Chapter 14: The old friend passed away, Li Yuan fell asleep
Anshan was working on the big project in full swing.
Many villagers work from sunrise to sunset and return home at sunset.
Li Yuan felt a little sleepy for some reason.
Perhaps it was because he consumed too much of his spiritual energy when he was underground?
Li Yuan absorbed the spiritual energy between heaven and earth and transformed it into his own immortal power.
But the sleepy feeling still did not go away.
He sensed it for a long time and felt that it must be related to Anshan's changes.
Anshan was like an old man who was too weak to be nourished. The villagers planted trees and saved Anshan.
However, trees absorb nutrients from the earth, which also brings great burden to Anshan.
Anshan was tired, so Li Yuan naturally started to feel worse as well.
However, Li Yuan insisted on ensuring the water supply was fully implemented.
The soil in the remote desert was dry and cracked, making it difficult to dig. More than 200 villagers worked day and night, but with little success.
Afforestation cannot be left behind either, as it will also divert a group of laborers.
Digging canals to divert water is destined to be a goal that will take many years to accomplish.
The sun was particularly hot in the remote areas, and many villagers were sunburned, just like the first group of people who planted trees.
However, Li Yuan is no longer the delicious little fairy who was so faint that it was invisible to the naked eye of mortals.
He summoned light clouds, trying his best to block out the sunlight and provide the villagers with a little shade.
Although Li Yuan did not tell the villagers about this, over time the villagers understood it and became even more grateful to him.
They heard that the mountain gods from the outside world don’t really care about things!
Anshan Mountain God is still the best!
The continuous use of immortal power made Li Yuan feel even more sleepy.
However, he remained sober and worked together with the villagers to build a better future for Anshan.
Time passes.
Compared with the long life of immortals and gods, the life of mortals is like a flash of lightning, fleeting.
The water diversion project in Anshan took forty years to dig.
The ditch circled Anshan halfway and finally led the water into a mountain basin.
That is a small basin terrain in the wasteland itself.
Clear water gushed out from underground, continuously flowing into the ditch, passing through Anshan, and finally flowing into the basin.
Li Yuan believes that in a few decades, the basin will be a fertile lake.
It will also become an important living place for ordinary people in the wasteland.
After forty years of water diversion, Li Yuan successfully returned tons of clean water to the mountain god and paid off his debt.
This made the other party look at him with new eyes.
Anshan's changes made the mountain god recognize Li Yuan very much.
Who among these orthodox gods would lower their status to associate with mortals?
The gods live as long as the sky, and in their eyes, the lifetime of mortals is like that of ants.
Most gods do not want to be involved in the cause and effect of the mortal world. As for the difficulties and sufferings of mortals, they just turn a blind eye to them.
Even if you encounter problems that you cannot solve, just report them to your superiors.
Since their superiors don't care, they are too lazy to interfere.
Li Yuan is the only deity who has put aside his airs and worked hard to maintain his jurisdiction together with mortals.
Over the past forty years, villagers have dug canals while planting trees, making Anshan completely covered with lush green forests.
Today, Anshan is a land of green mountains and clear waters, beautiful and full of vitality.
However, the young men of the past have now become octogenarians.
Their backs are bent by the years, their eyes are blurred by the wind and sand, but their hearts are clear.
Zhang Xiaoniu once came back to visit her relatives and villagers, and also to pay tribute to Li Yuan.
Everyone was very happy and wished their girls a happy life.
When Zhang Xiaoniu was worshipping in the mountain temple, she told Li Yuan that she had founded a "Gewu Academy" in the outside world.
The core spirit of Gewu Academy has three aspects: dare to ask questions, be brave to explore, and be true to the soul.
This is exactly the spirit that Li Yuan had taught Zhang Xiaoniu and the others.
Li Yuan was filled with emotion. The once adorable little girl had turned into an educated, wrinkled old woman in the blink of an eye.
Fate is wonderful and time is hard to reverse.
Back then, it was Niumei's inspiration that officially started the story of the mountain gods and mortals in the shadow play at the foot of Anshan.
Zhang Xiaoniu was very grateful to him, thinking that it was Li Yuan's teaching that gave her the opportunity to see the outside world.
Adhering to the spirit and knowledge taught by Li Yuan, he also made a name for himself in the outside world.
When leaving the mountain temple, tears flowed from Zhang Xiaoniu's eyes.
She is already old, and this visit may be a farewell forever.
Zhang Xiaohu fell asleep with difficulty under the care of his juniors, but he would always cough a few times during the night.
Years of hard work have left him with many illnesses, and now that he's older, he's starting to feel uncomfortable.
Those children who grew up but became more silent once worked hard and shed sweat. Now, they are just old bodies.
And the young man who stayed in Anshan Village to teach has even quietly fallen asleep in the loess.
His students gradually left the remote area, but some chose to stay and inherit the spirit of their ancestors.
After all, the human body cannot withstand the power of time.
They are all old.
But Li Yuan still looked like that lazy and weak young man.
One day, Zhang Xiaohu also left.
Li Yuan hurriedly floated down from the mountain, but only saw Zhang Xiaohu's descendants crying in front of the coffin.
And he was once the little leader among the kids, the big brother among the young people, and the pillar of Anshan Village.
Now his eyes are closed and his body is in the coffin.
But Li Yuan knew that the grown-up Tiger Boy had a pure and curious heart.
"Is that really the universe above the sky?"
"Besides fire, is there anything else that can emit light?"
"With the development of civilization, can mortals also fly to the sky?"
This is the young and strong Zhang Xiaohu. He simply dedicates himself to the earth, but also has a heart that wants to explore the sky.
"Master Mountain God, I, Zhang Xiaohu, kowtow to you! I hope to bring this half bowl of water to my mother!"
This is the ignorant Tiger Boy, who does not believe in God, but he kneels down to Li Yuan for half a bowl of water.
At a young age, I learned how to be filial.
Recalling the events of several years ago, Li Yuan's eyes turned slightly red.
Li Yuan stood in the dark night, looking at the peaceful old man in the coffin, and stretched out his hand.
He touched Zhang Xiaohu's head and said, "Good boy, have a good rest."
When the day came, Li Yuan sighed and left quietly.
He didn't want to disturb too many people and disrupt Zhang Xiaohu's funeral.
But when the villagers saw a fresh green fruit in the coffin, they knew that the mountain god had come last night.
The villagers had tears in their eyes.
People of Zhang Xiaohu's generation hate eating sour green fruits the most.
But as long as it is given by the mountain god, they will bite it into it.
Even if it is so sour that it tastes bitter or numb in the mouth.
Zhang Xiaohu was buried in the loess, and his grave was in a corner at the foot of Anshan.
This was his last wish. He said that even after his death, he would guard the mountain gate for the mountain god and look after the orchard for the villagers.
Zhang Xiaohu was eventually buried in the earth, but his heart and soul were still that young man seeking knowledge, always gazing into the sky.
In the second year after Zhang Xiaohu passed away, Zhang Xiaoniu also passed away quietly.
After Li Yuan received the news, his nose felt sore.
But when he found out, the girl who used to run around the mountains with her brother, the girl with curiosity in her eyes, had been sleeping in the earth for several months.
Li Yuan felt sleepy, an irresistible sleepiness.
He couldn't tell whether it was caused by the sadness in his heart or Anshan was really tired.
Looking at the lights at the foot of the mountain, Li Yuan leaned against an old tree and slowly closed his eyes.
He was tired and wanted to take a break.
Li Yuan's figure turned into golden light and slowly merged into Anshan.
The spiritual energy in his body will nourish Anshan and soothe Anshan's burden.
However, what Li Yuan didn’t know was that during his sleep, the world would undergo tremendous changes.