Xi Miaohua's greatest discovery was that as long as the money and silver were provided by her, and then delivered through Yang Hong's hands, she felt much more at ease when cultivating.
It seemed her cultivation had no bottlenecks.
"Merit!"
Xi Miaohua immediately thought of these two words.
This was also the reason she stayed close to Yang Hong.
Upon confirming that following Yang Hong would earn her merit, Xi Miaohua was overwhelmed with joy.
Their subsequent route became completely chaotic.
Xi Miaohua would first inquire about places with bandits causing trouble, then fly there with Yang Hong on her sword.
Then, she would suppress them with force!
She wouldn't kill anyone initially, letting Yang Hong decide who deserved to die and who didn't.
If Yang Hong said not to kill, she absolutely wouldn't spare a single life;
If Yang Hong deemed someone deserving of death, she would be ruthless.
Yang Hong didn't mind killing,
but with a cultivator, a Golden Core stage one at that, by his side, he didn't want to appear bloodthirsty.
So, each time, he would only let Xi Miaohua kill the ringleaders who had committed heinous crimes, while the other bandits and mountain robbers were to be dispersed on the spot.
After dismissing those mountain robbers, Xi Miaohua would use her more than a dozen storage bags to loot their lairs clean.
The grain, wealth, and various resources plundered were then distributed with Yang Hong to the impoverished commoners.
After one such incident, Yang Hong understood what Xi Miaohua was aiming for.
It was merit.
However, Yang Hong still hadn't cultivated any Qi-observing techniques, so he didn't know how to see merit.
But the effect of merit was absolutely evident.
In just two months, Shi Feixuan, a disciple assisting him, had actually cultivated to the ninth level of Qi Condensation.
Keep in mind that this was the Wufang Dynasty, which lacked spiritual energy, and Shi Feixuan's cultivation resources were only one spirit stone per day.
Yet, even with such meager resources, it would take at least a year for the cultivation geniuses of Zhong Shenzhou, cultivating in places rich with spiritual energy, to go from the first to the ninth level of Qi Condensation.
But Shi Feixuan had achieved such a miracle!
From the first to the ninth level of Qi Condensation,
in two months!
If Xi Miaohua hadn't insisted on Shi Feixuan laying a foundation and hadn't taught her the foundation-building techniques, Shi Feixuan might have already reached Foundation Establishment.
Now, Yang Hong also saw the benefits of merit, and all his complaints about Xi Miaohua dragging him around vanished.
He also became proactive.
"Senior Sister, I heard that there are cultivators slaughtering mortals in Hedong Prefecture. Shall we go and see?"
One day, the three of them arrived in a small county town in Shannan Prefecture.
Besides the daily slander of the Yang imperial family by aristocratic families, there was also news circulating,
that an immortal was "eating people" in Qiuzhe County, Hedong Prefecture.
"Junior Brother, those rogue cultivators are being handled by Senior Brother Ding of the Tianji Sect and Senior Brother Zhuang of the Jade Sect. We cannot interfere."
Although Xi Miaohua was somewhat tempted, that was a considerable amount of merit.
But upon recalling the discussions among the Ten Great Immortal Sects, she dismissed the idea.
Allowing the Wufang Dynasty to fall into chaos and then letting numerous disciples earn merit was a joint plan of the Ten Great Immortal Sects, and the benefits were already allocated.
She, an inner disciple, dared not act recklessly.
Xi Miaohua's true identity was merely an inner disciple of the Qianyuan Sword Sect, with the additional title of a probationary Saintess.
She was not a senior inner disciple or a Saintess.
Those were all fabricated accolades by Gui Ruolin for Xi Miaohua.
If she dared to interfere with the affairs of rogue cultivators, she would be killed without anyone coming to her aid.
Hearing Xi Miaohua's words, Yang Hong had some guesses and said no more, then suggested again.
"Senior Sister, the heavy snow has started again this year. It looks like another year of disaster.
Why don't we head to the northern regions, or even Dayuan? There must be many disaster-stricken people there."
"This suggestion is excellent, let's depart immediately!"
Speaking of the northern regions, and looking at the sleet that had already begun in the southern parts of the Hengduan Mountains, the snow in the north would be even heavier.
Heavier snow meant more suffering people, and more...
merit!
Thinking about the other cultivators killing lawless rogue cultivators, Xi Miaohua's resolve wavered.
She directly abandoned the horse carriage Yang Hong had driven for three months, drew her flying sword,
and, with Shi Feixuan protecting Yang Hong, they flew directly over the Hengduan Mountain Range, across more than half of the territory of the Great Sui, all the way to Yunzhou Dao, the northernmost part of the Great Sui.
The world's Great Sui Dynasty divided its administrative regions into four levels: Dao, Prefecture, County, and Town.
A Dao was equivalent to a province on Blue Star.
Yunzhou Dao was the border between the Great Sui Dynasty and the Dayuan Imperial Court.
In previous years, around this time, Dayuan cavalry would be launching raids southwards.
However, since Yang Hong became a disciple of the Transmigrating Dharma King two years ago and promised that Dayuan would never invade Great Sui,
Yunzhou Dao had been safe.
For the safety of the Great Sui populace, and to weaken the combat strength of the Dayuan army, Yang Hong proposed establishing several mutual markets here.
Now, the entire Yunzhou Dao had become a trading zone for grain cultivation and foreign trade.
Although the people were no longer lacking in grain and did not fear raids by Dayuan cavalry,
natural disasters, especially snow disasters, still troubled the people the most.
Although this year's snow disaster was not as severe as the previous year's, a large number of people were still affected,
though it was not fatal.
While cultivators had numerous formations to ward off wind and snow and maintain warmth,
this required spiritual energy.
In the spiritual-energy-deficient Wufang Dynasty, even Xi Miaohua, a Golden Core stage cultivator, was helpless against the snow disaster.
"Junior Brother, you are a prince of Great Sui, you should know how to deal with snow disasters, right?"
Since she couldn't do anything herself, she directly asked Yang Hong.
After spending so much time together, Xi Miaohua had become less formal.
"Senior Sister, the methods for dealing with snow disasters can be found by visiting any government office.
In the past few years, Great Sui has accumulated many ways to cope with snow disasters."
Yang Hong pointed in the direction of the county magistrate's office in the county town.
In recent years, Yang Hong had contributed a large number of methods for dealing with snow disasters.
"Good, let's go and see."
Since Yang Hong said so, Xi Miaohua readily agreed.
"These methods are quite ingenious.
Honeycomb briquettes turning waste into treasure, heated brick beds for warmth, snow sleds for travel, and woolen clothes, cotton clothes, and also..."
Looking at the stone tablet in front of the county magistrate's office, Shi Feixuan was full of praise.
The Wu Zhou Dynasty also experienced snow, and she had traveled there. Upon seeing this stone tablet, she knew that the methods described were effective.
"The Great Sui Dynasty is truly generous. These methods, this technology, are directly written out. It is truly magnificent and grand."
Shi Feixuan did not intend to praise the person who devised these methods but instead praised the Great Sui Dynasty.
Clearly, she still harbored reservations about the Great Sui imperial family.
"The methods are good, but, Junior Brother, how should we provide relief to the disaster victims?"
Although the methods were good, they were too troublesome, which did not align with Xi Miaohua's intentions.
However, Yang Hong was confident, as he had already thought of what to do on the way here.
"I recall that Senior Sister's divine sense is quite powerful. If Senior Sister can locate a few coal ore veins and then, in the name of Senior Sister the Immortal, directly give them to the government,
letting the government mine them and sell them to the people at a low price."
"It's that simple?"
Xi Miaohua was somewhat disbelieving.
"Indeed, it's that simple. Because Yunzhou Dao is a trade port with Dayuan, the court prioritizes promoting high-yield crops here, and the people here are not lacking in food.
As long as the heating problem is solved, the snow disaster will cease to be a disaster."
"Alright, I'll give it a try."
Seeing Yang Hong's confident demeanor, Xi Miaohua decided to trust him one more time.
Cultivators, especially those who cultivate specific techniques, are truly convenient for exploring mines.
In just five days, Xi Miaohua had surveyed 82 coal ore veins across the six provinces and thirty-seven prefectures of Yunzhou Dao.
With the "immortal" halo, these ore veins were quickly exploited.
Xi Miaohua could also feel that the bottleneck of her late Golden Core stage had completely loosened,
and she could break through at any moment.
This made her even more convinced that Yang Hong was a treasure trove of merit.
A merit treasure that would make any cultivator's mouth water.