Chapter 186: Chapter 134: Border War Begins
Muddy, dark water flowed through the mountain forest, making the ground slick. After several falls, the workers began to walk with extre caution.
Cheng Zongyang could only tell his uncle and the others to head back slowly. He needed to return first and check on the situation.
This downpour had co just in ti, solving the fire crisis, but he worried that if the rain was too heavy, it would cause a mudslide.
After all, their position was right next to what was once a dry riverbed.
Within half an hour, Cheng Zongyang raced back to the encampnt. He found that seven or eight houses had caught fire, but thankfully, the rain had extinguished the flas. The other losses were not significant.
"Yang’Er, how is it?" Seeing his son return, Cheng Guanghai finally relaxed. Everyone crowded around them.
"Uncle and his n are fine; they’re on their way back. There’s a downpour outside, and the fire has been contained."
"That’s good, that’s good."
"It’s good that it’s raining! It’s finally raining!"
"What on earth were those things that fell? And why were there so many!"
Everyone spoke at once, so asking questions, others talking to themselves.
Cheng Zongyang didn’t let anyone co out, however, choosing to wait in case there were any other sudden changes.
After his uncle and the others returned and everyone was accounted for, Cheng Zongyang said to his father, "Father, keep everyone in the cellars and caves for now. I’m going to take a look outside."
He needed to understand the situation outside, lest he remain completely ignorant of what was happening.
Cheng Guanghai didn’t stop him. He just nodded and said, "Alright. Be careful."
Cheng Zongyang nodded in acknowledgnt and walked out of the cave.
The rain was still falling outside. Seeing that the dry riverbed had already begun to collect water, he knew the groundwater had been replenished. This also showed just how heavy the downpour was.
Cheng Zongyang glanced around, wiped the rain from his face, and quickly left the Inner Mountain Pass, heading for the outside.
However, when he reached the Outer Mountain pass, he discovered the rain had already stopped.
But as Cheng Zongyang looked out at the scorching sun beating down on the earth and the fires still raging in the distance, he froze in a daze.
He couldn’t help but turn to look back toward the Inner Mountain. It had definitely rained—his clothes were still wet. This wasn’t an illusion!
’This... Did it only rain in the Inner Mountain region?’ Cheng Zongyang’s doubts multiplied.
Although localized showers and regional downpours existed, the stark contrast between the Inner Mountain and Outer Mountain left Cheng Zongyang speechless.
’It seems the rain in Tianduan Mountain was caused by the forest fire. The conditions weren’t right outside, so there was no rain.’ Cheng Zongyang shook his head, then continued toward the burning Golden Bridge Village.
Apparently, a fireball had smashed into the forest near Golden Bridge Village. In an environnt that was already a tinderbox, the fireball was like a match to a forest doused in Tung Oil. It didn’t need the wind to instantly erupt in an inferno.
As a result, Golden Bridge Village was also struck by disaster.
Even so of the surrounding villages had suffered the sa fate.
’Now there’s really nothing left.’ Standing at the Outer Mountain pass and looking at the scene outside, Cheng Zongyang shook his head.
Unless it rained, the only outco was for everything to burn to the ground.
"I wonder what the situation is in Jade Peak County," Cheng Zongyang murmured, turning back toward the Inner Mountain Pass. He had no intention of going to Jade Peak County.
These days, aside from delivering dicinal powder to Li Lu and gathering information, he generally didn’t go to the county unless it was for sothing important or necessary.
Of course, for the sake of his clansn, he still often made excuses to go to the county to procure supplies.
The rain had stopped. In the mountains, aside from a few smoldering trees, there were basically no open flas left.
With the rain gone, his worries about mudslides and the like were also laid to rest.
Seeing this, Cheng Zongyang let everyone co out.
Cheng Zongyang explained what was happening outside to the adults. When they heard, they weren’t particularly surprised.
In the past, there had been many instances of rain in the mountain forests while it remained dry outside the mountains.
But when they learned that the great fire had destroyed the village, they all fell silent.
In the silence, Cheng Guanghai began directing people to start cleaning up the encampnt, rebuilding and replacing the burned houses, and clearing out anything soaked by the rain.
However, the vegetable seedlings had been almost completely destroyed by the initial impact, the heat from the fire, and the subsequent washing of the heavy rain. It was a heartbreaking loss for everyone.
The won could only do their best to salvage what they could of the fruit and vegetable seedlings.
An hour later, Cheng Zongyang learned that the losses weren’t too severe, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They had all feared that this unexpected disaster would destroy the encampnt they had worked so hard to build.
While everyone was busy, Cheng Zongyang summoned the mbers of the Hunting Hall.
The great fire had driven off or burned to death countless wild beasts. Now was their ti to harvest.
"Move quickly. This ti, there is only one objective: bring back so of the animals that were burned to death!"
Only twenty mbers of the Hunting Hall were going this ti; his cousins didn’t need to go.
The neatly lined-up n were all stunned when they heard Cheng Zongyang’s mission.
"Young Clan Leader, are we collecting them to eat?" soone asked.
Cheng Zongyang shook his head. "No. It’s for next year’s harvest and for our safety this year. Alright, get ready. Pile up all the animal carcasses you find at a central location. Wait for my further instructions."
Great disasters are always followed by great plagues. With so many animals burned to death, if they weren’t dealt with, a plague could easily form and spread through the mountain forest.
Although he had Clearing Fever Powder, there was no need to take the risk.
That was why they needed to clean up the area for miles around.
Furthermore, it was also for making rot-flesh soil. Rot-flesh soil was linked to crop yields; at its best, it could produce 1,500 kilograms per acre. With that, even a hundred acres of land could yield 150,000 kilograms of grain—enough to feed who knows how many people.
This was a matter of the clan’s developnt. Now that he had the opportunity, he naturally couldn’t let it go to waste!
Hearing this decision, the n could only obey.
Afterward, they broke into pairs and headed into the mountains with stretchers to search for the carcasses of burned animals.
anwhile, Cheng Zongyang went to check the place where the fireball had landed. He also wanted to see if it had left a pit that could be used to fernt the rot-flesh soil.
When he arrived at the pit, his expression turned grim.
The surrounding environnt, for two to three hundred ters, showed clear signs of layered shockwaves that had swept outward from the center.
All the trees had been blasted to smithereens by the impact!
And at the center was an earthen pit, roughly eight or nine ters in diater and about six or seven ters deep.
There was a pit! But there was no rock!
’A teor-like fireball landed, creating such a powerful shockwave, yet there’s no rock in the pit? Was it really just a ball of fire?’
Cheng Zongyang’s brow furrowed. ’What kind of existence could wield such an Ability?’
Cheng Zongyang’s feelings grew more and more complicated.
It seed his understanding of this world was truly like that of a frog in a well—his vision was limited to a tiny patch of sky, and he knew nothing of the greater world outside!
’I should focus on what’s in front of
for now.’
Cheng Zongyang decided not to dwell on questions that had no answers for the ti being. Otherwise, he would just be creating trouble for himself.
He believed that as long as he beca strong enough, he would eventually co into contact with the right circles. The truths of those circles would one day be revealed to him!
With a ready-made pit available, Cheng Zongyang had a few people start gathering large amounts of plant ash.
After such a huge fire, there was plenty of plant ash, though it had all turned into a muddy slurry. Still, it was usable.
As the n brought back the burned animal carcasses, Cheng Zongyang took out his Tang Blade, dismbered all the bodies, and threw them into the pit to be mixed with the soil.
Then, he threw in large quantities of rotten vegetation, layer by layer, until it was level with the ground. Finally, he used the mixed ash slurry to cover the entire surface.
With that, the initial preparation was complete. After three or four months, they could proceed to the second step.
The rot-flesh soil from the Wilderness World was simpler than this. After all, that was only for an area of one acre, so it didn’t require waiting so long and could be made easily.
But this was ant to be the Basic for a future hundred acres, so the requirents and thods were naturally different.
However, there were too many animal carcasses for the pit to hold. In the end, he had no choice but to have people dig more pits. Fortunately, the rain-soaked soil was soft and much easier to dig.
This kept them busy for another two days.
With the n from the Hunting Hall, Cheng Zongyang finally completed the creation of rot-flesh soil in thirteen large pits.
This was the base soil. Before it could be used, it would need to be mixed with fresh topsoil to et the needs of the farmland.
At the sa ti, the potential threat of a plague at the encampnt was eliminated.
As for whether a plague might arise from the pits themselves, Cheng Zongyang was largely unconcerned.
For one, they were quite far away. For another, he had also thrown in plenty of earthworms and rotting matter. Buried for over half a year in this weather, the dismbered animal carcasses underground would be almost completely decomposed.
If they dug it up for final processing before planting at the start of the new year, there should be no problems.
In two days, the Inner Mountain Pass was more or less restored to its original state, though it felt much more empty.
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