Chapter 887

The entire western border of the Sui Dynasty was vast and boundless; one-third of its territory was ceded to Wuguo.

This was dozens of times larger than the compensation territory Wu Tie demanded from Feng Shang, and it also included the private domains of the lords of the five great fief states.

After Wu Tie defeated the Azure Lotus Temple's 'Breaking Gate Reverse Dao' in a bout of martial skill, he led a large force to the new territory he had named Sui Prefecture.

The five state lords had already departed with their families, close aides, and fief armies.

As for Sui Du, it would naturally give them ample compensation, new fiefs and populations to make up for the hardship of leaving their homeland.

The officials at the level of prefecture, commandery, and county also took their families and confidants away from their seats of office, returning to Sui Du for duty; only the lowest-ranking clerks remained, maintaining the most basic control over the territory.

Many great clans in various regions did not know Wu Tie's temperament or methods, nor what kind of entity Wuguo was; many clans that had developed for over a hundred thousand or even a million years on their own lands gritted their teeth and also had their direct-line kin leave their ancestral homes to open new clan territories on the Sui Dynasty's lands.

These great clans merely left behind some peripheral branch members to guard their existing interests on their own territories.

Thus, on Wu Tie's Sui Prefecture territory, over ninety percent of the former ruling powers had withdrawn on their own, leaving behind a perfected grassroots control structure for Wuguo to take over.

Huang Lang was veteran in administration, Pei Feng was extremely meticulous and patient, and with Wuguo sending out numerous elite clan members from its great generals and aristocratic families, after Wu Tie arrived in Sui Province, Wuguo took only a short half month to fully seize control of the vast Sui Province.

Compared to Wuguo, Sui Province can be described as vast in land but sparse in population; the huge Sui Province is almost ten times the size of Wuguo's original territory, but its total population is only about equal to that of a hundred or so prefectures of Wuguo.

Following Huang Lang's suggestion, Wu Tie moved a large number of people from Wuguo into Sui Province; while relocating the populace, Wu Tie also extracted large quantities of ore from Sui Province and gathered countless rare medicinal herbs, sending them back to the Wuguo homeland.

In short, thanks to the diligent efforts of Wu Tie's subordinates, the development of Wuguo as a whole, together with overseas Sui Province, got back on track, and Wuguo's overall national strength increased within just a short half month.

Da Tie forged a clone for himself, remade an ancient forge, and likewise transmitted it over.

This forge is located in the southeast of Sui Province, set down within a vast mountain that hides countless rare mineral deposits.

The forge quickly displayed enormous output, with batches of colossal divine soldiers whose strength rivaled the peak of the Fetal Storage Realm continually marching out. As rare resources kept piling up, even colossal divine soldiers reaching the Divine Realm, and even the King God Realm, appeared on the production line.

After garrisoning Sui Province for one month, a mournful, venomous howl echoed from the east gate of Suiwu City.

Suiwu City, this is the seat of Sui Province that Wu Tie had the Mohist School build in half a month with the labor of countless colossal divine soldiers.

Suiwu City's walls are not large, stretching six hundred li east‑west and three hundred li north‑south; most of those stationed there are soldiers, with civilians making up less than thirty percent.

The first completed structure of Suiwu City's walls was its east gate.

Blood Prison nailed Feng Rong to the east gate tower, personally carrying out death‑by‑a‑thousand‑cuts each day.

Blood Prison's hatred for Feng Rong has seeped into the marrow, etched into his soul.

Every cruel, vicious method imaginable was employed on Feng Rong's body; for a full half month, the air over Suiwu City drifted with his anguished howls.

In that half month, Suiwu City also faced dozens of waves of attacks of unknown origin.

About half of those attacks aimed to rescue Feng Rong, while the other half sought to slay him outright.

But with Zhu Gang Lie and a group of venerable lord‑level monsters holding the line, every attacker was slaughtered. Wu Tie ordered that not even a single prisoner be kept—Wu Tie roughly knew where these attackers came from, but simply couldn't be bothered.

In the end, Feng Rong was put to death by lingering slicing by Blood Prison; a speck of his innate spiritual light was forcibly stripped away, and Blood Prison fashioned it into a wick, using its own Blood Prison Extinguishing Divine Light as tinder and immeasurable blood‑qi as fuel, to temper Feng Rong's soul day and night.

A three‑foot‑high oil lamp that constantly emitted mournful wails was placed inside the east gate tower of Suiwu City.

Feng Rong's soul endures eternal torment here; unless Blood Prison consents, he will never be freed.

As for placing the oil lamp he had become on the eastern gate tower, in Blood Prison's words—this is to give the entire Sui dynasty a little color to see.

Wu Tie didn't bother with this trifle; Blood Prison saved Pei Feng, and now they are close sisters.

Feng Rong isn't anything good either; if Blood Prison wants to vent her anger and resentment, let her do as she pleases!

To guard this oil lamp and give no one any chance, Wu Tie simply hung his refined Primordial Divine Bell on the east gate tower, ringing it nine‑nine‑eighty‑one times each morning, noon, and night—to deter demons while also infusing a bit of vital energy into Feng Rong's innate spiritual light, so he could better endure Blood Prison's torment.

To be frank, this great turmoil was stirred up by Feng Rong himself.

Even his collusion with Bai Su Xin, forcibly abducting Pei Feng to the Sui dynasty.

Having Blood Prison treat Feng Rong so harshly, Wu Tie is more than pleased to see it happen.

Sui Province has already gotten back on track; he looks east to oversee the entire Sui dynasty, and west to begin harmonious exchanges with the Western Demon State.

Under the guidance of the myriad demon lords, the great and small demons near Sui Province's border gradually abandoned their violent plundering habits, starting to try commercial means to obtain the special goods unique to humanity.

When these demons discovered that their naturally shed teeth, horns, hair, etc., the tree roots and grass they casually dug up in the mountains, and even a random stone picked up from the ground, could be exchanged at the border trading post of Sui Province for silks, fine food and drink, sharp weapons, and sturdy armor—without having to risk life and limb fighting Sui Province's soldiers……

In just a little over a month, the trading post Wu Tie set up on the border saw its total volume surge, even startling Huang Yu and Li Er Gouzi, who were in charge of it.

A thousand catties of strong liquor could be traded for enough materials to forge a set of Nine‑Refined Spirit Weapons…… Can you imagine such a trade price?

Ten bolts of medium‑quality silk could be exchanged for the medicinal ingredients needed to refine the Grand Dao Treasure Pill…… Such a 'fair trade', can you imagine?

For a pile of showy but useless colored glazed tiles, dozens of deep‑sea jiao dragons, right before your eyes, slit their own veins and offered their dragon‑blood essence as trade…… Can you imagine such a trading scene?

In short, the demons are satisfied, Wuguo is overflowing with riches, and everyone is very happy and delighted.

One day, several pitch‑black figures, their heads covered in long hair each sharp and stiff like long needles, gloomily arrived at a trading post on the border of Sui Province.