Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 294 City Walls and Gates

In the days that followed, whenever Zhang Chengdao had free time, he would go to the "underworld" to dig waterways and build a "ghost city".

The soil was hard and its self-healing properties made the project progress extremely slow. Zhang Chengdao had to use the iron sword to cut it bit by bit to widen the river channel.

It can be said that the entire Naihe River channel was not "dug out" at all, but "cut out"!

It was at this pace that Zhang Chengdao worked for more than a month before the Naihe River began to take shape.

The river channel has been significantly widened and deepened. Although the Naihe River, which required dozens of Crane Pond Moon Reflection Lanterns, is still not a turbulent river, it has at least taken on the appearance of a "river" and is no longer the small stream it once was.

The river water is continuously fed by the [Crane Pond Reflecting the Moon Lamp], flowing with a faint spiritual light. Wisps of yin energy blend with the water mist on the river surface, slowly spreading along the river channel and nourishing the entire "yin realm".

At the same time, the "ghost city" was roughly divided into areas and surrounded by towering city walls.

The walls of the "Ghost City" alone consumed hundreds of millions of units of stone resources—the amount of stone required for the walls of the underworld was simply too enormous, almost a bottomless pit. However, the entire "Ghost City" was extremely important and had to be surrounded by walls in order to set up a barrier to prevent people from sneaking in and out!

Zhang Chengdao originally planned to use the old method of burying a bamboo fence underground to disguise the barrier. This would not only be easier to set up, but also save on resources.

However, firstly, if he used the [Bamboo Fence], he would have to constantly monitor the "Ghost City" to modify the access permissions, which was simply unrealistic for his goal of "automated management"! Secondly, it would be difficult to explain to He Yu why a fence made of a few seemingly ordinary bamboo pieces could form a barrier that even immortals and gods could not easily break through, yet he himself knew nothing about formations... The secret involved was related to his most fundamental reliance in this world, and he could not reveal it.

Therefore, in the end, Zhang Chengdao still planned to use a permanent solution: first, build city walls to surround the entire "ghost city," and then have He Yu, who was proficient in formations, set up a grand formation.

Fortunately, the [Stone Mine Cave] that Zhang Chengdao created with his golden finger is incredibly absurdly regenerative; otherwise, it probably wouldn't have been long before White Stone Mountain was hollowed out!
Within a month, the city wall was the first part of the entire "ghost city" project to be completed.

As the city walls closed, Zhang Chengdao stood atop the towering city gate tower, gazing at the emerging outline of the "ghost city" and the winding Naihe River that flowed around the city, and let out a long sigh of relief.

More than a month of hard work finally paid off, and the basic structure of the underworld was finally erected under his "contractor" skills.

Although he, as a "contractor," had no underlings at all.

After the city walls are in place, it will be time to invite He Yu, the "technical director" of the formation, to take the stage.

He Yu had been watching from the sidelines for a long time, his eyes filled with amazement.

Although he knew that Zhang Chengdao possessed many extraordinary abilities and that he was by no means an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator, he was still shocked to witness firsthand his incredible abilities, such as moving mountains and filling seas, and how he managed to create the framework of a giant city on this barren Yin land in such a short time.

This is not the kind of mud-brick city where ordinary people live, or the brick and wood materials that have no spiritual energy. You should know that the soil in this "underworld" is all "yin soil", which is not only extremely hard, but can also slowly "heal" on its own!
Ordinary cultivators would have difficulty even digging a hole here, but Zhang Chengdao not only dug a river, but also built such magnificent and exquisite city walls and gates!

What alarmed him even more was that, with his keen eyesight, he could see that the materials used to build the city walls and gates by Zhang Chengdao were by no means ordinary. They contained a faint spiritual energy within them, and their structure was perfectly integrated, as if they had been refined by some strange power. They were almost like "magical treasures"... What a terrifying method this was.

Is this fellow Daoist Zhang really only at the Nascent Soul stage, as he has shown?
Perhaps that's not entirely true?

For a moment, He Yu was filled with a myriad of thoughts and emotions.

Moreover, relying on the great array set up by the city walls and gates, he was even confident that he could block even cultivators in the Nascent Soul stage, and even cultivators in the Mahayana stage would not be able to enter or leave without alerting anyone!

This Zhang Chengdao is indeed no ordinary person!
If we can do our best to help him cultivate and increase the spiritual energy of this place, then it will be just around the corner for us to break through the world barrier and leave this place!

Thinking of this, He Yu exclaimed from the bottom of his heart, "Fellow Daoist is truly a divine being!"

As he spoke, he smacked his lips before continuing, "Such a magnificent city, rising from the ground in just one month, is truly astonishing! Moreover, with these city walls, which can almost be called 'magic weapons,' setting up a grand formation will be twice as effective!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chengdao remained outwardly calm, but inwardly he was secretly quite surprised.

It could almost be called a 'magic weapon'!

He had been so focused on his work, frantically gathering materials and building structures, that he had even secretly avoided his apprentices when upgrading the city walls and gates—the low-level city walls and gates were just too ugly! In short, he hadn't really taken the time to examine the "quality" of these buildings!
but……

Zhang Chengdao quickly got the hang of it.

Although the main mineral and stone materials used to build these city walls are ordinary materials mined from White Stone Mountain, the places where they were dug are the [Stone Mine Cave] and [Iron Mine Cave] produced by the Golden Finger.

According to the law, almost everything produced by the Golden Hand is a spiritual material. So the stones and minerals produced by these [Stone Mine Cave] and [Iron Mine Cave] are probably also spiritual materials! The more Zhang Chengdao thought about it, the more he realized.

That's right. If these mines only produce ordinary materials, how come there are various "by-product minerals" that only exist in the original game?
The "Spirit Stone Currency System" that I designed myself relies on the [Ordinary Crystals] that are automatically broken down when the materials produced in these mines are put into my inventory!
In just a few breaths, Zhang Chengdao understood the reason. He then smiled, patted his sleeves which were covered in Yin soil dust, and said, "The foundation has only just been laid. The protective barrier is of utmost importance. It is essential to ensure that the inside and outside are isolated and that no one may enter or leave without permission. In this regard, I have not been cultivating for long and have no teacher to guide me, so I am indeed lacking in knowledge. The rest will depend on Fellow Daoist He!"

"Rest assured, fellow Daoist, this matter is simple."

He Yu's expression turned serious, and he said, "With this city wall as a support, I can set up the 'Forbidden Formation'. By using the Yin energy of the earth veins, once it is formed, it can not only block the inside and outside, but also provide early warning, trap enemies, and even regulate the concentration of Yin energy in the city to a certain extent."

"However... such a large formation requires a lot of spiritual materials, especially the spiritual objects that serve as the key nodes of the formation. I'm afraid you'll have to put in some effort, fellow Daoist."

Considering that Zhang Chengdao seemed to be quite wealthy, He Yu became increasingly brazen in "demanding" things from him.

Although these things were not for He Yu's own use, it was still not a good idea to use them in a way that wouldn't affect Zhang Chengdao's own cultivation.

However, after these few months of getting to know each other, He Yu felt that he had a certain understanding of Zhang Chengdao.

This person is a true man of great compassion and lofty aspirations. Calling him a "sage" might be an overstatement, but he is undoubtedly of unparalleled benevolence and virtue. He is a ruler who truly sees the common people as common people and cultivators as common people. It is conceivable that, given time, his achievements will be extraordinary!

Therefore, if this great formation can be arranged perfectly, it will be of great benefit to the future management of the underworld, and Fellow Daoist Zhang will certainly not mind these mere spiritual materials!
even……

He Yu pondered to himself: Could it be that the reason this fellow Daoist Zhang was trapped in this world was because of his master's actions? Besides tempering fellow Daoist Zhang, his master might also have taken a liking to fellow Daoist Zhang's character and, seeing an opportunity, intended to make him... the master of this world, or even some kind of Heavenly Emperor or God Emperor, the ruler of all things!

However... given Fellow Daoist Zhang's personality, he would probably frown upon hearing the names of Heavenly Emperor or Divine Emperor. After all, Fellow Daoist Zhang had mentioned to me more than once that the feudal landlord system was a system of exploitation, and he clearly disliked the titles of emperors and the like.

Although I have seen worlds where sects are governed by elders and mortal cultivators coexist on an equal footing, those civilizations have undergone tens of thousands of years of development and evolution, while the civilization of this world... is probably only slightly better than eating raw meat and drinking blood!
He Yu couldn't help but feel a little expectant, wondering what kind of world he would eventually transform it into.

Zhang Chengdao, who was standing to the side, had no idea what He Yu was thinking. After hearing what He Yu said, he thought that the other party was embarrassed because he needed to use some spiritual materials and items. Although he felt sorry for He Yu, he was also willing to see if he could prepare them.

In any case, the establishment of the "Yin Realm" is related to the order and stability of this world after the complete spiritual revival. Moreover, it also greatly helps the speed of spiritual revival, so we must do our best and not be careless.

So Zhang Chengdao waved his hand and said generously, "Whatever you need, just make a list. If it's not in the White Stone Immortal Sect's treasury, I'll find a way to get it. As long as it's available here, I'll find a way to get it!"

He's very confident now.

As the sect leader of the White Stone Immortal Sect, the territory under his jurisdiction was once the land of a country. The neighboring Northern Xiao Kingdom and Southern Chu Kingdom are becoming more and more respectful to him. As long as he can find it in this world, he can probably get even the rarest spiritual materials!

He Yu didn't stand on ceremony and immediately rattled off a list of spiritual materials, most of which were quite common. They were common in the world of cultivation civilizations with normal spiritual energy concentrations, but in this world where spiritual energy had only recently revived, each one was considered a rare treasure, making them somewhat difficult to find.

However, it is not entirely impossible, because He Yu carefully supplemented most of the spiritual materials he provided with several alternative options, explaining the required five elements attributes and minimum spiritual energy content.

Unlike game settings, reality is not a game. The arrangement of formations in reality is not fixed and requires a certain thing. Rather, it requires specific five elements attributes and spiritual energy content, or some special form. But in short, it is by no means something unique and irreplaceable that has existed for thousands of years or thousands of years.

Just as there is never only one type of medicine for treating most diseases, there are rarely irreplaceable spiritual materials required in general formations. Otherwise, it would be too absurd and unrealistic to say that you can only use a certain thing and that it is irreplaceable. That is a program written in a game, but reality is not a fixed program!
For example, one of the spiritual materials required by He Yu for the array's core was something with a high concentration of water-based spiritual energy. In a cultivation world with normal spiritual energy concentrations, such materials would be relatively easy to find, like various spiritual materials from the seabed, such as mermaid pearls and millennia-old ice from the seabed. However, in this world, such things are obviously impossible to find...

However, unable to find the spiritual materials commonly found in the world of cultivation civilization, Zhang Chengdao considered the options and discovered that he also had quite a few substitutes that he could use.

For example, he once drew a blue-quality treasure called [Wen Yao Pei].

In the original game, this thing could increase the fish catch of villagers, but it's quite abstract in reality. Zhang Chengdao even tried it out, and to test it, he even poured a lot of fish into Tianchi.

However, the final result of the test was that it was useful, but not much. Apart from that, it didn't have any common functions such as water repellency or water control. It just used some unknown power to increase the catch of fish - and it didn't help with luck at all. Anyway, when Zhang Chengdao wore it, the drop rate of member red envelopes was not higher.

Zhang Chengdao originally planned to keep it hidden in his backpack and let it gather dust, but one day when he saw fish swimming in Tianchi Lake, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration and threw it into the lake. Sure enough, he found that this thing had a strong nourishing and promoting effect on aquatic life.

Perhaps it was to soothe the soul, perhaps it was to gather the spiritual energy of water, or perhaps it was for some other benefit. In any case, ever since Zhang Chengdao threw this thing into the Heavenly Pool, all kinds of fish in the Heavenly Pool have become increasingly plump and strong. Not only can they support the consumption of the sect's food academy, but they can also be processed into agricultural products and sold outside. The royal family of Xiao Kingdom even purchases more than a dozen fish every month, saying that Empress Dowager Baishan loves to eat fish, which has made Zhang Chengdao very rich.

The most important of these is the [Wenyao Pendant], a water-related spiritual treasure, and its spiritual energy content is definitely not low!
Although taking the Wenyao Pendant from Tianchi would certainly make the fish in Tianchi less plump than before, compared to that, the affairs of the "Underworld" were naturally much more important than whether the fish in Tianchi were plump or not. The loss to the Tianchi fishery was insignificant, so Zhang Chengdao reluctantly decided to give it away and make the best use of it.

Besides, other spiritual materials can be replaced to varying degrees, and apart from the [Wen Yao Pendant], the others are not particularly precious. In particular, Zhang Chengdao can easily make the required five-element metals by hand. In any case, there are plenty of recipes in the weapon synthesis interface, and there is no shortage of raw materials. Moreover, with the blessing of the Six Jia Yang Fire, even if he can't make high-grade magic weapons, he can make as many low-grade weapons as he wants, absolutely enough!

(End of this chapter)