Ashlock was neither delusional nor naive. He understood that Ashfallen City would be a glorified refugee camp of mud huts, likely riddled with crime and misery. The time crunch to build a city within a day was also not helping matters.

"Sadly, there is not much I can do about the time limit." Ashlock had flown over the White Stone Pavilion's square with {Eye of the Tree God} and seen the state of matters there. Even with the Redclaws bathing the area in fire Qi to warm the air and the mortals of this world being more resilient than those on Earth, it was still early winter, and they were thousands of meters up on a mountain.

It wasn't a place for mortals to camp out in the open, so getting a place built down on land within a day was so Douglas could have his full time in the Mystic Realm and hopefully avoid any deaths among the mortals due to the environment they were subjected to.

Ashlock had made a portal in the citadel moments earlier, and Mudcloaks were still streaming through the rift and sprawling out into the flat plot of land near the old Ravenborne mine to the north.

"Okay, Douglas, until sunrise tomorrow, I need you and the Mudcloaks to make the most basic stone houses you can for a hundred thousand mortals," Ashlock spoke into the man's mind as he surveyed the dreary and empty space, "Do you think that is possible?"

"Mhm, how basic are we talking?" Douglas asked, "And do you want them above or below ground?"

"A stone box with four walls and space for a door should be good enough, and what do you mean above or below ground? Does it make a difference for you?"

Douglas nodded, "Aye, it does. The stone has to come from somewhere. So if I make a building above ground, I have to pull stone from below, but I can't leave a dead area underground, so I have to fill the hole with even more stone."

"I see," Ashlock pondered for a moment, "What about a single story above ground and then a basement? That way, each house has two rooms with a more secure basement away from the cold? Also, that way, you don't have to waste as much Qi on filling up the area below?"

"Yeah, that could work," Douglas drummed his fingers on the top of his walking stick as he continued to look around, "Best we hammer out a few more details before we start. Since there will be a city of a hundred thousand people here, the main road leading through here that connects Darklight City to the villages to the east will need to be widened greatly."

"That I can agree with. Anything else?"

"How will plumbing and sewage be handled? Mortals are rather primitive beings that have to eat and shit all the time, unlike cultivators that have no need for those things."

"Leave all of that to me." Ashlock had some ideas on making a living in this glorified refugee camp as comfortable as possible with his trees. They could handle the plumbing without any Qi input on his part, as pumping water through their roots and absorbing human waste was something they did naturally.

"Right," Douglas nodded, "I suppose all that's left for me to ask is if you want any of these houses to be in the old mine? That would save a lot of time as building into the rock is easier as you just have to hollow out the space."

"Oh, good idea," Ashlock agreed. He wasn't sure the humans would be too thrilled to live underground, but at least he could lighten the place with glowing mushrooms.

Douglas sighed as he took out his smoking pipe from his inner beige suit pocket and placed it between his lips. He then shoved a high-grade spirit stone into the end and lit it by raising his finger to its pipe's base and summoning a small light brown flame.

With the pipe still in his mouth, he muttered while counting his fingers, "Let's see... for a hundred thousand mortals, the majority will be large families of between five and ten people at least, so a single larger room would suffice for them. That means instead of making 100,000 homes, I can get away with more like 20,000. Perhaps even less." Douglas took a long puff and paused for a moment, "With twenty-four hours until sunrise tomorrow. That means the thousand Mudcloaks I have here would need to make, on average, a house an hour... Going to be a long fucking day, but doable. I can't believe I'm even saying that, but having a thousand earth cultivators does speed things up."

Douglas tapped his walking stick on the ground, and it began to tremble as a stone pillar rose under his feet. Soon, he was ten meters up in the air. Clapping his hands once, he drew the attention of a thousand Mudcloaks, who looked up at him in awe with their glowing blue eyes obscured under their tattered black cloaks.

"Listen up! The boss has ordered us to create a city"

"Boss! Boss! Boss!" They began chanting all at once.

"Silence!" Douglas shouted, and the excitement slowly died down. He then explained to them how the houses were to look and how many needed to be built. The explanation was long and detailed, and he had to repeat himself a few times as a few Mudcloaks raised their hands when he asked if anyone was confused.

"A group of you will handle the construction on either side of this road. The rest of you will make as many rooms as possible inside the mountain. There are a thousand of you, so we will finish in time as long as you make at least a house an hour." Douglas took a moment to look at the sun that was still barely cresting over the distant mountain range and took a long puff from his pipe. "The day is still young, and we have much to do. I will handle widening the road and assist where I can. Any problems, you come to me. Understood?"

There was a wave of cheer.

"You are all dismissed." Douglas announced with gusto, and the thousand Mudcloacks scurried off while chanting, "Work! Work! Work!"

Ashlock wasn't entirely convinced they would have enough homes built no matter how simple and reproducible they were by sunrise tomorrow, but they might as well try.

Douglas may only be in the 8th stage of the Soul Fire Realm, but creating thousands of simple mud huts was a breeze for a cultivator of his level compared to animating golems or hurling Qi-enhanced rocks at people.

"I better get to work, too," Ashlock took to the skies and looked on from above. The area he had picked was desolate to make construction as easy as possible, but that meant none of his offspring were here. "So long as I move and replant as many trees as possible today. I can fuse my roots with them overnight and then use {Magic Mushroom Production} and {Blooming Root Flower Production} to grow mushrooms and flowers on them to liven this place up and give the people a food source."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Ashlock's plan was relatively simple as he had already seen some success with the bland-tasting oyster mushrooms in Darklight City, which glowed a pale green in the dark like street lamps, cleaned the city's polluted air, and provided a food source to those who needed it.

So, alongside those mushrooms and other flowers, to make the place less depressing, he would pump water to every home through his roots from the nearby river, and his offspring would also absorb any human waste and convert it into nutrients.

It wasn't a perfect solution, but he was confident it was better than whatever plumbing they had used in Darklight City. Due to the acid that his offspring naturally secreted to dissolve literal monster corpses, bones included, breaking down and absorbing human waste in hours was possible.

"While the mushrooms will provide some food, the rest can be sourced from the villages to the east. Their vast farms already feed all of the Darklight City, which is magnitudes bigger than Ashfallen City." Ashlock mused, "Getting a few months of food out of them as tax to feed the people of Ashfallen City wouldn't be a problem as we have hardly been taxing them since the Redclaws replaced the Ravenbornes."

"Now, where should I get trees from? I will need around a thousand if I want one tree per twenty houses." Ashlock wondered.

Ideally, he didn't want to spend too much Qi on transporting them, and he would need Douglas's help uprooting them, so getting some from nearby would be for the best.

"Well, I won't need to get trees for the houses built into the mountain as the roots already extend down there, so I just have to worry about the houses on the surface," Ashlock pondered as he looked around at the vast scarlet forest that spread for miles up the mountain range, "If I get some with Blazing Serpent Roses already growing on them, the fire Qi they emit will heat up the air, which will help the mortals survive the winter until they can outfit their houses with actual doors and warm beds."

Ashlock started seeking out the most developed fire affinity trees that the Redclaws weren't using. "This will be a long night, even for me." Ashlock sighed. He might have to sacrifice some of his precious sleep under the nine vertical moons to finish this project by sunrise. "Actually, can't I just plant a load of seeds and have most of the trees grow over the next few weeks due to the sped-up growth during the night thanks to {Nocturnal Genesis}?"

***

Dante drummed his silver prosthetic fingers on the windowsill as the flashes of lightning illuminated a look of concern on his face. The storm raging overhead caused by Nox's ascension was reaching its zenith, and tensions were running high in the Voidmind residence.

Nox should reach the first stage of the Nascent Soul Realm by the morning as the ascension to Nascent Soul usually only takes a few days compared to the Star Core Realm which can take weeks.

Dante let out a shaky sigh. Far too much was riding on Nox's success, and far too much was stacked against her.

I can only hope the amount of spirit stones I looted from everywhere I could find will be enough.

Dante knew that to reach the Nascent Soul Realm, a cultivator would usually overload their soul with Qi, and once it was too much to handle, their soul went through a controlled supernova. If the cultivator somehow survived blowing up their own soul, they had to reform their soul and create a new infant soul out of the excess Qi within their body.

To say the survival rate of those trying to reach Nascent Soul Realm is high would be the greatest lie I have ever told. Though Nox has a slight advantage on that front since she created her infant soul ahead of time and confined it to her shadow... if only it wasn't cursed.

His wandering thoughts vanished as he heard shouts of rage echoing through the hallways of the residence behind him. Ever since the Skyrend golem disappeared through the portal, his Father had been on a rampage throughout the residence to find the reason for the missing spirit stones, which just happened to be him.

Shit, I need to keep moving. Dante had been able to avoid him thus far, but there were only so many places to hide. Pulling his cloak hood tighter, he made his way past a few weary servants and was about to turn down a side passage when he came face to face with the very man he was trying to avoid.

His Father.

The man's tall, slender stature and sunken features, which Dante had once praised as the source of his handsome looks, now seemed ghastly to him when not viewed through that tinted lens of delusion. Disgusted, he diverted his gaze to those behind him and saw two Elders dragging someone...

Is that Jasper's Father? The kind Elder who provided me with spirit stones earlier? Dante couldn't get a good look as the man's head hung low as if he were passed out from a beating, but the general features seemed to match.

"How have you been, Dante?" His Father asked as he stepped forward, blocking his view of the limp Elder behind him. "Did you enjoy robbing our spirit stone stores while I wasn't looking? Did you feel pleasure seeing your old man and uncles waste our hard-earned Qi on defending our home?"

"I don't know what you are talking about," Dante feigned ignorance as he met his Father's gaze. "What use would I have for so many spirit stones?"

"Whatever the reason, you can run but can't hide from me, Dante." His Father said coldly, "The walls have eyes, and the people inform their Master." His lips then curled into a cruel sneer, "Well, all except this one. Bastard feigned ignorance of your stealing to the bitter end, so he will join you."

"Join me?" Dante slowly began to back up, "Where?"

"You don't have to concern yourself with such things."

His Father blurred toward him, and Dante felt a sudden force on his throat that made his vision blur and fade out.

"I just need you to sit tight till your inevitable death and stop causing me problems..."

***

Ugh my head.

Dante blinked away the grogginess. He tried to reach up and nurse the pain around his neck but found his limbs were restrained. Snapping his eyes open, all that greeted him was an endless void.

"You're awake." A voice Dante recognized all too well came from the left.

Tilting his head, he saw Jasper restrained to a silver chair floating in the void with clasps around his ankles, wrists, and neck.

"Jasper, what are you doing here?" Dante asked in confusion. Actually, a better question would be, where is here? His memory was foggy and slowly coming back to him.

"Same reason as you and my old man," Jasper sighed as he looked back at the void sky, "Your Father apparently didn't appreciate being stolen from, so he has locked us up in a void chamber."

"Your old man?" Dante looked to the right, and sure enough, the Elder who had given him the most spirit stones and promised to keep his mouth shut was restrained in a similar contraption. The Elder looked roughed up, with his robes being partially torn and blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"Is he going to be okay?" Dante asked with concern as he turned back to look at Jasper. He felt terrible for dragging the old man into this mess, but what was he supposed to do? Nox needed spirit stones to complete her ascension, and the Elder was the only one who promised to keep his mouth shut. So Dante returned multiple times to get as many stones as possible.

"Okay? Ha, no." Jasper's tone was dull and lifeless, "My old man and I are only still breathing so the Grand Elder can torture us for information before slitting our throats," Jasper tilted his head against the neck restraint and had a look of despair in his gaze as he looked at Dante, "I don't want to die Dante. I really don't. But no matter what happens, don't tell him the truth about her. She is our only hope for revenge."

Judging by Jasper's being vague about Nox, someone was likely listening to their conversation.

"I promise," Dante nodded despite the cold silver restraint digging into his neck, "But why go so far? I was the one who dragged you into this mess."

Jasper laughed. It was a mixture of madness and despair, "Why indeed! That is the question I am asking myself at this very moment, but now, much like yourself, my death is sealed. Mine just happens to be more imminent and with the promise of pain to send me off to the afterlife."

"Don't be so sure," Dante replied, trying to keep it vague, "So long as she prevails, our deaths may not be assured."

"Tsk," Japser clicked his tongue, "You and I both know that's a long shot."

Assuming the storm concludes tonight. That means Nox will have reached Nascent Soul Realm. After that, she would need a few days to consolidate her cultivation base enough to fight.

Dante gritted his teeth. He refused to die such a miserable death.

There's still a chance we can escape, and I can begin my new life in the Tainted Cloud Sect. Come on, Nox, don't let me down now.