Chapter 423: Chapter 423: Buffer Zone, Ancient Demon Battlefield, Ominous Object
Both of them were very satisfied with Shi Lei’s suggestion.
Especially after hearing the saying “To get rich, build roads first,” they gave a thumbs-up in praise.
“Building roads is a great idea!”
“There happen to be many idle people in the city, so if the City Lord’s Mansion provides the funds and the newcomers exert the effort, it could indeed make all trades prosper.”
Having managed the city for many years, the Deputy City Lord was quite a hand at it, but after hearing Shi Lei’s suggestion, he thought of even more aspects of governance.
“The roads connecting Whitefloat City with other cities will pass through many dangerous areas, I fear we may encounter demonic beasts. I suggest that Elder Li issues tasks, and the disciples can protect those building the roads by taking on these tasks.”
Shi Lei had yet another idea.
Upon hearing this, Li Zilong’s eyes lit up, and he said, “Good, I’ll personally find Steward Chu later to draft the tasks.”
“Alright, let’s settle the matters of road building and new city district development for now. Next, let’s discuss the details…”
Li Zilong, the Deputy City Lord, and Shi Lei continued their discussion.
Tens of thousands of miles away.
“Ding, Outer Sect Affairs Manager Chu Yun’er has issued a ‘road construction task’ with low difficulty, and currently, fifteen disciples have taken it on.”
Ye Feng suddenly heard the notification sound.
Road construction task?
He was startled for a moment.
“Forget it, let them handle it!”
As Misty Sect grew and strengthened, there were more and more issues to deal with, and he couldn’t possibly attend to everything.
Many matters had to be progressively delegated.
As the Sect Leader, it was sufficient to grasp the overall direction of the sect’s development.
As for the details, they should be completed in cooperation by all the sect’s Elders, disciples, and others, rather than left to one person to handle.
Otherwise, it would be overwhelming.
Moreover, in such a large sect, it was not possible to leave everything to one person, as it would severely affect his cultivation progress.
Having each protector, Elder, Hall Master, Steward, and so on share the minor affairs and break down major issues into countless smaller tasks to be handled by the disciples in the form of sect missions was an excellent approach.
In this way, not only could they save a lot of time for cultivation, but they could also train the disciples, ensuring that there were no idle or lazy members.
Thinking this, Ye Feng refocused his attention.
Looking at the giant snake-shaped Bone Demon beneath him, he said, “Ziling, the ancient battlefield you spoke of should be nearby now, right?”
Ji Ziling, browsing an ancient tome, nodded and replied, “Reporting to the Sect Leader, that ancient battlefield is located to the east of the Southern River Basin, at the borderland. It’s a buffer zone between Mystique Kingdom and a Demon Country. A few hundred miles ahead, we should arrive.”
“A buffer zone?” Ye Feng became interested.
In the world of cultivation, it was rare for states to border each other directly. They were typically separated by natural barriers such as oceans, lakes, grasslands, forests, ancient battlefields, and mountain ranges.
For instance, between Mystique Kingdom and South Ming Country, there was a vast Barren Desert spanning tens of thousands of miles.
Both states faced numerous difficulties in their interactions.
One could say that in the world of cultivation, sometimes, a state was like an independent small world, rarely communicating with the outside and mainly active within its surrounding area.
Only powerful influences of Four-Star, Five-Star, and Holy Land level had the means to build large Teleportation Arrays that spanned the entire Shenzhou Continent, connecting various powerful forces, and had the ability to quickly travel to different parts of the continent.
“It’s a pity we don’t have a Teleportation Array; otherwise, why would we need to fly all the time?” Ji Ziling rested her hand on her delicate chin, wistfully.
Mystique Kingdom had only Three-Star strength.
Within the entire kingdom, there were Teleportation Arrays, but very few, mainly due to the scarcity of Array Masters capable of refining them. Combined with the high cost and the rarity of materials, it was akin to the difficulty of creating Cave Heaven Worlds.
“Teleportation Arrays… we’ll have them one day,”
Ye Feng murmured to himself.
He had already discussed with the Refining Furnace; Space-Type Teleportation Arrays could be refined, but at the moment, many materials were still lacking.
This time, on his way to the Ancient Battlefield in the east, in addition to absorbing Slaughter Energy and Ancient Heroic Spirit Power, recruiting Spiritual Beasts, he also had to look for Refining Materials.
Whoosh!
The Bone Demon flew thousands of miles and slowly landed.
The group stopped on a desolate Gobi where ahead, the land was barren and desolate.
Occasionally, hardy wild grasses grew on the ground.
“Ziling, does this ancient battlefield have a name?”
“Sect Leader, this place is called ‘Ancient Demon Battlefield,’ stretching tens of thousands of miles from north to south, with a width of over ten thousand miles from east to west. If we continue eastward across the battlefield, we will reach the Great Liang Demon Nation,” she answered.
“Ancient Demon Battlefield, from its name, could it be that in ancient times, Mystique Kingdom and the Demon Country to the east had fought a war here?”
“There is no related record of that, disciple only knows that the Great Liang Demon Nation is also a Three-Star Force. However, the strongest Great Liang Empress is merely at the intermediate stage of the Divine Origin Realm, far from being a match for the Mystique Kingdom.”
“The Great Liang Empress… tsk, tsk, sounds so familiar.”
Ye Feng muttered to himself.
Upon hearing this name, his first thought was of the Western Liang Kingdom of Women.
However, the Great Liang Demon Nation to the east is a demon race nation, where the human race makes up only one-tenth, and definitely cannot be the Kingdom of Women.
“Search around in this area, if anything is found, report back immediately.”
Ye Feng gave an order, then sat atop the Bone Demon’s head and closed his eyes.
It seemed as if he was resting with closed eyes, but in reality, he was using the power of the Heroic Spirits to spread out to his surroundings, seeking what he needed.
The disciples paired up and started searching nearby.
Qiao Jiaxi and Ji Ziling formed one team.
Long Tianxing and Wang Ping’an formed another team.
Both teams flew off to the south and north respectively, to see if there was anything noteworthy within this ancient battlefield.
As for the mole, it made use of its excellent digging talent to search underground for various Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.
“Eh, found it!”
In less than half a moment, Ye Feng opened his eyes and waved towards the distance.
Bang!
The ground exploded, and an ore flickering with gold, blue, and white lights broke through the surface, hovering in the palm of his hand, about the size of a thumb.
This was a kind of middle-grade refining material.
“Not bad.”
Ye Feng stored it away and continued his search.
Meanwhile, in this area, numerous black-gray auras swept across the sky, devoured and refined by the Slaughter Energy floating above Ye Feng’s head.
The Ancient Heroic Spirit Power in the vicinity was not spared either.
Half an hour later.
Ye Feng had absorbed all the unclaimed Heroic Spirit Power within a thousand miles, which amounted to an increase equivalent to the peak level of the Element Gathering Realm.
“The growth of strength is really slow!”
Ye Feng complained quietly to himself.
Actually, to have increased by an amount equivalent to the peak of the Element Gathering Realm in such a short time was quite fast.
However, for him at the moment, even an increase equivalent to the peak of the Spirit Sea Realm would only boost his strength by one-tenth.
The main reason was that his foundation had thickened significantly.
“When the Mystique Kingdom advances to a Four-Star level and has the capability to build large-scale Teleportation Arrays leading to the major Four-Star and Five-Star Forces of the Shenzhou Continent, then I will be able to travel to those truly large battlefields, absorbing even more Heroic Spirit Power.”
Ye Feng anticipated with longing.
In the blink of an eye, more than half a day passed.
Ye Feng alone traversed the land within ten thousand miles, and altogether, absorbed a quantity of Ancient Heroic Spirit Power comparable to a first-layer Spirit Sea Realm.
“It’s really not easy!”
Ye Feng sighed with feeling.
If any other Divine Origin Realm beings knew of this, they would surely want to pin him to the ground and rub him vigorously a hundred times over.
After advancing to the Divine Origin Realm, let alone an increase in such strength, some people hit a bottleneck due to reaching the end of their potential, struggling to make any progress for decades or even a hundred years.
Just like Ye Feng, who had improved so much in just half a day and still without any bottlenecks, was enough to infuriate certain elder beings to death.
“We’ve found something!”
At this moment, an urgent and anxious voice from Wang Ping’an came through the communication order.
Ye Feng’s gaze sharpened, he quickly located the mole that was still digging, caught a ride on the snake-shaped Bone Demon to find Ji Ziling and Qiao Jiaxi, and then hurried at full speed to where Wang Ping’an and Long Tianxing were.
The destination was a desolate valley.
In the valley, there was a dilapidated temple.
Inside the temple, an Eight-Armed Evil God with a fierce visage was enshrined, each of its arms clutching different weapons—a knife, sword, bow, hook, hammer, drum, dart, and bead, all eight of them.
A chilling and dreadful aura slowly emanated from the evil god statue, making Wang Ping’an and Long Tianxing shiver in fear.
“This is definitely an ominous object!”
Wang Ping’an swallowed hard and stammered out his words.