Martial Arts: I Have Chapter 219 - 148: Bottom-Fishing Opportunity; The Drought E

Chapter 219: Chapter 148: Bottom-Fishing Opportunity; The Drought Ends

Ti flows differently in the mountains, and one remains oblivious to the world’s vast transformations.

「In the 459th year of the Han Emperor’s reign, early in the second month.」

In the small village hidden within the Inner Mountain Pass, as winter faded, the air grew thick with the promise of spring.

The once-scorched mountain forests and lands were now draped in a tender green. As if overnight, the earth had shaken off all traces of death and donned the vibrant, life-filled mantle bestowed by the new spring.

As the morning sun cast its first rays, a thin mist swirled through the mountains, gently blanketing the village like a veil of fine silk.

In the region Beyond the River, wisps of cooking smoke rose and mingled with the mountain mists, painting a hazy and tranquil scene. On both sides of the still-dry riverbed, villagers swung their hoes across the stretches of farmland that extended far to the north, preparing for the first spring planting of the year.

The newly tilled plots of land, now mixed and covered with flesh compost, exuded a fertile aroma—a promise of a future bountiful harvest.

Children helped weed or chased each other playfully along the ridges between the fields. The adults either ignored them and continued tilling the soil, leaned on their hoes to shout at them to stop, or switched to brandishing a rattan cane in pursuit.

The sounds of children’s laughter and crying, and adults’ scolding and cheerful chatter, filled every corner of the village.

In Henei, at the entrance of the newly built Hunting Hall, five hunting teams led by Martial Artists were inspecting their gear and supplies, preparing for another day of hunting in the mountains.

The Hunting Hall now had ten teams, fifty people in total. Each day, five teams would take turns heading into the mountains.

Below the Hunting Hall stood a larger building. Various training implents—sabers, spears, staves, and clubs—were arranged on either side of its entrance. This was the Martial Arts Hall.

At the entrance of the Martial Arts Hall, a team of fifteen youths had already begun their daily Body Forging training under the instruction of their captain, Zhang Guangwen. They had not yet reached Entry Grade and were still in the process of building their foundation.

These individuals had all exchanged the Contribution Points they earned for the right to pursue Martial Arts Training. According to the rules, there were no other restrictions; one only needed one thousand Contribution Points to register, a fee that included the cost of dicinal baths.

But after reaching Entry Grade, if they wanted to learn Martial Arts or advance further, they either had to earn a large number of Contribution Points to exchange for the dicinal Materials needed for their baths or for Body Tempering Powder to aid their Cultivation, or they had to sign a contract to receive free training.

Currently, there were eight Martial Artists of a Foreign Race in Cheng Family Village. All had signed contracts and been assigned their respective duties.

Cheng Guanghai and Zhou Hansong walked slowly along the village road, paved with clean, flat stones of various sizes. The forr listened as the latter spoke at a leisurely pace:

"...The Household Affairs Hall that Zongyang proposed before he left has been established. It’s responsible for the new identity and household registration system, which uses two-way registration to ensure identities can’t be stolen. He said this would strengthen the villagers’ sense of belonging, which is certainly a good thing. But as for the marriage registration and the associated rewards... are the rewards a bit too high?"

After listening, Cheng Guanghai smiled.

"Brother, for a marriage between two willing villagers, we only award one hundred Contribution Points to each of them after registration, and five hundred points for each child born. That’s not much. Right now, our manpower is just barely sufficient. We’ll need to increase our numbers later on."

"But Yang’Er ntioned to

before he left that only by encouraging people to have more children can we strengthen the younger generation’s sense of belonging to Cheng Family Village.

"In ten years, today’s children will have grown up, started their own families, and had kids of their own. The population will have grown. He said sothing about how a larger population base leads to faster developnt. That was also part of the plan when we brought back so many single n and won—to encourage these marriages.

"Our village’s resources are still sufficient for now; we can afford to raise more children. The flesh compost will be fully mixed in a few days, and then we can begin planting.

"If the yield is truly like that first ear of rice, then in four months, the harvest will be enough to fill every household’s granary. At that point, the Contribution Points system will have to be revised again."

At this, Cheng Guanghai stopped and asked with concern, "With all the work for the planting, the Old Master has been busy every day. Is his body holding up?"

Zhou Hansong gave a wry smile. "He won’t listen to reason. He says this is all he can do, so he’s helping us by keeping an eye on things. But the seedlings are all ready. Once the flesh compost is mixed in a few days, we can start the spring planting.

"But these three hundred and thirteen acres of farmland have all been reclaid in the direction of the salt mine. This has reached the limit Zongyang originally planned for; we can’t expand any further.

"According to the results of our previous eting, all this farmland is being given to the villagers to plant for free this year. They’ll manage it themselves, and after the harvest, they’ll turn over half and keep the rest. This is also to motivate the villagers and let them see the rice harvest with their own eyes.

"Also, the weather has been gloomy lately. I’m afraid it’s going to rain. A light rain would be fine, but a heavy downpour could delay the spring planting."

After the new year began, Cheng Zongyang sent back 700 jin of Wilderness Rice. Cheng Guangshan imdiately started cultivating it with the Growth Liquid he had concocted, and it began to root and sprout in just a day.

After a month of intensive cultivation, the rice stalks were already knee-high. They were just waiting for the flesh compost to be mixed into the tilled soil, ready to be transplanted to the fields at any mont.

Cheng Guanghai couldn’t help but look up at the sky, which was growing darker. "Rain would be good," he said. "It hasn’t rained in the months since the great fire. Perhaps this ti it’s a good thing, because the sky looks the sa outside the mountains."

With that, he continued walking toward the dicine Hall.

Zhou Hansong followed, sighing. "There’s a saying that great disasters and plagues don’t last more than three years. It’s been three years. The drought should be over by now."

Soon, the two of them arrived at a house in the northwest corner of Henei.

This was the dicine Hall. Nurous dicinal Materials were laid out to dry in front of the building. Behind and to the side, six or seven acres of dicinal plants were being cultivated, the entire area enclosed by a fence.