Chapter 1126: Chapter 639: First Solver’s Reward

"It’s that book that can let people enter a Legendary Land..."

It was the one they had read before, and back then it only had a story like a little prologue.

Now, on the following pages, scenes and text of Government Officials, rats, and Deregistration Officials slowly appeared...

[In the Ancient Era, the court ordered all regions to pay tribute in "White Grain." Deregistration Officials had to transport it to the Capital at their own expense, and the court set up special way stations along the route for them to rest in...]

[Because plagues of rats were common across the Dynasty, the court specifically designated "Rat Loss" as thirty percent of the transported grain. The way stations along the route soon set their sights on this batch of "White Grain"; in places without rats they even raised rats in pens, and stole thirty percent of the White Grain under that pretext...]

[Thus, guarding the way stations became a cushy job, drawing Government Officials to scramble madly for the postings.]

[It was hard for Deregistration Officials to transport grain; the journey was grueling, and along the way they were plundered and squeezed by both real rats and fake rats at countless way stations. By the time the White Grain arrived in Beijing, there was often barely anything left...]

[On this grain-transporting road, common folk had their families ruined and people died, while all the "rats" along the way grew fat off them...]

A beam of light shot out from that book, and in the blood-soaked way station a blood-red flower slowly grew.

[Blood Wheat Ears]

[Heaven and Earth Treasure]

[Grade: Heavenly Level]

[Attribute: Wood]

[The Deregistration Officials were flayed alive all the way by the way stations, guarding this hard-won grain. This is a single ear of wheat condensed from the sweat and blood of countless bottom-tier farmers; once grown, it will bear fruit that can improve Wood Element Talent. Eating it directly grants a large amount of Merit and a small amount of Qi Fortune...]

[Can be planted]

Yang Min pulled it up from the ground, put it into a Spirit Jade Box, and let out a deep sigh.

"Old Ancestor, I once heard a master from Spirit Miao Continent say that the Legends of the Legendary Lands... are actually all stories from the Ancient Era. Once they are remembered by current Cultivators, they become a new Legendary Land."

"In the Ancient Era, our place was once unspeakably dark as well... The court? Government Officials? How are they any different from Demon Cultivators?"

"Old Ancestor, will our Danai Empire’s future end up like this too?"

Yang Min was rather emotional.

He thought of how today’s Danai Empire was completely different from a hundred years ago.

The Yang Family was now huge and bloated, with connections everywhere.

You could see with the naked eye that in all aspects it was becoming impossible to maintain complete fairness and justice...

This was one of the reasons why Yang Min refused to work in the Empire.

He would rather be a teacher instructing the Empire’s Cultivators in cultivation and Magic, than get sucked into that whirlpool of favors, family ties, and friendships.

What he wanted was a pure Immortal Cultivation sacred land.

Xuanwu Academy was Yang Min’s own utopia.

There were only students and teachers there.

Yang Genshuo had actually already roughly guessed the direction of the story... because this kind of thing had happened not only in the Immortal Cultivation World, but also in ancient times on Blue Star.

The oppression of the bottom-tier people was nothing new anywhere in the world.

It was just that, in this Legendary Land, it was the Immortal Cultivation version.

So he concluded that those Government Officials definitely weren’t any good either.

Facing Yang Min’s question, Yang Genshuo said firmly:

"No! We will not become like this!"

"We have more advanced and better ways."

"The Immortal Cultivation World... is not a zero-sum game. Learn from your Grandma Jin: make the cake bigger so everyone can profit."

After listening, Yang Min fell into deep thought. After a long while, he tried asking:

"Old Ancestor, the cake... what is it?"

"Uh... something similar to a steamed bun. That’s not important. What’s important is that you must abandon traditional Immortal Cultivation thinking, make more friends, treat everyone you can befriend kindly; then you will certainly walk toward a better future."

With Yang Genshuo’s ideas combined with the centralized rule of monarchy, the Danai Empire’s future would head down the right path.

Even if it was a bit crooked now... as long as Yang Genshuo was still around, he had the confidence to correct it!

This was also what he planned to do next.

"Old Ancestor, it’s really great... that you could come back."

This successful breakthrough moved Yang Min greatly; things were so much more convenient with the Old Ancestor around.

"The flower you obtained is an extremely precious Heavenly Level Treasure. Its effects are like this... keep it properly."

After seeing the information on [Blood Wheat Ears], Yang Min hurriedly said:

"Old Ancestor, I’ll offer it to you at next year’s ancestral rites."

"Uh... I’m not too fond of that. This thing isn’t that useful to you either. After we go back, just put it in our treasury; they’ll draw out its full effect."

In fact, this Heavenly Level Treasure, [Blood Wheat Ears], was quite special.

A Miracle Treasure that could increase Merit and Qi Fortune by eating it—this was the first time Yang Genshuo had seen one.

"A large amount of Merit and a bit of Qi Fortune... no matter how you look at it, it’s like some special item."

"Use it to wash clean some Yang Family descendant who did bad things? To trick the Heavenly Dao?"

"Hmm... for now I don’t see what the benefit of that would be."

"Maybe planting it and letting it blossom and bear fruit will be the most profitable option..."

The fruit it bore would be real, tangible goodies—fruit that improved Wood Element Talent; it sounded great just hearing about it.

"For me, any Miracle Treasure that can make up for innate Talent is top-tier treasure!"

Yang Genshuo’s own initial Talent had been terrible!

A Five Spirit Roots twenty-point pentagonal trash.

Any one point increase in Talent was of critical importance to him.

"When we get back, have Li Minsi personally plant it and carefully nurture it. Maybe in the future we might even have the right to call it... a little Life Divine Tree?"

Speaking of the Life Divine Tree, Yang Genshuo’s expression turned a bit strange.

"That thing... is it basically ruined?"

The [Mutated Life Divine Tree] in Bright City had, after a hundred years, developed into a... strange state.

There was no point hoping for it to bear Wisdom Fruit, but... it seemed to be gestating some kind of special fruit.

"A hundred years, for a Divine Tree of that level, is just the snap of a finger... it’s only barely entered its fruit-bearing period. From the looks of it, it’ll bear fruit in the next couple of years."

Yang Genshuo didn’t have high expectations for it; maybe it would even bear some kind of poisonous fruit, who knew...

"Looking at it this way, this [Blood Wheat Ears] is really fragrant."

The story of this way station had ended, but Yang Genshuo’s moves had only just begun.

"What we need to figure out right now is... do the other teams have the strength to unlock this ending? What do you think, Yang Min?"

On this question, Yang Min had the most say.

"Old Ancestor, I’ve been testing the strength of these Government Officials, the Rat King, and the final fused true Mouse Servant... Based on the current team allocations you told me about, I think only Aunt Yang Qiangjin can clear it steadily. As for the others... there’s some risk."

"Mm... Qiangjin taking action will definitely be fine. The rats [fear fire], and she’s a top Fire Element Cultivator, so she naturally has the advantage. In her team... Li Minsi and that expert from the Sky Dragon Army are also pretty strong. But... the others also have to at least try and find a way to get this reward."

"Then please let Aunt Qiangjin’s group enter first. If they can split up the Government Officials and the rats, so they don’t complete the Fusion in the end... there are a few other teams that can give it a shot too."

"Alright."

If it wasn’t for that final large fused-body true Mouse Servant, the other teams that held initiative and control of the story would also have a chance to challenge it.

Yang Min combed through the entire way station again and found some small treasures, but none rose to the level of a Heaven and Earth Treasure; after finding them he just distributed them directly to those nine freeloading nieces and nephews.

The nine carry-to-win brats: "Thank you, Uncle!"

"Thank you, Grand-Uncle!"

Following Yang Min, the nine of them could be said to be enjoying the good life.

Of course, if Yang Min failed... what awaited all nine of them would definitely be a team wipe.

All nine together couldn’t beat even a single Government Official...

Yang Min’s final summary was: "The biggest gains are the [Blood Wheat Ears] and the grain in the underground warehouse. Those will probably play a big role later."

Which just happened to answer the Hungry Officials’ line at the beginning about "raising grain along the way."

In fact, that had already spoiled everything they were about to encounter—that they were very likely to find grain.