Chapter 26 features a scene showcasing the wonders of immortal magic.
After he finished speaking, the threshing ground fell silent.
It wasn't that the villagers were truly frightened; quite the opposite, they had only one thought in their minds at that moment.
That's it?
That's it!?
Many of them guessed from Li Jing and Li Tuo's strange expressions that the higher-ups were going to increase taxes, conscript labor, or even raise military service, but this is what happened.
Someone couldn't help but complain, "Village chief, are you kidding us? I've never heard of a disaster that could affect the entire Central Plains and last for days on end. How is that possible!"
"Exactly! My husband worked all day and is exhausted. I was in a hurry to prepare dinner. If I had known it was just to talk about something so unreliable, I wouldn't have come. It's such a waste of time."
The villagers kept grumbling and complaining, their faces full of doubt and disbelief; not one of them believed Li Tie's words.
Li Tie roared, his face grim, "Shut up, all of you! Do you think I'd joke about something like this?!"
"Then tell me where you heard all this from?" Chen Rong, a notorious idler in the village, said with a grin, "Could it be that you've run into some kind of swindler trying to cheat you, saying you have to pay money to avoid trouble, or that you have to worship the mountain god or make offerings to the statues of gods?"
Chen Rong's mother slapped him on the back of the head and scolded, "How dare you talk to the village chief like that! How could the village chief be cheated? Do you think everyone is like you?"
Chen Rong looked embarrassed and muttered softly, "That's all in the past, I've already changed everything."
Chen Rong wasn't the only one questioning the source of the information; others also shouted, asking the village chief where he got the news from.
Li Tie subconsciously looked at Lu Xuan.
The villagers noticed and followed his gaze.
What is the village chief looking at Lu Xuan for?
Could it be that he has something to do with what happened today?
Some people remembered that Lu Xuan had gone to the city a few days ago, and a thought popped into their minds: Could it be that Lu Xuan got the news from the city?
Lu Xuan did not avoid the question. He walked directly to the village chief's side and said calmly, "I was the one who told the village chief this information."
The Zhang family members gaped in shock, quickly turning to look at Lu Qing and Lei Yan, their eyes questioning what was going on and how it had gotten involved with Lu Xuan.
Lei Yan said in a low voice, "Don't worry, you'll find out as Ah Xuan continues."
The villagers would be somewhat restrained in front of the village chief, who was the most authoritative figure in the village, but they had no scruples when it came to Lu Xuan, a junior. They directly questioned him: "Lu Xuan, where did you get this information from? What is your basis for it? Don't just spout nonsense and create panic."
Lu Xuan calmly retorted, "What benefit would I gain from creating panic? Would I make money? I can dig up ginseng myself in the mountains, so what benefit could I possibly get from the villagers?"
The questioning man was instantly speechless, "This..."
Li Tie said irritably, "Do you think I wanted to see those disasters happen? What can we do if God doesn't want people to have an easy time? It's already a stroke of luck that we knew about these things in advance."
Lu Xuan was willing to speak out because of the villagers' past kindness to the Lu family. Otherwise, if he hadn't said anything, we would have been completely unprepared and just waiting to die when the disaster actually struck.
Chen Rong muttered again, "But that would only happen if a real disaster occurred."
Li Tie glared at him fiercely, "You only have one life. Are you going to gamble your own and your mother's lives on a one-in-a-lifetime chance? And then regret not believing what Lu Xuan and I said after everything has already happened? Then it will be too late!"
Does he not know that what he says is hard to believe?
Doesn't he want to gradually reveal the information to give them some breathing room?
Time waits for no one.
Preparing supplies takes time, doesn't it?
Packing your belongings and finding a place to take refuge will take time, right?
There were too many things to prepare, and he couldn't afford to delay even a moment.
By informing the villagers of the news as soon as possible, regardless of whether they believed it or not, he at least fulfilled his duty as the village chief, and he has a clear conscience.
At first, the villagers were a bit agitated because the natural disasters the village chief described sounded too outrageous, and they felt that the village chief was playing a trick on them.
But seeing that the village chief's expression remained serious, without a trace of joking, most people's feverish minds gradually returned to clarity.
After calming down and thinking about it, it seemed that the village chief and Lu Xuan really had no reason to lie to them, especially not with something that sounded so obviously fake.
Unless... what they're saying is true.
Some people's eyelids twitched as they recalled the natural disasters the village chief had mentioned.
Among them, the Zhang family, who trusted Lu Xuan quite a bit, were the first to change their expressions.
Grandpa Zhang specifically asked Lu Qing and Lei Yan to confirm whether what Lu Xuan said was true. After receiving their affirmative nods, his heart sank.
The other villagers were still hesitant, conflicted, and skeptical.
Wu Cheng, a hunter who was related to the village chief by marriage, spoke first: "In-law, it's not that the villagers don't want to believe you, it's just that this matter is really too unbelievable and of great importance. You have to provide everyone with some convincing evidence, right?"
The villagers immediately nodded, "That's right! You have to show us the evidence."
"Yes, otherwise, if someone says there will be a disaster and then there is, how can we believe them?"
Wu Cheng guessed that Li Tie was able to tell the villagers about this because Lu Xuan had probably used some method to persuade him.
Thinking of this, their probing gazes involuntarily fell on Lu Xuan.
Li Tie turned to Lu Xuan with anticipation and whispered, "Look, they don't believe it. Show them something else. You'll impress them!"
Lu Xuan: "..."
The viewers in the live stream burst out laughing. Did the village chief think the streamer was a circus performer?
Lu Xuan calmly replied, "Okay."
With so many people watching, it would be petty to force-feed just one cabbage.
Lu Xuan took out a small bag of seeds directly from his spatial ring. While the villagers were surprised by his action of taking something out of thin air and suspected that he was performing some kind of magic trick, he casually threw the seeds from the bag around.
Countless seeds were scattered all over the ground, some even hitting nearby villagers. Some people with bad tempers immediately frowned and wanted to question Lu Xuan, while most others were completely confused by his inexplicable behavior.
Lu Xuan made no attempt to explain. He directly channeled his supernatural power to his feet and then poured it into the seeds along the soil.
A miraculous scene unfolded.
Just like it had been shown to the village chief, countless tiny sprouts emerged from seeds so small they were almost invisible in the evening light. Their roots quickly took hold on the hard ground of the threshing floor, and the sprouts grew rapidly, blossoming and bearing fruit in the astonished eyes of the villagers, turning into fields of mature vegetables.
Plump and juicy Chinese cabbages, lush and green chives and scallions, growing wildly on the ground because they weren't trellised, cucumber vines hanging heavy with bright green cucumbers, and also rapeseed, spinach, bok choy...
Some of them are so good that part of them is sticking out of the ground, and they are obviously plump and juicy radishes!
What a beautiful pastoral scene of a bountiful vegetable garden.
All villagers: "!!!"
Viewers in the live stream: "!!!"
village head:"???"
The threshing ground was completely silent.
This time, the villagers were truly shocked and speechless.
Many people were completely blank-minded, unable to comprehend how the scene before them was formed. Were they really not dreaming?
Wu Cheng was equally stunned and couldn't come to his senses for a long time, but when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Li Tie's expression was also blank, he couldn't help but look at him with a face full of question marks.
No, it's one thing for everyone else to be stunned, but what's so shocking about you, old man?
Don't think he didn't hear what Li Tie just told Lu Xuan to show off. He must have already seen Lu Xuan's skills. Why is he making that face now?
If the village chief knew what he was thinking, he would definitely cry foul.
Can a head of cabbage be the same as a field full of fruits and vegetables?
After a long while, some people finally came to their senses, pinched their fingers hard, and muttered, "It doesn't hurt, it really was a dream."
"Ouch—! You pinched me, of course it doesn't hurt! Do you want to know if you're dreaming and don't know how to pinch yourself?!" The person next to him grimaced and cursed.
The man instinctively replied, "I'm not stupid!"
"So I deserve to be pinched by you? Are you just picking a fight because of what happened last time?!"
"Don't talk nonsense, I didn't!"
Just as the two were about to start arguing, the already annoyed elders immediately slapped each of them hard on the buttocks and yelled, "Stop arguing, you're so annoying!"
The two fell silent instantly, their expressions embarrassed.
The commotion brought the dazed villagers back to their senses. Their eyes lit up as they looked at the vegetables covering the ground, and suddenly they burst into a series of exclamations of surprise.
"My God! What's going on? So many vegetables have suddenly sprouted!"
"Is this even possible for a human to do? It's amazing!"
"Are these dishes real? Or are they just some kind of mirage from a play?"
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Li Tie shouted, "You all saw that, didn't you? This is a divine technique bestowed upon Lu Xuan by a deity! The deity also told him about the disaster. Would a deity lie to us?"
Li Tie pointed at the fresh, green vegetables and said, "Does a liar really make so many vegetables grow all at once? This isn't magic. You can try them yourselves. These vegetables are so delicious you'll want to swallow your tongue. Maybe even immortals ate them!"
The viewers in the live stream, who were also amazed, couldn't help but burst into laughter: Here it comes, the gods and spirits, though late, they've arrived!
When it was mentioned that these were vegetables eaten by immortals, the villagers looked at the greens with a noticeable change in their gaze. Some quick-witted villagers even squatted down and picked the nearest vegetable, stuffing it into their mouths without caring that the roots were still covered in soil.
"Wow!!! This vegetable is so tender!"
The others, seeing this, scoffed, "They're eating already?"
Having already fallen behind, they were afraid of being taken advantage of, so they immediately started picking vegetables in a rush.
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Author's Note: Due to the needs of the subsequent plot, the "limited-time discount" in the beginning has been changed to "daily discount". It will also be written as daily discount in the later parts. It will not affect the reading experience, so you don't need to reread it.
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