Stone Wall

Once the plan to transform Xiushui Village into a city had been settled, the next thing to discuss was naturally the specific details.

Since the project had become city construction, some of the original designs would need to be adjusted.

Fortunately, there was no need for any major changes. The original plan had only involved adding some of the administrative structures and commercial districts found in a town.

The location of the administrative area did not need to be changed. After all, its original site was the closest to Lingxian Sect, so there was nothing wrong with arranging the core departments there.

However, the newly added residential and commercial areas would need to be rearranged.

At present, farmland still occupied most of Xiushui Village, leaving relatively little space for residential areas.

The farmland had been cultivated and passed down by the villagers of Xiushui from generation to generation. Naturally, they could not simply fill it in and turn it into construction land.

Therefore, if they were going to build a city, all the additional structures would have to be expanded outward.

That was the first matter.

The second concerned the city’s specific layout and construction plans.

As for this, neither Qin Jianghe nor Liu Yunan had any concrete understanding of city building. Although they had visited quite a few prefectural cities over the years, they had no idea where to begin if they were actually expected to design one themselves. Thus, they had wisely decided not to attempt it on their own and instead planned to ask Lin Xiao for his opinion first.

If Lin Xiao had no suggestions, they would then seek the help of professionals, either from among the common people or the government.

Lin Xiao… actually did have an idea.

However, his idea was not about the specifics of city construction. Rather, he had thought of the system’s building synthesis function.

Thus, while listening to Qin Jianghe and Liu Yunan explain the details of their plans, he asked the system inwardly, “System, since you’ve been updated and upgraded, has the building synthesis function been upgraded too?”

[To adapt to the new version and facilitate the completion of advanced missions, all functions have been upgraded in this update. Please inspect them carefully, Host.]

Ever since the system had finished updating, Lin Xiao indeed had not carefully examined any of its various functions.

“Can the building synthesis function synthesize a city now?”

[As long as you have a sufficient quantity of the required construction materials and the corresponding blueprints, synthesis is possible.]

After receiving the system’s affirmative reply, Lin Xiao felt greatly reassured.

If that was the case, the city they built in Xiushui Village could be even more impressive.

He then said to Qin Jianghe and Liu Yunan, “We’ll need blueprints and the corresponding quantities of construction materials. You should first contact the royal family and ask them about this. The royal family is sure to have plenty of talented architects. Have them help design the blueprints. Afterward, we can make some minor modifications according to our own needs, and then we can begin preparing the construction materials.”

“Once these preliminary preparations are complete, don’t rush to hire craftsmen. I have other arrangements.”

“Understood. I’ll contact Li Zhouxuan later,” Liu Yunan said.

“As for the construction materials, building a city will definitely require an enormous quantity. I’ll contact the workshops and place orders for some basic materials first, so we won’t be held back by their production speed when the time comes,” Qin Jianghe added.

“Very good. Oh, that’s right, Jianghe. I just borrowed one hundred thousand spirit stones from the head of the Yuan family to purchase something essential for a trading center. He’s already agreed to it. Make arrangements for the people who will be sent there,” Lin Xiao told Qin Jianghe.

When he suddenly heard about such a massive expense, Qin Jianghe’s heart trembled. One hundred thousand spirit stones was no small amount. Whenever they went to the cultivation world to trade, they usually earned only ten or twenty thousand spirit stones at most.

And that was before deducting the spirit stones consumed by the Qiankun Transfer Disk, the sect’s various expenses, and its occasional purchases. The final surplus was actually not very large. Since they could not touch the spirit stone mine, repaying one hundred thousand spirit stones at their current rate of accumulation would be rather difficult.

However, since Brother Xiao had said it was necessary, it was certainly something they had to do. Thus, although his heart shook at the thought of it, he did not question Lin Xiao in the slightest.

“Understood. I’ll go there personally in a couple of days and make sure to bring the spirit stones back safely.”

Lin Xiao had obviously noticed the shock on Qin Jianghe and Liu Yunan’s faces when they heard the figure of one hundred thousand spirit stones. He smiled and explained, “Once the trading center is completed, everyone who conducts business there will have to pay taxes according to a set percentage. We won’t have to worry about lacking spirit stones.”

As he spoke, he added to Liu Yunan, “The Li clan’s overall character is fairly decent. You can reveal a little about our plans to build a city. Although the trading center won’t be under their jurisdiction in the future, they themselves will already benefit simply because it’s located within the territory of the Pusi Kingdom. So there’s no need to worry that they’ll leak the news ahead of time or harbor any ulterior motives.”

“Understood. Don’t worry, Brother Xiao. I’ll communicate with them properly,” Liu Yunan replied with a nod.

There was temporarily nothing else that needed to be discussed. After the three of them finalized a few more details, they split up and began taking action.

Lin Xiao watched as Qin Jianghe and Liu Yunan left the sect’s main hall to attend to their respective tasks. He glanced at the sky, then set off for the disciples’ dormitory on Qingyun Peak.

He Yi was in his dormitory studying the second section of the Primordial Origin Heart Sutra when he once again heard the familiar knock at the door.

“Come in.”

After the restrictions were lifted, Lin Xiao pushed open the door and closed it behind him.

When he saw the cultivation technique spread out on He Yi’s desk, he raised an eyebrow.

“Well, look at you—you’re studying it right now. Am I disturbing you?”

“What business brings the Sect Master here?” He Yi did not answer him and instead asked the question directly.

Knowing that He Yi was in the middle of studying the technique and disliked being interrupted, Lin Xiao merely smiled and dispensed with the pleasantries. He took out the jade slip containing the arrangement patterns of the Ji Stones from his robes.

“Take a look at this. Have you ever seen anything like it in any ancient texts or elsewhere?”

At that, He Yi frowned slightly as he accepted the jade slip. Since Lin Xiao had come to ask him about the contents of some ancient texts, it was probably related either to primordial qi or to the Ji Stones.

Lin Xiao already had a firm grasp of primordial qi himself, so the latter was far more likely.

He extended his spiritual sense into the jade slip, and sure enough, that was the case.

After carefully examining every pattern within it, he withdrew his spiritual sense and looked at Lin Xiao.

“I’ve never seen anything exactly the same, but I have seen a few that resemble some of these. They’re only somewhat similar, though, so I can’t be certain.”

He pondered carefully for a moment before continuing, “Also, those patterns weren’t recorded in a book or diagram. They were carved into a stone wall.”

“A stone wall? Where was this stone wall?” Lin Xiao asked.

He Yi knitted his brows as he thought.

“When I was young, my father took me to meet someone. I saw them in that person’s cave dwelling.”

“I was still very young at the time, and I couldn’t understand what they were talking about. So I wandered around the cave dwelling on my own. I came to an archway and looked inside. On the screen wall beyond the entrance, there were carvings resembling these patterns. But after I’d only taken a single glance, that person came over with a kindly smile and gave me a jade sword artifact as a meeting gift. After that, I left with my father.”