Gengyin District, outside the pavilion.
As the black-robed Prefect announced the abandonment of the Lower Courtyard, about forty or fifty people immediately burst into a cacophony of discussion, causing an uproar.
“Can we still plant Yellow Bud Rice in the mountains?” An elderly man with a straightforward face worried.
“Didn’t they say we have to clear new land?” A companion interjected.
“Doesn’t that mean we have to start all over again?” The elderly man’s face turned ugly.
Jilong Road’s Lower Courtyard had been slowly reformed and built up over hundreds of years.
Starting anew in an unfamiliar place and trying to return to the current state was as difficult as reaching the heavens!
“What’s happening in the Upper Court?” someone shouted out of nowhere.
The noisy crowd instantly fell silent, and Chen Mu couldn’t help but perk up his ears.
“Before I came here, we still hadn’t made contact with the Upper Court.”
“All we know is that an intense conflict is going on in the direction of the Upper Court. As for the outcome…” the black-robed Prefect shook his head.
Thinking of that awe-inspiring black dragon, which merely flying overhead had made everyone tremble with fear, a shadow of worry fell over everyone’s hearts.
The safety of the Upper Court was unknown, and if Jilong Road were to collapse, then Jilong Road’s Lower Courtyard would be nothing more than a sinking ship!
Following the move into the mountains to seek refuge, the final outcome…
The surroundings fell into silence for a moment.
“Zhongshan Path has already left, right? Why do we still need to go into the mountains? What if we run into exotic beasts?” someone whispered in the crowd.
Explore more stories at empire
The black-robed Prefect regained his calm, “This is an order from the Oversight Courtyard, you may make your own decisions.”
“If we stay, does that mean we don’t have to pay land taxes anymore?” someone suddenly asked quietly with excitement.
The crowd fell silent, then discussed even more fervently.
The black-robed Prefect, with an expressionless face, glanced over the crowd and then led the grey-robed inspector towards the next division.
“Are you going?” Shang Huan nudged Chen Mu with his shoulder.
“Going. I haven’t bought the Perceptive secret technique yet,” Chen Mu pretended to say.
“Not paying land taxes and keeping whatever we grow actually seems quite good to stay here,” Old Hao said, somewhat indecisive.
Chen Mu remained silent.
Without the protection of the Lower Courtyard, chaos was inevitable.
Indeed, there were no land taxes to pay, but whether or not the harvest could be protected was uncertain.
After all, farming for oneself was never as quick as seizing the harvest from others!
…
One month later.
In the continuous mountain range, a faint mist drifted, with the sound of birds and beasts echoing continuously.
The lush vegetation appeared like a thick carpet firmly covering the land and rocks.
Through the mist, a dirt-yellow fissure was slowly and steadily extending towards the south through the mountains.
It was as if someone had taken a pair of scissors and cut through the green carpet to reveal the ground underneath.
A procession of people lined up in a long queue, moving along the fissure.
At the very front of the queue, some fifty or sixty people carrying choppers as tall as a man kept hacking away.
They cleaved through the underbrush, shrubs, and towering ancient trees, clearing a path over ten meters wide.
Suddenly, a group of palm-sized blue moths appeared out of nowhere in midair and charged aggressively toward the people clearing the path at the front.
The workers who had been quietly cutting down trees scattered skillfully.
Still, some were struck by the blue moths.
In an instant, their skin carbonized and, along with a puff of black smoke, they turned to ash.
The color drained from everyone’s face as they all scrambled back.
However, a figure rushed into the swarm of insects.
Swinging his fists, he punched and kicked at the moths.
His movements were strange, bizarre, and even comical, like a tortoise’s boxing technique.
Indeed, a fist technique that involved hitting the ground with one’s face was rarely seen.
Yet as he continued to twist and flail, more and more of the fluttering moths quickly fell to the ground, blackened and turned into ash before scattering with the wind.
In just twenty breaths, all the blue moths were eradicated.
The figure then revealed his face, showing a young man with simple and honest features.
“Brother Liang’s skill is impressive!”
“So many moths, all taken down with punches and kicks, amazing!”
The young man scratched his head, a naive smile on his face, then quickly disappeared from sight.
Chen Mu, in the crowd, couldn’t help but shake his head.
That was no fist or foot skill, that was poison!
Director Song used insects, his disciple dabbled in poison; is Jilong Road truly an orthodox sect?
“`
I always felt that they were even weirder than those barbarians on Zhongshan Path.
…
“What are you thinking about? It’s our turn, go chop some trees.” Old Hao patted Chen Mu on the shoulder.
Chen Mu snapped back to reality, picked up the pitch-black chopping knife from the ground, and followed the others to chop trees and clear the path.
It had been a month since they left the Lower Courtyard on Jilong Road.
Activities like taking turns to clear the way, he had done it more than once.
The mountain-entering procession was very long, but the actual number of people was at most only half of the original disciples from the Lower Courtyard.
“Where exactly is our destination?” Shang Huan stood next to Chen Mu, looking utterly clueless.
Chen Mu took three steps to the side, moving away from Shang Huan.
“What are you avoiding?” Shang Huan asked with dissatisfaction.
“You’re slacking off so conspicuously, I’m afraid I’ll get implicated later,” Chen Mu said with a snort, swinging the chopping knife and cutting down a big tree that would require five people to encircle with one swoop.
Shang Huan ran over to the fallen tree like an unleashed husky, brimming with joy.
He wielded the chopping knife, trimming and chopping at the smaller branches.
“See, I’m not slacking.”
Chen Mu rolled his eyes.
This fatso had grown taller and stronger due to the United Heart Gu but was also incredibly lazy, always shirking work whenever there was a path to clear.
While idly clearing the ground’s weeds, he would gossip about little bits of news from all around.
“Do you know why Director Song gave up on the Lower Courtyard?” Shang Huan said with an air of secrecy.
“You know?” Chen Mu glanced at him skeptically.
“Don’t underestimate me,” Shang Huan said, proud of himself. “I heard that the underground water vein of the Lower Courtyard was cut off.”
Chen Mu’s heart skipped a beat.
The water vein, flowing with Earth Spirit Vital Energy, was the foundation of the Lower Courtyard’s production and planting.
If the water vein was cut off…
“What about those who stayed back in the Lower Courtyard…”
Shang Huan chuckled slyly but didn’t speak.
Chen Mu fell silent.
No wonder Zhongshan Path had abandoned the fat prize.
Without the water vein, the Lower Courtyard on Jilong Road was finished – who would bother to claim a worthless piece of land?
He couldn’t help but think of the black ape man’s roar.
Could it be that Director Song was responsible for destroying the water vein?!
Thinking of the latter’s short and chubby, yet somewhat amiable figure, Chen Mu’s mouth twitched.
Decades of foundation, scrapped just like that?
Cruel man indeed…
Hmm, or perhaps a prodigal son who doesn’t care if the fields sold belonged to his ancestors?
…
An hour later, the troop from Gengyin District was replaced.
They hadn’t encountered an attack from any exotic beasts, nor had they come across any strange dangers.
It was just that the trees and vines along the way were so tough and hard to chop that it took quite a bit of effort.
Chen Mu followed the group, falling back from the front to their original position.
He chatted with Old Hao for a moment and then hid within the crowd, silent once again.
“Safety isn’t much of an issue, but it’s impossible to properly gain experience,” Chen Mu thought with a sigh.
Everyone around was a disciple from the Lower Courtyard; any ability that made a lot of noise was hard to use.
The only technique that could be practiced quietly was the Void Cloak Technique.
Repulsion Force slowly appeared under his feet, and Chen Mu carefully controlled the force, letting it replace his leg muscles to propel him forward, step by step.
To control the strength properly, he had to move cautiously.
Each step was solid and firm, as if driving in a nail, before moving on to the next one.
Although it was a bit strange, fortunately no one paid much attention to the oddity of a mere Lower Courtyard disciple.
“Once the Void Cloak Technique advances to the next level, it should get a lot better,” Chen Mu practiced while checking his experience.
Void Cloak Technique: 9705/10000/Third Rank;
“It would be best to reduce the time spent on the Illusion Breaking Technique a little,” Chen Mu thought to himself as he looked at his experience with the Illusion Breaking Technique.
Hundred Intentions Illusion Breaking Technique: 7383/10000;
Without the Exquisite Jade Plate, and lacking Earth Spirit Element, the progress of the Illusion Breaking Technique was as slow as a crawl.
In a month, he had only scraped together a little over three hundred experience points, investing a lot but yielding little return.
“`