novelzi Chapter 188 Beginning
Chapter 188 Beginning
Zhou Minghao spoke calmly.
Who would have guessed that Luis's eyes would widen in surprise upon hearing this?
Although the allocated spirit stones were for military expenditures and not his personal fortune, as the commander of the Western Defense Zone, he had the authority to decide how the funds were spent.
Ultimately, wouldn't most of this money gradually flow into the Hartmann family's pockets?
If not for the looming threat from Master Shen Jue, the wealthy families of Guang'an Prefecture would never have agreed to spend such an enormous amount!
Luis felt as though he had just stumbled upon an unexpected windfall.
His impression of Zhou Minghao, who had firmly supported his appointment as the commander of the Western Defense Zone, instantly improved.
Compared to the third-grade, top-tier flying sword that Yang Linyuan had gifted him, the favor Zhou Minghao had granted was monumental!
What made it even more remarkable was how this favor had been given with such an air of righteousness that no cultivator in Guang'an Prefecture could object. Find exclusive stories on empire
Not long ago, during a council meeting, there had been monks who opposed Luis's appointment as commander of the Western Defense Zone.
However, their objections had been silenced when Luis defeated them with a single strike of his sword.
Since then, his leadership had been acknowledged by all the cultivators.
As Luis's gaze reflected his gratitude, Zhou Minghao returned the look with a knowing smile and a nod.
Smart individuals didn't need to exchange words; even a brief glance conveyed meaning.
This silent interaction marked a mutual understanding: the Hartmann family now owed the Zhou family a favor.
It could be said that this substantial military expenditure had come at the perfect time.
With 80 million spirit stones at his disposal, Luis could accomplish a great deal.
While these spirit stones weren't his personal wealth, he could channel them into strategic investments.
One such investment was in spiritual veins, a cornerstone of growth in the cultivation world.
Investing in spiritual veins was widely regarded as a sure path to wealth and stability.
The Yang family's extensive network of spiritual veins within a thousand-mile radius of Lingzhou City was proof of this.
With this significant funding, Luis envisioned replicating their success.
His plan was ambitious: to establish a vast network of spiritual veins spanning a radius of ten thousand miles, with Hartmann Island as the central hub.
Of course, how the constructed spiritual veins would be utilized specifically depended on the actual situation.
However, compared to the Yang family, the Hartmann family had a tremendous advantage: the ability to quickly process raw materials such as spiritual ores and spiritual medicines into finished products.
This advantage was unmatched across the entire Ten Thousand Star Sea and even the broader world of immortal cultivation.
In Luis's eyes, this world was overwhelmingly powerful due to the strength of its cultivators.
But this strength came with a flaw: cultivators had become overly reliant on their own abilities, to the point of neglecting the potential of machinery.
Luis, however, was different. As a transmigrator, his worldview and understanding were vastly different from the norms of this world.
In response, the Zhou family proposed a solution: withdraw all cultivators from Lotus Island and its surrounding areas near Guang'an Prefecture.
Fortunately, the islands surrounding Lotus Island were mostly populated by independent cultivators and minor families. There were few spiritual veins of value, which made evacuation somewhat manageable.
However, the islands also housed a significant number of mortals.
To transport these mortals, the Zhou and Yang families expended considerable effort, relocating them to spiritual veins thousands of miles away on Lingbei Island.
Once the mortals and low-level cultivators were safely evacuated, Zhou Mubai planned to construct several strong defensive lines on the islands stretching from Lotus Island to the territories of the Wu and Zhou families.
These defenses were intended to contain the zombie tide, preventing it from spreading into Guang'an Prefecture.
By increasing the pressure in the region near Guang'an Prefecture, it was likely that the zombie tide would shift in the opposite direction—away from Guang'an Prefecture.
And the direction opposite Guang'an Prefecture?
That led toward Cangzhou Fairy City—the ancestral home of the Ye family, the most powerful family in Cangzhou.
This was the true plan of the Guang'an Prefecture coalition forces—to divert the disaster to the east.
Whether the Ye family chose to block the zombie tide, as Guang'an Prefecture had done, or to directly send cultivators to eliminate it, was no longer Guang'an Prefecture's concern.
Zhou Mubai's priority was to hold the defense line of Guang'an Prefecture firmly.
As for whatever disaster befell the Ye family, Zhou Mubai had no sympathy to spare, let alone the inclination to send an army of cultivators to assist them.
Moreover, Zhou Mubai doubted that the Qianyuan Sword Sect would remain indifferent if the Ye family found themselves in trouble.
Hearing this explanation, Luis and Zhou Mubai exchanged a knowing smile.
The Ye family had too many enemies.
The Zhou family bore a grudge against the Ye family, as did the Wu and Yang families. In Cangzhou, there were likely few families without grievances against the Ye family.
In the days that followed:
After selecting soldiers for the Western Defense Zone, Luis led his troops back to Redwood Island.
To support the Western Defense Zone, the Zhou family dispatched ten Lingxu warships.
Each Lingxu warship carried one hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators. Altogether, this meant 1,000 Foundation Establishment cultivators stationed in the Western Defense Zone, not including ordinary soldiers in the Qi Refining Stage.
In total, the Western Defense Zone's monk army consisted of nearly 100,000 people.
This was only the smallest defense zone.
There was no other option; to counter the zombie tide and the threat of Master Shen Jue, the cultivators of Guang'an Prefecture had to band together.
The 100,000-strong force was just the temporary deployment and did not account for the number of mortals involved.
It should be noted that in Guang'an Prefecture, every cultivator had a large group of mortals serving them.
This was true whether they belonged to a family or were independent cultivators.
Family cultivators naturally had vast clans supporting them.
Even casual cultivators were surrounded by large numbers of mortals. These mortals built cities, reproduced, and thrived under the protection of the independent cultivators.