As a large number of fire-attribute spiritual seeds were sown by the disaster victims, and Ding Yun used the Spring Rain Technique to accelerate their growth, everyone, even ordinary mortals, could clearly perceive that as the plants took root and sprouted in the fields, the ambient temperature was rapidly decreasing.
The previously dry and hot sensation.
Was now subtly moistened by the presence of water vapor.
All this indicated the gradual disappearance of the drought demon's scorching aura and the restoration of the land environment.
When the fire-attribute spiritual seeds, nurtured by Ding Yun's accelerated growth, bloomed and bore fruit, entering their maturity, the barren land, previously so dry that nothing could grow, saw countless plants reawaken, sprout, and thrive.
This was, after all, the outermost fringe of the barren land. Though it appeared devoid of life on the surface, most plants had merely died, not lost their vitality.
With the scorching aura gone and nourished by spiritual energy.
It was natural for them to sprout anew.
Witnessing such a miracle, the last vestiges of hesitation and worry in the hearts of the disaster victims vanished completely.
All that remained was their joy and exultation.
What followed was the excited busyness of harvesting and dividing the grain according to the pre-arranged three-seven split.
However, before distributing the grain, Ding Yun specifically summoned the Liu family members and those responsible for distribution:
"Don't rush to distribute this batch of grain.
It's not that I'm breaking my promise, but these were fire-attribute spiritual seeds, and they grew by absorbing the relatively volatile fire-attribute spiritual energy emanated by the drought demon.
Even cultivators without a fire spiritual root would find them uncomfortable to consume, let alone ordinary mortals. For them, it could lead to excessive internal fire, making them irritable and prone to anger, or in severe cases, spontaneous combustion.
So, explain this to everyone later.
And give them two choices.
One is that these fire-attribute spiritual rice and spiritual wheat will not be distributed to them. Instead, they will receive the ordinary spiritual rice previously planted, which has no special elemental affinity.
The quantity can be increased by about ten percent.
The second option is to teach them a martial art manual I personally adapted and wrote, the 'Fire Element Cycle Body Cultivation Technique.' This is a martial art based on fire-attribute spiritual items, starting with strengthening the heart and following the path of internal organ circulation through the five elements.
Even consuming only fire-attribute spiritual rice and spiritual grains, they can build up their internal organs in a relatively short period through the five-element cycle, rapidly becoming innate martial artists.
The drawback is that before the five-element cycle is established, they may experience excessive internal fire. Well, I'll also teach them the 'Old Lord's Constant Words of Purity and Tranquility.' Reciting this daily can suppress excessive internal fire to a certain extent.
So, here are these two manuals. Memorize them quickly so you can teach them later."
Since the fire-attribute grains planted this time carried certain risks, Ding Yun naturally could not ignore them. Therefore, she had thoughtfully devised a complete plan, and only after imparting the countermeasures did she allow them to distribute the grain.
As for how the disaster victims would choose, the vast majority naturally opted for the latter. After all, when one dared not even dream of immortality, who wouldn't want to cultivate martial arts?
As for the issues of excessive internal fire and the need for chanting scriptures,
Solutions had already been devised for them.
The only remaining issue was that most people were illiterate, requiring temporary literacy classes. Fortunately, Ding Yun did not expect them to plant and harvest non-stop from dawn till dusk, so they could still squeeze in some time for learning. With the continuous arrival of more disaster victims, there would be no shortage of time for learning.
Within just three days, the first batch of those who were already literate had learned the corresponding martial arts and begun cultivating.
More than half a month later, those with quick minds, despite not learning many characters, had already mastered the 'Fire Element Cycle Body Cultivation Technique' and could recite the 'Purity and Tranquility Sutra.'
By the time three months had passed,
As long as one was not foolish or mentally impaired, they had basically learned the cultivation technique through rote memorization.
Furthermore, the outermost area of the barren land.
Excluding the territories of other nations.
Under the combined efforts of Ding Yun and over a hundred million disaster victims, it had completely returned to its original state. Many disaster victims had already built new houses on the restored land, cultivated fields, and planted crops and ordinary high-quality seeds that did not require Ding Yun's acceleration.
In short, they were living normal lives on normal land. Ding Yun would no longer assist them in accelerating crop growth. Everything that followed would depend on them, on their self-reliance.
As for the corresponding order and governance.
These were being rapidly established. For now, a rough set of rules could be established, and everyone could be registered, land measured, and taxes collected.
Industrial production and commercial economic activities.
These would have to be gradually restored.
Ding Yun had laid out a broad framework for this, leaving the details to the capable members of the Liu family to manage. Her primary focus remained on continuing to eliminate the barren land.
The outermost barren land was merely the easiest to resolve and restore. The deeper one went, the more troublesome and difficult it became. Roughly divided into four zones centered around the Rising Sun Sect: the core zone, sub-core zone, outer zone, and peri-outer zone.
Currently, Ding Yun had only dealt with the peri-outer zone.
In the peri-outer zone, ordinary mortals could still farm. Although it was somewhat hot, with proper protection, they wouldn't die from the heat. However, upon reaching the truly outer zone, it was no longer an area accessible to ordinary mortals. This was because the lowest nighttime temperature in the outer zone was forty degrees Celsius, and the highest could even approach one hundred degrees Celsius.
Mortals entering would die from heat in minutes.
At this point, those who had cultivated the body-cultivation technique taught by Ding Yun and achieved some level of proficiency would become useful. Their cultivation technique could help them survive in the outer zone, and the scorching temperatures could even promote their cultivation.
This was precisely why Ding Yun had been so generous.
The main reason for teaching the disaster victims cultivation techniques.
Without cultivating personnel who could enter the outer zone for farming, she couldn't expect the Liu family's cultivators to do the farming, nor could she handle all the land reclamation, sowing, and harvesting herself.
The cultivators under her were already struggling to manage the disaster victims, and they also had to maintain order and plan the establishment of a nation. They had no energy for farming.
Cultivating farming talents.
Was much simpler than cultivating management talents.
Ding Yun, lacking an earth spiritual root, found land reclamation and farming using spells to be somewhat inefficient. If she were to handle all planting and harvesting herself, the overall efficiency would drop by at least half, making it a losing proposition.
Therefore, cultivating specialized farming talents who could withstand the temperatures of the outer zone, or even the sub-core zone, was absolutely necessary. And Ding Yun had made good preparations in this regard.
Not long after the peri-outer zone was restored, she already had sufficient personnel who could tolerate the temperatures of the outer zone to assist her with land reclamation, planting, and harvesting.
Thus, her plans were proceeding in an orderly fashion.
Concurrently, both the Da Qian imperial court and various sects and aristocratic families turned their attention to the barren land where Ding Yun was located, harboring their own schemes.
Compared to the sects and aristocratic families, who were primarily enticed by the spiritual seed varieties Ding Yun had produced, the Da Qian imperial court was undoubtedly more greedy. They coveted both Ding Yun's spiritual seeds and the restored land and population.
To this end, they each made their moves.
The sects and aristocratic families mainly dispatched personnel to openly purchase the spiritual seeds that the common people found impossible to replant, intending to try growing them.
That's right, the spiritual seeds they bought, thinking they could replant them, were actually incapable of bearing fruit.
Since Ding Yun dared to plant various spiritual seeds on a large scale.
How could she not have made preparations?
All the seeds distributed to the common people were sterilized. They could only be planted once. The second planting would sprout and grow, but would not flower or bear seeds. They would grow in size but not produce fruit, being suitable only as feed.
To dream of eating the fruit was out of the question!
The seeds that could be planted normally were personally sown and harvested by Ding Yun in the Liu family's fields.
Not even the Liu family members could access them.
Let alone others.
However, those sects and aristocratic families were unaware of this. They even thought Ding Yun was a bit foolish, not keeping such excellent spiritual seeds for herself and casually distributing them to ordinary mortals.
They saw it as an opportunity to obtain seeds.
Truly a prodigal son.
This was the action taken by the sects and aristocratic families regarding Ding Yun. The Da Qian imperial court, besides learning from them and managing to obtain many spiritual rice and spiritual wheat seeds, was also continuously dispatching personnel to infiltrate Ding Yun's side.
They aimed to understand the Liu family's intentions and to constantly monitor the progress of the barren land's restoration.
When the Da Qian royal family learned that Ding Yun had completely restored the peri-outer zone of the barren land, they had considered whether to eliminate the Liu family. After all, the peri-outer zone alone occupied more than half of the barren land.
With such a vast area restored to normal, it was enough to support over a hundred million disaster victims. The Liu family was irrelevant. Reclaiming this land would also help compensate for the previous loss of imperial fortune.
When half of the nation became barren land, the royal family's fortune had suffered greatly.
Later, when the barren land was enfeoffed to Ding Yun.
Their fortune suffered further.
If not for the expectation that Ding Yun could restore the barren land and their ability to easily eliminate the Liu family, they wouldn't have agreed to give the barren land to Ding Yun.
Now, seeing half of the barren land restored to normal.
How could the Da Qian royal family not be tempted?
However, they were even more enticed by the fact that the Liu family was continuing to restore the more severely barren areas. Since they were already prepared to reap the rewards, why the rush?
It was precisely with this thought.
That they suppressed their inner impulses.
And decided to wait a little longer. It wouldn't be too late to act after the Liu family had restored more barren land and become completely useless.