LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 202: Sea View City
Above the Immortal City of Zhou City.
A flying warship rumbled through the sky and landed at the Zhou family's base.
Below, a group of Zhou family Foundation Establishment cultivators stood waiting.
"Fellow Daoist Arthur, you must have had a tiring journey!" The leading Zhou family Foundation Establishment cultivator bowed to Luis, who had flown down from the warship, and smiled warmly.
"Senior Zhou, you are too kind," replied Arthur, who now looked much more mature.
Noticing the Zhou family cultivators occasionally glancing at the flying warship behind him, Arthur quickly introduced, "Thanks to the supply of raw materials from Guang'an Prefecture Immortal City and Lingzhou Immortal City, our family has been able to refine more pills and magical tools this month. Senior Zhou, please take a look."
With that, Arthur instructed them to inspect the cargo delivered by the flying warship.
Under Arthur's guidance, the Zhou family cultivators examined the pills and magical tools that the Hartmann family supplied to the front lines each month.
As he inspected the goods, the Zhou family Foundation Establishment cultivator nodded repeatedly.
"Indeed, the quantity of pills this month has increased significantly compared to last month. It seems your family has gained more alchemists."
A hint of complexity flashed in the Zhou family cultivator's eyes as he spoke.
"Senior, you flatter us. My family has invested all the spirit stones we earned into training new alchemists. Not only that, but we've also spent a large portion of our family's reserves. As you know, the initial cost of training an alchemist or a weapon refiner is exceedingly high,"
Arthur explained with a sigh.
"True enough," the Zhou family cultivator agreed, nodding.
Then, with a smile, he added, "But your family is truly bold to invest so heavily in training alchemists and weapon refiners. It seems your family will soon carve out a place in Guang'an Prefecture's pill market."
"You honor us too much," Arthur replied, waving his hands modestly.
"Our Hartmann family is merely trying to make a name for ourselves in Guang'an Prefecture. How could we ever compare to the Zhou family, whose reputation in the Cangzhou medicine market is unparalleled?"
"Hahaha!" The flattery clearly pleased the Zhou family cultivator, who burst into hearty laughter.
While the two were talking, the cultivators under their command had already finished counting all the goods.
A cultivator at the early Foundation Establishment stage stepped forward, bowed to the Zhou family steward leading the group, and reported, "Sir Steward, this time the Hartmann family has brought three types of first-grade low-tier pills: 143,000 detoxification pills, 100,000 evil-breaking pills, and 94,500 energy-restoring pills, totaling 337,500 pills. Additionally, there are 5,000 first-grade low-quality flying swords and 2,400 first-grade medium-quality flying swords. The total value of these goods is 3.865 million spirit stones."
After hearing the report, the Zhou family steward nodded in acknowledgment.
"What do you think, Fellow Daoist Arthur? Shall we settle the payment as before?" he asked.
"Yes, half in military merit, as usual," Arthur replied with a smile.
"Tsk," the Zhou family steward shook his head, his eyes filled with envy. "Even though your Hartmann family is stationed in the rear, you've still managed to accumulate quite a bit of military merit this time!"
"We are merely fortunate," Arthur said humbly. "We cannot compare to Senior Zhou Mubai. I heard that a few days ago, Senior Zhou Mubai led the cultivators of the Eastern Defense Zone to break through a second-grade Yin vein transformed by the zombies of Lotus Island, killing nearly a million zombies."
"Fellow Daoist Arthur is indeed well-informed. That is correct," the Zhou family steward replied, his face lighting up with pride at the mention of the achievement.
The recent victories in the Eastern Defense Zone meant that the rear area of Guang'an Prefecture was becoming increasingly stable.
It was worth noting that the Eastern Defense Zone was only one part of the entire Guang'an Prefecture coalition forces, representing less than half of their total strength.
In the rear area of Guang'an Prefecture, four major defense zones had been established.
Apart from the relatively weaker Western Defense Zone, the other zones were quite formidable. If every able-bodied citizen in each defense zone were mobilized, they could gather at least one million cultivators.
Combined with the Core Formation cultivators stationed in each zone, they formed a powerful reserve force.
As for the zombie horde from Lotus Island attempting to bypass the defenses and attack the rear, that was practically impossible.
At the moment, they were being pushed back step by step by the Eastern Defense Zone's allied forces and could barely hold their ground. How could they possibly spare the strength to launch a surprise attack on Guang'an Prefecture's rear?
Moreover, the people in the rear of Guang'an Prefecture were not to be trifled with. If the zombies attempted such a move, it would only hasten their demise. With Sun Fu's intelligence, he would never make such a foolish decision.
Redwood Island, Sea View City.
On the city wall, Luis and Biggs stood side by side.
"Biggs, what do you think?" Luis asked proudly, gesturing toward the third-tier formation that had been set up.
"Not bad, not bad," Biggs nodded repeatedly. "But it would be even better if it were a fourth-tier formation."
Hearing this, Luis frowned slightly, then shook his head and said, "Setting up a fourth-tier formation isn't the hard part. The real challenge is how to unleash its full power."
"Zhou Main City has a third-tier spirit vein as its energy source, but my Chen family's spirit vein is only second-tier, which isn't sufficient to support a fourth-tier formation."
"Unless we use those Sun and Moon Flowers... But we'll have to wait a few more months until the spirit vein advances to the third tier. Then, it won't be too late to set up the fourth-tier mountain protection formation."
At this point, Luis laughed and added, "Once the fourth-tier mountain protection formation is in place, my family will have the foundation of a great clan."
Hearing this, Biggs couldn't help but feel deeply moved. Once upon a time, the Hartmann family had only the territory of a small barony. Now, it had grown significantly. And here he was, openly discussing with Luis the matter of upgrading to a third-tier spirit vein. Truly, times had changed.
"By the way," Biggs turned to Luis and asked, "I heard that building this immortal city cost nearly 60 million spirit stones in military expenses. Rumor has it that the Western Defense Zone is almost out of funds for military salaries. Does the Hartmann family need to help cover this shortage of spirit stones?"
Hearing this, Luis turned his gaze toward the increasingly prosperous Sea View Immortal City. He smiled slightly and shook his head, saying, "No need, Biggs. Just watch."
Although Biggs didn't know what Luis was planning, he knew his friend well enough to understand that whenever Luis wore such an expression, the family's problems would soon be resolved.
This time would be no exception.
Sea View Immortal City, the third major immortal city built by Guang'an Prefecture, stands apart from the markets established by other Foundation Establishment families.
First, it is constructed on a third-tier spirit vein worth over tens of millions of spirit stones.
Second, the various structures within the immortal city—including its districts, spirit palaces, shops, and roads—were meticulously designed by a master builder from the Yang family, who was also involved in the construction of Lingzhou City.
Let's set aside other considerations for now. After all, immortal cities are fundamentally different from mortal cities.
They are inhabited by cultivators of all kinds, which imposes high demands on the formations integrated into their buildings.
For example, an inn must be equipped with formations for soundproofing and preventing spiritual energy interference.
Similarly, shops in the immortal city require alarm formations to deter troublemakers. Merchants can even call upon the law enforcement team of the overseeing family to seek justice if disputes arise.
Additionally, structures like the spirit palaces, which provide cultivators with spaces for cultivation, and the anti-flight formations, which prohibit flying within the city, all require the construction of specialized formations.
It's important to note that setting up formations isn't as simple as drawing a few circles in the air. It requires a significant amount of formation materials.
This is true not only for the third-tier mountain protection formation but also for the various buildings within Sea View City. While the cost of individual formation materials may not seem high, the cumulative expense for an entire immortal city is staggering.
According to Luis's plan, the construction of this immortal city is far from complete. Only one-tenth of the reserved space has been utilized so far.
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By the time the entire reserved space is fully developed, it is estimated that the current population of cultivators in the Western Defense Zone will be insufficient to fill it.
Although the Western Defense Zone is also one of the five major defense zones, except for those monks whose original clan lands and practice centers are too close to Redwood Island.