Beside the Gaojia Village, there appeared a large pond about ten zhang long, five zhang wide, and eight zhang deep.

The water in the pond was all modern tap water, truly clear and bright.

The villagers, suffering from the drought, hadn’t seen such good water for many years.

“Water! It’s water!”

“Oh god, such a large pond of water.”

“It’s very clean water.”

“Is this… bestowed upon us?”

“Can’t believe it.”

“Long live the Great deity!”

Li Daoxuan lowered his head, looking at Gao Yiye: “Yiye, tell the Villagers that from now on, I will refill this pond with water every day, and everyone can draw water from it for daily use or irrigation.”

Gao Yiye was overjoyed and hurriedly kowtowed in thanks; then she turned to the Villagers and loudly announced Li Daoxuan’s divine decree.

The Villagers cheered at once: “No need to fear the drought now!”

“We have water for farming! Great!”

“The seeds we treasured can finally be put to use.”

“What are we waiting for? Hurry home to fetch buckets and draw water.”

“Don’t rush foolishly, it’s too hot now—what crops can be planted? We must wait until early autumn.”

“Ah, that’s true, I was happy too soon.”

The Villagers were so ecstatic they became bewildered, almost forgetting what step to take next.

But the women’s eyes lit up; with this much water, they could wash clothes and bathe. Having lived dirty and smelly for over half a year, what woman could endure that? So they hurried to draw water, at least to fill their own water vats first.

Thirty-Two’s drowsiness was now thoroughly startled awake.

He looked up at the sky but saw nothing; yet the pond before him was real and present.

That earlier scene wasn’t imagined—it was truly an invisible, unseen force, conjuring a pond out of nowhere and magically pouring a waterfall to fill it.

If anyone dared say it wasn’t the work of the gods, he would be the first to leap up and slap them.

Still dazed, Gao Yiye nearby spoke: “Master Thirty-Two, the Great deity has words for you.”

Thirty-Two snapped alert and quickly bowed to the sky: “What does the Great deity command?”

Li Daoxuan said, “You seem to be the County Lord’s adviser, right?”

Upon hearing this, Thirty-Two looked dismayed: “I spoke up for the common folk two days ago, advising the County Lord not to collect taxes. It angered the County Lord, and I was kicked out, no longer employed. That’s bringing trouble upon oneself.”

Li Daoxuan said, “Oh, so you’ve lost your job?”

Thirty-Two kowtowed: “Uh… well… indeed… that’s called—”

“Shut up! It’s tiresome to hear!” Li Daoxuan said impatiently. “Your words are so irritating—don’t you know it? No wonder you were driven off by the County Lord.”

Thirty-Two stiffened: “……”

Li Daoxuan said, “I’d assumed you were a clerk who could access documents at the county office and pass messages to Gaojia Village. But from the look of it, you’re pretty useless.”

This struck a chord in Thirty-Two’s heart: What does the Great deity mean? Could it be… he originally intended to take me under his service? To serve an immortal deity—that’s fortune earned over multiple lifetimes! I must not miss this chance. I’ll cling to this deity whether alive or dead, even just performing menial tasks!

He blurted out hastily, “I am useful, I truly am useful! Though I no longer serve at the county office, I’m clever, literate, and skilled with figures. For any complex matters, Great deity, the villagers here would surely… ahem… entrusting them to me would be far more reliable. This is what you call—”

He was about to summarize with four characters but abruptly recalled the Great deity finding him irritating. He snapped his mouth shut, the sudden stop leaving his face twisted in a comical fashion.

Li Daoxuan watched with amusement. “Alright! I can’t think of anything for you to do right now. Return to the county town. Keep your eyes sharp and ears perked. Gather as much news as you can about events nearby. Send word to Gaojia Village for anything truly significant. I’ll send for you when your aid is needed.”

Thirty-Two prostrated himself completely, forehead pressing against the ground. “Your humble servant obeys.”

Only after performing the proper courtesies did he rise and head toward the county town.

Li Daoxuan mused: For now, I still haven’t found a way to broaden my view. The scenic box is locked above Gaojia Village; I can’t see outside. Having this Thirty-Two means gaining an extra pair of eyes beyond the box. I hope these eyes prove useful at a critical moment.

He turned his gaze back toward the village. Every villager was diligently at work.

The young, able-bodied men were digging and breaking soil in the fields. With a large reservoir now, they had the confidence to cultivate crops. Though planting wouldn’t be suitable till autumn, their restless “farming hearts” were uncontrollable. They decided to dig irrigation ditches in advance.

Li Daoxuan gave a satisfied nod: Excellent. The villagers’ capacity for self-sustenance was awakened. They’d still rely on my support for several months, but come autumn, they would begin farming. The cost of sustaining this entire village would then start to decrease.

If he could use the same method to aid more villages, many more people could be spared from starvation.

Next, he started tackling problem two: “The villagers must be capable of protecting themselves while I’m away from the scenic box.”

Recalling the military history forums and novels he often consumed in modern society, an idea instantly surfaced in his mind: Arm all forty-two villagers!

But he realized immediately this approach wasn’t feasible for now.

Setting aside whether purchasing firearms would get him arrested by police, even if he could acquire them legally…

A gun, even the world’s tiniest Swiss MiniGun, was still 55mm long.

Placing such an item inside the box would enlarge it 200 times. To the villagers, it would appear as a colossal, eleven-meter-long super pistol.

How could such a thing be wielded?

Who could grasp an eleven-meter-long pistol to shoot enemies?

Another idea was to commission custom “ultra-micro weapons”—making various arms only a few millimeters long so that, magnified 200 times, they’d become 1-2 meters long. Then, people inside the box-world could use them normally.

Clearly, with the manufacturing knowledge he currently had, making guns smaller than a few millimeters was impossible. Ordinary swords or spears wouldn’t significantly boost the villagers’ combat prowess.

Li Daoxuan’s only viable solution was to teach the villagers how to craft their own firearms.

However, given the current technical capabilities of the forty-two tiny people inside the scenic box, crafting quality knives was challenging enough, let alone homemade firearms. They could likely only produce crude tools like axes or vegetable cleavers.

He dismissed this path for the time being; it was for future consideration.

The only viable method to protect the villagers in the short term might be…

A “Fortress.”

This was the most common means of self-protection for ancient villagers—huddling inside a sturdy bastion, capable of repelling most bandit raids. The most iconic structure for this was the “Hakka roundhouse.”

This was also something Li Daoxuan could realistically produce in modern society. By creating a “Hakka roundhouse”-like building at a 1:200 scale and placing it within the scenic box, he could have the villagers move inside, making them significantly safer.

This goal was absolutely achievable.

It was just… quite expensive indeed.