Jiang Nine Phoenix sensed danger and woke up instantly, but it was too late. She was struck by a whip and sent flying.
Jiang Nine Phoenix cried out in pain, her grass skirt torn to shreds, revealing large patches of her fair skin. She fell to the side, glaring fiercely.
Xu Hei had been gone for a year, and she had been quite relieved to be undisturbed. But as soon as Xu Hei returned, it was with a whip.
"What are you doing!" Jiang Nine Phoenix shouted angrily.
"Who told you to sleep? I told you to watch over the herb garden, so why is it full of weeds?" Xu Hei pointed at the Spirit Medicine field, scolding her.
Jiang Nine Phoenix looked at the "weeds" interspersed in the garden and almost laughed in anger.
"Ignorant! These are carefully cultivated Phoenix Cry Grass, a mutated variety, and you dare call them weeds? How can someone as ignorant as you dare to criticize? Who gave you the confidence?"
Xu Hei was taken aback. He looked at the unfamiliar weeds, noting their golden crown and bird-like appearance, which did resemble Phoenix Cry Grass.
He pulled one up and sniffed it. The scent of scorching flames hit his nose, and he could faintly hear a phoenix's cry. It did have the characteristics of Phoenix Cry Grass. So, had he misunderstood Jiang Nine Phoenix?
Seeing his expression, Jiang Nine Phoenix sneered mockingly, "Now, what do you have to say?"
Admitting he was wrong was impossible for Xu Hei. He pointed to another mountain and said, "Is this your excuse for sleeping? Once this mountain is full, go to another one and keep planting until there's no space left!"
"If I catch you slacking off again, I'll whip you to death!"
Xu Hei waved the whip and turned to leave.
"You!" Jiang Nine Phoenix almost fainted from anger.
Did he really think of her as a slave?
Xu Hei took out a flying boat, boarded it, and said, "To Tian Nan City."
The flying boat soared towards the horizon and disappeared in an instant. Jiang Nine Phoenix watched and ran in the direction Xu Hei disappeared, only to collide with an invisible wall that bounced her back.
Tian Nan City was a city allocated to Xu Hei by the sect.
Tian Nan City was close to Xu Hei's Cave Dwelling. Riding the flying boat over several mountains, it took only a dozen breaths to arrive.
Looking ahead, there was a vast plain with clusters of buildings, neatly arranged streets, and bustling pedestrians and vendors everywhere.
Outside the city were fields and canals, while inside were clusters of pavilions, covering a vast area larger than any city Xu Hei had ever seen.
It was more like a small country than a city.
"Is this the city allocated to core disciples by the Divine Puppet Sect?" Xu Hei was somewhat shocked.
However, when he scanned with his Divine Sense, he found that most were mortals, especially the farmers outside the city, over ninety percent had no cultivation.
It wasn't until inside the city that the number of cultivators increased.
Including mortals, the city's population was heading towards tens of millions.
It was indeed a large city.
Xu Hei flew the boat towards the city's interior.
His vast Divine Sense swept through the city, causing all the cultivators to look up in shock at the figure in the sky.
"Who is that? Such powerful Divine Sense!"
"Look at his flying boat, it's an envoy from the Divine Puppet Sect!"
"Oh my, another envoy has arrived!"
The cultivators were filled with uncertainty and deep fear in their eyes.
Before long, Xu Hei arrived at the center of the inner city, the City Lord's mansion.
In the inner city, there were more cultivators, including many high-level ones, but most were at the Core Formation Stage. Only in the City Lord's mansion and some large families could Elemental Infant cultivators occasionally be seen.
A middle-aged cultivator in a purple-gold robe and five young female cultivators rushed out from the City Lord's mansion, stepping into the air to stand before Xu Hei.
They clasped their fists and bowed, speaking in unison, "Greetings, Envoy!"
"Envoy" was their term for core disciples of the Divine Puppet Sect.
The middle-aged cultivator took out a scroll and two Storage Bags, handing them over with a smile, "Envoy, I am Shi Feng, the City Lord of Tian Nan City. This is this year's harvest from Tian Nan City, please have a look."
Xu Hei took them and, without even looking, put them away, as they were to be handed over anyway.
Shi Feng's eyes lit up; he liked envoys , who didn't even check the accounts.
Xu Hei casually asked, "What is the population of Tian Nan City?"
Shi Feng raised an eyebrow, then smiled obsequiously, "In response to the envoy, Tian Nan City has a total of twenty million mortals and less than five hundred thousand cultivators. Does the envoy have any instructions?"
"Nothing, I was just asking." Xu Hei replied indifferently.
He really was just asking, but Shi Feng, an old fox who had lived for a thousand years, felt Xu Hei was up to something.
After all, this was a late Elemental Infant stage cultivator, possibly on the verge of Divine Transformation. He had to carefully consider every word Xu Hei said.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving."
Xu Hei finished speaking and turned to leave.
Shi Feng's face changed, "Please wait, Envoy!"
"Is there something else?" Xu Hei asked impatiently.
Shi Feng wiped his cold sweat; it was his first time encountering such an envoy, ready to leave at any moment.
"It's , there are some major decisions in the city that require the envoy's approval, just a handprint will do." Shi Feng handed over several scrolls.
Xu Hei glanced at them. The first was about accepting refugees from the Northern Jing Kingdom, totaling five hundred thousand people.
The second was about consolidating forces to seize a mid-grade spiritual vein from the Western Witch Cult, requiring the deployment of five late Elemental Infant stage puppets.
The first two were relatively normal, but the later ones became increasingly outrageous.
For example, forcibly conscripting mortals over fifteen to mine, sacrificing thirty thousand women to help a certain elder break through the late Elemental Infant stage, and discovering a swamp secret realm needing twenty thousand Foundation Establishment cultivators as cannon fodder.
Documents like these all required Xu Hei's signature.
"Why are these my responsibility? Can't you decide yourselves?" Xu Hei frowned.
"Envoy, we dare not make these decisions. If the higher-ups blame us, I won't keep my head!" Shi Feng quickly bowed to the ground.
As he spoke, he signaled, and the five young female cultivators quickly approached, kneeling before Xu Hei.
These five were quite beautiful, considered national beauties, selected from Tian Nan City's millions.
Moreover, with Xu Hei's keen eye, he immediately recognized that these five had different Spiritual Roots: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, pure single Spiritual Roots, and had all cultivated a technique similar to a furnace.
By cultivating with these five, he could absorb their cultivation to enhance his own, advancing his cultivation level.
For someone at the late Elemental Infant stage, needing long years to replenish cultivation and reach Great Perfection, this was definitely beneficial.
It seemed this old fox had done his homework before Xu Hei's arrival, knowing Xu Hei's current situation.