Boom! Boom!
In the air above a vast valley, several people clad in black Daoist robes rode jade cranes as they circled overhead.
The jade cranes beneath them were clearly magical artifacts designed for flight. Though their magical fluctuations were not particularly strong, they were entirely carved from white jade and looked lifelike in every detail. When they flew, their wings even trembled, giving them an air of immortal spirit.
Within the enormous valley, at least ten thousand people bustled about like densely packed ants.
Among these thousands were cultivators with magical energy rippling around them, but the overwhelming majority were sturdy mortal laborers.
The repeated thunderous booms came from dozens of cultivators working together to drive piles into the ground. A gigantic hammer, shaped like a steelyard weight yet as large as a small mountain, floated in the air. Dozens of cultivators each formed hand seals, lifting the hammer again and again before smashing it down upon the dark-gold massive piles below. Each strike produced an enormous roar and burst of air, driving the dark-gold piles more than ten feet deeper into the earth.
On an open stretch of ground not far from the pile being hammered, countless bricks, stones, and construction materials were stacked.
Throughout the valley stood numerous elevated platforms and scaffolds. In some places, multi-story palaces had already been raised. Many people carried materials upward along the platforms and scaffolds; many were building, while others were carving patterns into the materials. The entire valley was a living, breathing construction site, where countless halls and houses were being built.
There were also many old palaces in the valley, but they had all collapsed into ruin. Many people were clearing them away and rebuilding them as well.
Aside from the cultivators riding jade cranes above the valley, quite