"Hurry up! What's taking you so long over there? Bring the mixed soil over!"
"No slacking! We're almost through with drilling the sewer."
"Good! We did it!"
On the level ground below the field camp, building materials and construction machinery were already in place. The Golden Sun Gate disciples and artisans Li Chen had brought were working with blazing enthusiasm.
Several cultivators with formidable auras took no part in the labor. With sabers and crossbows slung on their backs, they sat atop tall iron towers, keeping watch and chatting.
"The scenery here is surprisingly good. If I hadn't already married back home, I'd be tempted to move here."
"You can move even if you're married. We're the first pioneers to take part in opening up this land. By custom, we automatically qualify to settle in the local Market District. Artisan Li needs people right now, too. He certainly won't treat us poorly."
"Ah, you don't understand. My little brat is studying at the Heavenly Crafts Academy. Moving here would disrupt his schooling, unless we waited for the Creation Sect to establish a presence here too. But who knows what year or month that'll happen? By then, our roots back home will be hard to pull up. Moving won't be as easy as just saying the word..."
"I'm a bachelor. I can go wherever I please. Honestly, if we manage to open up the land and build a city, settling here would give me a place to call home."
"We're all part of Artisan Li's pioneering force now. Once the city is built, surely we can get a few plots of land and a few shops, right? We might even become rentiers outright, waving palm-leaf fans and living carefree lives."
"Exactly. If not for prospects like those, why would we travel