Speaking of the Southern Border, Taoist Yan Ling, Taoist Qingwei, and a few others had already completely cleared out the Demon Realm beneath the earth veins of Poison Dragon Swamp. They had now emerged and reconvened with Taoist Zhi Qing and his group.
Previously, Taoist Zhi Qing and the others had followed the Celestial Fox Ancestor to carve out a path. Along the way, they slew Xiong Wuji, a Black Bear Spirit who held a grudge against Cyan Hill Mountain, harvesting a massive amount of Evil Qi in the process.
Afterward, the rest of the demons—including Celestial Monarch Ba, the Red-haired Ghost, and even the Earth Element Divine King—quieted down significantly. They either sealed their mountains and went into seclusion or hid themselves away entirely, allowing the Fox Race of Cyan Hill Mountain to freely pave a road leading straight to Yazhou in the Central Plains.
Without Demons and Ghosts blocking the way, carving roads through mountains and building bridges over rivers was actually a remarkably easy task for Cultivators.
For Daoists Cultivating the Five Elements Five Qi, the powerful ones like Taoist Yan Qi could even utilize Earth Escape directly. Even the ordinary ones could manipulate the earth veins; while they might not be able to move mountains and fill seas, altering the terrain to a limited extent was not difficult.
Gentle ones, like Taoist Yan Ling, merely swept his Divine Light across the area, merging it into the earth veins of the mountains. By invoking the Five Elements, he carved a winding mountain road that wrapped around the peaks and stretched ever forward.
This road had a solid foundation, free from the risk of falling rocks above or the danger of collapsing below. The stone-paved path was three meters wide. Let alone walking, even driving vehicles on it would be no problem at all!
Violent ones, like Taoist Yuan He, could simply slash with the Pure Yang Flying Sword in his hand, cleaving an incredibly steep mountain right down the middle to form a canyon resembling Heaven’s Edge.
With a casual sweep of his hand, flying rubble was cleared away from the canyon floor, leaving behind a flat, two-lane, two-way road!
Although the methods of the Cyan Hill Mountain Fox Race were not as elegantly effortless as those of the old Daoists from Daluo Palace, they each possessed their own unique charm. They even brought in a pangolin friend, who dug a tunnel straight through a massive mountain that was wide enough for a horse-drawn carriage to pass through.
At the same time, they rallied a flock of the Flying Bird Demon Race. Pooling their wisdom and efforts, they built a sturdy suspension bridge across a massive transverse canyon, connecting the two sides.
Of course, the old Daoists of Daluo Palace did not focus all their energy solely on carving through mountains and building roads. They only handled the large-scale excavation; the detailed repairs and finishing touches were left to the local commoners.
Only when one actually puts in the effort will they truly cherish and protect the fruits of their labor.
Thus, the eight old Daoists led the other Daoists whose Dao Practice was still lacking as they traversed the Southern Border. Occasionally, they would meet up with the friends invited by Cyan Hill Mountain to search for traces of demons together.
However, whether it was because the Demon Ancestor had learned his lesson or the Demon Cultivators had simply gotten smarter, the group patrolled the Southern Border for a long time without finding any Fallen Demons, aside from eliminating a few notoriously wicked Demons and Ghosts.
Even so, their harvest was still vastly greater than when they traveled through the Central Plains. Not only did they contribute another massive amount of Evil Qi and two Thunder Seeds to Gu Zhao, but their own Dao Practice and Magical Power had also increased significantly.
Taoist Yan Ling, Taoist Yu Zhang, and the others had grown even stronger, while Taoist Long Qin, Taoist Hong Hai, and the rest were edging ever closer to achieving five hundred years of Dao Practice.
In the days that followed, nothing of note happened in Wanling Jiangbei or the Southern Border Mountains. Jueyin Heavenly Country was busy organizing its state affairs, gathering information on Heping Country and the Three Holy Countries, and scouting out intelligence on the other Western Divine Countries.
Gu Zhao took the two women on a couple of tours around Shanzhou and was also preparing to return to Jiangzhou.
It wasn’t that they had grown tired of sightseeing, but rather that Gu Zhao had business to attend to back home.
"The Moon Base is already prepared?" Gu Zhao asked in surprise during a voice transmission with Taoist Qing Ye. "It’s only been a few months. Weren’t they supposed to completely revise the design concept?"
"That’s right. They had to revise the blueprints and then manufacture the base’s engineering modules. That’s exactly why it took a few months; otherwise, they would have been ready ages ago," Taoist Qing Ye replied.
Gu Zhao was left completely speechless.
Taoist Qing Ye sighed. "We still have some misunderstandings about the speed of our nation’s engineering projects. Once the full weight of the country is thrown into accomplishing something, the efficiency is simply staggering.
"Years ago, a hospital capable of accommodating a thousand people went from blueprint design to final delivery in a mere ten days."
Taoist Qing Ye then said faintly, "This Moon Base is actually considered slow. I heard they divided the task into three separate project teams for the design phase, ultimately selecting the best one, while also incorporating improvements based on the other two proposals.
"Once the proposal was finalized, the actual manufacturing was even simpler. After all, there were no technical hurdles. With the domestic industrial manufacturing capabilities, it took less than half a month to produce all the modules.
"After the aerospace department assembled all these engineering modules, they conducted relevant tests simulating the lunar environment to ensure the Moon Base’s absolute safety and long-term operation.
"It was only after they confirmed that there were absolutely no issues—or that any potential issues could be independently resolved by the engineers at the Moon Base—that the Taoist Office finally contacted me."
At this point, Taoist Qing Ye laughed. "According to the inside information I managed to dig up, the most time-consuming part was actually personnel selection. I heard the Aerospace Bureau and the Science Academy were fighting tooth and nail internally for a spot on this lunar landing.
"Fortunately, since transporting the base to the Moon doesn’t require calculating payload limits, and the base’s design allowed for an extremely high capacity, they ultimately finalized a roster of a full thirty scientists and engineers for the landing."
"Only thirty?" Gu Zhao shook his head. "That’s still too conservative. I thought that as the vanguard force for the lunar landing, there would be at least two to three hundred people."
Taoist Qing Ye fell silent.
"It’s already ten times more than the Celestial Palace Space Station. It’s more than enough for conducting all sorts of experiments," Taoist Qing Ye explained. He then added, "I’ve only recently broken through, so my strength might not be enough to support a round trip to the Moon. Didn’t Yunyang say he wanted to go to the Moon? Bring him back."
"Alright!" Gu Zhao nodded. "You’ve been away on this business trip for quite a while anyway. Once you return, we can see whether you should head to the Southern Border or the Western Divine Country."
Taoist Qing Ye burst into laughter. "Naturally, I’ll go wherever the Demons and Ghosts are most abundant!"
Since Jueyin Celestial Palace had firmly established its foothold in the Western Divine Country, Shanzhou was now considered the hinterlands. Thus, Gu Zhao brought the two women, along with Cor hydrae Ma Huai, back to Daluo Palace.
The Twenty-Eight Star Constellations Guardian Star Officials had gained another member; fifteen Star Officials were now in position.
The couple, Fire Monkey of Turtle Beak Hou Hao and The Monkey Yuan Lin, warmly hosted Ma Huai, briefing him on the rules and important details of Daluo Palace.
Zhuo Qingyan and Li Qingshuang led the other women back to the rear courtyard, chatting about their experiences in Shanzhou and distributing the souvenirs they had brought back.
Meanwhile, Gu Zhao went to see Yunyang, who was practically chomping at the bit, along with the highly enthusiastic Changyi and Yangshuo.
"Next time. Next time the Moon Base shifts rotate, you two will go," Gu Zhao consoled the pair. He then turned to Yunyang. "Everyone has their own tasks to handle, so you’ll have to take on the heavy lifting for a while."
Yunyang was very understanding. "I’m still young. I have plenty of time in the future. Moreover, going to the Moon this time was a mission I volunteered for."
Thus, Gu Zhao brought Taoist Qing Ye back to Daluo Palace and then escorted Yunyang back to the research institute.
Not long after, a streak of golden light shot into the sky from Yangcheng, heading straight for Yandu.