Wait a minute, where is my master?

In the early morning, Kao Mountain Town.

The sun had not yet risen, but a pale light was beginning to dawn on the horizon.

In the courtyard of the mayor's house, Elder Shitou was wearing a thin coat and holding a smoking pipe, sitting on a stone roller and taking intermittent puffs of dry tobacco.

As one gets older, their needs decrease; plus, Mayor Shi had something on his mind, so he had gotten up early.

After getting out of bed in the morning, he first made a solo inspection around Kao Mountain Town. Finding that the red rope talismans he had set up the night before were undisturbed, he finally felt at ease and returned to the courtyard to daydream.

"It's good that the talismans haven't changed; it means the town is safe.

But, I, as an old man, can't afford to be careless. I'll have to make another trip to the county town after the sun comes up to check with Elder Wang and see if there have been any movements in the nearby villages and towns.

Right, I also need to arrange for someone to fix Mr. Fan's windows. The last time those craftsmen who repaired the school used wood, it certainly wasn't coated enough with tung oil, otherwise, how could it have rotted in just over a decade?"

Mayor Shi sat on the stone roller, muttering to himself about the things he had to do today, his voice as loud as that of someone speaking normally.

This morning during his inspection, he passed by the private school in town and noticed that a window had been broken, so he went to have a look.

Then, Elder Shitou ran into the equally early rising teacher of the private school, Fan Youzeng.

Fan explained that the window had broken and fallen to the ground by itself during the night, probably due to years of disrepair and decay from the wind and rain.

At the time, Mayor Shi didn't give it much thought; after all, they had been friends for more than a decade. If the window was broken, he, as the mayor, would have it fixed, as it was not an option to delay the education of the children in the town.

Besides, with Teacher Fan's frail appearance, it's not likely that he could have broken the window himself.

Elder Shitou, squinting his eyes, saw the sun starting to rise on the horizon. He took a couple more puffs of his dry tobacco and prepared to go back inside to fetch some things.

After finishing his pipe and placing it on the stone roller, he bent down to put on his shoes.

But in a hazy moment, he caught a glimpse of an additional "sun" in the sky out of the corner of his eye.

Curious, Mayor Shi looked up and observed one bright and one dim golden glow in the sky, with one getting bigger and flying towards Kao Mountain Town.

"Oh mother, the sun is falling down!"

Mayor Shi couldn't help but shout, instantly waking up the sleepy townspeople nearby.

After shouting, Elder Shitou, enduring the sting in his eyes, continued to look up at the sky.

"The dangers recorded by the former mayor couldn't possibly be about the sun crashing down, could they? In that case, all my prepared talismans and Divine Water would be completely useless."

Fortunately, the development of the situation was completely different from what Mayor Shi feared.

In a moment, the "sun" had neared and was positioned directly above Kao Mountain Town.

Only then did Elder Shitou make out that the so-called "sun" was actually being held up by a young Taoist, and inside that "sun," there were living people.

"My goodness, is that a Cultivator?"

Elder Shitou, in his youth, had traveled far and wide. Although he possessed no Spirit Root and couldn't cultivate, he had learned some martial arts and seen a great deal of the world. Although he was eventually dismissed by his master for practicing a kind of vocal technique that ended up ruining his voice, making him too loud to bear.

Yet, he had seen Cultivators before.

However, the Cultivator he saw when he was young was only able to spit fire and squirt water, and didn't feel powerful at all, but rather, was quite arrogant.

Nothing like the one above his head now, standing in the air, holding up a "mini sun" with one hand.

Elder Shitou looked up, noticed the Cultivator descending towards the center of Kao Mountain Town, and hurriedly rushed out the door, without even bothering to put on his shoes properly, leaving his pipe on the stone roller.

In an open space in the middle of town.

Jin Xu had set down the villagers rescued from Ten Bamboo Cave and retracted the Golden Spiritual Power Shield.

Thanks to Elder Shitou's shouts, many of the townspeople were already awake.

The braver ones were now curiously peering out from behind their doors, while the more timid had already shut their doors tight and run back to their beds.

It seemed that there might indeed be danger, as if that layer of blanket could protect him.

"Temple master, do you plan on settling them here?"

The group of citizens, weary in appearance, turned their heads upon hearing Little White's question.

The village they originally lived in had been visited by the young Taoist—completely ravaged by demons and no longer fit for habitation.

Now homeless, they were naturally concerned about how this mysterious young Taoist would settle them.

"It's just for a bit of rest and repair here, such a small town can't accommodate so many disaster victims."

Jin Xu shook his head as he answered Little White's question.

He too was initially troubled about how to deal with these few hundred citizens.

After all, in the online novels the young Taoist read in his past life, most of the righteous characters seemed to be done with their duty once they'd exorcised demons and defended the path.

Citizens? What citizens?

Was settling citizens something they should worry about?

"So what do you plan to do, temple master?"

Little White, who had lived in the Demon Realm for many years, obviously lacked experience in such settlements; in their territory, where the law of the jungle ruled, tribes struggled to survive on their own, let alone spare the effort for this kind of task.

"I've contacted Xia Yunzhao, and using Spiritual Sense, I saw there's a county town nearby. First, let's have these citizens eat something, drink some water to recover a bit here. Those who wish to stay in Qing State can stay; those who want to live within the boundaries of Great Xia, Xia Yunzhao will send the night watchmen to pick them up—they should be on the road now."

Jin Xu felt that he had done enough at this point.

Too much could be as bad as too little.

The young Taoist walked up to the citizens and presented the two options to them.

The citizens expressed their gratitude, thankful for the assistance.

Most chose to go to live within the boundaries of Great Xia while a small portion, unable to part with their homeland, decided to stay in Qing State.

There was no dramatic scene like the one Jin Xu had imagined.

"Young Taoist, young Taoist, I'm here."

Jin Xu had just finished speaking with the citizens

when the figure of the private school teacher Fan Youzeng appeared, trotting towards Jin Xu along the street.

The young Taoist, disliking trouble, had sent a message upon landing, asking him to introduce the local mayor and explain the situation, to avoid any misunderstandings.

From the other end of the street, Elder Shitou hastened towards Jin Xu, shoes not fully put on; as the mayor of Kao Mountain Town, he dared not neglect the arrival of a cultivator, unaware of the reason.

What if this one had a bad temper?

Moreover, Elder Shitou's urgency had another reason—finally seeing a live cultivator.

This young Taoist clearly seemed more powerful than the Taoist who sold him talismans and Divine Water in the county town. If he could persuade this one to perform some magic, to protect their town,

then as mayor, he could enjoy a good night's sleep, couldn't he?

"Young Taoist, as soon as I heard your message, I came. Rest assured, I've been teaching in Kao Mountain Town for decades; I will definitely take care of the matter you entrusted," said Fan Youzeng, confidently approaching Jin Xu.

In his hand, he still held a copy of "Anonymity Hero Legend Volume Three," evidently having received the message while reading and come straight away without even putting his book down.