Chương 95: Helping in Their Own Way

It took Leo and Shen Tianyi an hour by flight to reach Skyhome. The mountain emerged from the clouds like a fortress. White granite spires rose fourteen thousand feet into the sky, their peaks catching the morning sun while mist still clung to the valleys below. And everywhere, filling the air between the spires, the cranes flew. Leo had never seen anything like it. Hundreds of cranes wheeled through the sky in layered formations, their silver-white plumage flashing as they banked and turned.

Their calls rang off the mountainsides, dozens of voices weaving together. The smaller ones darted between the spires in tight groups, while the elders soared in slow circles high above, their wingspans casting shadows that swept across the ground like passing clouds. Two cranes broke from a nearby patrol and swept toward them. Pearl white feathers covered their chests, darkening to pale silver along the wings.

Their golden eyes fixed on the two humans as they drew alongside, close enough that Leo felt the wind from their wingbeats. One of them called out in a melodic, whistling language. Tianyi responded in kind, his pronunciation rough but apparently comprehensible. The cranes banked and gestured with their wings toward the mountain below. They descended toward a broad plateau near the twelve thousand foot mark. Formation pillars marked the cardinal directions.

The two cranes landed beside them, folding their massive wings against their bodies. They stood eight feet tall, towering over both humans. Tianyi spoke to them again in their whistling language, his tone formal and respectful. After a moment, one of them responded with a series of melodic calls. Tianyi turned to Leo.

"Lord Flockfeather is currently in seclusion. We must wait." The cranes escorted them to a stone pavilion at the edge of the plateau. From here, Leo could watch the cranes going about their business. Patrols departed and returned at regular intervals. Younger cranes drilled combat maneuvers in the open air between the spires, executing diving attacks with sharp precision.

"This is the first time I've seen the home territory of spiritual beasts," Leo said.

"They're much more organized than I expected." Tianyi settled onto the bench beside him.

"The Silvercrest Cranes maintain strict military discipline. Every crane trains for aerial combat from the moment they can fly. Their patrol rotations, their formation drills, their chain of command." He gestured toward the group executing a dive.

"All of it modeled on the cavalry traditions they developed alongside human cultivators centuries ago." Leo tried to imagine it. Cultivators mounted on eight foot tall birds, diving into enemy formations with flying swords drawn.

"And they trust humans?" Tianyi tilted his head.

"Trust? No. They respect aligned interests. Every arrangement includes clear boundaries, defined benefits." Leo turned that over in his mind. They sat in silence for a while, watching the cranes wheel through the sky. A patrol swept overhead, their shadows passing across the plateau before they banked toward the western peaks and disappeared.

"I've been thinking," Leo said slowly.

"Good. Practice makes perfect."

"I know we only moved forty acres of T4 soil here so far. But if we do end up moving all two hundred and twenty acres, does this mean that the cranes would have enough T4 soil to fund the advancement of over a hundred Nascent Soul Lords?" Tianyi folded his hands in his sleeves.

"The cranes' share is smaller than you imagine. The majority of the harvest flows upward as tribute to the Beast Emperors. Lord Flockfeather retains perhaps twenty percent for the crane's direct use."

"That's still forty-four Nascent Souls."

"Over time. Yes." Leo stared at the training cranes in the distance. They moved like weapons.

"Tier Four spiritual wheat holds special importance for beasts, since they cannot assume human form until reaching Nascent Soul." Tianyi paused.

"You should not view this as sharpening the enemy's blade, Leo Chen. View it as planting seeds of favor with powers who remember their debts."

"Planting seeds of favor with the enemies of humankind."

"Heaven is high and the emperor is far away. One qi refiner will not shift the balance of the realm. Neither will an army of Nascent Souls, in the grand scheme." Leo watched a young crane fumble a dive and pull up sharply, its elders calling corrections in their whistling language.

"Will this generate bad karma?" Leo asked.

"Helping beasts grow stronger?" Tianyi considered the question seriously.

"Karma is not so simple as 'helping beasts equals evil.' The Heavenly Dao weighs intent, consequence, and the natural order of things." He paused.

"Tell me, what does your heart see when you look at them?" Leo turned his attention back to the cranes. A flock of younger ones had taken to the air, their white plumage catching the sunlight as they rose in a spiral pattern. Their calls harmonized into a song. They were beautiful.

"If there's good in the world," Leo said slowly, "then what I'm looking at has to be part of it. The way they move. The way they fly. It feels right. Natural." Tianyi smiled faintly.

"Mm. A poet's answer. Not bad." He let the silence stretch for a moment before continuing.

"But I must warn you that almost all cultivators draw a sharp distinction between humans and beasts. They believe the natural order places humanity above all other creatures."

"Why?"

"When humans kill beasts, or beasts kill humans, the slaughter qi generated is far less than when the same violence occurs between members of the same species." Tianyi's expression had gone serious.

"This is measurable fact, not just a theory." A horn sounded from somewhere above them. Both Leo and Tianyi looked up. A figure approached their pavilion. He walked on two legs in human form, tall with sharp features and pale complexion. Silver-white hair fell past his shoulders. But it was his crown that drew Leo's attention. It burned with Golden radiance, bright enough to be visible even in daylight. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Lord Flockfeather himself.

"Shen Tianyi," the patriarch said, his voice carrying a distinctive whistling undertone.

"And you must be Leo Chen." He inclined his head slightly.

"This one greets the friends of the Silvercrest Cranes." Tianyi returned the bow with practiced formality.

"Lord Flockfeather honors us with his presence. This one brings news, and a request."

"Speak."

"Your predictions have proven accurate. The sects of the Lanternmarches have begun construction on a settlement near the former Karma Severing Sect. They will call it Stonehaven." Lord Flockfeather's golden eyes shifted to Leo.

"Short-sighted fools. The profundity will eventually consume all who linger near it. They build their homes on the edge of a hungry mouth."

"They are fools," Tianyi agreed.

"But fools without choice. The Western Seat presses from one direction, the Savage Mountains block their retreat. Leo Chen is a Dao Heart cultivator. He cannot bear to watch refugees arrive with nothing, their cultivation regressing for lack of spiritual qi. He wishes to help."

"Help how?"

"We would like to farm Tier One or Tier Two spiritual wheat. Sell it at low prices to those in need." Lord Flockfeather turned his full attention to Leo. Those golden eyes were unsettling.

"Shen Tianyi claims you possess immense potential." The patriarch's head tilted slightly, a bird-like gesture that looked strange on a human face.

"Show me what he sees." Leo glanced at Tianyi, who gave a small nod. Leo unleashed his divine sense. His omnidirectional perspective unfolded, stretching to encompass the pavilion, the plateau, Lord Flockfeather and Tianyi both. Lord Flockfeather's divine sense dwarfed his own. The crane patriarch's spiritual sea was an ocean compared to the puddles Leo had practiced the Scholar's Finger on. But the technique didn't require him to overpower anything. Only to read it.

Leo pressed his awareness against Lord Flockfeather's divine sense and studied the shape of it. Every cultivator's spiritual perception carried a unique signature, as distinct as a fingerprint. He traced the crane patriarch's pattern stroke by stroke, reading it, and learning it. Then he composed an imitation. Spiritual qi gathered at his fingertip and condensed into a forgery of Lord Flockfeather's divine sense signature. Lord Flockfeather held still for a moment.

Then he deliberately relaxed his spiritual sea and created an opening. Leo reached out and pressed his finger against Lord Flockfeather's spiritual sea, painting the forgery directly into his perception. Afterwards he withdrew his omnidirectional perspective. Lord Flockfeather stood motionless for a long moment, examining the foreign signature Leo had planted in his divine sense. His expression remained unreadable.

"Impressive," he said finally.

"A technique meant to clutter an enemy's perception with forgeries. At your cultivation level, to even attempt such a thing against a Nascent Soul..." He shook his head slowly, and the mark left by Leo dissolved away.

"You have talent, Leo Chen." Leo let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"Thank you, Lord Flockfeather."

"I agree in principle to your request." The patriarch folded his hands behind his back.

"But there will be conditions."

"Of course."

"There is a mountain at the edge of our territory. In the past, a group of human wingriders resided there for several decades. They cultivated spiritual wheat on its slopes and maintained formation infrastructure. When they departed, they left the fields behind. The formations have long since degraded." Lord Flockfeather began walking toward the edge of the plateau. Leo and Tianyi followed.

"I will grant you use of this mountain. However, aside from your immediate group of six, no other human may set foot there. This condition is absolute."

"Understood," Leo said.

"I will provide cranes to assist with labor and formation work. The mountain contains approximately eighty-five acres of farmable Tier Two spiritual land, and three hundred forty acres of Tier One." He paused.

"This arrangement will last for the duration of the war. When hostilities conclude, the mountain and all improvements revert to the Silvercrest Cranes. Your group will retain ten percent of the output for as long as you continue to assist us." Leo nodded. It sounded reasonable.

"During the war, the output will be split evenly between humans and cranes. Fifty percent each. The cranes will perform all physical labor. In exchange, you will train them."

"Train them?" Leo asked.

"In formation work. In agricultural techniques." Lord Flockfeather's golden eyes gleamed.

"If you can farm most of the mountain using only cranes, and train a few of them to maintain the formations independently, I will grant you access to additional spiritual lands." Leo bowed.

"Thank you for this opportunity, Lord Flockfeather." The patriarch laughed. The sound was strange and melodic, carrying harmonics that no human could produce.

"If you can teach cranes how to till wheat, Leo Chen, I am the one who should thank you." Tianyi glanced toward the background, where young cranes chased each other in spiraling loops between the spires. He gave Leo a worried look. Lord Flockfeather seemed to consider something for a moment. Then he spoke again.

"Shen Tianyi mentioned that multiple Nascent Souls owe their Dao to you. Is this true?" Leo felt his face warm.

"That's... a generous way to put it. There was a bet placed on my performance in a competition. A lot of Gold Core cultivators won big."

"And used those winnings to fund their breakthroughs."

"Basically. Yeah." Lord Flockfeather smiled.

"Then I will bet on you as well, Leo Chen." He turned to face both of them fully.

"Because of the upcoming war, we will order a round of Gold Core cranes to attempt advancement to Nascent Soul. This is a great opportunity for them, brought about by your spiritual soil." Lord Flockfeather bowed to the two.

"We would be honored if you would serve as Dao Protectors during their breakthrough. The ceremony will take place in the coming weeks." Leo bowed deeply back.

"The honor is ours, Lord Flockfeather."

Leo ended up switching his divine sense press cycle to once every twenty-four hours. During the day he worked on reclaiming irradiated soil in the Boston Catacombs. During the nights, instead of sleeping, he logged into the Azure Profound Continent to work on the mountain Lord Flockfeather had granted them. The mountain rose to just under ten thousand feet at the edge of Silvercrest territory. A Tier Three spirit vein ran through its core, but the cranes had long ago redirected that energy to Skyhome.

In exchange, they piped Tier Two spiritual qi from subsidiary veins into the upper slopes, creating a lesser source of spiritual qi where the old wingrider fields had once flourished. The group relocated from the excavation camp near the Karma Severing Sect Profundity. The cranes called their new home Human Hut Mountain. Curious juveniles perched on nearby ridges to watch them work, making sounds that Arthur swore was laughter.

The interesting thing about teaching cranes to farm was that the hard parts were simple, and the simple parts were hard. Everyone's first instinct was to bring over state-of-the-art farming machines from Earth. Earth's machines were extremely efficient and minimized the use of spiritual qi by replacing it with electricity and gas. However everyone quickly realized that electronics would be a giant hassle to manufacture.

Instead, they took advantage of the fact that void stone, the key ingredient for storage rings, was abundant in the Azure Profound Continent. Kevin and Arthur designed small cart-like machines that ran on rails, using storage rings to replace complex collection mechanisms. A crane could press a few buttons, and the cart would till, seed, water, or harvest depending on the configuration. The cranes handled transportation, carrying storage rings between processing areas.

They also managed weeding and pest removal, which turned out to be the easiest job to fill. Spiritual pests and weeds were considered delicacies in crane cuisine. Young cranes competed for the privilege of patrol duty. Post-processing required almost no human intervention. Cranes were perfectly happy eating seeds on the stalk. Humans who wanted flour could grind it themselves. Setting up the operation was straightforward too.

Lord Flockfeather invited three Nascent Soul cranes to reshape the mountain with their domains. Over two days, the Lords carved clean terraces into the slopes and installed tracks and equipment mounts with casual displays of power that left Leo's jaw hanging. The system worked quite well. Within a month, their test fields on the lower slopes of Human Hut Mountain produced their first harvest of Tier One spiritual wheat. However the problem was long-term maintenance.

Although Vivian solved the mechanical repair problem by creating casting molds. The machines ran on formations, and Leo had no idea how he could teach the some cranes how to draw human formations. When Leo mentioned this to Shen Tianyi, Tianyi suggested they consult one of the crane's formation masters, a Gold Core elder named Superior Windcrest.