With the Blade

Chapter 314: Chapter 264: When Willpower Is Enough to Change Reality

In the beginning, the people of Forget Sorrow Village just wanted to make something they needed.

Firewood was not in short supply, and as for rice, they were more of a noodle-eating group, but oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea were beyond the capabilities of the villagers to produce themselves. But due to some mishaps in previous purchases, everyone was determined not to buy from outside again.

"We can use lard or mutton fat for oil, think of something for lamp oil, and I’ll figure out the salt. We can try making soy sauce and vinegar ourselves, and we can do the same for cloth to make clothes. As for tea leaves... we should be able to grow them, right?"

After reflecting on their past mistakes, Du Chengfeng led the villagers in a thorough search.

The good news was that they managed to obtain not only rapeseed for oil pressing but even some tea tree saplings from Liu Bolun. The bad news was that throughout Forget Sorrow Village, no one really knew how to cultivate these things — not even Liu Bolun, who got these oddities purely to experiment if he could brew liquor and never considered if they could be grown sustainably.

"Maybe... we should find some experts from outside?"

The villagers of Forget Sorrow Village discussed it, and someone proposed a practical suggestion: if they didn’t understand, why not find someone who does? Even if the place was remote, people still needed to make a living, and someone surely knew how to grow these things.

But this very reliable suggestion was vetoed decisively by Du Chengfeng.

"I refuse to believe we can’t figure it out ourselves!"

With Du Chengfeng’s determined expression, the villagers had nothing more to say. Moreover, if they were to seek solutions from outside, why not just send more trade caravans to buy what they needed?

They were always determined to do it themselves. Wasn’t this their original intention?

Of course, the main reason was that their current stockpiles were abundant enough that even if they messed around for a while, it wouldn’t disrupt everyone’s normal life.

"Let’s do it!"

After a brief discussion, everyone once again reached a consensus.

They said they wanted to do it, but how exactly was still uncertain. It involved an unfamiliar area, and expecting a group of villagers from Jibei and Yanzhou to manage tea tree saplings was clearly mismatched. Zierhuo from the grasslands, however, beat his chest and guaranteed he could cultivate them, only for one of the precious tea tree saplings to be chewed by a goat right on the spot.

After personally reprimanding Zierhuo, Du Chengfeng suggested a relatively reliable approach.

"Let’s try them all."

Try them all, which meant using an exhaustive approach; everyone had to try out their ideas. Even though this method was quite extreme, it was the only option they had.

"Don’t lose heart. Once we’ve tested all the wrong answers, the one that remains must be the right one."

Half a month later, Du Chengfeng rallied the villagers once again.

This time, however, he didn’t receive the same determined response as before.

The reason was simple: all attempts had failed. Despite the tea tree saplings being fine when they were with Liu Bolun, when everyone started using their own methods to raise their assigned saplings, they all quickly withered — and as the number of saplings dwindled, the villagers felt increasingly guilty. In retrospect, they should have left them with Liu Bolun.

"So... is there anything I can help with?"

Du Chengfeng was still making his last-ditch effort.

Thanks to the handy ability of Evil Qi, they never lacked tools in Forget Sorrow Village. In fact, relying on the unique effects of Evil Qi, they could even use more unimaginable methods — like when Qian Yu, the old man, thought that since tea trees were commonly grown in the south of Chen, maybe a warmer and more humid climate would help them thrive.

After hearing this, Du Chengfeng went out and diverted a river’s tributary, then wielded his machete to control the fire accurately, using Evil Qi to create a small moister environment.

But then the tea sapling also quickly withered, seemingly steamed to death.

"So, what we lack isn’t tools or abilities."

Facing Du Chengfeng’s encouragement again, everyone seemed quite disheartened.

"Yes, maybe testing all the wrong answers will eventually lead to the right one... but the question is, how many wrongs must we try before finding the right one?"

"This..."

Du Chengfeng was at a loss for words.

He didn’t really know. He was just following his past experience, believing that, as long as they kept testing and erring, they would find the right solution eventually. After all, in this godforsaken world, with strong enough will, even reality could be altered... but could they really change reality?

It seemed not very likely.

Never mind essentials; just a few tea saplings were enough to stump them.

"Why don’t we try the oldest method after all?"

As everyone looked dejected, someone finally stood up.

It was the two gatekeepers of the mountain, now teachers at Ziyang Academy.

"No one knows when this custom began, but such customs seemed to spread everywhere... As long as you sprinkle the enemy’s ashes into the ground, crops would prosper, and eating this grain would make people stronger..."

"This custom exists in Jibei, too."

Yang Xuan, the old man, nodded.

"Every time the steppe invaders attacked, if we managed to kill some of the bandits, we would sprinkle their ashes into the ground. Though we couldn’t tell if it was due to the ashes, the crops did grow a bit better..."