Banner of the Evil God

The weather in early spring is still cold, and the ice and snow on the ground have not completely melted. The cold wind that blows from time to time seems to have penetrating power, which can penetrate thick clothes and pierce into the body like a steel needle, making people shiver from time to time.

But now is the season for sowing golden vines. Farmers wrap themselves as thickly as possible, then swing hoes to dig up the frozen soil, and place the golden vine seeds soaked in magic water one by one in the dug small pits. There is no need to cover the top with soil, because the most important thing for the golden vine to germinate is sunlight, and everything else is secondary.

If it is in those places with relatively warm climates, even children can do this job. But it is different in the northwest region. The soil in early spring has a little bit of thawing. It is not as hard as stone in winter, but it is still quite solid. People who are not strong enough often need several times to dig out a shallow pit and put the golden vine seeds in. Farmers are busy sweating, and they can't plant much in an hour.

Fortunately, the most difficult part of the entire growth process of the golden vine is sowing. It is a very powerful plant in itself, and its ability to adapt to the environment is extraordinary. After it is planted, it sprouts, and then as long as you remember to replenish it with magic energy every day, it can grow steadily without worrying.

Ordinary crops need to be turned over, fertilized, watered, weeded, and insects caught, but the golden vine basically does not need these. Its strong roots can penetrate deep into the frozen soil, absorb enough nutrients and water, and the sun can give it sufficient nutrition. There are no weeds or pests that can survive in the Ash Forest. If it did not need to replenish magic energy artificially, it could even learn from farmers in many places, and just ignore it after sowing the seeds and wait for the harvest in autumn.

However, the golden vine also has huge disadvantages. The first is the low yield. The yield of this plant is really pitifully low. One mu of land can only yield about 60 kilograms. The second is that the growth process requires magical energy supply, so ordinary people can't grow it alone. Finally, the taste is terrible, worse than the coarse rye. It tastes sandy and slightly astringent. Except for some special dishes, only the truly poor will eat it as a staple food.

In fact, merchants buy golden vines mainly to refine them through magic circles and obtain magical essences containing sunlight energy. As for the residue after refining, at least it can be used as animal feed. Pigs and cows are not picky eaters.

Sui Xiong watched the busy farmers and shook his head secretly.

Golden vines are really not a suitable crop. Even planting rye is much better than it.

Rye is a common crop in cold regions. Although it requires more manpower than golden vines, it is much better than golden vines in terms of yield and taste. If the farmer is attentive, the land is fertile, and the climate is not bad, it is common to harvest a hundred kilograms from one mu of land. Rye flour can be used to make famous rye cakes; if it is slightly mixed with white flour, it can also be made into bread. Not only do poor families like to eat it, but even ordinary middle-class families can use it as a staple food.

But... if you want to grow rye, the soil requirements are much higher than those of golden vines. It's not that the fertility requirements are high, or there is any difference in cold resistance. The main reason is that rye's ability to resist negative energy pollution is much weaker than that of golden vines, and its growth cycle does not completely overlap with that of golden vines, so even if you want to mix them, it is impossible.

In the entire northwest region, only the southern Rye Town area has a relatively light degree of negative energy pollution in the soil, and rye can be grown.

It is precisely because of this that Rye Town has become the granary of the northwest region, with developed agriculture and commerce, and it is prosperous enough to support elite troops.

Sui Xiong hopes that Pyroxene Town can develop, so naturally he must start with agriculture, so that the people of this town can at least be self-sufficient in food - even if it can't, it's not a bad thing to produce more food.

But producing more food means opening up more farmland, which means increasing the scale of the purification array.

The purification array is a divine power array that must rely on the belief system of gods to operate. The population of Pyroxene Town determines the degree of faith it can provide, and this degree of faith determines the scale and number of temples it can provide. If there are not enough temples to support it, the shrines placed in the center of the purification array are nothing more than some decorations.

This is a question of which came first, the chicken or the egg. For those pioneering villages, the church that controls the entire village can promote the deepening of faith through coercive means, in other words, to increase the output rate of people's faith. But that kind of society is not what Sui Xiong wants. He really doesn't think that a society that cannot even allow freedom of thought has any progress.

So he can only change his mind.

The initial idea is naturally to dig out the ground and cultivate special mushrooms that can absorb negative energy. This method has been used in the Void Mask Amusement Park and has been proven to be effective and reliable. But this method also has another problem-it is absolutely impossible for ordinary people to dig out the ground and cultivate special mushrooms on a large scale. Even experienced adventurers cannot bear that amount of labor - you know, the concentration of negative energy underground is completely different from that on the ground!

Progress cannot fall from the sky, nor can it be granted by gods. If it is not achieved through people's own efforts, it is not worth promoting widely, and it cannot verify Sui Xiong's idea.

So he considered another idea - the reason why the Ash Forest has such strong negative energy is that the source comes from the corpse of the ancient god buried deep underground. If he manages to take away the corpse of the ancient god, and then cooperates with large-scale purification, perhaps the negative energy of the entire Ash Forest can be completely expelled, turning it into an ordinary cold forest.

This is a huge project that can be called earth-shaking, with extremely high difficulty and great impact. The most important thing is that Sui Xiong has not been able to find out the origin of the ancient god who died here, which makes him dare not act rashly.

A god who has been dead for many years and can still emit strong negative energy continuously, so that this vast forest is polluted, is simply too powerful to imagine. How dangerous will his corpse be? How many powerful gods will be jealous if he takes it out? How to deal with it after taking it out? These are all big problems.

Sui Xiong has asked the good-mannered Weiye to help him find out. Weiye is a great expert in eating, drinking and having fun. He always appears in various celebrations and has a good relationship with all kinds of gods - except for gods such as pain and plague. He can talk to those old-fashioned lawful gods, those fierce and violent evil gods, and those chaotic gods with strange ideas. At least three-quarters of the gods in the Pantheon have eaten and chatted with him. He is really a super player.

Although there is no progress for the time being, Sui Xiong believes that Weiye will sooner or later find out the origin of the ancient god who died under the Ash Forest.

When that time comes, he will call his friends to make a big news!

But that day is still far away, maybe fifty years, a hundred years, or even longer. He can wait slowly with his endless life, but ordinary people can't wait that long.

So... I still have to think of other ways...

For more than half a month, Sui Xiong wandered around Pyroxene Town. He observed the lives of ordinary people, saw what they lacked, and racked his brains to think about how to improve their living standards.

If he hadn't lost his hair now, perhaps he would have lost a lot of hair in the past half a month, making his head look like a Mediterranean.

His hard thinking finally paid off. One day, when he was hiding in the mine and watching the miners working hard, he finally got an inspiration.

A few hours later, he found Felix and took out a design drawing.

"...What a big project!" Felix studied the design drawing carefully and exclaimed.

This is indeed a big project. Sui Xiong plans to dig four slanted tunnels outside Pyroxene Town and grow special mushrooms in the tunnels. The temperature underground is high enough for special mushrooms to grow. As the mushrooms grow and multiply, the concentration of negative energy around them will decrease. At this time, a deeper tunnel can be dug nearby to plant special mushrooms at a deeper location, and the previous special mushrooms can be harvested to extract the magic essence of negative energy... This cycle is equivalent to artificially creating a vein of negative energy essence outside the town of Pyroxene.

Over time, when the underground veins in this area are deep enough, they can be developed horizontally, and crisscrossed special mushroom planting areas can be arranged underground to form a huge "underground mining area".

From a technical perspective, this idea is not difficult, it just takes a lot of manpower. However, the cultivation of golden vines does not take up much manpower, and Pyroxene Town itself has many skilled miners, so it should be easy.

It's just that the investment in this "artificial vein" is relatively large, and it will take a long time from the start of construction to the beginning of harvesting. If there is not enough financial resources, there is no way to support this plan.

Moreover, even if the artificial vein is successful, the special mushrooms containing a large amount of negative energy can be harvested continuously. The harvesting process is also dangerous, and the special mushrooms obtained are not something that ordinary people can refine. This requires a very high level of magicians and sufficient magic manpower.

Fortunately... For the Pyroxene Town, which is already building a magic school, these are not a problem.

"This plan is very good. As long as there is sufficient magic manpower support, the entire Ash Forest can be completely transformed into a huge negative energy vein." Felix commented, "I think... Your Majesty, you really found a way to make this black forest of death revitalize!"

Sui Xiong scratched his head with his tentacles and smiled happily.

Although the food problem has not been solved, with a reliable source of funds, the revival of Pyroxene Town will definitely be on the right track faster!