Cheng Zongyang sank into thought.

His original plan was to send people to scout the area. If there was a lot of grain, he planned to go and take it.

The grain he possessed was from before the village’s harvest, and he couldn’t possibly use it to supply the County Town. To survive the coming days, his only option was to find food elsewhere.

While Li Lu was out searching for Medicinal Materials, he was also scouting for food.

The villages and county towns had next to nothing, so the only place that might have a surplus was the County Mansion.

As for whether people in other places could survive as a result, that was not his concern.

If the people in the county couldn’t survive, they would leave to find a way to live. They might head this way, or they might go to other county towns.

But from the looks of it now, the situation in the nearest county, Qingfeng County, might be even more desolate than in Jade Peak County.

In the end, Cheng Zongyang said, "To know the real situation, we’ll have to investigate it ourselves. Li Xian, find a few nimble men, pack enough rations and water, and investigate the situation even if the round trip takes a month. But since you’re going, you might as well do a bit more."

"Your Excellency, please elaborate," Li Xian said, cupping his fists.

"First, grain: find out exactly who’s in control of it.

Second, factions: identify which powers are still active.

Third, see if any Foreign Race Influence is garrisoned there. On top of that, investigate the situation with the Foreign Race members who requisitioned the grain before."

After hearing Cheng Zongyang’s instructions, Li Xian thought for a moment, committed them to memory, and accepted the task.

The County Town currently had no livestock like horses, oxen, or donkeys for transport or for pulling carts. People could only rely on their own two feet.

Even Li Lu had left Jade Peak County on foot.

Once the arrangements were made, Cheng Zongyang dismissed them to their respective tasks.

「Noon. Outside the sheds by the farmland beyond the County Town’s walls.」

Under the direction of Zhao the Seventh and his men, over a thousand artisans from various trades formed orderly columns.

These artisans were grouped by their trade.

Looking at them, Cheng Zongyang was quite satisfied.

A large crowd of the County Town’s common folk had gathered around, while in the distance, only a few hundred farmers were tending to the farmland.

Looking at them, Cheng Zongyang repeated, more or less, the same speech he had given to the masons the day before.

Making grand promises cost nothing, but the results were excellent.

Besides, what he promised wasn’t just empty talk.

Everyone would be able to participate in the training, but whether they could become Martial Artists would depend on their aptitude and luck.

In the future, these people would be absorbed into the various Gangs. When Li Lu brought back the Medicinal Materials, the candidates for the medicinal baths would also be selected from within the Gangs.

Therefore, the selection process for these thousand-plus people would come down entirely to individual aptitude and luck.

After finishing his instructions, Cheng Zongyang took them to see the location and showed them the Design Map.

Once they all understood the project’s overall scope, the highly experienced artisans began arranging the personnel.

They cleared the site, felled trees, and hauled earth. People were also assigned to sort through the ruins of the original village, salvaging anything that could be reused.

Since the area was quite large—nearly the size of two villages—some of the more senior and experienced artisans took the lead, meticulously dividing it into various zones. This was to prevent the large number of people from descending into chaos due to an unclear division of labor.

Cheng Zongyang was very satisfied as he watched them lead the workers, divide the area according to the map, and delegate tasks for construction.

’Now this is what I call professionalism.’

’It’s best to leave professional work to the professionals.’

Zhao the Seventh and a few others constantly assigned personnel, following the arrangements made by the master craftsmen to ensure every post was filled and work was being done.

But this also meant a drastic increase in food consumption.

While the ration of staples was fixed—meaning these manual laborers couldn’t get extra steamed buns—the consumption of dried fish soup was continuous. The number of cooking pots over fires also increased significantly.

Cheng Zongyang had no objections; he just had to provide the supplies. He might be short on other things, but he had plenty of dried fish.

With these skilled craftsmen taking charge, Cheng Zongyang felt reassured. At this rate, completing the construction of the village before the grain harvest would not be a problem.

Thus, taking advantage of the current lack of external distractions, he took a detour back to the cave in the Inner Mountain. After finishing off the few Martial Artists there, he sent them into the Wilderness World.

’Their value in life was used up; it was time for their value in death to be put to use.’

「At the entrance of the marketplace hut.」

Cheng Zongyang glanced at Ma San and the others, who were already busy with their assigned tasks. Without disturbing them, he moved the six corpses to the entrance by himself.

One Middle Tier Soul Crystal Stone required the sacrifice of three corpses. He arranged the sacrifices for two Soul Crystal Stones accordingly.

Next came the familiar process. That much, at least, hadn’t changed.

As the six corpses vanished, a red mist condensed and transformed into two new bodies.

This time, Cheng Zongyang let their appearances be randomized. He couldn’t be bothered to think of any specific figures.

He had also considered reshaping them into female bodies, but if the soul was male, it would be unsettling. His tastes weren’t that peculiar.

As two new Soul Slaves, both nearly 1.8 meters tall, appeared, Cheng Zongyang noticed that one of them had the face of Luo Dingran!

This development left Cheng Zongyang utterly astonished. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

’This feature changed?’

If he remembered correctly, when an appearance was randomized, it was supposed to be chosen from one of the sacrificed corpses.

He had seen Luo Dingran before, but he never would have imagined that the randomized appearance could be that of the soul itself, let alone that this particular soul would be the one to gain control of the new body.

’It seems the randomization function of the Middle Tier Soul Crystal Stone has changed as well.’

But in the next moment, Cheng Zongyang’s eyes lit up.

Luo Dingran was a descendant of a Noble Family and a former County Magistrate. Naturally, he would possess a great deal more intelligence about the situation in Da Liang.