Conscience of those in power
Yan Yong leaves Dang Hun palace and reaches Dang Hun mountain, where his fear and pressure decrease greatly now that he is away from Fang Yuan. His tribemates find him and cheer him as a hero. He feels extremely lonely among them, because he knows they will all die three months later, exhausted by digging the river. Only he knows the mountain’s victory was a game Fang Yuan ran in the dark, and his fear grows. Every praise torments his conscience. ch. 414
He asks the rockmen to keep following him, and they cheer with a hundred and twenty percent support. The knowledgeable old rockmen died in the battles, so the rest are newborn or his loyal worshippers. He says the escaped immortal must have retreated to the north lake or the east fire pit, and proposes filling both with soil so he cannot recover immortal essence. An old rockman objects that this is impossible, and Yan Yong remembers him for the heaviest and toughest job, working to death. A second old rockman suggests digging a river to direct the lake water to the fire pit. Yan Yong’s killing intent rises. Judging this old man very intelligent and a bigger threat than the first, Yan Yong resolves to send him on a defense mission to be killed by the fox army. ch. 414
Aloud he praises the idea as his own. He adds that white stone old tribe leader taught him before dying that the water in the north and the fire in the east are the male immortal’s source of power. The rockmen admire the late leader, aged nine hundred and ninety-eight. In truth Fang Yuan completely killed him, broke his soul down on Dang Hun mountain, and the essence formed a gutstone. The rockmen agree that Yan Yong should lead and oversee the digging that joins water and fire. ch. 414
Fang Yuan watches from hiding and has Little Hu Immortal release a trace of the mountain’s power. The rockmen’s souls tremble, and many young rockmen faint. Yan Yong hurries them away, and they go grandly to the north and east areas instead of home. ch. 414
The land spirit meekly hints that Fang Yuan should use soft tactics on the rockmen. He laughs that fear and hatred often outweigh gratitude greatly. Rockmen live underground, eat soil and dig well, so they make excellent slaves that Gu Immortals want to buy. With Dang Hun mountain and enough souls, one rockman can use gutstones to breed a large clan, and Fang Yuan can exploit this to mass produce rockmen for slave trade. Most rockmen are stubborn and tough, warriors not afraid to die, and only soft tactics win them. Hu Immortal brought them in as slaves too and used soft tactics, but Fang Yuan finds those too gentle and wants to squeeze them dry. ch. 414
Only seven months remain before the sixth calamity. The north lake and the east fire pit are scars of earlier calamities and the weakest links of the blessed land. Digging the river quickly, so the blessed land can recover, matters most, however many rockmen die. With Dang Hun mountain, Fang Yuan needs only a few captured souls to produce countless rockmen. For anyone in power, he thinks, rules, laws, friendship, morals, leniency and cruelty are all tools to squeeze out benefits. ch. 414
