Chapter 147: Chapter 147: The Battle Is Over
Ever since the Spirit Fox Sect was destroyed, she’d had nowhere to go.
At first, she wasn’t interested in Wang’an County. But after seeing the reconstruction efforts begin, she decided to settle there.
She built a small house for herself and lived on the outskirts.
But not in the area that the demon beasts had invaded.
She spent her days in the county town.
Her talent wasn’t great; she was only at the Late-stage Qi Refining.
Joining the Feique Sect wouldn’t be difficult, but what then?
She specialized in Beast Taming, while the Feique Sect was filled with Artifact Refining Secret Techniques that conflicted with her skills.
The Longevity Sect...
’This sect is so strange.’
Curiosity kept Lu Yao in Wang’an County for a long time.
When she saw they were building a city wall, she thought the act was completely redundant.
A fragile wall like that, piled up from stones, couldn’t even withstand an attack from a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. ’What was the point of building it?’
Even Major Sects only built walls for show and to look impressive.
Only certain rare spiritual ores could be forged into incredibly hard structures capable of withstanding any spell attack.
But using such spiritual ores to build a city wall was impossible.
If that was the case for Major Sects, what about small sects?
But this battle completely shattered Lu Yao’s preconceptions.
She discovered that the material these Cultivators used for the city wall wasn’t stone, as she knew it, but some kind of dusty, gray substance. Once finished, the wall appeared cold and formidable.
’But its resistance to corrosion is incredible!’
There were so many First-rank Demon Beasts, not to mention the disgusting Demon Horned Snakes that loved to self-destruct.
Aside from the overwhelming stench, the venom was actually unable to penetrate the city wall.
This was why the Longevity Sect’s players had been able to keep the battlefield confined to the outskirts.
Its sealing and anti-corrosive properties were exceptionally good.
’How is this possible?’
’Ordinary stone can’t possibly withstand the corrosive venom of demon beasts.’
This was where the players’ ingenuity came into play.
After all, the people of this era—even Cultivators—were used to convenience and weren’t skilled in industrialization.
The players initially used simple cement to build the wall and even experimented on it with demon beast venom.
Regular cement couldn’t quite withstand the demon beast venom, but they eventually discovered a type of spiritual ore that had some anti-corrosive properties.
This spiritual ore was a common First Rank material, also used in Artifact Refining.
The players crushed it, mixed it with the cement, and then used Spiritual Energy to erect and compact the walls. The resulting structure could resist the corrosive effects of most First and Second Rank venoms.
Even if it wasn’t a hundred percent effective, cement was practically inexhaustible. The materials were simple and convenient, and if a section was ruined, the players could tear it down and rebuild it at any time.
’This is way more convenient than modern industry!’
Although, in the eyes of other Cultivators, this was as pointless as taking off your pants to fart—utterly redundant.
’A wall can’t block a Cultivator’s attack, so why build one?’
’And for the safety of mortals? Don’t be ridiculous. Cultivators can barely protect themselves, so why would they protect mortals?’
This was the fundamental difference in their ways of thinking.
But you can’t deny it was useful in this battle!
The wall was built precisely to prevent First and Second Rank Demon Beasts from straying into Wang’an County and catching everyone off guard.
Moreover, the wall blocked the line of sight. The players had built numerous workshops within the county town, mainly to keep other Cultivators and mortals from seeing them and getting the wrong idea.
It was just that plain cement was ugly. They were preparing to make some dyes to color the walls.
In any case, the battle had a profound impact on Lu Yao.
What shocked her most was that when the battle began, the first thing those Cultivators did was have the mortals take shelter.
When demon beasts attacked, it was every man for himself; no one would think to protect mortals first.
Lu Yao even saw mortals with no cultivation (new players who had just joined) go to the wall to watch the show.
Anywhere else, people like that would have been killed on the spot by Cultivators.
They were nothing but trouble.
’Where did they get such nerve?’
But surprisingly, the Cultivators didn’t seem to care.
She watched them work together, rushing out to clear the demon beast corpses. After they returned, they finished carving up the useful materials from the bodies and promptly incinerated the rest.
They even had a dedicated processing workshop for it.
The smell was just overpowering.
Only when large groups of Cultivators returned to Wang’an County was Lu Yao certain that they had won.
She heard there had even been a Third-stage Demon Beast, but they had still managed to hold it off.
And the first thing those returning Cultivators did wasn’t to rest, but to rush into—the tavern.
"Man, I’m exhausted. I just processed a huge pile of corpses. I feel like one of those hyper-professional medical examiners from TV."
"While I was processing that Toad Snake corpse just now, I realized I’ve never eaten snake meat."
"...You guys are getting more and more twisted."
"If there wasn’t a GM, I’d totally report that Medicine Workshop. I asked the guy to give us a discount since we worked so hard, and he looked at me like I was nuts. Damn it, they’re living here and not paying protection fees? And the Feique Sect does nothing about it!"
"All capitalists are evil. When are Fan Guzhou and the others going to build the sect’s own Medicine Workshop?"
"Probably soon. They’ll definitely get it started after this. Our medicinal stockpile was way too low. If it weren’t for..."
At this, the players lowered their voices.
They had noticed other Cultivators were present.
If it weren’t for the massive supply from the Taohua Sect, they never would have had enough Elixir Pills.
"When are we gonna build a Magic Treasure Workshop? I saw their Flying Magical Treasures and Combat Magical Treasures, and I’m so jealous. But I don’t have enough points to buy the materials..."
Both Artifact Refining and Alchemy required talent, and the failure rate was too high for ordinary players to attempt them in large numbers.
Many players also returned to the safety of the Sect and chose to log off immediately.
Quite a few players were as exhausted as Zhou Xiao.
Most of the processed materials were temporarily donated to the Sect and placed in the Sect’s warehouse.
Because the battle had consumed so many resources, Song Jiulai had also poured a ton of money into it.
She didn’t hold back with the Demon Beast Materials either; she would take a thirty percent cut of anything donated to the Sect.
The players didn’t mind. After all, the notoriously stingy Sect Master had actually coughed up some money—and quite a bit, at that.
Song Jiulai didn’t say she would take all the materials from this demon beast invasion, because she still had a large batch of third-tier spiritual grass she hadn’t finished selling.
By the time Han Tian and his group rushed back, all that remained was a field of corpses and a foul stench.
The battle was already over. Han Tian covered his nose and led a group to deal with the corpses. Most of the players had logged off, but someone still had to handle the aftermath.
Before logging off, Zhou Xiao even grumbled to Han Tian.
"You’re just like that character in a TV show who only ever shows up for the finale."
Han Tian: "..."
「It was noon.」
New players began to log on one after another.
Zhan Sheng hadn’t logged on at five in the morning; she had fallen asleep. After waking up and taking care of some work-related matters, she finally had time to get online, only to receive news that the battle was over.
Then came the sound of a system notification.
"Congratulations, you are the first disciple in this game to possess a Metal Spirit Root. You are exempt from the Sect’s entrance test."
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