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Jiang Li arrived in Duo Chi Kingdom, finding festivities everywhere with firecrackers resounding, red lanterns hanging, and a celebratory atmosphere pervading the air. Everyone’s faces were lit up with happy smiles.

“It’s almost New Year.”

Only then did he realize, unknowingly, that the New Year had already approached.

Low and middle-level cultivators, as well as ordinary people, would choose to go home for the New Year. Still, the majority of high-level cultivators seldom deliberately celebrate the New Year, as they often spend several years or even decades in seclusion. Therefore, a yearly festival isn’t significant to them.

If it happens, it happens. If not, so be it.

Jiang Li also rarely celebrated the New Year. Having no sentiment for the Jiang family, he even actively avoided them. Therefore, his usual activities during the New Year involved visiting the Imperial Palace, taking a trip to the Dao Sect, and catching up with old friends.

It felt like celebrating the New Year yet was also an ordinary routine.

Influenced by the surrounding ambiance, Jiang Li no longer rushed his journey, and instead leisurely strolled through the streets.

He saw little children donned in red cotton-padded jackets, playfully chasing after each other. So, he snapped off a small tree branch, squatted down, and used a spell to turn the branch into a sparkling firecracker toy, to the children’s delight.

He saw people writing Spring Festival couplets in the streets, penning down virile and vigorous characters. Jiang Li willingly approached, and with the person’s agreement, wrote a pair of couplets himself, earning cheers from the onlookers.

He saw vendors selling firecrackers and thus spontaneously bought bundles of them. He hung them on trees and lit them up as their loud crackling filled the air, causing an unconscious smile to spread across his face.

The citizens of Duo Chi Kingdom loved lively activities. Every city would set up a stage for performances, including opera, a variety of dances, singing, instrumental performances, comic skits, and many other performances.

The concept of comic skits was nonexistent in the Nine Provinces before Jiang Li became the Human Emperor. It was a new form of entertainment he proposed.

Jiang Li enjoyed these performances alongside the people, chuckling and being amused by the comic skits.

The third commander candidate, Lu Pin, the King of Duo Chi Kingdom, had established the kingdom a thousand years ago in the eastern part of the Nine Provinces.

There are many nations of various sizes in the Nine Provinces established by cultivators in the Body Integration Realm or the Divinity Transformation Stage. The larger ones could rival half a dynasty, while the smaller ones only consisted of a few cities.

Duo Chi Kingdom was somewhere in between, as big as a provincial capital of a dynasty, consisting of dozens of cities.

The information that Commander Liu had provided stated that the King of Duo Chi Kingdom had his Crown Prince in place already and could resemble relinquishing the throne of the kingdom at any time.

Perhaps influenced by the New Year’s atmosphere, Jiang Li held Duo Chi Kingdom in a positive light and considered its king a reasonably competent monarch.

‘Why are the people of Duo Chi Kingdom still working, even up to now?” Seeing many ordinary people still busy repairing the roads, Jiang Li was quite surprised. These road workers, being migrants, were the most anxious group of people to return home for the New Year, eager to return before New Year’s Day. So why were they not going home and were still fixing the roads?

And why were they fixing the roads at night, even with the aid of lights?

“It seems that the people of Duo Chi Kingdom work much harder than ordinary people elsewhere in the Nine Provinces?” Jiang Li pondered aloud.

“Why are you guys still working? Why aren’t you going home yet?” Jiang Li asked as he approached one of the workers.

A working man wiped his sweat with a towel hung around his neck, straightened up from his prolonged crouching position, and spat out, “Go home? To hell with it!”

“I was ready to go home a few days ago with my luggage already packed, but our foreman stopped me with a single sentence.”

“According to the foreman, someone might come for an inspection, so we need to work overtime to make sure the road is repaired before the New Year. If it’s not repaired, we can’t go home!”

“I have been working with three-hour breaks each day hoping to finish the task quickly and get home for the New Year. But it seems we won’t finish in time no matter how hard we work. Damn it, is there any justice in this world!? How are we supposed to celebrate the New Year?” These workers who couldn’t return home for the New Year were cursing and complaining.

Seeing that someone was willing to chat with them, they all began to complain to Jiang Li.

If cultivators were assigned to repair the roads, efficiency would be much higher, but they would also be much more expensive than ordinary people, so local governments typically employed ordinary people for road repair.

“They’ve got people working during the New Year?” Jiang Li was curious.

“Who knows? Probably some official who doesn’t like being at home and prefers running around inspecting things , even during the New Year!” one of the workers retorted sharply.

“Let me help you.” Out of sympathy, Jiang Li took action. He left the workers dumbstruck as they saw the incredible abilities of a high-level cultivator. The dirt seemed to gain a life of its own, laying itself onto the road and automatically compressing itself.

A brand new official road emerged before everyone.

“Are you… a cultivator sir?” The workers thought he might be a Golden Core Stage or even a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator. Their attitude instantly became incredibly respectful, and they stopped cursing.

“You should be able to make it home in time for the New Year now. Go home.” Jiang Li said with a smile.

The workers thanked him profusely and would have kowtowed to him if he had not stopped them.

Once the road was repaired, the workers couldn’t just go home right away. They had to wait for the workforce foreman to sign off on the work.

The foreman, hearing from the workers that a kind-hearted cultivator had helped them complete the road repair ahead of schedule, was greatly surprised. Inspecting the road, the foreman found that the quality of the cultivator’s work far exceeded his expectations, effectively completing the task in advance and beyond the required quota.

Jiang Li called the foreman over and asked, “which official is having you rush the repairs on the road during the New Year?”

The foreman hesitated a moment before answering truthfully: “To answer your question, it’s not any specific official. I heard higher-ups saying that the Human Emperor Jiang may come to Duo Chi Kingdom. So they want us to finish the road before his arrival, and even if we can’t finish it, it should look good enough to leave a favorable impression of Duo Chi Kingdom. As to why – I really wouldn’t know.”

Jiang Li was silent for a while.

He used his Divine Sense to investigate and found similar situations playing out elsewhere. Some people were planting trees on the roadside, some were repairing buildings, and others were posting propaganda slogans like ‘The Nine Provinces is our shared home,’ ‘Duo Chi Kingdom strictly enforces the requirements of the Imperial Palace,’ ‘Severely break the means left by the Outer Realm Heavenly Demons,’ and so on.

These people all shared a common trait.

All of them were ordinary people who wanted to go home for the New Year but couldn’t.

After becoming a candidate for the commander of the Imperial Palace, the King of Duo Chi Kingdom ordered ordinary people to work overtime to complete what they believed to be a welcoming preparation for Jiang Li’s inspection, even in the absence of precise knowledge of when Jiang Li would arrive.

Even though Jiang Li might not see these road renovations or newly planted trees, or might give them no more than a fleeting glance, the King of Duo Chi Kingdom insisted that these ordinary people forego their holiday and work urgently.

“I can’t even peacefully enjoy the New Year, can I?” Jiang Li lamented.

He wanted to help these ordinary people complete their tasks and let them go home for the New Year, only to find they were too numerous. If he helped them all, the New Year would be over by the time he finished.

So, he went to the royal city of Duo Chi Kingdom.

The royal city of Duo Chi Kingdom was, of course, much more prosperous and lively than other cities, with countless Spring Festival couplets, lanterns, and characters of fortune.

However, Jiang Li could no longer enjoy the New Year atmosphere like he did

before..