Bai Yu Stream.
Lin Zhao walked along the side of Bai Yu Stream, observing the water level and the pattern of its branching currents. The campsite was not far, and with a little digging, a moat could be formed around it. This way, when the demon race attacked again, it wouldn't be a flat battlefield. A moat several meters deep would make low-cultivation demon soldiers very wary, and they could be swept away with a single misstep.
"I know you're here, come out."
Lin Zhao's Ben Lei Sword hung low in his hand as he frowned at the stream that had once nearly drowned him.
"Lin Zhao, is that you?"
In the water, the figure of an old woman slowly emerged. After a hundred years, her body once again bore a faint golden radiance. Her golden body, shattered by the punch of General Han Xin, was nearing complete reconstruction. She appeared timid, bowing to Lin Zhao on the water's surface, saying, "Bai Yu Stream River Mother, greetings, Lord Lin Zhao..."
"I am no longer a lord."
Lin Zhao's tone was gentle. "Your reconstruction of your golden body should be related to your preserving and burying the corpse of Shao Shi Yu back then, shouldn't it?"
"It is."
The old woman nodded. "Thank you for your guidance back then, young master. Not long after burying Shao Shi Yu, I received an imperial decree, granting me hope for reconstructing my golden body."
"That's good. Can you do me another favor?"
Lin Zhao gestured towards the distant campsite. "I need a moat. Can you help divert the water over there?"
"Ah?!"
Madam Xu trembled all over. "I... I... I dare not..."
"Dare not?"
Lin Zhao frowned. "Why dare not?"
Madam Xu began to weep, speaking intermittently. "In the hundred years since the Battle of Snow Domain Heavenly Pool... human armies came and went, and then returned. In the end, Snow Domain Heavenly Pool still became demon territory. These years... many Great Daemons of the Upper Five Realms have come here, often threatening to kill me. I... I am too afraid. Those Great Daemons of the Upper Five Realms said that if I dared to help humans in the slightest again, let alone my golden body, even a wisp of my soul would be scattered. I... I really dare not help you..."
"You fear the demon race, but not the human race?"
Lin Zhao was filled with anger. "Are you not afraid of the ancestral court of the military strategists either?"
"That person... that person has not descended to the mortal realm for a hundred years. I presume... he has already abandoned this mortal world. I... I will no longer count on him, no more..."
Madam Xu sobbed. "I just want to live peacefully as a River Mother. May Snow Domain Heavenly Pool have favorable weather and timely rain. As for who becomes the master of Snow Domain Heavenly Pool, it's no longer important to me. I dare not interfere anymore. Those Great Daemons are cruel. My two temple keepers had their souls extracted and their lamps extinguished. I dare not... dare not..."
"I understand."
Lin Zhao looked at her with disappointment. Habits die hard. In the few days after Lin Zhao's death in the Battle of Snow Domain Heavenly Pool, he had been looking back at his life, understanding many things. Madam Xu was a person who only sought what was beneficial to herself, not to others. As she said, she had no stance. If Snow Domain Heavenly Pool was human territory, she would be a River Mother for humans. If it was demon territory, she would obediently follow the demons' orders. Such people have no stance, only seeking survival.
It was just a pity that General Han Xin still held a trace of affection for her.
"I don't need you anymore."
Lin Zhao frowned and said, "I will open a river channel myself to create a moat. But if you dare to obstruct me, and prevent the waters of Bai Yu Stream from reaching the campsite, I can still ask Su Shan Jun to kill you."
"It's a small matter."
From afar, Su Shan Jun's laughter echoed. "Lord Lin, command me at any time~~~"
Lin Zhao almost burst out laughing but forced himself to hold back.
"I won't, I won't..."
Madam Xu knelt on the water, shaking her head repeatedly. "I will absolutely not obstruct you, and I will absolutely not interfere with your important matters. I dare not... I never dare again. Qin Sui Han will suppress me again, I dare not..."
She had once been suppressed underwater by Qin Sui Han's single page of paper for a long time. She truly feared it. That feeling of being unable to breathe made her feel as if she was about to collapse. Moreover, the Confucian texts on that page, every word was a sermon, whipping her soul. Madam Xu truly detested that feeling. "I, an old woman who has lived for hundreds of thousands of years, need you scholars to lecture me? To put it plainly, it's the pressure of cultivation. If you, Qin Sui Han, were only in the Lower Five Realms, would you dare to bully me like this?"
"Mr. Qin."
Lin Zhao frowned, thinking of Qin Sui Han, and a wave of sadness washed over him. He had been back in Snow Domain Heavenly Pool for so long, yet Mr. Qin remained nowhere to be found, likely having vanished into thin air. He sometimes missed Mr. Qin dearly. Sir was merely a scholar, yet he had offended numerous immortals from the upper realms for the sake of the entire world. With his slender frame, he guarded the White Tree, guarding the last hope of the world. In that great battle against the Sea of Heavens, the Confucian, Daoist, Buddhist, and Mohist schools had not sent a single person. Only Sir had stood up.
His name was Qin Sui Han.
The Supreme Sage Confucius once said, "In severe cold, only then do we know the resilience of the pine and cypress."
...
Lin Zhao began to work on his own.
The Ben Lei Sword swung continuously, unleashing skills like Qian Kun Yi Zhi, Ba Jian Zhan, Sheng Long Zhan, and Qi Chong Dou Niu, excavating from the campsite towards a tributary of Bai Yu Stream. After nearly an hour, he had stubbornly carved out a river channel nearly a hundred meters long. Once it connected to Bai Yu Stream, a torrent of water poured in. In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a circle of water surrounded the campsite, then flowed unceasingly towards the north of Snow Domain Heavenly Pool. The nascent form of this campsite was thus established.
Madam Xu watched from afar, daring not to utter a sound, pondering if she had once again missed an opportunity for fortune. Back then, by listening to Lin Zhao's words and preserving Shao Shi Yu's corpse, Madam Xu had gained the chance to reconstruct her golden body. Now, if she listened to him again, would she be promoted from River Mother to River God? How glorious would that be, to be able to stand on equal footing with someone like Su Shan Jun!
However, she was also greatly afraid of offending the demon race. The profound pain of the eleventh-realm Great Daemon stepping on her head and crushing her into the mud was still fresh in her memory. Furthermore... Madam Xu had observed for a hundred years, and deep down, she felt that the human race truly had little hope. Although they had won the battle at Snow Domain Heavenly Pool, they had quickly withdrawn, and the human sacred land had once again fallen into the hands of the demon race. The spirit of the human race was virtually worthless. If she were to truly side with the human race, her end might be very tragic.
Yet, she also dared not side with the demon race. If the one from the ancestral court of the military strategists truly descended again and discovered she had joined the demon race, he might not show any mercy.
She continued working until nightfall, and the campsite was completed. Five demon-suppressing crossbows, five bronze beasts, along with reinforced city walls, and a constantly flowing moat outside the city. All the construction was done by Lin Zhao, sword by sword. It was arduous, but seeing the results, it didn't feel so tiring.
Having a conversation with Xiang Ji yielded no quests, which was fine. It didn't affect his descent down the mountain to grind monsters.
Thus, Lin Zhao, alone with his horse, descended North Mountain, focusing on the grind. It was better than doing nothing.
...
Tian Ji City.
In a small tavern by a major road leading to the city, two individuals were drinking. One was Jiang Chong, the leader of the "Prosperous Peony" guild, and the other was Li Canghai, the leader of the "Azure Knights" guild. They had a vast history of animosity, yet now they sat together, drinking and savoring delicious in-game delicacies, even with smiles on their faces.
"Come, this cup, to bury the hatchet!"
Li Canghai poured a full cup for the Ghost King.
"Thanks!"
The Ghost King raised his cup and smiled. "Actually, fighting and killing in the game is inevitable. After all... we both have our own positions, and we have a large group of people who depend on us. To be honest, it's not easy. President Li should understand the hardships involved."
"Too well."
Li Canghai grinned. "President Jiang is absolutely right. All our conflicts are due to our respective stances. To put it bluntly, we can fight, but after the fight, we can still sit down and drink together. That's what they call true brotherhood, right?"
"Right, right, right!"
The Ghost King nodded and smiled.
"How's the fight with the Scarlet Moon Knights?" Li Canghai asked with a smile.
"Not good."
Jiang Chong was somewhat helpless and angry. "We relied on sheer numbers to crush the Scarlet Moon Knights back then. Now it's impossible. The Scarlet Moon Knights have grown to over 4,000 members, with countless powerful individuals. Our Prosperous Peony currently only has over 6,000 members, with no advantage at all. We've suffered losses in almost all the maps. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come to you."
"You want to join forces?"
Li Canghai narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Is it necessary? Just for a woman, it's really not worth it."
"But I..."
Jiang Chong gripped his wine cup, a look of wistful loss in his eyes. "I truly love her..."
Li Canghai felt like spitting, but he didn't show it. Instead, like a caring elder brother, he said, "Brother, if you're serious, you've already lost..."
"The Azure Knights really aren't going to make a move?"
Jiang Chong asked.
"No."
Li Canghai smiled. "As soon as we make a move, we'll be used as pawns by others. If we join forces to fight the Scarlet Moon Knights, what about Seek Immortals and Wu Wang? These two major guilds will happily develop. After we're done fighting, it will be their turn to beat us. This logic isn't hard to understand, right?"
"Hmm..."
The Ghost King pondered for a moment, feeling somewhat unpersuaded.
...
Snow Domain Heavenly Pool.
Night fell, and a cold wind swept through, scattering snowflakes once more. Amidst the wind, a figure of unparalleled beauty hovered in the sky above Snow Domain Heavenly Pool, riding a flying sword. She possessed a flawless, exquisite face, dressed in a plain gray and white skirt. Her left hand was behind her back, and her right sleeve was empty. She gazed down at Snow Domain Heavenly Pool and discovered a crudely built campsite.
"What's going on?"
Her beautiful eyes held a hint of confusion. "Xiang Ji?"
It shouldn't be. Xiang Ji was a lazy fellow and wouldn't have thought of so much. That campsite even had Mohist contraptions, clearly not Xiang Ji's doing.
She frowned, took another look, and flew west on her sword. Instantly, the sword light surged in the air, heading straight for a jungle several dozen miles to the west, where a Star River realm Leopard Demon was lurking.
"Hmph!"
She sneered. "Refining a sword with a Star River realm demon soul... that would be most excellent."