’Dew from morning flowers, mixed with my blood. But there’s not much dew in the winter, is there?’

Cheng Zongyang shook his head, momentarily setting aside the idea of writing in the roster. He’d have to tell Ma San and the others to start collecting dew in the mornings.

Walking outside, he saw Ma San and the others digging a massive pit on the downslope. The area was lit by a circle of torches.

This puzzled Cheng Zongyang, and he couldn’t help but walk over.

Li Xingyun and Luo Zheng, who were leveling the earth at the edge of the pit, saw Cheng Zongyang approaching. They immediately shouted to the men in the pit, quickly put down their tools, and cupped their hands in greeting.

"My Lord!"

Cheng Zongyang waved his hand. "No need for formalities. I haven’t been here for the past two days. What are you all doing?"

As he spoke, he had already reached the edge of the pit.

"Greetings, My Lord!" Ma San and the others, who were about to climb out from the bottom of the pit, saw him and also immediately cupped their hands and called out.

Li Xingyun promptly replied, "Reporting to you, My Lord. We are building a large fish pond."

"A fish pond? You’re going to raise fish?" Cheng Zongyang was taken aback.

Li Xingyun smiled and said, "Yes. After some discussion, we considered how you often need those fish to earn Points. The number of qualifying fish in the stream isn’t what it used to be, so we thought of building a large fish pond.

We can raise the fish that don’t meet the requirements yet. That way, we can throw some of the meat from the fish we kill into the pond to feed them. We can wait for a while until they grow large enough to meet the requirements, then kill them. This will increase the number of Points you need."

After hearing Li Xingyun’s explanation, Cheng Zongyang understood what he meant.

’Damn, this is a great idea!’

’Not only can we dispose of the fish meat, but we can also raise more fish. As long as we raise enough, will I ever have to worry about not having Points?’

"That’s a good idea." Cheng Zongyang nodded, very satisfied. "How big are you planning to build it?"

Then, he said to Ma San and the others, "Don’t mind me. You all carry on with your work. Xingyun can just tell me about it."

"Yes, My Lord!" Ma San and the others immediately cupped their hands and then resumed their busy work of shoveling dirt.

Li Xingyun then explained in detail:

"My Lord, our plan is to first dig a fish pond that is ten zhang wide, one and a half zhang deep, and thirty zhang long. Then we’ll dig a channel to lead water to the pond, and an outlet for the water to drain, creating a living water system.

Once we’ve successfully raised some, we’ll continue building new ponds in the direction of the stream. Each pond will be connected by multiple channels of different sizes. This will allow water to flow between them and also let us drive the smaller fish into the next pond, thereby sorting them by size.

By then, the pond closest to the stream’s source will hold the largest fish. The ponds further this way will have progressively smaller channels, and thus, progressively smaller fish. This way, we’ll know which fish can be slaughtered and which ones need to be fed longer.

According to our estimates, if we pack them in, a single pond of this type could hold roughly three to five thousand large fish. The number of small fish would be even greater."

Hearing this description, Cheng Zongyang was stunned by their plan.

’They’re actually going to build all the way to the stream and even sort the fish? Do they need to be so meticulous?’

But this was all to his benefit, so of course he wouldn’t object. He followed up, "This method is excellent. I support it. Just don’t let your other tasks fall behind."

Li Xingyun cupped his hands. "Rest assured, My Lord. Building this fish pond is not the work of a single day. We only work on it after we’ve finished our other duties. It won’t affect the Wilderness Rice harvest in seven days."

Hearing this, Cheng Zongyang smiled. "Good. Then I’ll look forward to the harvest."

"Rest assured, My Lord. You will personally harvest the first crop of rice," Li Xingyun said with a smile.

Cheng Zongyang waved his hand. "No need. I only have time at night anyway. You can handle it. I..."

[Your purchase request has been completed. Please check for yourself.]

As it turned out, before Cheng Zongyang could finish his sentence, a notification from the marketplace hut’s purchase request tab abruptly appeared in his mind!

His expression froze for a moment. He said to Li Xingyun, "I won’t interfere with your work then. If there’s anything you need me to handle, tell me the next time I come in. Go on and get back to it."

"Yes, My Lord." Li Xingyun cupped his hands and withdrew.

Cheng Zongyang, on the other hand, turned and walked toward the marketplace hut.

He hadn’t expected the purchase request to be fulfilled so quickly!

"Damn it, I must have set the price too high! This damn profiteering platform!" Cheng Zongyang grumbled. His request was for stones greater than one kilogram each, but the ones that showed up in his item list were probably only about one jin each, and they still cost 100 Points apiece.

’Next time, I won’t pay more than 50 Points for one!’ Cheng Zongyang made a mental note of this.

Entering the hut, he saw two large bamboo baskets placed on the counter.

Inside were the familiar-looking Geomagnetic Stones. At the same time, the data information about them appeared.

Cheng Zongyang glanced over it; the description was no different from before.

It still said that nearby living beings would have their internal magnetic fields affected, leading to conditions like confusion, dizziness, vomiting, and Illusions.

He now knew clearly that encountering a Geomagnetic Stone without its Stone Hide was more dangerous the closer you got to its core! The effects like dizziness were only what you experienced on the periphery.

Cheng Zongyang placed the two large baskets of Geomagnetic Stones in a corner, intending to leave them for Ma San and the others to remove the Stone Hides.

The Stone Hide could block or absorb the radiant Energy, so anyone carrying the stones would naturally need to be equipped with it.

Now that he had the Geomagnetic Stones, the next step was naturally to plan and arrange their placement. But that would require careful planning.

A Geomagnetic Stone’s area of effect was a radius of fifty meters, or a diameter of one hundred meters. This meant he would have to personally survey and map out the existing village layout before he could place the stones.

This wasn’t something that could be finished in a day or two.

Afterward, Cheng Zongyang instructed Ma San to arrange for a few men to completely clean off the Stone Hides from the Geomagnetic Stones, making them easier for him to use later.

With nothing else to do, Cheng Zongyang didn’t cultivate. Instead, he took the Flower Roster and left the Wilderness World to go home and rest.

「The night passed without incident.」

The next morning, Cheng Zongyang rose early and went to the vegetable garden with a bamboo canister.

Although there was less dew on winter mornings, it didn’t mean there was none at all. Besides, they were in the mountains, where there was much more than in the outside world.

In the part of the garden reserved for seed-bearing plants, Cheng Zongyang looked around but didn’t see much dew. He had to resort to collecting it from the surrounding new flowers, grasses, and trees.

After about half an hour, he had collected a few milliliters of dew. Capping the bamboo canister, he went to check on the humus area. The vegetation there was rich, and its growth was far better than what was outside.

"I can probably turn the soil to check on it next month," Cheng Zongyang murmured to himself.

In three months, given the rich microbial life in the mountains, the decomposition of the animal carcasses buried underground would be much faster.

Turning around, he went back home and headed straight for the ancestral hall.

After some preparation, he finished mixing his blood with the dew. He then took out an ink brush, ink, paper, and an inkstone, and moved a red, square table to the side of the courtyard where it was a bit brighter. This was not the altar table that stood before the ancestral tablets.

On the table was not only Cheng Zongyang’s Flower Roster, but also the blood-water mixture, the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, a few pheasant feathers he had brought back from the Wilderness World, and a copy of the Cheng Family’s genealogy.

This genealogy did not include the names of the Cheng Clan Members from the northern branch.

This was also Cheng Zongyang’s intention. Since he was establishing his own branch, he only needed to know the names of his direct ancestors, like his grandfather’s father’s father’s father. Of course, he only remembered a few of them. The new record would start from his grandfather and continue downward.

After some preparation, he poured the blood-water into the inkstone and began to grind the ink stick until the ink was smooth. Cheng Zongyang then took out some cheap, rough-edged paper.

He first tried writing on a sheet of the rough-edged paper, and it looked a bit ugly. After all, he had barely picked up a pen to write in this life. Now, being asked to write with an ink brush, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say his characters looked like chicken scratch.

So, he set the ink brush aside and picked up a pheasant feather. He treated the quill, softening it slightly, then dipped it in ink and tried again on the paper.

After about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, and after using up a few feathers, he finally got the hang of writing with one.

He then picked up the Flower Roster and, in the long blank space left on the cover, wrote the four words "Cheng Family Clan Tree."

Looking at the familiar script, it was quite smooth and flowing.

Once the ink was completely dry, Cheng Zongyang rubbed it with his hand. The ink seemed to have been printed on; it wouldn’t smudge at all.

This left Cheng Zongyang very satisfied.

Next, he didn’t continue, but instead called his father, second uncle, and cousin over.