Chapter 207: Chapter 142: Clan Ideology 2
Therefore, the major punishnts he designated were the ones he had just described. Regardless of the reason, there was only one outco—Soul Returns to the Wilderness!
The only downside was that it would constantly consu his Lifespan. Although it wasn’t much for a single person, the accumulated total would be substantial!
For those who signed, as long as they didn’t betray him within ten years, he wouldn’t get his invested Lifespan back. If they chose not to sign again after the decade and then betrayed him, he would have suffered a loss.
Unfortunately, the essential terms of the Oath Contract could not be modified.
For him, right now, it didn’t matter whether they secretly intended to betray him; as long as they signed the contract, that was enough.
He was prepared to invest a year of his Lifespan to cultivate 120 core mbers.
If they betrayed him, he could reclaim his Lifespan with interest. If they didn’t, trading one year of his life for 120 guards who would be loyal for a decade was still worth it. It wasn’t as if he could realistically bind soone for a lifeti anyway.
In ten years, his Cultivation should be high enough to protect the entire family!
At this point, Cheng Zongyang continued speaking:
"Elders, we can instill this story of the Immortal Ancestor into the children’s education. This will let them know the Cheng Family’s past and identify with our developnt philosophy. Slowly, as they grow up, their sense of belonging to the Cheng Family will grow stronger."
"Also, over the past few months, I’ve written several books suitable for educating children. I’ll finish them after the new year begins. Once I’ve trained the tutors, they can then teach the children, further deepening their education in clan ideology. This will also allow us to specifically cultivate the scholars the family requires.
Our people don’t need to seek scholarly honors and official posts, so their education will naturally be focused on practical applications. The phonetic system I’ve compiled, mathematics, Basic Martial Arts knowledge, hunting skills, and the dicine Hall’s dical knowledge—all of these will give the children a solid foundation. That way, they won’t struggle when they encounter more advanced topics later on.
Oh, right. There will also be Clan Studies, which will teach the importance of the clan. For example, titles like *The Great Family Above the Small*, *A Brief Discussion on the Clan’s Imnse Impact on Personal Developnt*, *Why Martial Arts Experts Cannot Do Without Clan Support*, *The Future of the Family Is Tied to the Clan*, and *On the Importance of Having a Clan’s Backing*. I will write all of these one by one in the future."
For a mont, everyone stared at Cheng Zongyang, their expressions a mixture of strange and unreadable emotions.
’He’s a natural-born Clan Leader!’
’He has so many thods for subtle control and brainwashing!’
’It’s terrifyingly effective!’
"Just hearing those titles makes them sound profound and important," Zhou Hanchang said with considerable amazent, scratching his head.
After a good while, once everyone had digested the thods Cheng Zongyang described, Cheng Guanghai finally nodded with a smile. "Good. Then we’ll be counting on you. When do you plan to prepare the Oath Contract?"
As a father, he naturally gave his son’s proposal unconditional support. The position of Clan Leader would one day belong to his son, so it was even more unlikely he would object!
"My uncle from the Sect Hall will be responsible for explaining the Oath Contract to the mbers, and I will supply the contracts themselves. Once my uncle has gone through the process for the first signatory with , the responsibility will be handed over to the Sect Hall. For now, the seven people currently cultivating do not need to sign before they reach Entry Grade.
With
here, Martial Artists of the Lower Three Grades won’t be able to stir up any trouble in the village. Therefore, the future targets for this contract will be those who have reached Entry Grade and wish to keep advancing and learn Martial Arts techniques. Only after they sign can they be trusted and given the resources and Martial Arts techniques for Eighth Grade cultivation!
In addition, there are also so Outsiders who are not Martial Artists but who may co into contact with our core secrets.
Ultimately, this contract is equivalent to a non-disclosure agreent and a ten-year contract of indenture. We must explain this clearly to everyone who signs. It must be completely voluntary, without coercion; the choice is theirs. Forcing them would only build resentnt, which is unnecessary. After ten years, they can choose to sign again or be set free."
After hearing this, everyone nodded in agreent.
Frankly, a Ninth Grade Martial Artist who doesn’t know how to fight is really just a person with abundant vitality and great strength.
Pledging ten years of loyalty to the Cheng Family in exchange for the opportunity to advance was a fair trade. Otherwise, the Cheng Family couldn’t possibly waste resources cultivating soone unwilling to contribute anything.
Seeing that everyone agreed with his proposal, Cheng Zongyang moved on to the sixth matter: the situation in the outside world.
When they heard that a war was actually being fought outside, they all looked shocked and began asking for details.
Cheng Zongyang shared all the information he knew and proposed that the Clan Leader hold a village eting the next day. He wanted to inform everyone about the situation in the outside world, completely extinguishing any thoughts they might still have about leaving.
Everyone agreed to this, but they continued to ask for more specific details, which Cheng Zongyang explained one by one.
However, Cheng Zongyang did not share his own speculations with everyone. ’Maybe this really has nothing to do with the situation at Tianduan Mountain?’
Of course, this also served as a reminder to Cheng Zongyang: he needed to set up so contingencies to avert a potential crisis.
He planned to place obstacles along the entrance and exit routes.
The best tool for this was the Geomagnetic Stone he had been considering for a long ti. He still didn’t know if it was possible to purchase them; he hadn’t yet tried.
The truly astonishing effect of a Geomagnetic Stone was revealed when its Stone Hide was completely removed.
Even he, a Seventh Grade Martial Artist, had nearly fainted when he was at its epicenter. If not for Ma San’s quick reflexes in stuffing a piece of Stone Hide into his hand, he would have passed out.
From this, it was clear that an ordinary person would stand no chance against the Geomagnetic Stone’s influence.
If they were available for purchase, he planned to buy so and place them in the area leading away from the Inner Mountain Pass.
As for the Inner Mountain Pass itself, deploying them there was not an option unless everyone carried Stone Hide. This was obviously impossible, as their people frequently had to go into the mountains to hunt and gather.
Only by placing the stones on the outside could they prevent outsiders from entering and discovering their location.
Who knew if those warring factions would enter the mountains to search? If the war was truly related to the strange phenonon at Tianduan Mountain, then it was entirely possible that people from the Thirteen Royal Families would co searching in the mountains.
The rest of the eting was simple. After sharing this intelligence, he had given everyone ti to ntally prepare.
By the ti Cheng Zongyang had finished discussing these matters, more than two hours had passed.
Cheng Guangshan had taken notes on everything, and afterward, he eagerly took the three formulas to begin his research.
The others also went off to handle their own tasks before resting.
The Martial Arts dicine Baths had been put on hold for now. Only after the Body Tempering Powder was produced could they accelerate their cultivation speed.
Items like this would only be supplied for free to the Martial Artists who had signed the contract. It could also be redeed later with Contribution Points, but the cost would be quite high.
As resources beca more plentiful in the future, anything produced—aside from what was directly provided to Cheng Clan mbers—would be turned over to the Storehouse. Others could then spend Contribution Points to redeem them. This would create a healthy, self-sustaining cycle for Cheng Family Village’s operations.
After everyone had departed, Cheng Zongyang was the last to leave, closing the great doors of the Ancestral Hall behind him.
The current layout of the area was just as he had originally designed it. The Cheng Family Ancestral Hall sat atop a small hill, perfectly positioned to overlook the entirety of Henei and the area Beyond the River. The Zhou Family Ancestral Hall was located a short distance below.
In both Henei and the area Beyond the River, a team of guards was on patrol. Outside the Ancestral Hall’s courtyard, Cheng Zongyang could see the flickering torchlight of the patrols, like fireflies in the dead of night.
’If I can buy Geomagnetic Stones, I’ll need to survey so areas Beyond the River. I have to ensure the stones can both prevent Outsiders from entering the Inner Mountain Pass area and also protect Cheng Family Village. But to keep our own villagers from wandering in by mistake, I’ll have to set up a warning system...’
Countless thoughts raced through Cheng Zongyang’s mind.
With the outbreak of war, the security of Cheng Family Village was more important than ever. A village of several hundred people was enough for now, as long as they were well-trained.
’It’s about ti. Sothing new should have spawned inside. I can also open the sixth inventory slot now.’
Seeing no one around, Cheng Zongyang walked deeper into the mountains. In a secluded spot, he entered the Wilderness World.
He appeared inside the market hut and imdiately muted the various notification sounds. Ignoring everything else, he first took out the Golden Sand from the Gold Panning Workshop, the Broken Gold Pieces he had found, and the four taels and five mace of gold from selling dried fish, all from a nearby box.
[Golden Sand detected. Purity: 93%. Weight: seventy-eight taels and seven mace. Can be purified to seventy-three taels...]
[Broken Gold Pieces detected. Purity: 94%. Weight: thirty-two taels and three mace. Can be purified to thirty taels and three mace...]
[Small Gold Block detected. Purity: 96%. Weight: four taels and five mace. Can be purified to four taels and three mace...]
[Spend one hundred taels of Gold to unlock the sixth inventory slot?]
[Confirm] / [Cancel]
After a series of operations, all his gold was refined. Seeing the final prompt, Cheng Zongyang didn’t hesitate.
"Confirm!"
Instantly, of the one hundred seven taels and six mace of gold on the counter, only seven taels and six mace of Pure Gold sand remained.
The next mont, Cheng Zongyang looked at his inventory.
Reviews
All reviews (0)