Li Daoxuan had “vanished into the clouds,” but he hadn’t actually left. He was still outside the box watching, merely covering it with its glass lid and gazing through the glass instead.

After these days of study, he had discovered that removing the lid allowed Gao Yiye to see him “appearing in the clouds,” while viewing through the glass made him invisible even to Gao Yiye.

Humans were quite peculiar!

Watching openly would have been fine, but secretly watching felt strangely satisfying.

Observing Gao Yiye, Thirty-Two, and others expressing their true nature after “the Deity had left” was quite interesting.

Building a temple and crafting an idol seemed unnecessary to Li Daoxuan, but if the villagers liked to stir things up, he let them be without intervening. After all, only about forty people were in the village, and whatever they wanted to do required labor they simply lacked—he just watched how they played it out.

Thirty-Two first ordered the villagers to bring out every oil jar and oil bottle from their homes. Everyone went to fill these containers with canola oil, and once every household’s containers were full, half a pool of oil still remained.

Next, he organized the young adults in the village to lift the mineral water bottle lids together, resembling a swarm of ants carrying heavy loads, transporting the remaining half lid of oil to his temporary small house. Then, they began processing the pile of flour.

The flour Li Daoxuan had placed inside the box had all formed into spheres.

Thirty-Two borrowed a millstone from the Village Chief and assigned youths like Gao Chuwu to grind the spherical flour back into powder, making it resemble ordinary flour.

Gao Chuwu complained while grinding, “Third Lady, why do we have to crush them again? It’s so much trouble.”

Thirty-Two smacked his forehead with a “thwack.” “You understand nothing! I’m taking this flour out of the village to meet outsiders, to draw people to our village. How bizarre would these ball-like flour appear to outsiders? If officials see it, who knows what trouble it might stir. Grinding it into powder is the only way to deceive Heaven to cross the sea.”

Gao Chuwu dimwit replied, “If officials see it, just tell them the Deity gave it to us.”

Thirty-Two gave him another “thwack.” “You understand nothing! These years, the court has been cracking down on cults. Anyone deemed a cult heretic is executed without pardon. Me handing out ball-shaped flour and calling it a gift from the Deity? That’s practically throwing oneself into the net!”

Gao Chuwu scratched his head. “Ah? Stop hitting me. I’m already dumb enough—if you keep smacking my head, I’ll get dumber.”

Li Daoxuan found this amusing. He shifted his gaze to another corner, where Third Lady sat under the eaves with Gao Yiye, holding a Taoist text and reading it aloud to her.

As Gao Yiye listened, her head seemed to double in size, overwhelmed, but she still listened with intense focus, straining to memorize every word without any sign of retreat.

The villagers were striving hard!

Li Daoxuan thought, “I should strive too. For my livelihood, I’ll pick up another small job.”

He opened his work QQ, messaged the task assigner: “Bro, got any work lately? Throw me a task.”

The person replied laughingly, “I was waiting for you. Here, take this one. A gaming company needs monster designs—main theme black, ferocious, disgusting, stomach-churning at first glance. 800 yuan, deliver within two days.”

…

Two days passed in a flash.

At dusk, the setting sun descended below the western sky.

Li Daoxuan stretched, loosening his stiff muscles.

The client had just reviewed the work. On the whole, they were satisfied with the monster designs Li Daoxuan created, but felt it needed two fangs. He added them quickly, but then the client thought fangs were too common and preferred a long tongue instead.

So, Li Daoxuan gave the monster a long tongue. The client examined it, decided the tongue should have spikes, so he shrank the fangs and stuck them onto the tongue.

The client was thoroughly pleased. Li Daoxuan’s savings increased by 800 yuan.

Busy with work these two days, he had paid little attention to the villagers inside the box. Now task complete, he finally had time to look.

The moment he focused on the interior, he saw Thirty-Two leading a large group of ragged people through the city gate. Counting them, he found over a hundred—102 to be precise.

These newcomers scanned Gaojia Village’s “towering city walls,” seemingly intimidated, and shuffled nervously into the village. Standing in the open square at its center, they looked utterly awkward, unsure how to position their hands and feet.

Thirty-Two stood before the group and declared loudly, “I already told you all the details on the way here. In short, at Gaojia Village, you’ll definitely get a bite to eat, but mark my ugly words clearly—after eating the Deity’s meal, you must serve the Deity. Do whatever the Deity commands, obey faithfully, and never slack off or loaf around. Otherwise…Heh…”

He deliberately paused, offering a sinister, villain-like grin. “Losing food is minor trouble—if you anger the Deity, He will surely make you understand what Heaven punishes, earth annihilates means.”

Li Daoxuan secretly enjoyed this; “He’s terrifying the newcomers, painting me as a fierce being.”

Just then, Gaojia Village’s Village Chief approached: “Third Lady, who are these people?”

Thirty-Two chuckled grimly: “They are villagers from Wangjia Village, Zhengjia Village, Zhuangjia Village, and several others nearby. The chaos stirred by Wang Er swept away many from their villages, leaving too few people behind. I called out over there, and they followed me.”

Humans are social creatures; when village numbers dwindle below a certain point, the survivors can’t endure and must relocate.

Land usually tethers peasants, preventing such movement. But after a three-year drought, the land became utterly worthless. A handful of people stuck in a village with nothing but dried, cracked yellow soil faced only death.

The Village Chief hesitated awkwardly: “So many come at once—where will they live? There aren’t enough houses in the village.”

Thirty-Two dismissed the concern: “Couldn’t care less where they bunker down. I only provide food—they figure accommodation out themselves.”

The Village Chief suggested, “How about we ring the bell and request help from the Deity?”

Thirty-Two’s eyebrows shot up as he glared furiously at the Village Chief. “Don’t pester the Deity with every scrap of minor hassle! Only bother Him when it’s beyond our own fixing. Things we can handle ourselves, we must manage with all our might. Otherwise, someday, the Deity might kick you squarely in the crotch and tell you to piss off.”

Li Daoxuan had been cutting a can when Thirty-Two spoke. He set aside his scissors and aluminum can. “That makes sense—perhaps I’ve been overly mothering?”

He decided not to cut the can and instead observed how the villagers sorted it out themselves.

His takeaway meal had just arrived. Li Daoxuan picked up his shredded pork with potatoes over rice and started eating, watching the box while he shoveled mouthfuls.

Thirty-Two handed each newcomer a small sack of flour. These half-starved villagers, their faces pallid with hunger, erupted in tearful gratitude. They borrowed pots to cook noodle paste, ate their fill, and savored a full meal.

Darkness settled swiftly!

Unfazed by shelter, they simply plucked dry grass from outside and piled it against the city wall base. Without undressing, they laid down atop it—no rain fell these days anyway, so needing a roof felt irrelevant.

Once settled, they gaped in awe as lantern after lantern flickered alight atop the wall, encircling Gaojia Village’s massive walls every ten steps. Inside these lanterns, no candle burned—only a canola oil lamp glowed, casting faint halos over the nearby vicinity while releasing a fragrant aroma as the oil burned.

Two villagers carrying bows and arrows climbed atop the wall to begin patrolling.

The newcomers froze in shock: “Using canola oil like this? How rich is Gaojia Village?”