Chapter 126: Chapter 123: Changes
During the time Shen Changchuan was in secluded cultivation, Dawan Village didn’t run into any more major trouble.
Everything was peaceful and normal.
However, the changes were quite significant.
The Sanhe Chamber of Commerce’s caravans, transporting all sorts of goods, had arrived, and Si Houqing had already opened a temporary trading post.
In addition, as news spread that the Blood Slaughter Three Demons were dead, their bodies displayed on a flagpole for all to see,
many passing Cultivators grew curious and would stop by to take a look.
This not only brought a great deal of traffic to Dawan Village, but also made Si Houqing’s temporary trading post a lively and bustling success.
Just as Si Houqing had expected,
as these foreign Cultivators searched the mountains, they consumed a large amount of supplies like Elixirs and Talismans. Along the way, they also acquired many Heavenly and Earthly Treasures, Demon Beast Materials, and other Immortal Cultivation Materials, which filled up most of the space in their Storage Bags.
Many of the Cultivators who had arrived in the Border Desolate Land earlier to explore the mountains were desperate for a place to trade.
But unfortunately,
the Border Desolate Land was simply too remote. There wasn’t a single Immortal Cultivation Marketplace in a massive area.
Caravans would only arrive to trade during the Spirit Grain harvests in the summer and autumn.
Therefore, if those foreign Cultivators wanted to sell the Immortal Cultivation Materials they had acquired and buy supplies like Elixirs and Talismans,
they had no choice but to travel thousands of miles to the distant Qing City.
This was undoubtedly a huge waste of time.
And so,
when the Sanhe Chamber of Commerce established a temporary trading post in Dawan Village,
the Cultivators who had originally planned to go to Qing City all changed course and headed to Dawan Village to conduct their business.
Some Cultivators even rented a house to take a short rest,
relaxing their tense Heart Spirits after continuously exploring and adventuring in the mountains.
The massive flow of people
undoubtedly brought a touch of prosperity to this once-remote village.
To cope with this bustling traffic, build enough houses, and earn more Spirit Stones,
while Shen Changchuan was in seclusion, his grandfather Han Qinhu contacted the Dynasties under the Tian Nan Shen Clan’s command. He had them send over a group of young, able-bodied Martial Artists—a full thousand of them.
This caused the population of Dawan Village to skyrocket in a short period.
It also dramatically increased the speed of various construction projects, such as building houses.
As a result, the entire village gave Shen Changchuan the feeling that it was changing day by day.
Not long after Shen Changchuan came out of seclusion,
his grandfather, Han Qinhu, who had been inspecting the preparations for the spring planting in the village’s Spirit Fields, also rushed over.
Seeing his grandfather’s travel-worn appearance, Shen Changchuan couldn’t help but feel a little distressed.
"Grandfather, you’re getting on in years, and you have so many village affairs to manage. This must be very hard on you!"
"Haha, not at all, not at all!"
"How could helping my own grandson ever be considered hard work?"
"Besides, this old man blundered through the Martial World for half his life, only to end up as a mediocre commoner at the bottom of the ladder. A single high official from the Court could lecture me as he pleased. But now, thanks to you, I’ve shot to the heavens overnight. When I see those once-lofty princes and generals forced to bow their heads to me, your grandfather here couldn’t wish for more work to do."
Han Qinhu said with a booming laugh,
He looked full of energy and spirit, his face glowing with a faint rosy light.
He was clearly in an excellent mood.
’It seems something happened that made him very happy.’
’Perhaps it has to do with what happened when he was taking charge of the thousand new arrivals and dealing with the mortal nations?’
The thought flashed through Shen Changchuan’s mind.
But he didn’t dwell on it.
Shen Changchuan already knew about the plan to increase the village’s population.
Before he went into seclusion, Han Qinhu had come to him and discussed the matter.
At the time, seeing that large parts of the village had been reduced to ruins after the attack by the Blood Slaughter Three Demons, he considered the potential manpower shortage and agreed to increase the population, leaving the matter entirely in Han Qinhu’s hands.
So he had, in fact, known about this all along; it wasn’t something Han Qinhu had done on his own initiative.
’Speaking of which, I seem to have heard that Grandfather suffered a huge setback while roaming the Martial World back in the day. It was only after being thoroughly humiliated that he returned to the countryside to buy land and manage his family’s estate.’
’Could it be that incident was related to the high-ranking officials of a Mortal Dynasty’s Court? And this time, when he contacted the Mortal Dynasty to supplement Dawan Village’s population, he finally got a chance to feel proud and vindicated?’
Shen Changchuan couldn’t help but have this thought.
But then he shook his head slightly.
’Forget it,’
’This is Grandfather’s private business. I shouldn’t ask any further.’
"Grandfather, even so, you don’t need to handle every little trivial matter yourself."
"For example, whenever I come out of seclusion, you can just have a steward or someone else come report to me on what’s happened. There’s no need for you to run back and forth, adding to your burdens."
Seeing the specks of dirt on Han Qinhu’s clothes, Shen Changchuan could guess that he had probably been leading the villagers in their spring planting.
He must have rushed over as soon as he heard the news of him coming out of seclusion.
Thinking about how his grandfather, Han Qinhu, bustled about for his sake,
tiring himself out time and again,
Shen Changchuan felt genuinely a bit embarrassed.
And so, at Shen Changchuan’s firm insistence, Han Qinhu agreed to find a steward to handle miscellaneous tasks like greeting him after seclusion and relaying and consolidating various pieces of information.
After that, they engaged in some casual conversation.
It was mainly Han Qinhu recounting recent news,
while Shen Changchuan listened.
First was the matter that concerned Shen Changchuan the most, the one that the Shen Family’s True Cultivator of Soul Emergence, Shen Tingchu, had asked for his help with not long ago.
Evidently,
there had been no results.
Although two months had passed since a large number of outside Cultivators entered the Border Desolate Land to search everywhere,
there still wasn’t much to show for it.
Otherwise, the market wouldn’t be so ’calm’ right now.
Among the Cultivators, some rumors had begun to faintly circulate, saying they had been deceived—that there was no Secret Realm that produced Cyan Essence Water Grass at all.
They were just being used as someone’s tool.
It was unknown whether this was something the Wu Family had secretly arranged for people to spread.
However, these words didn’t account for much; they seemed to be nothing more than insignificant noise amidst the throngs of enthusiastic outside Cultivators.
After all, the Border Desolate Forest was enormous, and the areas occupied by the small, scattered villages were just a drop in the ocean.
Compared to the areas in the mountains and forests that humans had yet to set foot in, the territory controlled by humans was far too small!
In two months,
only about two or three percent of the Border Desolate Forest had likely been explored.
To expect to unearth the very foundation of a family’s power after searching such a small area...
...that was clearly impossible!
Moreover, there was another reality that was giving the Wu Family a headache:
because the Border Desolate Forest was sparsely populated, vast swathes of the wilderness were unexplored. This led to the preservation of many Heavenly and Earthly Treasures in the mountains and forests, such as High Tier Ores, Spirit Medicines, and Spirit Fruits.
Although the regions that produced these Heavenly and Earthly Treasures were very sparse due to the barren Spiritual Qi of the Border Desolate Forest,
the Border Desolate Forest was simply too vast and had never been developed by anyone before!
