In the heart of the continent of Zhuolong, lies a forest cloaked in eternal twilight, dominated by the formidable beast known as the Yǐng Lóng. It is said that a colossal dragon, with scales that shimmer like jade and eyes glowing with an ethereal fire, lives in said forest. No warrior, no cultivator, nor any brave soul has ever succeeded in approaching its hidden lair. The thick, mystical qi saturates the air, creating an almost tangible barrier that repels intruders. Additionally, other powerful beasts prowl the surrounding forests, forming an impenetrable ring of guardians. The Yǐng Lóng remains an enigma, a dark guardian that best not be approached.

- The Chronicles of Zhuolong

* * *

Finding Cai Lin in one of the meeting rooms, I gesture that I need him, and wait outside the room. I definitely saw the man that ran away from the field, I wouldn’t be able to describe him, but if I saw him I would definitely recognize him.

Once Cai Lin finished up, he headed towards his room and I tagged along. Once there I directly got into the meat of the matter.

“Last night, I layed wait in my field, when late into the night I saw the perpetrators. They were doing the same thing they did last time, covering up the water channel. I obviously chased after them, and right when I was about to catch one of them, I tripped,” I say sheepishly, “but I was still able to get an ok look at him. All I need to do now is look for anyone that I recognize among the Priest's people, and I will have proof that the Priest is involved.”

By the time I finish my story, I've gotten a little excited. Unfortunately, Cai Lin was here to douse it. “I hate to ruin your great plan, but even if you recognize the man among the Priest’s people, how will you prove that you truly saw him in the field? How will you prove that you aren’t just accusing a poor man?”

He brings up fairly valid points, but wasn’t I a Sage? Don’t I have privilege when it came to truths and lies, especially since the harvest was close, they have certainly seen how much better my plants look compared to the ones they are growing.

“Aren’t I a Sage? Who would dare doubt me?” Again, he shoots me down. “In normal circumstances, you would be right, but this isn’t a matter between you and a common folk. It’s between you and a Priest, both of you deserve the respect of having proof laid bare to accuse you of anything. So claiming you saw one of his men without any proof won’t work.”

That sucked. I mean, it made sense. But still, all that work and there would be no results, even if I identified the man? It was a frustrating thought to come around to. Thankfully Cai Lin lit a small candle under me even if you put out the fire.

“Why not talk to the chieftain? I’m sure that if you identify the man that sabotaged you, you would get the opportunity to look into if anyone saw him doing anything that night? And at the very least, it will get the chieftain to keep an eye on all of his people for you?”

I agreed with him. This was probably the best I could do. I should’ve had a few farmers with me. That way there was less risk, and even if I tripped they would get caught. But oh well, hindsight is twenty twenty, there was nothing I could do about it now except plan better going forward.

Giving my thanks, I make my way to the chieftain's room, where I announce my presence and walk in. The chieftain looked as if he was expecting me, with a serious look on his face. He must have heard of the sabotage already, and probably knows I have already consulted Cai Lin.

“I heard you got sabotaged… again. I heard that they weren’t able to sabotage the whole channel.”

I nod, as I quickly recap what I told Cai Lin. “And here I am, I was wondering if you could help me find the person, and even though I can’t prove anything, keep an eye on them?”

He thinks deeply with a frown on his face as he drummed his fingers through the desk before replying. “So you said you couldn’t catch him or get a good look at him?”

“I did get to take a look at him, but it wasn’t enough. I wouldn’t be able to describe him to you, but I certainly would recognize him if I saw him.”

His frown lessens but he continues to think and drum his fingers. “I don’t think I would be able to help you find the man.”

“But-”

“Don’t get me wrong, Sage Jié Míns. But trying to expose you to all of his people so you can look at them will not only take too much to pull off, but I would receive a lot of backlash for throwing my authority around like that. But I can help you keep an eye on Priest Xuán Shān and his followers.”

I slumped down in defeat, but I guess that was the best I could get out of this whole ordeal. It left a bad taste in my mouth, but there wasn’t much else I could do. The whole sneaking out at night plan wouldn’t work as I bet they wouldn’t try anything as short sighted as that from now on.

I get up to head back “Thank you, Chieftain Ming. I don’t know what I would do without you, I’ll head back to make sure everything is in order.”

“Not a problem.” As I turn around, he remembers something and calls out to me, “Don’t pull these stunts by yourself again. I would like to avoid you being injured. Who knows what might have happened. Next time you have a plan like that, let me know and I can help you out, or at least make sure that you don’t get hurt during it.”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Of course, thanks once again. I’ll keep that in mind.” I turn around and head back out.

* * *

Today is the day of the harvest, and nothing has been attempted since. I tried to sneak out once more initially, but this time the guard was wide awake, and funnily enough he was watching the inside of the city. I looked at all the workers as they went in a single file line to drop off the wheat at the front of the town hall, where the main city staff took it off their hands to process it.

There were plenty of people that I didn’t recognize in the line. I had been able to convince the council to lend me some extra workers, as it would be in their best interest to harvest it all effectively.

“You have done a wondrous job, Sage Jié Míns. It seems you were right, I can’t believe that your methods not only produced more grain, but they look bigger and healthier as well.”

I turn to the chieftain with a smile. “Of course, I would never dupe you.”

Of course, these grains looked pathetic compared to our great GMO wheat of our times, but it was certainly better then what they currently had. Overall it was of great success, I could only eyeball the amount but based on what I heard, my relatively small field was matching, if not having a greater output then one of their average fields.

Once everything was collected the chieftain turned to me. “We should head inside, the council is waiting. The workers will tally everything up without the need for our oversight. Right now we need to go and discuss our deal.”

I nod as we head inside. This time once I get inside, I am offered a seat in the semi-circle instead of standing at the opening as if I am being judged. Once I get comfortable, the chieftain gets started and everyone quiets down.

“We are here to judge the performance of the Sage Jié Míns, as he has kept his part of the deal and has worked tirelessly for this city for the past two months, and it has bore fruit.” A worker hurries up to him and whispers something in his ear before he nods and continues with his speech. “The Sage has blessed us with a harvest of four hundred bushels of grain.”

Murmurs erupted in surprise at the number. It was quite a big number, especially since some of them no doubt, doubted me. The Priest hearing that decides to butt in. “Only four hundred? Our fields produce upwards of seven hundred bushels.”

His attitude was infuriating, Only four hundred? For the quality of the field I was given and the sabotages, that was amazing! “What do you mean only four hundred? The field I was given was small, and I barely had the amount of farmers to plant and maintain it. And that’s not even including that the field had no ready access to water and the sabotages I experienced. Let’s ignore the poor earth quality, if I had easy access to water from the start, and especially if there were no sabotages, I could easily have six hundred bushels.”

“Bah, you are making excuses. You could’ve but you didn’t end up producing six hundred bushels, did you? You are simply throwing out random numbers in the air in hopes of aweing us.”

This piece of-. Does he take me for a fool? If it wasn’t for you sabotaging me, I would definitely have at least six hundred. Silence descends on the whole room. Uh oh, did I say that last part out loud? I looked around as I saw everyone staring at me. Cai Lin looked at me with worry, while the Priest head was slowly turning red. Interestingly enough the chieftain looked amused, which I took as a good sign, since if he thought this was funny there shouldn’t be massive repercussions for this.

“What. Did. You. Say?”

“Y-you heard me, you sabotaged me twice. As if once wasn’t good enough. I was able to scare off whoever you sent the second time, to avoid wasting precious time simply building up a water channel. If it wasn’t for you trying to meddle with my farm to make me fail, I would have succeeded beyond your expectations.”

I looked at the chieftain, but he wasn’t amused this time. This time he had a serious look on his face. I looked at Cai Lin and he looked like he ate a lemon. Did I push it too far?

“How dare you accuse me of doing such vile acts. If I wanted to truly ruin you, I would pray to the goddess directly instead of dirtying my hand and spirit with such thoughts and actions! I left you to your own devices, and it was only due to your incompetence you got sabotaged! How dare you accuse me for your own failings!”

At this point it has turned into a screaming match between both me and the Priest. Everyone was avoiding looking at us, including Cai Lin. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a weird expression on the chieftain's face. Turning my head, he had the same pensive look on his face. Must’ve been my imagination due to the stress of this moment.

“If it wasn’t you? Who else would do it? You're the only one that had a bone to pick with me!”

“Just because I wanted you to prove your truth, I had a bone to pick with you? How shallow do you think a man of a goddess is?”

Before things could escalate further, a man came through the main entrance of the room. “Sorry, council of elders, but I need to interrupt.”

All eyes look at the young man, and he flinches as both me and the Priest scowl at him. “Can this not wait?” The chieftain asks.

“Unfortunately it cannot. It is about a plague.” That cooled my head a little as I stopped thinking of all the terrible things I would do to the Priest if I ever got the chance. “What do you mean plague? I don’t think I have seen any signs of a plague in this city” I reply to him.

He shakes his head, “No this is no standard plague, and it is not happening anywhere near here. In fact the plague is happening very far away, around five thousand li away.” That was very far away, almost two or three states away or even a couple European countries away if I had my units right.

“We shouldn’t have a need to worry about that, why the immediate interruption?” I look at the chieftain as he says that, and he looks just as confused as I looked.

The man gulps as he continues, “It’s due to the nature of the plague, everything is getting sick and dying in its wake, the people, the animals and bugs. Even the plants wither in its passing.”