Chapter 1010 - 855: The Poor
As soon as Shi Chun returned to the Heavenly Domain Dingnan Prefecture, he tossed Qilin A San aside to play on his own. Now he wouldn't keep putting San away in his bag all the time; after all, San himself no longer wanted to go home.
Wu Jinliang, who had been waiting for him, popped up from who knew where and went straight up to Shi Chun to ask, "What did Mulan Jin say?"
Wu Jinliang had really been driven to the edge by the current situation, and he truly had no way out. The moment he heard that the Master had gone to see Mulan Jin, he rushed over to wait for news.
Right after that, Tong Mingshan, An Wuzhi, Zhu Xiangxin and the others also arrived; the whole Mingshan Sect group was now assembled.
Everyone knew their future had reached a critical moment. They were all running around looking for solutions, some even going back to the Sects they had come from.
Shi Chun went to the main seat and sat down, shaking his head slightly as he said, "Given his status, he can't get involved in this, and there's nothing he can do. He told us to face reality: either admit defeat, or find our own way to resolve it."
When Wu Jinliang heard that, he flared up. "We fought bloody battles with our lives on the line to help the Heavenly Court take this Demon Realm. By merits and rewards, everything we have now is what we deserve. For the Heavenly Court to go back on its word like this—doesn't that chill people's hearts?"
At these words, everyone felt the same deep down, all furious at the shameless behavior of the Heavenly Court, all feeling the Heavenly Court was bullying them too far.
Before this, Shi Chun would have thought just like them. But after being harshly scolded by Mulan Jin, he had somewhat come around.
His mindset now was as Mulan Jin had said: fretting over gains and losses is useless, one must face reality.
After the noise of everyone's denunciations finally eased a little, he looked to An Wuzhi and the others and asked, "Did you gain anything from going back to your original Sects?"
The few of them all shook their heads. Zhu Xiangxin sighed, "What the Master said about us having absorbed the Divine Fire—earlier on, that would indeed have been a big attraction to them. This time, though, they're all keeping their distance from us."
Shi Chun gave a quiet oh. "If they're unwilling to help think of ways, so be it. At the very least, you're all city lords now—going in person counts as lowering your noble status to ask a favor. How dare a mere Ten Thousand Grass Hall treat you with such discourtesy?"
An Wuzhi said, "The Master may not know—our current predicament is no longer any kind of secret to many people. The Master may have forgotten some of the people he killed in the big war before, such as Water Mansion Grandmother's grandson Da Shen. Word has already spread from the Water Mansion's side. The sects we hail from don't dare go against that kind of colossus."
Zhu Xiangxin said helplessly, "It's not just the Water Mansion. There's also Thunder Sound Sect and the like; they're all hoping the Master loses his power."
Shi Chun snorted. "We do have merits, after all. Even if we're demoted, we won't be kicked out of the Heavenly Court altogether. I doubt they'd dare act brazenly in the open, so don't worry about them. Right, let's all talk about the current situation. We have to face reality—after scattering so many forces out there, there's still no progress?"
At this, everyone's heads started to ache. Wu Jinliang said, "Those who come are just here to play around. The travel cost to get through Guoxun Gate isn't cheap; ordinary folks simply can't come. The ones who can are just showing up for their friends' sake, coming to look around. Out of three who come, two run off. The one who stays takes a look at the environment here and, when he can't find any work to earn Cultivation resources, he can't stay more than a few days before he runs, too. That's how things are right now."
Tong Mingshan said, "Of course, there are some who stay, but that has nothing to do with our recruitment. Those are people with fat purses; even without earning Cultivation resources, they have enough to get by. They can stay anywhere they like. They come here for the rich Spiritual Energy, which benefits their Cultivation. But such people are the minority. Most folks simply don't have the resources to sustain that kind of consumption; they have to consider their Cultivation livelihood. Three years from now, across all our territories put together, this type of person probably won't even reach one million."
Feng Chi sighed, "Indeed. Even though everyone knows the Heavenly Domain's Spiritual Energy will be rich in the future, that in a hundred years or maybe a few decades it will be a fine place, most people's purses simply can't support such long-term vision. Apart from a few individuals, only those big powers have the means to lay out plans ahead of time for several decades or even a century later."
An Wuzhi said, "The key now is that those big powers don't care to buy a plot in the city and build a house or something. Their layout is aimed straight at the ground beneath our asses—they're making preparations to seize the new Spirit Veins that will emerge across various places in the future. Before they've managed to grab the ground under our asses, they won't casually pile manpower in here. To them, things like buying land and building houses—even if they're more expensive later—don't matter."
Feng Chi murmured, "That's exactly it. If it weren't for the pressure of this population-introduction task, if it weren't to help Dongguo Shou secure his position, the Carefree Sect wouldn't be pushing so many people to move in so early. Master, it seems the forces behind the Domain Master have also started exerting strength. I hear the Domain Master's Central side has already begun bringing people in in droves, and only we few are still here staring blankly."
Wu Jinliang cursed, "Damn, bullying us on the strength of their power…"
Shi Chun fell silent for a while, then lifted his gaze and swept it across them all, slowly saying, "There's no point in talking about things we can't rely on. As I said, we must face reality. Let's all think this through together—everyone voice your ideas and see if we can find a path. As long as there's hope, we have to try. First fix a direction, then solve the problems; if there are difficulties, we figure out ways to tackle them one by one. Think about it—speaking of the current situation, to get enough people to complete the task, what kind of people can we actually attract with the conditions we can offer?"
Everyone looked at each other blankly. Just as they were all racking their brains, Chen Wuji, whose broken leg had already healed, suddenly blurted out, "The poor…"
At that, everyone's eyes turned to him in unison. Shi Chun humbly asked, "How do you mean?"