Capítulo 134: Chapter 134: Reinforcement Formation

When Lin Xiao suddenly brought up the idea of recruitment standards, the three disciples were momentarily stunned.

Seeing their blank expressions, Lin Xiao turned to Liu Yunan and said, "Yunan, could you gather everyone's thoughts on this over the next few days?"

Liu Yunan quickly nodded. "Sure, I'll ask around."

At that moment, Jiang Youfu sighed after swallowing the last of his roasted beans. "I wonder how tough the corvée labor will be this time. Sigh, every time my father returned from conscription, he'd be a lot thinner. And that was just working around our village. This time, with the added burden of repairing the distant dam by the river, it's going to be even worse. My father told me that when my grandfather went to work on a similar dam project over a decade ago, he returned skin and bones. Several villagers who went with him never came back; they fell into the river, and their bodies were never found."

Mo Yuanjiao was shocked. "Is it really that dangerous just to repair a dam?"

Liu Yunan nodded. "It is. My mother mentioned that ordinary conscription duties are one thing, but for major tasks like this, many laborers don't make it back. She also told me about a time when our country went to war with a neighboring nation. The frontlines were running out of supplies, so the government conscripted people to deliver grain. They treated the laborers like beasts of burden, and by the time they reached their destination, the dead lined the road."

Mo Yuanjiao fell into a rare silence. He happened to know about the incident Liu Yunan mentioned—his father's army had been saved by that very supply run.

Lin Xiao also fell silent, pondering the stories shared by his disciples. Jiang Youfu and Liu Yunan, unaware of the weight their words carried, continued to sigh and chat amongst themselves.

Afterward, Mo Yuanjiao took the "Basic Tool Crafting Techniques" manual and sat in a corner with Jiang Youfu and Liu Yunan, engrossed in their studies.

Lin Xiao, however, left the crafting hall. Outside, the rain, which had briefly lessened, had picked up again. He stood quietly in the rain, looking up at the sky, lost in thought.

Lately, he had been feeling a growing sense of unease. The rain, once something that would make him feel cold and uncomfortable, now barely registered. Even without using his spiritual energy to shield himself, he felt perfectly fine—almost refreshed by it. The downpour that could cause illness in ordinary people or flood their fields was nothing to him now.

After standing in the rain for a long time, Lin Xiao suddenly turned and headed to the formation hall. If he believed that the dam was likely to breach, shouldn't he do something about it?

At first, he had only considered how to protect himself and the people around him in the event of a disaster. But after hearing Jiang Youfu and Liu Yunan's stories, he realized that as a cultivator, he had the power to do more than just protect his immediate circle.

He remembered a saying that had deeply resonated with him in his previous life: "When one is poor, they should care for themselves; when one is prosperous, they should care for the world."

Although he was far from "prosperous" in the world of cultivation, the thought of ordinary people facing the peril of repairing a massive dam on the ancient Moon River, risking their lives as the floodwaters threatened to sweep them away, made him feel that he needed to do more. He had to do whatever he could, no matter how small, to make a difference.

He felt that his cultivation, his ability to grow stronger, was a gift from the world—a responsibility. And even though he was now on the path of immortality, he still saw himself as one of the people, bound by a sense of duty to help them.

With this realization, Lin Xiao recalled reading about a reinforcement formation in the "Basic Formation Carving Techniques" manual. He hadn't paid much attention to it at the time, but now it seemed that this formation could be of great use.

Flipping through the manual, he found the entry for the reinforcement formation. There were three levels: small, medium, and large, each with varying degrees of complexity.

Since the task was to reinforce a large dam, Lin Xiao chose the large-scale reinforcement formation and carefully memorized the intricate diagram. He then went to the Kunpeng Formation Plate, infused it with spiritual energy, and began the meticulous task of carving the formation.

Unlike the "Small Cooling Formation" he had practiced earlier, the large-scale reinforcement formation was much more complex and required significantly more spiritual energy to carve. By the time Lin Xiao had depleted nearly all his spiritual energy, he had managed to produce fifty large reinforcement formations.

After storing the formations in his personal storage, Lin Xiao hurried to the cultivation chamber to meditate and restore his energy.

Once his spiritual energy was replenished, he immediately set out for the Moon River Dam. Although he didn't know the exact location, upon reaching the county town, he saw groups of conscripted laborers being led by government officials toward the dam. All he had to do was follow the long procession to reach the site.

When Lin Xiao finally arrived at the dam, he was awestruck by the sight before him.

The mighty Moon River was spanned by an enormous dam, with water cascading from its openings in a misty torrent that veiled the river in a blanket of mist. The thick fog that enveloped the river made it impossible to see the other side, even for Lin Xiao.

The dam loomed over the river like a colossus, and Lin Xiao felt insignificant in comparison. Yet, despite its grandeur, countless tiny figures were scrambling across its surface, desperately trying to repair the structure.

Some workers were suspended in midair by ropes, using tools to make repairs. On the riverbank below, shirtless men carried heavy sacks of materials up to the dam, their figures like ants against the massive structure.

It was now dusk, and the setting sun cast a magnificent glow behind the dam, painting the sky with vibrant hues. The mist from the river mingled with the sunset, creating a scene of breathtaking beauty—a poignant reminder of humanity's struggle against the forces of nature.