Chapter 109: The Arrival of the Nine City Lords

“Additionally, the spiritual wood resources on the island must be used judiciously. The growth cycle of spiritual wood is very long; once it’s completely harvested, it cannot be replenished for decades,” Lin Zhi explained.

“Spiritual wood needs to be conserved,” Ye Mo pondered for a moment, then looked toward Yang You. “Yang You, you’re in charge of overseeing the construction of the Immortal Village. Pay close attention to this—use as little as possible.”

“Yes. First-tier spiritual wood will be used to build the village’s pavilions. Second-tier spiritual wood, which boasts a defensive strength of up to two thousand jin, will be used for the outer spiritual wood walls. The toughest third-tier spiritual wood will be used for the village gates, which should suffice for defense,” Yang You replied. “For daily fires and cooking, we can use fallen branches from the forest, which won’t consume spiritual wood. However, for other purposes like pill refinement and forging, we’ll definitely need refined charcoal, which will consume spiritual wood. I will carefully plan and calculate to avoid any waste.”

Yang You nodded in agreement.

“That’s good,” Ye Mo said, then turned to Lin Zhi. “By the way, when will your Poison Pill Pavilion be operational?”

“There are small amounts of wild poisonous spiritual herbs in the jungles of the Spirit Island. I’ve already collected more than twenty varieties. I’m studying how to combine them to refine the most potent poison pills. My Poison Pill Pavilion should soon be able to produce some samples,” Lin Zhi replied. “However, raw materials for these poisonous herbs are scarce and can only be gathered in the wild for now, so the pavilion can only produce a limited amount of poison pills. Cultivating them in the village’s spiritual fields requires a long cycle, and production cannot be increased quickly. I plan to plant some three-year-cycle poisonous herbs as soon as possible.”

Lin Zhi seemed somewhat helpless.

Everyone present understood this well.

Even the fastest-growing first-tier spiritual grains require a full year before harvest. Other spiritual herbs take at least three to five years to mature.

Those who truly benefit from spiritual herbs and medicines are centuries-old cultivation families and some ancient immortal cities.

Certain high-tier spiritual herbs take hundreds or even thousands of years to mature; a newly established Immortal Village cannot rely on herbal cultivation to earn spirit stones in the short term.

“Producing even a small amount of poison pills is beneficial—they can help resist the sea beast tide,” Ye Mo nodded slightly. “Hopefully, we can complete the village’s defensive walls before the sea beast tide arrives.”

“I estimate that, at the current progress, the spiritual wood walls can be completed within a month. As the captain of the guard, I’ll be able to sleep peacefully at night,” Gao Jian said with a smile.

When the topic turned to demonic beasts, everyone’s expressions showed a mixture of excitement and caution.

Demonic beasts were undoubtedly extremely dangerous, but if defeated, the rewards would be considerable—precious rune seals and magical imprints could be obtained from their bodies.

More than ten days later.

Over a dozen sea vessels of varying sizes, bearing the banners of major families such as the Azure Cloud Immortal Academy, the Lou family, the Bai family, and the Ren family, arrived at the Aolai Sea region.

Compared to Ye Mo’s shabby pirate ship, the vessels of the other nine newly appointed city lords were undoubtedly much grander. In terms of size alone, their ships were noticeably larger than Ye Mo’s ordinary sea vessel.

Especially notable were the three ships flying the “Lou” family banner.

These new city lords, traveling to the unfamiliar Aolai Archipelago to establish Immortal Villages, naturally received substantial support from their families. Given the long and inconvenient travel routes, they had brought as many supplies as possible in one go.

Each of these ships was loaded with various spiritual materials to support the early construction of the Immortal Villages and to establish a foothold in the archipelago.

Only Ye Mo, the “independent cultivator,” carried nothing beyond a hundred-plus personnel, several months’ worth of food and fresh water, and nothing else on his ship.

In addition to the new city lords, Kuang Zhen and other cultivators from the Azure Cloud Immortal Academy had come to establish teleportation arrays for the villages and to escort the nine new city lords’ ships safely to the Aolai Archipelago to prevent any mishaps.

The dozen or so ships of varying sizes slowly approached the Aolai Sea region.

“The Aolai Sea region is vast, spanning over ten thousand li, with more than a thousand small spiritual islands scattered throughout. The distances between these islands vary, some near, some far. You will decide which island to designate as your main island. My role, like that of the other teachers, is solely to help you build a small teleportation array for your Immortal Village. I will not interfere with any other matters,” Kuang Zhen said with a smile from the deck of the Azure Cloud Immortal Academy’s ship, addressing the nine city lords.

“Look! Why are there so many wisps of smoke rising from that island?” one of the new city lords suddenly exclaimed excitedly, pointing at a large island in the distance.

The large island in the distance had at least several dozen thin smoke trails rising from it. It did not look like the forest was burning from thunder or fire, but rather as if someone was cooking over a fire.

“Hey, who’s on that island?”

“Wasn’t it said that no cultivators live in this sea region? How can there be so many people?”

“Let’s sail over and take a look.”

The city lords were all surprised.

Kuang Zhen nodded and ordered the lead Azure Cloud Immortal Academy ship to change course.

The dozen or so ships turned around and gradually headed toward that island.

As the fleet approached the large spiritual island, they were immediately shocked.

A newly constructed Immortal Village was bustling with activity in a mountainous valley near the island’s center. Many people could be seen moving about. At a deep-water port on the island, a pirate ship flying the “Ye” family banner was anchored.

“That must be Ye Mo. He informed me earlier that he would depart from a closer island to arrive in the Aolai Sea region. I didn’t expect him to arrive so quickly. Judging by this, he’s probably been here for ten to twenty days. This Immortal Village has already taken shape,” Kuang Zhen said with a satisfied smile.

“Ye Mo?”

“He arrived quite fast. That island is nice, and he actually claimed it. Looks like he wanted to get a head start before we did.”

“Hmph, wishful thinking. We brought a large amount of spiritual materials, filling several sea vessels. We’ll definitely develop faster than him. Even if he came first, he can’t compete with us.”

“Why do they seem to be using spiritual swords to chop down the spiritual wood? Ye Mo is an independent cultivator; where did he get so many elemental spiritual swords to fell spiritual wood? Each spiritual sword costs over a hundred spirit stones. Do they have dozens or even hundreds of them?”

“Look closely—they’re just pitch-black dark iron swords. At most ten spirit stones per sword.”

“Dark iron swords? Ha! They’re using such low-grade spiritual weapons? We all brought spiritual swords forged through the academy’s graduation exam. That’s just luck on his part. Surviving in the Aolai Archipelago won’t be so easy.”

Several city lords whispered among themselves, some proud, others sneering. At the beginning of village construction, it was impossible to immediately forge large batches of spiritual swords. Many materials had to be transported by sea from Azure Cloud Immortal City.

However, Lou Jiejun, Bai Xijun, Ren Haiping, and others refrained from commenting. In their eyes, Ye Mo was no match for them; they didn’t take the Ye family Immortal Village seriously.

Still, they harbored some envy.

Good islands in the Aolai Archipelago were scarce; choosing one meant fewer options for others.

Those who built their villages first had the advantage.

Seeing Ye Mo had already started construction, the city lords had no intention of lingering. After bidding farewell to Kuang Zhen, they tacitly departed, sailing into the archipelago to select their desired islands for village construction.

The Azure Cloud Immortal Academy’s ships did not leave. Under Kuang Zhen’s orders, they sailed to the Ye family spiritual island and docked beside the Ye family’s ship.

Kuang Zhen and his group had come to build teleportation arrays for the villages. Since the Ye family Immortal Village was clearly the first to be completed, they naturally began building a teleportation array there first.

“The other nine new city lords from the Azure Cloud Immortal Academy have finally arrived. It looks like this sea region is going to become lively,” Ye Mo said, watching the dozen or so large sea vessels appear near the island.

“The Lou family is really wealthy. Just their banners alone are on three ships. How many supplies did they bring?” Wang Hu marveled.

“Envious? Why don’t you join them?” Mo Ling glared at Wang Hu and couldn’t help but say.

“Hey, I’m just admiring, no need to say that to me, okay? Brother Ye treats me like a real brother. I’m just his only forging apprentice. What benefit would I have in joining them? I’m not stupid,” Wang Hu laughed heartily.

Wang Hu and Yang You both had many years of experience in blacksmithing and forging. Coupled with a year of forging specialization at the Immortal Academy, their skills were somewhat better than those of ordinary forging apprentices, often boasting about their status as forging apprentices.

Unfortunately, Wang Hu didn’t have any forging blueprints. Currently, his forging mainly produced dark iron swords—a very low-grade spiritual weapon.

“So, you mean if someone offers a higher price, you’d choose to leave?” Mo Ling asked coldly, staring at Wang Hu.

“Oh no, ma’am, don’t say that! No one’s leaving, and I, Wang Hu, definitely wouldn’t leave Brother Ye. He’s treated me like family. Even if the Immortal Village has nothing now, I’ll stick with Brother Ye,” Wang Hu quickly waved his hands.

“That’s more like it,” Mo Ling smiled in satisfaction.

Kuang Zhen and more than a dozen cultivators disembarked from the large sea vessel.

Ye Mo hurried to greet Kuang Zhen and the other Azure Cloud Immortal Academy cultivators.

“Disciple greets Teacher Kuang and all the teachers,” Ye Mo said respectfully.

“Hehe, Ye Mo, you arrived quickly. You chose a very good spiritual island on the outskirts of the Aolai Archipelago. Luckily, you came early; otherwise, such an island would have been easily taken by other city lords. But why did you choose an island on the outskirts instead of one in the center of the archipelago?” Kuang Zhen squinted as he asked.

“The center of the archipelago is too complicated, surrounded by many Immortal Villages, making it easy to be besieged. With my current strength, it’s better to first establish a foothold on the outskirts,” Ye Mo smiled.

“Hmm, that’s wise — assessing your strength and acting prudently. Let’s go; take me to your new Immortal Village. I want to see how the construction is going, and I’ll help you build a small teleportation array connecting to Azure Cloud Immortal City,” Kuang Zhen said with approval.

“Yes, teachers, please follow me,” Ye Mo said immediately, leading Kuang Zhen and the other academy cultivators to the valley where the village was located.

The Ye family Immortal Village was bustling with construction everywhere. Kuang Zhen and the other Azure Cloud Immortal Academy cultivators inspected the facilities and the defensive walls as they walked.

“Building an Immortal Village within a two-li radius in this valley—that should be the inner city, right? You are unusually cautious and calm, advancing steadily, which aligns with your usual style at the academy. Even if a large-scale sea beast tide occurs in the short term, this tightly defended valley would be impregnable,” Kuang Zhen’s gaze revealed some surprise.

“Not really. I simply lack enough hands and cannot build a larger village. I can only settle down safely in this valley for now,” Ye Mo said with a slightly embarrassed expression.