At the border of Dong Hai County, Wu Qi and the emperor and ministers of Great Yan met with the large group of people led by Su Qin and Yan Bugui.
Su Qin and Yan Bugui both heaved a sigh of relief when they saw Wu Qi returning safely.
In the past few days, the puppet Wu Qi left in Dong Hai County to disguise as himself had been assassinated nine times in a row. Using toxic gases, poison insects, strange curses, and assassins who sneaked into the bedchamber, directly or indirectly, the assassins had injured and killed more than three thousand soldiers of Dong Hai County.
Fortunately, the puppet's body was not made of flesh and blood, and it did not have a soul to be attacked by the enemy. Although the assassins had struck nine times in a row, all the attacks had been resolved by Su Qin, except for one in which the puppet had almost been sliced.
Although almost sliced into pieces, the puppet had only swallowed a few hundred kilograms of copper ingots and iron ingots before his body was almost back to normal. Su Qin had brought it to meet them as well, and Wu Qi took him back into his body.
After learning about the current situation in Dong Hai County from Su Qin and Yan Bugui, Wu Qi bid farewell to the emperor and ministers of Great Yan. Princess Zhang Le would follow Yan Dan to An Yi County and An Le County, and Su Qin and Yan Bugui would transfer control of the two counties to Great Yan. The princess would stay there for a period of time, releasing the people of Great Yan from her interstitial world in stages so they could take root in both counties.
The first batch of people to be released was certainly not comprising of all the people they brought with them to Pangu Continent. At the most, she would release several tens of thousands of people in one go. She had to wait for Great Yan to take full control of both counties before gradually releasing all the other people. In fact, not only Great Yan's people, but the people of the other five dynasties, including all the members of imperial clans, were still sleeping in her interstitial world, except for a batch of civil officials and military officers of the five dynasties.
For a long time to come, Princess Zhang Le would be traveling around Pangu Continent, gradually releasing the people in her interstitial world according to the requests of the six dynasties. It was a very tough job, but it was all that she could do for the sake of the six-dynasties' alliance.
After seeing Princess Zhang Le and others away, Wu Qi looked back at the dozens of Scouting Officers standing beside him. "Return to Dong Hai County," he said coolly. "You said you've captured a few assassins alive, but none of them would say who ordered them to assassinate me?"
A Scouting Officer cupped his fist as he bowed to Wu Qi respectfully before shaking his head helplessly. They had captured seven or eight assassins alive in the nine assassinations, but the souls of all of them were protected by powerful restrictive magic. In one case, Su Qin used a soul-searching technique to interrogate one of the assassins, whose body exploded instantly, almost wounding him.
Wu Qi snorted coldly and looked at Lu Chengfeng and the others, who had just been released by Princess Zhang Le. He shook his head and said, "My brothers, this is what we are facing now. Since we are all brothers, I'll not say much nonsense. I hope you can control Dong Hai City and Dong Hai County as soon as possible!"
Lu Chengfeng nodded, then said with a smile on his face, "Of course! That place will eventually be the legacy of our brotherhood, so we naturally have to take care of it wholeheartedly!" He heaved a long sigh as he looked out over the vast wilderness. "When we were suffering in Little Meng City, I never thought we would come to such a place one day. Haha… What a vast place this is, and there are so many opportunities for us to use our skills!"
At Wu Qi's command, the one hundred thousand soldiers released from Princess Zhang Le's interstitial world roared in unison. After that, Wu Qi and Ao Buzun joined hands to summon a gust of strong wind and a large dark cloud, which lifted the one hundred thousand elite soldiers trained by Lu Chengfeng, Zhang Hu, and the others over the years into the sky. Finally, the large host of people flew mightily in the direction of Dong Hai City.
The one hundred thousand elites soldiers were the products of Great Yan's meticulous training over the years. Since Yan Bugui brought the cultivation techniques of the human race, such as the True Body of Heaven and Earth Scripture, back to Great Yan, they had recruited a large number of soldiers and made them start practicing these techniques. These one hundred thousand soldiers were the best among them. And because they were all trained by Lu Chengfeng and the others only, their loyalty was absolutely unquestionable.
Of these soldiers, the strongest could already compete with Nascent Soul cultivators, while the weakest could easily resist Gold Core cultivators. Although they were still too weak to compare with the human soldiers who were born and raised on Pangu Continent, their cultivation bases would certainly grow up quickly in this place. Furthermore, Wu Qi was able to offer a great deal of blood sacrifice to Lei Meng at any time in exchange for power. So, he was not worried about the strength of these soldiers.
With these one hundred thousand fierce fighters in hand, plus a handful of capable officials brought in by Lu Chengfeng and the others, Dong Hai County's administration, military, penal, civil, and other frameworks were at last completed. As long as Wu Qi continued to pour in resources into Dong Hai County, together with the reserves of hundreds of millions of people who were sleeping in Princess Zhang Le's interstitial world, its future development would certainly climb to a peak.
With the help of Ao Buzun, a freshly baked True Dragon of Gold Immortal realm, a ten-thousand-miles-long gale blew the dark cloud to Dong Hai City. A dozen hours later, Dong Hai City appeared on the horizon ahead.
Outside the city, countless farmers were taking good care of the crops in the fields. The crops swayed like gentle waves in the breeze and shone brilliantly under the bright sunlight. Thousands of white sails glided across the smooth and shiny surface of the sea in the distance. Large trawls made under Su Qin's teaching were pulled by fishing boats to catch large quantities of fish. When Wu Qi and the others flew across the sea, a net of big fishes just happened to be pulled up. The air rang with the merry laughter of the fishermen.
Between the plains and the sea, some herb harvesters and hunters were seen foraging in the mountains and forests within a vast mountain range surrounding Dong Hai City like two giant arms. Whenever a strong wild beast tried to attack them, some well-trained soldiers would take up their iron shields and spears, then run over and kill the beast which ordinary people were too weak to deal with.
Ao Buzun made the dark cloud circle around Dong Hai City for a few laps. When Lu Chengfeng and the others saw the thriving city and villages below them, they all laughed happily. This was a good place; everything was so pleasing to the eye that they felt comfortable by just looking at them. Even the salty sea breeze was full of vitality and abundance of natural energy. Everything here was giving off a simple air, like a piece of jade waiting for Lu Chengfeng and the others to carve.
Wu Qi nodded cheerfully at the sight of the satisfied smiles on Lu Chengfeng and the others' faces.
Patriarch Jiang Yun, who had been keeping quiet along the way, and the other immortals who had joined Wu Qi, finally smiled as well. They all felt that this was a good place for them to improve their cultivation bases, a real blessed land. They did not have to look for energy veins, spirit caves, or build a cave abode. By just standing anywhere on Pangu Continent, they could already absorb more natural energy than when they were on Myriad Immortals Planet. It was hard for them to imagine how abundant the natural energy would be if they could find an excellent cave abode and connect it with a few underground energy veins.
As they swept through the distant mountains with their divine senses, they found the mountains filled with strong energy fluctuations. Apparently, they were full of spirit herbs. And when they looked at the mountains with their dharma eyes, they saw bright, colorful lights shining out of the mud and sand. This showed that the mountains were also very rich in ore reserves, at least ten thousand times more than Myriad Immortals Planet!
"Pangu Continent is truly a great place!" said Patriarch Jiang Yun as he stroked his gray beard and smiled. Qing Xin and the other immortals were nodding in admiration, taking deep breaths with happy smiles on their faces. The disciples of White Cloud Immortal Sect and Tranquil Vimalā Sect also had bright smiles on their faces. Some of the junior disciples whose cultivation bases were weaker seemed to be a little shaky — the natural energy here was so strong that they were all drunk by just inhaling!
Wu Qi smiled and said to Patriarch Jiang Yun, "Patriarch, let me settle down these one hundred thousand soldiers first, and then I'll accompany you to choose a good place and build a cave abode. You are all the Elders of my Underhand Sect, and I'll need your help in many things in the future!"
Patriarch Jiang Yun and the other old immortals nodded cheerfully, and their disciples jumped in joy, feeling glad to be part of all this.
After two days of hard work, Wu Qi finally settled down the people he had brought with him this time.
The one hundred thousand soldiers were stationed in four barracks in Dong Hai City, and they were put under the command of Meng Xiaobai, Luo Kedi, and the others. Lu Chengfeng was made the chief administrator of Dong Hai County, in full charge of the Military Court, Directorate of Celestials, Agriculture Court, and other administrative agencies. After a large number of his confidants, including Lu Quyuan, took the offices of various administrative agencies, the administrative efficiency of Dong Hai County as a whole immediately increased by at least a hundredfold.
Meanwhile, the patriarchs and disciples of the two sects had built themselves a cave abode in a smoky mountain about ten thousand miles west of Dong Hai City. In addition to that, Wu Qi had carefully picked a thousand children with excellent spirit roots and latent potentials from Dong Hai County, and sent them to the smoky mountain. Abundant natural energy, endless cultivation resources, and many new disciples made Patriarch Jiang Yun and the others really happy.
Wanying Dragon King, who had left Myriad Immortals Planet with Wu Qi, met his son here. Together with a few old dragon kings and many aquatic demons from the Myriad Immortals Planet, Lord Xiansheng, and Catfish, they were going to build a city and a magnificent crystal palace in the sea near Dong Hai County. Wu Qi named the crystal palace the 'East Sea Dragon Palace', and had even given Wanying Dragon King a new name — Ao Guang, the Dragon King of the East Sea!
After settling the people of Meng Village in one of the richest valleys outside Dong Hai City, Wu Qi finally had time to visit the few assassins captured alive in the city's dungeons.
In the dark and damp dungeon, a few skinny, cunning-faced men were tied to crosses made of black stone with iron chains, their bodies naked. They were the unfortunate ones who had attempted to assassinate Wu Qi nine times in a row, only to end up with nothing. They had no idea that it was not Wu Qi they had assassinated, but the puppet he had left behind in Dong Hai County.
Wu Qi walked slowly up to these assassins and frowned at their exposed bodies. "Tell me, who ordered you to assassinate me?" Wu Qi asked angrily. "In the eyes of outsiders, I had been badly wounded and couldn't even get out of my bed. Why did you still want to assassinate me in such a condition? Who has so much enmity with me?"
The few assassins looked up at Wu Qi and smiled a strange smile at the same time. Then, their bodies suddenly swelled rapidly.
The whole dungeon, which covered an area of nearly one hundred acres, collapsed along with a few loud booms.