Now, can this puppet still taste it?

……

Over the next period of time, Li Ye patiently taught him how to care for rice, and even made the difficult decision to extract a sealed water vein from the Jianmu tree.

There was nothing he could do; Xiguang Village was simply too desolate, and he estimated he couldn't stay there for long.

Therefore, we can only try our best to bring some comfort to this village that has suffered countless hardships and its villagers in the days to come.

Unfortunately, he didn't have much with him, so he couldn't completely transform this land. He could only set up some formations around the village that his senior brothers had forcibly instilled in him during their conversations.

During the event, they also killed a woman who inexplicably ran over as if she were just offering herself up for death.

At first, he just wanted to test his skills, but as time went on, he suddenly realized that this land was almost as if it had been immersed in the art of geomancy for countless years.

The technique, which was close to the nature of the earth but had some different variations, intrigued him, and he felt that it might allow him to improve his supernatural abilities.

So he became increasingly obsessed with transforming this land, and everything he did was seen by Lao Jiang and all the people.

After a period of busy work, Lao Jiang suddenly found him, solemnly led him to the ancestral hall in the village, and handed him a book covered in ancient artifacts.

"This is what you want. It is a method for using the power of will that was researched by the ancestors of Xiguang Village."

The pages of the books were frayed, clearly indicating they had been read many times.

Li Ye took the book, his temperament, nurtured by the earth and rice during this time, becoming even more gentle, and he smiled happily:
"The rice isn't even ripe yet, are you sure you want to give it to me like this?"

Old Jiang sighed softly: "Yes."

"I'm entrusting this to you. I know you're from out of town. I just hope that as you read this book, you'll remember that there's a village like ours, and that you'll come back to visit us someday."

Li Ye asked curiously:
"..."

"You knew I was about to leave?"

"Yes..." Before Old Jiang could speak, he suddenly heard a commotion outside, which Li Ye could hear very clearly—

"Old Jiang's granddaughter pulled up a lot of rice!"

Where is she running off to?!

"It must be the City of the Other Shore; her parents are there!"

In that instant, Lao Jiang's face turned deathly pale, and all the rosy complexion he had cultivated over the past few days vanished.

"Run." Li Ye twitched the corner of his mouth and was about to go out when an old hand grabbed his arm.

He could easily have pried it off with his strength, but his hand gripped it tightly like a withered branch; if he tried to pry it off, his arm would likely break.

Looking at Lao Jiang's pleading eyes, Li Ye knew perfectly well that he had deliberately brought him here at this time to get rid of him, the strongest one.

In other words, Lao Jiang knew very well that his granddaughter was going to run away.

"Why are you doing this?" Li Ye shook his head at him. "That place is the underworld. Even I wouldn't dare to get close. Your granddaughter will die the moment she crosses the River of Bitterness."

The only answer he received was Old Jiang's weak, pleading voice: "I'm dying. Her parents are over there. I've taken care of their child for so long, and it's time for me to be free."

In response, Li Ye could only sigh, "I hope she didn't destroy too many rice plants."

This is tacitly acknowledging his granddaughter's escape, since they were the ones who pulled him ashore, and he still acknowledges that debt of gratitude.

Besides, they chose this path themselves.

……

Once the commotion outside had almost subsided, Li Ye and Lao Jiang left the ancestral hall. The villagers looked at Lao Jiang with complicated expressions, remaining silent.

They protected the ripe rice paddy but wouldn't let Lao Jiang get close.

Old Jiang didn't say anything and silently returned to his room.

After his increasingly hunched figure disappeared, just as the villagers were about to speak, Li Ye gently shook his head and raised his palm.

His voice was as gentle as ever, soothing all the restlessness and unease.
"The rice is ripe."

"Nothing is more important than eating! Come on, let's harvest the rice!"

The villagers looked at each other in bewilderment, and one by one they began to harvest the rice. There were no empty ears of rice; each ear was extremely plump, and each ear weighed a full two pounds!
The harvesting process was certainly tiring, but everyone had excited smiles on their faces, and soon all the rice was piled up on the cleared ground that had been prepared long ago.

But it was at this moment that...

An unusual phenomenon occurred—

From the plump ears of rice, grains of rice, trailing golden light, detached directly from their husks and surged towards the sky.

With an indescribable, warm fragrance, it gathered in the sky to form a river, stretching across the gray and lightless horizon.

There were so many of them that, although some were just phantoms, they filled the entire sky above this Hell Path stronghold.

At the end of the rice river, where the grains of rice surge, they impact something.

Before long, a spatial portal appeared.

Before the spiritual energy from the outside world surged out from within.

"Crack!"

A bamboo sword, imbued with terrifying and sharp spiritual energy and already at the Golden Core stage, tore through space and arrived.

It also included a somewhat confused mutter:
"Weird."

"Why do I sense the aura of Brother Li's sword talisman here?"

"My sword..."

(End of this chapter)