Opening the Territory Panel
A multitude of illusory Dharma artifacts appeared before his eyes: a white jade Dharma bottle, an ancient bronze mirror, chains glowing with a ghostly light, thunderfire command talismans, and more, passing before him one by one.
His gaze finally settled on a bottle carved from azure jade:
Item: Azure Soul Bottle Type: Dharma artifact Grade: Azure, rare Effect: Absorbs wandering souls and remnants of thoughts between heaven and earth, transforming them into Azure Soul Essence for cultivation. It can also unleash the resentment within to strike an enemy's mind, with extraordinary effects against spirit-type targets. Azure Soul Essence: 20/20 Description: Formed through generations of soul collection and refinement at the Daoist monastery. A hundred years' worth of scattered souls and fierce spirits refused to disperse, only to be nurtured by the formation within the bottle and transformed into essence. It is both a weapon of slaughter and a resource for cultivation.
It was a rare resource-producing Dharma artifact, useful both for cultivation and against enemies.
Lin Xu fixed his thoughts on it, and the illusion instantly solidified. It became an exquisite little azure jade bottle that landed in his palm, warm to the touch, with soul light faintly flowing within.
He rose and cupped his fists. "This disciple has made his choice."
Li Xuanfeng nodded slightly and gave a light wave of his sleeve. A silver plaque shimmering with spiritual light fell into Lin Xu's hand, its weight noticeable in his palm. The front bore the characters "Xuanwei Monastery," while the back was inscribed with the spiritual characters "Inner Disciple Lin Xu" against a cloud-and-thunder pattern.
"I'm off!" A clear light flashed, and Li Xuanfeng's figure had already escaped beyond Peach Tree Village, vanishing into the depths of the eastern mist in the blink of an eye.
"Greetings, Senior Brother!" When the outer disciples saw the silver plaque in Lin Xu's hand, they all bowed.
"Greetings, Daoist Priest!" The village chief of Peach Tree Village trembled as he prostrated himself on the ground.
Lin Xu nodded in return. "Everything in Peach Tree Village will continue as before."
After giving that instruction, he returned to his residence.
With his change in status, Lin Xu's room had been moved from a remote corner to the west wing of the ancestral hall.
He instructed his guard Liu Jiayao to continue cultivating through meditation, then opened the Territory Panel that had just become available:
Name: Peach Tree Village Level: Level 1 village (upgrade available) Affiliation: Xuanwei Monastery · Inner Disciple Lin Xu (acting) Territory: Peach Tree Village and the surrounding three li Buildings: Ancestral hall (open), night watch house (awaiting repairs), thatched cottages (25/25), fields (20/20), wooden fence (awaiting repairs), general store (open), lumber hut (open), hunting lodge (not yet open) Population: 25 village households, totaling 133 people; 7 cultivators (temporarily stationed) Stored resources: Rice grain ×127, spiritual rice ×8, coarse salt ×3, lumber ×50, stone ×30, peachwood firewood ×50, faith incense offerings ×7, copper coins (Dharma Coins) ×230... Special resources: Hundred-year-old peach tree (peach heart dew, spiritual peaches, spiritual peachwood, hundred-year peachwood) Special plots: Peach Grove Slope (spiritual peaches available for gathering, undeveloped), rear mountain pool (spiritual fish available for catching, undeveloped) Resource production: Rice grain, spiritual rice, lumber, stone, peachwood, faith incense offerings Available for recruitment: Villagers ×58 (villagers ×2/month) Evaluation: A village of extraordinary potential whose development has stagnated, urgently in need of revival.
This was the first time he had seen a Territory Panel, and even the Spirit Realm Forum in the real world had made no mention of such information.
Lin Xu studied the panel, his gaze settling on the "Available for recruitment" entry.
Only two villagers could be gained naturally each month, yet as many as fifty-eight had accumulated in the recruitment column. Clearly, the village had gone a long time without gaining any new villagers.
Perhaps this village only appeared twenty-nine months ago? A thought surfaced in his mind.
No one could say how the NPC villages and factions in the Spirit Realm came into being. Mist shrouded the place year-round, and even the terrain changed constantly.
Adventurers often noticed that a valley they had explored only yesterday had become a dense forest today, or that ruins where they had camped the night before had turned into a monster den the next day.
After calculating the village's food stores, Lin Xu made a decision and used up all the available recruitment slots at once, consuming rice grain ×58 and copper coins ×116.
As spiritual light flickered, fifty-eight figures emerged from the mist and entered the village in a daze.
Along the way, both villagers and outer disciples treated the new villagers who had appeared out of thin air as though they were invisible, as if they had always belonged there.
Lin Xu examined the new villagers' attribute panels. Most of their six attributes were around seven points, making them even a little worse than the villagers already there.
Even so, he looked satisfied. Among the fifty or sixty villagers, he had finally found a few useful people.
Name: Chen A'niu Race: Human Identity: Villager of Peach Tree Village Level: 0 Strength: 7 Agility: 8 Constitution: 8 Spirit: 11 Intelligence: 12 Charisma: 11 Health: 80/80 Talent: [Diligent and Eager to Learn · Blue] Skill learning speed +20% Skills: Basic Meditation Method · White (advanced), Basic Fitness Technique · White (advanced) Evaluation: Though he has a mortal body, he aspires to the Dao.
Even if the other fifty-seven were all rotten wood, Chen A'niu alone made this a huge gain!
With those intelligence and spirit attributes, plus a blue talent, if he were sent to Xuanwei Monastery, he would probably be a candidate for a true disciple. I remember the Merit Hall has a task to recruit mortal disciples, with 200 merit points as the reward for completing it...
Despite thinking that, Lin Xu took Chen A'niu under his own command without hesitation. Only when he saw the identity field change to "Soldier (Lin Xu)" did he nod in satisfaction.
Chen A'niu's attribute panel refreshed immediately, adding a line for loyalty: 85.
This was a hidden mechanic Lin Xu had just discovered. As the village's actual controller, he could use public office for private gain, sweeping resources into his own private storehouse—and villagers were one kind of resource.
Although the few other villagers had no outstanding talents, they came with life skills such as [Basic Farming] and [Rudimentary Carpentry], just enough to make up for the village's current shortage of skilled workers.
Mindful of the risks behind this hidden mechanic, he did not transfer any more people to himself. Instead, he assigned tasks to the newly recruited villagers.
The first thing to do was build houses. Since there was not enough lumber, Lin Xu assigned twenty people to dig earth outside the village and make unfired bricks. To ensure their safety, he also sent a militia squad stationed in the village to escort an outer disciple who would oversee the work.
The remaining thirty-seven were organized to build wooden houses for themselves under the direction of the village craftsmen.
The recruited villagers were evenly split between men and women, and Lin Xu simply paired them as husbands and wives to form families.
With the help of paper figures, he sorted out and planned the layout of the entire village, and the whole place immediately sprang into activity.
Lin Xu had already noticed that everyone in Xuanwei Monastery, including the true disciples, lacked initiative. It was as if all their actions followed established rules and instructions, leaving them unable to adapt or innovate.
For example, the grain piled in the village warehouse represented the entire village's total output. Villagers collected fixed portions for their meals and never kept food at home.
Capitalists loved honest tools like these the most: they required no wages and would not slack off or cut corners.
This rigid system severely constrained the village's development potential.