Chapter 7 Li Chang'an: I don't want to be in debt anymore...

Li Chang'an's years of hard work in the entertainment industry haven't been for nothing.

He's not some nobody; on the contrary, there are some people who remember his name, though perhaps not in a positive sense.

Therefore, the news that Jade Balance Star Lord sent out did not only attract the attention of the cultivation world.

Ordinary netizens who knew Li Chang'an also joined the discussion.

Who? Who has this sacred mountain recognized as its master? Li Chang'an, the one even the dogs of the entertainment industry despise?

[Wait a minute? Li Chang'an, that pretty face, he can't do anything, and he doesn't even have spiritual roots. How could he possibly be recognized as a master by the immortal mountain?]

[It's like seeing a jinx suddenly become lucky. Even though this sacred mountain seems to have lost its spiritual energy, it's still a large area, so why is it Li Chang'an who's the one to suffer?]

Some passersby saw their comments while surfing the internet and were puzzled:

Why are people saying such... uh, nasty things? Is there some scandal involving this young actor?

There's no scandal involved, and people aren't really criticizing him; they're just stating the facts.

Passersby looked at this statement of "stating the facts" and typed out several question marks in confusion.

[This is simply stating the facts: Li Chang'an is only good-looking; his singing is awful, his dancing seems untrained, and his acting is simply terrible! That's why both fans and haters call him a "pretty face with no substance."]

[As for even dogs disliking him... that's true. Last time the Linlang cast appeared on that rural variety show called "Four Seasons Fireworks," everything Li Chang'an did went wrong. He dragged his teammates down, and all the dogs in the village barked at him whenever they saw him. One dog even pooped on his coat when he was working in the fields.]

[And he was just really unlucky. In the first two years after his debut, any drama he took on that had a total screen time of more than an hour would run into all sorts of mishaps, like the lead actor's accident or the director's scandal. Although these things weren't really his fault, there were also two production crews that lost their master tapes... which meant that Li Chang'an could only take on minor supporting roles and odd jobs after that.]

passerby: ...

That really is just stating the facts.

Li Chang'an was completely unaware of the online discussions.

Thanks to the mantis demon and the sword spirit's sword strike last night, a large area of ​​bamboo in the bamboo forest has been cut down.

As soon as it was light, Li Chang'an started thinking about building himself a bamboo house.

The location for building the bamboo house was chosen at the junction of the bamboo forest and the open space by the river, which would make it convenient to use water and quick to get to the fields.

Just as he was about to carry the bamboo out, he caught a glimpse of a middle-aged man dressed in the uniform of the Qingfeng Sect entering.

The middle-aged man, holding a package, said somewhat awkwardly, "I am Xie Xuan, the Grand Elder of the Qingfeng Sect. I've brought you a package."

Li Chang'an quickly put down the bamboo on his shoulder and stepped forward: "Thank you. Why did you come all the way here in person?"

He took the package and saw that it contained the grain seeds he had bought yesterday.

The shipping address is in the next city, no wonder it arrived so quickly.

Xie Xuan glanced at the bamboo forest, his gaze falling on a pile of bamboo not far away, and on the large rock that had been neatly cut open.

He paused, then asked, "What happened here?"

It looks like a fight has taken place.

Li Chang'an was taken aback and followed his gaze.

"Ah." Li Chang'an scratched his head. "Something did happen."

He briefly recounted the mantis demon's visit the previous night, noticing that Xie Xuan's face was growing paler and paler.

"But that mantis demon is already dead, don't worry," Li Chang'an quickly reassured him.

"Oh, it's good that he's dead, it's good that he's dead." Xie Xuan came back to his senses and said a few words in a row.

With that senior figure around, Xie Xuan didn't really care whether the mantis demon lived or died.

He was just thinking about something else.

"Then I'll take my leave." Xie Xuan clasped his hands in a fist salute, turned and left.

Seeing that he left in a hurry, Li Chang'an was somewhat puzzled.

But I didn't know what to ask, so I opened the package first to check the seed status.

These seeds were all newly cultivated by the Xia Guo Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the seller thoughtfully prepared planting precautions when shipping the goods.

Upon seeing the notice, Li Chang'an suddenly realized that his knowledge of farming was very limited. When he was young, even though he lived in the village, he only knew how to work hard and didn't bother to learn about the specific procedures and details of farming.

The "Basic Manual of Xuanling Immortal Mountain" only talks about what exists in the immortal mountain, and it does not contain any knowledge about farming.

Therefore, Li Chang'an hurriedly bought some planting books online, as well as lime and fungicide solution used for soaking seeds.

This bacterium liquid was developed a hundred years ago by a scientist with spiritual roots. It can kill many pathogens in seeds during the soaking stage. Seeds soaked in water with it have a high germination rate and can even improve the harvest.

After making the purchase, Li Chang'an began building his bamboo house.

It took two days to build the bamboo house.

The bamboo house that could be built so quickly... is of course not very big.

A size of over thirty square meters is enough to provide shelter from the wind and rain.

In the past two days, the other items that Li Chang'an bought have also arrived one after another.

The three piglets were crammed into a large cage, where they ate, drank, and relieved themselves. When the package arrived, Xie Xuan, who went to pick it up, looked at the three piglets covered in feces and almost questioned his existence.

Finally, he couldn't stand it any longer. He cleaned the three piglets at Qingfeng Sect until they were pink and tender again before he sent them to Li Chang'an.

The piglets seemed a bit listless, so Li Chang'an put them into the fenced-off pigpen and cut some pig feed from the open space outside the bamboo grove and threw it into the pen.

The pigsty was enclosed by the remaining bamboo, and it was about ten square meters in size. It was located not far from Li Chang'an's bamboo house and next to a bamboo grove.

With the bamboo house built, Li Chang'an began working on the three acres of land he had cleared that day.

For the five grains to be used in the sacrifice, Li Chang'an planned to plant one mu of rice, one mu of wheat, and one mu of millet, sorghum, and soybeans together.

Once the other land has been renovated, the planting scale can be expanded.

The liquid fungus he ordered that day was the last to arrive. Li Chang'an hadn't even finished tilling his one mu of land when Xie Kuling delivered the liquid fungus via express delivery.

Upon receiving the package, Li Chang'an noticed that Xie Kuling's complexion was somewhat off, and his lips were very pale.

Are you sick?

Xie Kuling was taken aback, then smiled and said, "I caught a cold that day, but it's nothing serious, I'm almost better now."

Li Chang'an thought of the thirteen jade grass plants in the field.

He hurriedly said, "There's a kind of herb in this sacred mountain that cures colds and flu quite quickly. I'll dig one up for you."

After saying that, before Xie Kuling could react, he quickly ran out of the bamboo forest.

"No..." Xie Kuling didn't have time to stop him, and could only see Li Chang'an's back.

He thought for a moment and then followed in Li Chang'an's footsteps.

As he walked out of the bamboo forest, he saw the bamboo house that Li Chang'an had built, and the land that was being renovated.

Are you planning to farm here?

Li Chang'an dug out a Jade Glory Grass, and upon hearing this, turned around and said, "Yes, become a vegetable farmer, or build a farm."

Xie Kuling chuckled softly, "That's a good idea."

Li Chang'an stepped forward, "Here, this grass is called Jade Glory Grass. After you get back..."

He paused for a moment, "Add a little when stir-frying?"

He only recovered from his cold after eating a little bit of grilled fish that day.

"Jade Glory Grass?" Xie Kuling pondered for a moment.

“I’ve seen it in a book; it’s a kind of magical herb, but…” Xie Kuling turned his head and glanced at the land.

The surrounding weeds had all been cleared away, leaving only twelve lone stalks of *Gnaphalium affine* growing in the ground.

The Seven Stars of the Alliance have confirmed that the spiritual energy in the Immortal Mountain has been lost. Since spiritual herbs require a large amount of spiritual energy to grow, there are probably only these thirteen herbs left in the Immortal Mountain now.

"This is too valuable, I cannot accept it," Xie Kuling firmly refused.

"Even the most valuable things shouldn't just be displayed; they should be used when needed."

Li Chang'an forced the Yu Rong grass into Xie Kuling's hands.

These past few days, the people from the Qingfeng Sect have practically become his personal deliverymen, and Li Chang'an feels a little guilty about it.

He originally planned to wait until he successfully bred more Jade Glory Grass before giving it to the Qingfeng Sect, but now that Xie Kuling has caught a cold and needs it, he has no reason not to give it to him.

Human relationships are reciprocal, and only then did he feel comfortable continuing to trouble the Qingfeng Sect.

"Alright, alright, you've accepted it, take it back," Li Chang'an said with a smile.

Xie Kuling looked at the Jade Glory Grass in his hand and felt his palms burning.

Spiritual herbs, something almost extinct in the Cangxuan Realm, were just given to him like that?

"This..." Xie Kuling looked up and met Li Chang'an's smiling face.

"...Okay, thank you, Mr. Li."

Li Chang'an breathed a sigh of relief and escorted Xie Kuling to the entrance of the Immortal Mountain.

"Oh, right." Before leaving, Xie Kuling suddenly remembered something. "The matter of the Immortal Mountain recognizing you as its master has attracted a lot of attention recently. There might be some people coming to bother us in the coming days. If you don't mind, I can arrange for someone to guard the entrance."

In fact, after the cultivation news was noticed by Li Chang'an's fans and haters, some entertainment reporters tried to sneak over to interview Li Chang'an.

Yesterday, the Qingfeng faction caught a suspicious entertainment reporter in the back mountain.

Li Chang'an didn't mind, "Then I'll trouble you."

"fine."

Xie Kuling waved his hand, took the Jade Glory Grass, and left.

After he left, Li Chang'an thought back to the phrase "a lot of people are paying attention," and then took out his phone.

The phone connected to the signal of the Cangxuan Realm outside near the entrance and had internet access.

Li Chang'an discovered that he had received many messages on WeChat.

His agent, Li Wei, and Luo, the assistant director of the "Morning Glow" crew, both sent him messages asking if he was currently at Xuanling Immortal Mountain.

Just as Li Chang'an was about to reply, another call came in on his phone.

It belongs to agent Li Wei.

Li Chang'an quickly answered, "Hello, Sister Wei."

"Li Chang'an! You really didn't die! Then why haven't you replied to my WeChat messages for so many days! And your phone is out of service!"

"The film crew and the fire brigade searched for you at the bottom of the cliff for a whole day and night, but they couldn't even find your body! We almost thought you had been dragged away and eaten by some wild beast! If we hadn't taken a look at the cultivation news, we would never have guessed that you had run off to Xuanling Immortal Mountain!"

"You little brat, can't you even let me know you're safe?!"

The agent's worried and angry voice kept coming from the other end of the phone, and Li Chang'an, feeling guilty, kept responding.

"It was my fault, Sister Wei, I'm sorry."

"There's no signal in the sacred mountain, and I... I didn't think to contact you in time. I'm so sorry for the trouble."

For many years, he has lived a solitary life, and apart from work, he has basically no contact with anyone.

So during his stay at Xuanling Immortal Mountain, he didn't even think about needing to let Li Wei and Deputy Director Luo know he was safe.

"Alright." Li Wei cleared his throat. "The production crew knows you're still alive. I've already contacted them and settled your payment. The stunt work fee is also settled. The money will be deposited into your account in a few days. By the way, a movie production company contacted me yesterday. There's a small role with a good character design and not much screen time. Should I take it for you?"

“Sister Wei,” Li Chang’an hesitated, “I can’t leave the Immortal Mountain, so…”

"Can't leave the immortal mountain?" Li Wei was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

“Hmm…” Li Chang’an opened his mouth, pondering the choice of words.

"The day I fell off a cliff while working as a stunt double for the lead actor was my death calamity. But the immortal mountain recognized me as its master and teleported me there. Once I left the immortal mountain, I would have to face my death calamity, which would mean I would truly become a dead person."

Li Chang'an did not reveal the matter of the reincarnation of the deity.

Although he was not a cultivator, the Boundless God Venerable was a figure known to everyone in the Cangxuan Realm, and was their faith.

...If others knew that the reincarnation of the Boundless God was actually an ordinary person like him, their reactions would be unimaginable.

Moreover, he is currently just Li Chang'an, not Wuya God Venerable.

Li Wei remained silent for a while before saying, "So... you could say you turned misfortune into a blessing in disguise?"

"Then you won't be able to film anymore. What will you do about the year left on your contract with the company?"

Li Chang'an's heart tightened: "Do I have to pay a penalty for breach of contract?"

Li Wei: "Hiss... Logically speaking, it was your side that breached the contract, and you should pay this penalty. But it was the crew's wire work that caused your death, and you were recognized as a master by the immortal mountain, so the breach of contract was not your intention and it was due to force majeure."

"I'll discuss it with the company and let you know when I have a result."

After saying that, Li Wei hung up the phone decisively.

Li Chang'an patted his chest.

Hopefully, the company's senior management has some humanity.

Otherwise, with the penalty for breach of contract, he would owe a debt of 30 million!

A note from the author:

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The information says that "菽" in the Five Grains refers to a general term for beans, which includes many varieties. We'll use soybeans in this article. [Loud-eared rabbit head emoji]