Chapter 244 · Douluo’s First Industrial City

Considering that Xiao Wu had been locked up for three years, it really had been quite a torment for her personality. So Chen Ming simply gave her a chance and let her go wild in Heaven Dou City for three days. She ate properly at all kinds of restaurants, bought new clothes, and even caused a scene at the auction house.

Perhaps she really had been so pent up that it almost became a mental demon. After playing around for a few days, Xiao Wu's cultivation actually rose by one level, reaching level 39. She was already close to level 40 and would soon condense her fourth Spirit Ring.

This cultivation speed was much faster than Xiao Wu's in the original story. It was even a bit beyond humans with innate full Spirit Power.

At this rate, in a few years, she would probably complete her transformation, use up her origin, and then begin absorbing Spirit Rings.

Chen Ming just did not know where Tang San was currently making his fortune, or what kind of mood he was in.

That "genius" who once relied on the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record to dominate everything—how much ability did he still have now, in this environment where the water level had already risen?

During this time, Chen Ming also wanted to contact Long Na'er and see if he could get the records on dragon runes from her. But ever since she returned last time, Long Na'er had not appeared within Heaven Dou Imperial Academy.

After failing to find her several times, Chen Ming gave up on looking for her for now and temporarily put his energy into other matters.

After casually greeting a few people and dealing with the trouble Xiao Wu had caused, Chen Ming took Xiao Wu and left Heaven Dou City. First, he went to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect to say hello, checked on Ning Rongrong, who was smoothly fusing with the Eight Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, then greeted Ning Fengzhi and mobilized a large amount of iron ore and various rare metals from the sect.

After taking out a large number of soul tools and storing all the iron ore and rare metals inside, Chen Ming returned to Holy Soul City.

Several years ago, when Chen Ming first left Holy Soul Village, he had left behind methods for cultivating wood ear mushrooms, mushrooms, and other wild mountain delicacies. The second time he returned was when Holy Soul City was established, and he left behind the related technology for the spinning jenny.

Today's Holy Soul City was not only a trade distribution center located between the borders of the two great empires, but also a city with its own special products.

Old Jack used the technology Chen Ming had left behind to raise wood ear mushrooms, mushrooms, and other mountain delicacies in large amounts.

Some of the Spirit Masters with the Fifteen Ton Ant Martial Soul were even sent to raise mushrooms.

Because of the traits of their Martial Soul, this group of people was surprisingly good at raising mushrooms. The finished products were almost top-quality. Through some adjustments to the strains, they even selected suitable new mushroom varieties for mass production.

In this era, mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms were considered mountain delicacies. They had nourishing effects, and excellent varieties could even contain certain medicinal properties, able to repair damage to the body or improve cultivation effects.

Although their value was not as high as true high-quality medicinal herbs, they were still precious goods. Nobles and Spirit Master sects all liked these products very much.

Under large-scale cultivation, they became Holy Soul City's star products. All kinds of dried mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms spread through trade across Douluo Continent. From Heaven Dou City, the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire, down to nameless small cities, one could basically see mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms produced by Holy Soul City.

Aside from agriculture, the industrial side had not fallen behind either.

Old Jack organized everyone to raise sheep and founded a textile factory, using industrial methods to mass-produce high-quality wool cloth. Compared with old-fashioned spinning wheels, the spinning jenny was a full sixteen times more efficient. For the traditional textile industry, this was almost a crushing advantage.

Before Chen Ming even knew about it, Old Jack had somehow obtained a set of dyeing techniques from somewhere and hired some tailors who had come to Holy Soul City to handle professional designs.

Although the quality of the wool cloth was not top-tier, and the dyeing and tailoring were not top-tier either, they had the technology Chen Ming left behind. On top of that, Holy Soul City was Chen Ming's territory, so no one dared to trouble Old Jack and the other original residents of Holy Soul Village, let alone squeeze extra profit from them.

The various fabrics and clothes produced by Holy Soul City had the best value for money in the entire Heaven Dou Empire.

A wool coat only cost one-third, or even one-fourth, of the normal price. At that price, not only could families with a bit of spare money afford it, even farming families could grit their teeth and buy one.

Through further processing of wool cloth, they created all kinds of custom-dyed and tailored products. Together with their high value for money and the advantage of being in a logistics hub, they actually built up a fairly decent brand.

As the industry kept expanding and improving, these two industries could, in a sense, already be considered the two main brand pillars of Holy Soul City.

Aside from that, another very important source of income for Holy Soul City was tourism.

Because the former Holy Soul Village had not been demolished, as Chen Ming's fame grew, Holy Soul Village became a famous blessed land on Douluo Continent.

Some more superstitious Spirit Masters would run to Chen Ming's old home and worship there, praying that their children could become as smart as Chen Ming, or as talented as Chen Ming.

And this kind of tourism was not just about collecting entrance fees.

Holy Soul City itself was also a large-scale goods distribution center, with its own star products.

Those who came to travel would inevitably spend money in Holy Soul City, or buy large amounts of merchandise related to Chen Ming. In this way, tourism indirectly boosted Holy Soul City's income even further.

On top of that, the Holy Soul City Royal Intermediate Academy, upgraded from the former Nuoding City Junior Spirit Master Academy, was also located inside Holy Soul City. The large number of Spirit Masters and students gathered there greatly pushed the city's development.

Although it was strange, under circumstances where there had not been much detailed planning, Holy Soul City had somehow completed an industrial upgrade.

A city that had been built for less than ten years suddenly transformed into one of the richer places on the entire Douluo Continent.

During the two years Chen Ming had been away, the elders of the former Holy Soul Village had all made a fortune. In a sense, because of Chen Ming, even chickens and dogs had risen to heaven with him. Their quality of life had improved by who knew how many times.

Some Spirit Masters who were not doing well did not even live as comfortably as they did.

Local thugs, gangsters, bandits, road bullies, corrupt officials—none of them dared to touch these old and young villagers. With all the layers of exploitation gone, their lives became even more comfortable.

After Chen Ming returned to Holy Soul City, he saw Old Jack leading a large group of people toward him with gongs and drums.

The excited looks on their faces were almost overflowing.