At first, Lu Shisi’s movements were stiff as he dug.

But by the second pass through the soil, his motions had grown smooth and practiced.

Leaning his hoe against the field’s edge, hands on his hips, Lu Shisi surveyed the freshly turned soil and sighed contentedly.

Back in his childhood, he’d been the best hoe-swinging lad in the entire village.

“Village Chief, I’ve finished tilling the field.” Lu Shisi turned around. Qin Zhou wasn’t idle either, squatting on the ground, placing a Spirit Heart Fruit seedling into each small pit, looking every bit the diligent… young fellow.

Shisi rubbed his nose. He still couldn’t quite get used to the Village Chief’s appearance as a young man. Though he could tell this body didn’t seem to belong to the Village Chief himself.

“Hmm. Go back and fill in all the pits where I planted the Spirit Heart seeds. Don’t pack the soil too tightly.”

“Got it!” Lu Shisi scampered off cheerfully.

Halfway there, Shisi suddenly whirled around—

“Village Chief, you still haven’t told me—where have you been all these years?!”

Qin Zhou had anticipated this question. Without pausing his planting, he replied, “…I returned to my hometown.”

Lu Shisi froze. “Where is the village chief’s hometown?”

“Beyond the Heavens.”

Lu Shisi understood at once. “No wonder we couldn’t find the village chief, no matter how hard we searched.”

Qin Zhou knew Shisi grasped his meaning. After ten thousand years, the surviving villagers were no longer the young, inexperienced youths they once were.

“How have you been?” Qin Zhou asked.

While swinging his hoe, Shisi cheerfully replied, “I’m doing just fine. I’m getting on in years now. With little to do all day, I found a quiet mountain slope. I plant flowers, raise pets, and live a carefree life.”

Qin Zhou stared at his face for a moment.

Shisi’s portrait depicted a boyish youth—even now, he looked barely eighteen or nineteen. Hearing him speak with such world-weary wisdom felt jarringly incongruous.

“If you’ve nothing to do, come tend my fields,” Qin Zhou replied.

Lu Shi: “…”

Pretend he never said that.

“Village Chief, I can’t stay in the lower realm much longer,” Shi said earnestly. “The laws of heaven and earth forbid us from lingering in the mortal world. Staying too long damages our divine essence.”

Qin Zhou raised his eyes. “Understood. Next time, send Lu Qi instead.”

At this, Lu Shisi’s expression flickered, but in an instant, he smiled again. “Right, Village Chief. Don’t just pick on me.”

“So when will you be able to go to the Upper Realm?”

Qin Zhou: “What cultivation level is needed to reach the Upper Realm?”

“The Nascent Soul stage?” Lu Shisi said uncertainly. “I forgot.” He chuckled.

Qin Zhou: “That’s still a long way off.”

Lu Shisi knew he was only at the second stage of Qi Cultivation, so he chuckled, “Next time I come, I’ll bring the Village Chief something good.”

Qin Zhou: “Alright.”

Qin Zhou didn’t refuse. He genuinely needed to improve his cultivation. If the village’s old connections could be useful, it would save trouble. Of course, Qin Zhou also sensed a hint of expectation in his words.

But Qin Zhou didn’t ask.

Lu Shisi perked up again, swinging his hoe faster.

“Shisi, tell me about the others,” Qin Zhou asked suddenly.

Hearing this, Shisi’s hoe jerked sideways, nearly smashing the fruit pits in the hole.

Turning to look, he saw Qin Zhou staring at him. Shisi grinned, “Which one does the village chief want to know about?”

Qin Zhou remained silent, but his gaze spoke volumes.

As if oblivious, Shisi continued, “Second Brother became a Sword Master. Third and Fifth Brothers are still the same—one hides in the mountains forging weapons, the other hides in the mountains refining elixirs.” He chuckled, listing them like treasured possessions. “Some live free as wild geese like me, while others… well, they’ve fallen.”

Not everyone can live well. After all, time had changed everything. Looking back, ten thousand years had passed.

“What about Lu Yi?”

A flicker of surprise crossed Shisi’s face. “…The Village Chief is still the same.”

His partiality was so well-known that it was common knowledge.

He had every reason to suspect the Village Chief summoned him first to ask about Lu Yi’s whereabouts!

“If I were to say Lu Yi is dead, how would the Village Chief react?” Shisi asked.

Qin Zhou’s eyes darkened slightly. “I would ask you for the full story.”

“Village Chief. Lu Yi isn’t dead.” Shisi chuckled again.

Qin Zhou: …

“Shisi.”

“Here, Village Chief.”

“Go clear a new plot of wasteland later. Turn it over three times.” Qin Zhou said coldly.

Shisi: “…”

Biased devil! Can’t even crack a joke without getting called out!

Just as he was about to hoist his hoe and leave, Qin Zhou’s voice suddenly sounded behind him again.

“Shisi.”

Lu Shisi turned. “What?”

“Next time you come, find a Soul-Birth Grass and bring it.”

Soul-Birth Grass could be used in medicine, capable of reviving the dead. Soul-Birth Grass grew in places where the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was most potent. It was a legendary seventh-tier alchemy ingredient, used to refine the supreme seventh-tier elixir—

The Soul-Birth Pill.

The moment Lu Shisi heard the words “Soul-Birth Grass,” he nearly leapt to his feet. “Village Chief, you might as well demand my life! Soul-Birth Grass? A seventh-tier pill ingredient? I’d have to turn the entire upper realm upside down and still wouldn’t find it!”

“Soul-Birth Grass can save your life,” Qin Zhou said calmly.

Shisi’s heart skipped a beat.

The previously lighthearted atmosphere instantly turned heavy.

“Village Chief, you…” The playful expression vanished from Shisi’s face. He stared at Qin Zhou, his pupils slightly contracting. Finally, he bowed his head slightly. “Village Chief, I can’t find the Soul-Birth Grass.”

“Three grams of White Crane Tears, five stems of Soul-Restoring Grass. A sixth-tier Soul-Stabilizing Pill could also prolong your life.”

Shisi snapped his head up.

“You can’t find these either?” Qin Zhou frowned. Were the spiritual treasures of the upper realm even scarcer than he’d imagined?

“I can find them! I can find them!” Shisi replied urgently, his eyes crinkling with laughter.

“Mm.”

After responding, Qin Zhou rose, straightened his robes, and prepared to leave.

“Village Chief, where are you going?” Shisi couldn’t help asking.

Was he just leaving like that?

“To inspect the well,” Qin Zhou said solemnly. “We need well water for irrigation.”

Shisi: …

Right, right, right. The village chief only cares about this piece of barren land.

But how did the village chief know his soul was so severely damaged?

Oh well.

Shisi shook his head, hoisted his hoe, and headed for the next patch of wasteland.

Reaching higher ground, he glanced back and caught sight of the small village nestled below the distant hillside.

He had lived here for over a century. Was this now a return to his roots?

Once, this place held beautiful mountains and waters, his senior and junior disciples, and a biased village chief.

It had once held all the liveliness the world could offer.

Shisi wiped away an imaginary tear, his heart heavy with emotion.

Strange. Why did he feel that if his father returned, he wouldn’t have to wander anymore?

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

It wasn’t surprising that Qin Zhou could see Shisi’s condition.

Back when he played games, he could monitor villagers’ physical conditions through the character roster. Like when Lu Yi was forced to consume Marrow Cleansing Pills until he reached [Weakened].

Since using the Spirit Marrow to reactivate the ‘Zhutian Small Village’ character roster, he could see the villagers’ states again.

In the top right corner of that baby-faced youth’s character portrait, the words [Critically Wounded] were written in stark, glaring letters.

That was precisely why he summoned Shisi over.

As for how Qin Zhou could tell Shisi’s soul was damaged… He simply saw it the moment he opened his eyes. He had soul-transferred into this world, yet he seemed to retain certain characteristics from the game’s mechanics. Even Qin Zhou himself hadn’t yet figured out the reason behind this, so it shall be set aside for now.

Shisi was gravely injured.

Soul damage in this world was more severe than physical death and far harder to treat.

What exactly happened to Lu Shisi to cause such soul damage remained unknown.

Qin Zhou could refine the Soul-Stabilizing Pill, but the ingredients were hard to come by. Any herb capable of stabilizing a soul was at least a fifth-tier spirit material. Fortunately, according to Shisi, he possessed the ability to live a carefree life in the Upper Realm, so gathering the ingredients shouldn’t be too difficult.

It was just refining a pill.

Qin Zhou gazed at his reflection in the well, his heart serene.

The Spirit Spring Well was usable again.

Harvesting Spirit Heart Fruits once a month should allow his cultivation to advance rapidly.

Reaching the Upper Realm likely wouldn’t take much time either.

He knew Shisi had held back in his words today, but Qin Zhou chose not to press him.

As far as he knew, Shisi was closest to Lu Yi and Lu Qi. Yet when he inquired about others’ whereabouts, Shisi mentioned everyone except those two.

Moreover, in his character roster, Lu Yi remained in an unsummonable state.

These events… all pointed to the fact that during his nearly ten thousand years away from the game, truly significant changes had unfolded.

Ripple upon ripple rippled across the well’s surface. As Qin Zhou watched, a sudden question welled up in his mind—

Even if unreachable, Shisi wouldn’t deceive him. Lu Yi must still be alive.

But if Lu Yi was still alive…

How could the Bright Moon Reflecting Snow be adorning Wen Jue’s head?

A wild thought suddenly took root in Qin Zhou’s mind—

Lu Yi…Wen Jue…

“Village Chief, why are you giving me this hairpin?” The still-youthful young man stared at the white jade hairpin resting in his palm, his pupils contracting in shock. Then, as if realizing something, he abruptly took two steps back.

“It’s a birthday gift.” Qin Zhou, not thinking much of it at the time, used an interaction action and ruffled the youth’s hair.

“No, how could you give me a hairpin?!” The youth raised his voice once more.

“What’s wrong with giving a hairpin?”

The youth muttered under his breath, “…Old Qi said, back when he was roaming the streets, he heard a storyteller mention that hairpins were used as tokens of affection.”

At the time, Qin Zhou hadn’t thought much of it. After all, hairpins did carry that sort of connotation.

However, Bright Moon Reflecting Snow was the first top-tier accessory he had forged, and its attributes suited Lu Yi perfectly. He hadn’t taken it back.

Back then, his mind was consumed with leveling up. He wanted to equip Lu Yi with every top-tier item possible, so at the time, he’d merely remarked that the game’s AI was well-made.

But what if, from that moment onward… the villagers he encountered weren’t just simple artificial intelligence?

After meeting Shisi, Qin Zhou became even more certain of this.

What if Lu Yi wasn’t just the character Lu Yi, but the living, breathing Lu Yi of this world?

Then it wouldn’t be impossible for Lu Yi to treat a hairpin as a token of affection and pass it on to someone else.

If that were the case, it could explain why Wen Jue wore Bright Moon Reflecting Snow and cast a barrier over the village.

The thought was so absurd that it plunged Qin Zhou into silence.

But in the blink of an eye, he shook his head.

Lu Yi wouldn’t give away something he’d been given. Ever since becoming his villager, that kid had been nothing but competitive and possessive.

Asking him to believe Lu Yi and Wen Jue had any connection was like asking him to believe they were the same person.

After meeting Shisi, Qin Zhou began looking forward to seeing Lu Yi.

As for Wen Jue.

Ah, Wen Jue…

Recalling that name, Qin Zhou could almost feel the sensation that had once flowed through his fingertips.

He lowered his gaze to the well.

The water’s surface, which should have been as still as a mirror, now rippled with countless, inexplicable waves.