The Legend of Fangren

In half a day in the village, more than a dozen things were done.

At noon, the old village chief Liu Fangshi ate lunch at his home. After finishing, the two stood outside the door, looking at the rushing river at the mouth of the river, and chatted idly.

"Little Immortal, look at this rushing water. Every spring and summer is the flood season, and it carries away so much silt and sand. This year, the banks have widened a bit more. I'm afraid that in a few more years, it will reach the village entrance."

Fang Shi asked, "Why is the soil here so loose, and why is the village located in such a dangerous place?"

The current is so swift that if you're not careful, it can sweep away a piece of soil or rock from the bank and swallow it up in the blink of an eye. If a village child accidentally falls in, there's nowhere to save them.

The old village chief shook his head and said, "Back then, this was just a small village with only eleven or twelve households. It was surrounded by steep mountains, and only the slopes here were relatively gentle enough for people to live on. A few years ago, I discussed with the villagers about inviting a great sage from the city to use his magic to stabilize the soil. But after a few years, the magic has become less effective, and we have to spend money to hire someone again."

"Is that so?"

Fang Shi took the words to heart, bid farewell to the old village chief, and leaped across the river to the other side—a distance of a dozen meters was just a matter of taking a running start and jumping for him.

Upon reaching the opposite bank, we observed the situation along the shore. The vegetation here was much more lush than that on the other side of the river mouth village, and the silt loss was also much less.

However, it is also true that the water flow is rapid, and even with vegetation cover, it cannot stop the collapse of sand and gravel.

Water governs transformation and transportation; the water power here is extremely abundant, far surpassing the power of ordinary wood.

He squatted down to examine the grass closely. With his knowledge, he could recognize several of them, but they were just ordinary plants.

Ordinary, lush vegetation can alleviate a lot of silt loss, so why would one need to use magic? He has something that he can use.

Soilball grass has an extremely strong ability to hold soil together. Just planting it in a small area along the bank can bind the soil and rocks together into a single, inseparable block.

This is a very simple approach to natural disaster prevention, but in the Xuan Realm, such methods are not encouraged. The tubers of the Earth Ball Grass are excellent first-tier spiritual items that humans can eat and Xuan Beasts also like to eat.

Compared to the turbulent waters, the problem with the mystical beasts is clearly more serious.

However, the gradual shift of the coastline, accumulated over time, will eventually become a major problem, and prevention is still necessary.

Influenced by his past life's thinking, he still believes that ecological prevention and control is the fundamental solution.

When he first dug up the burdock grass, he remembered not noticing its leaves at all... Logically speaking, the leaves of the burdock grass have wavy edges, are quite thick, and have a tender yellow color, making them very conspicuous among many weeds, so he shouldn't have missed them.

Even if he didn't know them at first, he shouldn't forget them now that he thinks back.

Furthermore, according to the records, the soil ball grass has an exceptionally strong ability to stabilize the soil, which is extremely outstanding among first-tier spiritual plants. It should be extremely competitive in the wild, but in reality, there are not many of them.

As the saying goes, nature is in balance. For any poisonous creature in the mountains and fields, there is always an antidote within seven steps. The reason behind this saying is that all things are in harmony with each other, with yin and yang mutually restraining each other.

If there were other plants that could restrain the soilball grass, then the purpose of the method could be achieved.

"Oh dear, I should have known better than to throw away the other seeds first."

He slapped his forehead and immediately plunged into the forest to look for the earth-ball grass. He searched for a full half hour before finally finding it among a pile of weeds.

This time, he didn't use his power of dissolving, but simply searched. After finding it, he parted the other weeds that were covering it and saw the complete root ball of grass underneath.

When the root ball grass is still in the soil, its rhizomes are all underground, extremely short, and its few broad leaves are almost lying on the ground, mostly hidden by the surrounding common weeds. It doesn't look as "majestic" as described in the book.

Digging a little deeper into the soil beneath the root ball, it was indeed harder than the surrounding soil, but not as hard as I had imagined.

It is likely that the surrounding grasses contain varieties that can control the soil ball grass.

Fang Shi carefully examined the soil, removing layers of soil bit by bit. He eliminated those with shallow roots or poor development until he finally dug up the roots of the grass ball and found the answer.

What restricts the growth of the root ball grass is precisely the ring of fine, dark green grass around it.

I immediately pulled out the text and compared it to find:

[Water Heart Grass]: A water-loving plant that grows in soil environments with sufficient moisture. It is commonly found in riverbeds and lakes and is a very common aquatic plant.

Of course, aquatic plants don't necessarily have to be in water; they can grow anywhere as long as there is enough moisture and nutrients.

But why does it grow in such a hard place as the burdock grass?

Perhaps the relationship between their roots and stems can provide the answer.

The stems and leaves of the water spinach are slender, but its roots are extremely long, with fine, thread-like root veins winding around the thick roots of the soil ball grass, as if parasitizing it.

Soilball grass belongs to the soil genus. It accumulates nutrients and has thick, long rhizomes, which often cause the surrounding soil to harden. However, this hardening is the result of the accumulation of many nutrients. In essence, the soil has a higher nutrient level, but due to the excessive soil compaction, ordinary vegetation cannot utilize it.

Water spinach, being an aquatic plant, excels at transporting nutrients. In spring, with abundant rainfall, the compacted soil of the water spinach's "territory" helps it retain water. With this timely and abundant water, water spinach can take root and rapidly spread by accumulating nutrients.

Thus, the sedge ball grass ended up benefiting others.

However, if it is just a simple exploitative relationship, it cannot form a balance. Fang Shi got up and went to places with different water content in the mountains and forests to find some soil ball grass and water heart grass, and only then did he understand the complete relationship between the two.

"That's really interesting."

Fang Shi spent a whole day returning to the village, bringing with him seeds of *Symplocos edulis* and *Symplocos edulis*, and went to discuss the matter with the old village chief that very night.

"Fangzi, where have you been? Are there so many things going on in the village?"

That evening, as soon as Fang Shi returned to his room, Luo He pulled him aside and asked him questions, and the other sisters were also curious.

They had spent the whole day in the mountains, and had finally managed to hunt a few wild sheep and deer, but had not found the mythical beast.

However, the villagers were still very happy because everyone could eat sheep and deer, and who wouldn't be happy to have meat to eat?

However, when faced with the question, Fang Shi didn't say anything directly, instead acting mysteriously: "You'll find out tomorrow, I'm going to do something big for the village."

"Tch~"

The sisters, annoyed by his cryptic behavior, ignored him and went about their own business.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking.

Fang Shi got up early, served Luo He the amount of thick soup for the day, and then went out.

When they arrived at the riverbank, the old village chief was even more enthusiastic than he was. He didn't even use his cane anymore, just stuck it aside, and was carrying the bag of seeds that he had given him yesterday.

Several other elderly farmers from the village were also there; they had all mentioned it last night and came excitedly this morning.

"Oh, it's Fang Xiaoxian!"

Upon seeing Fang Shi arrive, they hurriedly stepped forward and said, "We have already planted the two kinds of seeds alternately as you instructed."

"Great! Let me apply the magic and see the effect."

In front of several ordinary people, Fang Shi pretended that his abilities were some kind of magic.

A clump of white sand appeared in his palm. He told him to pat it into the soil, and instantly, several green shoots sprouted from the damp soil by the river.