Foundations

After Huu Thanh’s army withdrew from Cat Loi, the Western Wastes entered a rare period of quiet.

That quiet still carried the pressure of Heavenly Eye, but for nearly the next two months, no large army advanced toward Hoa Van.

After arriving at Hoa Van, Cat Thanh personally organized the return of his people to Cat Loi City. Those responsible for formations, warehouses, wells, and defense went first to inspect and restore the important areas. Only afterward did the elderly, women, and children gradually return.

Even so, a portion of Cat Loi’s younger generation chose to remain in Hoa Van.

Some wanted to learn forging, some wished to work with the pill-refining rooms and medicinal gardens, others joined merchant convoys, while a few simply wanted to see how far this town in the middle of the desert could eventually grow.

Cat Thanh did not stop them.

Cat Loi was still their homeland, but Hoa Van was gradually becoming another place they could choose to live.

It was during this temporary lull in the fighting that Hoa Van began developing faster than ever before.

The name Hoa Van Forward Camp gradually became a thing of the past.

The stone walls were extended around newly built residential districts, houses rose along freshly opened roads, medicinal gardens continued spreading eastward, and the market that had once consisted of only a handful of temporary stalls became a place where merchant convoys came and went every day.

A simple military outpost was no longer enough to describe what this place had become.

From then on, the name Hoa Van Town was officially used.

The old defensive district in the west was preserved, but it became only one part of the town’s larger defensive system.

Luu Thanh continued overseeing the defense forces.

After one battle after another, he had proven that his ability went far beyond accurate archery. He knew how to remain calm when the situation changed, when to advance and when to retreat, and he rarely allowed victory or loss to cloud his judgment.

Watchposts were built on high sand hills, while scouts were divided into three lines stretching from the area near the town to the intermediate zone and then farther west. They rotated day and night, allowing information from the deeper Western Wastes to reach Hoa Van continuously.

Beneath that network of watchposts were the training grounds, weapon stores, Sa Ma enclosures, and the main gathering area for the archers.

Hoa Duong continued leading the mobile force. Whenever danger was detected along the western line, his people would be the first to leave the town.

Hao Nhien did not interfere with every guard shift or personally inspect each patrol. His requirement was simple: even on a day when he was absent, Hoa Van still had to know how to protect itself.

Inside the town, the changes were even easier to see.

Desolate sand dunes were gradually leveled, dirt paths were replaced by stone roads, and drainage channels were built alongside irrigation canals. Solid wooden homes stood among larger buildings for merchants and newcomers, making the central district look increasingly like a true settlement.

The medicinal gardens expanded month by month.

Rows of lush spirit herbs stretched through the yellow sands, while the water-gathering formations, after several rounds of improvement, had become stable enough to supply both daily life and part of the cultivation fields.

The forging furnaces operated almost all day.

The market also grew busier than before. Members of the Hoa Ky Tribe, people from Cat Loi, merchants from the Eastern Plains, independent cultivators, people from smaller tribes, and even a few from the Southern Regions began appearing simply because they had heard Hoa Van sold pills that were difficult to find in the deeper Western Wastes.

Roads that only months earlier had known nothing but wind and sand now carried people from morning until night.

Naturally, none of that development came from Hao Nhien alone.

Behind Hoa Van Town, a commercial network had already begun to take shape.

The Hoa Van Treasure Pavilion was a branch directly established by Thien Bao Pavilion, but its operations were tied closely to Hoa Van. Pills refined in the town were purchased there, then transported to Thanh Van City and neighboring tribes.

Qi-Vitality Pills, Body Strengthening Pills, Life-Vitality Pills, and Profound Yang Pills gradually became reliable commodities instead of rare goods that appeared only with a few large merchant convoys.

In return, caravans brought back spirit herbs, ores, basic artifacts, drought-resistant seeds, timber, stone, and all kinds of construction materials.

Under Luu Van’s coordination, the flow of goods became increasingly stable.

Thien Bao Pavilion also sent formation masters to improve the water-gathering system. Areas that had once been suitable only for housing could now support additional medicinal gardens, while places that previously relied on carts for water received direct irrigation channels.

Spirit stones began flowing in steadily, medicinal materials were continuously replenished, and the forging furnaces rarely had to stop because of ore shortages.

Hoa Van was still far from being called a great city, but it had already formed something more important than size.

A stable flow.

People and resources came in, while products and merchant convoys went out.

Hoa Van no longer survived only on what the desert already possessed. It had begun creating value of its own.

As the population increased, the old administrative system quickly revealed its limits.

Quan Khai had established the initial framework, but Hoa Van’s growth far exceeded expectations. Because of that, the Quan Clan sent more people to assist.

This time, Quan Lam led the group, accompanied by Elder Quan Can.

Quan Can was well known in the Quan Clan for personnel organization and logistics. He did not replace Quan Khai but worked alongside him. Quan Khai continued handling daily operations and training local personnel, while Quan Can began standardizing the broader system.

New arrivals were entered into residency records, residential and production land were clearly assigned, and the grain stores, pill stores, spirit-stone reserves, and material warehouses each received their own managers and ledgers.

A relief fund was also created to support families whose members had died or been injured in the war.

Tasks within the town began to have clear deadlines, responsibilities, and rewards.

Yet the most important change came from a meeting held roughly one month after the incident at Cat Loi.

Cat Thanh, Lieu Thien Van, representatives of the Hoa Ky Tribe, and the tribes and groups that had settled permanently around Hoa Van were all present.

Their previous cooperation had mostly depended on circumstances and personal relationships. After the battle at Cat Loi, everyone had recognized the same problem: if a large army truly advanced into the Western Wastes, scattered forces would struggle to react in time if each side cared only about its own territory.

The meeting lasted nearly an entire day.

In the end, the various sides agreed to establish a defensive alliance centered on Hoa Van.

Cat Loi, Tam Thanh, the Hoa Ky Tribe, and the participating tribes retained authority over their internal affairs. The alliance would concern itself only with common defense, trade routes, mutual aid, and external matters whenever the interests of multiple sides were affected.

Cat Thanh was the first to propose that Hao Nhien preside over it.

Lieu Thien Van agreed.

The other representatives raised no objections.

After what had happened at Cat Loi, few people still doubted Hao Nhien’s ability to connect forces that had once stood apart.

From that day onward, the name Hoa Van Alliance officially appeared.

And Hao Nhien received a new title for the first time.

Alliance Leader.

What truly surprised Quan Lam, however, was not Hao Nhien becoming Alliance Leader, but the rules he wanted to establish for Hoa Van.

One evening, inside the central hall, a map of Hoa Van Town was spread across the table beside dozens of scrolls. Quan Lam had been taking notes for some time before he finally stopped.

“Hao Nhien.”

“Mm?”

“Do you really want to do this?”

Hao Nhien looked at him.

“Which part?”

Quan Lam pointed at the scroll in front of him.

“Merchants have their property protected, ordinary people have the right to accuse cultivators, forced transactions are punished, and even a Foundation Establishment cultivator must compensate someone if he takes their property.”

He looked up.

“Don’t you find these rules strange?”

Hao Nhien asked:

“What is strange about them?”

“In the cultivation world, cultivation has always determined status. The strong have more resources, the weak depend on the strong. That has existed for a very long time.”

Hao Nhien did not answer immediately.

He looked outside the door.

The night market was still lit. A merchant was inspecting goods, several smiths had just left the forge, and farther away, someone was transporting water toward the medicinal gardens.

“Quan Lam, what do you think strength is for?”

Quan Lam thought for a moment.

“To protect one’s clan, compete for resources, and defeat enemies.”

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“Most people would answer that way.”

Hao Nhien nodded.

“I also accept that stronger people usually have more opportunities. The higher one’s cultivation, the more difficult the things they can accomplish, so receiving greater rewards is reasonable.”

He paused.

“But greater ability and the right to take whatever belongs to someone else are two different things.”

Quan Lam fell silent.

Hao Nhien spread a blank sheet of paper before him.

“I want Hoa Van to have laws.”

“Laws?”

“A set of rules that applies to everyone living in the town, whether they belong to the Hoa Ky Tribe, Cat Loi, are independent cultivators, merchants, ordinary people, or cultivators.”

Quan Lam frowned.

“In matters governed by the town’s laws, cultivation does not stand above the rules?”

“Correct.”

Hao Nhien replied.

“Cultivation determines how strong someone is, but that strength does not automatically become the right to take what belongs to another person.”

Quan Lam studied him for several breaths.

Hao Nhien continued:

“Merchants may trade freely, and in return they pay a portion in taxes. Those spirit stones are used for roads, watchposts, formations, relief, and other things that serve the town as a whole.”

“Those who grow spirit herbs have their crops protected. The same applies to miners, herders, smiths, and anyone else who produces something. If disputes arise, they are handled according to rules agreed upon beforehand.”

Quan Lam asked:

“What if the offender is powerful enough and refuses to comply?”

Hao Nhien answered calmly:

“Then the Hoa Van Alliance will make him comply.”

Quan Lam looked at him.

“You truly want rules to stand above cultivation?”

“Within Hoa Van, yes.”

Hao Nhien said.

“And that includes me.”

Quan Lam was silent for a moment before asking:

“Then the Alliance Leader can also be punished?”

“Yes.”

“By whom?”

Hao Nhien paused, then smiled.

“That is precisely why a place cannot have only one person deciding everything.”

He used his brush to draw a circle on the map.

“I want to establish a Town Council.”

Quan Lam looked up.

“It will include representatives from the guards, merchants, craftsmen, producers, tribes, and ordinary residents. Matters involving land, trade, disputes, compensation, taxes, and public works can all be brought before it.”

“What about military affairs?”

“They remain under military command.”

Hao Nhien replied.

“War, foreign affairs, defense, and life-or-death decisions during emergencies cannot wait for everyone to debate together.”

Quan Lam laughed.

“That sounds more reasonable.”

Hao Nhien smiled as well.

“I want the people who live here to have a voice in matters that directly affect them. Those who understand a matter should take part in deciding it.”

Quan Lam nodded.

Hao Nhien continued:

“There is one more thing.”

“Merit points?”

“Mm.”

Hao Nhien said.

“Merit should not come only from killing enemies. Growing rare spirit herbs, forging good artifacts, saving lives, teaching children to read, building roads, digging wells, or improving cultivation methods can all be recognized.”

Quan Lam gradually understood.

“So people who are not skilled in battle still have a way to accumulate merit.”

“Exactly.”

Hao Nhien looked at him.

“A town cannot consist only of warriors. Pills require people to grow spirit herbs, weapons require smiths, merchant convoys bring resources from elsewhere, and food and water depend on an entire system behind them.”

He paused before continuing:

“I once saw a place where laws had existed for a very long time, and people spoke constantly about fairness and rights. Even so, factions, inequality, and private interests still appeared.”

Quan Lam looked slightly surprised.

Hao Nhien did not explain where that place was.

“I don’t think those things can ever disappear completely. When people live together, they will have their own interests, and once interests exist, sooner or later groups will form to protect them.”

Quan Lam asked:

“Then what do you plan to do?”

Hao Nhien looked at the marks on the map.

“Prevent them from becoming completely separate blocks.”

Quan Lam frowned slightly.

“You mean…”

“Merchants need spirit-herb growers. Medicinal gardens need formation masters and water. Formation masters need spirit stones generated by trade. The guards are supported by taxes paid by those who produce and conduct business. Smiths need ores brought in by merchant convoys, while those same convoys need guards protecting the roads.”

Hao Nhien looked at him.

“If their interests are intertwined deeply enough, one faction trying to swallow everything belonging to another would also mean cutting away something it depends on.”

Quan Lam remained silent for a very long time.

“You want them to be forced to need one another.”

“At least to some extent.”

Hao Nhien replied.

“I do not expect Hoa Van to become a place without conflict. I only want people to have enough reasons to keep this place functioning even when conflict appears.”

Quan Lam looked at him, his expression gradually changing.

Hao Nhien continued:

“Merit points can be exchanged for spirit stones, pills, suitable cultivation methods, or temporary rights to use certain production lands. Land should not all be divided permanently and passed down untouched for generations, because those who arrive later still need somewhere to live and work.”

Quan Lam laughed.

“You’re already thinking about ten years from now?”

“If I don’t, someone ten years from now will have to deal with the consequences.”

Quan Lam laughed for a while longer, then suddenly said:

“Hao Nhien, sometimes I truly feel as though you came from another world.”

Hao Nhien paused almost imperceptibly.

“Perhaps I just think a little too much.”

Quan Lam did not notice the reaction.

He looked toward the night market outside.

“These ideas are very different. I don’t know how long they can last, but if they truly work…”

Quan Lam stopped.

“People will not come here only for spirit stones.”

Hao Nhien looked up.

“They’ll want to live here.”

Hao Nhien smiled.

“That is what I want.”

He looked toward the lights in the market.

“I want people who come here to truly regard Hoa Van as home, to want their children to grow up here, to have their shops and fields here. Then one day, if someone tries to destroy this place, they will stand up to defend it themselves, not because I ordered them to, but because it belongs to them.”

Quan Lam studied him for a long time before standing.

“I’ll work with Quan Can and Quan Khai to complete it.”

Hao Nhien shook his head.

“Bring in the people who will actually have to live under those rules.”

Quan Lam paused.

“Smiths, merchants, farmers, guards, people of the Hoa Ky Tribe, people of Cat Loi, and ordinary residents.”

Hao Nhien said.

“Listen to them first.”

Quan Lam looked at him for several breaths before slowly nodding.

“All right.”

Hoa Van’s first set of laws was not written in a single night.

It took nearly half a month.

Some things Hao Nhien considered reasonable were opposed by merchants. Some merchant proposals were considered unfair by the farmers. The guards wanted broader authority to act quickly, while residents demanded a place to file complaints if guards abused that authority.

Only after all of that was the first town law finally carved onto a stone stele in the central square. Every morning, someone read it aloud for those who could not yet read.

At first, some cultivators were uncomfortable with the new rules.

But rules only had meaning when they were enforced.

A cultivator who forcibly took spirit herbs from a farming household was arrested even though he had ties to an elder of the Hoa Ky Tribe. His merit points were revoked, spirit stones were deducted, and the household was compensated.

A guard who accepted spirit stones to ignore smuggled goods was expelled from the force.

By contrast, an ordinary resident who discovered that warehouse records had been altered received merit just as any cultivator would.

After several cases like these, people began to understand that Hoa Van’s laws existed both to punish and to protect.

Merchants needed fewer private guards, producers dared to expand their medicinal gardens, craftsmen began taking apprentices, and people from smaller tribes became less hesitant to settle here.

Even the cultivators gradually realized that protecting those people also meant protecting the supply of pills, weapons, food, and spirit stones that made Hoa Van stronger.

What made a place endure had never been walls alone.

It was the people who wanted to keep living within them.

Nearly two months after the battle at Cat Loi, Hoa Van had changed greatly.

During that same period, the deadline between Hao Nhien and Lang Tuyet gradually approached.

In exchange for Thien Bao Pavilion becoming deeply involved in Hoa Van’s development, Hao Nhien had once agreed to return with her to the ancient ruins.

Lang Tuyet had kept her word.

Trade routes had been opened, resources had been delivered, and the Hoa Van Treasure Pavilion was now fully operational.

Now it was his turn to fulfill his part.

Before the day of departure, Hao Nhien spent most of his remaining time cultivating and arranging whatever could be completed before he left the town.

Quan Nha accompanied him to Black Wind Valley.

She was no stranger to the Wind element. Ever since the Outer Sect Secret Realm years ago, Hao Nhien had taught her many times how to sense the movement of air, find gaps between currents, and borrow their force to move.

Returning to Black Wind now, with cultivation and spiritual sense far stronger than before, Quan Nha needed only a few days to adapt.

When black winds swept toward her, she tilted her body, changed her steps, and slipped through the gap between two currents. Her movements became shorter, cleaner, and increasingly free of unnecessary motion.

Hao Nhien stood nearby observing, but rarely needed to correct her.

Quan Nha had never lacked comprehension. What she had needed before was simply cultivation and time.

What drew Hao Nhien’s attention more was her soul.

The Charm-element inheritance from the Great Python had gone unused for a long time. Yet sometimes Quan Nha would merely glance at him, her eyes deepening slightly, and Hao Nhien’s soul would still waver.

He immediately turned his face away.

Quan Nha asked:

“What is it?”

“Nothing.”

She looked at him for a little longer, the corner of her mouth curving slightly.

Hao Nhien could only exhale.

Fortunately, she was standing on his side.

After some time training in Black Wind Valley, Quan Nha used the pills Tieu Lan had prepared to push forward the accumulation she had suppressed for so long.

The spiritual power in her body naturally crossed the boundary that had already begun to loosen.

Second Layer of Foundation Establishment.

The result was entirely within Hao Nhien’s expectations.

Tieu Lan was no less busy during this period.

Tieu Nhan formally began studying under her, starting with sorting medicinal materials, record keeping, preparing medicinal liquids, and treating minor injuries before gradually being introduced to pill refining.

Tieu Lan taught very slowly.

“First learn to recognize the medicine, understand its properties, and know what an injured person actually needs. Once those foundations are stable, then you can learn refinement.”

Tieu Nhan listened very seriously.

With someone else helping, Tieu Lan was also able to devote more time to research.

She experimented with spirit herbs unique to the Western Wastes to create medicine that helped ordinary people endure the heat more easily, medicinal liquids that supported meridians damaged by violent wind currents, and fast-acting hemostatic powder for patrol teams.

Not every experiment succeeded immediately, but the Hoa Van pill-refining rooms began producing medicines born from the actual needs of this place instead of merely copying formulas from the Eastern Plains.

Hao Nhien, meanwhile, continued along the path he had already begun.

He did not create another body-tempering system, nor did he search for some new cultivation realm. He simply kept forcing his body to adapt more effectively to what he already possessed: the Body-Soul Fist Art, Sword Slash, Spirit Wings, speed, explosive power, and the ability to maintain stability in combat postures that were easy to lose control of.

Lanh Hoa had still not returned.

The group he was escorting from the Hoa Ky Tribe toward Hoa Van was moving more slowly than expected because there were too many elderly people, women, children, and supplies.

Hao Nhien had no intention of waiting any longer.

Lanh Hoa had never cared much for positions within the town. From beginning to end, the only role he stubbornly wanted to keep was that of Hao Nhien’s personal guard.

So before leaving, Hao Nhien prepared a storage ring and handed it to Luu Thanh.

Inside were spirit stones, pills, a flying sword, and several scrolls containing notes about Black Wind Valley.

“If Lanh Hoa returns while I’m away, give this to him.”

Luu Thanh accepted it.

“Understood.”

“Tell him to remain in Hoa Van and cultivate. He is not to go looking for me on his own.”

Luu Thanh smiled slightly.

“Do you think he’ll listen?”

Hao Nhien looked at him for a moment.

“That’s why I have to say it beforehand.”

Luu Thanh laughed.

“This subordinate understands.”

On the night before Lang Tuyet arrived, Hao Nhien stood alone on the highest sand hill north of Hoa Van.

From there, nearly the entire town was visible.

Stone roads ran between rows of buildings, lights stretched around the market, the green patches of medicinal gardens stood out against the yellow sands, and the western watchpost still maintained a small flame in the darkness.

The patrol had just changed shifts.

The final strike of a hammer rang out from the forging district before falling silent.

Hao Nhien watched everything for a long time.

Two months was not long, yet Hoa Van had changed greatly.

Tomorrow, he would leave this place and return to the ancient ruins with Lang Tuyet.

The last time he left those ruins, he had carried away far too many unanswered questions.

The Heavenly Spirit Clan, the Immortal Heart, the Saintess, the war from thousands of years ago, and the traces that still remained throughout the Western Wastes had yet to form a complete story.

But among all those secrets, there was one reason Hao Nhien wanted to return to the ruins more than any other.

Anh Nhien.

It had been a very long time since he had spoken that name aloud.

She was his wife, the person who had once lived an entire life beside him in the old world, and the one whose soul was now somewhere so distant that he still had no idea how to reach it.

Firmament.

There were nights when Hao Nhien still wondered how Anh Nhien was doing, whether she was facing dangers alone that he could not even begin to know about. Whenever those thoughts came, the unease in his heart became so heavy that he rarely dared follow them too deeply.

All he could do was keep moving forward.

From Qi Condensation to Foundation Establishment, from countless brushes with death to every day he forced himself to become stronger, part of all that effort had always been for her.

He had to survive, continue growing stronger, and find a path to Firmament. Because at the end of that road, Anh Nhien was still waiting for the day he could find her and bring her back.

Hao Nhien had no idea how far away that day might still be, but as long as a road remained ahead of him, he would continue walking it.

Beyond that, too many mysteries surrounding the ruins still remained unexplained.

The Western Wastes had not always been the dead land it was today. The Heavenly Spirit Clan, the war from an ancient age, the word “Tribulation” Lang Tuyet had once mentioned, and the bow-wielding figure who always stirred a strange sense of familiarity in him all seemed like scattered fragments of some greater secret.

Hao Nhien still did not know whether they were truly connected.

But this time, he wanted to look deeper.

If he could discover what had turned the Western Wastes into what they were today, perhaps he would also understand more about the forces still existing across this land and even find another path for Hoa Van’s future.

Soft footsteps sounded behind him.

Hao Nhien turned around.

At the foot of the hill stood Quan Nha and Tieu Lan, one dressed in red, the other in pale green.

The two of them simply looked up at him in silence.

Hao Nhien watched them for a moment, then smiled and began walking down the sand hill.