"Boss, you have another problem: what you've studied is too diverse. Plant cultivation, artifact refining, Demonic Patterns, runic arrays, beast taming, and so on-you seem to have attained an extremely high level in all of them.
"At your age, I've never even heard of anyone accomplishing such a thing. All I can say is that you're a prodigy seen only once in ten thousand years, boss.
"But if you could focus your efforts and devote yourself to a single path, your achievements would surely far surpass what they are now. That's one piece of advice I have."
Landuo continued speaking at length, voicing everything that came to mind.
"Good! If you have any other advice, let's hear it."
Chen Mu had his own troubles but couldn't voice them. Did he want to study so many different fields? Hadn't he been forced into it by life?
"If you get the chance, I think you could go to Central Land and study at one of the ancient academies.
"With your aptitude, you should be able to pass their entrance examinations. If you can study at an ancient academy, you'll be able to make up for your shortcomings, and one day, you'll surely reach the pinnacle of the runic path."
"Ancient academies? What are those?"
Although Chen Mu had read quite a few books, his knowledge still fell far short of Landuo's, who was nearly seventy.
"Ancient academies are academies said to have been around for more than ten thousand years. The most famous are the Heaven-Questioning Pavilion, the Ethereal Dao Academy, the White Horse Academy, and the Imperial Sacred Academy.
"Although these academies don't rule the continent, their influence is greater than that of the vast majority of sects. If you get the chance, you must go and see them for yourself."
Hearing Landuo say this, Chen Mu felt a touch of longing. Just how deep must the foundations of academies that had existed for over ten thousand years be?
For now, though, he certainly couldn't leave. The village still needed him. If Chen Village grew strong enough to fear no medium-sized tribe in the future, he believed he could consider it then.
"All right! I'll give your advice serious thought. I have other things to do, so I'll get back to them."
One month later.
Winter had just begun, and a bone-piercing wind blew outside.
Beside Chen Village's protective fence, Chen Mu held a brush and finished filling in the final rune of the village-protecting runic array.
After a month of modifications, Chen Village's defensive runic array had been strengthened once again. Its defensive power was several times greater than before, which made Chen Mu feel much more at ease.
Although the village's defensive runic array looked like a single array, Chen Mu had actually linked dozens of defensive runic arrays together, each interlocking with the next, to achieve its current effect.
The drawback was that it consumed far more spirit stones than a single integrated array would have.
But Chen Mu had no choice. Safety was more important than spirit stones. With his current strength, he couldn't set up a runic array over such a large area, so he could only resort to this shortcut.
Ever since Chen Mu had improved the farmland, its quality had risen year after year. By now, the rice grown in it contained a trace of Spiritual Qi and could be considered spirit grain.
After eating spirit grain for a long time, the people of Chen Village had grown steadily stronger. Now, at least three or four people advanced to become martial artists every month, and Chen Village's overall strength was soaring like a rocket.
There was also beast taming. In the previous war, the demonic beast cavalry made up of martial artists had achieved spectacular results. Demonic beast taming in Chen Village was now growing in scale, and before long, every villager would have a demonic beast mount.
As for artifact refining and Demonic Patterns, Chen Mu could provide them for everyone at any time. He could do his best to meet all their needs for external resources.
But Chen Mu still felt it wasn't enough.
The most important foundation of a tribe was the strength of the group itself. Only when their strength rose could they bring out the true power of these external resources.
Thus, he thought of the Five Elements Spirit Gathering Array he had considered before.
Yesterday, Chen Mu and Hou Sailei had completed their first large-order transaction.
Of the talisman paper Chen Mu had brought out for the transaction, only about half was six-patterned. The other half was all seven-patterned.
Making rune rubbing plates was much more complicated than making talisman paper, and Chen Mu needed time to gradually upgrade the plates.
Hou Sailei was very satisfied. After the transaction was complete, he even gave Chen Mu a first-grade storage ring as an extra.
Though the storage ring was only first-grade, it was already worth half the price of the transaction. What was more, it was often unavailable on the market at any price; many people couldn't buy one even if they had the money.
The storage ring had about half a square meter of space for storing items, so Chen Mu no longer needed to carry a large bundle around.
With his first earnings in hand, Chen Mu finally had some confidence that he could build the Five Elements Spirit Gathering Array.
After finishing the modifications to the village-protecting runic array, Chen Mu rested for a while, then walked over to a brand-new building.
The building was a full seven or eight zhang tall and had three floors. The bottom floor was the widest, while the top floor was the narrowest. The timber used was all of exceptional quality, and the plaque above the entrance bore the words "Chen Clan Cultivation Tower" in large, gleaming gold characters.
He had asked Chen Hongjie to mobilize several hundred slaves to build it, and they had rushed to finish it in a little over half a month.
Chen Mu took fifteen spirit stones glowing in different colors from his pocket. A flicker of pain crossed his eyes before he distributed the stones around the cultivation tower.
The five elemental properties in ordinary spirit stones were extremely mixed. Only spirit stones of the third grade or higher possessed a single one of the five elements, and such single-element spirit stones were worth much more than mixed-element ones.
Spirit stones of different grades were exchanged at a rate of one hundred to one. In other words, one third-grade spirit stone was equivalent to one hundred second-grade spirit stones or ten thousand first-grade spirit stones.
And those exchange rates applied to mixed-element spirit stones. For single-element spirit stones, the price was roughly twice as high.
In other words, the fifteen third-grade single-element spirit stones Chen Mu had brought out were worth the equivalent of three hundred thousand first-grade spirit stones.
Most of the spirit stones Chen Mu had just earned from Hou Sailei were spent here in one go.
If a Spirit Gathering Array was a gold-swallowing beast, then a Five Elements Spirit Gathering Array was the king of gold-swallowing beasts.
After placing the spirit stones, Chen Mu began drawing runes on the building, using them to guide spiritual power and form the array.
Then he allocated different concentrations of the spiritual power gathered inside the cultivation tower to the lower, middle, and upper floors.
The lowest floor had the lowest concentration, while the top floor had the highest. The concentration increased tenfold with each floor.
He had thought about it for a long time. Rather than divide the resources equally among the villagers, it would be better to nurture a few experts who could hold the fort for Chen Village.
After all, a single Martial Master was a greater deterrent than a hundred ordinary martial artists.
As for who would receive a better cultivation environment, that would be left to the clan council to assess.
The clan would evaluate each member's potential, ability, contributions, and other factors as a whole, then let them cultivate on the corresponding floor. That way, they could get the most value out of the Five Elements Spirit Gathering Array.
This would also motivate the clan members and foster healthy competition among them. Otherwise, if everyone ate from the same big pot, it would be easy to breed loafers, which would be bad for Chen Village's development.
The entire Five Elements Spirit Gathering Array was extremely complicated. It would take Chen Mu at least half a month to complete it.
Amid those busy days, time flew by.