My Apocalypse Territory-Chapter 460 - 427 Seeker

West Forest Province, a large Sanctuary.

A usually busy Martial Arts Hall had its doors closed unusually today.

"Master, are you really going to leave and go to that Green Shadow Sanctuary?"

A pudgy little apprentice in martial attire asked in astonishment.

The Martial Arts Hall Master was just over fifty years old but actually closer to seventy. His name was Gong Changping, and he ran the Changping Martial Arts Hall. Although his establishment wasn’t as large as the biggest ones within the Sanctuary, the business was good nonetheless.

As the only teacher of the Martial Arts Hall, Gong Changping had some grayish hair at his temples. His face was kind and friendly, and his arms revealed under his loose martial attire showed no signs of muscles.

However, all the apprentices in the hall knew their master’s strength. He was incredibly powerful, a person wholly devoted to the Martial Path, and his proficiency was on par with the masters of the big martial arts halls. If only their master had been better at manageing the business, the Changping Martial Arts Hall could have moved up several notches.

Now that Gong Changping expressed his desire to give up managing the Martial Arts Hall and travel a thousand miles to Green Shadow, his apprentices were baffled.

"Yes, it’s only in Green Shadow, at the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, that the true Martial Path can be found," Gong Changping said calmly, his eyes filled with a resolute determination indicative of his quest.

The pudgy little apprentice made a mournful face:

"But Master, you are already very strong. Everyone says you are one of the few in the Sanctuary who truly understands martial arts. Why bother going to that Green whatever it is? Besides, it’s only a rumor... Apprentices coming out of Green Shadow can beat Demonized Beasts that are three levels higher? That has to be a lie!"

"The little brother is right," another apprentice chimed in, "besides, Green Shadow is thousands of miles away from us. Even though your strength is great, Master, the journey there is fraught with danger. There’s no need for you to risk everything for a mere rumor!"

"Yes, yes, and what about the Martial Arts Hall when you’re gone?"

In the courtyard, about a dozen people wearing martial attire with the words ’Changping’ on them spoke hurriedly, all of them orphans whom Gong Changping had taken in as apprentices in the past several months. Their parents had been killed by Demonized Beasts. Gong Changping had brought them back, taught them martial arts, and now among these apprentices, those who were strong could be called masters.

Gong Changping looked over his apprentices, their faces either still childish or slowly maturing, and he smiled reassuringly:

"My mind is made up. Those who wish to can follow me in pursuit of the Martial Path, and those who don’t want to can stay here. I will leave the Martial Arts Hall. With your strength, you can continue running it and teach ordinary Awakeners."

"Going to Green Shadow isn’t as dangerous as you think. Although it’s thousands of miles away, as long as we travel to the West Peace Sanctuary, which is three hundred kilometers from here, and take a Floating Airship from Green Shadow, we can easily reach it."

Seeing Gong Changping’s firm resolve to seek the path, the voices trying to persuade him slowly quieted down.

Some of the apprentices were curious about Green Shadow, which they heard was like a utopia, and they also desired to become stronger. Yet, they were worried about encountering dangers in the wilderness—even if those flying vessels truly existed, there were still over three hundred kilometers to travel. Regardless of Gong Changping’s strength, he might not be able to protect every single one of them.

The wilderness was always fraught with unimaginable dangers.

As soon as the apprentices heard that the Martial Arts Hall could continue its operations, many of them backed down.

They were not willing to give up a life with a decent income without fighting for it.

In the end, only the oldest apprentice and the youngest apprentice were willing to follow their master and leave.

Gong Changping, seeing the fleeting joy in his strongest second apprentice’s eyes, sighed inwardly, "From now on, I leave the Martial Arts Hall to you."

...

"This is the latest information on outsiders coming to the Sanctuary."

Tang Yu took the documents from Chen Haiping and flipped through them.

Each day, the population of the Territory grew by more than five hundred. "Not bad at all, and among these new Awakeners, there are even those at the Seventh or Eighth Layer."

"Yes," Chen Haiping revealed a gratified smile, "Our Green Shadow’s reputation has spread, not just because of rune equipment, but many people regard Green Shadow as a Cultivation Holy Land. The stronger the Awakeners who feel the limits of their strength, the more they yearn for our place."

Many people believed in the rumors’ truth because the adventurers that emerged from Green Shadow displayed strength far surpassing their peers, which helped rapidly spread the reputation of Green Shadow.

Previously, its renown was confined to the upper echelons of various Sanctuaries. Now, in Tiannan Province, almost everyone knew about it, and even from neighboring provinces, many Awakeners traveled thousands of miles to come here.

"It’s just that the Floating Airship flights are too infrequent, and the ticket prices are high, making them unaffordable for ordinary Awakeners," lamented Chen Haiping.

Tang Yu had no choice but to say, "Have the registration office and publicity department pay more attention to recruiting talent, especially promising ones—don’t miss out on them... And don’t let those troublemakers slip away either. It’s best to catch them and send them to the mines to work, as the two newly opened mines are currently short on workers."

For a few minutes, two people exchanged information in the office, and Tang Yu then assigned some tasks to Chen.

Chen had become increasingly adept at these clerical duties, having previously complained, he was now thoroughly enjoying them... It seemed he had forgotten the fact that he was once an old soldier.

"This is good," Tang Yu muttered to himself.

Perhaps the improvement in the level of life had reduced Chen Haiping’s sleep time and increased his brain’s processing speed, significantly boosting his work efficiency. Now, Tang Yu thought, he no longer needed to consider assigning someone to share Chen’s workload.

"By the way, there’s a large auction in five days, right? It will be a good opportunity to test out the Space Backpack and Return City Scroll."

...

After seeing off Chen Haiping, Tang Yu began to handle the main tasks.

These days, he had been engrossed in the Possessed Night Nightmare Puppet and, after upgrading his territory, he had yet to thoroughly explore many of the buildings.

His mind sank into his mind’s eye, where a vivid three-dimensional map of the territory appeared, with most buildings having only a vague outline, while some were solid and shimmering faintly.

He focused his thoughts on these buildings, and corresponding descriptions emerged.

These were system buildings that Tang Yu could remotely upgrade. After some thought, he decided not to stay indoors but instead, walked out of the castle.

Closer observation might reveal the effects of the upgrades more easily.

The first stop was the Crystal Jade Rice planting area.

The planting area was located outside the city, covering hundreds of acres, but only a few dozen acres were actually planted with Crystal Jade Rice, divided into nine separate zones—this was to better absorb the Source Qi from the outside world during the rice’s growth.

Tang Yu observed for a moment and mentally initiated the farm upgrade.

Upgrading the farm to level six using an enormous amount of Source Crystal, the appearance hadn’t changed much, just a deeper color, but through the "Insight Eye," Tang Yu noticed the growth cycle of Crystal Jade Rice had shortened by 13%.

A considerable amount of time.

He instructed the farm’s staff to take good care of the crops and record the data, and then Tang Yu quickly left.

Most farms within the territory were only at level one or two, planting ordinary crops, and did not need an upgrade, except for the Crystal Jade Rice planting area and the medicinal herb plantation in the valley behind the mountain, which were upgraded to the highest level.

The three farms in the medicinal planting area were quickly upgraded by him as well.

The growth times of many herbs had shortened differently, and to Tang Yu’s surprise, the previously only lingering Awakening Fruit plants, under the influence of level six farmland, faintly began to grow.

These fruits could aid in Awakening and inherently had the property to unearth potential and enhance capabilities.

They were few in number, perhaps not very useful, but if they could be planted infinitely, it would be a different story.

Training camp warehouse, War Altar, Transmission Array, and many defense buildings were all tried by Tang Yu to be upgraded to the highest level and researched for their effects.

The most direct result was that under the Consuming Crystal mode, Tang Yu’s Combat Power had substantially increased.

He felt that beating Yan Dingtian would not be a problem now.

He walked into the Spell Factory.

"Ding! Spell Factory upgraded to Level 3."

"Ding! Spell Factory now has nine Spell Positions."

"Ding! Spell Factory can now produce Second Tier large Spells."

"Ding! Each Second Tier Spell requires two Spell Positions."

Alert sounds continuously rang out, and Tang Yu’s eyes gradually lit up.