Chapter 163: The Mortals’ Arrival
Qingming welcomed its first batch of mortals.
The first wave wasn’t particularly large. It was a little over three thousand people, and they had arrived in trickles. They had all previously lived in nearby villages. Wei Yuan had already designated an open area by a small lake in the southeastern part of the realm as their first city.
The land was located about one hundred and ten li away from the realm stone and close to the border. However, when the tens of thousands of Shaman corpses currently sitting in the realm had been fully converted, the domain’s boundaries would extend another twenty li. The lakeside featured vast stretches of open land that had once been cultivated but had fallen into ruin after the war. It was terrible, but at least reclaiming it would require far less effort than starting from scratch.
Everyone was utterly exhausted from the journey, but their spirits were instantly lifted upon entering the domain. Many ailments that had plagued them for years vanished without a trace as well. When they reached the lake and saw the vast, level lands around it, many were so overcome with emotion that they burst into tears.
Wei Yuan received another wisp of blue qi.
Though they were called “mortals”, many of them were actually Body-tempering stage cultivators who, unwilling to leave their families behind, chose to stay behind rather than venture out into the world. Moreover, in human settlements, having a Body-tempering stage cultivator in the family offered a significant advantage in resolving neighborhood disputes or handling conflicts over land or water. If one had reached the blood-tempering stage, then they would have more than enough power to become the village tyrant.
Wei Yuan had already designated the area for their settlement. He had driven boundary stakes into the ground and assigned dozens of cultivators to maintain order and assist them in building their homes.
The humans of the western regions lived in extreme hardship. In Willow Ash Town, tens of thousands of people lived in shanties that were little better than dog pens. Consequently, these people had minimal demands for housing—as long as it offered shelter from the rain, they were satisfied.
At the moment, Wei Yuan had a substantial stockpile of building materials, all salvaged from the Shamans’ military encampments. That day, the Shamans had only managed to build a small portion of the camp before they suffered a crushing defeat. As they routed, they abandoned a vast amount of materials. Naturally, they all fell into Wei Yuan’s hands.