In the north, at Tiger Leaping Gorge, a group of Heavenly Works Court disciples arrived with all manner of tools, accompanied by cultivator artisans drawn from the wilds.
Jagged rocks and tangled weeds surrounded them, a disordered expanse of wilderness. Now and then, they sensed snakes, insects, rats, and ants scattered among the growth, revealing a peculiar vitality.
Such untamed landscapes were common in Bashan. Even demon cultivators seldom chose places like this to settle and cultivate, much less human outsiders.
Yet these people had traveled a million miles to devote their hard work here.
Naturally, all of this was for the profits they might secure.
For profit, humans could turn barren mountains and wild ridges into flourishing market wards. For that same profit, they could also destroy everything.
What the Incense Accumulation Sect intended here was the former. They had come to develop this place.
"Listen carefully, fellow Daoists. Our next task is to establish a new camp here and excavate the nearby iron deposits.
"The flats on this side and the ridge over there must all be leveled. We also need to clear a level plot in the woods across the river.
"After that comes the construction of defensive arrays and bunkers..."
Their orders concerned the preliminary development of the site, so few knew the true details.
Most simply believed the Steward Elder and assumed they were indeed building only a temporary camp to support mining operations.
Whatever the purpose, however, most low-level cultivators did not particularly care.
All they wanted were the resources and cultivation methods they needed to advance.
If the Incense Accumulation Sect could provide those, they did not mind putting their backs into the work.
There was no notion here that cultivators should refuse menial labor or shun the trades of ordinary mortals.
Quite