Within the house belonging to the Village Chief, Da Wei, and Chief Chen sat opposed to two other people as all four people drank tea calmly.
The old woman and the middle-aged man sitting across from Da Wei were the chiefs of their villages.
Xu Rui, the old woman, led a village that was located two weeks away by carriage to the West of the village that Da Wei called home. Similarly, Sun Hao, the middle-aged man, led another village that was located a week away from Da Wei’s village towards the North.
“So, I heard from Old Chen that you had something to talk about?”
Sun Hao is a straightforward person just like Da Wei and does not like to waste time with useless pleasantries.
Da Wei nodded at his words and started speaking.
“Uncle Sun, Grandma Xu, I called you two here to discuss the future of our villages, especially with how the situation in the south is unfolding.”
Xu Rui grimaced at those words as Sun Hao nodded with a grave expression.
As the only three villages to have survived in this wilderness for such a long time, they knew the importance of maintaining a good relationship with each other. As such, they were very much familiar with Da Wei and his actions until now, including the recent addition of a barrier covering his village.
It was also because of this relationship with each other and a few other villages located closer to Starfall City that they knew about what was happening across the Empire due to the unrest in the south.
Xu Rui had been losing sleep for the past few months due to the worry of having refugees flooding her village and overwhelming her delicate balance of food for her people.
Sun Hao faced the same issue, except in his case, his worries were geared more toward obtaining enough clothing, coal, and other such resources since his village was surrounded by hills that produced a lot of food but had little in the way of other resources.
Da Wei’s village also faced its own problems in the fact that they were barely self-sufficient and could not support more people than the projected birth rate in the village for the next few years.
Of course, since these villages were located in the extreme frontier of the Empire they did not get any refugees until now but the mere thought of it was what caused these people to worry endlessly.
All the people in this room are people who like to prepare for the future instead of reacting to an unexpected situation unprepared.
It was this thought process that urged Da Wei into his actions this day.
“What do you have in mind? Little Wei.”
“Grandma Xu, I propose that we increase the trade between our villages to distribute our most abundant resources in exchange for the resources that we lack.”
Sun Hao raised a brow at that suggestion.
“Isn’t that something that we have been doing already?”
Da Wei shook his head and took out a large parchment. Once he spread it on the table, it showed the map of the Eastern region of the Yin Long Empire which included the terrain surrounding the three villages.
He pointed towards Xu Rui’s village.
“Grandma Xu, your village is located at a higher location than the other two thanks to it being established on the side of a mountain. This allowed your village to flourish as a mining village that exports the majority of Iron and stone to Starfall City. However, due to your location, you lack food even with that Step Farming method I taught you two years ago. Uncle Sun, on the other hand, has an abundance of food and provides a lot of food to the other two villages and Starfall City.”
Then, he pointed to his own village.
“We are barely self-sufficient in the case of food and material, but what we excel at is making luxury products like Wine and daily tools necessary for Uncle Sun’s farmers and Grandma Xu’s miners.”
Then, he pointed to the pathways connecting the three villages by skirting around the Great Wilderness.
“Until now, we have been trading our resources through caravans that pass through this path that lies outside the Great Wilderness. But, in an effort to avoid danger, this path quadruples the time it takes to travel between our villages, reducing the number of resources we can trade with each other and making it so that we are barely getting by through this trade. This has resulted in most of our excess products being left in storage for a long time without use. While that is not much of an issue for us who make tools and Wine, it is a major issue for Uncle Sun where the food you produce tends to rot due to being stored for a long time while Grandma Xu fails to sell enough ore and minerals that her village mines to make a proper profit.”
Xu Rui and Sun Hao nodded at his words since this was information that everyone knew.
Da Wei grinned and took out a charcoal stick, drawing a straight line between the three villages, right over the Great Wilderness.
An ominous feeling fell upon the two village chiefs before Da Wei could even talk.
“I propose that we change to this path so that we can increase the number of resources we can trade-“
“Are you out of your mind??”
Sun Hao’s roar shook the room as he glared at Da Wei while Grandma Xu shook her head in disappointment.
“Little Wei, while your plan is good, you are not the first person to come up with such an idea. There were many promising talents from all of our villages who wished to achieve the same thing but ultimately gave up due to various factors. Two main reasons are the difficulty of bringing down the Iron Wood trees to clear a path even with the help of a team of cultivators and the Demonic beasts that roam these parts of the Great Wilderness.”
“That’s right! Furthermore, even if we complete making a path like you said, there would still be the danger of Demonic Beast attacks on any caravan that passes through this route.”
“Perhaps, you should listen to his words completely before you put in your opinion?”
Chief Chen’s words drew Grandma Xu’s confusion as Sun Hao still held an infuriated expression but fell silent.
Both of these village chiefs had known Chief Chen for a long time and knew his way of doing things. They knew that he was not someone who indulged in fantasies and was much more inclined towards practicality. It was this knowledge that made them quiet down at his words, wondering what more Da Wei had to say that convinced this old man.
“Since you two are now willing to listen, I will explain my plan. But first, please come with me.”
At his words, Xu Rui and Sun Hao felt their confusion deepen but they still followed the young man out.
Just like what they saw when they first arrived for the meeting, the village was bustling with activity as men and women moved about, doing things that they normally do on a daily basis but with much more zeal than ever before.
Sun Hao, as Qi Gathering realm cultivator, could feel the extremely dense Pure Qi within the village, causing him to envy these people for having someone like Da Wei who created such a formation for them.
Da Wei took them to the village center where a few dozen men were working on constructing a few buildings from cut stone and Iron Wood. But what drew the group's eyes was another bunch of men who were grinding down stones into powder under Old Feng’s direction while another group was being overlooked by Old Li who directed his men to carefully mix the stone powder with another powder that was pure white and sparkling like glass.
As a cultivator, Sun Hao immediately realized what the unknown powder was.
“Is that Spirit Stone dust??”
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Da Wei nodded at his shocked words.
“Correct. Specifically, that powder is made from grinding down depleted Spirit Stones. By mixing that powder with Stone powder in a ratio of 10:1 with 10 parts stone and 1 part Spirit Stone powder and melting it in a furnace to produce bricks, I discovered that we could make a type of stone that is extremely Qi conductive in a way that is similar to the Spiritual Marble in function. Of course, it is nowhere near as conducive as Spiritual Marble, but it Is still something that cannot be looked down upon.”
Then, Da Wei had them move towards another location where they saw another group of men under Da Ling, Jin Tianrui, Lin Mei, and other teenagers in the village who could cultivate. They were busy directing their men in mixing various pills of various colors into five massive furnaces that had molten metal within them.
This time, Da Wei took the initiative to explain what was going on.
“Those pills are something that I condensed using Alchemy. Each color represents one of the five main elements made using materials that are rich in the respective Qi elements. They are being mixed with the metals under both of my Disciples and the others’ careful circulation of their Qi and the stirring of the men under their command. The end result would be five different metals that each have the essence of one of the five main elements.”
By this point, Sun Hao was shaking in awe, nervousness, and excitement while Grandma Xu was confused due to her ignorance towards such things that involved Cultivation.
“Ok, enough with the suspense! Tell me your plan already!”
At Sun Hao’s words, Da Wei smiled.
“My plan is simple. As you already know, my disciple and I have developed a heavily modified Heaven and Earth defensive array that now protects this village. I have modified it even further and removed many of the unnecessary functions. In exchange, this modified formation, which I have named the Path Guarding array, can now be set up using much inferior materials and can provide adequate protection against most Demonic Beasts up to the peak of the Foundation Establishment realm.”
Instantly, Sun Hao realized what Da Wei was planning.
“You intend to cover your proposed route between the villages with this formation?”
Da Wei nodded, but Sun Hao once again started to speak anxiously.
“That is a good plan, but how do you intend to set up such a large number of formations in any feasible length of time? I estimate it is going to take at least a few dozen formations to cover a single path leading from this village to my own and nearly double that for the path that leads to Lady Xu’s village. Then, a few dozen more for the interconnecting paths between all three villages. Then there is the problem of finding enough Cultivators to clear the Iron Wood trees in the first place to make way for the roads.”
Da Wei just smiled and motioned them to follow once again, this time taking them to the edges of the village where shouts and roars could be clearly heard.
Once they arrived at their destination, a large building with a massive courtyard filled with men, women, and children, Sun Hao and Xu Rui could not help but be dumbfounded at the sight.
In front of their eyes, the people within the courtyard were hard at work, practicing fierce-looking martial arts and training their bodies using strange contraptions and inscriptions.
Sun Hao could clearly tell that these people had not been cultivating their bodies for more than a few days, yet he could tell that all of them were already in the initial stages of the Body refinement realm with some of them having achieved the middle stages of the Body Refinement realm.
If it were not for the fact that all these people were Body Cultivators who were known to be very quick to break through the initial stages while he was a Qi cultivator who is known to have a harder time breaking through, he might have really died of embarrassment witnessing such a scene.
While the path of cultivation for both the Body Cultivators and Qi cultivators is identical with a few differences from the Foundation Establishment realm onwards, it is not the case for the beginning of their cultivation.
For Qi Cultivators, they have the Qi Condensation realm where they concentrate on controlling and absorbing elemental Qi into their Spirit Roots, consolidating their prowess and abilities using Qi arts.
For Body Cultivators, the initial stages are known as the Body Refinement realm. In this realm, the body cultivators focus their efforts on strengthening their body through training, Qi absorption via external means, and getting rid of impurities within their bodies using their meager elemental Qi reserves stored in their low-quality Spirit Roots.
“Some things in this world simply cannot be changed through effort. Cultivation talent, unfortunately, happens to be one of those things. However, just because someone cannot cultivate on the path of Qi Cultivator does not mean they must give up and accept their fate. Isn’t that right? Uncle Sun?”
Sun Hao could not help but feel a little emotional at those words and nodded.
He still remembered very clearly how his younger brother was judged to have no talent in cultivation due to his quadruple spirit roots that had a basic elemental affinity. This news caused him to be discouraged and try to prove himself to his family by hunting Demonic Beasts by himself, leading to his untimely death.
How good it would have been if they had access to a body cultivation technique in those days? Would his brother still be alive if things went differently?
Shaking his head to get rid of those thoughts, Sun Hao stared intently at Da Wei, waiting for him to continue his words.
“This is a school that we established to teach everyone in the village who cannot cultivate with the Orthodox path. Here, they are taught Body cultivation with a technique that I recently obtained that has no requirement for any specific elemental affinity. As you can see, they have all already embarked on the path and have achieved at least the initial stages of Body Refinement. This means that we already have the sufficient forces required to clear the path that we need and work on laying the foundation of the road using the artificial Spirit Stone that we are making and setting up the formations across the roads.”
By this point, Sun Hao was already sold on Da Wei’s plans but Xu Rui still had one concern that needed to be addressed.
“I am impressed with the thought and effort you put into this, Little Wei. But, just having a good road and a shorter path is not enough for my village to transport its goods. Especially since your village and Sun Hao’s village are not the only ones we sell our materials to. For now, our trade with Starfall City is not your concern since I’ll find a solution for that on my own, but we still need a way to transport such a large amount of materials through the paths you proposed. The regular carts pulled by Spiritual Beasts may be enough for Sun Hao and you to trade with but that is not the case with us. Especially since we lost one of our ten carts due to the migration last winter.”
Da Wei nodded at her words, acknowledging her worries.
“Grandma Xu, rest assured that I already know about that issue and am already working on a solution for it. For now, trust me on this plan. Give me time and I promise you that I will solve your transportation problem before the roads are done.”
Grandma Xu thought for some time before nodding her head.
She had known Da Wei for more than two years now and knew he was not someone who made empty promises. That was why she agreed to his request so easily without even asking for any proof of his words.
With the tour complete, Da Wei led the two back to the house where Chief Chen was busy drinking wine and relaxing in his recliner.
Watching this scene, Da Wei frowned.
“Damn it, Old man! Here I am, busting my ass convincing the other villages and you are relaxing without a care in the world??”
Chief Chen gave a lazy glance toward Da Wei before replying.
“Why should I worry? Aren’t you already taking care of things and have a clear plan in mind? And it's not like you need my permission to do as you please in this village.”
Da Wei gave an annoyed glare at Chief Chen and huffed before heading back to the room, but Xu Rui and Sun Hao watched this exchange with a stunned gaze.
These two were not fools and instantly realized the hidden meaning behind Chief Chen’s words towards Da Wei which the young man in question did not pick up.
From the interaction, it was clear to Xu Rui and Sun Hao that Chief Chen had clearly chosen Da Wei as his successor as the Chief of this village. This meant that Da Wei’s words now held much more weight than they did from the beginning of this meeting.
If this was just a show made by Chief Chen to make them take Da Wei more seriously or if it was his true intentions, they did not know. What they did know was that they must now treat Da Wei as their equal instead of treating him as their Junior.
Once within the room, the three people immediately began the negotiations of resource and labor distribution. With the technical details ironed out, the two chiefs showed their worth as the leaders of their respective people.
The negotiations were fierce, but in the end, the three people left the room satisfied.
As Da Wei’s village was providing the bulk of manpower, materials, formations, and labor for establishing the roads connecting their villages, they would be providing the least amount of their produce to the other two villages in exchange for a large number of resources from the two villages.
Da Wei’s village would provide one standard cart’s worth of tools and wine to other villages in exchange for ten carts worth of food and live cattle from Sun Hao’s village and ten carts worth of metal ores from Xu Rui’s village. This exchange rate will remain fixed for five years from the date of the road’s completion after which the exchange rate can be renegotiated.
At the same time, the responsibility to sell the excess left after this trade from all three villages to Starfall City would fall on Sun Hao since his village was closer to the city compared to Da Wei and Xu Rui’s villages.
With the negotiations done, the two village leaders left in high spirits as Da Wei headed back into the house and collapsed on a recliner beside Chief Chen.
“How did it go?”
“Pretty good, no thanks to you.”
“Like I said, you don’t need my permission to do things in this village anymore. In fact, it makes me very happy that you have become much more active in making the lives of the people in this village better.”
“Hmm.”
A comfortable silence fell between them before Chief Chen asked what had been on his mind until then.
“Did your experiment for the new carts succeed?”
“Yes. The progress is promising. I estimate that I will have a working prototype within a few months before winter arrives and right before the roads are completed if everything goes according to schedule.”
Chief Chen chuckled at those words and continued relaxing.
“Still, you are really something else, Da Wei. A cart that moves by itself at nearly four times the speed of regular carts pulled by Spiritual Beasts and that can carry five times the goods at the meager price of a single low-grade Spirit Stone per week? How did you even come up with a concept like that?”
“Again, I can’t claim ownership of this concept since I only copied the work of a scholar from a faraway place.”
“Haha, If you say so.”
“Ok, you two. Enough work for today. Dinner is ready. Da Wei, get your disciples before the food becomes cold.”
“No need to shout! You old hag!”
“I’m going, Grandma Li.”
Da Wei smiled while leaving behind the bickering old couple and headed out to retrieve his disciples for dinner.
It was small moments of peace and happiness like these that reminded him of the reason why he was working so hard to improve and protect these people.
These people are his friends and his family, and he would never fail his promise to his mother ever again.