Chapter Thirty-Nine: Fencing Off the Land and Building Behind Closed Doors

Wu You, naturally, had no idea what was happening over a thousand kilometers away; he had only just managed to get through his parents’ interrogation. Picking up Bai Yanxi was easy enough to explain—he could attribute it to seeking treatment for Wu Jianguo—but the sudden appearance of a large fortune, an inexplicably formidable bodyguard, and several subordinates like Xiang Biao left far more to account for.

He was even in the process of purchasing the entire land of Shiniu Mountain.

Ever since his father was discharged from the hospital, the changes at home could no longer be concealed. For days, Wu You had struggled to find a way to explain everything to his parents, choosing instead to avoid the subject, while Wu Jianguo and Zhang Guihua refrained from pressing him.

At last, Wu You resolved to lay everything out before them. His explanation was much the same as the one he had given Bai Yanxi, though softer in tone and more forthcoming with details.

When Wu Jianguo and his wife, together with Bai Yanxi, saw the Thunder Azure Flood Dragon’s immense back faintly breaking the surface of the river in the distance, they were left utterly stunned, their minds blank.

Zhang Guihua, who had spent her life worshipping every deity she could—be it Taoist or Buddhist—was nearly scared senseless upon seeing Ao Guang in person. Only Bai Yanxi’s quick intervention brought her back to her senses, and then, before the others, she began fervently bowing to Ao Guang, muttering “Dragon King, protect us,” over and over.

Wu You found himself deeply embarrassed, doing his best to explain that Ao Guang was merely his “subordinate.”

No matter how unbelievable, the ironclad reality left no room for doubt.

Well, if their son could now subdue dragons (Ao Guang) and tigers (Garuru), what more could parents say? From now on, they would leave everything to him.

After Wu Jianguo’s accident, the couple’s outlook had shifted; the relatives who once fawned over them changed their attitudes the moment trouble arrived. Nothing was more important than family and health. Since Wu You had made something of himself, they might as well enjoy a peaceful life.

With his parents appeased, Wu You set about implementing his grand plan for the Myriad Beasts Mountain Manor.

All the necessary government approvals had come through, with officials even dispatched to help negotiate with local villages, persuading those with mountain land to sell. These days, owning a little mountain land brought scant economic benefit, while too much risked incurring losses. Moreover, Wu You’s offered prices were exceedingly generous, so nearly every village agreed to sell, including Xugou Village.

Thus, in just two weeks, the new company, Myriad Beasts Mountain Manor Biotech, with Wu You as its legal representative, miraculously secured fifty years’ usage rights over the entire Shiniu Mountain.

The first order of business was to enclose the mountain.

Where once Shiniu Mountain was open to all, it was now private property. Given the secrets that would soon fill its interior, Wu You planned to encircle it with a wall of living vines.

Of course, he wouldn’t isolate the entire mountain; the outer slopes and peaks would remain accessible to locals. The truly enclosed area would cover over sixteen hundred hectares.

…

Along the line where Wu You marked the boundary for the wall, starting from the end of the Wu family’s garden fence, a fearsome vine was growing at a terrifying rate.

It advanced precisely along the planned route, its green-blue tendrils shooting out from the main trunk like great serpents, lashing toward the distant earth. Everywhere a tendril landed, new vines as thick as a finger erupted, thickening visibly in a matter of moments as if their growth was being fast-forwarded.

These new vines would then leap toward the next patch of earth, repeating the process of expansion. The root system grew no less swiftly, plunging underground and spreading out as soon as a vine touched soil, claiming an area far greater than what was visible above ground.

This three-meter-high living eco-wall was, in fact, entirely the offspring of a single plant. Every tendril, including those that would soon encircle all of Shiniu Mountain, belonged to the same organism.

Even the barrier of the Azure Dragon River was no obstacle; the roots burrowed through the riverbed to reach the opposite mountainside.

This was the Bloodsucking Parasitic Demon Vine, a level-two alchemical creation, intermediate bronze grade.

Do not be deceived by its novel and beautiful appearance—its allure was a deadly illusion. Even a robust North American bison would be reduced to a dried husk in thirty seconds, entwined and drained by the myriad vines.

Fortunately, this alchemical lifeform was entirely under Wu You’s control; such lethal measures would never be used against ordinary people.

Should anyone ignore the warning signs and attempt to scale the vine wall, they would find their skin pricked by fine branches of the vine, injecting a minute dose of toxin. This venom was non-lethal but would render the wound agonizing for twenty-four hours, effectively deterring further attempts.

…

On the national highway in the XS District near Qiantang, a continuous fleet of trucks loaded with saplings rumbled toward Shiniu Mountain. The cargo comprised a wide variety of mountain plants, all suited for the local ecology.

At a point two kilometers from Xugou Village, the convoy left the highway, turning onto a newly paved asphalt road that led straight to a secluded mountain hollow. Rarely visited, this hollow was chosen by Wu You as the storage base for the saplings.

The system’s alchemical material warehouse contained many ancient trees, serving both as the foundation for alchemical creations and the bedrock for Shiniu Mountain’s ecological transformation. But he still needed vast quantities of additional saplings.

The warehouse featured a material release option. Wu You had tested it: by selecting a spot on the mountain and envisioning how the tree would look after release, the tree would instantly take root there, as if it had naturally grown for ages.

This meant that, in the future, Wu You could harvest trees from the Myriad Beasts Mountain and transplant them to Shiniu Mountain, truly transforming it into a lush jungle.

But venturing into the Myriad Beasts Mountain was risky, and relying exclusively on its flora to remake Shiniu Mountain was unrealistic given the scale of the task.

The steady stream of saplings arriving now would both enrich the greenery and serve as a cover.

By 7 p.m., dusk had settled. The last truck of the day had finished unloading, and the open ground before the hollow, covering several thousand square meters, was piled high with various plants.

Hua Zai and several workers did a quick inventory before heading home together.

On the drive, a recently hired worker asked in confusion, “Manager Zhang, are we just leaving all these here? Isn’t anyone going to keep watch?”

Hua Zai pulled the cigarette from his lips, exhaling a smoke ring. “Don’t worry. The boss has his own arrangements. Our job is just to make sure the saplings arrive on schedule.”

…

When night had fully descended, the sound of heavy objects thudding against the ground echoed from the mountain.

Ripples spread across a nearby puddle.

Soon, five enormous tree-like monsters, resembling ancient treants, appeared among the heaps of saplings in the hollow.

The shortest stood at least ten meters tall, their bodies covered with leaves and branches, their bark deeply furrowed.

These were Ancient Treants, bronze-grade, level-one alchemical constructs made from superb ancient trees. Despite being only level-one, the quality of the raw materials rendered them all at the bronze level.

Though their movements appeared slow, their massive strides covered great distances, so their pace was by no means sluggish.

The Ancient Treants served as the main workforce for planting saplings, and would spend the night transporting the stock deep into Shiniu Mountain.

Using their innate Plant Affinity, they could ensure each sapling took root and revived in the shortest possible time.

As for efficiency, a single stomp from a treant created a planting pit in the mountainside. With a sapling set in place and a casual sweep to cover it with soil, planting each tree took barely ten seconds.

Tonight, their task was to plant over ten thousand saplings of various kinds.