Ma San and his men worked day and night without stopping, shoveling rice seedlings from the earth. After gathering them, they tied them into bundles and set them aside.

The seedlings didn’t need to be spaced out; they were all planted densely, which made them convenient to dig up and tie into bundles.

After five days of ceaseless work, it was a good thing they were both Martial Artists and Soul Slaves. Even without rest, their bodily functions and energy levels were unaffected.

In other words, they were Soul Slaves with limitless energy. The only drawback was that their strength, Skills, and Talents could never be improved. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

From the day they were remade, everything was set in stone.

The results were excellent. Enough seedlings to plant five hundred acres of land had already been sorted into a dozen piles.

They were periodically sprinkled with water mixed with Growth Liquid to ensure their vitality.

"My Lord!"

Ma San shouted from the doorway of the small hut.

Cheng Zongyang, who was cultivating on his wooden bed, opened his eyes at the sound.

He slowly exhaled a single breath over the course of a full minute before finally asking, "What is it?"

Ma San replied respectfully, "My Lord, we currently have enough seedlings for about five hundred acres. They can be transported now. The remaining seedlings, enough for another four hundred-odd acres, should be ready in four to five days."

At this, Cheng Zongyang nodded slowly. "Understood. Go ahead and bring them in. Let’s begin."

"Yes, My Lord!"

Next, the men formed a line, passing the bundles of rice seedlings into the small hut. Cheng Zongyang, meanwhile, stepped out first.

「It was now evening, approaching midnight.」

He descended the mountain and hurried to the farmland. At night, thirty men were stationed there, split between two simple sheds, to patrol and guard the cultivated fields. They were all Gang members that Li Lu had arranged.

Cheng Zongyang found one of the men and sent him with a message for Zhao the Seventh: prepare to receive the seedlings and begin planting.

Cheng Zongyang returned to a country road near Lin Family Village and began taking out the bundles of rice seedlings one by one, laying them out carefully to ensure they weren’t crushed by being stacked.

By the time Zhao the Seventh arrived with several hundred men, Cheng Zongyang had just finished pulling out all the bundles. They formed a continuous line stretching for two or three hundred meters down the road.

Li Lu was also among the crowd that had come.

"What are you doing here? I thought you’d be resting," Cheng Zongyang asked with a smile when he saw Li Lu.

However, Li Lu’s next words made Cheng Zongyang freeze.

With a grim expression, Li Lu said:

"I haven’t slept in two days! Some people have arrived in the city, from the north. For the past two days, I haven’t dared let anyone from West City come out here. I’ve had to have food secretly sent over at night to avoid letting them discover what’s going on."

Zhao the Seventh also looked anxious. "Lord Cheng, the newcomers are supposedly from a family affiliated with the Thirteen Royal Families. They’re here to requisition grain!

Those sons of bitches! The people in the city are already down to one meal a day, and now they’re here to take even that! They’re really not leaving anyone a path to survival!

Luckily, all the grain is hidden. We just made the excuse that we don’t have much, that most of it was taken by the last group. But they don’t believe us. They’ve given us three days, or they’ll kill Lord Li and all of us Gang leaders."

After listening, Cheng Zongyang understood the situation. He asked Li Lu:

"Since they know you’re in charge here, did you find out why they’ve come to our County Town to requisition grain? Have there been any changes on the front lines?"

Li Lu nodded. "Exactly. I approached them under the pretext of pledging allegiance and found out that the forces of the Thirteen Royal Families have already reached the border between Xiangyang Prefecture and Beiding Prefecture.

But Da Liang’s forces have learned their lesson. They’ve evacuated all the grain, any edible food, and all the civilians from the counties they can’t defend, moving everyone to Beiding. As a result, the Thirteen Royal Families, who sustain their war with the spoils of it, have run out of supplies. That’s why they’re requisitioning from the counties in the rear!

I also managed to learn that Da Liang is preparing to make a stand, defending the five prefectures of Beiding, Ji Yun, Qingfeng, Yangzhou, and Luoyang. Haining has been conquered by the Jin Kingdom. Xichuan, Linchuan, and Xiangyang have been taken by the Thirteen Royal Families. It’s as if Da Liang has completely abandoned them."

Cheng Zongyang was truly stunned by this news.

’What on earth is Da Liang protecting? To abandon the Land of Four Mansions for it?’

Li Lu shook his head. "I was curious about that too, but I couldn’t get an answer. They don’t know either. What should we do now?"

"How many of them are there? What are their Cultivation levels?" Cheng Zongyang asked again.

"Six of them! Three are Seventh Grade, and three are Eighth Grade!" Li Lu said. "As soon as they’ve collected the grain, they’ll load it onto carts and force people from the County Town to push them to the front lines."

Cheng Zongyang fell into deep thought.

’He was thinking about how to deal with the aftermath if he killed these six men.’

’He had already sunk all of his investments into this project; he couldn’t just abandon it because of these six people.’

’Since they came here to collect grain, the army at the front must know about their mission. If they come here and don’t return, someone will definitely be sent to investigate.’

’Therefore, if they were to die, they couldn’t die in the city where they might leave clues.’

’That meant they had to die on the road, or at least be made to seem like they left the County Town, one way or another.’

’That way, if anyone came to investigate, they could plausibly deny having seen them, or just say they had already left.’

"Brother Li, Zhao the Seventh! How many people saw those six men?" Cheng Zongyang asked.

Li Lu looked to Zhao the Seventh, who quickly replied, "Not many. They arrived last night around 7 p.m., riding in through the north gate. Only a few of us from the Gangs saw them. They’ve been staying in the rear courtyard of the County Magistrate’s Office. They sought out the four of us Gang leaders first, and then they went to Lord Li."

Now Cheng Zongyang had a clear idea. He immediately said to Zhao the Seventh, "First, arrange for your men to plant all these seedlings at once, before they wither and die."

Zhao the Seventh nodded and immediately instructed his subordinates to get the farmers to work.

Cheng Zongyang then gestured to the other two. He led them a short distance away and explained his plan in a low voice.

It was simple: feed them Wilderness Beans and trap them in the Wilderness World to be dealt with!

’It was a rare opportunity to get his hands on six Seventh and Eighth Grade Martial Artists; he couldn’t let it go to waste! If he could just acquire new Soul Crystal Stones, he could create more Soul Slaves at the Eighth or even Seventh Grade level!’

’Right now, what he needed most was to buy time.’

’The city couldn’t be left without grain! He wasn’t some compassionate Saint, but his plans depended on the County Town!’

’If the County Town became a ghost town, a dead city, the Cheng Family’s external development plans would likely be delayed for a very long time! If his produced goods couldn’t be circulated and he couldn’t acquire outside resources, the resulting overcapacity would easily lead to stagnation.’

’That wasn’t even the worst of it. More importantly, the development of the Wilderness World would also be delayed!’

’He would rather see the County Town’s population halved than see it empty completely!’

’So, the key was to stall for time!’

When Li Lu and Zhao the Seventh heard Cheng Zongyang’s plan, they were both utterly shocked.

"Their Cultivation is at the Seventh and Eighth Grade! And there are six of them!" Zhao the Seventh swallowed hard, his hands trembling slightly.

’Was this something a few small-fry Gang members, who weren’t even Martial Artists, could accomplish?’

’What a joke!’

Li Lu also looked at Cheng Zongyang with a deep frown.

"Are you already at the Seventh Grade?" Li Lu thought of a possibility, shocked to his core.

’Could it be...’

’A possibility flashed through his mind!’

’His master’s medicine... had it been successfully developed?’

Just then, Cheng Zongyang nodded. "So, I need your cooperation. Follow the plan and knock them out. I’ll handle the rest.

Tomorrow, we’ll find a few people to disguise themselves and ride out of the east gate in broad daylight, in full public view. Even if someone comes to investigate later, we’ll all stick to the same story. With no other clues and with what the townspeople witnessed, we should all be fine. Right now, what we lack is time!"

Seeing his confidence, Li Lu, who set aside his doubts for the moment, and Zhao the Seventh, who was unaware of the full picture, thought it over for a long time before finally agreeing to Cheng Zongyang’s plan.

Using the excuse of having to relieve himself, Cheng Zongyang went to a deserted spot, entered the Wilderness World, and retrieved eight Wilderness Beans, keeping two as spares.

’The thirty Wilderness Beans he’d acquired a few months ago had gone unused until now. And he was finally using them on outsiders.’

These medium-sized Wilderness Beans could make a person sleep for six hours. If that wasn’t enough, he could always "refill their cup."

As long as someone ate one, even a master of the Upper Three Grades would be knocked out!

Returning to them, he pretended to fumble inside his robes before pulling out a small porcelain vial and handing it to Li Lu.

"Whatever it takes, get them to eat one each. Once they do, they won’t wake up for at least six hours. I’ll take care of everything after that. The remaining two are spares."

Hearing this, Li Lu solemnly took the vial, tucked it into his robes, and nodded. "That won’t be a problem. Since it’s not poison and just puts them to sleep, this will be much easier."

Afterward, Li Lu and Zhao the Seventh returned to the city, leaving their underlings to watch over things here.

Cheng Zongyang also kept an eye on the rice seedlings to prevent any mishaps. Not wanting to waste time, he began cultivating by himself in one of the sheds.

As it turned out, around the middle of the night, one of Zhao the Seventh’s underlings came running up to report that the plan had succeeded.

’Cheng Zongyang was surprised; he hadn’t expected the plan to go so smoothly!’

He immediately rushed to the County Magistrate’s Office.