Getting a Sugar Mommy in Cultivation World!!-Chapter 827: The Lost Crown

"Sister Jiang," Chen Xueyan called out as she guided the group inside. "I’ve gathered everyone I could find. Most of them were hiding in cellars or had managed to escape into the forest when the attack began."

Jiang Shi noticed the faint glow of frost qi still lingering around some of the injured. Chen Xueyan had clearly used her ice energy to numb pain and stabilize wounds, combined with whatever medicinal herbs she had found.

"Well done," Jiang Shi said. She gestured to the tables she had already set up. "Please, everyone, sit down. I’ve prepared some food."

The survivors looked at her with hollow eyes, moving mechanically as they found places to sit. Some of them stared at the table blankly, as if they couldn’t quite process what was happening.

Seeing this, Jiang Shi and Chen Xueyan began serving the food, filling bowls with steaming congee and placing dishes in the center of each table. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

For a long moment, no one moved.

Then, slowly, an elderly man picked up his spoon. His hand trembled as he brought the congee to his lips.

Drip!

The moment he tasted it, something in him broke. Tears began streaming down his weathered face.

"It’s... it’s warm," he whispered, his voice cracking.

That seemed to break the dam. One by one, the survivors began to eat, and as they did, they began to cry.

Some wept silently, tears falling into their bowls. Others sobbed openly, their bodies shaking with grief.

A young woman clutched her bowl so tightly her knuckles turned white, eating between gasping breaths.

But even then there were many who could not bring themselves to eat anything despite how alluring the smell of the food was.

Their life lost all color; their soul lost the ability to sense any emotion. What good a single bowl of warm food could do for them!

After the people finished eating, the two sisters of the Benevolent Guardian Sect told them about the Blood Demon sect.

Why they did what they did and how they were already slain.

"So, we are safe now?" From the back, a little girl with an innocent expression on her face asked.

Jiang Shi felt her heart squeezing, feeling the desperation and tiredness behind her voice.

"Yes." She nodded, trying her best to appear calm. "I have sent a letter to the imperial enforcement officers," Jiang Shi continued. "They will arrive soon with soldiers and supplies to help you. They will bring medicine and food and help you rebuild what was destroyed."

No one showed any great emotions hearing that. They just accepted her words with a nod.

An elderly woman, tears still streaming down her face, looked at them with something like gratitude. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you for... for coming. Without you, my granddaughter would have died."

She continued to sob while bowing her head. Jiang Shi accepted her gratitude, but she did not feel happy for some reason.

"If only I had arrived earlier. Maybe things would have been different.’ Such thoughts swirled in her mind.

As the group settled down, some left the restaurant to collect the remains of their loved ones or check on their property.

Jiang Shi and Chen Xueyan also followed after them and helped as much as they could.

They used their power to restore some of the buildings if there was something to salvage.

While helping around, Jiang Shi found the boy she had saved before sitting on the edge of a cliff; right behind him was the freshly dug grave of his mother.

She could not help but think of the worst, but soon she realized that he did not have any dark intentions.

He was just sitting there, lost in thought. So she went over to him.

"What are you doing out here?"

Hearing a voice coming out of nowhere, the boy trembled a little. He looked back and shriveled up a little. "I was thinking about how I will live from now on. I don’t have money; I don’t have a family. I thought about jumping from here, but I am too much of a coward to even do something like this."

Jiang Shi froze hearing him speak in such a self-deprecating way. The boy had lost all will because he could not see a way ahead.

"No." She instinctively raised her voice abruptly, hearing his words. "You are not a coward.

Jiang Shi took a deep breath and sat down beside him, careful to keep a respectful distance from his mother’s grave.

"A coward," Jiang Shi began slowly, choosing her words carefully, "is someone who runs away when others need them. A coward is someone who abandons their responsibilities out of fear."

She turned to look at him. "You stayed by your mother’s side even when death was certain. You didn’t run. That’s not cowardice."

"But I couldn’t do anything," Liu Chen whispered, his voice cracking. "I just... I just knelt there. I was useless."

"You were a child facing cultivators," Jiang Shi said firmly. "What could you have done? Thrown yourself at them? "Died meaninglessly?" She shook her head. "Your mother wouldn’t have wanted that. She died protecting you because she wanted you to live."

"But..." he asked, hesitantly. "What will I do from now on? I don’t do anything? How can I earn money?"

Jiang Shi was quiet for a moment, thinking about how to respond. But she finally spoke.

"Do not worry about that. The empire takes care of orphans. They will teach you and groom you into a fine individual so that you can grow up and take care of yourself."

Liu Chen’s expression didn’t change much, but she saw a flicker of something in his eyes. Uncertainty, perhaps. Or the faintest glimmer of curiosity.

"Really?" The word came out barely above a whisper.

"Really."

For a moment, silence filled the area. Then Jiang Shi continued with an unsure tune. "I want to apologize to you, Liu Chen."

"Why? You did not do anything wrong." The boy asked innocently.

"But if I had been here earlier—"

She did not have to continue, as Liu Chen already understood what she was getting at and said, "you have nothing to be sorry about. How could you have known what was happening here? Instead, we should be thanking you."

The boy got up with shaky legs and turned to face Jiang. "Had it not been for you, we all would have faced the same outcome as the rest of the people of the village."

"The unholy saint village would have been wiped off from the map of the empire without you. So," He bowed his head and continued. "Thank you for everything."

Jiang Shi smiled and got up as well. The two of them returned to the village. On their way back, the boy looked at Jiang Shi and said, "you helped our village, so if you need anything, please do not hesitate to ask."

Jiang Shi looked back at him in surprise. Her lips curled up in a small smile as she said, "you know what? There is something you can help me with."

"What is it?" The boy asked, eager to help.

Jiang Shi patted the boy’s head and asked. "Have you ever heard about The Lost Crown of Ten Thousand Phoenix?"