“Burn down my temple?” A cold light flashed in Su Jinse’s eyes.
This Magistrate Li, she had heard of him before—a local tyrant colluding with the town’s wealthy Wang Yuanwai, extorting the people.
Earlier, Young Master Wang had suffered losses at her hands; no doubt Magistrate Li wanted to restore his dignity.
Now, with this drought, he had the perfect excuse.
Under the banner of “exorcising demons,” he could incite the ignorant refugees while legitimately seizing her resources—a plan with double gains. Truly calculating.
“Miss, what should we do?” Huamei was almost in tears.
“Don’t be afraid.” Su Jinse patted her hand reassuringly, though her expression was icy. “If he wants to come, let him come.”
Her gaze shifted to the dragon-scale grass in the center of the field, nearly matured, and her mind was already working out a plan.
She needed time.
In just three more days, the dragon-scale grass would fully mature.
By then, her strength would soar, and a mere county magistrate would not even be worth her attention.
That night, Xiao Jue personally ascended the mountain.
His expression was grimmer than ever.
“Magistrate Li has united several prominent town families and gathered over three hundred militia, claiming they will ascend the mountain in three days to ‘deliver justice on behalf of Heaven,’” Xiao Jue said in a low voice.
“But the foot of the mountain is full of refugees,” he added, brow furrowed. “Magistrate Li plans to use them as shields. If I suppress them forcibly, it will confirm accusations that we profit at the expense of the people.”
At that point, public resentment would erupt, and even an immortal could not control it.
“Three days.” Su Jinse’s gaze moved from the window back to him. “In three days, do not let anyone set foot through the gates of Longji Mountain.”
Xiao Jue looked into her unnervingly calm eyes, not a trace of panic. He didn’t know the source of her confidence, yet he found himself nodding instinctively.
“Understood.”
After Xiao Jue left, the temple gates were completely sealed.
For the next three days, Su Jinse remained almost inseparable from the dragon-scale grass, seemingly fused with the plant itself.
Below the mountain, tensions escalated like a powder keg.
Magistrate Li and his men surrounded Longji Mountain, facing Prince Jing’s soldiers across an invisible line.
The loud beating of copper gongs carried the stirred-up public sentiment:
“Burn the witch! Pray for rain from Heaven!”
“She’s the drought demon! The temple hides food and water while we starve!”
Huamei grew thinner from anxiety, bringing meals to her mistress daily, but Su Jinse didn’t even open her eyes. A faint aura surrounded her, preventing Huamei from approaching.
So, Huamei ate the meals herself, tears falling as she muttered, “Even if I eat it, at least the thieves outside won’t benefit.”
On the third morning, at first light, the tightly closed bud atop the dragon-scale grass trembled.
Under the first rays of dawn, it silently and fully bloomed.
The withered vines on the courtyard wall sprouted new leaves at visible speed, quickly covering the wall, even bearing tiny white flowers.
The half-dead old peach tree in the corner pushed out several tender buds along its dry branches.
“Cluck! Cluck—!”
The chicken coop erupted in chaos; the hens, seemingly energized, flapped their wings and laid seven or eight eggs, all round and glossy.
Huamei was dumbfounded.
At the center of this storm, Su Jinse drew a deep breath.
The overwhelming life energy seemed to find an outlet, transforming into a golden current flowing into her mouth and nose.
Boom!
Something inside her body exploded.
The long-blocked meridians were instantly cleared, a previously unknown warm energy surged wildly through her limbs.
The world, as she perceived it, changed in an instant.
She could “hear” the wind rustling through pine needles, “see” the twitching ears of rabbits in the mountains, even “smell” the mix of cheap incense and greed emanating from Magistrate Li below.
The uproar at the foot of the mountain reached its peak.
“The time has come! Rush in! Burn the witch!”
Su Jinse slowly opened her eyes, dusted off her clothes, and smiled faintly at a flustered Huamei.
“Come on, let’s open the gate.”
She rose slowly, clenched her fist.
This body was finally no longer a cage restraining her.
She lifted her head, eyes clear as stars, toward the direction of the mountain below.
“Huamei, open the gate.”
“Ah? Miss?”
“Open the gate. Welcome our guests.”