Ji’s solution is as direct as he is- kill them even faster.  Towards that end, he wants you to slay 10 of the creatures and return to him after that’s done.

If you pay attention, you’ll notice that someone nearby has a quest for you as well- Gao Summerdraft, the head of the farmstead.  Gao explains to you that the Virmen have been stealing the crops, but they’ve been taking more than they can eat.  He surmises that they must be storing the vegetables somewhere for later.  He wants you to recover any vegetables you can find, since feeding the entire island takes everything that can be gathered.  In addition to some coin, he will also hand over a new pair of pants if you help him, so this is a pretty good deal.

Killing enough Virmen is a pretty simple task- in fact, don’t worry specifically about it at all.  The real difficulty here is to pick up enough of the looted vegetables for Gao.  Stolen Carrot are straightforwards to find- they’re located all over the nearest field, and down the easily-visible Virmen burrows.  The Uprooted Turnip require a bit more wandering- while the turnip fields are obvious, you’ll mostly find these around the edges of the fields.  They’re not terribly obvious despite the sparkling they do as quest items- look for turnips that are not only pulled up but also lying on their sides.  Finally are the Pilfered Pumpkin.  These vegetables are found to the Southeast, in the Virmen Grotto- you can’t actually locate any in the pumpkin fields, nor in the burrows at all.  The pumpkins are lying around the edges of the grotto, so they aren’t hard to find- just far afield.

With all the vegetables gathered, you should go see Gao first.  The man is appropriately, though not effusively, grateful and gives you the promised pants as well as a small sum of money.

That out of the way, you should return to Ji, who praises your ability to solve problems essentially just by being present- nevermind that that isn’t exactly how it works.

With your quest complete, Ji offers you the next step of what to do- in typical Ji Firepaw fashion, he wants to do what he’s already doing- only moreso!  His solution is to make so much of a noise that the Spirit of Earth couldn’t possibly sleep through it.  He then points out the gong, and suggests that perhaps this is how the Spirit of Earth used to be awoken from any naps he’d taken before- but to use it properly, the matching mallet will be needed.

According to Ji, the village elder has said the mallet is in the Ki-Han Brewery, which is located to the Southwest on a nearby river.  He wants you to go and get the mallet, while he lets the village know that it will be rung, so they have time to prepare for the noise.  It’s a menial task, but someone’s got to do it- and besides, he’s offering you new boots to go with the usual reward.

Before you go looking for that hammer, though, you should stop by Jojo Ironbrow, who has showed up nearby.  He has another quest for you.