Beside Gaojia Village, a massive pond had appeared. Over ten zhang long, five zhang wide, eight zhang deep.
It stretched for more than ten zhang in length, was five zhang wide, and reached a depth of eight zhang.
The water inside was modern tap water, so clear that the bottom could be seen at a glance. To villagers who had gone three whole years without seeing a reliable source of clean water, it looked almost unreal.
A woman was the first to reach the pond.
She stopped dead at the edge, staring down at the reflection staring back at her.
"What..."
Her fingers loosened.
The bucket slipped from her hand, rolled into the water, and floated on the surface.
"WATER! THERE'S WATER!"
Her scream tore through the village.
Doors flew open. Within moments, half the villagers came rushing toward the pond, pushing and shoving as they hurried over. Some were still barefoot, while others had not even changed out of their sleeping clothes.
"Is that really water?!"
"Where did this pond come from?!"
"Look how clear it is!"
"Am I dreaming? Someone pinch me!"
"Ow! You fool! I said pinch me, not hit me!"
A child broke free from his mother's grasp and dashed toward the pond. She lunged after him and caught him by the collar, yanking him back so hard that he nearly choked.
"Don't you dare! We don't even know if it's safe!"
"Let me drink it! I'm thirsty!"
"You'll drink after the elders!"
An old man finally pushed his way through the crowd.
He knelt beside the pond, cupped both hands together, and scooped up some water. His fingers trembled as he slowly raised it to his lips.
The entire crowd held its breath.
He took a sip.
Then another.
A moment later, tears began streaming down his weathered face.
"It's sweet..."
His voice trembled.
"It's actually sweet water..."
That was all it took.
The crowd erupted.
"Tianzun! This is Tianzun's gift!"
"Who else could make a pond appear overnight?!"
"We're saved! We're saved!"
"Long live Tianzun!"
One villager dropped to his knees and began kowtowing.
Then another followed.
Soon, the entire crowd was kneeling along the pond's edge, foreheads striking the dirt as prayers, sobs, and laughter blended together in a chaotic chorus of gratitude.
Meanwhile, one young man suddenly tried to leap straight into the pond.
Two others immediately grabbed him by the arms and hauled him back.
"What are you doing?! This is drinking water!"
"I just want to wash my face!"
"Then use a bucket, you animal!"
Amid the commotion, Li Daoxuan lowered his gaze toward Gao Yiye.
"Yiye, tell the villagers that from now on, I will refill this pond every day. They can fetch water here for their daily needs or use it to irrigate the farmland."
Gao Yiye's face lit up.
She immediately dropped to her knees and kowtowed so quickly that her forehead nearly slammed into a nearby rock. Then she scrambled back to her feet and turned toward the crowd.
"Everyone! Tianzun says the pond will be refilled every day! We can use this water for drinking, washing, farming, anything we need!"
The villagers exploded with excitement all over again.
"Every day?!"
"Farming! We can farm again!"
"The seeds! Where did I put the seeds?!"
"Under your bed, you idiot! You've been sleeping on them for months!"
"Move! I need to get my buckets!"
"What's the hurry? The pond isn't going anywhere!"
"You don't know that!"
In the middle of the chaos, a small child slipped away from his mother, sprinted to the pond, and plunged his entire face straight into the water.
"Glub, glub, glub..."
"GAO SANWA!"
His mother grabbed him by the back of his collar and hauled him upright.
The boy came up coughing and laughing at the same time, water dripping from his nose.
"It's cold! Mom, the water is cold!"
"Of course it's cold! It just came from the sky!"
"Can I go in again?"
"I'll drown you myself if you try!"
Gao Yiye stood in the middle of the uproar, desperately trying to answer a dozen questions at once. Her voice was quickly swallowed up by the excited crowd.
By this time, Shan Shi'er's sleepiness had been completely scared away.
He looked up at the sky, though he could not see anything. Then he looked at the pond in front of him, which had appeared vividly before his very eyes.
That scene just now was not him waking up too fast. An invisible, formless power had genuinely created a pond out of thin air, and even poured a waterfall from the sky to fill it up.
If anyone dared to say this was not the work of a god, he would be the first to jump up and slap that person hard across the face.
While he was still in a daze, Gao Yiye spoke up beside him. "Master Shan, Tianzun has words for you."
Shan Shi'er's spirit jolted. He quickly offered a deep, respectful bow toward the sky. "What instructions does Tianzun have?"
Li Daoxuan said, "You seem to be the County Magistrate's advisor, right?"
Gao Yiye hurriedly relayed the message.
Mentioning this, Shan Shi'er's face turned bitter. "The day before yesterday, this lowly one spoke on behalf of the commoners, advising the Magistrate not to collect taxes. It angered him, and I was swept out the door, no longer employed. This is what you call... bringing fire upon oneself."
Li Daoxuan replied, "Oh, so you are saying you have lost your livelihood?"
Shan Shi'er kowtowed and said, "Uh... well... indeed... this is what you call..."
"Shut up! It's annoying to hear." Li Daoxuan snapped in irritation. "Don't you realize how annoying you sound when you talk? No wonder the Magistrate kicked you out."
Shan Shi'er froze. "..."
Li Daoxuan continued, "I originally thought that since you were an advisor, you could read official documents at the county yamen and deliver some news to Gaojia Village. But looking at it now, you are pretty useless."
Hearing this, Shan Shi'er's heart skipped a beat. What does Tianzun mean by this? Could it be... he originally planned to take me in to work for him? Working for a god is a blessing cultivated over several lifetimes! I absolutely cannot miss this opportunity. Even if I have to beg shamelessly, I must become a chore-boy by the god's side.
He hurriedly pleaded, "This lowly one is useful, Tianzun! Very useful! Even though I no longer work in the county yamen, I am clever, articulate, and good with numbers. If Tianzun has any complicated tasks, the villagers here definitely... cough... ehem... it would be much more reliable to leave it to this lowly one. This is what you call..."
He was about to summarize with his four characters when he suddenly remembered that Tianzun found him annoying.
He clamped his mouth shut, braking so hard his expression twisted.
Li Daoxuan found it highly amusing. "Alright, fine. I cannot think of anything I need you to do for now. Go back to the county town. Keep your eyes and ears open. Gather information about what is happening in the surrounding areas. If there is major news, send someone to notify Gaojia Village. When I need you, I will send someone to notify you."
Shan Shi'er prostrated himself, forehead touching the dirt. "This lowly one obeys."
Only after performing a full set of formal bows did he climb to his feet and head toward the county town.
Li Daoxuan watched him go.
Right now, I still have not found a way to expand my field of vision. The diorama box is locked above Gaojia Village, so I cannot see anything outside. Having this guy named Shan Shi'er is equivalent to gaining a pair of eyes outside the box. I hope those eyes prove useful at crucial moments.
He turned his attention back to the village. The villagers were already busy.
The strong young men were digging irrigation channels. With a large pond, they finally had the confidence to plant crops again. They still had to wait until autumn to sow, but their farmer instincts could no longer be contained, so they started preparing the fields ahead of time.
Li Daoxuan nodded.
"Good. Their ability to sustain themselves has been activated. I will still need to feed them for a few months, but come autumn, they will start farming, and the cost of supporting this village will begin to drop."
"If I can use the same method to help more villages, I can save many people from starving to death."
Next, Question Two: When he was not by the diorama box, the villagers needed the ability to protect themselves.
He recalled the historical military forums and novels he often read.
The first thought that flashed through his mind was to equip the villagers with firearms. He quickly realized this was unfeasible.
Setting aside whether buying guns would get him tossed into jail, let us just assume he could legally obtain one.
Even the world's smallest Swiss mini gun was 55 millimeters long.
Put that into the box, magnified 200 times, and the villagers would see an eleven-meter-long pistol. Who could hold an eleven-meter-long pistol to blast enemies?
Another idea was to hire someone to custom-make weapons just a few millimeters long. Magnified 200 times, they would turn into one-to-two-meter weapons the people could actually use.
But no one could make a functional gun that small. And regular swords would not boost their combat power much.
His only real solution was to teach the villagers to make matchlock muskets themselves.
However, with their current skills, they could barely forge a decent kitchen knife, let alone a musket.
He dropped that path for now.
In the short term, there was only one method he could use.
A solid fortress.
This was the most common method ancient villagers used to protect themselves. Hunkering down inside a sturdy fortress could fend off most bandit raids. The most representative architecture of this was the Hakka Walled Village.
This was something Li Daoxuan could actually pull off. He just needed to make a 200:1 scale model of a building similar to a Hakka Walled Village, place it into the diorama box, and have the little people move in. That alone would make them much safer.
It was completely doable.
It was just that... it was going to cost a liiiittle bit of money.