Here A People Sows
She touches the rice grains with her finger, closes her eyes, and takes a deep breath. It is a scent that has not changed for a thousand years.
She opens her eyes again, and those who sweat with her in the fields seem almost the same as the ones a thousand years ago.
Her spirit has become engrained within this soil over the centuries.
She continues to protect this field of gold, even as the land becomes ill and evil grows.
A thread flies into the Twelve Pagodas and Five Cities, in search of her freedom.
Vernal winds turn to rain, nourishing flora and fauna. She returns a stranger, and free.
It is still peace and a good harvest that she seeks.
- HS-ST-1: A Dream Under Rice (Interlude)Nian is entrusted with building the Twelve Pagodas and Five Cities in northern Yan. For the sake of completing this important marvel of engineering, three Feranmut proxies gather in Dahuang. However, unbeknownst to others, this project has other uses as well.
- HS-1: Journey to Dahuang (Before Operation)Zuo Le visits Dahuang on official business. Shu, the proxy living in the city, seems to be a difficult customer. Troubles in the fields gives Zuo Le a headache, but also a chance to make a few friends.
- HS-1: Journey to Dahuang (After Operation)The summer harvest approaches, but He Sheng's project does not go well. A bit of advice from Shu gets his hopes back up. On this quiet summer night, a few youths sit together on the ridges in the fields and share their thoughts.
- HS-2: Shennong Rites (Before Operation)Dahuang's annual Shennong Festival proceeds as scheduled. The summer harvest begins in laughter, leaving a deep impression on Zuo Le, but the celebration is brought to an abrupt end.
- HS-2: Shennong Rites (After Operation)The flood is contained, but it has taken its toll on the farms. Construction is halted to free up manpower to save the fields. At this critical juncture, supplies arrive at Dahuang, but even more remarkable is the identity of the one who delivers it.
- HS-3: Early Seeding (Before Operation)Nian and Dusk are uneasy about their brother's return to Dahuang. He Sheng and Grain Buds encounter a merchant who claims to have come home for the first time in years, and offers to sell them a 'wish'.
- HS-3: Early Seeding (After Operation)Zuo Le presses Ji on his reasons for returning to Dahuang, but Ji seems to have nothing to hide. Meanwhile, the aftermath of the flood is causing strange phenomena in Dahuang.
- HS-4: Dialogue of Silk and Linen (Before Operation)Grain Buds and He Sheng see strange visions while investigating the pollution in the fields. A mysterious trainee Tianshi asks Grain Buds to collect some unusually shaped rice for her.
- HS-4: Dialogue of Silk and Linen (After Operation)The youths compare the strange things that have been happening to them. All clues point to Dahuang's uninvited guest. Ji and Shu begin a long conversation in front of the Shennong shrine.
- HS-5: Weave the Silk (Before Operation)Zuo Le taps into power borrowed from Dusk to seal Ji inside a painting scroll, hoping to force the main suspect to submit. At the same time, the contamination within Dahuang has reached a tipping point, threatening to spiral out of control.
- HS-5: Weave the Silk (After Operation)Demonic fragments accidentally sown into the ground a thousand years ago have now become the nexus of a threat looming over all Dahuang. In the midst of mass despair, Shu steps into the fields.
- HS-ST-2: Sew the Fabric (Interlude)Shu sacrifices herself to rid Dahuang of the subterranean demonic corruption. Just as the masses think the threat has passed, Ji inserts a bundle of polluted rice stalks into Dahuang's energy core.
- HS-6: Clouds Burn Red (Before Operation)Dahuang's energy core has gone out of control, and countless monsters that should only exist in myth and legend begin to manifest all across the farmland. With no help from the outside, the people of Dahuang must face this disaster on their own.
- HS-7: Dream of the Seasons (After Operation)The people of Dahuang demonstrate unshakable unity and resolve to protect their homes. Perhaps because of a deep connection to this land, a vague consciousness reconstitutes amidst the chaos.
- HS-8: Sow the Cause (Before Operation)Within the chaos, Nian, Dusk, and Shu have to face the question once more: 'Who am I?'
- HS-8: Sow the Cause (After Operation)Shu's consciousness regathered in the 'Feranmut's Heart', and stabilizes the rampaging energy core. The crisis is over, and the people witness a magnificent sunset, while the mastermind Ji seems to be scheming something else behind the curtain.
- HS-9: Reap the Consequence (Before Operation)Everything Ji did was to weave his Hundred Scenic Portraits of Great Yan. And this plan all began over a thousand years ago.
- HS-9: Reap the Consequence (After Operation)Shu and Wang reach a deal. Ji and Wang finally take away the Hundred Scenic Portraits of Great Yan, and peace returns to Dahuang. On a path in the fields, the Old Tianshi blocks Ji's way. She wishes to pose one final question to him.
- HS-ST-3: Brave Wind and Rain (Interlude)Wang and Ji's plot shocks court and commoner alike. War with the Sui is now unavoidable. Forgotten by mankind, Shu leaves alone. What she must do remains unchanged.