It was rare for Tai Cang to have a small rain.
For the people of Tai Cang, the small rain at this time of year was of little benefit. The harvest season had already passed, and this rain only brought unease. It signified that the time of the "Day of Silence" was rapidly approaching.
As the Day of Silence drew near, it meant that a great many people would die.
"The Day of Silence is a little more than a month away," Ji Xia said, sitting high on the throne and holding a memorial. "This will be the first Day of Silence since I ascended the throne, and all departments must complete their deployment plans before it arrives, to minimize the death toll among the people of Tai Cang."
The ministers responded in agreement, and Ji Xia then asked, "In past years, besides food shortages, the second major cause of death among the people was the unbearable cold. Apart from food, Tai Cang is also lacking in firewood for winter, as well as clothing. Is there no way to address this?"
Lu Shangyin stepped forward and answered, "Report to the Sovereign, the forests around the Southern Forbidden Forest have been almost completely cut down. The state has replanted saplings multiple times, but the demand for wood during the Day of Silence is so great that the growth rate of the saplings can't keep up with the rate at which the forest disappears. The shortage of wood has been severe since three years ago."
Ji Xia threw the memorial on the table and said in a serious tone, "Then we must find a solution. If we let this go on, it will only get worse every year. Are there any solutions or ideas from the various departments?"
There was a long silence in the court.
Just as Ji Xia was about to express his anger, a minister hesitantly spoke up. "I have heard that the Great Fu Kingdom has a kind of rune. When applied to a stove, it can continuously produce flames, and the flames it generates are even hotter than those produced by burning wood."
"Many wealthy nations constantly purchase these runes from the Great Fu Kingdom to combat the cold during the Day of Silence."
Ji Xia thought for a long time before shaking his head. "Tai Cang is currently impoverished and cannot afford the cost of these runes from the Great Fu Kingdom."
He then pondered and asked, "Is it possible to produce these runes ourselves? If we could engrave them on the stoves of every household, the cold problem could be resolved."
The head of the Tai Cang Academy, Su Xing, who had been appointed as the acting head of the academy after the previous ruler, Ji Shang, passed away, stepped forward to answer. "Your Majesty, due to limitations in talent, resources, and the lack of a proper lineage, Tai Cang has not produced a single Rune Master in the past 200 years. Although the runes used for civilian purposes are the simplest types, they are still exceedingly complex in the eyes of most cultivators. For any nation to mass-produce runes, the barriers are simply too high."
Ji Xia had been reading many ancient texts and records of the boundless wilderness, and he was well aware that Rune Masters were unreachable figures for weaker nations. Even many powerful nations had very few Rune Masters, and it was only races like the Great Fu—born with extraordinary talents—that could produce Rune Masters in large quantities. This, along with their rapid expansion over just 300 years from a small race to a vast nation, was closely related to their large number of Rune Masters.
"Maybe I should really visit the Great Fu Kingdom," Ji Xia thought to himself. "While trading for spirit crystals, I could try my luck and see if I can resolve the issue of cold-proof runes."
Firewood for warmth had many shortcomings. First, it required a large amount of wood, and the wood reserves around Tai City were already insufficient. Venturing deep into the Southern Forbidden Forest to chop wood was nothing short of a dream, as countless fierce beasts living there would never allow it.
Second, the flames produced by wood had limited warmth. Every household in Tai Cang had a stove, but the stoves were small. Even if there was enough wood, it wouldn't be enough to warm the people through the Day of Silence. At most, it would just keep them alive, barely.
If Tai Cang could acquire a large quantity of cold-proof runes, or learn how to engrave and activate them, it would greatly benefit the lives of the people.
"No," Ji Xia decided inwardly, "For the long-term development of Tai Cang, the cold issue during the Day of Silence must be resolved."
"In previous years, more than ten thousand people died of cold during the Day of Silence. If we don't solve this problem, Tai Cang's population will never grow. Without population growth, all our ambitions are nothing but dreams."
"If only everyone in Tai Cang could cultivate," Ji Xia thought. "If everyone had the strength of at least the Fifth Heaven, the number of people dying from cold would greatly decrease."
Ji Xia knew this was impossible. Not everyone had the talent to cultivate and gather spiritual essence. Among Tai Cang's 600,000 people, only about 10,000 had the ability to cultivate, and most of them served the royal court. The rest of the population lived ordinary, laborious, and difficult lives.
"That day, Ji Qianqing said that there were powerful nations where the people were born with divine powers. I can't even imagine how terrifying such a nation would be. The Great Fu Kingdom may be strong, but compared to such nations, it's nothing."
A sudden, inexplicable emotion surged in Ji Xia's heart. "I wonder when the human race will be able to stand alongside such races."
He shook his head and secretly smiled. The people of Tai Cang couldn't even get enough to eat and were already worrying about firewood for the Day of Silence. To envy such terrifying races and nations now seemed overly ambitious.
"An ant may envy another ant, but when it looks up at the blazing sun in the sky, it should not envy it. It should only look up in awe."
Lost in thought, Ji Xia was about to praise the diligent ministers of Tai Cang when suddenly, the Grand Sun Spiritual Furnace in the Great Snow Mountain flickered.
Ji Xia's breath caught. The Grand Sun Spiritual Furnace suddenly shot out two streams of pure, concentrated spiritual essence that flowed directly into his eyes!
The young monarch's eyes heated up. Two blazing suns radiated an immense heat, reflecting in his pupils.
It was as if he had crossed countless spaces, and his vision traveled thousands of miles, suddenly landing on a towering mountain.
On that mountain, a three-eyed deity, a massive giant over a hundred feet tall, was engaged in a battle.