Very quickly...
Zhunti and Jieyin departed.
Just as Jieyin had said earlier...
Rather than continuing to weep here, it would do no good...
They might as well seize the opportunity to repair more Earth Veins and earn more Merit.
Once this opportunity was gone, it would be gone for good...
It had been one thing when no one had repaired the Western Earth Veins before, but judging from Xuan Yang and the others' determination this time, they clearly did not intend to leave until every last Earth Vein in the West had been restored...
Thus, both Zhunti and Jieyin believed they had to hurry.
Meanwhile, on Di Jun and Taiyi's side...
After the two brothers saw Zhunti and Jieyin leave, they both withdrew their gazes.
Taiyi even gave a rather haughty snort and muttered, "At least they know what's good for them. Otherwise, I would have suppressed them with the Chaos Bell!"
Di Jun smiled without speaking, but he quickly noticed that Xuan Yang at his side had stopped repairing the Earth Veins. Instead, he was frowning deeply, his expression grave as though he were pondering something...
Di Jun was not the only one to notice this.
Nuwa, Fuxi, Zhen Yuanzi, Hongyun, Tongtian, Queen Mother of the West...
Everyone noticed it.
They all turned their gazes toward Xuan Yang.
"What is it? Daoist Friend Xuan Yang—Third Brother—is something wrong?"
Everyone was full of confusion as they waited for Xuan Yang's answer.
Xuan Yang voiced his thoughts as well.
"Hmm... I was just thinking, what if East King Duke and the others hear about this and come here, just like Zhunti and Jieyin did? What then..."
"After all, although we got here ahead of them to repair the Western Earth Veins..."
"If they realize what is happening and come to compete with us in repairing them, wouldn't we have to share a portion of the rewards with them?"
Taiyi blinked at Xuan Yang and replied,
"Logically speaking, East King Duke might not realize it, right?"
"By the time he does, we may have already repaired the Earth Veins."
Xuan Yang shook his head and said meaningfully, "That may not necessarily be the case..."
"What if someone reminds him?"
After hearing this, everyone roughly understood what Xuan Yang meant.
Thus, they all began to ponder it.
"That really is a difficult problem..."
However, Xuan Yang was the first to come up with a solution.
Xuan Yang's eyes suddenly lit up. He immediately said to everyone before him, "Wait, everyone..."
"I have an idea."
Everyone could not help but freeze slightly upon hearing that.
They had only just begun thinking...
Yet Xuan Yang had already come up with something.
Wasn't that too fast?
Thus, they urged him again, "What idea?"
Xuan Yang replied with a smile, "This matter will require Fellow Daoist Tongtian's help."
Tongtian immediately gave Xuan Yang a puzzled look.
Xuan Yang then laid down a barrier around them with his mana, temporarily cutting off outside perception, and explained to everyone, "This and that, then such and such..."
Everyone's eyes lit up at his words.
Nuwa in particular could not help saying, "Daoist Friend Xuan Yang, you truly have so many crafty ideas..."
Xuan Yang chuckled. "That way, we won't have to fear anyone disturbing us next time."
He quickly dispelled the barrier.
Afterward, everyone resumed their work.
Time continued to pass.
Over the next ten thousand years, Xuan Yang and the others continuously repaired the Western Earth Veins.
Under their restoration efforts, a large portion of the West had already been repaired.
Zhunti and Jieyin's hearts were bleeding.
Although they had also been repairing Earth Veins over the past ten thousand years...
For one thing, they lacked manpower.
For another, they did not have the Earth Book.
As a result, their repair efficiency was far inferior to Xuan Yang and the others'.
Seeing how many Earth Veins Xuan Yang and the others had repaired, the experienced Zhunti and Jieyin could already guess what would happen next.
Their tears immediately flowed even harder.
However, East King Duke remained as blindly arrogant and stubborn as ever.
A full ten thousand years passed, yet he still clung to his own view, believing that what Xuan Yang and the others were doing was a waste of time.
Thus, over these years, East King Duke had merely used several inefficient methods he had devised to earn Merit.
Yet he still felt immensely pleased with himself, as though he were unbelievably impressive.
Only during his spare time did he ask the other Immortal Court soldiers about Xuan Yang's situation.
"What about the Demon Race? Are they still in the West, working as laborers for Zhunti and Jieyin?"
The Immortal Court soldiers gave an affirmative reply.
East King Duke immediately sneered. "A bunch of idiots, wasting their time for nothing."
"Wouldn't it be better to spend that time cultivating or earning Merit?"
"I don't even know how much Merit I've earned over these years!"
He could not be bothered with Xuan Yang and the others.
In fact, he was more than happy to see such a thing happen.
Therefore, he was not worried about it in the slightest.
But while East King Duke was unconcerned, Heavenly Dao Hongjun was practically worried to death...
Over these years, he watched the situation in the West, seeing Xuan Yang and the others repair more and more Earth Veins...
At the same time, he constantly tried every possible way to remind East King Duke.
But it was utterly useless!
No matter how Heavenly Dao Hongjun racked his brains, East King Duke remained stubbornly convinced of his own views and refused to heed advice.
This truly infuriated Heavenly Dao Hongjun half to death.
Just now, while controlling a minor soldier, he had once again subtly reminded East King Duke.
Naturally, it had achieved nothing.
Thus, after hearing East King Duke's reply just now, Heavenly Dao Hongjun's face darkened even further.
"Fuck..."
"Who exactly is the idiot here?!"
"The tiny bit of Merit you've earned isn't even a fraction of theirs..."
"How do you have the nerve to put on such airs?"
Heavenly Dao Hongjun was furious.
Yet he still had to find a way to remind East King Duke.
Because this could not continue.
He kept thinking.
At last, he came up with a new method.
Then, with an extremely unwilling look in his eyes...
He finally bestowed the portion of Merit that Xuan Yang and the others had earned by repairing the Western Earth Veins—the Merit that should have been rewarded to them in the first place.
At once, enormous, dazzling clusters of Merit descended from the sky and flew toward Xuan Yang and the others in the West.
East King Duke, high above the Immortal Court, immediately noticed this abnormality.
His expression changed drastically!
East King Duke stared in utter disbelief and could not help blurting out,
"What the hell!"
"What is going on?"
"What happened?"
Before you continue