Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Love Thy Neighbor (3)
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Seoran, Damcheong, and a few merfolk had come ashore.
They planned to request the Seaside Gate's cooperation for the canal project.
The Geon Nation had no decision-making authority from the start.
The person in charge responded after hearing Seoran's grand ambitions.
“That might be a bit difficult.”
It was diplomatic speak for an absolute no.
A perfectly predictable outcome.
Building a canal that pierced the Geon Nation from east to west.
It would split their intact territory clean in half.
No sane leadership would ever accept it.
The Merfolk Church, which had maintained some exchange with the Seaside Gate, knew their negotiation partners well.
They had anticipated this and prepared countermeasures.
Hong Lin-eo stepped forward at the High Lord's signal.
The master negotiator whispered into the person's ear.
“Think it over carefully. If a canal opens to the Yang Nation, how many trade ships do you think will pass through Geon Nation territory? The Yang Nation is a great power. Their production and consumption are beyond imagination. Once the canal is dug, all that massive flow of goods will surely travel by sea. And who benefits from that? Geon Nation, of course.”
The person in charge was briefly tempted but snapped back to reality.
“I understand Geon Nation would benefit. But impossible is impossible. To begin with, the Seaside Gate lacks the capacity to build a canal of that scale.”
This response was within expectations too.
“Why would the Seaside Gate have to build the canal? Just put some mortals to work and pretend to oversee the construction. Civil engineering is child's play for our Great Earth Mother God. You've surely heard the rumors, Investigator—about the god of civil works...”
The person in charge was already swallowing dryly.
“Yes, as a member of the Seaside Gate, I've heard. An artificial island appearing in the vast ocean in the blink of an eye...”
Hong Lin-eo drove the final nail into the negotiation.
“Of course, that's not all. We must fill the Seaside Gate's warehouses too, not just the mortal nations. The Merfolk Church knows its duties.”
“Then perhaps...?”
“Yes, we'll pay tolls every time our merfolk pass through the canal. What should we use to pay? How about spirit stones? They're just rocks to us, but precious cultivation resources for ascetics, right? As you know, there are plenty of spirit stone veins in the deep sea. Any remaining concerns?”
The person in charge smiled brightly.
“Not at all?”
The merfolk delegation reached a smooth agreement with the party.
After leaving the Seaside Gate, Seoran asked,
“Damcheong, why have you been carrying that censer all day?”
Damcheong, who had been cradling a censer like a treasure since morning, replied,
“This is a dharma treasure.”
“What's a dharma treasure? Like a dharma tool?”
“You really know nothing. A dharma treasure is a wondrous relic crafted directly by an immortal. It's almost insulting to compare it to the dharma tools made by cultivators.”
“Immortal? So it's made in the Immortal Realm?”
“Obviously.”
“Then why is it down here on earth?”
“These things happen occasionally. An item from the Immortal Realm slipped through a rift in the dimensions and fell to the mortal world.”
Seoran examined the dented censer closely.
It still looked like cheap antique junk.
But after Damcheong's explanation, it felt less like grubby trash and more like an elegant masterpiece.
Curiosity piqued, Seoran asked,
“Where did you find such a precious treasure?”
“In the previous Dragon God's collection warehouse.”
“Then where did the previous Dragon God get it?”
Damcheong answered nonchalantly.
“Who knows? Probably picked it up from something that fell into the sea?”
No other explanation came to mind.
Seoran's interest in the censer surged.
“Why would the previous Dragon God leave a dharma treasure like this behind when ascending? If it were me, I'd have swallowed it whole to take it along.”
Damcheong agreed.
“There must have been some reason he couldn't take it. Anyway, this censer's effects are incredible. Light some incense inside and meditate, and it greatly aids mental cultivation. I tried it briefly yesterday as a test, and even my soul felt purified.”
That explained why he'd carried it all day.
“It'd be amazing for my Origin Energy cultivation too!”
“I'll lend it to you if you need it!”
“Thank you, Damcheong!”
“Over something like this!”
It was a beautiful friendship of sharing even dharma treasures.
The two laughed heartily, chatting merrily.
The censer's original owner was already forgotten.
He had ascended decades ago anyway—just treat it as gone.
*****
Seoran's super-sized grand canal construction project.
The Seaside Gate had been persuaded long ago.
This cleared the project's biggest hurdle.
Things proceeded smoothly from there.
No need to persuade the Black Bamboo Sect.
Seoran had returned after over a year of earning foreign currency.
Suddenly becoming a god of the Merfolk Church made no sense, but her contributions to the sect through personal sacrifice were immense.
The leadership was now fully committed to supporting whatever eccentricities Seoran pulled from here on.
There was no reason to refuse to begin with.
The Black Bamboo Sect immediately launched the massive project.
Geum Jungpae, still lingering at the sect, caught the sweet scent.
He asked his new friend, who was wandering near the leadership meeting hall,
“Hey, Investigator Ju. Anything new going on?”
“Oh, they're planning a canal from the sea all the way here. And ongoing exchanges with the Merfolk Church.”
Investigator Ju shared casually.
It wasn't classified information.
Geum Jungpae easily obtained the unpublished details.
A few days later, a delegation from the Golden Forge Sect arrived.
Their business was singular.
Extend the canal all the way to the Gyo Nation while they're at it.
In return, we'll help with the construction.
The Golden Forge Sect specialized in metal and earth attributes; with their offer to assist, the Black Bamboo Sect gladly agreed.
Soon, the Golden Forge Sect's earth cultivators were busy too.
A Herbwood Sect investigator staying there asked,
“Hey, is something big happening?”
The Golden Forge investigator replied without much thought.
“Well, it's like this...”
A few days later, a Herbwood Sect delegation visited the Black Bamboo Sect.
They pleaded to be included in the plans.
Subtly dangling tax-free trading privileges in the Immortal World markets.
One beehive, and bears galore shoving in their paws.
Miraculously, the honey inside kept multiplying.
The bears grew even happier.
In the end, the canal's length doubled the original plan.
Starting from the sea, it would pass through the Geon, Yang, Gyo, and Ju Nations in sequence before returning to the sea.
A colossal canal spanning four nations.
The mortal kingdoms got the cold shoulder.
*****
High Investigator Go, liaison to the capital, birdman enthusiast, and mild germaphobe, said to King Yang,
“Did you understand the instructions?”
King Yang asked with a baffled expression.
“You're saying I should design the canal?”
“Correct.”
“On a massive scale from the eastern border through central-western Yang Nation to the northern border?”
“Precisely.”
“And finish by this year's off-season after harvest?”
“You understand perfectly, so why keep asking?”
King Yang glanced at his minister beside him.
One perk of kingship was the power to delegate unpleasant tasks.
If it was unfair, he could become king himself.
The unwittingly saddled minister said to High Investigator Go,
“But Investigator Go, it's early autumn now. You said construction starts in the off-season, but time is too tight. Designing a massive canal piercing the nation requires tons of work. Surveys, measurements, calculations—you name it.”
High Investigator Go nodded as if convinced.
King Yang and the ministers brightened.
But their hopes were not to be fulfilled.
High Investigator Go replied leisurely.
“True, you'll have a tough time of it. Anyway, finish the design before harvest. I'll visit again then.”
With that, he flew off blithely to his home.
Noblesse oblige—roughly, the upper class has duties befitting their status.
There was no such thing as a free lunch in the world.
It had worked out perfectly.
Lunch that day had been a lavish banquet of delicacies from land and sea for King Yang and the ministers.
Now it was time to pay the bill.
But the grand ambitions of centuries-old cultivators were too much for mortals.
King Yang, who had just dined with fifty side dishes, asked the minister beside him,
“Civil engineering falls under the Ministry of Works, right?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Is the Minister of Works here?”
The Minister of Works stepped forward, pale as a ghost.
“Here, Your Majesty.”
“I'd prefer not to worry about this matter. Can I trust you, Minister of Works?”
“Yes, Your Majesty...”
“Good. Discuss the budget with the Prime Minister.”
Back at his office, the Minister of Works summoned all his subordinates.
“Design, surveying, construction—whatever. Gather every craftsman needed for the canal design. Right now.”
An aide asked,
“How many?”
“All of them.”
“Pardon? But the budget...”
The Minister of Works declared resolutely.
“It's fine. Yang Nation is a great power.”
As with all things in the world, the best way to shorten timelines was to pour money like water.
Similar upheavals occurred simultaneously in the Geon, Gyo, and Ju Nations.