Chapter 186:161 Substitute Gourd_1

Translator: 549690339 |

“Seven gourd kids! What a pity, I am not their grandfather!”

Xu Mu walked up to the gourd vine, extended his fingers, squeezed out a drop or two of rich red blood, which kept falling onto the roots of the vine.

Gulping and gulping!

The gourd vine seemed to come to life, continuously absorbing Xu Mu’s blood;

Then it transported the blood to the seven gourds.

The seven gourds changed from their original dullness, started giving off tiny rays of light, appearing mystical and extraordinary.

Xu Mu dripped hundreds of drops.of blood, until the biggest and closest red gourd to the root fell off from the vine.

Xu Mu, who was prepared, caught it with one hand, looked closely, and a glint of surprise appeared in his eyes.

“Hope you don’t disappoint me!”

Xu Mu returned to his practice room with the red gourd.

First, he took a pill, closed his eyes to recover his depleted vitality. Then, he opened his eyes to scrutinize the red gourd in his hand.

The whole gourd was more than half a person tall, with its body all over red as if it was made of red sand. Its upper part was small and the lower part was larger, identical to ordinary gourds.

Xu Mu gently caressed the gourd from top to bottom, the material was pleasantly cool as if it was jade.

Xu Mu did not try to open it immediately but first took out a 3-foot-long white jade casket made from chill ice and gently flicked it with his finger.

Bang!

Crack!

The two sounds merged together, and the next moment, the whole red gourd shattered bit by bit, revealing the interior.

Unlike ordinary gourds which are full of seeds, there was actually a person

lying inside this one.

A child of five or six years!

This child was as delicate as a jade carving, with small eyes tightly closed.

Upon careful observation, one could find that the child had some resemblance to Xu Mu.

“The Substitute Gourd, it’s indeed magical!”

Even Xu Mu couldn’t help but exclaim the moment he saw the child.

Though he had heard about it at the time of purchase, he remained uncertain until he saw it for himself.

The reason why he planted this kind of gourd was to create a substitute self.

in the future, his original body would stay safe at home, while the substitute would go out and collect the resources and materials he wanted.

This was Xu Mu’s future plan.

He put in a lot of effort to find an apt substitute over these years – paper men, puppets, reanimated corpses, living zombies, and parasitic insects, etc. All of them had various drawbacks. But in the end, he got this gourd vine, which was touted to have originated from the mutation of the three sacred vines.

To cultivate this gourd vine, he had to feed it half a pound of blood every day.

An ordinary cultivator wouldn’t be able to handle it. It’s only because of his profound foundation that he dared to do so.

Fortunately, the effort paid off and he finally had success in cultivation.

However, whether it is as magical as they said, he has to put it to the test.

Xu Mu picked up the child and put him into the white jade coffin. Then, he closed his eyes and concentrated, his hands quickly made a series of spells, all the while chanting indistinctly.

After an unknown period, a golden figure jumped out of Xu Mu’s head and landed on the child.

The small golden figure then lay down and gradually fused into the child’s body.

Half a month passed by in a blink. One day, Xu Mu and the child opened their eyes at the same time.

“This feeling is truly strange!”

Both opened their mouths at the same time. The voices and expressions were almost identical, except one was bigger and the other was smaller.

After some trial, he found that this substitute was not flawless.

First, it had no cultivation base at all and he needed to cultivate it bit by bit from scratch. Additionally, the sense of spirit was not complete, which resulted in its extremely slow cultivation progress.

“No wonder it was sold so cheaply!”

This substitute gourd seemed magical but it was actually just a tier seven spirit plant. If it had been too expensive, he wouldn’t have been able to afford it or raise it.

So, it was only logical that it had these drawbacks.

For other cultivators, the two mentioned issues limited the value of the substitute, making it utterly useless.

This was because unless it possessed the same cultivation level, it couldn’t provide any help.

However, only they know, how hard it is to cultivate a person from scratch to reach the same level.

The cost was too high and not worth the effort compared to creating puppets and reanimated corpses. Coupled with the limitations of Divine Intent, the substitute is destined to be of limited achievement.

It would be a pity to give up, yet keeping it is useless.

That’s why it’s a chicken rib!

But for Xu Mu, these were not significant problems.

After all, he has the system!

Could his talent be worse than his original body?

He had cultivated to the Golden Pill level with his talent improved multiple times through intensification, and achieved beyond-top-grade status. His talent could definitely rank among the top within the same level.

So, as long as the system was there, anything was manageable.

After Xu Mu thoroughly understood these principles, he controlled Xu Da, his clone, to leave their residence and enter the market.

The clone was named Xu Da automatically by the system to save trouble. It was the first copy, after all.

This was the first time Xu Mu visited his own marketplace as a child. Before, he had only given it a cursory overview using his Divine Intent.

There were more people on the streets than when he first arrived, making the marketplace much livelier.

According to Si Tan’er, the population rapidly increased once the protective Great Array was set up. With the subsequent establishment of laws, the population skyrocketed.

Although less than ten years had passed, the population had already surpassed thirty thousand, more than the peak of White River City.

If Xu Mu hadn’t later intentionally ordered Si Tan’er to control the population, it would probably be even larger by now.

The reason for controlling the population was simple: not to draw too much attention.

After all, in theory, this place was still under the jurisdiction of the Liyang Sect.

If they stood out too much, they would likely fall under scrutiny.

Unless Xu Mu directly intervened, it would invite endless trouble once found out.

Nevertheless, Xu Mu didn’t halt his progress but instead switched to a more covert way of expansion.

To put it simply, it turned into an underground force!

This area was managed by Chi Feiyan.

With the backing of a large amount of Spirit Stones, the number of members had expanded to several thousand, spanning almost the entire Tianhe Sect region.

Xu Mu could get the most detailed information about all the forces throughout Tianhe Sect at the earliest possible moment.

If Xu Mu’s power was sufficient, he could even go straight for the top position of the Tianhe Sect.

Of course, it might take centuries to reach that sort of power.

Currently, the primary function of this organization was to sell Foundation Establishment Pills.

It was thanks to the huge wealth from reselling on both sides that Xu Mu could fund the cultivation of all members and further develop his power.

However, White River City was already self-sustaining and had a huge surplus to further enhance the city’s foundation.

“Hey, kid! Whose family are you from? Hurry home!”

A patrol team of guards who spotted Xu Mu’s clone wandering alone in the street couldn’t help but stop him and shout.

“Oh!”

Xu Mu responded but began to observe the guards’ outfits.

Their complete armored suits, although only tier one, were unassailable in terms of defense, without any blind spots. The tier two spears in their hands were also standard issue, useful for close combat or spell casting.

The cost of these two items alone reached five hundred Lower-grade Spirit Stones.

Their cultivation levels were all Qi Cultivation Middle Stage, except for the patrol leader, who was at the Qi Cultivation Late Stage.

Such equipment and cultivation were almost on par with the town guards of Liyang City, unparalleled in other marketplaces.

There were fifty such patrols in the whole marketplace, patrolling non-stop for twelve hours a day to ensure order.

This was indeed an evidence of White River City’s affluent status.

These well-equipped patrols were the reason why White River City was safe, prosperous, and developing rapidly.

Not only within the city but also in the surrounding shanty towns, there were patrol teams-more than the inner city, in fact, totaling one hundred. However, these hundred patrols were in the nature of militia. The city would not provide equipment or resources but would waive their rents and provide some management staff.

Precisely because of the existence of these teams, the slums of White River City have undergone a significant transformation, providing a good environment for living and commerce.

Now the area had become quite prosperous, nearly as lively as the city’s interior.

Various policies, such as extremely low taxes, prohibition of oppression against customers or merchants, fair law enforcement, and clear rewards and punishments, were also critical factors in promoting prosperity.

All these stemmed from Xu Mu’s efforts; he brought different management policies from his past life, modifying them to fit this place.

These policies weren’t complex and could be thought of by an ordinary person. The reason they were effective was due to Xu Mu’s financial capability and military power.

Under the watchful eyes of the guards, Xu Mu went into a nearby alley. It didn’t take long before he came out from another end and hurried toward Wooden Bridge Alley, where he had lived before.

The once dilapidated houses had all been refurbished, and the streets were now clean and tidy. Almost no remnant of the previous looks remained.

Xu Mu knew that Ye Yingying and her friends occasionally rented the old houses and stayed there for a few days with the children.

Today, they happened to be here.

“Who are you? Why are you sneaking around at my door?”

Four or five year olds surrounded Xu Mu from all sides, blocking his way.