Commencement of Construction

“Some cultivators remain stuck at the same level for years without making the slightest progress. But once they comprehend their Daoist title, their stagnant cultivation can suddenly break through in one fell swoop. That is why many cultivators who see no hope of advancing will spend the last bit of their lifespan comprehending their Daoist title, hoping they might also break through their bottleneck. Unfortunately, those who truly succeed are few and far between.”

“I see!” the four of them exclaimed in understanding.

Who would have thought that a Daoist title could be so useful?

But for Lin Xiao, Sun Yigao, and Yang Jinshu, the first thing that came to mind was how useful a Daoist title would be for cultivation. Mo Yuanjiao, however, was thinking about something else.

He mainly felt that Daoist titles sounded incredibly cool!

Once he had one, people would have to address him as a venerable master or something similar! Just imagining it made him feel handsome!

Once he had a Daoist title, the first person he would make use it was his own father.

Everyone committed the matter to memory. Whenever they had nothing else to do, they planned to enter meditation and try to comprehend their own Daoist titles.

After discussing this matter, Liao Pantu also joined the teaching and research group’s work.

It was now the boundary between late autumn and early winter, and the sunlight had taken on a sharp, icy pallor.

Many plants that could not withstand the cold had already withered and shed their leaves.

At noon, the people of Xiushui Village no longer carried their rice bowls outside to stroll around and visit one another. Instead, they ate a hot meal at home before venturing out with a bowl of steaming tea.

After a morning of hard work, this short period of rest after lunch was the most pleasant part of every day for them.

These past few days, however, the men and women, young and old, of the households had not been walking around the village or basking in the sun after their meals. Instead, they had all gathered near the edge of the village behind Lingxian Academy, close to the road leading out of the village.

A large group of bare-chested men were hard at work there, digging earth, moving bricks, breaking stones, and tamping down soil.

The weather had grown cooler, reducing the number of insects. The fields had also been fertilized not long ago, so there was less farm work to be done these days. Since the village was about to begin expanding, the village chief had officially started organizing the construction of the town.

Although the village chief had money and had hired many strong laborers from nearby villages, there was no way he would exclude his own villagers from such a profitable opportunity.

Once the town’s boundaries and regional layout had been planned, the first thing to do was build a perimeter wall!

Since they were transforming the village into a town and had sufficient funds, Village Chief Du and the clan elders had discussed the matter and decided to build a wall around the entire stretch of land that the imperial court had allocated to Xiushui Town.

The wall was not particularly tall. Depending on the terrain, it was generally between three and five meters high.

Its main purpose was to keep out the wolves, leopards, and other wild beasts from the deep mountains.

The people of Xiushui Village had lived there for many years, but the area was surrounded by unbroken mountains and dense forests. Wild animals still occasionally wandered into the village.

Many people still remembered how, seven or eight years earlier, a wild boar had charged into Xiushui Village. It had knocked down the walls of several courtyards and ravaged the chickens and ducks people raised in their yards.

Whenever the village elders gathered at the entrance to reminisce about old times, they would often mention that a tiger had once entered the village, killing and injuring many villagers.

Therefore, now that they had money and official approval, the first thought of Village Chief Du and the other village elders was to build the wall as quickly as possible and surround everyone. That way, everyone could sleep more peacefully at night!

The part of Xiushui Village bordering the Lingxian Sect was actually located halfway up the Northern Mountain Range.

The area farther into the mountains did not fall within the boundaries of Xiushui Village or Xiushui Town.

After discussing the matter with the Lingxian Sect, the people of Xiushui Village decided to begin building the wall at Lingxian Academy.

Lingxian Academy stood right beside the Northern Mountain. A mountain stream ran behind the academy, so Xiushui Village’s wall began behind the stream, enclosing both the academy and the stream within the boundaries of Xiushui Town.

From there, the wall followed the fields and houses along the stream as it stretched downward.

When it reached Grave Mountain, it turned, enclosing both Grave Mountain and the surrounding farmland.

It continued in this manner until it formed a square, finally ending on the other side of the Northern Mountain halfway up the slope.

Apart from an opening for the town gate in the direction of the road leading outside, the only other gap in Xiushui Town’s wall was the section of the Northern Mountain halfway up the slope where the Lingxian Sect was located.

At a glance, Xiushui Town had the layout of leaning against the Lingxian Sect with its face toward the official road leading into the outside world.

Planning it had been no more than conducting an on-site survey and making a few marks on paper, but actually building it was far from simple.

For the sake of sturdiness, the wall was not particularly high, but it was quite thick—two meters thick.

It would not be easy for even large wild beasts to bring it down.

As a result, construction was progressing rather slowly.

Village Chief Du, who was supervising the work nearby, looked at the weather and the pace of construction and felt that they probably would not finish before the ground froze.

Once spring came, they would be busy again. It seemed the wall would have to wait until next summer, when they would be building it beneath the scorching sun.

He sighed.

Just then, two people wearing identical Lingxian Sect uniforms emerged from around the corner of the wall near Lingxian Academy and walked toward him. They bowed to him in greeting.

“Greetings, Village Chief Du,” the two said in unison.

“My name is Baizhu, and this is Liang Zhonghuai.” Baizhu pointed to himself and then to the person beside him as he introduced them to the village chief.

Village Chief Du hurriedly waved his hands when he saw this.

“Oh, there’s no need for such formalities… What brings you two here?”

Perhaps because he had watched Lin Xiao, Jiang Youfu, and the others grow up from childhood, Village Chief Du did not address the young people of the Lingxian Sect as “little immortals” the way outsiders did. Instead, he treated them more like distinguished children of the village.

“It’s like this, Village Chief. The weather has been getting colder lately, and we thought it would make things inconvenient for you while working outside. So, beginning today, the disciples of Azure Cloud Peak will split into pairs and take turns coming down each day to loosen the soil and raise the temperature, making it easier for you to build the wall,” Baizhu explained with a smile.

The Lingxian Sect had kept the entire sect updated on Xiushui Village’s plans to establish a town, so the disciples of Azure Cloud Peak were also well aware of the construction’s progress.

The night before, after discussing the formation of study groups, they had also talked about the matters below the mountain.

Hadn’t the sect’s seniors told them that, once their cultivation grew stronger, they must not forget to help ordinary people?

Ever since they learned that Xiushui Village intended to build a town, they had kept the matter in mind. Late that night, they had gathered together to brainstorm and consider whether there was anything they could do to help.

After all, Xiushui Village was currently the only place where the sect’s elders felt comfortable letting them go down the mountain without supervision.

Baizhu did all the talking because Liang Zhonghuai felt that Baizhu was better with words than he was. So he obediently stood to the side in silence, occasionally glancing toward the wall under construction and taking in the scenery of Xiushui Village.

The last time he had come to participate in the sect’s recruitment drive, it had been at night. He had also been busy helping Aunt Yang search for her daughter, so he had not had the leisure to look around the village.

Now, with one glance, he could see mountains and water nestled together. Although late autumn had brought a bleak, desolate air, perhaps because the plants had been nourished by spiritual energy, quite a few of them were still full of vitality. Against the backdrop of green mountains and clear waters, the scenery was indeed exceptionally beautiful.

It was different from the tranquility of ordinary villages.

People came and went everywhere. There was a bustling market, winding paths that disappeared into the shadows, and broad stretches of humble farmhouses of varying designs standing alongside grand, elegant taverns and inns, as well as lavish manor houses. Together, they formed a scene of prosperity in a mountain village—seemingly contradictory, yet strangely harmonious.

This was the village that had given birth to their Lingxian Sect.