Longzang

Chapter 630 It's just a mount
Several days later, Wei Yuan finally managed to make some initial progress on the entire Red Sand Oasis. The witches of the Leize tribe in this area were quite wealthy, and every household could produce some immortal silver. Tens of thousands of witches managed to produce two million taels of immortal silver, in addition to other treasures totaling three million taels, not to mention real estate and land.

Wei Yuan didn't stand on ceremony with these things, taking half of them and giving the other half to Tian Yu. Tian Yu neither inquired about their origin nor refused, keeping forty percent for herself, giving fifty percent as tribute to the Great Wilderness, and the remaining ten percent went into the tribe's treasury.

Wei Yuan shook his head as he watched from the side. Sure enough, the tribal treasury, a system based on conscience, could only exist when people were extremely poor. As long as there was a little surplus food, the system could not continue.

After confiscating the property, Wei Yuan moved Qingming's people into the vacated courtyard. However, humans were not used to living in the houses of the Wu tribe; many of the Wu tribe's mansions were like water dungeons in the eyes of the humans.

Some wealthy shamanic families not only have water in their houses, but also a multitude of strange insects, fish, and shrimp. It is said that soaking in this muddy water is beneficial to the physical and mental health of the shamans of Thunder Swamp, and the insects can even help clean their wounds.

When Wei Yuan visited these houses, he was shocked by the stale mud inside, which was even worse than in the Land of Rain. At least the Land of Rain preferred clear water, not muddy water.

The shaman was unwilling to live here, so Wei Yuan ordered his men to blow up the entire city, compact the ground, and then spread firewood and flint and steel on it and burned it for half a day to kill all the old treasure insects in the soil. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

The four major sacrificial families selected a total of 15,000 young men and women suitable for sacrifice. Wei Yuan then ordered them to hand over all the healthy children aged eight to fourteen for centralized custody, and thus obtained another 60,000.

Sun Yu had already arrived with most of the disciples from the medical clinic to examine the physical aptitudes of these people. Xu Henshui also arrived with more than a dozen people to explore the earth's veins and search for rare medicinal herbs throughout the oasis. He was making great progress in his research on the ancient immortal formulas, and several of the auxiliary ingredients looked like they came from the Witch Domain, so as soon as he received the news, Xu Henshui rushed over to collect the herbs.

It took Sun Yu a full seven days to complete the testing of everyone, and then he spent the whole night sorting out all the data.

Sun Yu handed Wei Yuan several sheets of jade paper and said, "The conclusions are all on here. These people, how should I put it, can no longer be completely considered human."

The sacrificial people have been domesticated for a long time, and over hundreds of thousands of years, the Wu tribe has developed a complete and mature system of domestication. The sacrificial people are mainly divided into two categories: the living and the sacrificial people. The living are those with good physical functions who are specifically responsible for bearing children, and they can live up to forty years old.

Sacrificial beings are those who pass the tests of the witch clan at birth and are specially raised as sacrificial offerings. Their living environment and diet are different from those of living people. Sacrificial beings must also take special medicines regularly and practice human-specific techniques on a schedule. Sacrificial beings raised in this way can obtain more sacrificial power.

After examining them, Sun Yu discovered that the sacrificial people were closer to pure humans, while the living people had undergone many mutations. Many of the older living people suffered from various hidden illnesses, some of which were already terminal, their bodies in a mess, with haphazardly growing flesh and blood tissue everywhere.

In the Red Sand Oasis, being considered old means being over thirty-five years old, and being considered of advanced age means being forty. Anyone over forty is to be offered up at the altar.

This was actually regarded as the highest honor among the sacrificial people, who believed that they could return to the embrace of the ancestral witch and be with the ancestral witch.

However, very few people live to be forty; the vast majority die around the age of thirty-five.

The sacrificial beings, due to their diet, elixirs, and cultivation, are in much better physical condition. This batch sent to the city lord's mansion consists entirely of sacrificial beings; out of 15,000, 2,000 have reached the Great Perfection of Body Forging. As for the Foundation Establishment stage, there are none; they have all been taken by the Thunder Swamp tribe.

Wei Yuan silently finished reading the data, took a deep breath, and said, "The average lifespan of people here is less than forty?"

"The environment here in the Red Sand Oasis is relatively good. I estimate that those sacrificial tribes deep in the Witch Domain may not live past thirty."

"Then how will they reproduce?"

Sun Yu said, "Girls here start menstruating at nine and can give birth at ten. They can have two children a year, and there are secret methods that allow them to have multiple children in one birth. This place is known as the Eastern Wilderness in the Witch Domain. I heard that the birthing efficiency is even higher in the core area of ​​the Witch Domain."

Wei Yuan now understood that the sacrificial people were no different from livestock among the witch clan, perhaps the only difference being that they were a little smarter than animals.

The offerings sent by Tianyu were all human sacrifices, not living people. Living people and ordinary humans differed significantly in appearance, and older living people were of little value, while younger living people were like hens laying eggs—highly valuable and generally not bought or sold. Only human sacrifices circulated.

Wei Yuan pondered for a moment and then asked, "What should we do with these strangers?"

Sun Yu already had the answer: "The best course of action is to maintain the status quo, let the living continue to reproduce, and then let the children born be processed by the secret methods of the Witch Clan. After a few years, they will be similar to normal humans. However, their cultivation aptitude is generally much better than that of the refugees. Several hundred people can be cultivated to the Dao Foundation stage out of every ten thousand people, which is more than ten times that of ordinary refugees."

Wei Yuan offered no comment, but asked, "Then what are the middle and worst strategies?"

Sun Yu said, "The middle strategy is to reduce the number of children the living people have and provide them with better living conditions so that they can live longer. The worst strategy is to kill them all, which is like killing the hen that lays the eggs. It will take the Wu tribe hundreds of years to replenish so many living people."

"Have you reversed your middle and worst strategies?"

Sun Yu said, "There's no rebellion. If you use the worst strategy, the Desolate Ancestor Tribe will probably turn against you immediately. The advantage of the middle strategy is that there will still be normal sacrificial people produced, just a little less. Then we can take these sacrificial people away and give the Desolate Ancestor Tribe some compensation, which is equivalent to buying them. On the surface, it will look the same as before, except that the ruler has changed from one witch tribe to another."

As for providing better living conditions for the living and encouraging them to have fewer children, it won't make them grateful. It's like how a cow won't thank you for not milking it a few times. Doing so is more about making your conscience feel better, if you have one.

Wei Yuan understood, and then said quietly, "Uncle-Master, there's really no need for that last sentence."

Sun Yu laughed and said, "If I don't tell you, my Dao heart won't be clear."

Ultimately, Wei Yuan decided to adopt the best strategy. The current changes were already drastic enough; stability was paramount. Too many sudden changes would only make the people uncomfortable.

Several days later, Yu Zhizhuo finally arrived with more than a dozen vehicles of equipment and five hundred foundation stones. After meeting Wei Yuan, he briefly explained the situation at the brocade workshop and then hurriedly went to find the old Taoist priest Chuhe to begin digging underground.

Wei Yuan was drawn to this location because, judging from its topography, it seemed likely to contain grey stone deposits. Even if not, Wei Yuan was intrigued by the area's arid and hot climate. Generally, the sudden appearance of such an unusual piece of land usually has a reason.

Mining in the desert is extremely difficult, and neither Huang Zu nor Lei Ze are good at mining, so Wei Yuan wanted to see if he could find anything, which is why he transferred Yu Zhizhu over.

Yu Zhizhuo explained his purpose to the old Taoist Chuhe, who chuckled and, with a golden rat in his left hand and a flying sable on his head, confidently said, "I knew you were coming, and I've already done my homework. I've found several underground rivers. Let's go, let's thoroughly explore them first. As long as there are treasures, they definitely won't escape my Dharma Image and the eyes of the divine sable!"

"Haha, that's good. Let's go without further ado!"

The group went underground in a grand procession, and the five hundred Dao Foundation members carried down over a hundred pieces of equipment and tools.

Seeing that everything in the Red Sand Oasis was on track, but Lei Dong was still completely silent, Wei Yuan became somewhat displeased. This guy was truly clueless. Wei Yuan had originally thought he wasn't very capable and intended to keep him in the position of Lord of Thunder Swamp. But since he was so ungrateful, Wei Yuan wasn't going to be polite anymore. He had already transferred the Extinction Heaven Gang over.

Lei Dong's destiny was originally a unified whole, but it was shattered by the three-eyed bird's head. Then Wei Yuan inflicted another crushing defeat on him, causing his destiny to dissipate by almost completely. If he was originally a child of destiny, now he can only be called a distant nephew of destiny.

Wei Yuan has a lot on his plate right now, how could he have time to care about this guy's feelings? Lei Dong is constantly being restrained and humiliated by Wei Yuan, anyone with a brain should know why.

The Leize tribe is divided into several parts, some of which are tens of thousands of miles away from Qingming. The boundary can't reach them at all, so Wei Yuan has no interest in occupying Leize for the time being.

But not occupying territory doesn't mean not killing. Wei Yuan could at least slaughter the entire Lei Ze region within three thousand miles, further damaging Lei Dong's fortune.

Just as Wei Yuan began organizing the Extinction Heaven Gang's combat forces, someone suddenly reported: "There's a suspicious fellow outside who claims to be surnamed Lei and wants to see me!"

Wei Yuan was taken aback, then ordered his attendants to bring him in.

As expected, it was Lei Dong who came in. The young man still looked unwilling, and his eyes revealed undisguised resentment.

Wei Yuan looked Lei Dong up and down and smiled, "You're lucky, kid. If I had come a day later, I would have attacked. Your territory would have been devastated, and you, the chosen one, wouldn't have fared well. But since you're here, it means you've already thought it through?"

Lei Dong's eyes were practically spitting fire, his teeth clenched so tightly he could barely speak, "I, I..."

At this moment, the demonic blade on his back suddenly flew out and floated in front of Wei Yuan, saying, "Since I've come, it means I've already made up my mind. I've wandered for half my life without encountering a wise ruler. If you don't mind, I'm willing to become... that, my lord!"

Wei Yuan was caught off guard by this turn of events. He knew that the demonic blade had a spirit, but this spirit was a little too strong.

Seeing that Wei Yuan did not answer immediately, Mo Ren panicked and hurriedly said, "All the luck is on me. The chosen one you are looking for is me!"

Wei Yuan was even more puzzled. He looked at the Demon Blade, then at Lei Dong, and asked, "Then who is he?"

"Him?" Demon Blade said disdainfully, "He's just a mount."

(End of this chapter)