Chapter 304: Chapter 268: Daoist Lord Guards the Gate

Jinfeng Mountain was renamed Bright Moon Mountain, with numerous tasks awaiting revival. When the real development and construction began, Sang Que realized that everything wasn’t as simple as playing a game.

Luckily, her luck was good enough to have Yao Zhen as a reliable helper.

Yao Zhen indeed brought Sang Que many surprises. She didn’t even discuss salary or benefits with Sang Que, only obtained a promise from Sang Que to build her a Taoist Temple, and worked diligently, running around tirelessly.

Yao Zhen had already seen the female zombie whom Sang Que subdued and knew that Sang Que intercepted her mission from Purple Clouds Mountain, causing her a wasted trip. For this reason, Yao Zhen angrily proclaimed that she wouldn’t repay the three taels and five maces of silver Sang Que lent her before.

Sang Que shrugged indifferently, as it wasn’t much, and she actually never intended for Yao Zhen to repay it.

After an inspection, Yao Zhen confirmed that this female zombie had something special, cultivated painstakingly by predecessors with resources and effort. Those bitten by this female zombie would transform quickly.

It takes only fifteen minutes to become an ordinary white-haired zombie, while the better-quality ones require just six months to become a higher-level black zombie. If an extremely yin Corpse Nourishing Land is available, and drenched with copious amounts of blood, the time would be even shorter, with higher success rates in transforming into a black zombie.

As long as Sang Que controlled this female zombie, she could control other white-haired zombies and black zombies bitten by the female zombie.

However, there’s a problem: the zombies bitten cannot surpass the female zombie’s level before she advances; for now, becoming a black zombie is their limit.

Regarding how this female zombie advances, Yao Zhen said that she’s different from ordinary zombies, fearing that normal Corpse Nourishing Techniques won’t allow her to level up. Sang Que had a chance to revisit Fish Woman Village; the female zombie’s advancement event certainly resides there.

Yao Zhen asked Sang Que to name the female zombie. Sang Que’s first thought was ’Zongzi’, but she didn’t voice it out, sensing that the name lacked fierceness.

Sang Que then recollected the four great zombie ancestors of Huaxia, one being the Female Ba, also known as Drought Demon, famous for the ’Drought Demon ravaging, leaving a barren wasteland’ legend, which the female zombie also donned a red outfit…

Ultimately, Sang Que named the female zombie ’Red Ghost’.

Regarding Wan He sister’s situation, Sang Que let Yao Zhen assess it, and Yao Zhen had Sang Que control Red Ghost to bite Wan He sister.

As a result, Wan He sister, who originally needed over half a year to regain action, was able to stand overnight, constantly following Wan He without any orders.

Wan He and the other two girls were adamant about following Sang Que; Sang Que temporarily arranged for them to chop wood and fetch water daily to boost their physical fitness, planning to teach them some combat skills later when free.

Just as she had previously guided Zhang Junyao, Sang Que led Yao Zhen through the mountain for three days; Yao Zhen secluded herself for a day and, upon emerging, provided Sang Que with a map.

The map marked the auspicious spots throughout the mountain, with adjustments to the city-building site.

Importantly, Yao Zhen astonishingly suggested Sang Que build a small Eight Diagram City at the Phoenix’s heart position, mirroring Shengjing’s Eight Diagram City, albeit significantly smaller, naturally, the cost of construction would be several times higher than that of an ordinary city.

Taoist Disciples adeptly utilize Eight Diagrams; even Sang Que’s Yansheng coin features Eight Diagrams. Once the Eight Diagram City is constructed, it can attract fortune internally and suppress ghosts externally.

It’s tantamount to setting up a colossal formation within the mountain, deterring evil spirits and evil ghosts from approaching within a hundred-mile radius.

Yao Zhen didn’t explain how she understood the Eight Diagram City’s structure, and Sang Que tacitly didn’t ask.

Yao Zhen also completed the Corpse Nourishing Land’s planning, correlating it with the Eight Diagram City, a balance of yin and yang, complementing each other.

Sang Que couldn’t grasp the Feng Shui Formation principles within, and Yao Zhen was uninterested in explaining; she wrapped an arm around Sang Que’s shoulder, assuring her that as long as funds and craftsmen were in place, she’d guarantee the small Eight Diagram City and Corpse Nourishing Land were built excellently, ensuring endless benefits.

Unknown to others, Yao Zhen had merely been indoctrinated with this knowledge by her master, never having genuinely attempted it before; this presented her chance for practical validation.

Should the small Eight Diagram City be successfully constructed, building a larger one in the future would be no problem.

Sang Que ’readily’ handed over financial authority to Yao Zhen, allowing her to withdraw silver freely from the account, instructing her to inform if additional funds were required.

Yao Zhen also selected the Taoist Temple’s location, somewhere Sang Que would never have anticipated.

Outside Bright Moon Mountain’s entrance!

Yao Zhen, possessing government documents as a Daoist, had legal status. With money, she could build a Taoist Temple on any mountain within the Xuan Dynasty, freely recruiting disciples, all permitted by the Evil Suppression Bureau.

Building the Taoist Temple at the mountain’s entrance ensured that unless examined thoroughly by the government, they’d struggle to realize a significant bandit enclave existed behind it.

Moreover, this gave Sang Que a feeling as if Yao Zhen invited the Daoist Lord to guard her door.

Imagining a Monk Temple for left and right guardians sounded enticing, though Sang Que merely mused such a thought; Daoist Lord and Longevity Buddha were beyond her ability to provoke, even if she didn’t believe in Them, she had to show reverence.

With the matters of city-building and Corpse Nourishing Land planned with Yao Zhen, Sang Que felt completely assured.

Hong Xuan’s settlement of refugees was excellent, as he was indeed eloquent.

He told those people that relying on the government was inferior to relying on themselves, for even if they survived long enough for the government to deploy people for arrangement, they’d later have to hand over most of their harvest once cultivating fields.

Should the Qinzhou rebels remain unqualified to be subdued in time, conscription inevitably would fall upon them too. Who then would dare defy the court officials?

Being bandits on this mountain, despite bearing infamous reputations, enabled them to live well, with shelter, fields to cultivate, and Big Boss temporarily exempted them from grain taxes, provided fields, food, living arrangements, and paid for work.

As long as they didn’t disclose mountain matters, keeping it secret, the place could certainly become a hidden sanctuary in the future.

His persuasive arguments, analyzing pros and cons, retained all accompanying refugees within the mountain.

Now, including the original bandits in the mountain, Sang Que supervised nearly a thousand people.

The combined grain stocks of each village only sufficed for a month of use.

Without support from the modern world there, given the current grain prices, maintaining this many people before summer harvest would be unfeasible for Sang Que.

Hong Xuan indeed did a great job; besides registering all refugees, he also identified their skills, discovering several carpenters, blacksmiths, craftsmen skilled in construction, and the former village head from a Qinzhou village.

The old village head was literate, so Sang Que instructed Pei Li to lead his people in converting Ruan Family Village into a school, dividing everyone into three batches for literacy courses, having the old village head dedicate an hour each evening teaching them simple words.

Initially, everything proceeded orderly according to plan.

However, over time, issues emerged.

Originally, few women were in the mountain; with refugee inclusion, many more women appeared, some bandits with food and drink stirring lustful intentions.

Additionally, the mountain cleared too cleanly by Sang Que, some bandits attempted under the cloak of darkness to disgrace decent women, luckily caught in time, no terrible incidents unfolded.

Upon learning of the situation, Sang Que gathered everyone in one place, commanding Red Ghost to kill those wicked bandits on the spot, serving as a warning.

Her decisive righteousness intimidated the bandits and garnered refugee allegiance, solidifying her position as Bright Moon Mountain’s Big Boss.

That afternoon, Yao Zhen found Sang Que, informing her that midnight tonight was the best time to summon Five Ghosts, prompting Sang Que to prepare in advance.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep