After two more days of labor, all the new fruit cores were planted.

Lu Er and Lu Qi found carrying water for irrigation too cumbersome, so they dug another well for Qin Zhou on the back mountain. This is well connected to the one in the courtyard, so the water flowing from both was rich in spiritual energy.

Lu Wu and Baixing immersed themselves in the alchemy room, processing the list of pills delivered by Snowflake Pavilion.

Shisi swept the courtyard and affixed a festive “Fu” character to the gate.

Though they no longer celebrated the mortal New Year, everyone tacitly followed the traditions of past celebrations in their preparations.

Of course, they skipped the part where everyone gathered around to chat during the festivities.

Too much talk could easily give them away.

Thanks to everyone’s efforts, the fieldwork was temporarily wrapped up.

After spending several days in the lower realm, the divine bodies of the Immortal Lords had grown noticeably dim. In the end, it was Lu Wu who dug into his own pockets, distributing a generous supply of Core Stabilizing Pills to the group.

Qin Zhou watched this scene with deep satisfaction.

Yet he knew full well that times had changed, and none of them could remain in the village forever.

Parting would inevitably come.

“There are still matters to attend to at the sect. I… will come visit the village chief again next time,” Lu Er said.

Fang Huai, gravely wounded, had already been sent back by the men he’d summoned. Likewise, his disciple’s message had reached him. The secret realm was about to open, and he still needed to remain in command.

“This is the guest elder token of the Cangyun Sword Sect. Though… it may not match your stature, it is the highest-grade token the Sword Sect can issue.” Lu Er pressed his lips together. “It’s not a valuable item, but please accept it.”

Lu Qi glanced at the elder token Lu Er held out. It was no ordinary guest elder token. Engraved upon it were the words ‘Sword Sect’s Minghe Peak’. This token represented not merely a guest elder of the Sword Sect, but a guest of honor of the Cangyun Sword Immortal. With this token in hand, the righteous sects dared not offend.

Both were leaders of the righteous and demonic paths. If Lu Er wished to leave, Lu Qi would not hold him back.

“What are you saying? We’re clearly leaving together.” Lu Qi smiled, stepping beside Lu Er.

“I haven’t brought much, but I happen to have a token myself. Village Chief, should you ever journey to the upper realm, remember to come visit me.” Lu Qi produced a jet-black jade token hanging from his waist.

This was no ordinary object—it was the token of the Supreme Patriarch of the Demon Sect. To see this token was to see the Supreme Patriarch himself. Any demon cultivator with discernment understood what this signified.

“Very well.” Qin Zhou nodded, taking both tokens.

Qin Zhou accepted them without hesitation. He would certainly journey to the upper realm someday. With these tokens to smooth his path, he wouldn’t have to take many detours.

The only thing that made him sigh was that the one giving red envelopes during the New Year had changed from him to them.

As they were all leaving, Lu Wu naturally said, “Baixing has other matters to attend to on this trip, so we won’t stay long. If there’s anything you need help with, just summon me, Village Chief.”

“Grandmaster, this is the token of Yuanqing Mountain.” Baixing also presented his sect leader’s token with both hands.

“Very well.” Qin Zhou took it. The three tokens felt heavy in his hand.

Shisi glanced around at everyone, then asked, “Then I should also…” Suddenly, he reached for his waist. “Village Chief, I didn’t bring my token!”

“Your retirement sect? Forget about giving them any token,” Lu Qi retorted, giving Shisi a pat on the head.

Shisi glared at him angrily.

“You should return, too,” Qin Zhou said. “With your injuries, it’s best not to linger in the lower realm.”

Shisi obediently nodded, though his rebellious thoughts raged: You didn’t speak like this when you made me farm two fields’ worth of land.

Even without a token, he was the most skilled farmer. When the Village Chief needed hands, he would always call on him.

One by one, their figures vanished at the village entrance. Qin Zhou watched them depart, then turned to leave—only to find Wen Jue standing behind him, as if waiting.

As Qin Zhou approached, before he could speak, Wen Jue spoke first. “I’m not leaving.”

Qin Zhou paused, then asked, “Don’t you have important matters in the upper realm?”

Wen Jue replied, “I do, but it’s the New Year. It wouldn’t be right to leave you alone. I’m different from them—they have sect obligations, but I’m unattached. I can go wherever I please.”

“I’m not exactly alone either,” Qin Zhou replied. “My parents are spending the New Year in the provincial capital this year. They wrote inviting me to join them, but it’s the busy farming season, so I declined. If I want company, I can always go to the city.”

“Aren’t you the one who took over someone else’s body? The Qin family’s parents aren’t yours.”

Qin Zhou: “…”

“By the way, what was your name before you became Qin Zhou?” Wen Jue asked curiously.

”Qin Zhou.“

”I meant when you were village chief! Everyone else has the Lu surname—why not you?“

”That was my mother’s surname,“ Qin Zhou replied as he walked back. ”I was very close to my mother, but she passed away when I was young. I gave the villagers the Lu surname to honor her memory.”

It was precisely his mother’s death that dealt a heavy blow to his young heart. During his adolescence, Qin Zhou preferred solitude—staying in his room, immersing himself in games.

Rather than navigate the taciturn bond with his father, he found greater comfort in the village.

Staying in that village, which even looked ramshackle, watching Lu Yi jump around, was his source of comfort and joy.

Wen Jue let out a soft “Ah, I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?” Qin Zhou shook his head with a smile.

“My parents died young, too. I was a refugee when I was little. Later, I was adopted. The person who raised me… well, they never let me suffer much hardship.“ Wen Jue’s face flushed with embarrassment. ”…I guess that’s not much consolation either.“

Qin Zhou spoke frankly, ”Wen Xianjun’s way of comforting people is quite unconventional.”

Well, at least it showed he’d done a decent job raising the kid.

“Having one is good enough,” Wen Jue shot him a glare.

“Staying in the lower realm—can your divine essence handle it?”

“Don’t you still have those sixth-tier sugar bean balls?”

True.

“So next step is hunting for third-tier spirit heart fruits?”

“Mhm.”

“Does that mean you’re heading to the upper realm?” Wen Jue asked.

“I must. I promised Lu Wu and his disciple a reward. I need to retrieve my forge and forging hammer.” Qin Zhou lifted his gaze, fixing it on Wen Jue. “Have you seen my forging hammer?”

Wen Jue nearly choked on his drink. “H-how could I have seen it? Didn’t you say you stored it in the warehouse, but the warehouse was lost?”

“Actually…” Qin Zhou mused, “I have a pretty good idea who took it.”

“Who?”

“A certain troublesome villager.” Qin Zhou sighed.

Wen Jue!

How… how could he badmouth someone right to their face!

Qin Zhou: “Never mind. Once we reach the upper realm, we’ll find him and deal with it.”

Wen Jue followed closely behind Qin Zhou. Hearing this, he couldn’t help but ask, “What will you do once you find him? If he really did take it from your warehouse… what then?”

“He’ll get a good spanking.”

Spanking!

Wen Jue’s cheeks burned. “That’s it?”

A flicker of resignation crossed Qin Zhou’s eyes. “Yeah, that’s it.”

The only person who could access his warehouse was Lu Yi.

It wasn’t that he’d granted Lu Yi warehouse permissions. Rather, among all the villagers, only Lu Yi possessed the ability to open his warehouse.

Each villager had their own special skill—

Lu Er excelled with the sword, his technique so formidable that even Lu Yi was slightly outmatched.

Lu Qi was a master strategist, adept at deploying troops and devising military tactics.

Lu Wu excelled at alchemy, achieving the rank of Fifth-Tier Grand Alchemist at a young age.

Lu San excelled at artifact forging, having mastered the true teachings of Qin Zhou, the top artifact master.

Lu Yi was slightly different. He dabbled in everything and possessed the highest combat prowess in the entire village. But in truth, beyond these skills, Lu Yi possessed his own ‘unique talent’—

His mastery over spiritual energy was so profound that even Qin Zhou would be left in awe.

From a very young age, Lu Yi learned to weave intricate nets from dense spiritual energy. These nets of spiritual energy were commonly known as barriers. Logically, merely excelling at deploying barriers seemed hardly remarkable.

But Lu Yi wasn’t merely skilled with barriers. He could shape spiritual energy into shields—small enough to fit on a fingertip, yet hard as diamond. He could also condense spiritual energy into needles, unleashing a hail of needles that could pierce through anything.

When Lu Yi was still young, he had already managed to break into his game warehouse using spiritual energy.

Qin Zhou found it utterly unbelievable. The game inventory was part of the game system itself, yet Lu Yi, a game NPC, could break into a player’s inventory? It was nothing short of miraculous.

Faced with Qin Zhou’s astonishment, Lu Yi merely chuckled, “Because I was curious what the Village Chief kept in his treasure chest!”

Had Lu Yi not been his favorite villager, and had Lu Yi not truly stuck to his word of merely peeking inside without ever taking anything, he likely would have reported it as a bug to the game developers right then and there.

Looking back now, what Lu Yi had unlocked wasn’t the game’s warehouse code, but the barrier seal protecting the warehouse that recognized him as its master. A barrier of cosmic law-level difficulty.

Therefore, even if he logged out of the game, the only one who could access his warehouse was Lu Yi.

“He’s the only one who can open the warehouse.”

Wen Jue’s fist slowly clenched.

“But now the warehouse is gone,” Wen Jue’s voice was low. “…Do you think he might have taken the warehouse and everything inside for himself?”

Qin Zhou answered decisively: “I don’t think so.”

After Qin Zhou quit the game, Wen Jue bought up all the land in the village, keeping the deeds in his own hands.

Not only that, but he had sealed the entire area with a barrier.

Imposing a barrier on a village might not sound like a monumental feat.

Yet Qin Zhou searched every inch of the surrounding mountains and found not a single barrier stone. This meant the barrier had always been sustained by Wen Jue himself.

Then he recalled his own arrival—merely stepping onto this land had drawn Wen Jue to the lower realm.

How could someone who guarded every brick and tile of this village so meticulously open the warehouse and secretly take those items?

Besides, while the items in the warehouse might seem like rare treasures to ordinary cultivators, to Lu Yi, they were hardly worth mentioning.

Qin Zhou prided himself on his generosity, especially toward Lu Yi. He would never withhold truly valuable items from Lu Yi.

“Hmm.” Wen Jue unclenched his fist and smiled. “It’s possible… he merely borrowed them. Perhaps when you go to the upper realm to find him, he’ll return them to you.”

“Yes,” Qin Zhou sighed. “Perhaps he’s been waiting all along, waiting for me to come find him.”

Wen Jue nodded softly: “…Mhm.”

Qin Zhou suddenly reached out and grasped Wen Jue’s hand.

His fingertips felt slightly cooler than his scorching palm.

Wen Jue looked down, his reaction painfully slow.

“…What are you doing? “

”Sugar bean balls.“ Qin Zhou released his grip, and Wen Jue found a Core Stabilizing Pill resting in his palm.

Wen Jue: “…“

The old man seemed to be molesting him, but he couldn’t find any evidence!

”Eat it.”

Wen Jue’s palm tingled.

Slowly, he popped it into his mouth. His tongue felt its heat, carrying someone’s body temperature, so scorching it made his heart tremble.

“Next time,” Wen Jue muttered, “the box for the medicine needs to be better than the velvet one.”

If Shisi wanted a velvet box, then his had to be superior.

“Understood.”