I Can Reap Qi Fortune from Players

Ning Zheng researched the rewards and checked the forum for a while, only to sleep peacefully after confirming that there were no problems.

The next morning.

Ning Zheng got up early and found Su Yuniang frolicking in the yard.

Opening the window and taking a look,

it was snowing.

Snowflakes fluttered down from the sky, dyeing the courtyard in white.

Ning Zheng lifted the bed and took out a red wooden box, putting on the neatly folded coat and winter boots inside, and hung some winter clothes in the wardrobe while folding the summer clothes.

After finishing everything, he opened the door and reached out to catch the snow falling from the sky, feeling a chill:

"This year's winter came several months earlier than usual."

In previous years, it would only start to get cold after the New Year.

The weather changes every day now.

Su Yuniang shouted loudly in the yard, building a snowman:

"It's probably because the Red Sun is coming soon, there's too much Yin Qi; after all, the Red Sun is just two days away. Such heavenly phenomena can be understood!"

"When I got up, there was ice on the water in the well, and I had to break a layer of thin ice to get water."

She still lives as the doorkeeper in the underground room at the wellhead.

"Is it cold at the wellhead?" Ning Zheng said.

"Yeah, actually it's quite warm down there, feels warmer than above, just can't catch any River Demons now; they seem to hibernate when it gets cold."

Su Yuniang finished building the snowman, wrapping a red scarf around its neck.

Whether River Demons hibernate or not is unknown, but they don't move, and Ning Zheng has never caught any fish in winter.

Previously, he would rescue the River Demons ahead of time, store a batch in the cellar to last through winter.

They spoil in summer, but last for months in winter.

Suddenly, Su Yuniang shouted, running urgently to the kitchen: "Oh no, the breakfast might have overcooked."

With that said, she hurriedly ran away.

Ning Zheng shook his head, left the yard, and went out to the street, seeing villagers coming and going, along with many new faces.

He looked around the village entrance, finding the snow-covered mountains had their own unique beauty.

"Good morning." A burly man carrying an axe prepared to go up the mountain at the village entrance.

"Going to chop wood?" Ning Zheng smiled, "Are you settling in well here?"

"It's okay." Axe Brother replied with a silly grin, "Thank you for your village's hospitality, for providing us with a place to live."

Recently, there have been some external guests settling down here.

For instance, Axe Brother and some refugees.

During these ten days of forging, Su Yuniang was not idle down the mountain.

Those with special skills went to the mountain inn, entering the card pool for selection.

She actively selected a batch of people with good characteristics but without special skills to stay down the mountain.

Those who stayed down the mountain were wandering Embers; without taking root, they would soon dissipate.

The blacksmiths on the mountain plan to buy Continuing Ash Talismans and have them settle around and outside the various mountain villagers down the mountain, building new houses for themselves and becoming new villagers below.

Ning Zheng actually thinks this idea is quite good.

The circle of mountain villages here have always been sparsely populated.

In the past, the Jiao Family Stronghold ruled several mountain villages with hundreds of thousands of people, but now, using probability-increasing methods, there are only several thousand Embers villagers left.

The city walls seemed a bit sparse.

Rooting some villagers with good combat power and characteristics can enhance the village's defense.

Moreover, Ning Zheng doesn't have to spend, as the blacksmiths jointly fund the purchase of Continuing Ash Talismans.

Of course, fifty Magic Coins per villager is a fortune.

So the mountain blacksmiths discussed, if these refugees are willing to stay, they must help collect various resources down the mountain.

This belongs to long-distance child investment.

Because always helping gather materials is nice, many people still pool funds, spending 50 Magic Coins to long-distance root villagers.

The blacksmiths hinted to "Su Yuniang" to build houses outside the village for them and stick "Sleeping Talismans" on the backs of these Embers, making them Earth-bound Spirits.

To sum up.

Over ten days, quite a few people have come again.

"This is actually becoming a truly large-scale Ghost Manor." Ning Zheng felt the New Year Market next year would be very lively.

...

Returning home.

Su Yuniang had already set a table with food, only some were slightly burnt yellow.

She woke Ning Jiaojiao from lazy sleep to eat breakfast, and then took her somewhere to play, talking about skating, making skates, and all sorts of things.

Ning Zheng didn't pay her any mind, tidying up and went up the mountain as the old manager.

Arriving at the manor entrance, the blacksmiths were also building snowmen, excitedly.

"Old manager, you're here!"

"Look, we built you."

"Super cool."

"This is your great statue; we worship and admire you always."

Ning Zheng fell silent, looking up.

He discovered they had gathered the falling snow from the manor and piled it into a super-large snowman—Old Manager.

Moreover, they kept pouring water and used hot iron from the blacksmith shop to make the snowman more solid.

This wasn't just a snowman, more like a snow sculpture.

Very delicate and three-dimensional.

Apparently, there was a so-called master carver personally handling it.

These blacksmiths often show surprising enthusiasm in strange places, beyond imagination.

At this moment, Jiucai Rong walked over, following Ning Zheng's gaze:

"People from our hometown care more about enjoying life and achieving satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment than profit."

Ning Zheng didn't care about these psychological activities, nodded and said: "Where are the three million Magic Coins?"

"Here."

Jiucai Rong took out a Storage Ring: "This ring is a gift to us on the side."

They didn't feel any issue if the old manager knew about this matter; the manor's array must have had monitoring.

Ning Zheng received the Storage Ring and asked everyone to quiet down: "The blacksmiths present exceeded both the manor master's and my expectations, very satisfactory!"

"Originally, the manor master planned to personally go and loot Pingchang City, but unexpectedly, you guys have looted too much, causing chaos in Pingchang City, so we didn't need to act."

Everyone listened and thought it was amazing.

They unknowingly completed a hidden task!

They looted Pingchang City for the Manor Master, now Pingchang City is in chaos.

"To reward you all."

The old manager's voice caught everyone's attention:

"We will give you Blacksmith's Invitations for each region, according to your contribution size. With your name written on it, you can invite your friends to the mountain to work as blacksmiths."

Everyone cheered upon hearing this, becoming instantly excited, faces flushed, clapping furiously—this hidden task was a huge success.

Next, Ning Zheng called up the various departments one by one, took out post after post, and awarded them individually.

Their leaders took the stage, leading the team to receive the awards and giving their acceptance speeches.

Each one proudly walked up, took the invitation, saying things like "Thanks to CCAV," "Thank my family, thank my girlfriend"...

Ning Zheng pretended not to notice.

As long as they wrote the player's ID on the invitation, they could use Ai's assistant to send the Blacksmith's internal test qualification to specific onlookers in the real world forum via email.

It's believed they would internally discuss the allocation of slots, even selling them, sharing the money as a team.

Everyone was very happy.

Ning Zheng didn't say much either, "Work hard! I believe you can do even better next time!"

Then he paused and said:

"You've earned enough funds for the manor, and if various equipment in Pingchang City drops in price, you can apply to purchase within a reasonable range!"

Upon hearing this, everyone was even happier.

They triggered a hidden event, with the manor's Magic Coins in abundance, reopening the equipment procurement project as a reward!

They already have many new ideas, waiting for the old manager's angel investment.

After handling the matters, Ning Zheng went straight down the mountain.

...

Thump, thump, thump!

"Medical Fairy, Medical Fairy!" Su Yuniang excitedly ran outside the clinic, shouting a few times.

Su Yuniang found it a bit strange.

This heavy snow was quite rare.

Everyone was outside building snowmen, but the Medical Fairy was nowhere to be seen.

She had just been awarded a full ten slots, which was a windfall for her alone.

Yet still, there was no sign of her.

On a normal day, she would have run out joyfully.

Something was very unusual.

"I brought back ten invitations for you and even delivered your award speech... if you really don't want them, just give them to me."

Su Yuniang tapped on the door again, and after a long while, the Medical Fairy finally opened a crack in the door.

"What, not letting me in?" Su Yuniang asked.

The Medical Fairy hesitated for a moment, looked outside to see no one else, then shrunk back and said, "It's too cold today, I'm freezing on the spot."

Su Yuniang looked shocked, as if she had seen the startling scene on the Medical Fairy. She also felt like she was cracking apart... this game is way too realistic!

Fortunately, the game has a green protection function. Whenever players are involved in privacy concerns, like going to the bathroom or changing clothes, it automatically blocks spectators.

Otherwise, the Medical Fairy would become famous, and everyone would laugh themselves silly.

The Medical Fairy whispered anxiously, "Go to the blacksmith shop next door, get a small stove for me to warm up and melt the ice."

...

...

Pingchang City.

The old shopkeeper's business was unaffected by the scarecrow calamity.

In fact, it got even better.

There's only two days left for the Red Sun to arrive.

The final moments before the end are the dawn before the darkness, as well as the darkest hour before the nightfall, as the Ghosts become increasingly chaotic everywhere.

"The painting card blind boxes and weapon blind boxes are sold out again."

At the counter, the old shopkeeper said to Zhang Huaping, "You need to head to the mountain for another handover... By the way, how many scarecrows did you pick up yesterday?"

"Just two."

Zhang Huaping shook her head, "One at the Five-Body Realm Great Perfection, which I use myself, and one at the Five-Body Realm Middle Period, saved for my daughter to protect her."

"Even with these old bones of mine, I secretly risked it to pick up two."

The old shopkeeper beamed, "Moreover, a lot of people are coming over to sell scarecrows at low prices lately; they're really timid, afraid someone's coming to their door."

"Can you blame them?" Zhang Huaping said, "Those are demon beast plants grown from the bodies of cultivators from the three big families."

The old shopkeeper shook his head:

"The three big families only have a few Three Elements Realm ancestors left. Altogether, each family doesn't even add up to a hundred people, so how can they control such a huge city? Even if they want to reclaim them, who would listen? The law doesn't punish the masses."

"Besides, the major second-tier families are also following suit, not only do they not mind those loose cultivators and common people taking them back, they themselves took the most!"

"A large crowd of family disciples, each carrying a Beast Taming Bag, stuffing them in, eating quite a lot."

"Once the Red Sun ends this time, these eight hundred thousand scarecrows will probably become Pingchang City's specialty beast pets, ready for sale."

Zhang Huaping nodded.

With the fall of the three big families, the past few days have been a celebratory feast.

It's a pity that the Divine Weapon is gone, unable to infect anymore, so the numbers stop here.

But some botanists and spirit farmers have started to research breeding scarecrow demon beasts.

Seeing if they can improve their realm, awaken rationality, and become a Scarecrow Demon King, capable of reproduction.

"Our Jiao Family is also researching, if successful, this will be Pingchang City's new beast pet specialty! Not worse than the magical artifact painting cards of the neighboring Sword Casting Demon Manor!"

The old shopkeeper said happily.

With the fall of the three big families, their Jiao Family also began secretly striving to re-emerge.

Jiao Chiwan quietly entered the fray early on.

It was he who colluded with the Zhang Family, which was about to be wiped out, helping to open the path to Sword Casting Manor.

Only then did a series of later events occur.

However, he also made a Heart Demon Oath, otherwise the Zhang Family wouldn't have tolerated them either.

But now, with the fall of the three big families, the Jiao Family will become one of the biggest beneficiaries.

It's possible to cultivate new Three Elements Realm cultivators, reasserting control over the family.

Next, the Jiao Family will start acting quietly.

After all, unlike the Zhang Family whose younger generation was assassinated to the brink of extinction,

their Jiao Family is small, unnoticed, and the young promising talents have been well nurtured, with the potential to break through to the Three Elements. They just lack massive resources!

And now, by going for a massive expansion, the possibility of pooling the entire family's resources to cultivate another Three Elements Realm cultivator isn't impossible.

"The same old saying, the Red Sun is the cycle for each family to reshuffle, fortune and misfortune lie together."

Zhang Huaping listened with a face full of emotion.