Whether to Relocate

Once they had come to a complete stop, the formation stone belonging to this node returned to the very center of the orb of light.

In an instant, the faintly glowing orb suddenly burst into radiance utterly unlike its former dim light!

Then the formation stone that had been drawn inside slowly floated back out of the orb, and Lin Xiao immediately reached out to catch it.

At the same time, as the orb’s radiance intensified, the entire space underwent subtle changes.

Lin Xiao couldn’t put his finger on what had changed, nor could he see anything different.

The Taiyin Sealing Formation was profound beyond measure. Even while standing within it, Lin Xiao couldn’t glimpse even one ten-thousandth of its secrets.

Yet he could sense the faint aura of Jishi that had permeated the surroundings was rapidly vanishing.

Until, at last, it was completely suppressed once more.

Lin Xiao looked at the formation stone in his hand.

Although he couldn’t sense the slightest trace of energy within it, he somehow felt that the stone didn’t look as though it had been drained of power.

Perhaps these formation stones normally didn’t consume their energy individually. Under their mutual interaction, they might instead generate even more energy.

However, until he returned the stone in his hand to its original position and filled in the formation node it had occupied, the Taiyin Sealing Formation would remain incomplete, with a flaw in its structure.

That meant the formation node beneath Huyang Village could loosen again at any time.

For now, however, it could still hold.

He would have people keep an eye on the situation. If anything abnormal happened in Huyang Village before the Taiyin Sealing Formation was fully repaired, he would return to reinforce it again.

Besides, he had no idea whether the only damaged part of the Taiyin Sealing Formation was the location where the stone in his hand had originally been placed.

It seemed that in the future, he would have to have Jiang He and the others find ways to gather as much information about other countries as possible.

They needed to locate every formation node where the Taiyin Sealing Formation had developed problems…

But this matter was of enormous importance and would require tremendous manpower and resources. The Lingxian Sect alone would certainly never be able to accomplish it. He would also have to inform Li Zhouxuan and the others.

Considering how deeply they loathed the Jishi faction, they would likely take this matter seriously as well.

With everything here settled, Lin Xiao saw that there were no other changes in the space. After thinking for a moment, he walked over to the endless stream of water flowing from the wall—its source and terminus both unknown.

He raised the formation stone in his hand and touched it to the stream.

The next moment, Lin Xiao suddenly felt as though he were being pulled out of his body. When he opened his eyes again, he had already returned to the old well in Huyang Village.

When he had entered, the moon had still been hanging at an angle in the sky. Now, the sun was already high, and even lunchtime had passed.

Thinking that Tuantuan might be worried after he had been gone so long, he immediately turned around and headed back toward the thatched shelter outside the village.

To his surprise, Tuantuan was happily being fed small dried fish by two strong young villagers.

It seemed he had been worrying for nothing.

Since it was broad daylight, Lin Xiao made no attempt to hide himself and appeared directly in front of everyone.

When they saw him return—and appear before the shelter without anyone noticing—a group of people first cried out in surprise. Then their shock turned to delight.

“Immortal Lin is back!”

“The immortal has returned!”

At the sound of their voices, even the patients lying on the straw beds struggled to open their eyes and raise their heads toward Lin Xiao. Their mouths moved as though they were saying something, but their voices were as faint as mosquitoes.

Only Lin Xiao could barely make out that they were thanking him.

He didn’t want the sick patients to force themselves to express their gratitude while still so weak. A simple word of thanks was enough. Besides, he figured they had all eaten by now, and the medicine pots beside them were empty, so they must have taken their medicine as well.

With a wave of his hand, he cast a mild hypnotic spell on the patients, allowing them to rest properly.

The few young men nearby were confused by what they saw, but they knew Lin Xiao wouldn’t harm them, so they remained silent.

Lin Xiao turned to them and said, “The source of the disease in your village has been temporarily sealed. However, the root of the problem and the point where the leakage originated are still there. This is only a temporary seal, and there is still a danger that it may leak again in the future. As for when it can be repaired, I cannot say.”

There were countless countries in the mortal world. He didn’t know where else the damaged nodes might be, nor did he know how to completely eradicate the Jishi. For these mortals, whose lives lasted only a few decades, this was all he could tell them.

“For the time being, there is no problem with living here. You may all return to your homes today. However, you’ll need to consider carefully whether you wish to remain here or relocate elsewhere.”

Lin Xiao knew that, given the village’s financial circumstances, this was more than a choice between life and money. For people with so little savings, the tiny amount of property in their homes was practically equivalent to their lives.

Even so, he had to explain the situation and respect their wishes.

At his words, the young men exchanged glances. After lowering their eyes and pondering for a moment, they all turned to look at the young man at their head.

Perhaps he was the one in their generation best suited to make decisions.

Seeing their conflicted expressions, Lin Xiao added, “If you want to relocate, I can also contact the authorities and ask them to provide you with some assistance.”

The leading young man thought for a while, then exchanged glances with the other young men behind him. Finally, he turned around, cupped his fists, and bowed respectfully to Lin Xiao.

“Thank you, Immortal, for helping us and thinking so carefully on behalf of us ordinary folk. However, our families have lived here for generations, so we still don’t plan to move away.”

“Now that you’ve kindly stepped in, the village can be inhabited for the time being. We’ll return home first. After that, everyone will work together to clear the wasteland outside, rebuild our houses, and cultivate the land. We’ll gradually move the village over there.”

Seeing that they hadn’t decided to rely entirely on him simply because he had offered to help, nor did they intend to abandon this poor but familiar land altogether, Lin Xiao’s impression of the young men improved considerably.

He asked the leader warmly, “Where exactly are you planning to move?”

The young man respectfully pointed toward the wasteland not far behind the shelter, where rocks, weeds, and tangled shrubs grew everywhere.

“Over there, Immortal.”

“To be honest, the few of us discussed this after you left. At the time, we didn’t know that the sickness in the village could be sealed. We thought that it would be too difficult to clear the land and build houses while staying in the shelter. Now that we can return to the village for the time being and don’t have to sleep out in the wilderness, this is already an unexpected blessing.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the other young villagers nodded and chimed in.

“That’s right, that’s right! We truly have to thank you, Immortal!”

“Immortal, you’re the great benefactor of our entire village!”

“Exactly! And the Cat Immortal too!”

“We can build the houses ourselves later. We won’t trouble you, Immortal!”

…