Longzang

Chapter 629 The Century-Long Pact
Having promised Tianyu, Wei Yuan naturally had to fulfill his promise. So he summoned the True Man of the Hoeing Fields and ordered him to survey the fields and waterways of the entire oasis and study how to cultivate mulberry trees and raise silk.

Upon hearing this, Master Chuhe's spirits lifted. He had never seen such a hot and dry landscape with abundant underground water before, which clearly indicated the presence of many new species. Immediately, he led over a hundred assistants and disciples to various locations, where they worked with great enthusiasm.

Wei Yuan inadvertently discovered that the number of disciples under Master Chuhe had grown considerably. These disciples did not meet the standards for entering the Taichu Palace; they were essentially the old master's private apprentices.

Wei Yuan carefully examined the apprentices' backgrounds and cultivation practices. Most of them were practicing the basic Daoist techniques created by the old Daoist, such as the [Six Paths Jia Yi Divine Wood Qi] and the [Primordial Heaven Nourishing Spirit True Immortal Water].

The old Taoist also created an additional Dao foundation called [Mysterious Heavenly Spirit-Controlling Vitality Soil], which only two people have currently mastered. This Dao foundation not only excels at communicating with spirit beasts, but also makes turning over soil extremely easy.

The two men were responsible for raising guinea pigs, ensuring that Lao Dao's meals were never lacking in ingredients. At the same time, they were also adept at clearing land, managing to cultivate thousands of acres a day with hundreds of guinea pigs.

Seeing this, Wei Yuan felt quite helpless. He then ordered the promotion of the three Dao foundations created by the old Daoist, and offered extra rewards, hoping that more than 100 people would choose these three Dao foundation templates in the upcoming Dao foundation training.

After settling things with the old Taoist priest, Wei Yuan went to find Tianyu. He found Tianyu looking sorrowful, lying on the bed with Xu Wenwu, drinking alone in silence.

When Wei Yuan entered, he was taken aback by the atmosphere and couldn't understand why the two of them were so worried. Back in the day, Xu Wenwu failed five out of six courses in a semester, but he had never seen him so heartbroken.

When Tianyu saw Wei Yuan, he quickly waved: "Come on, have a few drinks with me! We're brothers today, so we have to drink to our hearts' content and leave here on our backs!"

Wei Yuan suddenly felt a headache coming on. With his current powerful physique, he could drink several barrels of ordinary strong liquor without any effect; only spirit liquor imbued with Dao power could work. Therefore, Wei Yuan wasn't afraid of competing with the Power Witch in drinking; rather, he was worried about wasting the liquor.

"I need you to sign a contract. What's wrong? Why are you suddenly in a bad mood?"

Tianyu pointed to her lower body. Wei Yuan looked and saw a bud growing at an extremely slow pace.

Tianyu sighed, "Alas, don't even mention it. Without the pressure of life and death, my physical body has started to slack off, and its growth rate has slowed down. Moreover, once my body has fully grown, it will need to be tempered again, and during this time, I will be left alone in an empty room."

Wei Yuan was quite surprised. After inquiring carefully, he learned that the young witches Tianyu had chosen in the past were all physically strong, with bodies as hard as iron. Given the frailty of his newly formed body, if he were to have any intimate contact with the young witches, he could easily be overly compressed, leading to a serious accident.

However, Wei Yuan couldn't help with this either, so he turned to Xu Wenwu for help.

The fat man said with a deep expression, "When I drink, I think of my beloved, and I wonder how she's doing since I left..."

Wei Yuan was familiar with Xu Wenwu's romantic history, but he didn't know which one Xu Wenwu was referring to. This guy had quite a few "white moonlight" lovers; basically, anyone with a bit of beauty had been his white moonlight. And it seemed that no matter who it was, Xu Wenwu's departure wouldn't affect them much; they might not even know he was gone for a long time.

Wei Yuan was speechless at the two of them. He took out a contract and handed it to Tianyu, saying, "Here, be good, sign it."

Tianyu pressed down on the jade paper and said, "I have another thing on my mind..."

Wei Yuan had no choice but to listen patiently.

It turned out that this guy had taken a fancy to a pretty young witch, but the witch only loved young men and not money, and she was very principled, refusing to curry favor with anyone, and she gave Tianyu a thorough dressing-down. Tianyu felt that he had nothing but money now, so he was particularly depressed.

Wei Yuan left the matter to the common folk, and no one knew which brilliant strategist or genius came up with an idea. Wei Yuan didn't think much of it and simply recited:

"...Isn't this simple? Go find her best childhood friends, her closest confidantes, and throw a lot of immortal silver at them, making sure they live much better than that little witch. Before long, that little witch will feel resentful and will willingly submit to you, forcing you to drive away all those vile witches."

Upon hearing this, Tianyu was completely shocked: "Wei Yuan, so you're not a good person after all! I never would have thought of such a treacherous scheme..."

Wei Yuan realized something was wrong after reading it aloud, thinking he'd have to give the person who came up with the idea a good beating later. But there was more important business at hand, so he moved Tianyu's hand away and said, "Come on, let's sign the contract first."

Tianyu then looked at the jade paper: "One million taels of silver in exchange for ninety-nine years of mining rights to the Red Sand Oasis???" Then Tianyu looked up at Wei Yuan in confusion and asked, "Are you stupid?"

Wei Yuan remained expressionless. Amidst the everyday hustle and bustle, the sacrificial ceremony that the followers of Tianyu had been preparing for a long time was finally allowed to begin.

Tianyu let out a scream and hurriedly shouted, "Stop, stop! You're not stupid!"

After Wei Yuan stopped the ritual, Tianyu felt that lying earlier was inappropriate, so she added, "What I meant was, you're not particularly stupid."

Wei Yuan said irritably, "You don't even want the Immortal Silver?"

Tianyu said, "This place is essentially yours. Dig whatever you want; why waste your immortal silver?"

Wei Yuan said, "You will be the chief of the tribe in the future, so you can't act so casually. If you give away mines and land just because of personal relationships, no amount of ancestral property will be enough for you to squander."

Tianyu looked at the jade paper again and said, "How about we take less, ten thousand?"

Wei Yuan was both amused and exasperated: "Ten thousand? Are you trying to make a bad name for yourself? It's a million!"

"You still say you're not stupid?" Tianyu muttered as she signed the papers.

Wei Yuan added, "Remember to show this to your ancestors."

No sooner had the words left Wei Yuan's mouth than the rough voice of the Great Wilderness Sun rang out behind him: "I've seen it, it's okay to sign. But there are two conditions: first, exchange some of the immortal silver for wine; second, each of us elders needs ten copies of the storybook that the woman in red was reading."

Wei Yuan was immediately at a loss: "I do have storybooks, but could you please change your request?"

"No! I want the batch she's looking at right now! What, you think I'm not good enough? Why don't you call her out, and I'll have a go at her right now!" The voice of the Great Wilderness Sun was as loud as a bell.

Despite her seemingly rough and rugged nature, Zhu Yuanjin is actually quite cunning. She excels at ambushes and never engages in direct combat. In a real fight, she would definitely suffer.

Helpless, Wei Yuan had no choice but to take out fifty storybooks and hand them over to Da Huang Zhi Ri, guaranteeing that they had all been read by Zhu Yuan Jin and rewritten into the Wu Clan version.

Just as Da Huangzhi was about to leave with the storybook, Tianyu hurriedly stopped him: "Ancestor, can this contract really be signed? It's for ninety-nine years!"

Da Huang Zhi Ri said impatiently, "Several hundred years will pass in the blink of an eye. What's ninety-nine years? This land was originally intended to be given to him, but he insisted on paying. You feel uncomfortable about it. Just find some ancient immortal plant seeds as a return gift."

Even if there are good things underground, how much can he dig up in such a short time? If he digs up too little, I will naturally compensate him. But the storybook can't be lacking!

“Storybooks…” Wei Yuan hesitated, then stopped.

Half a day later, huge roars rose and fell, echoing throughout the entire Red Sand Oasis.

The great shamans were so enraged by the storybook that their heads were practically burning with anger. Their Daoist resolve was almost broken, but they couldn't bear to put it down. So they read and cursed at the same time, and the booming roars continued all day long.

The next day, Da Huangzhi found Wei Yuan again and said bluntly, "Give me another fifty storybooks, and I'll extend the contract period by a hundred years!"

(End of this chapter)