Chapter 1699: Seizing Thousands of Livelihoods

He Lingchuan presented a beautifully wrapped gift box, saying, "When I returned to Panlong City this trip, it seemed all the pastry shops were selling these. I thought the ones from Baoxiang Tower looked the best, so I picked this for you." He never forgot to bring a small gift whenever he visited Shumin Academy.

"Dragon's Beard Candy?" Since they were so familiar, Sun Fuling casually opened the box in front of him. Inside lay twelve candies, in four colors: pink, white, green, and blue. The sugar strands were as fine as a dragon's beard, yet each strand was perfectly arranged, making for a beautiful presentation. "This pastry only became popular in the last half-month," she said. "The recipe came from Baoxiang Kingdom!"

Sun Fuling tasted one; it was indeed sweet, crisp, and melted in her mouth. She was focused on eating the pastry, while He Lingchuan watched her. The beauty's hands were almost as white as the Dragon's Beard Candy, her fingernails painted with light pink polish, gleaming softly.

A student happened to pass by, looking at them longingly. Sun Fuling gave one to him, and then offered a blue one to He Lingchuan.

He was wary. "What's this colored with?" He would rather eat the bright red ones, even if they made him look like he'd coughed up blood afterwards.

"Butterfly pea flower!" Sun Fuling rolled her eyes at him. "You bought them for me; are you afraid to eat them?"

He Lingchuan had no choice but to take it. He swallowed it without chewing, to avoid staining his lips and teeth. He was meeting Xu Shichu and Zhong Shengguang later and had a public ceremony to attend, so he needed to maintain his image.

"These trendy pastries on the street change every two or three months," Sun Fuling sighed. "You can't even keep up if you're late. Who would have dared to imagine such things before?"

"Although Panlong City is fighting on two fronts, its city gates are no longer closed, and the Longchuan trade route remains prosperous," He Lingchuan said seriously. "To wage a sustained war, we must constantly regenerate and revitalize ourselves!"

Before, Panlong City had been stubbornly poor and defiant. Beijia didn't pay much attention to this poor and unsophisticated place, as the poor could at most cause trouble but never be a real opponent. However, after taking Longchuan and managing it well, combined with the frequent outbreaks of Imperial Nectar, Panlong City fought its war while vigorously focusing on its economy. Even when confronting Beijia head-on, the city gates remained open. Merchants from various regions were initially concerned, but seeing Panlong City and its subordinate cities still thriving during wartime and maintaining stable prices, they felt somewhat reassured.

Wartime economics is truly a profound subject.

As they spoke, the two arrived at the pavilion where Xu Shichu worked.

"General He!" Xu Shichu was writing furiously. Seeing He Lingchuan, he put down his pen and came to greet him. "What a rare guest! How is the situation in Yuheng City?"

"It's a stalemate. Beijia's offensive has slowed, and their new commander hasn't arrived yet."

"Would you be willing to give a lecture at Wenxian Terrace?" Xu Shichu chuckled. "Many of the new recruits' children want to know what it's like to fight against the Beijia army."

Xu Shichu still vividly remembered the scene a few years ago when He Lingchuan sat in the audience and asked him questions. Now, that same person was qualified to stand on the stage at Wenxian Hall and answer questions from the audience.

Time truly flies, and young people grow so quickly.

He Lingchuan shook his head. "The victor hasn't been decided yet; how can I be qualified? Dean Xu, do you need something from me?"

"Yes, yes." Xu Shichu walked back to his desk.

Seeing that they were about to discuss serious matters, Sun Fuling smiled at He Lingchuan and left first.

Xu Shichu took out a drawing and spread it flat on the desk.

"General He, this is the Earth Fiend array diagram you gave me earlier, also known as the Reverse Heavenly Star Great Array. It's a composite array. I explained it to you last time."

He Lingchuan immediately said, "Thank you, Dean Xu, you've helped me immensely!" After obtaining the spirit-gathering great array diagram from White Fur Mountain, he handed it, along with the array formation materials gifted by Lingshan, to the dean of Shumin Academy for study.

Xu Shichu's mastery of array formations was astonishing. The prerequisite for He Lingchuan to execute the "Havoc in Heavenly Palace" plan was that Xu Shichu had calculated the key to the Void Mountain Great Array and taught it to He Lingchuan. With such powerful assistance, how could He Lingchuan not utilize it?

Immortal Qianhuan's "Reverse Heavenly Star" array was deduced by Xu Shichu. Of course, with the Lingshan materials in hand, he had more clues than Bai Ziqi, allowing him to complete the full picture of the great array.

"These past few days, I've continued studying this array and made another discovery," Xu Shichu said seriously. "The key to this array's formation lies in its 'array eye.' The more extraordinary the object serving as the array eye, the more efficiently it gathers spiritual energy. It's even more powerful than the array diagram you gave me last time!"

The array diagram He Lingchuan had given him last time was the Void Mountain Great Array of the Heavenly Palace! Hearing this, He Lingchuan was surprised. "The Void... that array is actually inferior to it?"

"Inferior, definitely inferior!" Xu Shichu waved his hand. "While that array has a spirit-gathering effect, its primary purpose is suppression. It's far less purely focused on gathering than this Earth Fiend Great Array. Furthermore, the Reverse Heavenly Star Great Array is actually composed of two separate arrays, both capable of absorbing spiritual energy!"

Indeed, the main purpose of the Void Mountain Great Array was to suppress the great fire spirit Ju, and only then to gather spiritual energy. Moreover, Void Mountain was north of Lingxu City, so it couldn't excessively draw spiritual energy from the capital, as too many monsters lived there.

He Lingchuan sensed something ominous. "How pure is it?"

"How long has this Reverse Heavenly Star Array been active?"

"About 150 years."

"If, as you say, its array eye is a peerless divine artifact coveted even by gods, then it's highly probable that it has been continuously drawing spiritual energy from an area spanning thousands of miles around both array eyes. The speed might not be fast, but it's incredibly steady, day and night."

He Lingchuan was truly astonished. "Thousands of miles, really?" And both arrays absorbing simultaneously, each covering thousands of miles! The range of this "spirit gathering" was indeed much larger than the Void Mountain Great Array in Lingxu City.

Xu Shichu looked admiring. "The setup of this array is almost flawless; it can even perform simple self-maintenance using spiritual energy. You said this was laid out by an immortal?"

"Yes." Immortal Qianhuan's array-laying skill was beyond doubt.

"Indeed, a true master in this field!" Xu Shichu said seriously. "If this array has been running for over 150 years, then under its absorption, the spiritual energy in those areas should be far scarcer than elsewhere, much like how the land in Panlong Wasteland is less fertile than in Chifa Plateau."

Thinking about it, that was true. When he first arrived at Shanjing Plains, especially when he just stepped onto the dock at Julu Port, he felt that the spiritual energy there was far less concentrated than in Bailie and Yangshan Archipelagos. It was worth noting that the frequency of Imperial Nectar outbreaks in those two years was already unprecedented in sixty years. If it was like this even after the Imperial Nectar had fallen, then how depleted must it have been in the sixty years prior?

He had originally thought it was due to regional differences, perhaps with varying amounts of Imperial Nectar falling in different places. After Xu Shichu's explanation, it became clear: the long-standing barrenness of eastern Shanjing Plains, besides various natural and man-made disasters, was very likely related to the spirit-gathering great array on White Fur Mountain.

Abundant spiritual energy could make even a Gobi Desert-like area such as Panlong Wasteland lush and fertile; conversely, depleted spiritual energy led to sparse vegetation, soil erosion, and creatures struggling to survive. With insufficient fertility in eastern Shanjing Plains, crops struggled to grow, and people were often hungry and cold. To compete for those meager resources, they were undoubtedly caught in cycles of conflict and upheaval, finding no peace.

The scarcer the resources, the more turbulent the environment, and the more treacherous human hearts became.

"Taking countless livelihoods for one's own selfish ends," He Lingchuan murmured. "Truly greedy." When immortals cultivate in their grotto-heavens, their consumption of spiritual energy naturally decreases significantly. Yet, Immortal Qianhuan, while cultivating in seclusion, also used immortal methods to set up such an incredibly vast spirit-gathering array, drawing spiritual energy from Shanjing Plains. The resources he monopolized were truly astonishing.

"This array was likely adapted from an ancient Heavenly Star Great Array. In those times, spiritual energy was extremely abundant, so drawing some wouldn't have been an issue, but doing so in current times is quite severe," Xu Shichu explained further. "Also, as I told you, this Reverse Heavenly Star Great Array can be separated into two arrays, meaning it actually has two array eyes."

He Lingchuan nodded.

"Normally, if a few array nodes break in either array, it doesn't affect the array's operation; at most, its efficiency decreases slightly. However—" Xu Shichu pointed to different spots on the drawing, "—once an array eye is removed or destroyed, the entire Earth Fiend Great Array will immediately cease to function!"

"Only one array eye needs to be removed to have this effect?" He Lingchuan confirmed with him.

"Yes! If one array stops functioning, the variables in the other array can't be passed over, and the cycle will be broken," Xu Shichu chuckled. "This is what we call 'pulling one hair and moving the whole body.' The array eye is like a human brain; a person might not die from an amputation, but they cannot survive without a brain."

"Understood." This meant that when he found the Heart Scale in the White Bear King's Cave on White Fur Mountain, the two Heavenly Star arrays, both forward and reverse, set up by Immortal Qianhuan, quickly ceased functioning! He Lingchuan didn't know how many arrays Immortal Qianhuan had set up in Shanjing Plains, but cutting off such a vital source of spiritual energy must have been a significant loss for him.

He Lingchuan instinctively smiled. "Good, good." Recently, with the massive outbreak of Imperial Nectar, the spiritual energy concentration in Shanjing Plains rapidly increased. And conveniently, the Reverse Heavenly Star Array was broken, unable to absorb any of it. For Shanjing Plains to rise, and for its inhabitants to live in peace and prosperity, they couldn't allow spiritual energy to be "whale-swallowed" any longer! It was good that the Heavenly Star Array broke, and at just the right time. Remembering how the array broke, He Lingchuan felt even more at ease.

And since the Upside-Down Sea hadn't opened yet, Immortal Qianhuan couldn't come out to investigate. He must be very angry.

"Thank you, Dean Xu, for clearing up my confusion!" Having heard the key points, He Lingchuan stood up to take his leave. He needed to go to the government office.

Xu Shichu smiled. "See you at the city gate shortly."

Zhong Shengguang had just met with a foreign envoy. He took a moment to drink a cup of water, and upon seeing He Lingchuan, he waved him over.

"Come, have a seat." His voice was hoarse, and his eyes were bloodshot. General Hong was attacking on the northwest front, He Lingchuan was defending on the east, and Zhong Shengguang was overseeing the coordination from Panlong City. He had to manage both war and diplomacy, juggle combat and economy, and directly face pressure from Beijia. Even an iron man would find it hard to endure. And there was no end in sight for such days.

He Lingchuan sat down directly, not bothering to tell him to rest well; after all, who with spare time wouldn't want to sleep? He understood Zhong Shengguang's pressure, as he himself was responsible for Yuheng City and for the war.