PCJ – Chapter 701 The Mayor’s Speech

That effect wasn’t achieved using chemical reagents—it was the result of Daoist techniques. The combination of Daoist arts and Qi cultivation techniques can produce many unexpected results. For cultivators capable of turning stone into gold, doing something like this is no big deal. Transmuting stone into gold is indeed possible, but it requires extremely advanced Daoist skills and consumes a great deal of energy. Naturally, no cultivator would willingly expend their power for such trivial matters. However, here at Giant Sword Peak, using Daoist techniques doesn’t consume much spiritual energy—it can quickly be replenished using spiritual spring water, and can also be supplemented with talismans.

“The main expense is actually the construction of Giant Sword Peak and these halls,” explained Kong Fangzhou, pointing at the golden palaces. “To give these buildings some defensive power and corrosion resistance, all the materials used were crafted with artifact-refining techniques. Massive amounts of mystic steel, copper essence, and secret silver were used. That golden outer layer? It’s made from refined gold. Though it’s only a thin layer, it was created from dozens of tons of gold.”

Everything sparkled with golden brilliance, making Zhang Jiaohua feel a bit uncomfortable. “Why did you choose this color? Isn’t it too bright?” He was beginning to question Kong Fangzhou’s aesthetic sense.

Kong Fangzhou scratched his head. “I thought the render looked pretty good. And now it looks even better than the render. Later on, we can transplant some spiritual herbs here from the Xiyun Secret Realm—it should make things feel more harmonious. For example, we can plant some Ascending Heaven Vines at the base of the Giant Sword Tower, letting them climb up and cover most of it. Then it’ll truly look like a tower covered in Ascending Heaven Vines.”

“Get this done quickly. We need to relocate the Xiyun Secret Realm as soon as possible. It’s become too conspicuous and is bound to attract the attention of powerful factions. We have to pull out before that happens,” said Zhang Jiaohua.

“It’s easy to move most things, but the spiritual herb gardens in Xiyun are a problem. There are so many herbs—if we move them out, it’ll be impossible to hide our tracks,” said Kong Fangzhou, worried.

“I’ll handle that. You go to Xiyun and prepare everything that needs to be moved. I’ll take care of the rest. When the time comes, just come here and receive everything,” Zhang Jiaohua replied. At this point, he could only rely on the Daoist Map to relocate everything. Yingpan Mountain was the future headquarters of the Meishan Sect—nothing could go wrong here.

Kong Fangzhou knew his sect master possessed many abilities they didn’t fully understand, so he had no doubts. “I’ll go to the Xiyun Secret Realm in the next few days and get everything ready for the relocation. I think it would be best if we use the same method for relocating the personnel too.”

Zhang Jiaohua nodded. “That would be safer. We must not let outsiders know about the Giant Sword Tower.”

A month later, all the cultivators of the Xiyun Secret Realm boarded several flying vessels. Once everyone was inside, Zhang Jiaohua transferred all the vessels into the Daoist Map, along with all the spiritual herbs. The spiritual spring in the secret realm had already dried up, with only a faint spring eye left at its source.

From that point on, the Xiyun Secret Realm became completely still. The factions who had been monitoring the area found it strange—none of the people from the secret realm had emerged for months.

“The mountain protection formation has stopped running! Look—that’s the entrance to the Xiyun Secret Realm!” One day, the entrance suddenly appeared clearly before the cultivators. Ordinary people couldn’t see it even without the formation, but to cultivators, it was glaringly obvious.

A large number of cultivators rushed in, only to find an empty realm. Not a single herb remained in the herb gardens. There were plenty of crops growing in the vegetable patches. The houses were undamaged, but completely empty. From the traces in the kitchens, it was clear the former residents hadn’t lived there for a long time.

“The spiritual spring has dried up! It’s gone!” someone shouted after checking the spring—it had long since dried out, with only some moisture left at the spring eye.

Everyone shook their heads in frustration. The most important thing in a secret realm is the spiritual spring—without it, the realm loses all value. Xiyun had dried up completely; the realm was now useless.

“Where are the people from Meishan Sect? Where did they go? They didn’t leave for months—how did they vanish right under our noses?” someone shouted.

No one had an answer. The sudden disappearance of the entire Meishan Sect was highly unusual.

“Looks like they’ve been planning this for a long time. If the protection array hadn’t suddenly vanished, we’d all still be in the dark.”

“Did Meishan Sect give up on the Xiyun Secret Realm because they found something better?”

“Maybe they discovered a new secret realm. But known secret realms are limited. If there really were a large one, someone would’ve found it by now. There’s no way Meishan Sect could’ve gotten lucky alone.”

Among the cultivators were spies from the Three Great Holy Lands. Meishan Sect’s recent activities had caught their attention—but the sudden evacuation took them by surprise.

“Meishan Sect has gone secular. They’ve established an industrial park in Bijiang City and become the Meishan Group. Looks like they’ve given up the path of cultivation.” No one knew where this news came from.

“Bijiang City? Could they have found a new secret realm there?” someone speculated.

“Impossible. Bijiang has no remarkable mountains or waters. Our Ruyi Sect has searched there before—there’s no secret realm.” Others quickly dismissed the idea.

“Exactly. The world may be vast, but for cultivators, we’ve explored every inch where a secret realm might be. At best, they might’ve found a small one—certainly nothing larger than Xiyun.”

Fortunately, this statement dispelled many suspicions, even among the Three Great Holy Lands’ spies, buying Meishan Sect more time.

Meanwhile, Yin Yanmin was formally placed into the judicial system for serious violations of law and discipline, leaving the mayoral position in Bijiang City vacant. While several senior deputy mayors were more qualified on paper, none had achievements comparable to Zhang Jiaohua.

After months of hard work, Wang Zongxian, head of both the municipal party committee and the city government, recommended Zhang Jiaohua as acting mayor, hoping he’d eventually take the role permanently. Zhang’s accomplishments were undeniable—his Bijiang Eco-Industrial Park had made waves both domestically and abroad. It also spurred rapid growth in Bijiang’s healthcare sector. As head of citywide infrastructure, Zhang Jiaohua achieved stellar results—building top-standard roads at record-low costs. His innovations in tunnel and bridge construction even revolutionized existing technologies.

Though there was a serious collapse during construction, no one was injured, and it ultimately highlighted the robustness of the design. Experts from across the country began visiting Bijiang to learn the new methods and hoped to adopt them.

Although this technology wasn’t directly owned by the city, the Meishan Construction Company that developed it was part of the eco-industrial park—thus closely tied to the city. Under Zhang Jiaohua’s leadership as deputy mayor, Bijiang had begun to shed its poverty-stricken image. Before his appointment, nearly every county in Bijiang was classified as impoverished. But now, there was hope that this label could soon be removed.

The greatest obstacle to Bijiang’s poverty alleviation had been poor transportation. With that problem solved, each county could begin to unlock its potential.

Zhang proposed that the city learn from Daihua County and build large-scale eco-agriculture parks, each county developing its own specialty. The idea was to integrate ecology and agriculture—and where possible, develop eco-tourism.

This strategy proved extremely effective. Daihua County had already reached the scale of a major tourist destination. Though its tourism started late, the county’s large size and consistent development meant every part of it became a unique attraction. Tourists who visited once were amazed and wanted to return.

Daihua truly embraced eco-agriculture and eco-tourism—not just in rural areas, but in towns and even the county seat, all of which were developed with tourism in mind. Poverty became an advantage—there were few modern buildings, which meant low renovation costs and cohesive planning.

These renovations gave Meishan Construction a wealth of experience and led to many new innovations, which in turn played a key role in Bijiang’s development.

“If Bijiang wants to grow its economy, one eco-industrial park won’t be enough. The whole city must unite in purpose. Officials must be dedicated, and citizens must be willing to contribute. The experience of Daihua County is worth learning from—even for Bijiang. Daihua’s current county GDP rivals that of Bijiang City proper just a few years ago. That’s astonishing—and it continues to grow exponentially. If the whole city develops like Daihua, I’m confident we can eliminate poverty in three to five years, and reach a well-off standard in ten. Some areas might even achieve affluence. But a better life won’t come by waiting—we all need to work for it. During Daihua’s renovation, we faced huge resistance, but we succeeded. Everyone compromised; many sacrificed personal interest. But in the end, everyone benefited. You can go ask those who opposed it—was their loss worth it?”

Zhang Jiaohua appeared live on Bijiang’s local TV station, delivering a city-wide address. He planned major reforms in Bijiang. Taking advantage of its poverty and underdevelopment, he aimed to completely redesign and rebuild the city.

Bijiang had a major advantage: it was still poor, underdeveloped, and small. That meant fewer obstacles and lower costs. For future development, Zhang believed the price was worth paying.

To ease resistance, Zhang first began planning redevelopment in the suburban areas of Bishui and Biyun Districts, effectively relocating the city center. He would then expand inward and eventually overhaul the entire city.

His speech created a strong response across Bijiang. Daihua County was a vivid example—once the city’s poorest county, now it was a beautifully transformed ancient town and a nationally known tourist destination. Residents’ incomes now rivaled those in first-tier cities. How could that not inspire envy?

Even residents who rarely watched local TV tuned in to hear the young mayor’s speech.

Zhang’s strategy remained focused on eco-tourism as the main theme for Bijiang’s redevelopment. But that didn’t mean he was ignoring other development models. In fact, he planned several more industrial parks, all to be connected with the Bishui Eco-Industrial Park. Each one would bear the label “eco.”

After the success of the Bishui Eco-Industrial Park, investors from across the country expressed interest in setting up in Bijiang. However, the city imposed strict requirements—not only must the technology meet standards, but it had to be eco-friendly. These conditions deterred many potential investors, confusing some city officials. They believed that if Zhang lowered the threshold, Bijiang could quickly become a major industrial hub and achieve modernization.