Chapter 34: A New Idea Sparks
In the early morning, the small diorama box buzzed with activity.
With a hundred new souls, the village's vitality had soared.
The newcomers gawked, wandering through the village as if it were a fantastical exhibition, unable to contain their gasps of awe and wonder.
"This circular iron fortress is incredible! How was such a thing even constructed?"
"And what about this massive pool? We've suffered through three years of drought, the rivers are almost bone-dry—how does Gao Family Village have a pond this enormous?"
"Dried chicken! Look, rows of cured chicken hanging everywhere!"
The new arrivals were quickly given a profound lesson in the village's extraordinary reality.
This suited San Shier perfectly. He deliberately held back from approaching them that morning, leaving their tasks unassigned, allowing them to wander freely. His intent was for the village's "divine marvels" to thoroughly impress them, ensuring they'd be far more docile and obedient when their orders finally came.
Once their heads were sufficiently spinning from all they'd witnessed, San Shier finally called them together. "The village is in urgent need of all sorts of skilled hands," he declared, his voice cutting through their murmurs. "Especially blacksmiths! Anyone who can forge iron, step forward. You'll earn an extra two liang of flour daily."
San Shier continued, "You three, I assume you all have essential tools at home—hammers, anvils, that sort of thing? Go retrieve them. From now on, you'll report to Master Li, our village's blacksmith. Whatever needs forging, his word is law."
The three men nodded in earnest agreement.
San Shier then turned to the remaining villagers. "The first task for the rest of you," he announced, "is to construct a temple dedicated to Dao Xuan Tian Zun."
Watching from his vantage point, Li Daoxuan couldn't help but chuckle with bewildered amusement. So many pressing matters awaited the village, an entire community crying out for reconstruction, yet their first priority was a temple?
What a waste of effort on something so utterly pointless!
He was just about to instruct Gao Yiye to intervene when a thought struck him: in the *Civilization* games he enjoyed, founding a new city rarely began with purely utilitarian structures. Temples, almost invariably, came first.
City borders, he recalled, expanded through cultural influence.
And early religious edifices served a dual purpose as cultural centers.
While this was merely a game mechanic, it wasn't a random invention by the designers. It was, he knew, a reflection of history, grounded in sound logic.
A profound, almost mystical intuition began to stir within Li Daoxuan.
His gut instinct told him not to interfere with San Shier's plans; this seemingly haphazard undertaking might, in unforeseen ways, prove beneficial.
Li Daoxuan shelved his intention to summon Gao Yiye, opting instead to observe with detached curiosity.
San Shier then called out, "Any masons among you? Step forward! You'll each get an extra liang of flour daily."
Several middle-aged men emerged from the crowd, their faces brightening with eagerness.
"You three," San Shier instructed, "will lead the others in constructing the temple—" He paused, a flicker of an idea crossing his face. "Hold on. Is anyone among you skilled in sculpting figures?"
"I can!" Two middle-aged men instantly shot their hands up. The earlier calls for blacksmiths and masons had taught them well: specialized skills meant additional flour. This was no time to shy away; instead, it was an opportunity to seize.
"The life-sized City God statue in the county's temple? I carved that myself, sir."
"And I once sculpted a Guanyin figure."
These two middle-aged men were clearly seasoned artists. San Shier beamed. "Splendid!" he exclaimed. "The rest of you, begin hauling stones and felling timber for the temple. You two sculptors, come along with me."
He led the two men to Gao Yiye. "Miss Gao," he began, "I've brought two sculptors. Please, describe the Heavenly Lord's likeness to them, so they may craft a divine effigy of Dao Xuan Tian Zun."
Gao Yiye blinked. "Oh? Well... I'll have to think carefully about this..."
Li Daoxuan, finding this quite amusing, deliberately lifted the diorama box's lid and positioned his face directly above it, gazing down into the miniature world below.
Gao Yiye immediately perceived it: a young face, handsome and benevolent, with perfectly proportioned features, subtly coalescing in the shifting clouds above.
She couldn't help but murmur, "The Heavenly Lord is so young... no long beard... and his features..."
The two sculptors quickly etched her words into their minds.
Before long, they had retrieved two lumps of yellow clay from a nearby ditch. Following Gao Yiye's rough guidelines, they swiftly molded a young man's head, then began the intricate process of refinement.
"Here... the eyes need to be just a fraction larger..."
"A slightly higher bridge for the nose..."
"The lips should curve ever so slightly upward. The Heavenly Lord isn't fierce; he's benevolent and gentle."
"The ears are just a touch too big."
In less than four hours, Li Daoxuan's face had been brought to life in clay.
He peered through a magnifying glass, scrutinizing the clay figure through the diorama's glass. The face was astonishingly lifelike. Yet, in translating his image, Gao Yiye had clearly imbued it with her own subjective touches, performing a subtle 'facelift': his modern hairstyle transformed into flowing locks, his eyes rendered a touch larger, his nose bridge a fraction higher, and his gaze subtly imbued with more gravitas...
These various subtle alterations, when combined, had amplified his overall handsomeness by 32% and boosted his majestic presence by a staggering 320%. He had been utterly transformed from a contemporary young man into the awe-inspiring, eternally youthful Dao Xuan Tian Zun.
With the head perfected, shaping the body proved a far simpler task.
The two sculptors worked in tandem, fashioning a body from copious amounts of yellow clay. They rendered him seated cross-legged, clad in a flowing Daoist robe, a horsetail whisk held gracefully in his right hand, and a Taiji Bagua diagram balanced on his left palm.
Then, with a final flourish, they affixed the head...
The august and serene image of Dao Xuan Tian Zun was declared complete.
Li Daoxuan, magnifying glass in hand, scrutinized his "sculpted image" from every conceivable angle—left, right, front, back. A soft "Tsk" of profound satisfaction escaped him. He was utterly delighted. If only he could reach into the box, extract this miniature masterpiece, and proudly display it in his collection.
The craftsmanship of this figurine far surpassed any Gundam model or plastic soldier he owned. Though barely a centimeter tall, every detail—from the expression in the eyes to individual strands of hair and the delicate contours of the fingers—was rendered with breathtaking intricacy.
"Hold on... a moment!"
Li Daoxuan swiveled his head, his gaze settling on a plastic model in his display cabinet—barely two centimeters tall, yet commanding a price tag of 288 yuan. He flicked his eyes back to the Dao Xuan Tian Zun statue in the box, then to the 288-yuan model, then back to the Dao Xuan Tian Zun statue again...
He compared them repeatedly, confirming his realization.
The model he had once cherished, the one he'd spent 288 yuan to acquire, now, when held against the Dao Xuan Tian Zun statue, was, in terms of intricate craftsmanship, absolute garbage. No, not garbage—it was quite literally a pile of excrement.
If that pile of excrement could fetch 288 yuan, what immense value would this Dao Xuan Tian Zun statue command?
Aha! An idea sparked within him.
Li Daoxuan's voice resonated through the diorama. "Gao Yiye," he commanded, "inform these two sculptors that I am exceedingly pleased with their artistry. I have further tasks to bestow upon them, and if they perform exceptionally, their reward will be truly bountiful."
With that, he brought up an image on his computer, clicked 'print,' and in moments, an A5 sheet depicting the iconic Supreme Treasure incarnation of Sun Wukong from *A Chinese Odyssey* glided from his printer.
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