Mutated Tao

"Can you enter the palace and become an official with your identity?” Li Huowang asked the old man in front of him.

“Yes. The disciples of the Minglun Hall are all disciples of Confucianism too.”

“Are you alone?”

“I apologize, but with our current situation, it won’t be easy for me to contact the others. However, if we revive the palace of the Qi Kingdom, they might catch wind and come assist us.”

Liang Yuxuan paused a moment before continuing, “Daoist, when I was on my way here, I coincidentally encountered the leader from the Mo family. He had caught wind of the news in the You Capital and wanted to help.”

“Oh? Then that’s good news.” Li Huowang didn’t care who it was as long as they could help. The more, the better.

He was here to help the Qi Kingdom, and there was a limit to how much Li Huowang could do on his own.

Liang Yuxuan hesitated when he heard Li Huowang’s answer. He glanced at Chan Du, who had stopped rotating his prayer beads.

“Daoist, I’m not sure if I could say this…”

“The people from the Mo family do things differently. You need to be careful.”

Li Huowang heard him and remembered what he had heard when he worked for the Surveillance Bureau. Different branches had formed within the Mo Family. The Mo family from the Liang Kingdom was orthodox, but the Mo family from the Qi Kingdom was an evil sect.

“Are they an evil sect?" Liang Yuxuan remained silent in response to the question, yet Li Huowang could tell it was a tacit agreement.

Li Huowang looked at Chan Du. If the orthodox sects are like this, I wonder how bad the Mo family must be for everyone to label them as an evil sect.

“Is the Sitting Oblivion Dao an evil sect?”

“Yes.”

“I see. Go ahead and focus on your work for now.”

Li Huowang decided to stay put and wait for the leader of the Mo family from the Qi Kingdom to arrive.

Li Huowang didn’t care if they were an evil sect or not. He was sure that the leader of the Mo family wouldn’t be stupid enough to stir up trouble in the current situation.

Li Huowang temporarily lived in the You Capital. While it didn’t matter to him, it significantly boosted the morale of the people since he was their Bodhisattva.

He didn’t know when, but he had somehow turned into everyone’s anchor.

What Li Huowang had not expected was that the famine in the Qi Kingdom had been greatly alleviated. Surprisingly, it was not because of the Mo family—it was thanks to a sack of moldy grain with mushrooms growing on it.

“Did you plant this?” Li Huowang saw Feng Wanba busily tending to rows of mushrooms in the underground room.

"Yes, I planted them!" exclaimed Feng Wanba with great excitement, eagerly nodding as he presented the mushrooms to Li Huowang. "We were feeling quite hungry, and then I unexpectedly came across these mushrooms, so I had the idea to try eating them.

“And guess what? It worked! These mushrooms can be harvested every few days, and they just keep on growing. They're even better than grain!"

“Are you sure these are edible?” Li Huowang saw black spots on the mushrooms.

“You can fill up your belly with them, although they cause diarrhea and make your lips turn purple.”

Li Huowang was confident that the mushrooms were poisonous and couldn’t be eaten.

Still, it did give him an idea. Grains were hard to grow and took a long time to harvest. Mushrooms, on the other hand, were easy to grow. More importantly, mushrooms grew faster and could be harvested within a few days. Purchasing mushrooms also wouldn’t increase Shangjing's food prices.

Li Huowang returned to the Liang Kingdom and bought some edible mushrooms before sending them over.

Although a lot of people had died in the Qi Kingdom, there were still enough farmers. Under their care, the mushrooms soon grew and helped alleviate the famine.

Soon, almost everyone in the You Capital started growing mushrooms. While not everyone was successful, it greatly reduced the need to eat grain.

People gathered on the western ruins of the You Capital. They were there to sell items they carried in baskets.

Li Huowang walked among the crowd and checked his surroundings. There wasn’t a large selection of items being sold. While some people were selling items like straw slippers, most of them were selling edible food such as Kaolinite, wild vegetables, mushrooms, goat milk, and pork.

Food was the currency here. Gold, silver, and bronze coins were useless now. No one picked them up, even if they were lying on the street.

An old man walked into the market with four catties of pearly-white rice. A crowd immediately formed around him, attracted by his merchandise.

White rice was an incredible food, and its rarity made it exorbitantly expensive. The current value of four catty of white rice in the Qi Kingdom was beyond measure.

The old man chewed on some white rice beads, making the people around him feel envious. Even so, the surrounding crowd only shouted out prices, with no one daring to steal.

There were three individuals from the military within the western ruins. They were holding swords dripping with blood to maintain order.

Li Huowang was satisfied with the scene in front of him. Even though it was still scrappy, order was slowly being introduced back to the You Capital.

“Not bad.”

Li Huowang’s praise made Liang Yuxuan bow down a little lower. “It’s just part of my duty.”

Even though it wasn’t his expertise, he had people working under him who once worked in magistrates and local administrative offices. With the soldiers and food at their disposal, maintaining order among the refugees was a relatively simple task.

"Daoist, the Qi Kingdom is too big. We don’t have enough people to extend aid to everyone, especially since we lack carriages and horses right now. Traveling would prove challenging, so I plan to first revive our society here.

”People will flock here once the You Capital is up and running again. Then, we can organize them and assign them to work in the fields to grow food.

“Our current issue is not lack of food, but rather lack of manpower. Distributing free porridge will only foster a group of lazy individuals who refuse to work. We need them to work in exchange for food. This way, we’ll be able to mobilize everyone. With everyone working, the Qi Kingdom will slowly recover."

Liang Yuxuan dared not speak in jargon and explained things as simply as he could to Li Huowang.

“Then let’s make it quick. The fewer people we lose, the better.”

“Daoist, you are indeed right. I will do my best to chart out a path of survival for the people of the Qi Kingdom. My master taught me that those who wish to unify the land should first fix their country. To fix their country, the leader must first unify the people. To unify—”

“Shut up.”

“Yes.”

At that moment, a quarrel erupted in a corner of the western ruins. An elderly man was pulling on a young person, exclaiming, "You insolent child! You’re not selling Kaolinite! It doesn’t fill up my belly!"

“Stop slandering me! I’m eating the same things I’m selling!”

Soon, a crowd gathered around them. Two soldiers approached to break up the fight.

Li Huowang wanted to leave when he saw the little altercation when he stopped. He noticed someone was observing the fight.

Upon witnessing the little altercation, Li Huowang decided to leave. However, before he did so, he came to a sudden halt as he caught sight of someone observing the fight. Li Huowang and the man locked eyes simultaneously, and Li Huowang immediately knew that the man was none other than the leader of the Mo family.