A new idea

Early in the morning, the tiny Scenery Box grew lively.

The addition of a hundred people greatly increased the vitality of the village.

The newly arrived villagers wandered back and forth across the village like they were looking at foreign sights, uttering shameful sounds of exclamation.

"This round iron house is amazing, how on earth was this even built?"

"What is the deal with this big pool of water? There has been a drought for three years, even the rivers are almost drying up, so why does the Gao Family Village still have such a large pond?"

"Dried chicken, this place is covered in hanging dried chicken!"

The newly arrived villagers quickly received a wave of shock education.

This was also something San Shier loved to see, so he deliberately avoided rushing to talk to them early in the morning and did not assign them tasks, letting them wander haphazardly around the village to let the village's "divine objects" frighten them, ensuring they would be much more well-behaved and obedient when he ordered them around.

After this group grew dizzy from looking, San Shier finally gathered them together: "The village is in urgent need of all kinds of talent, especially blacksmiths. Those who know how to smith, step forward, and you can receive an extra two taels of flour every day."

Three middle-aged men immediately jumped out, stamping their feet in joy, not expecting that their humble little skill could actually earn them an extra two taels of flour every day.

San Shier: "You few, you all have things like iron hammers and anvils at home, right? Go home and move them here. From now on, follow Master Li of our village, and whatever needs to be forged, listen to Master Li's instructions."

The three middle-aged men obediently answered.

San Shier turned his head again to face the remaining villagers: "The first thing the rest of you must do is build a Dao Xuan Heavenly Venerable Temple."

Seeing this from the outside, Li Daoxuan could not help but laugh despite himself. There were still plenty of things to do in the village, which could be said to be waiting to be rebuilt, and yet you were building a temple first?

Messing with this kind of useless trash!

He was just about to open his mouth to tell Gao Yiye to intervene when he suddenly remembered that in the "Civilization" series of games he played, building a new city seemingly did not start with proper buildings, but rather began with shrines.

Expanding a city's boundaries was achieved through cultural output.

And early religious buildings were at the same time cultural buildings.

Although this was a game setting, this setting was not cobbled together blindly by game designers, but rather learned from the mirror of history and had its own logic.

A profound and abstruse feeling rose up from within Li Daoxuan's heart.

Intuition told him that he should not interfere with San Shier's actions. This haphazardly messing around method might perhaps bring benefits in another form.

Li Daoxuan dismissed the plan to go call Gao Yiye and continued to coldly look on.

San Shier: "Those who know how to be masons, step forward, and receive an extra tael of flour every day."

Several middle-aged men stepped forward with joy on their faces.

"You three, lead the others to build the temple..." At this point, San Shier suddenly paused, obviously remembering something: "Among you lot, is there anyone who knows how to sculpt statues?"

"This humble one knows!" Two middle-aged men raised their hands at the very first moment. Through the matter of the blacksmiths and masons, they had already understood that knowing a bit of special craft could earn them extra flour every day, so they could not dodge tasks and instead had to actively take them on.

"The City God Temple in the County Seat, that one-zhang-tall City God statue, was carved by this humble one."

"This humble one also carved a Guanyin statue."

The two middle-aged men were indeed experienced hands, and San Shier was overjoyed: "Very well, the rest of you, go move stones and chop wood to build the temple. You two who can sculpt, come with me."

He led the two to stand before Gao Yiye: "Miss Gao, I've brought two people who know how to sculpt. Please describe the appearance of the Heavenly Venerable so these two can build a Dao Xuan Heavenly Venerable statue."

Gao Yiye: "Ah? This... I have to think carefully..."

Finding it interesting, Li Daoxuan deliberately lifted the top cover of the Scenery Box, moved his face above the Scenery Box, and looked down from above.

Gao Yiye saw it immediately. A young face vaguely appeared amidst the clouds, with regular facial features, a benevolent gaze, and a handsome, striking appearance.

She could not help but murmur: "The Heavenly Venerable is very young, with no long beard, and his facial features..."

The two middle-aged men hurriedly memorized it in their minds.

Before long, the two dug up two lumps of yellow mud from a nearby ditch, first shaped them into the head of a young man according to Gao Yiye's general description, and then carried out fine-tuning.

"Here... the eyes need to be slightly larger..."

"The bridge of the nose a little higher..."

"The lips curve slightly upward; the Heavenly Venerable is not fierce, he is benevolent and gentle."

"The ears are a bit larger."

In less than two double-hours, Li Daoxuan's face had been carved out.

He held a magnifying glass and looked carefully through the glass. This face was carved truly lifelike, except that when Gao Yiye relayed his appearance, she obviously mixed in some personal emotions and gave him a bit of a plastic surgery makeover. She changed his hair to long hair, made his eyes a fraction larger, made the bridge of his nose a fraction higher, and made his gaze a fraction more majestic...

All these various fractions added together made him overall 32% more handsome and increased his majesty by 320%, transforming him overnight from a modern young man into the majestic and ageless Dao Xuan Heavenly Venerable.

Once the head was sorted out, making the body became much simpler.

The two middle-aged men worked together, using a large amount of yellow mud to make a body sitting cross-legged, wearing Daoist robes, holding a horsetail whisk in his right hand, and supporting a Taiji bagua diagram in his left hand.

Finally, they installed the head...

The dignified Dao Xuan Heavenly Venerable was declared complete.

Holding the magnifying glass, Li Daoxuan looked left and right, front and back, at his own "statue", clicking his tongue in extreme satisfaction. He felt an intense urge to reach his hand into the box, take this thing out, and place it in his collection cabinet.

The workmanship of this thing was much more detailed than those Gundam models or plastic toy soldiers. Standing less than a centimeter tall, details such as his gaze, strands of hair, and fingers were all crafted with absolute precision.

"Huh? Wait!"

Li Daoxuan turned his head to glance at his model collection cabinet, locked his gaze onto a plastic model only two centimeters tall that cost as much as 288 yuan, then turned his head back to glance at the Dao Xuan Heavenly Venerable statue in the box, turned back to look at the 288-yuan plastic model, and turned back to look at the Dao Xuan Heavenly Venerable statue...

Repeatedly comparing and confirming.

The model he used to adore and spent 288 yuan to bring home was, when compared side by side with the Dao Xuan Heavenly Venerable statue in terms of fine craftsmanship, a pile of shit. That's right, it truly was a pile of shit.

If this pile of shit could sell for 288 yuan, then how much could this Dao Xuan Heavenly Venerable statue sell for?

Heh! An idea struck him.

Li Daoxuan spoke up: "Gao Yiye, you tell these two sculptors that I am very satisfied with their craft. I have some tasks for them to do next, and if they do well, they will be heavily rewarded."

With that, he pulled up an image on his computer and clicked print. Soon, an A5 sheet of paper printed with Supreme Treasure's version of Sun Wukong from A Chinese Odyssey slid out of the printer.