Finished Deal

Imagine waking up at sunrise to see that the roads looked different than yesterday. Imagine waking up at sunrise to see that the farm you just tended to yesterday looked different than yesterday. Imagine waking up at sunrise to see that there are trees growing fruits you have only heard of and read about but never seen before.

Well, the villagers of Mourning Village did not have to imagine these things but to see them. Waking up early in the morning, they realized that their roads that connected them to the farm were completely different than they remember. After reaching the farm, they also noticed that the placements of their food were in different places, but very organized and full compared to previous.

With this shock, hundreds of the villagers living in the village ran to the farm. This also included Liao Fang and his entourage. The village chief also brought his family to see the spectacle.

At the same time, Bai Shuixian had already woken up from her internal sleep and headed towards the farm expecting to see the shocked and surprised faces of the entire village. Changing something as essential as the farm would naturally cause lots of problems. However, she did not really care for such things and only wanted her mountain to remain at peace with no disturbances.

Within her cosmos bag, carried dozens of baskets with the weeds and fungus from the mountain. In another spot, she held bags of seeds for the villagers. Bai Shuixian was proud of herself at this moment.

It had taken her only one night to do everything she promised to the village chief in exchange for the mountain. The chief would never expect this. Bai Shuixian knew that he already had suspicions of her origins, but he most probably did not know about her magical abilities.

Stopping in front of the chief, Bai Shuixian announced, "I've finished our deal. I want a claim on the mountain."

With wide eyes and an open mouth, Xue Chin stammered out, "This… this was your doing?"

"Is there another person in this village that would be willing to do this for no good reason?" Bai Shuixian sarcastically asked.

"Right… right…" Xue Chin silently muttered. "Well… Since you have done your part then… I'll keep my part of the deal. If anybody disturbs you, please tell me. I'll make sure to stop them."

Nodding, Bai Shuixian added another thing, "I would still be careful when entering the forest though. Just because I can enter does not mean you guys can change your ways."

"That is natural," Xue Chin agreed despite still being in utter shock from her quick actions overnight.

Once Bai Shuixian left though, Xue Shuren asked, "Father, are you sure it's fine to have her take over the mountain? What if she's a demon?"

"Whether she is demon, god, or human, does it matter? In the end, she has the power to destroy us," Xue Chin commented. "However, she clearly came here for peace. Otherwise, she would not expend so much energy to claim for an isolated area so quickly."

"I understand," Xue Shuren replied after hearing what Xue Chin said.

Returning to Bai Shuixian, she was walking on a path to try and find the entrance of the village. Though she had stayed at the village for days, she did not come to the village like a normal human. Not only that, she spent most of her time caged up in her room by herself or with Zhu Jin.

Eventually, she did find the entrance, but noticed that it was foggy. It was so foggy that you could not see past the entrance. In fact, it seemed like the fog surrounded the entire village as she could not see anything even when she tried to walk around the entrance.

The only good thing was that the fog was not a protective barrier like the White Tiger Forest. It did not separate the village from the rest of the world like the forest and was probably just there due to the high altitude or other conspicuous reasons. Understanding the mechanics now, Bai Shuixian walked out the entrance and saw that the outside versus the inside was hugely different.

Why was it that inside the fog, everything was white, following the sun? However, once she left the fog, everything was not dark but orange like the setting sun? It was too strange as the sun was definitely still up in the sky to signify that it was only seven in the morning.

However, another thing stroke her interest. As she continued to walk down the path in front of her, she saw that there was a town. A town being not too far from a village surprised her and intrigued her at the same time.

Bai Shuixian had been trapped in an isolated world for too long, so she decided to venture into the town by herself without the help of Zhu Jin. Before entering the town though, she brought out her long white veil and mask. Her eyes and hair would probably bring too much attention due to its white color, so she had to wear these things unwillingly.

This was not what she wanted to do though. It was something Zhong Chen told her to do every time she was going out. However, she found it too much of a hassle because she could barely see anything through the fabric, so she decided to just never go out unless he told her to.

Entering the town, Bai Shuixian was able to learn that the livelihood there was much different from the village. In the village, though there were sounds of laughter and excitement, it was only for a short period of time. However, it was persistent in this town and chatter could be found everywhere.

She almost thought that she was back in the capital from ten years ago. Only, she managed to stop herself due to the warning of Xuan Yueji. Usually, once she thought about the capital, she would then think about Su Guang and later on, the Bai family.

There were just too many emotions behind those thoughts and it was dangerous for her, so having the reminder of Xuan Yueji was important. Without his reminders, perhaps she would have already succumbed to her deepest desires which were not anything positive. Though she showed a positive outlook, all the personas knew that she had depression deep inside.

Looking around the town, she saw that on each side of the street there were stalls with the owners selling something. Each and every item intrigued and interested her, so she went to every single one and bought an item from each stall. Perhaps the most interesting to her was the stall owner that made dough figurines as she bought a harp figurine from the owner for a cheap and small price.

Deeply entranced in the stalls, Bai Shuixian did not notice the yelling of an elderly woman screaming for help when a small boy stole her purse. She only knew about it when the little child bumped into her and fell on the ground. As she helped him up to his feet, he tried to run away but was held down by a bulky man who told her of the small boy's crime.

Handing the bulky man a gold tael, Bai Shuixian said, "Can you let the boy go now?"

Seeing the gold, the man nodded and let go of his strong hold on the little boy.

Kneeling to the boy's eye height, Bai Shuixian asked with a kind, calm and warm voice, "Little boy, what's your name?"

The boy did not know why she would help him, but her voice deeply enraptured him. Her kindness had made him loosen his cautious behavior, but her voice made him think of her as his savior. It was truly strange as her voice forced him to answer.

"Duan Guiren," he told her.

"Can I call you Xiao Ren?" Bai Shuixian politely asked.

Nodding in agreement, Duan Guiren asked back, "Why did you help me?"

"First, let me ask you. Why did you steal?" Bai Shuixian kindly asked.

Quietly and sullenly, Duan Guiren answered, "Because I need it."

"And why do you need it?" Bai Shuixian warmly continued to ask.

"My big brother… he's… he's going to die if I don't get enough money," Duan Guiren answered, his eyes darkening in deep sadness as his voice trembled.

"Can you bring me to this big brother of yours?" Bai Shuixian asked.

Nodding, Duan Guiren pointed, "Big brother is there."

Following the tiny size of Duan Guiren, Bai Shuixian went into deep thought.

She did not like to insert herself in other people's businesses, but yet she decided to help the boy. Though it was her immediate reaction, she had a feeling that they were destined to meet. For some reason, she felt a deep resonation in her telling her that this boy had a fate connected to hers and it was her responsibility to guide him.

Though she had learned divination, she did not like to use it much because it sapped out all her energy. Perhaps it is the punishment of the gods for trying to see the future, but everytime she tried to divine she would fall into a deep sleep immediately after for days. The thing was that it only pertained to her soul or spirit and not her body.

With this, when she was asleep trying to regain her energy, Xuan Yueji or Chi Dujuan would take over and make decisions for her. Only when she awoke would she learn of all the happenings lately. Though she disliked not knowing things when they were related to her, she also knew that this was her life saver.

Bai Shuixian knew that she might go into a deep sleep for days, but decided that it would not be a bad idea to divine to see the fate of the boy. If he truly was destined to meet her and it was not only a coincidence, then she would adopt him and help his brother to the most that she can. If there was one thing she liked to do most, it was to follow fate though hundreds out there would want to go against their fate.