Chapter 1 The Aftermath
Emperor Zhang Tai, having failed his breakthrough to Martial Saint, was forced to emerge from seclusion. Upon his appearance, he summoned Yuwen Tian in a rage, reprimanded him, and declared that the Zhenbei Marquis's estate must still harbor survivors, ordering him to continue the pursuit.
Yuwen Tian was terrified, thinking his fabricated death had been discovered. If not for years of experience serving a volatile emperor, which kept him composed, he might have immediately knelt and confessed.
After kneeling and enduring the scolding for a while, he gradually understood that Emperor Zhang Tai possessed some means to ascertain whether the Zhenbei Marquis's lineage was completely wiped out. It was likely through this method that the Emperor had discovered survivors, leading to Yuwen Tian's reprimand, rather than the discovery of his deception regarding the returned corpse.
He felt both relieved and troubled. Relieved that his fabrication had gone undetected, which would have otherwise led to charges of deceiving the emperor; troubled that Emperor Zhang Tai had a way to know if any survivors of the Zhenbei Marquis's line remained.
He anticipated being occupied with this matter for a long time. After all, he couldn't pinpoint the exact location of these survivors. The world was vast, and where could he possibly find them? If they were hiding in some remote mountain forest, or had even fled to another country, his search would become even more impossible.
Despite his inner turmoil, Emperor Zhang Tai issued a strict order for him to dispatch personnel to conduct thorough checks in the north, as the Emperor was only certain that the survivors of the Zhenbei Marquis's lineage were still within the northern prefectures. The only thing that somewhat eased Yuwen Tian's mind was that Emperor Zhang Tai had not set a time limit for this task. This was understandable, as no matter how many survivors of the Zhenbei Marquis's line were apprehended and killed now, it wouldn't help him break through to the Martial Saint realm. The current order was purely an outlet for his frustration, not a pressing matter, hence the lack of a deadline.
After Yuwen Tian received the decree and withdrew, Emperor Zhang Tai promptly visited the royal treasury again. He began poring over other secret techniques stored within, which were far more complex than the previous one, all aimed at achieving a breakthrough to Martial Saint through unconventional means. The previous technique could only be used once; repeated use would result in severe backlash. Though the specifics of the backlash were not clearly stated, it was explicitly marked as making one wish for death. Emperor Zhang Tai was unwilling to risk such a fate, and thus had to seek alternative methods to achieve his breakthrough.
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Tian Jiao Yun Lei Valley
With Ding Yun's lavish spending, skilled carpenters and masons from nearby prefectures were hired to construct the sect from scratch. Although the sect's name had yet to be decided, the buildings had to be erected first. Building materials were either purchased locally or felled from the vicinity of Tian Jiao Yun Lei Valley. As they primarily focused on wooden structures, there was no shortage of ancient trees in the area. If any particularly difficult-to-obtain materials were encountered, they could be easily edited using the reality editor. Therefore, sect construction proceeded without a hitch. Even spies from other factions would not go out of their way to sabotage such efforts. At most, they would discreetly observe Ding Yun and her group, and question the children. However, these children had only just begun to learn to read and knew little, so their information was limited. The elderly disciples were all seasoned individuals and equally tight-lipped.
Ding Yun paid no mind to these spies. As long as they didn't cause trouble, let them gather information. In the face of absolute strength, all schemes and stratagems were mere paper tigers. She had other matters to attend to, such as leading the flood dragon and its offspring, along with other idle sect disciples, in land reclamation and farming. The dragon descendants, except for the newborns, could understand human speech and possessed considerable intelligence. With the flood dragon supervising nearby, they were incredibly efficient, each capable of performing the work of hundreds of oxen. A single dragon descendant could easily reclaim thousands of acres a day. Ding Yun had nearly a hundred of these dragon descendants, most of whom possessed water-attribute bloodline talents, making them excellent at irrigating crops. In short, as long as they were obedient, they were all skilled farming hands, their efficiency comparable to technological creations.
Their only drawback was their prodigious appetite, but fortunately, they could forage for their own food. Not far behind Tian Jiao Yun Lei Valley lay a vast primeval forest and the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, teeming with various demonic beasts and animals. As long as they didn't court disaster by provoking Martial Saint-level demonic beasts, they were generally safe.
With large tracts of land reclaimed and converted into farmland, Ding Yun proceeded to sow grain seeds. These were not ordinary grain seeds but special spiritual rice seeds such as Dragon Tooth Rice, Vitality Rice, Origin Nurturing Rice, and Marrow Cleansing Rice. These spiritual rice seeds were specifically cultivated by Ding Yun years ago to foster martial artists. She had retained a portion of each type in her soul space, and now she was planting them on a large scale to prepare for nurturing the next generation. Compared to using various elixirs and pills as a foundation, which could leave behind significant medicinal toxins in the body, using these special spiritual rice to build a foundation and enhance vitality had no side effects. It would make it easier for them to break through to Innate Grandmaster or Great Grandmaster compared to the noble children who relied on elixirs, and the bottlenecks and difficulty of breakthrough would also be reduced.
However, as the spiritual rice had yet to mature, Ding Yun did not wish to attract unwanted attention prematurely. Therefore, she did not announce this endeavor to the public, treating these spiritual rice seeds as ordinary ones. Moreover, she did not allow the dragon descendants to participate in the initial planting, as their sensitivity to spiritual items was too acute. Most of the first batch of seeds were pilfered and eaten by them. Ding Yun couldn't possibly kill them for the sake of these seeds, so she had to keep them away. When ordinary humans planted, she would have to command the flood dragon to control its offspring, preventing them from digging up and eating the seeds, while also setting up formations around the fields to deter any disobedient dragon descendants who couldn't resist temptation.
After much effort and tribulation, Ding Yun finally managed to plant one hundred thousand mu of fertile land, cultivating over a hundred varieties of spiritual rice. With these spiritual rice grains, her sect would no longer need to rely on pills in the future. Consequently, Ding Yun continued to focus most of her energy on the fields, only occasionally visiting the sect's planned construction site to check on the progress.
Half a year later, when the sect was largely completed, her one hundred thousand mu of fertile land was ready for harvest. By this time, the miraculous nature of her farmland could no longer be concealed. Apart from the spiritual rice having varied colors, some reaching up to two meters in height with plump grains, ranging from the size of pearls to that of eggs, the rich aroma emanating from the one hundred thousand mu of land and the gathered spiritual essence were impossible for anyone to ignore.