Opening Up

Upon hearing this, Han Weishu's eyes darted around, then she stared at him intently and said:

"It's too dangerous for you to travel alone. Why don't I go with you?"

Hearing her say that, Tong Jialiang was surprised:

"Oh? But you haven't told your family yet, and you're a girl, wouldn't it be inconvenient for you to travel with me like this?"

Han Weishu waved her hand:

"Don't worry about my family; I know what I'm doing."

As she spoke, she raised her chin and looked proudly at Tong Jialiang, saying:

"What's wrong with girls? Don't you know what I'm capable of? If a thief were to break into my place, it's hard to say who would be unlucky."

Tong Jialiang met Han Weishu in a small town.

A year ago, when he went to town to buy household goods, he was bullied by thugs from the nearby villages. He happened to run into Han Weishu, who had slipped out of the Clear River Sect, and thus witnessed her taking on several strong thugs by herself.

At that time, Han Weishu was dressed in men's clothing, and her hair was disheveled, as if it hadn't been washed for many days, making her look like a little beggar.

He only found out that the person was actually a girl after Han Weishu spoke to him.

Tong Jialiang was unaware that the girl in front of him was a Qi Refining First Layer cultivator who had been practicing for over ten years. He only assumed that she was born with great strength, possessed superb martial arts skills, and was also intelligent.

Only then could they outmaneuver those thugs.

The two became friends after that.

According to Han Weishu, her home is quite far from here, and it takes her two or three days to get here each time.

Every time Han Weishu goes out, she will come to visit Tong Jialiang for a few days.

As for where she would stay that night, Tong Jialiang had no idea.

Whenever the topic came up, she would only say that she had a place to stay, but she never revealed any specific details to him.

Hearing her say that, Tong Jialiang, remembering her formidable nature, agreed:

"Alright then, but the journey is long and you have nothing on you right now. How about I take you home first to pack your things?"

"No, no, no!" Han Weishu quickly waved her hand.

"You don't need to worry about these things, just go. Let's set off immediately."

As she spoke, she grabbed Tong Jialiang's arm and walked forward hastily, as if a ghost was chasing her.

at the same time.

Here in Xiushui Village.

Within the Lingxian Sect, a large-scale project is unfolding in full swing.

On a clearing halfway up the mountain, apart from Sun Yigao who was teaching, all the members of the Lingxian Sect had gathered there.

On the steep mountainside, Lin Xiao, Liu Yunan, and the others were using the Air-Stepping Technique to measure something back and forth.

They also cleared some trees from time to time during the trip.

Not long after they finished their tests, Lin Xiao flew back down and took out his peach wood sword.

He raised his hand, enveloped the sword in Spiritual Power, and then forcefully stabbed it at the junction of the mountain wall and the ground.

The peach wood sword was then stuck into the mountainside.

Then he took a deep breath to gather his strength, and with that, he pulled the peach wood sword up the mountainside!

On that hard, steep mountain wall, wherever he went, a long gash was torn open.

Flying stones and dust scattered and fell behind him, raising clouds of mud.

Many shrubs and grass stems were also uprooted along with the gravel and soil.

As he ascended, his speed wasn't particularly fast because he needed to maintain the same depth and navigated various turns and corners.

Instead, it rises in a very rapid and steady manner.

From the halfway point to the summit, it is nearly three kilometers long.

Lin Xiao led the tunnel along their planned route for two kilometers before stopping.

Then he flew back to the mountainside and, three meters away from the first opening, dug another identical opening, mimicking the previous one.

He then stopped on the mountain and began to cut the mountain wall between the two openings into a downward-sloping slope about one meter deep.

The people at the foot of the mountain split into three groups.

After the first group saw him go up, the cleanup work began.

Clear away the deep-rooted tree roots, weeds, and scattered stones along the way.

The second group simultaneously pulled out various stone-cutting tools and, following the first group, began digging the same slope from the bottom up.

The third group followed closely behind, starting to carve out layers of stone steps from the bottom up.

That's right, they're currently building a road up the mountain.

This was the first thing Liu Yunan and Lin Xiao discussed regarding the construction of the sect recently.

Because of the prospect of recruiting disciples and increasing the number of followers in the future, and because Senior Liao had also mentioned many other detailed needs for the development of a sect.

Lin Xiao felt that they needed to open more venues.

Although he still has fragments of the Yaoguang Floating Island and some kind of attached pearl in his private treasury, it's conceivable that in the future their sect will likely possess a floating island and an independent space.

However, there is only one fragment left, and it is unknown when the remaining two fragments will be collected.

They had no idea how big those so-called floating islands and spaces actually were.

So after thinking it over, it's still more reliable for them to open their own land.

In any case, North Mountain is very large, and for now, it's more than enough for them to build whatever they want.

The first step in expanding the sect's territory was naturally to develop into the North Mountain Range and open up mountain roads.

Although everyone now possesses cultivation levels, cutting stones is no longer an impossible task for them.

However, because everyone's cultivation level was different, Lin Xiao and Liu Yunan specially divided the work according to each person's cultivation level.

Those with higher cultivation levels are responsible for cutting large sections of the mountainside.

Those with lower cultivation levels were responsible for tasks such as smoothing the surface of the stone steps.

Furthermore, they cannot all go at once; they must reserve some people to work in shifts, taking over when the first team's Spiritual Power is exhausted.

Lin Xiao, who was at the top, did all of these things by himself.

There was no way around it; his speed alone was almost equal to the speed of everyone else below.

Cutting and trimming this two-kilometer stretch step by step was a very tedious and time-consuming process.

Lin Xiao felt as if he had become a heartless stone-cutting machine.

At a height of two thousand meters, plus the various horizontal turns and rotations in the middle, there must be nearly seven thousand steps in total.

Lin Xiao single-handedly cut through more than three thousand steps.

I'm completely numb.

The group worked for nearly ten hours, from noon until dark, and finally managed to clear the mountain road completely in the early hours of the next day.

Whether they were in the Foundation Establishment Realm or Qi Refining Stage, after the last stone step was completed, they all collapsed to the ground, too exhausted to speak.

In the end, it was Lin Xiao who took out his iron-clad spirit boat and managed to transport the group of people who had collapsed to the ground down the mountain path.

Lin Xiao lined everyone up neatly near the small mountain spring where the Spirit Vein was located, and then he himself lay down next to them with a thud.