The Fortress Takes Shape

In the first month of the second year of Hongjing, a sturdy fortress rose from the ground within the territory of the Mountain Folk. Two thousand cultivators were already laboring day and night within its walls. The mining zones were turning out vast quantities of iron, copper, lead, and tin, while the various associated spirit ores already yielded a thousand jin each day. The fortress's workshop district was taking shape. Smelting furnaces flared high into the sky, iron-forging machines roared day and night, and a separate power zone had been established. Over a hundred Dao Foundation cultivators of the Yuehua Tianlan path who had recently broken through were transferred here and organized into three shifts. At any given time, two shifts remained inside the formation, consolidating their Dao Foundations while simultaneously powering the entire fortress. Although the Yuehua Tianlan Dao Foundation was relatively easy to cultivate, what it produced was the power of Lunar Moonbeam, which was remarkably versatile. First, as an energy source, they were far more stable and enduring than cultivators of the Fire path. Second, their power found applications in weapon forging, fertilizers, talismans, formations, and more. Furthermore, the large skiffs Qingming was currently developing also prioritized moonbeam cultivators for their propulsion. Following the emergence of large numbers of Yuehua Tianlan cultivators, after repeated study by the academicians of Qingming's Hundred Professions Engineering Academy, they decided to readjust Qingming's existing systems of weights and measures. The new system leaned more toward the standards of the world beyond the heavens while adapting to Qingming's realities, aiming for standardization, ease of use, and clarity. Horsepower, for instance, had been revised from the maximum output of an ordinary Dao Foundation cultivator to the average output of the most numerous Yuehua Tianlan cultivators. Thus, the total power supply of this forward fortress in Mountain Folk territory was rated at one hundred horsepower, with another fifty held in reserve on rotating shifts. In the blink of an eye, the middle of the second month of Hongjing arrived, marking an inspection milestone for the fortress's construction. Early that day, Wei Yuan departed from Qingming, crossed through the secret realm, and emerged from the teleportation array into the fortress. Smiling, he walked out of the teleportation hall, only to find the space before him utterly deserted. There was none of the grand spectacle he had anticipated—no crowd waiting to welcome him. Only two attractive female disciples waited outside the hall doors. Upon seeing Wei Yuan, the two lovely disciples bowed. "Realm Lord, our masters instructed us to wait here and accompany you on your inspection of the fortress's construction progress." Though both female disciples were young, beautiful, and gifted in cultivation, their attire and demeanors distinctly varied—one spirited and sprightly, the other pure and elegant, each appealing in her own way, and both entirely to a certain someone's taste—Wei Yuan told himself he did not care about such things. Frowning slightly, he asked in a pleasant tone, "And who are your masters?" One of the disciples studied under Sun Yu, which came as no surprise. But the pure, delicate one was actually a tea garden disciple under Old Daoist Chuhe, prompting Wei Yuan to silently curse the seemingly honest old daoist several times over. The cultivators were all busy with their respective duties, swamped beyond belief. Believing the so-called progress inspection was nothing more than going through the motions, none of them had bothered to show up. With no other choice, Wei Yuan patiently listened to the detailed explanations of the two lovely accompanying cultivators, finally getting a full picture of the fortress's current progress. Every aspect had vastly exceeded original projections, and with remarkable efficiency. Wei Yuan also reviewed the internal logbooks of the fortress's construction. What each cultivator had done, what they planned to do, and the main reasoning behind key decisions were all recorded there. Having read through the logs, Wei Yuan discovered that the cultivators held regular consultations, coordinating their schedules in advance to avoid wasting time waiting for preceding steps to finish. For instance, when Perfected Person Chuwei set out to develop the Mountain Folk realm's medicine garden, the specialized tools required were all supplied by Yu Zhizhuo. The Mountain Folk territory had unique diseases; researching treatments required Sun Yu to have special medicinal pills, which were provided by Xu Henshui. Xu Henshui, in turn, needed Chuhe to supply wild medicinal herbs initially and continue supplying cultivated spirit herbs later on. And with Sun Yu's clinic, the safety of the miners, horsepower providers, and planters was guaranteed, allowing them to operate at full tilt. Furthermore, the climate and environment of the Mountain Folk realm were harsh and unique; a clinic capable of treating patients on a large scale was an absolute prerequisite for relocating mortals here. As for the source of mortals, the first choice was Xiaoyu's Yong'an City. Yong'an was massive, housing numerous training grounds and academies. Mortal Body Casters and initiates who had completed a year of foundational studies were as numerous as hairs on an ox. By now, thousands of talents who had completed three full years at the academies and whose Body Casting was nearing completion were about to graduate. The second choice was Baoyun's Ding'an City. Ding'an had initially been positioned as a defensive hub, but after driving back the Shaman race, it was now nearly two thousand li from the border, long having transformed into a major interior city. Backed against mountain forests, its groves of spiritual wood were maturing and starting to yield timber in bulk, driving a cluster of related industries. By now, its permanent population had exceeded a million. To this end, the cultivators cooperated and self-coordinated, having already drawn up plans for the next two years of the fortress's development. They had even laid out defensive contingencies, projecting that within three months they could repel a sizable Mountain Folk offensive, and within a year they would be able to withstand a full-scale invasion launched with the full might of a Mountain Folk realm. Such coordination bore seventy to eighty percent of the hallmarks of the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. Though the Smoke and Fire was absent here, the cultivators were accustomed to operating under its governance, and coordinating among themselves out of habit yielded impressive efficiency. The fortress was like a blooming blossom, sprouting, growing, and flowering right before Wei Yuan's eyes. All Wei Yuan needed to do was watch and quietly wait for it to bloom. Wei Yuan searched for a long time before finally finding a task that belonged to him: establishing a node of the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World in the fortress. The initial requirement called for at least a hundred workstations. This task was not difficult, but the location was too far from Qingming. Establishing a node connected to the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World would require Wei Yuan to maintain a continuous sliver of divine sense here as a relay. For the current Wei Yuan, this was no small burden. After assessing the strain, Wei Yuan estimated he could maintain at most two such nodes for now. Anything more would have to wait until he achieved Scenery Command. Yet it took no calculation to know that the fortress's importance far outweighed this slight drain on his divine sense. Moreover, once the node was established, the fortress's operations could run automatically under the Smoke and Fire's coordination. Minor issues would resolve themselves, every process would be optimized, and efficiency would improve several times over. And so, Wei Yuan found an open plot right beside the teleportation array, anchored his divine sense, and laid out the formation. It took him roughly half an hour to finish everything. After that, he merely had to wait for artisans to construct the hall and research stations. Thus, Wei Yuan found that after a mere half hour of work, he was idle once more. Wei Yuan swept the area with his divine sense. None of the cultivators were inside the fortress, not even Sun Yu. In fact, none of them were to be found within five hundred li. Wei Yuan could only heave a long sigh and quietly draw the boundary stone from his robes, preparing to find a spot to place it. This boundary stone was something Wei Yuan had exchanged from the Palace of Grand Beginning, a mid-grade boundary stone nurtured to four hundred li that had cost him quite a few heavenly merits. He had arrived in high spirits with the stone tucked in his robes, only to spend the entire visit accompanied by just two pretty disciples. True, one was lively and mischievous while the other was gentle and pure... Reining in his thoughts, Wei Yuan held the boundary stone and swept his divine sense across the city to find an appropriate place to install it. Upon scanning, Wei Yuan noticed that an open space had already been reserved near the teleportation array, beside which lay piles of dressed stone blocks. The grade of these stones far exceeded ordinary construction requirements; they matched the grade of the teleportation hall, capable of withstanding multiple strikes from dharma idol-level arts. Once the boundary stone was placed, it and the teleportation array would form the core of the fortress and the anchor of its defenses. Yet in Wei Yuan's memory, there had been buildings on this plot before. Now, not only had those structures been demolished or relocated, but stone materials had even been prepared for building a fortified hall. Was this not explicitly telling Wei Yuan to put the boundary stone right here? The trouble was, if these fellows knew he was bringing back a boundary stone, why hadn't a single one of them shown their face? Wei Yuan could not help feeling a twinge of resentment. In truth, Wei Yuan already knew the answer in his heart. A month ago, a sizable Mountain Folk army had been annihilated. The Mountain Folk would react sooner or later, and the next force to arrive would not be a mere ten thousand soldiers. Knowing that time was of the essence, every cultivator was working like mad to drive progress forward. When the Mountain Folk army arrived, what awaited them would be a fortress armed to the teeth. This was certainly a wonderful thing, marred only by one slight flaw: the Realm Lord had barely been involved.