Fairy, Please Forgive Me, I Never Meant to Impersonate Your Husband
Chapter 43 - Agreement and Seizing the Chance to Train

Chapter 43: Agreement and Seizing the Chance to Train

In response to Wu Yuan’s inquiry, Zhuge Liu did not hide the truth and nodded.

“I dare not deceive you, sir. Only Miss Feng is from Huifeng Town. This old man comes from Yeguang Baisha Town, near Huifeng. I was once a small mine owner with modest assets but was framed, stripped of my residency, and enslaved. My family was destroyed.”

When speaking of his tragic past, he showed little emotion—whether he buried his hatred deep or had long grown numb was unclear.

“I am from Huifeng Town, but not a registered resident of the town itself. I belonged to one of its subordinate villages. A year ago, my village was overrun by desperate bandits. I was captured and sold into slavery.”

Feng Xunyu clenched her teeth as she spoke, clearly still harboring resentment over what had happened. Unlike Zhuge Liu’s calm demeanor, the young woman’s emotions were still raw.

“So, you’re both familiar with the areas around Huifeng Town?” Wu Yuan said.

He was beginning to think Chen Yong’s recommendation was reliable. If these two were willing to work for him sincerely, recruiting refugees from Huifeng shouldn’t be difficult.

Though puzzled by Wu Yuan’s question, Zhuge Liu and Feng Xunyu quickly nodded.

Zhuge Liu shrewdly asked, “Does the sir have a task for us?”

“Exactly.” Wu Yuan smiled. “Consider this the price for joining my wooden fort. I need to recruit a large number of people with identification tokens. I’ve heard Huifeng Town has many refugees, and I want to bring in a group.”

“But Huifeng Town is half-ruined. The Ninth-Rank Highway Office there has long ceased functioning. Even if we recruit refugees, bringing them here will be difficult,” Feng Xunyu said.

“That’s not a problem. I’ve already arranged it. The only thing missing is someone to lead the operation. I think you two are perfect for the job. What do you say?”

“If the travel issue is resolved, recruiting isn’t a hardship. This old man accepts. I only hope the sir’s plan is thorough so the refugees suffer as little as possible,” Zhuge Liu said.

“Hahaha…” Wu Yuan couldn’t help but laugh. “Seems you still don’t trust me. Fine, I’ll explain the entire plan.”

“We’re at Hongye Cliff. A hundred and twenty miles from the cliff exit is the Ninth-Rank Highway that leads straight to Huifeng Town. This highway stretches ten thousand miles from Qingqiao Town to the northwest, gradually turning due north when it meets the mountain range extending from Hongye Cliff. Another twenty-three thousand miles north, and you reach Huifeng Town.”

“Bandits run rampant in Huifeng, but they dare not approach the highway. That’s why I specially purchased a batch of self-made, unnamed travel passes from Qingqiao Town. Once we gather the refugees and take them onto the highway, they can travel at thirty percent of the normal highway speed—three thousand miles a day. In just eight days, they’ll reach the vicinity of Hongye Cliff.”

“Travel passes can be self-made?” Feng Xunyu was stunned.

“This old man has heard rumors of such things, but never thought they truly existed. The Highway Office must be desperate for money,” Zhuge Liu said, shaking his head.

“Do you think my plan is feasible?” Wu Yuan asked with a smile.

“We will follow your orders, sir,” Zhuge Liu and Feng Xunyu said in unison, bowing.

After receiving their task, they quickly went to discuss arrangements with Cai Yu and Chen Yong.

The final plan was to assemble a refugee-recruitment team, including twenty well-trained armed couriers, two of whom had reached the early Skin-Shedding Realm.

Perhaps to avoid arousing Wu Yuan’s suspicion, Zhuge Liu and Feng Xunyu did not take any of their former subordinates from the wooden fort. Instead, they received a small amount of weapons, supplies, and money from Cai Yu, packed their bags, and set off with three thousand self-made travel passes.

Wu Yuan did a quick calculation. The round trip to Huifeng Town, plus the time needed to recruit refugees, would take at least twenty days. If delays occurred, they might not return even by the time he logged off and back in ten days later.

After seeing them off, Wu Yuan turned his attention to developing the Haichen Valley territory.

He issued several orders, commanding a shipment of basic resources to be delivered to Yingmeng Cave—including 30,000 catties of grain, 200 units of high-quality ordinary wood, 50 units of high-quality ordinary stone, along with tents and a batch of production tools.

These resources were now trivial for the courier station to provide, especially ordinary wood and stone, which had only been gathered in bulk during the construction of the wooden fort. Normally, they weren’t even worth noticing.

Though reserves weren’t abundant, meeting the requested quantity posed no issue.

All the resources were piled near the entrance of Yingmeng Cave, alongside twenty yellow rhinoceros carts.

Cai Xiaohu organized laborers to transport everything to the vicinity of the Blue Passage entrance.

Since Liu Yan had already sent 150 male slaves and 300 female slaves into Yingmeng Cave, moving the resources again was no trouble.

Half a day later, Wu Yuan led twenty fully loaded yellow rhinoceros carts, 150 specially selected slaves, and fifteen couriers headed by Cai Xiaohu into the Blue Passage.

Fortunately, both the excavated ten-zhang tunnel and the Blue Passage had diameters exceeding ten meters, allowing the carts to pass through smoothly.

Wu Yuan, Cai Xiaohu, and the couriers had been here before, so they weren’t overly awed.

But the 150 slaves, seeing the dreamlike scenery of the Blue Passage for the first time, barely closed their mouths the entire way.

Initially, the slaves had been somewhat fearful, worried their master was leading them into danger for some sinister purpose. But seeing the smooth journey and Wu Yuan’s lack of cruelty, they gradually relaxed. Combined with Wu Yuan’s promises before departure, they were both puzzled and hopeful.

After three hours, including one rest break, they finally reached the end of the Blue Passage. The natural barrier of Haichen Valley was now right before them—though all they could see was mist.

Following Wu Yuan’s earlier instructions, Cai Xiaohu had everyone unload the resources in front of the barrier. Then, leaving five couriers to watch the slaves, he and the others drove ten carts back.

They would make several more trips to transport all the resources.

Wu Yuan, however, would be even busier than Cai Xiaohu.

He had to personally carry every resource into Haichen Valley. Navigating the barrier required absolute precision—whether it was people, livestock, carts, lumber, or stones, everything had to be moved by him alone.

Left three-three, right nine-nine, three-three nine-nine then turn back.

The chant for traversing the barrier echoed in Wu Yuan’s mind as he carried two slaves (knocked unconscious beforehand to prevent panic) into the mist.

One round trip took an hour and a half at first, but as he made more journeys, the time rapidly decreased.

After several trips, Wu Yuan grew so familiar with the barrier’s layout that he turned the mass transport into a training exercise. Without realizing it, he began using the Manglong Youshen Jin (Coiling Dragon Body Movement Technique).

His speed increased dramatically. Even while carrying thousands of catties of stone and wood, he moved as if flying.

From ninety minutes per trip, he reduced it to sixty, then fifty, forty, and finally just twenty minutes.

The weight he carried also increased—from two thousand catties to three thousand, four thousand, eight thousand… peaking at seventeen thousand catties.

If not for some resources being bulky but light while others were heavy but scattered (making them hard to bundle), he could have pushed his load to thirty thousand catties (Unlike normal strength, load-bearing engages the entire body’s force, far exceeding ordinary exertion).

Thirty thousand catties was the maximum his current Bone-Forging Realm high-stage cultivation could handle.

As he ran, his blood energy coiled around him like a dragon, his vitality surging like smoke or a pillar. Yet his aura grew denser and more solid—the instability left by his rapid cultivation progress was steadily reinforced, becoming firmer.

After over two full days, he finally transported all the slaves and resources into Haichen Valley. By then, Cai Xiaohu had completed his task and returned to Yingmeng Cave, also becoming Wu Yuan’s messenger during his temporary “seclusion” there.