Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Eight – Desolate Wood Reef (2/2)

“Starting from today, for a very long period of time, we will be staying at this place where even the birds won’t shit.” Zuo Mo’s language was coarse, but everyone felt a deep empathy with his words.

“However, because this place is isolated, no one will disturb us here. It can be a place of peace. Right now, the sect is a mess, and even I find it troublesome. For you, it would be a dream to think you could have avoided it!”

“All of us here are production xiu, so think about the sect. Is there a place that will allow you to peacefully produce? This place might be isolated, but there is no conflict. To us, it is a very good place! Desolate? We can change it ourselves! I’ll state the rules first. On the Desolate Wood Reef, whoever creates ling fields will get to plant in them. Whoever plants will get what they planted. I won’t take a portion, the sect will not take anything! Also, the sect benefits that you are due will not change.”

“Really?” There was excitement on some people’s faces. Originally, they had felt this place was isolated and had been very unwilling. Hearing Zuo Mo say so, they became excited. They were all production xiu, and none among them were interested in fighting and killing. It might be hard to create ling fields, but if they made them, what they planted belonged to them! The sect would not take a portion.

It had to be said that the portion the sect usually took in rent for ling fields was extremely high.

Zuo Mo shrugged his shoulders. “As long as I am here there will not be a problem. But if the sect switches people then I can’t do a thing.”

The people believed Zuo Mo even more when he said that. At least Zuo Shixiong was not overexaggerating. Poor land? It was only a matter of effort for xiuzhe. Production xiu were hardworking and hardy.

Seeing everyone was becoming motivated, Zuo Mo decided to keep eating while the fire was hot.

“Time is jingshi! Everyone, you don’t want to waste jingshi! I have a plan here … …”

Zuo Mo knew that time was short. There was not a lot of time left for him.

In the past, Desolate Wood Reef was neglected, but as the situation worsened, the position of the Desolate Wood Reef would quickly become essential. Relatively speaking, Little Mountain Jie was even more isolated. It only had two jie rivers, even less than Sky Moon Jie.

The situations was worsening and the amount of xiuzhe that would pass through Desolate Wood Reef would increase greatly.

Having personally made the trip, Zuo Mo felt that the position of the Desolate Wood Reef was even better geographically. Two months of travelling, it took almost one month of flying over the Endless Ocean. Supposedly, there were vicious and dangerous water beasts underwater so few people would chose to travel on the water.

Zuo Mo could not imagine just how idiotic the people of Heart Lake Sword Sect were. Heavens, possessing such a good place yet not using it!

In reality, his thinking had gone askew. Little Mountain Jie only had a jie river towards Sky Moon Jie and one towards Sky Water Jie. Sky Moon Jie was not as prosperous as Sky Water Jie so there was rarely any people that passed through to Little Mountain Jie. The Desolate Wood Reef was too far away from Heart Lake Sword Sect. It was only a stop, so naturally, they did not try to manage it with any significant effort.

Zuo Mo had his own thoughts. Even though Little Mountain Jie was more isolated, it was also further away from Bloody Sky Metropolis Jie. In other words, if the current situation really worsened retreating through Little Mountain Jie then onwards to Sky Water Jie was not a bad choice.

That was his plan.

He estimated that after some more time, there would continuously be people going through the jie river to Little Mountain Jie.

It wasn’t so easy to travel through a jie river. The shortest amount of time it would take was several months, longer trips could possibly take years. The Desolate Wood Reef was the only supply point before entering the jie river. That was an opportunity.

Want to resupply? Alright! Hee hee, passage fee … … accommodation fee … … resupplying fee … … birds will be plucked clean… …

He had decided. Even if it was a mosquito passing by, he was going to squeeze out three drops of blood!

In any case, the sect in the short term definitely had no attention to spare on him. Looking objectively from outside, he finally understood. The sect might look strong now, but before the sect leader could assimilate the newly merged factions, the sect would only remain superficially strong . In reality, it was weak internally. The sect leader definitely could see it, but was yet to be seen if there was enough time for him to do anything about it.

That was up to the Heavens!

Zuo Mo shook his head and threw those nonsense thoughts to the back of his mind. A problem even the sect leader couldn’t solve, it wasn’t necessary for him to waste his thoughts on it. He decided to manage his own little domain.

The Desolate Wood Reef was a treasure. Thinking of being able to sit and receive jingshi was great, but this all required that he had enough strength to support it.

This was what he was directing everyone to do now.

Each person had been given a jade scroll from Zuo Shixiong with the jobs assigned to them.

There were a variety of jobs that were very weird. Ling plant farmers were requested to plant certain ling grasses and herbs at certain areas on the island. The animal keepers were to put some of the worms and beasts they raised in certain locations. Zuo Mo had even drawn out the areas they needed to raise them.

The most common task was to dig holes and canals. Almost everyone felt it hard to understand.

The humidity on the Desolate Wood Reef was very rich. The effect of water element spells like [Little Art Of Cloud And Rain] were magnified. They didn’t really need to dig any waterways. Also, the canals that Zuo Shixiong had requested them to dig crisscrossed the entire island, all of them connected to each other.

What did Zuo Shixiong want to do?

After a while, some of the more sensitive xiuzhe discovered that Zuo Shixiong had not appeared for two days.

Where had Zuo Shixiong gone?

Translator Ramblings: Zuo Mo knows what course of action is good for him and how to get rich. Geographically, Sky Moon Jie has several routes to different places, and Desolate Wood Reef is just one of them. Wu Kong Sword Sect did not have a jie river, so they themselves did not have their own path of retreat, and traded for Desolate Wood Reef to amend that weakness.