The Little People Kingdom lay deep in the mountains, where Flying Beasts, wild animals, venomous snakes, and poisonous insects harassed and hunted its inhabitants year-round.
Even a larger Wildcat could prey on them.
The fields they had reclaimed in the mountain valley were insufficient, so hunting and gathering remained their main sources of food.
Although the valley they had originally chosen was relatively peaceful, free of natural disasters such as poisonous miasmas and flash floods, prolonged rain still left them hungry.
As a result, their population had not merely failed to grow; it had declined year after year. Over a hundred thousand had entered the mountains ten thousand years ago, and although there had been a few small recoveries along the way, their numbers had dwindled overall.
Several major natural and man-made disasters during that time, and even internal rebellions, had caused particularly heavy losses.
All these years, they had lived trembling with fear, always in danger of losing their kingdom and being wiped out.
Thus, when the king saw that Mo Zhui and his two brothers looked much like him, yet possessed the divine powers to fly through the heavens, burrow through the earth, move mountains, and overturn seas, he wanted to keep them there—even at the price of yielding his throne.
After Shi Feiyang persuaded him, Mo Zhui agreed, ready to undertake a grand endeavor here.
Shi Feiyang counted on his fingers and calculated that Bai Guanhong was catching insects and raising gu in a remote forest over two thousand li away, so he summoned Bai Guanhong with a Flying Sword Message.
In his capacity as Great Ming Imperial Preceptor, he wrote a memorial explaining the Little People Kingdom's general circumstances and petitioned the reigning emperor to grant it formal recognition.
He told Mo Zhui to devise a