Jiang Ding's arrival brought little change to Swamp Demon City.
After issuing his orders, he fell silent.
He cultivated quietly, watching everything that happened in Swamp Demon City and removing anything that interfered with his orders. Beyond that, he did nothing.
Under his constant attention, Swamp Demon City's efficiency swiftly reached its peak, then surpassed anything it had achieved before.
In the first year, more than two million specimens of various kinds were collected and sent to Swamp Demon City. Over five hundred thousand different cultivation manuals, secret arts, and books on geography were catalogued as well.
In the second year, the numbers surged. More than five million mortal-grade specimens, along with specimens of the first through fourth ranks, were collected.
The efficiency unleashed by so many Spirit Transformation and Nascent Soul cultivators far exceeded what he had seen in the Northern Plains, even though no political reforms had been made and the old system remained in place.
This was sheer brute force making the bricks fly.
Spirit Transformation cultivators' spiritual processing power and efficiency far surpassed those of lower-level cultivators. They could accomplish many things with ease.
Combined with the abundance of the Fallen Immortal Realm, specimens poured into Jiang Ding's pocket like a flood.
The third year, the fourth, the fifth... The rate of collection did not peak until the thirtieth year. After that, it gradually slowed and continued to fall.
Over those thirty years, every readily obtainable specimen, cultivation method, and spell had been gathered. Now only exceptionally rare materials and obscure spells could earn a reward from Swamp Demon City.
Jiang Ding had paid out vast quantities of pills and spirit stones, along with his favorite form of payment: cultivation methods and spells. He had emptied a third of Swamp Demon City's treasury and mobilized at