Chapter 229: Life 73, Age 33, Martial Grandmaster Peak
After returning to Mount Jiang, I handed my new recruits off to Mo, ShouLi, Liang, and the siblings. They had done an excellent job of raising NiangBa, and I was hopeful that I wouldn’t need to step in to help them too much with this larger group.
Once I was gone, everyone naturally divided themselves into three distinct camps. Mo teamed up with NiangBa, ShouLi with Liang, and GuiMing with GuiAi. Then, each pair took five of the new recruits and helped them get settled in.
Their first task was to build new housing for themselves.
I had already constructed a warehouse on the southern side of the plateau, and it held more than enough basic wood, stone, and metal for everyone to build anything they might want. They were free to use these materials in any way they chose, but as I had done the previous year, I would reward more thoughtful designs with extra contribution points.
By having children with no background or training in architecture design and build houses by themselves, there was a nonzero chance that things would go disastrously wrong. However, that was unlikely. These young cultivators were capable of using qi and specialized techniques to move and shape basic materials at will. As long as they strengthened everything properly, they didn’t necessarily have to follow the normal rules of structural engineering. They might not be able to build anything elaborate, but they should at least be able to construct a house without it collapsing on them in the process.
After splitting up, the three groups approached this problem from radically different directions. ShouLi’s group focused on building a single, massive, palatial structure that was capable of housing all seven people in their cohort. The siblings’ group, on the other hand, was constructing a series of smaller buildings that encircled a shared courtyard. Finally, Mo’s group had spread out a bit, and everyone was building their own individual cottages.
Aside from checking in on them every once in a while to ensure that none of these structures were on the verge of collapsing, I mostly left everyone alone to do their own thing while I shifted my focus to the northern edge of the plateau.
At first, I had been somewhat concerned about allowing NiangBa to train in martial arts too early, but his results proved the effectiveness of allowing the members of my clan to pursue whatever subjects they were interested in. As such, I decided to immediately expand the skills I had on offer and allow the Disciples to start studying a profession.
Cultivators on the Nine Rivers Continent only recognized eight professions, and each of these professions was typically associated with a different element.