Strike in the East, Attack in the West

Huang Tieyi paid no mind to what the three Soul Beasts said. "Put the timber down," he said flatly. "If you want houses, build them yourselves. Just keep your distance from me so your snoring doesn't keep me up."

The Short-Tailed Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey, Stone-Skinned Elephant, and Tortoiseshell Wild Boar dumped the enormous trees they had carried back onto the ground. In an instant, the open space near the Central Lake was covered with them.

Huang Tieyi released his Martial Soul, the Dragon-Patterned Golden Sacred Body, and soared into the air. His Third Soul Ring lit up, and lightning-charged Sword Qi burst from his fingertips. Wherever he pointed, branches were severed.

The three Soul Beasts watched him shift position again and again in midair, lightning shooting from his fingertips to cut through branches with unerring precision. Their eyes filled with shock, then belated fear. If he pointed that finger at me, wouldn't I be bleeding nonstop in no time?

After stripping every branch from the trunks, Huang Tieyi stood one trunk upright. A light sweep of his finger leveled its top; another sliced it into a square beam, which he then split in half. Repeating the process, he made all the timber needed for the house.

Huang Tieyi cleared another patch of ground and drove the finished beams into it one beside the next, gradually building the north and south walls. He then used the Six Meridian Divine Sword to cut matching grooves into both walls and slid the floorboards he had made into them one by one, laying them from east to west.

With that done, he used more beams to build the east and west walls atop the floor. He had not driven those walls' beams directly into the ground because he wanted to leave room for air