Rewards of the Caged Courtyard

After that, they could simply arrange for volunteer cultivators to take a slightly roundabout route to the major irrigation points in nearby countries and install waterwheels there.

It would be a one-time task—little more than a casual effort for cultivators, but a major undertaking requiring considerable manpower and resources for ordinary civilians.

As for future maintenance, that could be left to the local authorities and the people to handle together. Any parts that needed replacing would be made of wood, so neither manufacturing nor replacement would be particularly difficult. After giving it some thought, Lin Yun decided to add waterwheel construction to the volunteers’ list of projects.

With the difficult parts completed by volunteer cultivators, construction efficiency could be improved across the board.

Once all these facilities were built, they would also create many permanent jobs for ordinary people. As long as the facilities remained in operation, the jobs associated with them would continue to exist—in other words, they would be what people commonly called iron rice bowls.

Looking at the rate at which Xiushui City’s population had grown over the past few years, Lin Yun finally allowed himself a small sigh of relief.

Although Xiushui City was a newly established city with plenty of room for employment in every industry, judging from the current rate of migration, it would not be long before the traditional, conventional sectors became saturated.

Of course, as the first city in the mortal world to combine immortals and mortals, Xiushui City still offered far more jobs than an ordinary city, and there were also many more ways to earn money. However, if things continued developing at this pace, the city’s population would soar wildly. It would naturally be impossible for the existing jobs alone to accommodate such growth.

Thus, expanding the number of jobs related to people’s livelihoods was not an urgent matter at present, but it had always been an important issue weighing on Lin Yun’s mind.

Now, however, this problem—which had yet to arise—already had a solution. And after looking over Lin Xiao’s plans, Lin Yun felt that for a very long time, it would be difficult for this issue to become a livelihood problem for Xiushui City, or even for the entire mortal world.

A month later, Lin Xiao and Liao Pantu achieved results in their research.

That day, the cultivators imprisoned in the Cage Compound had long since grown accustomed to rising with the sun and retiring with it, spending their days farming. Then, all of a sudden, they received a different sort of assignment.

Early that morning, Yuan Jinsheng summoned every cultivator in the Cage Compound to the plaza and handed each of them several sheets of blueprints.

The cultivators looked over the contents. Quite a few of them sneered inwardly.

Although the blueprints concerned the four cultivation arts, the materials listed on them were far too crude. Most of them were even ordinary mortal materials.

Even the names were terribly awkward.

What was this “Simple Fertilization Formation”? They did not even dare call it a formation outright, having to add the word “simple” to distinguish it from ordinary formations. And what was a “Fertilizer Pellet”? It was not even called a pill.

There was also something called a “Plow Cage Cart.” Just listen to that name! Did it sound like something that should be crafted through the techniques of cultivators?

One had to understand that regardless of the quality or grade of the materials used by cultivators, they had to at least be spiritual objects. Not to mention whether items made from mortal materials would be useful to cultivators, mortal materials themselves were simply too fragile to withstand the flow of spiritual power during the refining process. Even if one disregarded the effectiveness of the finished product, refining anything from mortal materials was an extremely difficult task in itself.

Yet the blueprints were filled with mortal materials. At most, there was one spiritual material, and even that was the cheapest, lowest-grade material—something so common that it could be found everywhere in the mortal world. What decent item could possibly be made from such things?

The cultivators of the Cage Compound were utterly baffled by the blueprints they had been given.

However, Yuan Jinsheng had trained them strictly for a long time. Thus, no matter how confused they were, they would not easily question him or speak up. At most, they exchanged a few words with acquaintances through voice transmission.

Seeing how disciplined they were now, Yuan Jinsheng was quite pleased. He did not keep them in suspense for long and immediately said, “Everyone has done a good job farming recently. The yield from the previous season was considerably higher than expected, so I specially went to our city lord and applied for a reward for all of you. This is a fine job that cultivators outside would fight tooth and nail for, yet might not even obtain.”

Hearing this, the cultivators of the Cage Compound were thoroughly unimpressed.

Cultivators outside? Wasn’t he talking about cultivators from the mortal world? What good things could those cultivators possibly have seen? Of course they would fight over anything, good or bad. Having two spirit stones would already count as a fine job to them.

Seeing that everyone was lacking enthusiasm, Yuan Jinsheng did not mind. He continued, “You’ve all seen the blueprints I handed out. This assignment is to refine these items. There is a dedicated refining hall in the Cage Compound. Those who sign up for the work will only need to farm for half a day. In the afternoon, you’ll all go to the refining hall and craft the items according to the blueprints.”

At that, the cultivators in the plaza were somewhat stunned. At last, many of them could not hold back and began whispering among themselves.

This was the “reward” Daoist Priest Yuan had mentioned? How was it any different from farming outside? In fact, farming outside would at least allow them to see more sunlight and absorb some spiritual energy. The refining hall was even located inside the Cage Compound. They would have to be out of their minds to choose this assignment!

Yuan Jinsheng had expected their reaction. He let them discuss it for a while before leisurely saying, “The refining hall will remain open until it is time to farm the following day. While it is open, spiritual energy will be supplied normally inside.”

The moment he said this, the dense murmuring in the plaza abruptly ceased.

When they put it that way, it actually sounded rather good.

They could go outside every morning to farm and get some fresh air, then return in the afternoon to refine things. They could remain in a refining hall filled with spiritual energy the entire time…

Wouldn’t that mean they could spend practically the whole day immersed in spiritual energy?

After living in the spiritual-energy-deficient Cage Compound for so long, they deeply missed the days when they could soak in spiritual energy every day.

This time, unlike when they had been forced into opening up the wasteland by cutting off their access to spiritual energy, Yuan Jinsheng had not imposed any coercive conditions. It seemed this truly depended entirely on their own wishes: they could do it if they wanted, and if they did not, no one would force them.

It really did seem as though many cultivators outside were fighting to take this job.

Many of them could not help wavering.

Should they do it?

Quite a few people were deeply conflicted.

If they did, it felt as though they would be aiding the enemy. After all, they had been captured and imprisoned, essentially prisoners under the control of others. They were opposed to Yuan Jinsheng and the Xiushui City behind him. When they had cleared and farmed the wasteland before, they could claim that they had been forced into it by the lack of spiritual energy. But this time, there were no coercive conditions at all. If they still went to help refine these items, wouldn’t that mean they were taking the wrong side?

But…

They would be able to spend every day completely immersed in an environment filled with spiritual energy…

The thought was simply too alluring.

Yuan Jinsheng gave them little time to hesitate. With a grand wave of his hand, he announced, “You have the time it takes for one incense stick to burn to sign up. Registration ends when the time is up. Starting now!”