Xiao Ming... no, My Lord, you have returned." Old Jack, dressed in a well-fitted set of new clothes, looked at Chen Ming, who had returned with a large entourage. His voice trembled uncontrollably.
The expression on Old Jack's face carried six parts joy, three parts nervousness, and one part anticipation.
Do not ask why Chen Ming could analyze a person's expressions to such a precise degree; it was because his eyes were practically functioning like a pie chart now. By analyzing micro-expressions, it truly was possible to discern a person's general psychological activity.
"Grandpa Jack, what are you saying? What 'Lord'?" Chen Ming naturally knew that Old Jack was afraid that once he obtained a high status, he would be unwilling to associate with poor people from the sa village like them.
However, Chen Ming firmly believed that one must never forget their roots. While a person should rember grudges, they must rember kindness even more.
Therefore, even though their current statuses were as vastly different as heaven and earth, Chen Ming still harbored a heart full of gratitude toward Old Jack. He took a step forward, grasped Old Jack's hand, and spoke without a single shred of distance in his voice.
"Good, good… that's good." Looking at Chen Ming—whose deanor remained completely pure—Old Jack felt his heart, which had been tossing and turning like fifteen buckets in a well, finally settle.
He then pulled Chen Ming along and led him back to the site of Holy Soul Village.
Yes—the site of Holy Soul Village.
It wasn't that Holy Soul Village had been destroyed. Rather, the original villagers had all been relocated into larger, better, and completely free hos within the newly built settlent. Not only did they no longer need to worry about bandits, thieves, or corrupt officials, but the city also provided additional support and subsidies, greatly improving their lives.
As a result, most villagers chose to remain, relying on black fungus, mountain delicacies, and other wild resources cultivated through Chen Ming's support. They supplented their inco by farming and trading mountain goods, steadily improving their livelihoods.
Suotuo City had originally served as a trade hub between the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire. However, with Chen Ming's Holy Soul Ridge now encompassing the area, the situation had already begun to shift.
Anyone with foresight could see it clearly—under the current trajectory, Holy Soul Ridge, and the soon-to-be-established Holy Soul City, would eventually replace Suotuo City entirely.
As a result, large numbers of rchants and trading caravans had already established residences within the temporary settlents inside Holy Soul Ridge.
This made daily necessities more accessible for the residents, while also lowering their prices.
At the sa ti, the mountain goods they cultivated and the cloth they wove could be sold more quickly and at better prices, allowing them to exchange for the supplies they needed with far greater ease.
As for corrupt tax collection? This was Chen Ming's hotown.
These were all fellow villagers of Chen Ming.
Which blind local thug or corrupt official would dare extort taxes at a ti like this?
Did they no longer want their heads attached to their necks?
And if anyone truly no longer wanted their head, then Vice Principal Lu of the Holy Soul City Royal Interdiate Soul Engineer Academy (currently still under construction) would also be quite willing to smash that person's skull apart with his hamr.
One could say that, thanks to Chen Ming, the quality of life for the original villagers of Holy Soul Village had risen from rely having enough to eat—to eating well. So could even choose what they wanted to eat within reason. Compared to the residents of major cities, they were no worse off at all.
Given the relationship between Old Jack and Chen Ming, he could have long since moved away to enjoy a comfortable life.
However, knowing Chen Ming would return, he chose instead to co back to the village and wait for him.
After all, unless Chen Ming personally gave the order, no one in Holy Soul Village dared to demolish the old settlent.
For now, only a small town had been built nearby.
As for how Holy Soul City would ultimately develop, that still depended on the will of its true master—Chen Ming.
"I am a rather nostalgic person, so let's keep the village for now."
"The environnt here is suitable to be a village, but if we want to build a major city, we will have to alter the location."
"Good, good!" Old Jack was extrely supportive of Chen Ming's words. Even though he did not truly understand any of it, he believed that the now-successful Chen Ming would certainly do better than anyone could imagine.
Chen Ming then consulted the original villagers, asking if they had anything they wished to say.
But upon seeing him, the villagers—who had already benefited imnsely from his success—beca visibly excited, raising their hands and standing up one after another.
Not only did they have no objections, many even called out Chen Ming's na with tears in their eyes.
At this point, Chen Ming could truly remodel his territory however he wished.
Thus, over the following days, Chen Ming led a large group of professionals to conduct surveys and asurents everywhere while discussing urban planning and construction.
According to Chen Ming's vision, the city he would build in the future had to beco a large-scale tropolis for this era, complete with advanced foundational infrastructure far beyond the standards of the age, serving as the basis for future developnt.
In an ordinary ancient world, such functionality would have been extrely difficult to achieve.
But in the Douluo world, where fantastical powers existed, the difficulty dropped sharply.
Moreover, the Spirit Masters Chen Ming had recruited were all strength-type Spirit Masters, while the Fifteen Toon Ant clan also possessed earth attributes and could tunnel underground.
They were practically born for construction work.
With the strength of these Spirit Masters, combined with craftsn from various professions and large numbers of civilians, building a city whose infrastructure and urban planning far surpassed the era was not difficult at all.
As the current local lord, Chen Ming fully possessed the authority to conscript the people under his rule to build the city for him without compensation.
After all, the Douluo world was a feudal society—arguably even closer to Western-style feudalism—so it was perfectly natural for territorial lords to possess such privileges.
However, Chen Ming had no intention of making people work for free.
If a city was to be built, then money should be spent.
If labor was to be used, then paynt should be given.
He could tolerate a certain degree of privilege within reasonable limits, but he absolutely could not tolerate excessive privilege or exploitation.
Although Chen Ming currently did not possess that many Gold Soul Coins personally, the taxes from his territory had been steadily accumulating.
With those tax revenues, combined with his current connections and the specialized personnel provided by the Crown Prince's estate and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, constructing a brand-new city was more than manageable.
Several more days passed like this. Then, amid his busy work, Chen Ming finally spotted a familiar figure.
It was a cute young girl wearing rabbit-ear hair accessories atop her head, dressed in pink clothes, with slightly chubby cheeks that still carried traces of baby fat.
With such distinctive features, who else could it be besides Xiao Wu?
Xiao Wu hid in a corner, cautiously poking her head out to observe Chen Ming.
Although she clearly believed she was hiding very well, everyone around felt that the pair of rabbit-ear accessories swaying back and forth in the air made the scene rather amusing.
"Xiao Wu, co out. I already saw you." Chen Ming waved toward the dark corner where Xiao Wu was hiding.
Like a startled rabbit, she imdiately jumped out.
Her eyes were filled with curiosity and confusion, mixed with a faint trace of fear.
"Um... well... I was just passing by accidentally. If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving first."
The matter of Chen Ming returning ho together with Dugu Bo had already spread throughout the vicinity. By now, virtually everyone on this side knew that there was a Titled Douluo beside Chen Ming.
Recently, the queue of people just watching Dugu Bo could line up for dozens or even hundreds of ters; practically every single one of them looked at Dugu Bo as if they were looking at a rare animal.
For Xiao Wu to still dare to appear in front of Chen Ming under these circumstances, it was already rather difficult for Chen Ming to say what exactly she was thinking.
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