The First Task

As the village chief, Du Liushui was naturally worried about the matter as well.

When the weather had only just begun to warm up, the problem had not been so obvious. But now that the heat had set in, the situation had become downright unbearable.

His eldest grandson’s chubby, fair face had been especially popular with the mosquitoes, and one large patch had already been swollen from their bites.

A little child could hardly endure such intense itching. He kept trying to reach up and scratch, but how could the adults possibly let him? A child’s face was so delicate that if he scratched it carelessly, it would be torn open in no time.

All they could do was repeatedly soak a handkerchief in cool well water and press it against his face to relieve the itching.

But the mosquitoes were particularly vicious this year.

The moment the cool, wet cloth warmed even slightly, it became completely ineffective. The itching would return like a landslide crashing down, overwhelming everything in its path.

They could not change the cloths quickly enough to keep up with the mosquitoes’ bites.

Adults could still endure it, but how could a small child possibly stand it?

And so, the homes with young children began echoing with one heart-wrenching cry after another.

The village chief’s daughter-in-law could not bear to watch her child sob until he could barely catch his breath, so she carried him and paced back and forth without stopping.

But the courtyard was too small. Before she could shake off the mosquitoes on one side, she had already run into the ones on the other.

Thus, the village chief’s daughter-in-law, Madam Hu, carried her child outside.

She walked quickly, so quickly that the mosquitoes could not keep up.

The breeze she stirred up brushed against them, and the little child in her arms no longer itched quite so badly. His tiny body lay against his mother as he hiccupped between sobs.

Madam Hu continued onward, swaying and soothing him as she walked like the wind.

After finally calming her younger son, she realized that she had somehow wandered to the entrance of the Peach Blossom Path at the foot of North Mountain.

She raised her head and saw the dazzling streetlamp the immortal had placed beside the mountain path not far ahead. She could not help feeling secretly annoyed with herself.

She had accidentally walked into the immortal’s territory.

Just as she was about to turn around and leave, she suddenly seemed to notice something and stared intently at the streetlamp.

Beneath the bright moonlight, the streetlamp stood quietly, radiating a luminous glow. Even on this hot summer night, it gave people a sense of peace and coolness.

Even the cicadas’ originally irritating cries seemed to have become long and tranquil.

But that was not what caught Madam Hu’s attention.

She had simply noticed that there were no mosquitoes at all around the streetlamp!

It was something she had never seen before.

In her impression, summer lamps had always been surrounded by dense swarms of mosquitoes.

How was the immortal’s lamp so extraordinary that there was not a single mosquito in sight?

Could it be that the immortal’s streetlamp could drive away insects?

With this thought in mind, Madam Hu turned to glance at her younger son, who had already fallen asleep against her shoulder.

Silently murmuring, “Please forgive me, immortal,” she carefully walked toward the streetlamp.

There was a small stone beneath it that could just barely serve as a stool.

After sitting there for several breaths, Madam Hu discovered that no mosquitoes came near them at all. She let out a sigh of relief.

She then shifted her position, laid her younger son across her lap, and took several mint leaves she had picked earlier from the pouch at her waist. She crushed the leaves between her hands, squeezed out their juice, and carefully rubbed it over her son’s swollen, reddened face.

The next day, word spread throughout Xiushui Village that the streetlamp beneath the Lingxian Sect could drive away mosquitoes.

That very evening, the villagers could no longer worry about offending the immortals. They brought their children and crowded around the streetlamp, smearing on whatever insect-repelling remedies each household had prepared.

After all, these remedies were only effective for a limited time. Staying at home while constantly reapplying them was simply impossible.

Thus, during the period before bedtime, families with children had no choice but to come bother the immortals so that their little ones would suffer a little less.

Even the many wealthy families who had moved to the village over the past two years could not resist joining them.

There were a great many people, but fortunately, the streetlamp illuminated a wide area. It seemed that as long as one remained within its range, no mosquitoes would approach.

The villagers could not help marveling at the wonders of the immortals’ possessions.

It was not until late into the night, when everyone was too sleepy to keep their eyes open, that they finally returned home to rest.

Naturally, such commotion could not escape the notice of the people on the mountain.

Just as Village Chief Du was preparing to use the voice transmission talisman Lin Xiao had left him to ask for help, someone from the Lingxian Sect came down.

Liu Yunan went straight to the village chief and told him that, for the time being, the villagers no longer needed to worry about disturbing the sect. They could all go to the streetlamp at the foot of the mountain to avoid the mosquitoes.

The sect would also do its best to find a way to resolve the problem for everyone as quickly as possible.

Only then did Village Chief Du relax. He hurriedly went from house to house, informing everyone of the good news.

Two days passed in this manner.

On the morning of the third day, the Lingxian Sect sent someone down to deliver a message to the village chief: everyone was to gather by the streetlamp before sunset that day. The sect would distribute mosquito-repelling supplies to them.

As for the Lingxian Sect itself—

Ever since they had learned several days earlier that the villagers below the mountain were suffering from the sudden increase in mosquitoes, everyone in the sect had taken the matter extremely seriously. Sun Yigao, Mo Yuanjiao, and the others had immediately set aside their original tasks and begun researching a solution.

After successfully developing a formula and improving it several times, they finally created mosquito-repelling lamp oil that was completely harmless to the body, highly effective, and long-lasting.

This mosquito-repelling lamp oil could both drive away mosquitoes and serve as fuel for lamps.

A single small spoonful of lamp oil could burn throughout the entire summer.

Sun Yigao and the others made several dozen barrels of the mosquito-repelling lamp oil.

Most of the medicinal ingredients used were not particularly expensive. However, one of them came from a flower in Senior Liao’s garden—the Qingke bud.

Qingke buds were precious, but fortunately, only a small amount was needed. Even the several dozen barrels required no more than a few flowers’ worth. Although the Qingke bud’s yield was not high, using a few flowers would not cause serious damage to the supply, so Liao Pantu did not feel too distressed.

Once the lamp oil had been prepared, someone had to go down the mountain and distribute it to the villagers.

Liu Yunan roughly calculated the amount of work involved and divided the task into several portions, posting them on the task board in the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall.

Moreover, since the task would take place at the foot of the mountain and he would be going down as well, he specifically noted that new disciples could accept it, despite its being an assignment outside the sect.

Baizhu came to the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall every day to report to Liu Yunan on the construction progress of the new disciples’ residences, along with various trivial emergencies. He was therefore the first to see the newly posted task.

He was also the first disciple to accept it.

Perhaps because they wanted the new disciples to feel more involved in the sect, and to experience the Lingxian Sect’s philosophy of helping ordinary people, the sect’s veteran disciples tacitly refrained from taking the task and left it for the newcomers.

After Baizhu accepted the assignment and returned to the new disciples’ living quarters, he told everyone about it.

Before long, the new disciples swarmed toward the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall.