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...

Baihe Village isn’t considered a big village; most people know each other, so news about the Ma Family spread quickly.

The next day.

"Uncle Ma, your legs... are they healed?"

"Did you manage to find a doctor from the city? Can you recommend us too?"

Someone, surprised at Ma Dashu’s condition, couldn’t help but step forward and ask.

The latter waved his hand, quickly denying, "That’s not it, I don’t have money to hire a doctor from the city to treat an injury, it just healed on its own."

"You were hit so badly, can it really heal?"

"Nonsense, don’t you see, I’m about to go into the mountains to chop wood again!"

The day after.

"This isn’t right, why do I feel that the fellow from the Ma Family seems to be getting younger? He can chop down an old tree with just a dozen axe strokes without even pausing for breath!"

During rest breaks from chopping wood, the villagers naturally turned their discussion to the Ma Family.

"Hey, never mind Old Ma, Old Guan is even stranger. His back pain has been an issue for years, and it hurts so much he can’t stand when it rains. Hey, guess what, I saw him carrying two logs as thick as bowls straight home yesterday. Such ability, even a young guy might not manage!" someone declared confidently.

"Isn’t it a coincidence, I heard from Aunt Wang next door that she heard Grandfather Guan knocking on the Ma Family’s door the night before last and then was invited inside, saying he was there to drink and eat meat."

"Really? Liquor can at least be stored, but in these times, getting some meat isn’t easy."

The fourth day.

The villagers’ conversations nearly all focused on the Ma Family and the strange occurrences of recent days.

"Last night, I heard screams coming from the Ma Family’s courtyard! It sounded like Wang Daji’s voice."

"What, he visited the Ma Family too?"

"Yeah, doesn’t he have a tumor on his right cheek? But today, I saw him, and the tumor was gone; it was the first time I saw both his eyes wide open!"

This news instantly stirred up the villagers’ emotions.

"What’s really going on? Even city doctors can’t fix such issues, did Old Ma really stumble upon a treasure?"

"As if he had a chance to find a treasure, clearly it was his son who found it! My wife saw Ma Shun yesterday; he actually dared to come back! If there wasn’t a treasure, do you think he’d sneak back alone?"

"Hah, you’re all wrong," another chuckled, "what treasure, that kid clearly met someone of great skill. Haven’t you noticed Lady Qiu goes more often to the neighboring town to buy food?"

"A master? You mean... an Upper Immortal is living in their home?"

"Exactly, Old Ma is keeping it from us! Anyway, today I’m taking some dried meat to visit, I doubt Old Ma would refuse to open the door!"

A week later, the fact that an Immortal was residing in the Ma home was common knowledge, but meeting the Upper Immortal wasn’t so easy; one had to first request the favor through the Ma children and wait in line accordingly. The Upper Immortal only met about twenty people a night, and with over five hundred villagers, it would take nearly a month for everyone to get a turn.

But what does that matter?

In a small place like Baihe Village, forget an Upper Immortal; even a Loose Cultivator is hard to encounter. Even if one is around, asking them for help invariably proves highly challenging. It’s said that even slightly skilled Cultivators are eagerly sought after by wealthy families in Yongtang City for huge sums, something beyond the villagers’ reach.

But now everyone merely had to wait patiently to receive the Upper Immortal’s blessing, like a pie dropping from the sky!

However, some rumors were quietly spreading.

That the Upper Immortal wasn’t human.

As for what he really was, opinions varied widely. Some said he was a transformed Great Demon who had completely obtained human form; others believed he was a True Immortal banished to earth, looking different was normal; yet others speculated he was an Immortal Master from an ancient Sect, compelled to go incognito due to persecution by the Lotus Cloud Sect...

When discussing these topics, everyone had their own thoughts and feelings, but several facts were apparent to all: currently, no villager had died at his hands; those injured, no matter new or old injuries, could fully heal after receiving his grace; a lucky few even experienced dramatic changes, like Lady Qiu from the Ma family.

She could now carry five or six water buckets swiftly, load finished charcoal onto a cart with one hand, and jump onto rooftops with a single bound... Her reputation was already quite good, lively, and efficient, ranking among the top girls in Baihe Village, but these changes couldn’t simply be attributed to good nature and hard work.

Undoubtedly, the Upper Immortal’s blessings were hierarchical.

Who wouldn’t want to gain strength like Ma Qiuniang’s? In Baihe Village, the benefits of increased strength were substantial, allowing for more trees to be felled, more charcoal to be made, and selling them to city charcoals merchants would earn more money. Especially now, with every household lacking young labor, the Upper Immortal’s blessings appeared even more precious.

Some villagers even set up incense burners at home.

No need to say who the incense is dedicated to.

...

Chen Xuan hadn’t stayed at the Ma house all this time.

For each use of Decomposition and Re-Fusion on someone, it consumed a part of his Spiritual Qi, and before villagers were forcibly promoted to "Cultivators," the benefits they brought him were almost negligible. If he solely relied on Baihe Village to accumulate Thought Power, it might take three or four years with little effect.

Therefore, to speed up the initial efficiency, he had to self-fund to subsidize villagers, manually implanting abilities into them. As to where this funding came from, the answer was clear... naturally from targeting Demon Fiends.

Luckily, the neighboring Tugou Mountain, though not high in elevation, was fairly vast, stretching north for about two hundred meters, and even from a bird’s eye view, it was hard to see the end. Besides a few official roads, over ninety percent is undeveloped wilderness, only frequented by hunters, medicine farmers, and bandits.

And on the desolate mountain ravines and stone peaks lived numerous Mountain Demons large and small. These Demon Fiends rarely took the initiative to attack human towns, so few Loose Cultivators troubled them, yet this "peace" was now disrupted by Chen Xuan.

Daytime became his hunting time.

He sent a thrush to survey the nearby mountains, using Heart Method to scan for concentrations of Spiritual Qi. Once he confirmed a demon, he would instantly teleport to the bird’s form and then revert to human form—without doing this, he couldn’t use his abilities. Nearly all Mountain Demons were weak demons, having no resistance against a forbidden hunt, as a single Decomposition and Re-Fusion could completely dismantle them, and the ones who ran fast couldn’t escape the combined lethal effect of Law Decree True Words and the Thousand Thoughts Sword.

With no more "spell slots," Chen Xuan had become an unstoppable dueling master, excelling both inside and out, ranging from far to near. Forget those little demons; even if he encountered a true Great Demon, it would still be fish on the chopping board.

Unfortunately, in central Pei State, true Great Demons are exceedingly rare, encountered maybe once a century, otherwise, he’d be amassing primitive capital at a much faster pace.

At night, Chen Xuan transformed back into the Upper Immortal in the villagers’ eyes, turning the hopeful individuals into flesh and blood offspring one by one. Setting entrance conditions was to better stimulate the villagers’ desires, turning forced transformation into a voluntary choice, which helped reduce communication costs.

After all, regardless of what emotions the villagers had, as long as they kept Chen Xuan as the central topic, he would become, broadly speaking, a "devotee."

This actually resembled the internet idea of even black fans being fans, traffic trumps all. If he turned Baihe Village into a bloodbath, spreading fear and panic, it would similarly attract Thought Power, only that would be a once-off deal. Moreover, taking the path of an evil god would certainly turn Liu Shuyue against him, quite a counterproductive move.

Chen Xuan had no interest in creating a world of lifelessness.

He was genuinely curious, in those timelines where evil god devotees would perennially perish, how high would birth and production rates have to be to keep up with such consumption?