Village Upgrade

Because of the Daoist background of Xuanwei Monastery, the NPCs that spawn include not only bandits and refugees, but also a large number of spirits and monsters.

In the past, these NPCs in the wild were destabilizing factors that threatened the Daoist temple, but now even they are resources in Lin Xu's eyes.

The spirits and monsters need not be interfered with; the Black Tiger Demon will enlighten them with his Dharma Seed. The rest, except for those with good attributes or those with unique skills like the Corpse Driver, will accept the Dharma Seed and be transformed into second- or third-generation guardians. The rest will be used as laborers and sent to Azure Cloud Mountain for development.

"Slaves: Work efficiency -50%, loyalty locked below 20"

Once enslaved, these NPCs' work efficiency will drop drastically, and their extremely low loyalty could easily lead to riots and rebellions.

However, as long as there are enough slaves and the Evil Eye patrols the heavens, these slaves can be managed well and efficiency can be improved.

An hour later, several streaks of light streaked across the sky, and one after another, communication talisman swords landed in front of Lin Xu.

He grabbed the talisman sword and used his spiritual sense to examine it. This was the village intelligence sent back by the leaders after they had arrived at the four villages one after another.

As he moved, the information data for several villages on the panel changed one after another.

Name: West Willow Tree Village Level: Level 3 Village (Upgradeable)

Territory: West Willow Tree Village and surrounding seven li. Population: 275 households, totaling 1192 people. Special Plot: [Lingsang Forest].

Special Resource: [Spirit Silkworm Silk] can be harvested three times per season, with each batch costing approximately 400 taels. It is soft, resilient, and has a silvery sheen. It can increase the toughness of weapons when forging and can ward off ordinary miasma when weaving. Recruiting: 96 Villagers (8 Villagers/month)

"As expected, there's a population to recruit!" Lin Xu smiled as he eagerly found the data section. "And it even comes with a year's worth of recruitment quota."

With a thought, he clicked the recruitment command. In West Willow Tree Village, a dozen miles away from the Incense Offering Hall, a large group of NPC villagers poured out of the ancestral hall and stood there blankly, waiting for instructions.

"Build houses first, then cultivate the fields!" Lin Xu entered his command into the communication talisman. "Summon villagers with an intelligence attribute above 10 points and use Dharma Seed. Those with an intelligence attribute above 14 points or those with talent should remain and report to me for further orders."

The communication talisman flashed with a blue light and then transformed into a streak of light, flying towards West Willow Tree Village.

"And village upgrades..." His gaze fell on the village level section, where a line of small print appeared under "Upgradeable": [Requires 10,000 catties of rice, 400 pieces of wood, 200 pieces of stone, and 300 pieces of Source Fire]

"Upgrading the village also requires Source Fire..." Lin Xu shook his head slightly, and with a thought, chose to upgrade.

He didn't need to worry about the cost of these resources, as the Daoist temple had its own warehouses that automatically allocated funds, and even the Source Fire would be automatically paid for by the Xuanwei Monastery Temple.

Looking down from above West Willow Tree Village at this moment, the mist shrouding the edge of the village seemed to be slowly parted by an invisible hand, revealing the fertile farmland below.

The village of level 4 has expanded to a diameter of nine li, with ridges crisscrossing like a chessboard. The newly emerging fields at the edges are overgrown with weeds, and even in the village that was originally full of houses, large areas of open space have quietly been cleared.

Lin Xu checked the village panel. The upgraded village did not have any new data. Apart from the expansion of the territory, there seemed to be no changes.

"Strange, the village has been upgraded, but no new buildings have appeared. Why aren't the silkworms being woven into cloth? There's also no option for a weaving workshop..." He frowned as he looked at the panel and muttered to himself, and the panel quietly changed.

[Weaving Workshop (Unbuilt): Requires 30 Wood, 20 Shitou, 50 Spirit Silk, and 12 Villagers (including at least 3 with Weaving Talent). Build now?]

"So, building a new building requires the administrator to actively trigger the demand?" Lin Xu tapped his finger to confirm, the panel glowed slightly, and the weaving workshop icon slowly appeared.

Construction can be completed quickly by consuming Source Fire, and the need for raw materials can even be ignored.

As the ground trembled, the weaving workshop rose from the ground.

Next, he opened the panels for the other four villages and did the same thing, recruiting people, building houses, and then upgrading the villages one by one.

Quietly, the area occupied by several villages rapidly expanded, increasing the distance between them and the Daoist temple. The mist at the edge receded, revealing large areas of barren land.

During this process, Lin Xu discovered a hidden limitation on territory construction: only when the territory has the corresponding resource endowment can the corresponding basic buildings be automatically generated.

For example, the weaving workshop in West Willow Tree Village could only be built because of the presence of mulberry groves and silkworms.

Lin Xu stopped after the operation was completed. "Next, we need to work on it more carefully."

1

The plans have already been laid out; now it's just a matter of waiting for time to unfold.

With nothing else to do, he opened the warehouse and checked the Incense Offering Hall's assets.

This is the Incense Offering Hall's private treasury. It is exchanged with the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall every month, and after deducting necessary expenses, the remainder is accumulated.

Level 1 warehouse, covering 10 acres, effects: doubles the shelf life of stored goods, moisture-proof and fireproof, with a spirit energy temperature control array. Storage: 4.45 million catties of rice, 33,000 catties of spirit rice, 3,200 incense sticks, 500 reams of yellow paper, 723 incense bottles, Spirit Stone. These were common items, which he glanced over one by one, until he saw the incense bottles. Lin Xu's eyes lit up. "Is there any incense left?"

He checked the invoice records and discovered that the Xuanwei Monastery consumed a fixed amount of incense each week, normally around 7 bottles, which amounted to 28 bottles per month.

The warehouse, however, harvests about 45 bottles each month, and the remaining 17 bottles are stored.

"Can you save 17 bottles of incense every month?" Lin Xu's heart skipped a beat. 723 bottles of incense would be equivalent to 42 months, or about three and a half years.

"Has Xuanwei Monastery only been around for three and a half years?" He checked the inventory records and found that the earliest record of items being stored was from 10 years ago, when the temple only governed two villages. "It seems the earliest record is from 10 years ago—"

The unexpected intelligence resolved a question that had been lingering in Lin Xu's mind.

Judging from the scale of Xuanwei Monastery, its strength should not be much weaker than that of the underground city.

But in fact, Lin Xu discovered that the two sides were vastly different in strength. The dungeon lord was not only a high-level professional, but also had the Lord Template, and he even kept a war beast.

The Xuanwei Monastery only has three abbots, and it's uncertain whether they are high-level professionals.

Daoist Xuanzhen leader of the temple, is not even a hero, let alone Lord Template.

Without his presence, Xuanwei Monastery would likely have suffered a crushing defeat in this battle between the two forces.

However, judging from the two golden cultivation techniques passed down in the Daoist temple, Xuanwei Monastery shouldn't be weaker than the underground city. So that's where the problem lies—

"Having nothing to do, it's time to replenish the incense offerings." He summoned a servant and had the incense brought out from the stock.

For cultivators practicing the "Bright Lamp Spirit Kindling Art," the worship of incense is a strategic resource.

The Immortal Welcoming Pavilion is for welcoming distinguished guests, while the Preaching Pavilion is open to worshippers who come to offer incense. These Foundation Establishment in a semi-enclosed state.