122: Chapter 122 Move the sea to the land

Gazing at the Cold Sea before him, where the heat was gradually being quelled by the chill, Lu Hu already had a plan in mind.

Though he was a Heavenly Immortal with an Everlasting Body of Creation, and could dry this frigid sea by his own power alone, it would take several decades at the very least.

Lu Hu didn't want to perform such a long, boring, and tedious task. Besides, he had a better choice, so why suffer through it?

The Xuan Kingdom could help him resolve this matter.

With Emperor Xuan's support, Li Jiao had managed the Xuan Kingdom in an orderly fashion, sending the living standards of its people skyrocketing like a rocket while simultaneously pushing for various developments.

The current Xuan Kingdom was already a major asset that Lu Hu could not overlook!

The difference in world backgrounds had allowed Li Jiao to become even wilder when it came to manufacturing machinery.

The Continent of Desolation had martial artists and spirit beasts; their bodies were powerful, their senses keen, and their physical fitness far surpassed that of ordinary people. Standard mundane machinery simply couldn't meet their needs.

Li Jiao discarded the safety constraints set due to human fragility, squeezing the performance of mechanical tools to their absolute limits.

The buckets of excavators could split mountains and shatter rocks, the load capacity of trucks could carry mountains and peaks, and the speed of flying contraptions could chase clouds and pursue the moon. Under the control of martial artists, racing at a thousand yards felt like walking on level ground, and million-pound weights were transported with a flick of a hand. And in the Xuan Kingdom, such martial artists were numbered in the hundreds of millions.

With such a vast labor force and the machinery Li Jiao produced, the Xuan Kingdom's production and construction capabilities had long since surpassed all of history.

Drying the Cold Sea was no longer a difficult task.

With this thought, Lu Hu immediately sent a sound transmission flying toward the Xuan Kingdom.

...

Xuan Kingdom, Xuandu City.

Li Jiao, who finally had a break from his heavy workload, couldn't stay idle. He decided to conduct a private inspection to see if there were any flaws left in the Xuan Kingdom under his management.

He was currently inspecting a newly opened tavern called the House of Wondrous Sounds.

Leaning back in the embrace of a beauty, listening to light tunes and sipping wine, Li Jiao narrowed his eyes.

This is too decadent. With things so comfortable, how can he keep striving?

Criticism! This must be criticized!

He'd raid this tavern later and take the staff back to his manor for proper education.

Li Jiao thought to himself deviously. Suddenly, he sat up from the beauty's embrace, his gaze sharpening.

'Dry up the Cold Sea!'

Li Jiao's eyelids twitched wildly. With the world now unified under Xuan, he knew exactly how large the Cold Sea was. In his previous life, all the oceans on the 'Little Broken Ball' combined weren't as large as the Cold Sea. As for its depth, it was currently unknown, but it certainly wasn't shallow.

And now, he was supposed to dry up the entire Cold Sea!

This is truly... exciting!

Li Jiao's heart raced; his whole being grew excited.

He loved this kind of challenge.

"Great King, give me one day."

Li Jiao stood up, not even glancing at the beauty before him as he hurried back.

Returning home, Li Jiao dove into his study. The next day, he attended the morning court with bloodshot eyes.

"The entire nation is to come to a halt. All mechanical factories, mineral veins, and transport teams are to pivot immediately. Initiate the 'Draining the Sea and Moving the Land' project!"

Li Jiao excitedly announced his plan.

Many officials were still in a daze, unable to understand what had gotten into the mind of this Prime Minister, who was young yet had single-handedly built the current prosperous Xuan Kingdom.

Only when they heard Li Jiao say it was the request of that Tiger Immortal from Tianduan Mountain did everyone drop their objections.

That evening, the plan to 'Draining the Sea and Moving the Land' spread to every inch of the Xuan Kingdom's territory. Trillions of citizens moved upon hearing the news. From white-haired elders to young children, all were incorporated into the construction army. Every cultivator, spirit beast, and hidden Grandmaster in the world was requisitioned. They used their dharmic power to drive machinery and their physical bodies to transport materials. The entire nation rushed toward the Cold Sea.

Three days later, Li Jiao invited the Immortal Lord of the Demon Race Orthodoxy, Daoist Jiuyao, to personally emerge from seclusion. Using supreme dharmic power, he opened a high-speed ice path deep within the Cold Sea. Protected by runes, it walled off the chill that could freeze a Master to death, ensuring the safety of the citizens who first entered the Cold Sea.

Li Jiao personally led a team to survey the terrain and analyze the situation.

In less than half a month, the 'Draining the Sea and Moving the Land' project officially broke ground.

A grand project unprecedented in history, destined to be remembered and to shock the world, had its plan formulated and work begun in such a simple and hurried manner.

The Xuan Kingdom's steel torrent roared into action.

Tens of thousands of giant water-pumping machines were disassembled into parts. Martial artists and cultivators took turns powering them, transporting them day and night along the high-speed path to the Cold Sea. Hundred-zhang-tall mountain-cleaving excavators were carried into the air by flying spirit beasts, blotting out the sky, and dropped into designated positions on the seabed. Millions of heavy-duty trucks, converted into water tankers, shook heaven and earth with the sound of their wheels crushing the ground.

Li Jiao remained at the Cold Sea frontline, setting up a command center. Countless reports converged from all directions, and Li Jiao handled them with composure. No emergency could rattle him. Tens of millions of people were like his own fingers, each performing their duties in an orderly fashion.

As for how to make the water of the Cold Sea disappear, Li Jiao took a leaf out of Emperor Yu's book, using a diversion strategy to let the Cold Sea's water flow elsewhere.

Hundreds of millions of martial artists worked together to dig out artificial riverbeds, connecting the Cold Sea with all the major rivers, desert basins, and dried-up wetlands of the Continent of Desolation.

The giant water-pumping machines started up simultaneously. Tens of thousands of water columns shot into the sky, surging through the artificial riverbeds. The water of the Cold Sea was continuously drained and sent to arid lands across the world—deserts were transformed into oases, dried wetlands regained their vitality, and barren lands became vast stretches of fertile fields. Countless lands became prosperous due to the benefits of this grand project.

Lu Hu occasionally appeared in the sky above the Cold Sea. Watching the bustling scene below, he nodded slightly, feeling quite moved by this grand spectacle.

He basically didn't intervene during the entire process, and the same was true for the Dragon Kun and Rongxiao.

Witnessing the Xuan Kingdom's terrifying mobilization capability, their minds were boggled. Even now, they couldn't understand why these little bugs could achieve something even they couldn't.

...