Chapter 444: No Idlers on Silver Sword Peak

As the group stepped out of the hidden realm of talismanic scripts, they saw the gray-bearded elder of the Celestial Pivot Pavilion standing there, waiting for them.

"Young Master Feng had some urgent matters at home," the gray-bearded elder announced brightly. "So he left ahead of you."

Chu Liang gave a nod in acknowledgment, understanding all too well. If he had been in Feng Chaoyang's shoes, he would not have wanted to linger a moment longer after such a disheartening defeat in the hidden realm of talismanic scripts.

"So, how did it go?" the gray-bearded elder asked, eyes gleaming with curiosity. "Did you gain anything valuable?"

Ye Yongxing remained silent. Without a word, he raised his hand, summoning the ominous black Talisman of Life Destruction and demonstrated its power in front of the elder. It drifted forward, and as it did, everything it touched withered—grass shriveled to dust, trees lost their leaves in a blink, and even the stone walls cracked and decayed, aging centuries in mere seconds. If this were unleashed on a human, the outcome would be painfully obvious.

Such lethal power...

Chu Liang silently compared it with his Talisman of Life Restoration. Although the effects of the Talisman of Life Restoration were more extraordinary, it didn't seem to offer much practical benefit—aside from making a berry curse at him.

On the other hand, the Talisman of Life Destruction was a clear and immediate boost to combat power.

"We gained the same knowledge as Young Hero Ye," answered Xi Miaoxian and Situ Guanhai as they displayed the power of their Talismans of Life Destruction.

A peculiar expression showed up on Monk Pushan's face as he said, "My temperament and understanding have both greatly improved."

"So you got nothing?" the gray-bearded elder remarked.

Monk Pushan immediately felt a wave of frustration and disappointment, but he couldn't really complain. Chu Liang hadn't asked him to copy his answers. However, he hadn't expected that he would end up with nothing, while everyone else who made different choices walked away with something.

He could only blame himself for not being sharp enough to figure it out.

At that moment, Chu Liang summoned a golden talismanic script, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

"This is the legendary golden talisman, isn't it?" Xi Miaoxian exclaimed in surprise. "Young Hero Chu, you actually got it!"

"I was just lucky," Chu Liang replied with a smile. "As for its effects, it's hard to demonstrate since this talisman consumes a significant amount of cultivation energy."

Hearing this, everyone assumed he was hiding something, so they didn't ask any more questions. After expressing their amazement, they each went their separate ways.

In reality, Chu Liang wasn't intentionally hiding anything from them. The secret of the talisman was secondary. The truth was that activating it truly consumed a tremendous amount of cultivation energy. Even though the berry only contained a trace of spiritual energy, restoring life to it had drained nearly half of his Sea of Qi.

If he even tried to activate something with higher spiritual energy, it could easily drain all of his cultivation energy. Such heaven-defying feats naturally required an immense amount of power.

Although the trial in the hidden realm didn't last long, it had taken a great mental toll on Chu Liang, leaving him feeling quite exhausted. He quickly returned to Mount Shu, intending to rest for a while.

Unexpectedly, Shang Ziliang showed up soon after Chu Liang returned.

"What's the matter?" Chu Liang asked.

"There's something important I need to discuss with you. The moment I heard you were back, I came straight over," Shang Ziliang said, his expression troubled. "With you and Lin Bei both away lately, it's been just a few of us trying to manage Silver Sword Peak and Red Cotton Peak, and to be honest, we're barely holding it together..."

He went on to explain to Chu Liang the challenges they were facing, all stemming from a serious lack of manpower.

In fact, Shang Ziliang had already suggested to Chu Liang that they recruit more fellow Mount Shu disciples. With more help, they could not only keep everything running smoothly but also expand their operations significantly.

However, Chu Liang still believed that cultivators should prioritize their cultivation. He worried that involving or allowing too many Mount Shu disciples to join might eventually affect the sect's overall strength.

After all, not everyone, like him, had the advantage of a few Large-Headed Dolls working tirelessly day and night, giving them plenty of extra free time.

"It really has been tough on all of you these past few days," Chu Liang said. "I'll figure something out."

Those three from Cloud Horizon Peak had indeed been running around tirelessly lately, and the business couldn't continue relying solely on them.

...

A few days later.

In the fruit garden of Silver Sword Peak, Chu Liang stood before a field of Golden Vein Flowers, trees, and rocks, clearing his throat. "Alright, let's have a meeting," he announced.

There wasn't a single person in sight, making his words seem rather odd.

But in the next second, a chorus of voices echoed back.

"Another meeting? Why are we meeting every day?"

"So noisy, so noisy!"

"A meeting? Did you even fucking water me before calling for one?"

All these responses came from the flowers, grass, and trees in front of him!

It turned out that after Chu Liang had considered the issue of being short-handed, he had an epiphany... overseeing the fruit garden and guarding the streets didn't necessarily require cultivators. Shang Ziliang's preference for using fellow disciples was simply because they needed "trustworthy" individuals.

But this meant that as long as they were trustworthy, it didn't matter if they weren't human, right?

And as luck would have it, he possessed the Talisman of Life Restoration, which could grant life.

However, merely giving life as he had done with that berry wouldn't be enough. The berry's spiritual nature was too weak, making it incapable of proper communication.

So, he set his sights on something greater—the Golden Vein Flower. Unlike individual fruits, the mother plant of the flower held far more spiritual energy.

He decided to try giving life to a Golden Vein Flower.

What followed was an unexpected half-hour of the flower venting its pent-up frustrations... mostly complaints about how Chu Liang had been harvesting its fruits for years to sell, trampling the flower beds with visitors every day... Now that it could finally speak, it didn't hesitate to air its grievances.

Chu Liang listened, frowning the entire time.

What's with the bad temper of everything grown on Silver Sword Peak? Could it be they're taking after the Peak Master?

he mused.

Still, Chu Liang saw the potential. As long as their spiritual nature is strong enough for normal speech, they could serve as his eyes and ears. By spreading them throughout the entire fruit garden, it would save a lot of manpower.

Over the past few days, he had worked tirelessly, giving life to dozens of spirit plants in the garden.

Soon, they would become the eyes and ears that Chu Liang would position throughout the entire Wonderland.

"Quiet down, quiet down!" Chu Liang waved his hand. "The main point of today's meeting is to tell you: don't make noise for no reason! If nothing unlawful is happening, just stay quiet like other plants and don't ruin the visitors' experience. If someone commits an illegal act, then speak up and do your duty.

"When the Wonderland expands and becomes bigger, you will be the first internal staff. By then, I will give you arts manuals for cultivation. I will get spirit potions and herbs to increase your cultivation levels. It's only a matter of time before you all turn into real demons!"

Chu Liang's statement struck these plants where it hurt the most.

Although they had been granted life by Chu Liang, Chu Liang did not give them much spiritual energy, making them incomparable to those demonic beasts who had come into existence by cultivating on their own. Only by becoming real demons could they truly achieve success in cultivation.

Chu Liang remained at the center of it all, as everything still depended on him.

The creatures he had brought to life had no choice but to accept the tasks he assigned. Watching his group of swaying "employees," a sense of satisfaction filled Chu Liang.

Thanks to the Celestial Talisman Master's gift,

he thought.

I've finally found diligent, tireless workers who never need vacations and survive on nothing but photosynthesis. As long as they were originally plants, it's easy to make this happen.

He already had bigger plans for the future.

I'll awaken all the plants, rocks, and trees on Silver Sword Peak to act as my spies. Soon, every tree, bush, and stone on this mountain will follow my command. There won't be a single idle thing on Silver Sword Peak—not even the objects.

Even the trees by the entrance would have tasks, and the stones on the mountain would have to pay rent!

But this is still small-scale,

Chu Liang mused.

When my cultivation grows stronger, I'll grant life to each of my enchanted tools.

He understood that the key difference between legendary artifacts and ordinary ones, aside from their power, was the presence of a spirit.

Although simply adding a spirit wouldn't immediately enhance the quality of an enchanted tool, he could try giving the spirit cultivation manuals to train on its own. As the spirit grew stronger over time, the tool would naturally become more powerful as well.

When that day comes, he might not need to replace his tools with stronger ones, as they would be able to cultivate and grow stronger on their own. That would be truly magnificent.