Xiao Yu never imagined that one day he would be driven to the brink of insanity by the mere act of mortals defecating.

This single issue was enough to consume him; he had no time to spare for anything else.

Upon taking office, Xiao Yu naturally felt it was his duty to understand the people’s plight and immediately set out to inspect the city. At the moment, the so-called city of Yong’an consisted of little more than a small cluster of wooden buildings and vast stretches of shantytowns.

The moment he set foot in a shantytown, a pungent odor immediately hit his face. At the same time, the powerful senses of a sword cultivator instantly pinpointed the sources of the smell: one, two, three, four... a total of eleven piles of poo had been scattered in the street corners, under the trees, and behind the houses. There was even one right before his eyes in the middle of the street!

For the first time in his life, Xiao Yu wished that his perception wasn’t so sharp, and his perception hadn’t reacted so quickly.

To avoid causing a public sensation, Xiao Yu had not announced his visit. He was walking on his own two feet instead of flying either.

Encroached upon by the outstretching shacks, the roads through the shantytown were extremely narrow and winding. The road surface was also covered in mud, puddles, and potholes. Naturally, the puddles were filled with all manner of filth.

Qingming’s domain could purify the toxins of the Shaman realm, but it couldn’t purify the waste produced by tens of thousands of people.

The deeper he ventured into the shantytown, the more filth there was. At first, the piles were scattered here and there like guerilla fighters waiting to catch an unsuspecting soul off guard. But later, they started gathering in groups, eventually merging into a continuous expanse where one could no longer distinguish one pile from another.

The longer Xiao Yu walked in the shantytown, the harder it became for him to find a place to set foot. When he nearly stepped on a pile, he finally lost it and soared to the sky, fleeing back to the central peak as if his life depended on it.

Try as he might, Xiao Yu could not fathom how the city had turned out like this in just a matter of days.

In truth, if he had taken a walk through the northern district of Willow Ash Town like Wei Yuan had, he would have realized that Yong’an City was actually quite clean by comparison. The people living in the shantytowns of Willow Ash Town were practically dead on their feet; many of them had simply relieved themselves right inside their shacks.

But as the city lord, no matter how reluctant he felt, Xiao Yu believed it was his responsibility to resolve this issue. The simplest solution, of course, was to build more outhouses. But who would build them, where would they be built, where would the waste be transported once they were finished, where would the water come from—the idea had led to a whole flood of questions. As if that wasn’t enough, each question was a specialized field in itself that led to yet another series of complications.

It was only then Xiao Yu realized that coming up with an idea was easy, but turning that idea into reality was much more difficult.

As soon as Xiao Yu returned to the central peak, he took out a map and sketched the terrain surrounding Yong’an City along with the current distribution of residential areas. He then started planning the locations for the outhouses and waste disposal sites, the routes of the sewage channels; how many new streets needed to be built, which existing streets needed to be widened immediately, and so on.

The map grew increasingly detailed over time. Before he knew it, he was redesigning the entire city from the ground up.

He had originally intended to build a few outhouses only.

Xiao Yu wasn’t the only one who was overwhelmed. Cui Yu, in charge of the city defense force, found himself having to start from scratch with everything as well. He had to choose the location of encampments, build the facilities, screen the recruits, equip the recruits, train the recruits, and more.

Despite having several years of military experience under his sash, the work still flustered and overwhelmed him. Cui Yu had led troops into battle many times in the past, but maintaining them and training them? That was an entirely different matter altogether. He didn’t have a choice, though. There were simply too many capable fighters in Qingming. As a mere heaven foundation[1], he couldn’t hardly hold his head high anywhere he went. Hell, he couldn’t even hold his head high in front of his old cronies anymore—after all, they had Heaven Merits and he did not, never mind that they had acquired it via debatable means.

Yun Feifei was entrusted with the management of all supplies and finances within the city, whereas prison affairs fell under Xu Wan’er’s purview. Both women were equally swamped with work.

At the moment, Wei Yuan was standing with his hands behind his back and watching while dozens of cultivators worked together to erect a decorated archway. He felt as though he was stretched too thin as well.

The archway, ten zhang tall and supported by four massive pillars, stood at the city’s southern gate. The word inscribed on the archway, “Yong’an”, was written by Zhang Sheng himself.

The location of this archway also marked the future site of Yong’an City’s southern gate.

Yong’an was located north of Qingming and facing south. It boasted a lake to the west, and a vast, flat grassland to the east. The grassland was where future farmlands would be cultivated. A small river flowed through the city and into the lake, while another river flowed out of the opposite end of the lake, rushing far away.

In the north of the city was a winding road that led straight to the center of the realm. It was carved out by the constant passage of galloping horses and rolling carts. A bit further than that lay a dense, sprawling forest lay and the encampment housing the three thousand sacrifices.

At the moment, the city was empty besides an endless stretch of makeshift huts and shacks. There was no other way; the mortals had arrived in too great a number and too much urgency. Nearly everyone who heard the news had abandoned everything they had and made their way here on their own two feet. The city was already housing nearly fifty thousand people, and more were still arriving every day.

By now, the ceremonial archway had been fully erected. The ground had been softened with Dao spells beforehand, allowing the four massive pillars to be driven smoothly into the earth. Once done, the cultivators cast a series of Dao spells until the ground became as hard as stone. They had also imbued the archway with fortifying and vermin-repelling Dao arts.

As soon as the work was complete, Wei Yuan sensed a slight shift in heaven and earth. The realm had trembled ever so slightly as well. Had his senses not been so keen, he might have missed it entirely.

Just then, Bao Yun appeared beside Wei Yuan and reported, “I’ve located another Shaman tribe with a population of three thousand or so.”

“Let’s go wipe them out!” Wei Yuan gave an order, and an accompanying cultivator blew a horn. Hundreds of cavalrymen immediately started gathering at the edge of the realm from all directions.

A massive, blood-red steed galloped toward Wei Yuan like the wind before coming to a halt in front of him. The feathers around its hooves had grown big and long, making it look as if it had grown wings. Two small splits had also split open above its eyes, forming a new pair of eyes.

By now, the horse had developed a certain level of rapport with Wei Yuan. As soon as his master swung himself onto its back, it set off on its own toward the assembly point.

Moments later, a cavalry unit rode out of the realm and toward a Shaman’s tribe. It wasn’t the only settlement they were planning to attack, though. They were going to sweep through every Shaman stronghold in the vicinity. For the past few days, Bao Yun had been compiling the intelligence on these strongholds gathered from various sources. She would then investigate and verify each report in person. Once confirmed, she would summon Wei Yuan to battle and uproot the strongholds one after another.

In fact, Bao Yun could have wiped out those small tribes of several thousand people all on her own. However, such slaughter would bring upon heavy karmic retribution upon her. If Wei Yuan dared to let Bao Yun return home laden with the resentment of the slain, it was very likely that a few ancient monsters from the Bao Clan would show up and tear Qingming to the ground the very next day.

The Shaman’s main army had long since retreated two thousand li away. The small tribes within the Shattered Realm were beginning to flee one after another as well. If they did not, it was only a matter of time before total annihilation befell them.

The very presence of the Shamans could warp the natural environment around them. This was something Wei Yuan could not tolerate no matter what. During the initial raids, Wei Yuan had intentionally allowed some members of the Shamans to escape. But after routing a couple small tribes, he stopped showing leniency and destroyed them all. From that point onward, anyone who managed to escape did so solely by their own merit.

After Wei Yuan utterly massacred a small tribe, all other Shaman tribes began migrating en masse as though they had received the news. These days, the number of Shamans within the Shattered Realm had dwindled considerably, and even merchant caravans were a rare sight.

If someone were to look down from the sky, they would see a patch of shimmering light green jutting out abruptly from an expanse of deep green, almost ink-black earth. It was like a gem embedded in a land that was shrouded in toxic mist.

Humans were constantly migrating toward this place like ants, slowly crawling across the earth and making their way toward hope.

A month ago, no one could have imagined that this newly established realm would gather several of the strongest members of the younger generation of the Palace of Absolute Beginning, much less the death of five Avatars, hundreds of Dao Foundations, over sixty thousand Shaman soldiers, and hundreds of thousands of Shaman commoners over a series of bloody battles, and in just half a months’ time.

After massacring its enemies and nourishing itself with their blood, despite all odds, Qingming had ultimately managed to take root in this land of wolves and tigers.

Deep within the Great Realm, Wei Yuan was just about to pull out the dead branch and see if it had taken root and sprouted. Just as his finger touched the branch, its bark suddenly cracked with a sharp snap, and a white-gold radiance as cold as frost spilled forth from a tiny fissure.

The light flowed like water, gathering into a small pool at the base of the branch, mist swirling around it. Within the mist, tiny white-gold bay laurel blossoms bloomed and withered, appearing and disappearing intermittently.

1. Short-form for Heaven-tier Dao Foundation. Not sure if I mentioned this before but I’m putting this here anyway. ☜