However, the courier encountered some issues on the way to the Qinghe Sect.
Since the courier had never been to the Qinghe Sect and didn't know the route, he got lost in the wilderness for several days, which caused a delay.
This, however, gave Tong Jialiang's uncle and aunt time to pack their luggage.
In the cave dwelling of the Qinghe Sect's leader, Han Shangyi, he sat in deep thought as he read his daughter's letter.
It wasn't that he was surprised by his daughter suggesting that he form an alliance or even depend on another sect, as he was already used to that sort of behavior from her.
What really surprised him were the contents of Han Weishu's letter, which made him feel as if he had opened the door to a whole new world.
A sect where even ordinary disciples could cultivate in training halls equipped with Spirit Gathering Arrays?
And there were elders lecturing the disciples every day?
The monthly stipend for ordinary disciples was ten times what the elite disciples of the Qinghe Sect received annually?!
And the sect even provided spiritual food at dinner that was rich in spiritual energy every day?!
Moreover, the cultivation technique that allowed Han Weishu, with her Five Elemental Roots, to break through from the first to the fifth level of Qi Refining in just a few months…
After reading this, Han Weishu had even specifically cautioned her father not to spread this information around. Han Shangyi fell into deep contemplation.
Could such a sect truly exist in the mortal world?
It just seemed too unbelievable.
But even if Han Weishu could lie to him about everything else, she couldn't fake her cultivation level. As long as he saw her in person, he would be able to tell at a glance.
And if this sect really could help a cultivator with Five Elemental Roots break through to the fifth level of Qi Refining in just a few months, then the rest of it didn't seem so impossible anymore.
Could it be…?
Han Shangyi seemed to recall something, and immediately took out his Sect Leader's seal.
——
Upon receiving Qin Jianghe's letter, the Li royal family acted quickly, immediately summoning experienced craftsmen from the Ministry of Works to begin designing the blueprints.
In order to make the design more accurate, Li Zhouxuan even requested the detailed topographical maps of Xiushui Village from Liu Yunan.
Initially, Li Zhouxuan only intended for them to create a flat map, marking the terrain and land conditions of each area.
Unexpectedly, Lingxian Sect sent him back a miniature formation instead.
This formation had no other function but to reproduce the area needed for city construction on a 1:1 scale. Moreover, the size of the three-dimensional model could be adjusted at will, shrinking to as small as the size of a palm, and if necessary, the physical sensations inside the formation could be adjusted. This allowed people entering the formation to even touch the trees and soil, assess the local climate, and judge factors such as humidity and other terrain conditions.
It was practically the same as conducting an on-site survey!
This greatly simplified the work for the Ministry of Works officials.
As a result, the progress of the blueprint design for the trading center city advanced rapidly. With such convenient tools at their disposal, the craftsmen of the Ministry of Works were able to be even more meticulous in their designs.
Thanks to everyone's careful and efficient work, the blueprints were completed successfully after a month.
Actually, it wasn't just one blueprint—there were three.
But they were all part of a whole, with one master blueprint and two supplementary ones.
The main blueprint depicted the overall layout of the city, while the two supplementary blueprints were more unique, reflecting the craftsmen's bold creativity.
Because this blueprint was designed for the Lingxian Sect, the craftsmen set aside some of their conventional ideas and incorporated features they believed only immortals would be capable of. One of the supplementary blueprints was for a mountain city, and the other was for an underground city.
These two areas were part of the main city's structure, but due to their relative independence, additional blueprints were created to explain the various details.
After studying the terrain around Xiushui Village, the craftsmen of the Ministry of Works unanimously agreed that it would be unwise to drastically alter the natural landscape, as they believed its original layout had excellent feng shui.
Thus, they designed a blueprint that preserved the natural landscape as much as possible.
A large mountain within the area was designed to be the mountain city. Due to its elevated position and its proximity to Xiushui Village—separated only by a mountain stream and located at the center of the entire city—it was designated as the core of the city.
Most of the administrative offices and the city lord's residence were located on this mountain city.
As for the underground city, it was designed in response to the emperor's requirement that the city should be able to accommodate a large number of people, including both tourists and residents.
Thus, the craftsmen came up with the idea of developing an underground space within the original area.
This also provided additional development potential for Xiushui Village, which had suitable land for such a project.
Additionally, the underground city was designed with its own independent water supply and air circulation systems.
This way, if the Lingxian Sect found it suitable, they could keep the design. If not, they could simply disregard it for the time being.
Before sending the blueprints to the Lingxian Sect, Li Zhouxuan presented them to the Li family's ancestor, Li Zhanying, who approved them with a nod.
Soon after, the Lingxian Sect received the thick stack of blueprints sent by the Li royal family.
Liu Yunan and Qin Jianghe reviewed the blueprints, though they mainly looked at them for fun.
Many of the elements were new to them—they hadn't realized that city planning involved so many factors.
Indeed, constructing a city was quite different from building a village or a small town. This required true expertise.
After checking the blueprints against the list provided by Li Zhouxuan to ensure nothing was missing, Liu Yunan handed the designs to Lin Xiao.
Ever since Lin Xiao had finished preparing the formations needed for the trading center, he had thrown himself into non-stop cultivation.
The only thing he was concerned about recently was whether Senior Liao from Changming Mountain had emerged yet.
However, no news had come from Changming.
Senior Liao's status on the system panel still indicated that he was in closed-door cultivation.
Since there didn't seem to be any issues, Lin Xiao didn't feel the need to go in and disturb him.
The treasure that the system had given to Sun Yigao was something Lin Xiao had already presented to him during the celebratory banquet when Sun Yigao ascended to the Nascent Soul stage.
At the time, everyone was filled with envy, for this was a unique treasure that perfectly complemented the "Benyuan Heart Sutra: Chapter of Benevolence."
Except for Jiang Youfu.
Lin Xiao had explained to them that such treasures only emerged when one had made a significant breakthrough in their personal cultivation method. If they wanted a similar treasure, they would have to diligently study their cultivation techniques and work hard to understand them.
Sect Master Lin subtly used this opportunity to encourage his disciples to cultivate harder.
Having received the three treasures, Sun Yigao had been extremely fond of them. For the past month, aside from refining the sect's medicinal pills and teaching classes, he spent all his time in the library studying the treasures.
After reviewing the blueprints, Lin Xiao naturally noticed the designs for the mountain city and the underground city.
He didn't expect the craftsmen from the royal court to be so bold.
He had originally thought that he would receive a precise and conventional blueprint that erred on the side of caution without incorporating any novelty at all.