Everyone in Tianyuan City knew that the towering Heaven-Bestowing Pavilion had changed its name to Immeasurable Pavilion. It was said that the pavilion master was none other than the High Priest and Marquis, Lord Shennong.
Regarding the Shennong Clan's High Priest, the people of Tianyuan City could all clearly recount his deeds.
He was not only highly skilled in martial arts but also possessed a kind heart. He would often help the residents of Tianyuan City with their illnesses, and his figure could often be seen in the streets and alleys. If one was seriously ill and fortunate enough to encounter the High Priest, all ailments would be cured, restoring them to a healthy body.
The High Priest was not only the second-in-command of Tianyuan City but also a trustworthy leader for the city's residents. The various things he proposed fully met the various needs of the Tianyuan citizens, and many tribes even had statues of the High Priest placed directly in their homes.
It could be said that in terms of prestige in Tianyuan City, perhaps even the Heavenly King was inferior to the High Priest.
Therefore, everyone was very curious about the sudden renaming of the Heaven-Bestowing Pavilion and the High Priest's appointment as the pavilion master. They were eager to see what the long-dormant Heaven-Bestowing Pavilion would become in the hands of the High Priest.
Regardless of the people's thoughts, Jiang Wen began to transform the Heaven-Bestowing Pavilion after accepting it.
Although the Heaven-Bestowing Pavilion was tall, it was not to Jiang Wen's taste. After all, people of this era still favored a rough and bold aesthetic, and both buildings and streets were in dull, primitive colors.
Jiang Wen greatly disliked this monotonous color scheme. What he looked forward to was the colorful splendor of a city like Suzhou, with its vibrant reds and purples. Therefore, he put a lot of effort into this matter, not only experimenting with various colors but also successfully developing them for fabrics and other items.
When the Immeasurable Pavilion was unveiled, the people of Tianyuan City saw for the first time what a prosperous and beautiful city could look like. The red-walled and green-tiled building stood tall in the center of Tianyuan City like a unique flower. The interwoven brackets and upturned eaves gave it a sense of soaring flight.
Different auspicious beasts were carved on each of the eight corners of the roof, each holding a brilliant jade pearl in its mouth. This was a formation that Jiang Wen had improved, similar to the invisible formation in his own Taoist temple. Anyone with malicious intent would be detected by the formation, and it would plunge them into an illusion. With this formation, the safety of the Immeasurable Pavilion could be guaranteed.
The Immeasurable Pavilion stood before everyone again, so beautiful and magnificent that it was hard to look away. Every day, the people of Tianyuan City would get up and bow towards the resplendent Immeasurable Pavilion. In the end, this habit became a ritual of Tianyuan City.
Jiang Wen naturally didn't know so much. After the Immeasurable Pavilion was built, he invited Jiang Wenji to visit. Jiang Wenji stepped on the lacquered wooden floor, smelling the fragrance in the pavilion, and was reluctant to leave for a long time. When she left, she begged Jiang Wen to help her remodel her residence in the same way, even better than this. Jiang Wen could only agree to this.
Once everything was ready, Jiang Wen extended an invitation to the cultivators of the Sumeru Immortal Sect. Hearing that Tianyuan City was willing to accept them, the cultivators of the Sumeru Realm were overjoyed and came to visit, riding the clouds and mist. The Immeasurable Pavilion gradually became a place for exchanges among various schools.
Gradually, the cultivators were no longer satisfied with the exchange of cultivation techniques. Sometimes, they would also exchange the things they had collected here. Jiang Wen then realized that the Immeasurable Pavilion he had proposed had a feeling of a later-generation immortal sect gathering.
Could it be that the immortal sect gatherings of later generations were built in various buildings because of him? Jiang Wen wondered with some interest.
From then on, every day, as long as the residents looked up, they could see people descending from the sky and flying into the Immeasurable Pavilion from time to time. At first, everyone was not used to it, feeling that cultivators were invading Tianyuan. Later, as it happened more often, everyone realized that they were not harmed in any way. On the contrary, the cultivators' various mysterious methods could help them, and they gradually accepted the existence of cultivators.
A wonderful consensus was formed in Tianyuan City: few people rejected the existence of cultivators, and people simply treated them as ordinary people. The cultivators also restrained their mentality and behaved honestly in Tianyuan City.
They even occasionally selected disciples from Tianyuan City to continue the inheritance of their sects. It was a pity that the image of cultivators was deeply rooted in people's hearts, and ordinary good residents were unwilling to join the cultivator sects.
Only those children who were down and out in the slums and struggling for a living every day would agree to join the immortal sect because of the material temptation.
Soon, in this atmosphere, Tianyuan City passed its twelfth year of construction. A larger, more lively, and more beautiful city was located in front of the towering mountain gate.
On the fertile plain not far from the city, countless people were working in the golden wheat fields. Further down the gentle road, herds of livestock were grazing on the abundant grasslands. From time to time, merchants drove their carts along the wide road, occasionally being stopped by passersby to exchange some goods.
The currency used in transactions with merchants was unique to Tianyuan City. It was said that this thing called Tianyuan Tongbao was very popular even in the major cities of Taicang.
As long as you held this thing, you could exchange it for various things in Tianyuan City. This was not limited to Tianyuan City's specialty crops, various cultivator pills, and secret methods and witchcraft of various tribes.
In short, as long as you had enough Tianyuan Tongbao, you could buy things you couldn't even imagine. This currency reform was also thanks to Jiang Wen. In the past, Tianyuan City used barter, but prices were difficult to distinguish, and it was very troublesome.
Therefore, he discussed it with Jiang Wenji and joined forces with others in the city to create this currency policy. Tianyuan Tongbao was forged from a unique metal in Tianyuan City. This metal was not only hard but also had unique properties. It had its own value, so it was easily accepted as currency.
Even cultivators were willing to use this currency to exchange for various supplies.
Today in Tianyuan City was another peaceful day, but as the sun rose high, a huge bell rang throughout the city.
Dong—Dong—
The deep bell rang, and the people of Tianyuan City who were outside were stunned for a while after hearing the bell before they came back to their senses and ran towards the city.
Livestock returned to the pens, and those working outside the city returned to the city. When the gate of Tianyuan City was closed again, a vast fog flooded everything like a tide.
The people in the city couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when they saw this. Then they cheered and shouted, celebrating that they could safely pass through this fog season. A sense of belonging arose in their hearts, and they felt proud and satisfied to be from Tianyuan City.
Jiang Wen and Jiang Wenji stood at the highest point of the Immeasurable Pavilion, overlooking the distant fog like a sea tide. The fog that had once terrified them could now be easily resisted outside the city.
Jiang Wenji rested her hands on the railing, her eyes seemed to be recalling something: "We have known each other for a cycle of twelve years."
"Yes, twelve years have passed. Time really flies," Jiang Wen sighed. "I feel like I'm getting old."
"Nonsense, you still look so young."
"Haven't you changed either?"
The two looked at each other and then laughed loudly. The guards behind them were clueless and could only pretend they didn't hear anything.
