Lord Lao Zi of the Great Monad gathered rice seeds and inspected them carefully.

After confirming that there were no issues, he consulted the Jade Emperor's opinion, and then distributed the rice seeds to the Four Great Continents through the Three Pure Ones Temples in various places.

This was a very direct method and could also enhance the prestige of the Immortals.

Lord Lao Zi had not shown himself in the Mortal World for a long time, and initially hesitated.

However, rice could feed countless people. Lord Lao Zi did not hesitate for a few days and condescended to show his divinity by sending down the seeds.

At Zhongnan Mountain, there is a Three Pure Ones Temple, where a few Taoists and a tiger gathered, looking at the rice seeds on the ground.

"Was that Lord Taiqing who just revealed himself?"

They showed expressions of astonished doubt.

Why did Lord Lao Zi reveal himself only to send plain rice seeds instead of Immortal Elixir?

"Could it be that someone is impersonating Lord Taiqing?"

The Taoists discussed amongst themselves.

But the Daoist Master chose to believe.

"Don't worry about the reasons, Lord Taiqing has ordered; just follow his instructions."

The Daoist Master instructed his disciples to take the rice seeds and distribute them to the nearby villagers.

The tiger, too, took some rice seeds in its mouth and ran to a distant village.

"Lord Taiqing has revealed himself and gifted us with highyield rice seeds; you must cultivate them well."

It dropped the rice seeds and returned to the temple.

The villagers picked up the rice seeds, discussing amongst themselves, but no one dared to plant them.

Rice is different from other crops; if the harvest is poor, not only would they starve, but they also couldn't pay the government's tax.

Not to mention whether Lord Taiqing's appearance was real or fake, even if it was real, what does Taiqing have to do with rice?

The villagers unanimously thought it was a deception.

Across the Four Great Continents, the majority of people shared the same thought—Lord Lao Zi's divine intervention resulted in nothing remarkable.

Feeling somewhat helpless, he went to seek out Sun Wukong.

Sun Wukong was hosting four other Immortals at the time, namely the Immortal of Colossal Spirit, the Military and Literary Stars, and Wang Lingguan.

Huaguo Mountain already had Lord Lao Zi, and Sun Wukong did not rush to find other significant Immortals; the Military and Literary Stars had spoken for him in the Heavenly Palace, and he reached out to them first.

As for the Immortal of Colossal Spirit and Wang Lingguan, they were close aides to Tota Li Heavenly King and the True Martial Great Emperor; Sun Wukong planned to gauge the situation through them.

When Lord Lao Zi found Sun Wukong, he was hosting the four Immortals, and Immortal Zhenyuan received Lord Lao Zi.

After hearing about Lord Lao Zi's troubles, Immortal Zhenyuan could not help but laugh: "Try using the name of Huaguo Mountain."

Lord Lao Zi suddenly came to a realization.

A few days later, at Zhongnan Mountain, the tiger once again arrived at the village.

"Lord Taiqing has revealed himself again."

It told the villagers, "He knows you did not plant the rice seeds and has specifically instructed us to inform you that the rice seeds come from Huaguo Mountain."

"Huaguo Mountain?"

The villagers immediately changed their attitude.

"We planted Hemostatic Grass; if the rice seeds are from Huaguo Mountain, we should try them."

Upon hearing "Huaguo Mountain," the villagers began to believe.

Huaguo Mountain's Wise Monkeys are skilled in production and creation, which many humans have heard about.

After "Heavenly Craftsmanship" was released, water management technology rapidly spread, reducing the labor required for farming, and now that Huaguo Mountain produced rice seeds also seemed not so strange.

Below Zhongnan Mountain, the villagers began sowing the seeds.

And in other places, upon hearing that the rice seeds came from Huaguo Mountain, people also started planting.

Lord Lao Zi never expected that his reputation would be overshadowed by Huaguo Mountain.

He was somewhat displeased, but soon cheered up.

After half a year, the rice was harvested one after another, and a sea of golden lights flew towards him from the Four Great Continents.

The merit created by rice was beyond imagination.

Incense offerings greatly increased at the temples and shrines of the Three Pure Ones everywhere, and Lord Lao Zi was extremely delighted, not having seen such a rise in believers for a long time.

The most significant increase in believers occurred in Wuji Kingdom, where several years of drought had made life unbearable.

Half a year ago when Lord Taiqing revealed himself, upon planting the rice seeds from Huaguo Mountain in non-drought areas, the harvest, coupled with the increased rice yield from other nations, allowed Wuji Kingdom to buy rice from other countries, significantly alleviating the disaster.

Grateful, the King of Wuji Kingdom reconstructed the Three Pure Ones Temple, and the citizens of Wuji Kingdom also frequented the temple to offer incense and bow to Lord Lao Zi.

Lord Lao Zi was so delighted that he could not close his mouth for a while.

But the rice seeds were just the beginning; to fully popularize rice cultivation, Lord Lao Zi revealed himself again and bestowed the prime lineage of rice seeds to all nations.

This task was much more challenging than distributing rice seeds; he borrowed Flower Spirits from Sun Wukong and used Immortal Law to send them to the Three Pure Ones temples everywhere.

The Flower Spirits were responsible for teaching techniques, and the Taoists learned earnestly.

The success of the rice seeds significantly increased the reputation of Taoists among the laypeople.

Seeing the increase in believers, how could the Taoists doubt Lord Lao Zi's methods? They seriously studied and treated the Flower Spirits as honored guests.

Moreover, many Flower Spirits successfully transformed during this process, becoming some of the fastest advancing Demons of Huaguo Mountain.

Lord Lao Zi was so pleased that he not only accepted some Flower Spirits as attendants but also brought a gourd full of Immortal Pills for Sun Wukong.

Sun Wukong dared not accept them further: "This is too much; I can't accept it."

"It's what you deserve."

Lord Lao Zi pressed the Immortal Pills on Sun Wukong, saying, "You have given me an unexpected joy; I must thank you."

After giving the pills, Lord Lao Zi floated away contentedly.

"Why is he so happy?"

Sun Wukong was puzzled.

What had Lord Lao Zi not seen before, and he had ample merit, but why was he so visibly delighted by the rice?

"Little brother, you don't know."

Immortal Zhenyuan couldn't help but laugh: "He is grateful to you for reconstructing his statue!"

It turned out that because of the success of the rice seeds, the Three Pure Ones temples everywhere had become bustling, and many statues of the Three Pure Ones were reconstructed.

But only wealthy temples would consider reconstructing the Three Pure Ones, and many temples just reconstructed Lord Lao Zi's statue first.

Reconstructing his statue in the presence of the other two Pure Ones, thereby gaining an advantage, was the real reason for Lord Lao Zi's happiness.

"So that's it."

Sun Wukong nodded, Lord Lao Zi was indeed quite child-like.

He took the Immortal Pills from the gourd and started munching them like beans.

Nearby, a green ox was tied to a stone pillar with a rope.

While grazing, it enviously watched Sun Wukong munching the pills.

This Monkey King was truly fortunate; as Lord Lao Zi's mount for so long, it hadn't eaten many Immortal Pills.

But there he goes, treating Immortal Pills like ordinary beans.

The green ox felt envious.

Truly, ox loses to monkey, maddening for the ox.

But the grass here wasn't bad either, crisp and chewy; the Monkey King hadn't treated it poorly.

"I wonder if this grass, like the rice, is also hybrid."

The green ox thought to itself.

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