Chore day was a success.

About a hundred different cultivators above the fifth rank came to help out. Sect elders of all shapes and sizes littered the landscape.

A lot of old men stroked their beards and a lot of powerful women had to do a double take when a mortal would walk up to them with a farming implement.

They all thought it was a test at first. They took the farm tools for a second and just stood there, wondering when the great cultivator would reveal himself to them. I wasn't planning on participating, but when I saw some of them fuming at the tools and staring around for anyone to take their anger out on, I decided to act.

I walked out there and started plowing and cutting up the earth into tilled soil and I went fast.

Gai Jin followed in my footsteps, as did Rin Wi. We were limiting ourselves to the fifth rank, but when the elders and sect leaders saw us move, they followed. There was something about authority that went past mere fear.

Power was important and the people who held were seen as the best. They were leaders, guides, and people who defined success. And if the powerful did something, then the less powerful should surely follow, because why would an immortal farm some land for no reason?

Well, they wouldn't, at least that's what the sect elders believed.

Suddenly, earth was flying everywhere and the ground was being dug up at an increasing rate. The farm tools were being reinforced with qi and dug through the fresh soil for miles on end.

I circled the valley, Gai Jin circled me and Rin Wi circled him. In an instant the farm land had tripled, but that was just us. Three individuals running around with no purpose.

Sect elders studied us, all of them confused but all still determined.

I could read their auras, but I didn't have to. They thought I was eccentric. They believed me to be some strange cultivator man who would reward people for merits only I could see.

They were wrong. This was Chin's idea. They did this at the behest of an old man who had just reached the first stage less than a month ago.

But they would never see that.

And like a newborn tornado, the ground erupted, the earth was split and a growing group of fifth ranks did something no one had ever seen them do before.

They farmed.

They cut through the land that had been a desert just a day ago, slowly at first. They were observing me, trying to find out the purpose of all of this.

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Old men stroked their bears. Old women tugged their braids. I got about ten glances per second and I ignored them all.

This was their doing, not mine.

That was when one of them overtook my group. It was a man from the Hollow Echo sect. He grinned and bowed while he passed me.

There was shock and insult. A silent hush and wonder about what I would do to the bastard who dared to overtake me.

The people of the Hollow Echo almost fainted. But I just smiled and bowed back.

And that was when the competition started.

"This Raging River will not lose to you blind dogs!"

"My Hollow Echo moves the earth, your river cuts it."

"Flowering Sword Style, Ten Thousand Cuts!"

"Let my fists break the earth!"

"We are of the jungle. Surely the Hidden Viper will be victorious."

That was when things heated up. What these elders wanted as much as my favor or goodwill was face. And here was a competition between the Five Sects, one with no violent consequence. Those who won today would do so without any repercussions.

The no violence rule was still active so there would be no retaliation. But moreso, the loser would be the worst of the five sects. They would lose the most face.

"May I have an immortal rank spirit stone, Honored Master?"

I raised an eyebrow and threw and tossed her a stone.

"The one who tills the most amount of land wins an Immortal Rank spirit stone!" Rin Wi projected. Everyone heard her.

And for an instant, there was a small pause as the cultivators thought about the implication.

I looked at Rin and the girl just gave me a toothy grin.

Then they exploded. All reason was lost, there was only competition.

Tools were thrown aside and treasured blades replaced them.

A tidal wave of earth erupted and pushed.

"Do not hurt a single person or animal!" I yelled out.

The Great Desert Strip, though it was no longer a desert, still had people migrating through it. Clans and merchants traversed the land, going from one side to the other and now that the desert was no longer a desert, even more people could be found within the fertile lands.

Within the hour, the whole of the Strip was tilled.

Chin stood there, smiling brightly at the seemingly infinite farmland while the cultivators all huddled around Rin Wi as she tallied up the numbers.

"I can't seed this whole field," Chin muttered.

"No but you can still plant a lot," I answered.

He nodded.

I could feel his qi moving. He didn't have enough qi to push himself into the second rank, but his dao was practically dragging the rest of him forward.

I tossed him a pill. It was a third rank qi recovery pill. Normally, it would kill any man beneath the third rank and decimate their meridians, but Chin was in the best position to utalize it. He ate it and chewed, and as his dao and law grew, as he threw seeds into the fertile soil, he broke through.

Though he didn't seem to notice it yet.

All the villagers helped out planting as many seeds as they could into the fresh earth. Rin Wi awarded the stone to the winner, The Hidden Viper Sect and returned to the fields with her sisters, also planting what seeds they could.

The rest of the land bloomed and turned. Seeds blew into the Strip, moving into the land and for the first time in millenia, blooming.

We would have knee high grass here within a week.

Qi beasts felt the empty and fertile lands and started their own trek forward. Word traveled through light towers and within hours, the people of the region had some inkling of news, some idea of change.

They didn't know what happened, but the Great Desert Strip was no more.

"I guess the Oasis Sect is a bit of a strange name now, seeing as we no longer have an oasis," I mentioned.

"It's still an oasis," Mei Shan replied. "Its just one that has beat the desert."

Fey Lin was by her side, staring passively at the fresh new earth.

Nai was playing in the dirt. Chin was still seeding and Rin Wi was now feeding all the cultivators and her immortal chef skills made most of them forget about their loss.

And of course, the desert crabs were dancing beneath the earth. Those small little crabs that died for their children, they were the happiest of them all.

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