Chapter 2: Construction
The paper boat floated through the air as the battalion followed closely behind. They advanced rapidly, and despite the fact that the boat was not traveling slowly at all, everyone was somehow able to keep up. Little Sweet discovered to her surprise that they had arrived at the Heaven-Upholding Peak before it was even dusk.
“Arr..... Arrived......” Little Sweet stammered. “How were we that fast?”
That last question was a rhetorical one she was asking herself.
“Is this the Heaven-Upholding Peak? The scenery here is quite nice,” Su Chen said from his vantage point at the top of the peak.
The Heaven-Upholding Peak was the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain’s most majestic peak. Countless ridges and peaks could be seen rising and falling in all directions. It really felt like he was standing on the tip of a sword that had been stuck into the mountain. White, fluffy clouds circled the peaks, somewhat obscuring them from view. The sight really was quite mesmerizing.
After looking around for some time, Su Chen descended and said, “From today onwards, this will be our home.”
“Oo-rah!” everyone responded in unison. This cheer was for their new home.
“However, you all must endure for a little while longer. There isn’t anything here yet, so we must start from scratch.” Su Chen said. “Now, the first step of the plan - cut into the mountain!”
Cheng Tianhai, Jun Moxie, Lin Shaoxuan, Chu Yingwan, and the others began to summon their underlings.
“Sea Mountain Company, come with me!”
“Dragon Mountain Company, over here!”
“Hidden Mountain Company, stay here on guard!”
“Blue Mountain Company, follow me!”
As the commanders began to cry out, the soldiers began to separate in an orderly fashion and spread out.
They had agreed on a plan long before arriving at this place. After dividing up the tasks, everyone was clear on what they needed to do, so their movements were increibly fluid. Even though there were many people present, they moved in an orderly fashion, and no one was confused about where they were supposed to be.
Little Sweet stared at this scene in shock. Su Chen walked over and said, “Little Sweet, thanks for your guidance. Your job is finished, so I’ll have the Death Shadow of a Youth send you back.”
The white paper boat began to turn around to head back down the mountain.
“Hey, hey, don’t be in such a hurry!” Little Sweet yelled. “There are so many of you here on this mountain. It probably won’t be too easy for you all to get by, right? Do you need anything? Rations? Water?”
Su Chen shook his head. “They’ve already been prepared.”
“Then what about clothes?” Little Sweet continued to scramble. “It gets cold when you are up so high, so you should at least be wearing a few.”
Su Chen chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. We won’t freeze.”
He waved his hand, causing the paper boat to continue to fly down the mountain.
Little Sweet stomped her feet in agitation. “Just let me see.”
Su Chen ignored her.
Even so, Little Sweet watched as those soldiers completely surrounded the mountain peak before suddenly striking at the ground.
What were they doing?
Little Sweet didn’t understand. Sword light filled the sky, but they were headed straight for the ground and left behind deep scars on the mountain peak.
When eight thousand soldiers did this simultaneously, the blade strikes were enough to cause the ground to shake.
Suddenly, Little Sweet understood. Her heart trembled as she muttered, “It can’t be?”
The Death Shadow of a Youth chuckled when he sensed Little Sweet’s shock. “Yes, it can. Even though this mountain peak is high, it is a bit too narrow, and it cannot support eight thousand people living here. But if you manage to demolish the peak, you will be able to build a massive residence here.
As the Death Shadow of a Youth spoke, the countless streaks of sword light continued to erode away at the base of the peak.
A moment later, Su Chen, Li Chongshan, Shi Kaihuang, and a few of the more powerful experts flew into the air and unleashed blasts of palm energy at the mountain. The Heaven-Supporting Peak, which was already beginning to show signs of collapsing, finally toppled over with a loud “crack” and began to roll down the mountainside.
Boom!
When it landed in the valley, it blasted up a large swath of dust, and the ground trembled violently for a moment.
The Flat Mountain Garrison people felt these strong fluctuations and charged out of their houses to figure out what all the commotion was.
Only Little Sweet could see that this peak of the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain had grown shorter by a significant amount.
It was still the tallest peak in the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, but the sharp tip had been flattened out, leaving behind an even surface at the top of the peak.
The next step after clearing out the territory was to lay the foundation for the residence.
Little Sweet was lucky and got her first look into how Origin Qi Scholars built houses.
First, Su Chen personally moved. He hefted the Mountain-Beheading Blade in his hand and circled around once before landing on the ground, deftly cutting some lines into the ground. These lines were for the construction workers to follow. Su Chen’s consciousness crystal allowed him to easily remember the build plans and replicate them with exceptional accuracy.
Next, a platoon of heavy weapons specialists began to break in the foundation according to the lines drawn out. Cheng Tianhai’s soldiers were the most suited for this kind of violent work.
At the same time, the other soldiers began to pull out the stone materials they had prepared in advance from their Origin Rings and began to lay them down.
Little Sweet saw another sight that gave her the greatest shock she had ever received in her life - all of the eight thousand disciples had Origin Rings!
Su Chen’s wealth had only increased after buying all those Origin Rings to save the Heavenly Might Battalion. As such, he decided to buy some more so that every one of the soldiers would have one. Each soldier was thus able to carry large quantities of resources necessary for building the palace.
The other soldiers who weren’t busy creating the foundation or laying down stones weren’t idle, either. They flew down the mountain in waves, sword Qi flying everywhere as they cut down the trees, storing them in their Origin Rings before returning to the top of the mountain.
That was the last thing that Little Sweet saw before the Death Shadow of a Youth took her out of range. The white clouds obscured her vision, causing the scene of thousands of people happily at work to disappear from view. This glimpse, however, was more than enough to leave behind a deep impression on Little Sweet.
Without the soldiers slowing him down, the Death Shadow of a Youth began to fly even more rapidly. In the blink of an eye, he returned to Flat Mountain Garrison.
The old man originally thought that his granddaughter would need two days to return, but she was unexpectedly back before the sky had even turned dark.
However, Little Sweet sat in the paper boat in a daze, completely motionless, as if she had lost her soul.
The old tavern owner was badly frightened. He hugged his granddaughter and said, “Little Sweet, they didn’t do anything to you, did they?”
Little Sweet blushed as she pushed her grandfather aside and continued to stare off in the direction of the mountain.
The Death Shadow of a Youth floated off into the distance.
As she stared at the clouds covering the mountain from view, Little Sweet said, “I’ve decided, grandpa.”
“Decided what?”
“I’m going into the mountains to find them.”
“What? Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t even know what kind of people they are.” The old tavern owner was badly startled.
“I already know. I asked on the way there. They are planning on living there. They said that they were going to establish a sect!
“Establish a sect?” Those words sounded quite foreign to the old tavern keeper.
“Yes, establish a sect!” Little Sweet replied as she nodded diligently. “I’m going to go ask him to be my master!”
She said as she gazed in the direction of the mountain, “I am going to learn Origin Skills and become an Origin Qi Scholar!”
“They won’t accept you.”
“No, they will accept me. That handsome brother said that anyone and everyone was qualified to receive an education. As long as they are fated to do so, they can join!”
The construction was still ongoing back over at the Heaven-Upholding Mountain.
Any onlookers from afar would see countless people surrounding this tall peak, carrying out an unprecedented construction work. They flew around on Soul Armaments, used Origin Rings to transport construction materials, and used a variety of Origin Skills to cut, align, and glue together these materials. Their outstanding organization made them incredibly efficient, and Su Chen, who possessed the consciousness crystal, was the best foreman.
His brain spun rapidly as he took into account every detail of the plan, sending different individuals to take care of different problems.
Command after command was issued from his mouth, which were efficiently carried out by the appropriate recipients. They constantly reported information back to Su Chen as well for him to consider and deal with.
The result of this back-and-forth dialogue was that this massive palace began to take shape at a speed that was possible to observe with the naked eye.
In but a day, the Heaven-Upholding Peak was completely flattened, and the foundation had been laid. On the second day, an outline of the palace began to form. All of the cornerstones, supporting columns, floorboards, etc. were methodically arranged by the Origin Qi Scholars, who flow through the air to the appropriate destination, laid them down, and then nailed them in place. The wooden slabs interlocked autonomously and then were covered in a special mix of adhesive mud. These slabs were then cooked over a well-controlled fire until they dried.
The crossbeams were put together like toy building blocks one after another, followed by countless tiles that flew through the air like they had wings, clattering into place above the crossbeams.
If anyone was about to run out of Origin Energy, someone would take their place, and the person whose energy was exhausted would go into the nearby temporary worker’s tent to rest and cultivate.
By the third day, the main palace itself was completed. This palace was at least three hundred feet tall, but there were only five floors. The interior was extremely empty, but the height of the palace made up for the amount of mountain rock that had been hewn off. After completing the body of the palace, however, there was more to do. They began to construct various smaller residences, with the main palace as the center.
The construction workers began to build around the mountain peak, with the Boundless Palace at the very center.
“If that’s the case, we should be done in seven days,” Su Chen muttered to himself.
“It really is a miracle,” Li Chongshan sighed with praise.
Such a massive undertaking was truly miraculous, even in a world where humans possessed supernatural abilities.
Su Chen was still the person primarily responsible for bringing about such a miracle.
Only he had enough wealth to provide every one of the Heavenly Might Battalion’s soldiers with an Origin Ring. Most importantly, only he could perform such complex calculations so rapidly, ensuring that each person could carry out their responsibility without falling into chaos.
There was no one else that the human race could rely on quite like Su Chen.
While everyone was expressing their amazement, a disciple came to report to Su Chen.
“Sect Master, there is a girl who requests an audience with you.”
As soon as they had arrived at this peak, Su Chen was no longer Su Chen but the Boundless Sect’s Sect Master, and the commander of everyone present. The eight-thousand-strong Heavenly Might Battalion had also become disciples of the Boundless Sect. Li Chongshan and the others naturally became the sect’s elders.
Upon hearing this disciple’s report, even Su Chen was stunned. “A girl?”
“Yes! It’s the girl who gave us directions a few days ago.”
“It’s her? What is she doing here?” Su Chen was taken aback.
The disciple replied, “She said she wants to take you as her master and enter the sect.”
“Enter my sect?” Su Chen was momentarily taken aback before he burst out laughing. “We haven’t even officially opened our doors yet, but there are already people trying to get in, huh?”
Upon hearing this, everyone present began to laugh.
“Then…… Sect Master, are we going to accept this disciple?”
“Of course we will! Why wouldn’t we?”
“Don’t we need to test her aptitude first?”
Su Chen’s eyebrows jumped. “Anyone who wants to enter my sect must be fated to do so. Everyone can be educated regardless of their background. There is no need to test aptitude.”