A man from the Big Dipper, starting his charlatanship at Mount Tai.

[Purpose of transmigration: To retrieve system components, presumably related to the Heavenly Dao. According to the rules of the mythological Three Kingdoms world, system components will most likely be attached to various generals or famous objects.]

Total permitted stay: 1000 days.

[During the 1000 days that the system's power exists, time in the world of Shrouding the Heavens will completely stand still.]

[Once the host has fully gained the approval of the Heavenly Dao of the Three Kingdoms world, they may remain in that world indefinitely.]

However, if the stay exceeds 1000 days, the system's time-stop effect will disappear, and the time flow in both worlds will be completely synchronized.

"Still the same 1000-day stay as before~"

Although 1000 days seems like a lot of time, Lin Xiu doesn't intend to waste it. He plans to complete the collection of system components for this world as soon as possible.

[Ding! Successfully traveled through time!]

[Current World: A Three Kingdoms World in the Context of Spiritual Awakening.]

[After collecting the system components of this world, the host's Daoist space can further evolve.]

At that time, the host can choose to evolve in different directions.

[Direction 1: Pure enhancement of evolutionary abilities.]

[Direction Two: Enhancement of abilities in random directions other than evolutionary abilities.]

"The Three Kingdoms period, a time of spiritual energy revival..."

Lin Xiu stared at the words on the panel, lost in thought.

He had just transmigrated from the world of "Covering the Sky" and was now standing on a dirt road.

The sky was overcast, and the autumn wind carried a chill. In the distance, rolling hills stretched out, while nearby fields lay barren, overgrown with weeds taller than a person.

The air was filled with the smell of dust and withered grass.

Lin Xiu squatted down and grabbed a handful of soil.

The soil was very dry and crumbled easily when squeezed, but he sensed a very faint trace of earth-elemental spiritual energy.

The next second, Lin Xiu looked at a withered yellow weed by the roadside. The grass leaves were wilted and yellow, but there was a faint flow of wood spirit energy deep in the veins of the leaves.

"The spiritual energy is there, but it's too thin." Lin Xiu frowned slightly.

This concentration of spiritual energy is almost useless to cultivators, but for mortals, perhaps... it can slightly strengthen their bodies?

......

Just as Lin Xiu was comprehending this world, a sound suddenly came from the bushes not far away.

Lin Xiu looked up and saw a person trembling as they stood up from the withered grass.

He was a man in his thirties, dressed in tattered clothes that barely covered his body. He was sallow and emaciated, with deeply sunken cheeks and bulging eyes.

The swelling in his arms and calves showed that he had been malnourished for a long time.

When the man saw Lin Xiu, a glint of light flashed in his cloudy eyes. He stumbled over, his steps unsteady, and knelt down in front of Lin Xiu with a thud.

"Honorable sir...please have mercy...give me something to eat...thin porridge...wild vegetable soup...anything will do..." The man's voice was very hoarse as he kept kowtowing.

Looking at the man in front of him, Lin Xiu felt a feeling he had never experienced before.

Whether before or after his time travel, he lived in a modern world where material life was abundant.

Even when he reached the Big Dipper, it was still a battle between cultivators; the poverty of mortals seemed too far removed from him.

But seeing this living, breathing person on the verge of starvation, kneeling before him in the most humble posture, begging for food, made Lin Xiu fully realize that he ultimately lived in a material and real world.

Cultivators fight and die for treasures and resources. Although it sounds a bit cruel, it is still too gentle compared to the most primitive struggle for survival.

........

Before Lin Xiu could speak, figures began to rise one after another from the roadside bushes, ditches, and behind withered trees.

These figures included men and women, young and old, all of them thin and bony with sunken eyes.

When they saw the man kneeling and begging, and when they saw Lin Xiu dressed in a neat and new blue robe with an otherworldly air, they immediately clung to him like a lifeline and gathered around him.

Chapter 111 The Immortal Master Helps the People (Fourth Update)

"My lord... please give me some food..."

"My baby hasn't eaten for three days, and is about to die..."

"Please have mercy..."

The crowd grew larger and larger, probably numbering in the hundreds.

They knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly. Some held infants in their arms; the children were too weak to even cry, only breathing faintly with their little mouths open.

Lin Xiu's gaze swept across the crowd, his mood growing increasingly heavy.

Among these refugees, adult men accounted for 70-80%. Less than 30% had wives and children, and most of them had wives who were emaciated and children who were on the verge of death.

Many more men... were alone.

"......"

The next second, Lin Xiu manifested the Heavenly Evolution Abacus.

The results of the deduction were not unexpected.

Most of the time, families fled together, but as time went by, the weaker ones gradually died, while the adult men, who were the strongest and most able to withstand hunger, were the ones who survived the most.

As for their family members who died under various circumstances... they became the sustenance that kept them going.

Exchanging children for food was extremely common in ancient times.

........

Lin Xiu closed his eyes, then opened them again.

A few seconds later, he walked to a nearly dried-up stream by the roadside and took out an ordinary ceramic bowl from his spool.

Lin Xiu lowered himself and slowly scooped up a bowl of river water. With a slight thought, the Daoist space manifested, and a wisp of "Spirit Rice Daoist Rhyme" seeped from his fingertips and disappeared into the bowl.

The water was still murky, but a faint golden glow emanated from it, with a slight spiritual energy rippled outwards.

Lin Xiu, carrying the bowl, walked back to the man who had knelt down first.

"Drink this and you won't be hungry anymore."

The man looked up at the bowl of murky "water" and paused. There was hesitation and fear in his eyes, but more than anything, there was a numb, reckless acceptance.

Finally, with trembling hands, he took the broken bowl, tilted his head back, and gulped it down.

The bowl was empty.

The man wiped his mouth and stood there blankly. After a few moments, his eyes widened suddenly, and he looked down at his stomach.

I'm really not hungry anymore!

The burning, agonizing hunger that made me want to gnaw on tree bark disappeared.

Not only that, the swelling caused by malnutrition in her body subsided at a visible speed. Although she was still skin and bones, the feeling of being on the verge of death was greatly reduced.

"This...this is..."

The man touched his face in disbelief, then looked at Lin Xiu, and knelt down again with a thud, kowtowing three times heavily.

"Celestial magic! It's celestial magic! Thank you, Celestial Master! Thank you, Celestial Master!"

.......

Seeing the man's reaction, the surrounding vagrants immediately erupted in uproar.

"A Celestial Master! A Celestial Master who cultivates immortal arts!"

"Please, Immortal Master, save us! Save us!"

"I'll serve the immortal master like a slave! All I ask for is a bite to eat!"

The crowd knelt down again, their kowtows mingling with pleas, echoing along the desolate dirt road.

Lin Xiu looked at these people and fell silent again.

Those withered, sallow faces, those eyes that shone with the last glimmer of hope amidst despair, deeply moved him.

He knew they didn't care if the water was dirty or who the person in front of them was; they just wanted to survive.

He suddenly remembered the cultivators in the world of Shrouding the Heavens who fought to the death for a spiritual herb or an ancient scripture.

Is this... the true face of humanity amidst chaos...?

Lin Xiu raised his hand, and a golden light flashed in the void, and a large water vat, half the height of a person, landed by the roadside.

Next, Lin Xiu drew a stream of water from the distant river and poured it into the vat, quickly filling it to the brim.

Then, he activated the Daoist space again, replicating dozens of strands of "Spirit Rice Daoist Rhyme" and throwing them into the water tank.

The clear water in the jar shimmered with a faint golden light; though its spiritual energy was weak, it had a powerful satiating effect.

Lin Xiu knew that all these people wanted was to have enough to eat, so he didn't replicate any pure source Dao rhyme, but instead replicated the spirit rice Dao rhyme that could fill their stomachs the most.

.......

"Line up, one bowl per person."

Lin Xiu said softly.

After realizing that the water in the vat might have the same effect as the water in the bowl, the refugees were stunned for a moment, then rushed frantically towards the vat.

However, at Lin Xiu's indifferent glance, the refugees stopped in their tracks and formed a long, trembling queue.

The first person to drink the water collapsed to the ground, clutching the bowl and wailing.

A couple embraced each other, tears streaming down their faces.

A mother gave water to her child, who drank it in small sips, and finally a glimmer of life returned to his face.

Lin Xiu stood by the vat, watching them.

A bowl of "holy water" can satisfy hunger for three days.

What about three days later?

If he leaves, these people will still starve to death.

But can he take them with him? The affairs of the world of "Covering the Sky" are not yet resolved, and he cannot stay in this world for long. The 1000 days given by the system is the limit he can stay.