16: Chapter 16 Mass Awakening!

Forget about seeing it, she hadn't even heard of it!

Forget about hearing of it, there wasn't even such a record in books!!

As the golden light fell, it merged into everyone's body.

Everyone felt a magical power surging through their limbs and bones!

Their movements became lighter, and unexpectedly, an indescribable tacit understanding grew between them out of thin air!

It was as if they had all become a single entity!

"Ugh! My big shovel is already hungry and impatient!"

"So you're tough, huh? You're stubborn, huh? Take this hammer! And another!"

"With strength to uproot trees and spirit that covers the world! Rise for me!!"

...

Everyone was howling as they brandished the tools in their hands, attacking the rocks and big trees.

However, it didn't take long before an awkward situation occurred.

"Crack!"

"Boom!"

"Clatter!"

A series of crisp sounds rose and fell one after another.

It turned out that the tools everyone had on hand weren't exactly high quality to begin with.

After such a rough workout, they all suffered some degree of damage.

"This..."

Tie Shan hurriedly came to the city wall to report the situation to Zhou Yun.

"City Lord! Everyone is working too hard; many of the tools in their hands are broken!"

To do a good job, one must first sharpen their tools.

If the tools are broken, how can they continue working?

Zhou Yun, however, was unhurried. "No problem! I was prepared!"

With high-intensity work, it was inevitable that the tools would be damaged; he had anticipated this long ago.

He waved his hand, and Lei Lie and the other City Guards immediately carried down dozens of boxes of spare tools gathered from the Granary of the City Lord's Mansion and distributed them one by one.

[Ding! You successfully bestowed Iron Pickaxe * 1, triggering a 100x critical hit reward, obtaining Iron Pickaxe * 100!]

[Ding! You successfully bestowed Iron Pickaxe * 1, triggering a 1,000,000,000x critical hit reward, obtaining quality improvement reward Black Gold Mountain-Crushing Pickaxe * 10!]

[Black Gold Mountain-Crushing Pickaxe (Bronze Rank): Crafted from the rare metal Black Gold, imbued with the "Mountain-Crushing" inscription, it never wears out. It cuts through armor and stone like tofu and is extremely lightweight.]

...

Triggered a quality improvement reward so quickly?

And it was a billion times?

Zhou Yun was pleasantly surprised, but he didn't distribute them immediately.

After all, Lei Lie had just distributed the ordinary iron pickaxes; it wouldn't be too late to swap them out once those broke.

Meanwhile, because Lei Lie was still distributing tools, the notification sounds in Zhou Yun's mind kept ringing incessantly.

[Ding! You successfully bestowed Wooden Axe * 1, triggering a 100,000,000x critical hit reward, obtaining quality improvement reward Mountain-Opening Axe * 10!]

[Ding! You successfully bestowed Wooden Axe * 1, triggering a 1,000x critical hit reward, obtaining Wooden Axe * 1000!]

[Ding! You successfully bestowed Wooden Axe * 1, triggering a 10,000x critical hit reward, obtaining Wooden Axe * 10,000!]

[Ding! You successfully bestowed Trowel * 1, triggering a 100x critical hit reward, obtaining Trowel * 100!]

[Ding! You successfully bestowed Trowel * 1, triggering a 1,000x critical hit reward, obtaining Trowel * 1000!]

[Ding! You successfully bestowed Trowel * 1, triggering a 100,000,000x critical hit reward, obtaining quality improvement reward Flowing Cloud Masonry Trowel * 10!]

...

Similarly, the quality improvement reward tools obtained later were not distributed immediately either.

But it didn't take long before Lei Lie ran back to the city wall. "City Lord! There are too many broken tools in everyone's hands; the tools brought from the Granary have all been distributed!"

"Then distribute these to everyone!"

Zhou Yun took out the Black Gold Mountain-Crushing Pickaxe, Mountain-Opening Axe, Flowing Cloud Masonry Trowel, and other tools, and handed them over to Lei Lie again.

These tools were clearly of extraordinary quality at a glance, but Lei Lie didn't think too much about it.

After all, Zhou Yun distributed so much Spiritual Qi rice without hesitation; what were mere tools compared to that?

But when the citizens switched to these "divine Sharp Weapons," the scene changed instantly.

"Pfft!"

The originally incredibly hard bluestone was truly like tofu before the Black Gold Mountain-Crushing Pickaxe; a light tap would shatter a large chunk off!

"Crack!"

Iron wood thick enough for two people to hug was chopped in half directly with a single swing of the Dragon-patterned Mountain-Opening Axe, the cut surface as smooth as a mirror!

Originally, after eating the Spiritual Qi rice, everyone felt they had endless energy.

It was just that the tools on hand were too poor, limiting their performance.

Now that the tools were replaced, it was like adding wings to a tiger!

"Whoo-hoo!"

"I feel like I can shovel down the entire mountain!"

"Everyone move aside! This forest is mine!!"

...

Inside Flower City, in a warm chamber of the Chamber of Commerce.

Minister Wang Fugui was holding a purple clay teapot in his left hand, comfortably leaning on a recliner and humming a little tune.

Outside, wind and snow were swirling, but inside the room, it was as warm as spring.

Take another sip of hot tea!

What a wonderful thing this is!

At this moment, General Zhang Tie stumbled in. "M-Master! It's bad! A big incident has occurred!"

Minister Wang Fugui immediately frowned. "What are you panicking about? So impetuous! No matter how big the matter is, you need to tell me slowly!"

General Zhang Tie swallowed his saliva, tried his best to steady his emotions, and said slowly:

"I just went to take a look! That Zhou Yun appointed an old man and an ugly woman as officials..."

Minister Wang Fugui was composed. "There is no one else to use in the city; this is expected."

"Then... then he said he wants to build a new city outside the city!"

"Hmm?" Minister Wang Fugui's brows raised slightly. "A dog jumping over a wall? Does he know how much manpower, material resources, and time it takes to build a city? What happened after?"

"After that..." General Zhang Tie licked his lips. "He fed everyone Spiritual Qi rice!"

"Spiritual Qi rice?" Minister Wang Fugui's eyes suddenly fixed, and then he slowly shook his head.

"Impossible. He has Spiritual Qi rice, but it is absolutely impossible for him to have that much!"

"It must be passing off fish eyes as pearls, fooling you!"

"I don't know about that, but..." General Zhang Tie's eyes revealed deep shock.

"But the heavy snow outside the city was driven back by a single word from that Zhou Yun! It is snowing heavily inside the city, but it is a clear sunny day outside!"

"Nonsense!" Minister Wang Fugui slammed his purple clay teapot onto the coffee table. "Changing the weather for a long time, not even the most powerful Professional can do this! Unless he is a Destined City Lord who has mastered a City Lord Skill!"

General Zhang Tie was so scared that his legs went weak, and he knelt down. "It is a City Lord Skill! It really is! I saw the golden characters in the sky with my own eyes!"

"You're full of it!" Minister Wang Fugui stood up abruptly, strode to the window, opened it, and looked out. "Flower City is a dilapidated little city; how could it possibly have..."

The words that followed were stuck in his throat and couldn't come out!

Because at this moment, he saw with his own eyes, just outside the city wall, the sky separated by that single wall!

No dark clouds.

No heavy snow!

Only a clear sky!

Clang!

The purple clay teapot in his hand fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

He stood there as if struck by lightning, frozen on the spot, his head buzzing.

"Destined... Destined City Lord?"

As the president of the Chamber of Commerce, he knew better than ordinary people what this meant.

Destined City Lord, as the name implies, is favored by destiny!

To go against a Destined City Lord... could there be a good ending?

In an instant, fear surged into his heart like a tide.

"Master... are we... are we still going to fight him?" General Zhang Tie asked cautiously.

Minister Wang Fugui's face was pale, his eyes shifting uncertainly.

Regret?

Of course he regretted it!

If he had known earlier that Zhou Yun was a Destined City Lord, he wouldn't have been fast enough to lick his shoes, let alone propose a 1-9 split of the accounts!

But...

The grudge had already been formed; if he went to beg for mercy now, would Zhou Yun let him go?

Thinking of his hard-earned assets, a trace of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes.

There is no turning back once the arrow is shot!

"Fight! Why not fight?!"

He gritted his teeth, as if to embolden himself.

"Building a city isn't just about having good weather! That is a bottomless pit!"

"I don't believe he can actually build it!"

"Go scout again and report back! I want to watch his building collapse!"

Unknowingly, the time reached five in the afternoon.

At this time of day, the afterglow of the setting sun should have covered the earth, but under the effect of the "Blazing Sun" edict, the area outside the West Gate was still as bright as day and as warm as spring.

Beside the temporarily built stove, the women led by Li Erniang had already cooked the second meal of Spiritual Qi rice, and the alluring aroma permeated the air once again.

"Everyone stop for a moment! Time to eat!" A City Guard with a loud voice shouted while hitting a gong.

"Come quickly, come quickly! After eating, you can collect your wages!"

Upon hearing "Time to eat," everyone quickly gathered around.

Having been busy for so long, their stomachs were indeed a bit empty.

But after the first people to eat finished, they didn't go to collect their wages; instead, they turned around and walked towards the construction site.

"Hey, hey, hey!" The aunties responsible for distributing the Spiritual Qi rice stopped them. "You haven't collected your wages yet!"

The man who was stopped first smiled foolishly. "Wages? What wages?"

The auntie felt inexplicable. "Have you worked yourself silly? The City Lord said so himself! One tael of Spiritual Qi rice in wages per day!"

"Oh! There is that!" The man rubbed his head. "But a day hasn't passed yet, how can we collect it?"

As he spoke, he pointed to the clear sky above his head. "Look, the sky hasn't even turned dark yet!"

"This..." The aunties were dumbfounded.

Can it be calculated like that?

Once this was said, the surrounding people responded one after another.

"That's right, that's right! The sky is still bright!"

"Although we are poor, we can't take advantage of the City Lord!"

"A promise is a promise! If it was said that we collect wages after finishing a day's work, then we must finish the day!"

"That's right! It hasn't reached night yet!"

"Brothers! After eating, grab your tools! Let's keep going!"

...

The aunties were amused by this twisted logic.

"Cut it out!"

"I know you want to do more work, but you can't make things difficult for us because of this, right?"

"We are responsible for distributing the Spiritual Qi rice; you have to let us complete our task, right?"

But no matter how they tried to persuade them, this group of men just wouldn't listen, just wouldn't accept their wages, and insisted on returning to the construction site.

The aunties were helpless and could only report the situation truthfully to Wan'er.

And Wan'er told Zhou Yun everything one by one.

After listening, Zhou Yun felt a warm current surge in his heart, while his nose felt a little sore.

These are the lowest-level commoners.

If you give them a little bit of good, they would love to give you their lives!

What are they after?

Isn't it just the four words: living and working in peace and contentment?

At this moment, Tie Shan walked over.

"City Lord," he requested. "This is everyone's sincerity. Please grant their wish!"

"Everyone is holding back a surge of energy in their hearts now, wanting to repay your kindness. If you force them to stop working, they will feel uncomfortable instead."

"Alright!" Zhou Yun compromised. "Since everyone is willing to work, then keep working!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Tie Shan turned around and shouted: "City Lord's order! Everyone continue working! No need to stop working!"

"Alright!!" Everyone erupted in cheers, as if being allowed to continue working was some kind of great reward.

Just at this moment, a System notification sound for a quality improvement reward suddenly rang in Zhou Yun's mind.

[Ding! You successfully gifted Spiritual Qi rice * 1 tael, triggering a 100,000,000x critical hit reward, obtaining quality improvement reward Red Flame Golden-Maned Pig meat * 10 jin!]

[Red Flame Golden-Maned Pig meat (Gold Rank): Taken from the Gold Rank Demonic Beast Red Flame Golden-Maned Pig, rich in a large amount of Spiritual Qi!]

Gold Rank Demonic Beast meat?!

Zhou Yun's heart jumped.

In this world, the Ranks of Demonic Beasts from low to high are divided into Black Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond...

Spiritual Qi rice, classified by Rank, is considered Silver Rank.

The Spiritual Qi contained in the Spiritual Qi rice was already quite considerable.

The effect of eating Gold Rank Demonic Beast meat can be imagined!

His eyes lit up, and he immediately ordered: "Since everyone is still working overtime, I cannot treat everyone poorly!"

"Eating just Spiritual Qi rice is too plain! Let's have an extra meal! Eat meat!!"

The newly acquired Red Flame Golden-Maned Pig meat was quickly distributed by him.

Swish!

Pieces of meat, cut well and with textures as exquisite as marble, fell into the big pots.

Under Li Erniang's cooking, an unprecedentedly rich meaty aroma swept across the whole scene like a storm!

"Gulp!"

The aroma of the Gold Rank Demonic Beast meat was unusually overpowering. Just by smelling it once, it made people feel their pores relaxing all over their bodies.

Everyone didn't think too much, just assuming that they hadn't eaten meat for too long, which was why they were unusually sensitive.

[Ding! You successfully gifted Red Flame Golden-Maned Pig meat * 1 jin, triggering a 100x critical hit reward, obtaining quality improvement reward Red Flame Golden-Maned Pig meat * 100 jin!]

[Ding! You successfully gifted Red Flame Golden-Maned Pig meat * 1 jin, triggering a 100x critical hit reward, obtaining quality improvement reward Red Flame Golden-Maned Pig meat * 100 jin!]

[Ding! You successfully gifted Red Flame Golden-Maned Pig meat * 1 jin, triggering a 1,000x critical hit reward, obtaining quality improvement reward Red Flame Golden-Maned Pig meat * 1000 jin!]

...

Pot after pot of Red Flame Golden-Maned Pig meat was distributed into everyone's bowls, and subsequently sent into their mouths.

The meat melted in the mouth, turning into rolling hot currents that rushed straight to the stomach, and then dispersed into the limbs and bones!

Soon, something wrong happened!

"Crack!"

A crisp sound.

A young man who was eating was stunned; he looked at the wooden chopsticks broken into two pieces in his hand, with a bewildered face.

"I... I just squeezed it lightly..."

"Bang!"

On the other side, a person finished eating the meat and wanted to stand up to get more rice, but as a result, he kicked off with his feet, and his whole body shot out like a cannonball, directly knocking three or four people queuing in front flying!

"??? Why did I run so fast?"

There were others who kept rubbing their eyes, as if they had seen a ghost. "Why are my eyes suddenly a bit off?! How can I see things so far away clearly?"

...

Exclamations rose and fell one after another.

The Spiritual Qi contained in the Gold Rank Demonic Beast meat was truly too vast!

Especially with Zhou Yun's unlimited supply, it allowed people to ingest a large amount of concentrated Spiritual Qi in a very short time!

And so...

Hum—!

In the crowd, a burly man suddenly lit up with an earthy yellow light!

"Earthy yellow Battle Qi!" Lei Lie sensed the movement and immediately looked over there. "Awakened? He awakened into a Warrior?!"

Before Lei Lie could close his jaw.

Hum!

Another green light rose not far away!

"Green Battle Qi! Another Archer awakened?!"

Hum! Hum! Hum!

Successive lights rose in the crowd like bamboo shoots after rain!

Gold, red, blue, green...

Lights of various colors intertwined, illuminating the open space outside the West Gate as if it were a dream!