Chapter 2054: Encounter with the Rong Clan
The old man stared at Zhao Hai. Zhao Hai didn’t hide anything from him. In front of the old man, he took out his communication device and called Laura. Therefore, Zhao Hai’s conversation with Laura was clearly heard. Up until Zhao Hai received his communication device, the old man was still blankly staring at him.
At this time, a weeping sound was heard, Zhao Hai followed the sound and saw that it came from the old woman. However, the old woman didn’t dare cry out loud. She sobbed in silence, but it could still be heard. Zhao Hai believed that if he wasn’t in the room, the old woman might have cried louder.
It was also at this moment that the old man sobered up. He looked at Zhao Hai and kneeled down. He kowtowed multiple times while saying, “Thank you very much Sir! Thank you very much.”
Zhao Hai quickly held the old man up as he said, “Senior, there’s no need. It’s something I should do.”
Then at this time, Zhao Hai’s communication device made a sound. He immediately opened his device and saw that instead of Laura, it was the Yin Elder who was at the other side. The Yin Elder looked at Zhao Hai and said, “Little Hai, is the situation really as serious as you described?”
Zhao Hai gave the Yin Elder a salute and said, “It’s very serious. Master, I think the sect should help them. Although they’re mortals, the sect still recruits talents among them every year. If we help them, they would be loyal to the Tyrant Blade Sect. This will be good for the sect’s image. Moreover, helping them wouldn’t be expensive. A few grains and some spirit stones should suffice.”
The Yin Elder hesitated. To be honest, he hasn’t done things like disaster relief. They only provided protection to these villages, helping them deal with troublesome matters. Then they would collect taxes. There was no such thing as helping them recover from their problems. Zhao Hai was the first person to bring it up.
However, the Yin Elder felt that Zhao Hai’s request was reasonable. This task would be very easy for the Tyrant Blade Sect to accomplish. The sect’s territory was vast. They receive tons of grain and resources every year as taxes. Most of the time, these grains would be used to feed animals or make spirit wine. Taking some of these grains out to help disaster victims wouldn’t be hard for the sect to do. Therefore, the Yin Elder didn’t immediately oppose Zhao Hai.
After telling the village’s coordinates to the Yin Elder, the Yin Elder gave a few more pointers before ending the call. Then Zhao Hai turned to the old man and said, “Senior, go tell the village leader that someone from the Tyrant Blade Sect will come over to provide grain and seed, as well as other necessities. Right, besides this village, are there other villages. .h.i.t by the disaster?”
The old man quickly replied, “Replying to Sir, including our village, there are more than 30 villages in the region that are affected by the disaster. Their situation should be similar to ours. Some might be even worse. I heard that some villages are beginning to die from starvation.”
Zhao Hai didn’t expect the matter to be so serious. He couldn’t help but be confused. The True Spirit Realm was filled with mountains rich with plant life. Although these plants didn’t have any medicinal value, they could still be eaten. Why don’t the villagers go and forage for food?
However, upon looking at the little mouse on his shoulder, Zhao Hai immediately understood why n.o.body would go to the mountains to forage. This was because the mountains were filled with beasts. Although the beasts weren’t strong, they were still a threat to the villagers who had no cultivation.
Additionally, Zhao Hai could understand why the starving villagers didn’t leave their village. If the villagers left, then they wouldn’t be given any help. If they stayed in their village, then they might survive until the next season and farm. Only then could they be able to feed themselves. But if they left, then it was highly probable that they would starve to death on the road.
Hearing the situation, Zhao Hai took his communication device out again and relayed the information to Laura. Then Laura would tell the Yin Elder to adjust the food allocation. The number of people who had been affected by the disaster were much larger than they thought.
At this moment, the Yin Yang Elders arrived in the Tyrant Blade Sect’s Main Hall. In the Sect Master’s palace, the sect master was currently dealing with the sect’s matters. The issues he dealt with were the more important affairs of the sect. As for ordinary matters, other people would deal with them.
The arrival of the Yin Yang Elders caused the sect master to be surprised. He placed his jade slip down and asked, “Why did the two of you come here? Did your disciple stir up any trouble? Isn’t he undergoing his trial?”
The Yin Elder scoffed and said, “What are you implying? You make it look like Little Hai likes to look for trouble. But the reason we came is indeed related to Little Hai. Just now, he sent news that some villages under our protection are struggling to eat after an insect plague. He wants us to send someone to help them recover. I think his request is reasonable.”
The Sect Master stared, then he knit his brows and said, “You said villagers? You mean the mortals?”
The Yin Elder nodded, “The mortals. So what if they’re ordinary people? They aren’t worth our help?”
The Sect Master frowned, “But they are just mortals. Why do we need to care about them?”
The Yin Elder forced a smile when he heard this, then he replied, “Sect Master, why can’t we help the mortals? They are also people. Also, we select many of our disciples among them every year. If we help them, not only would we win their loyalty, we can also make our disciples more loyal to the sect. It’s a win-win situation. The only thing we have to pay for is a small portion of food as well as ordinary clothes. These things will just rot in our warehouses anyway. It’s better to use them for good.”
Hearing this, Yin Elder couldn’t help but stare. Then he stood up and walked back and forth, thinking. Finally, he nodded and said, “Alright, then we’ll offer our help. We’ll deal with it immediately.”
At this time, the Yin Elder’s communication device made a sound. He took it out and saw Laura on the other side. Laura cupped her fist and said, “Great Master, Brother Hai said that besides the village he’s in, there are also more than 30 villages that need help. Some of the villages have members that died of starvation. The situation is more serious than we thought.”
The Yin Elder nodded and said, “I understand.” Then he switched his communication device off. He turned to the Sect Master and said, “As you heard, some people have already starved to death. We have no choice but to intervene.”
The Sect Master nodded, “I heard. Immediately arrange people for the relief operations. We must guarantee that the villages survive until the next season’s harvest. We can’t have more people die of starvation nor die from freezing.” The Yin Elder nodded. Then the Sect Master began calling people to deal with the matter.
It was also at this time that Zhao Hai found out that the old man in the inn was also the Village Patriarch. In the True Spirit Realm, small villages tend to be populated by a single family. Naturally, the larger villages would be jointly controlled by several big clans. This small village only has one family, so the clan patriarch would also be the village chief.
The name of the village was Chang Village. And everyone in the village were surnamed Chang. This wasn’t a common surname, but that wasn’t important. No matter what surname they have, Zhao Hai would still help them.
One has to recognize the efficiency of the Tyrant Blade Sect. In just two hours after Zhao Hai’s report, the people from the sect arrived.
The people who came were from the main hall of the Tyrant Blade Sect, so they all knew Zhao Hai. When they arrived, they greeted Zhao Hai before distributing the food, seeds, and necessities to the families of Chang Village. Each family even received a certain amount of spirit stones, enough for them to survive for a year.
The immediate result of this relief operation was that the Chang Village became the most loyal subjects of the Tyrant Blade Sect. Each family put up a sign of the sect and wors.h.i.+ped it every day.
Zhao Hai was completely unaware of this. When the people from the Tyrant Blade Sect arrived, he no longer worried about the village and left to continue his trial. He cannot spend a long time in the village. Now that the Sect was going through with the disaster relief, Zhao Hai was no longer needed. The sect also hopes that he won’t meddle into this matter anymore.
Despite this, Zhao Hai felt very depressed in the following days. It wasn’t because he was lonely, but it was because of the scene he pa.s.sed by. He saw numb expressions on people’s faces as though they had lost all hope of life. Faced with this scene, Zhao Hai’s mood couldn’t get better.
It was only a week later did Zhao Hai leave the disaster region. Although he knew that the villages would be saved, he couldn’t help but feel sad upon seeing the disaster victims.
Zhao Hai didn’t encounter any dangers in these few days, probably because of the Tyrant Blade Sect’s activity in the area. This allowed Zhao Hai some reprieve from the Imperial Beast Sect and the Sword Hegemon Sect.
At this moment, Zhao Hai was in a path with trees on both sides. It was a mountainous area, he was no longer in the plains. Although the True Spirit Realm was quite populated, its area was also bigger. Therefore, it gave out the feeling of vastness with a spa.r.s.e population. To be honest, Zhao Hai liked this feeling.
As he walked the path, Zhao Hai suddenly heard the sound of a horse carriage. He turned his head to see that there was a carriage being pulled by four horse-type beasts. Naturally, these beasts weren’t high level. They were beasts that commoners generally use.
Behind the horses was a huge carriage. The intricate design on the carriage told a lot about the person sitting inside.
There were two people in the driver’s seat of the carriage. One of them was holding the reins while the other sat there with his arms crossed. The carriage was quite fast. And since he didn’t want any trouble nor did he want to get hit by the carriage, Zhao Hai quickly gave way.
But to his surprise, when the carriage was in front of him, the driver pulled the reins causing the four horses to stop. Seeing this, Zhao Hai’s pupils turned serious. One could see that the driver was a cultivator with quite some strength.
Zhao Hai looked at the driver and the person beside him and his guess wasn’t wrong. The person driving the carriage was a two-meter high giant with bronze skin. Looking at his appearance, Zhao Hai could see that his defense was formidable and he was an innately talented body cultivator. However, this person’s strength was on the low-end at the late Rebirth Stage.
As for the person sitting beside the driver, he looked 40 years old and his skin was fair. His hand was well-manicured and his face was stern. Unlike the driver, he was quite strong at the Soul Fusion Stage.
While Zhao Hai was inspecting the two, the two were also sizing him up. Then the person beside the driver cupped his fist and said, “Mister, this one is the third steward of the Rong Clan. Mister, if you came out to practice, how about taking up a mission?”
Zhao Hai stared. He heard of the Rong Clan before. The Rong Clan was quite famous in the Tyrant Blade Sect. This fame didn’t come from the clan’s powerful experts. Although the clan has a few reputable cultivators, it didn’t have a powerful expert that was enough to move the Tyrant Blade Sect. It only has a few powerful elders that could support the clan. Instead, the Rong Clan was famous because they were a huge affiliated merchant clan of the Tyrant Blade Sect. They might not have talent in cultivation, but the Rong Clan’s innate skill in business was unmatched. Most of the huge industries under the Tyrant Blade Sect were set up with the help of the Rong Clan. Therefore, the Rong Clan has a position within it called the Outer Sect Steward. This shows how important the family was to the Tyrant Blade Sect.
Although Zhao Hai doesn’t have a lot of information regarding the entire True Spirit Realm, he was quite knowledgeable of the Tyrant Blade Sect’s matters. So how could he be unaware of this important partner of the Tyrant Blade Sect? However, he doesn’t understand why the Rong Clan was inviting him for a mission.
Zhao Hai was puzzled, but he cupped his fist and said, “I have seen mister. May I ask what the mission is?”