With a plan is finalized, the representative for the Towns and Villages returned to where they came, because from today onwards, it will be difficult for them to travel past the Seven Star Sect to Wen Wu City. After being briefed by Zhang Wu Ji and Liang Tian with their future planning and engagements, they leave the city without looking back.
Inside the heart of the two representatives is an arrangement that only the four of them knows.
Given the support from the Wen Wu City Lord, the Seven Star Apprentice Hall growth stabilized further, where after some prior arrangement, the whole area located Northeast of the Wen Wu City is given to the Seven Star Apprentice Hall with complete right to decide how the land can be exploited.
This gave the Apprentice Hall the motivation to catch up. Following with the restriction in the sector of exporting their produce, the Apprentice Hall fork out a hefty sum to purchase all the Construction Materials, which is the first generation Masonry Bricks.
Using only this material in all of their constructions, the sturdiness of the new buildings is stronger than ever. It only took about four days for them to complete the foundation of the building, with another additional ten days to construct the building to reach their size three times taller and bigger than the Tulous he had people built in the Northern Side of the city.
Furthermore, Zhang Wu Ji's Seven Star Apprentice Hall is no longer how it seems. The earlier four days is taken to rearrange the relevant departments available inside of the hall, but with the new addition of the Cooking Department and his own Celestial Designer profession, Zhang Wu Ji's expectation at the expansion of the hall is greater than before.
Sending out about 300 of his trusted fellow disciples, Zhang Wu Ji positioned a hundred of them in each village to assist them in various matters. The problem such as food preservation, farm plowing, harvesting, and hunting, each of these matters will have a few disciples to help in making things easier.
But this wasn't enough at all. Even if the current Seven Star Sect decided to give them a handicap, what can a rebelling Apprentice Hall takes to compete, especially when they only hold the privilege of three villages and one city's production? It was an attempt of a mere group of ants trying to overthrow an elephant.
Which is why Zhang Wu Ji will not fight against them in the term of capital but in the term of developments. With his upgrade system and the ability to discern the condition of an item, Zhang Wu Ji believes that if he was given the chances and time, his retaliation will bound to get the fruits of results.
In his mind, a sentence of [What can a not upgradable sect do when they were to face people with pills that works twice better, the weapon that cut deeper and harder to break? They may have the power to rule over the remaining fifteen towns, twenty-seven villages, and the two cities, but their resources are limited] always lingered whenever he tried to motivate himself.
"Master..." the three Li Disciples stands just before him as they greet him. Afraid that their master is having an enlightenment, the three of them remain silent for a moment before they realized it was not what they thought.
"Did I make the three of you waiting for long? It's fine to grab my attention in case I am idling and not doing anything." Zhang Wu Ji said.
"Understood. The reason the three of us is here is related to one matter. Do master still remember that you ask us to reform and weed out the rotten apples within the Blacksmith Department?" Li Jing brought up the matter Zhang Wu Ji ordered them to get it done a month ago. From the way he speaks about this matter, it seems that the former already completed this task before the unfortunate event happened.
"Yes. Continue." Zhang Wu Ji took his seat and continues to listen to his report.
"Disciple Li Jing hates to say, but after we weed out all the rotten apples from the Blacksmith Department, we're only left with a mere 100 blacksmith with absolute loyalty with the department. During the siege against the headmaster faction and WUJI Faction, a large part of those that sacked by the three of us were, in fact, belonged to a syndicate called Golden Wolf Syndicate."
"Luckily, we're prepared. Your disciple Li Jing is always keeping the secret he possesses a spatial ring in secret. We collected all the books related to the blacksmithing along with some better quality tools before the siege begins, thus, we lost only a mere amount of treasures like still in refining ingots and some weapons. Before we left, the three of us destroyed most of the mediocre quality Iron Thrusting Dirk master inherits to the department for training purposes, and also the remaining amount of Seven Leaves Sword."
"I believe master may have some uses with this spatial ring and it's item within. We already allocate all the trusted loyal blacksmiths to be positioned near to the Blacksmith Department of the Apprentice Hall and we're ready to refine anything my master bring to us. Please go ahead and order us for any task." Li Jing raised both of his hand with the palms facing upward, where a ring with obsidian color sits.
Basic Obsidian-Class Spatial Ring
-Capacity: 1500 Items | Weight Limit: 15 Tonne
-Usability: Direct | Fighter Qi Consumption Rate: 9
-Durability: 35/35 | Quality: Entry-Level
-Information: Made from low-quality processed obsidian crystals, this ring is crafted by a nameless First-Grade Celestial Designer. The Obsidian-Class Spatial Ring is lack of preservation ability, making the ring is only used to keep non-deteriorating materials and products, such as metal, stones, and gems.
"This is the lower-quality material, something that only worth be purchased by fellow blacksmiths and also construction bosses because of their inability to preserve the product. No wonder it gave such a good amount of Weight Limit and capacity... That's the catch to buy this." Zhang Wu Ji gave the comment back to himself in mind before he inspects its content.
900 ingots of 45% Purity
100 ingots of 50% Purity
150 Ingots of 58% Purity
1 Slab-Made Furnace
1 Iron Alloy Anvil
Zhang Wu Ji's expectation on the ingots weren't too high, but based on the quality of the material in here, it seems that most of their finely process treasure already kept within this ring. But with himself having no usage on these items for the meantime, he returned the ring to Li Jing before he added a few words.
"Familiarized with the Blacksmith and also their mineral ores delivered. I will need you to focus all your attention on training this one hundred blacksmiths into the master's of their profession." Zhang Wu Ji finishes his words as he tosses a book into his hand, making Li Jing mouth opened wide as he read their title.
Stolen novel; please report.
[Minor Achievement Iron Process]
"Another extremely precious book!" Zhang Wu Ji's consistency of bringing them precious books with amazing accurate knowledge in its content was always shocking to them. Although their qualification was far more than enough for them to personally refine higher quality metals to be used as their own weapon, it was still important for them to improve their qualification as a proper blacksmith.
Amongst the three Southern States of the Southern Imperial Kingdom, the Upper South State is the closest one to the Imperial County, but their position was also the lowest among the three states. Not even needed to mention, their position among the thirteen states is also the second lowest, losing to the Border of Western State.
Less needed to say, the Border of Western State is another weak county due to their lacking resources, but they were also heavily affected by the constant battle initiated between the two kingdom, which is why their improvement is deteriorating. Or else, perhaps the Upper South State is the weakest state amongst all of them.
This is also why the only Blacksmith Pavilion existed in the Southern Part is only in the Lower Southern State, while each of the other states does possess their own Blacksmith Pavilion.
"The three of you, issue the request to the Hunting Department to collect some Pure Brimstone Crystal, Salt Crystal, and Fur Charcoal if they went into the Southern Bamboo Forest." Zhang Wu Ji finishes his instruction to them without telling them the reason.
But the three did not question him at all and excused themselves from the room after they realized their master may have something else to taking care of. With haste, they issued the request for the three material first before returning to the Blacksmith Department and started to conduct lesson according to the few copies of Blacksmithing Manual Zhang Wu Ji trusted them with.
Meanwhile, after one party is gone, another came. This time, it was consist of the Master Chef, the Department Head from the Pill Making Department, and someone unfamiliar to him.
"Master Senior Ninth, this elder greets you (This Junior greets you)." the three of them paid their greetings to him as they wait for his approval to start talking.
"Go ahead and speak your matter out." Zhang Wu Ji stated. The long period of partaking with this kind of responsibilities makes him much more mature compared to the easy and hesitated him previously.
"Master Senior, the Pill Making Department wishes to leave their tradition and join along with the fellow disciples from Alchemist Department and Herbalist Department to increase their knowledge in the profession of a Pill Master." he politely requested for the approval to join into the two departments.
"Approved. But I need you to make sure that no Pill Master is to threaten the disciples using their former position in the sect. This Apprentice Hall does not follow such a practice to motivates the competition among our own." Zhang Wu Ji agreed but warned the elder prior before anything might happen.
"This elder understands. Please excuse me as I transfer the good news to them. The members of Pill Making Department will be so happy after they listen to this." the Elder excused himself immediately, impatient to shares the news to the others.
"Master Chef?" Zhang Wu Ji pays his attention to the straight and honest elder before him.
"Young Master Senior, are you looking for a stable supply of meat product?" the Master Chef asked.
"Yes, this junior did... But the matter should be done by now... Some disciples have been dispatched outside to the three villages to begin their preparation..." his question puzzled Zhang Wu Ji as he answers.
"Young Master Senior, have you forgotten the matter related to the Jining Freshwater Trout?" the Master Chef reminds him of his absent-minded memories related to the generous act he has done.
"Yes, I remember. Why?" Zhang Wu Ji answered. He remembers that the cultivating process is to be done at the Tian Village, which is why he did not put that matter in his account. But why would the Master Chef bring this matter up with him now?
"The Fish Cultivating did not set up in the Tian Village, but Wen Wu City's Western Side!" the Master Chef words shocked him. It was like a great discovery to him at this moment because of the need to start sourcing for food in order for the city to grow.
"But... Why? I thought your initial planning was to cultivate them in the Tian Village." Zhang Wu Ji asked.
"It does. But that did not happen due to two reasons. First of all is due to the water source over there is a lack of required nutrients for the fish to grow properly. As for the second reason, it was because of the river that interconnected to three mountain source. This means more nutrients and space to grow the Jining Freshwater Trouts!" the Master Chef explained the sudden change of cultivating location and their reasons.
"Of course, if we were to make them into a sustainable source of meat products, the harvest will need to be done after they reproduce. This means we will not able to harvest the product meant for cultivator's improvement."
"But I am confident with my knowledge and experience, in the time of two months later, the first batch of newborn fry started to swim in the cultivation pond will be no lesser than five hundred thousand fishes." the Master Chef confidently explains the situation why he's confident to make this a sustainable source of meat products.
"Master Chef, if you don't mind me asking, about how many fishes are there in the pond now?" with the ability to lay ten thousand eggs during their spawning period, they will only require fifty female trouts to lay 500 thousand eggs.
"Five hundred! A hundred of them is male and four hundred of them is female. I can confirm that our first batch is going to be quite low, but on the second batch, please expect at least three million fishes to grow in that river alone." his answer shocks Zhang Wu Ji for the second time.
"Wait... three million new fishes, how big and wide is the river?" Zhang Wu Ji calms himself and asks for another important question.
"Master senior, I told you before, it was a congregation of three mountain source! Only flying across the river itself will take you almost an hour." the Master Chef replied.
"What? Don't that means the wideness of the river from one side to another is about fifty kilometers? My god and the surprising stuff of this geographical thing in this world!" Zhang Wu Ji wanted to complain but he couldn't.
"But wait... I did not go through any of such a wide river when I'm going to the Heavenly South County and come back." Zhang Wu Ji is puzzled with the geographical surrounding him once again.
"Master Senior. The route to Heavenly South County is at Southwest, and not directly to the west..." the Master Chef realized his puzzled expression and clarifies the matter with him before he burns himself in dismay.
"Oh! That's why!"
"Master Chef, your word really helps me. With this soon to be stabilized source of meat product, all we need is to improve the collection rate of the Mineral Ores from the western mountain and keep on building the Wen Wu City!" Zhang Wu Ji said.
"I'm glad to help." the Master Chef said. Without anything else to discuss, he left and return to his position to prepare the foods that will be supplied to the workers all over the Apprentice Hall's perimeters. After he left, only two people remained inside of the room now.
"So, who are you?" Zhang Wu Ji asked.
"Dear Master Senior, this junior's name is Zhao Yue Yi. I am sent here under an instruction for Master Senior's eldest brother, his honored Master Senior Zhang Wu Yuan." the junior in his thirteen or fourteen years old bowed before him as he speaks.
"What did my brother said?" Zhang Wu Ji asked.
"Master Senior Zhang Wu Yuan only left this disciple with this two scrolls and words to be repeated when this junior met you personally. I shall now repeat the word he said;
"Until the next year's Counties Gathering, the Imperial Kingdom will not approve the current headmaster as the leader of the sect. Be it Liang Tian is out or Yang Chen Kun remains. Whoever sitting inside the Reflecting Tower will be the headmaster during the gathering."
"The two blueprints is something my master gave me as collections. If you can craft it, go ahead. Be a Celestial Designer at least to not shame our family name. If you can't, at least sell them for a hefty sum of money, that should support your cause until the next year gathering."
"Li Jiang Town will be safe, even if the Seven Star County is wrecked. If you end up as a shameful bastard that can't even do something this simple, I will personally come and destroy your cultivation, making you a complete trash."
"No need to come back this year. It is shameless to the family to see a member come back as an exiled member of the Seven Star Sect."
Finishing his message, the junior disciple smiled awry because a few words deep inside of the message is purposely added by Zhang Wu Yuan in order to bully his youngest brother. Knowing that it will be impossible for Zhang Wu Ji to teach this junior a lesson, he confidently sent him here for this purposes.
"My brother deeply loves me, I think." Zhang Wu Ji accepted the two blueprints and gave the junior a hundred and one pills as gratitude for his effort to made his way here.
"If there is nothing else, this junior will excuse himself from bothering Master Senior." he excused himself and left. On his way towards the Heavenly South County, the youth rummage the pouch to check their contents.
"Ceh! Just a hundred Qi Sensing Pills. Even working for a receptionist in the Imperial County's Nan Feng City will get me 200 Pills a day." he complained about the lack of sincerity given by the Senior Master, but soon, noticed one pill is different from the others.
"THIS! Fighter Chasing Dan! It's a Fighter Chasing Dan! How many hundred thousand gold coins can I change with this single pill that adds 20 strands of Fighter Qi into my cultivation?" like a fool, he grabbed the pill with both hands and inspects them for their authenticity.
Meanwhile, the young master senior is still considering the approach he should take in improving the strength in their side, but based on what he got at this moment, it was something to start from the scratch.
Although he got the assistance from his Master, Liang Tian, the City Lord Yang Er, and the Militarized Force's commander, Yang Yi by his side, their existence weren't something helpful in his mission.
The reason is always due to some unspeakable law, such as the Law that forbids cultivators in the higher ranks to participates in this kind of matters. Unless the base level of the disciples of soldiers reaches the Inner Qi Warrior Stage, they will not be allowed to take any action. But this also means that Zhang Wu Ji will face with a fatal weakness.
The law that ruled over the cultivator for so long, are they applicable to the Dark Cultivators?
Because if it's not, Zhang Wu Ji is bound to confront with the threat from Yang Ming Kun, an Inner Qi Elder!