240: Emperors and Incense

The next day.

Jiang Ning walked out of his house and said to Zhou Tie Zhu, who was tinkering with iron tools in the yard: "Brother Zhou, I might be leaving for a few days. I plan to go find my relatives here."

Zhou Tie Zhu heard this.

He put down his tools and frowned: "Brother Shen, there's a famine everywhere now, and the world is very unstable. You're so delicate, if you go out, won't you be caught and eaten by others?

If you ask me, just stay here for now. When the famine gets a little better, I'll go with you to find them.

We can look out for each other on the way."

Hui Gu also came out of the house and said: "My husband is right, Brother Shen, with your weak body, won't you be robbed if you go out?"

Jiang Ning chuckled.

"Thank you for your kindness, Brother and Sister-in-law. It's just that if I don't go looking for them for a day, I won't feel at ease. Moreover, although my relatives here are not a prominent family.

But I'm sure their family must have some stored food. When the time comes, I can also bring some back to repay Brother Zhou and Sister-in-law for saving my life.

Besides, Xiao Man is at a critical age for growth, so she can't go hungry."

Jiang Ning saw that Zhou Tie Zhu still wanted to dissuade him.

He directly picked up a nearby axe and swung it a few times.

"Although I am a scholar, I am not frail. When I was young, a cousin in my family was fortunate enough to become an Immortal's Disciple. He would occasionally come down the mountain to visit relatives.

He also taught me some martial arts."

Zhou Tie Zhu and his wife exchanged glances.

For so long, they hadn't realized that this Brother Shen actually knew martial arts, and even had some connection with Immortals.

With that said, Zhou Tie Zhu no longer stopped Jiang Ning.

Jiang Ning then directly left the house.

After leaving the house and reaching a deserted corner, Jiang Ning directly ascended into the sky on his sword.

Looking down, the mountains were all barren, without a trace of green.

The roadsides were filled with people who looked like walking corpses.

Jiang Ning's nose twitched slightly.

The smell coming from the ground made him feel disgusted.

It wasn't the stench of disaster victims or anything; those things were nothing to a Cultivator.

Jiang Ning used his Divine Sense to observe the ground.

Some villages were almost completely dead.

Jiang Ning paused.

He suddenly thought that great disasters and great illnesses usually come together.

If corpses are not dealt with in time, it's easy for bacteria and viruses to breed, leading to an epidemic... Whether in ancient dramas or novels on Earth, famines and floods are almost always accompanied by plague and pestilence.

Jiang Ning frowned.

Are the Immortals here really not doing anything at all?

Allowing these common people to die like this?

Jiang Ning suddenly thought of a saying, "Heaven and Earth are not benevolent; they treat all things as straw dogs." Immortals are also not benevolent... Jiang Ning sent out a stream of Spiritual Qi, directly dispersing all the "sick Qi" in the area.

It was a casual act for him.

But once this "sick Qi" condensed, it wouldn't be as simple as just a few people dying.

He continued like this, dispersing sick Qi along the way. A quarter of an hour later, Jiang Ning found a "clean" place.

This place was like a "paradise"—there was no sick Qi, and there were no starving common people on the roads.

Jiang Ning let out an "Oh?"

"That's strange."

He stopped and took a closer look.

He found that the people here all worship a deity called "White Immortal."

Whenever a villager offered incense and kowtowed, an invisible power would be transmitted through the "idol."

"Incense Power!"

Jiang Ning's eyes were opened.

In the original work, the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty's imperial family cultivated the "Emperor's Dao." Only those who cultivated the "Emperor's Dao" could inherit the throne.

But there was only one throne, and these princes, from the day they began cultivating the "Emperor's Dao," were destined to be enemies.

Cultivating the "Emperor's Dao" only offered further possibilities upon ascending the throne; otherwise, one would remain stagnant for life.

This was the limitation of the "Dao."

Therefore, in the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty, proving one's disinterest in the throne was simple: not cultivating the "Emperor's Dao" and specializing in other areas would suffice.

However, it did not rule out the possibility of someone cultivating both Daos simultaneously and then suddenly emerging.

The imperial family's struggles were all dirty.

Jiang Ning hadn't expected there to be an "Incense Dao" here. It must be said, how else could the Great Qian be the most powerful force?

There were many types of cultivation "Daos," and they were all mature.

Jiang Ning didn't look any further.

There should also be limitations to walking this "Incense Dao."

Otherwise, the imperial family would have long since switched to cultivating Incense Power, as the imperial family controlled the territory of the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty, which would surely be easier than a "wild god" cultivating "Incense Power."

But no matter what.

The Incense Dao's ability to pacify the common people was ultimately a good thing.

While flying on his sword, Jiang Ning also explored the location of the teleportation array.

He had mastered a part of Space Law, so sensing teleportation arrays was relatively easy for him... In a blink of an eye.

Two days passed.

After Jiang Ning left, Zhou Tie Zhu's family of three seemed to have returned to their previous way of life.

But there were also differences.

The phenomenon of "getting full after eating just a little" that Zhou Tie Zhu and his wife discovered the night before Jiang Ning left, they had now confirmed.

The couple deliberately spent a whole day not eating anything.

Miraculously, after a day, they still felt no hunger at all.

Zhou Tie Zhu and Hui Gu panicked at this phenomenon.

"Husband, you say, could it be true, as that frozen person said, that when it's extremely cold, the body feels warm?"

"Don't talk nonsense!"

Zhou Tie Zhu also became somewhat suspicious.

His body was now becoming increasingly strong, which, by all accounts, shouldn't be happening.

Inevitably, Zhou Tie Zhu thought of the common saying, "a final burst of energy before death."

Sick people in the village would often become very energetic just before they died, and then a short while later, they would breathe their last.

Hui Gu glanced at Zhou Tie Zhu and complained: "Husband, don't hold it in. I'm not afraid of death. It's a famine year, there are dead people everywhere.

If others can die, it's normal for us to die too.

But, I just can't stop worrying about Xiao Man... She's still so young, alone at home, won't she be... won't she be..."

Won't she be caught by others and then eaten?

Hui Gu didn't finish her sentence, and tears began to flow uncontrollably from her eyes.

Zhou Tie Zhu silently held his wife in his arms, patting her back.

He also worried about his daughter... Now only their family of three was left; all the elders had starved to death. If they also left... Zhou Tie Zhu said seriously: "I think Brother Shen is a capable person. Moreover, didn't Brother Shen say he has a cousin who is an Immortal's Disciple?

I think, no matter what, Brother Shen will be fine.

Let's wait a bit, hold on, until Brother Shen comes back.

Then we'll entrust Xiao Man to Brother Shen.

That way, we can also rest assured."

Hui Gu originally wanted to say something in rebuttal.

But as the words reached her lips, she suddenly realized that, aside from Brother Shen, there was probably no one else willing to take in a child who only knew how to eat during a famine year.