"Yan Yong, Yan Yong, wake up! Stop sleeping. You've been asleep for three years!"
A voice stirred Yan Yong from his slumber.
A massive gray boulder, its surface carpeted with moss, began to tremble. First gently, then with increasing force, shaking dust loose in clouds. The elliptical boulder split open like a blossoming flower, four limbs unfurling as a head pushed free.
Then it rose, taking the form of a gray stone person — Yan Yong had awakened.
"Grandfather?" Yan Yong opened his eyes and made out the stone figure who had roused him — his grandfather, over eight hundred years old, and also the patriarch of the Gray Stone Tribe.
"Grandfather, why did you wake me? I wanted to sleep another two or three years." Yan Yong sighed with a complaint.
Stone people loved to sleep. When they slumbered, they curled their bodies into a ball, forming a massive elliptical boulder. They would often sleep for seven or eight years at a stretch.
"Enough sleeping, my grandson. You're already over a hundred and eighty. Your father died young, and I won't live much longer myself. In a few more decades, you'll be the new patriarch of our Gray Stone Tribe." The old stone person patted Yan Yong's head and spoke slowly.
Stone people generally lived very long lives, typically reaching a thousand years. Ordinary humans couldn't surpass a hundred, but Yan Yong at a hundred and eighty had only just reached adulthood.
"Grandfather, I don't want to be patriarch. Once I'm patriarch, I won't be able to sleep whenever I want." Yan Yong grumbled, but when his grandfather glared at him, he wisely chose to shut his mouth.
The Gray Stone Patriarch said in an irritated tone, "You brat, why haven't you improved at all? You've wasted all those years sleeping. Hurry up and get yourself cleaned — scrub the moss off your body and pull out the weeds that have grown on you. Soon we'll bring tribute and head to the surface to pay respects to the Immortal. We can't afford to be disrespectful!"
"Oh, is it time to offer tribute to the Immortal again? I could have sworn there was still over a year left." Yan Yong spoke while pulling weeds.
After sleeping for so long, grass had sprouted under his arms, between his legs, and across his chest and back. Especially the clump of dark, wiry grass between his legs — as hard as iron and curled into hooks. Every blade he yanked out made him wince.
"The times have changed. There's a new Immortal. He only arrived recently, and he's the one summoning us." The old patriarch's face was lined with worry.
"A new male Immortal? I hope he's easier to talk to than the last female one. Maybe we can negotiate with him — after all, handing over so much tribute every ten years really is a strain."
"I've discussed it with the other tribal patriarchs, and they feel the same way."
……
Upon a broad altar built of green stone, Fang Yuan sat elevated in the seat of honor, draped in black robes, his long dark hair falling freely down his back. His deep, dark eyes gazed down upon those below.
Dozens of stone people knelt beneath him. Among them were eight stone clan patriarchs: two Gray Stone people, three Granite people, one Iron Stone person, one Green Stone person, and one White Stone person.
And there was tribute.
Vast quantities of ore — rich in gold, silver, copper, and iron, along with diamonds, gemstones, and Gu Insects.
Over time, metals and gemstones grew naturally from the bodies of stone people. Fang Yuan swept his gaze across the tribute, and immediately understood why the Wandering Soul Palace was so opulent and lavish.
On Earth, these would be immense fortunes, but here, their greatest use was merely as materials for refining Gu.
The Fox Fairy had used them as decorations — nothing more than a woman's love of beauty. If given the choice to exchange them for Yuan Stones, she would have cast these gold, silver, and gems away like worn-out shoes.
Among the tribute, the most valuable items were the Gu Insects.
But most of them were merely First Transformation Stone Skin Gu and Second Transformation Boulder Gu. There was only a single Third Transformation Gu — a Stone Orifice Gu.
Fang Yuan had once used one at Qing Mao Mountain, when the Spring Autumn Cicada had crushed his Empty Orifice with no way to relieve the damage. Driven to a dead end, he'd had no choice but to use it.
Stone people were skilled at excavation and lived deep underground. Their food was soil, and while digging through earth below, they sometimes stumbled upon underground Gu Insects.
"What was that? You want to reduce the tribute?" Fang Yuan narrowed his eyes into thin slits, rose unhurriedly, and descended the steps at an idle pace, coming to stand before the stone clan patriarchs.
The stone people were tall — even kneeling, their shoulders towered above Fang Yuan's head.
"Noble Immortal, please hear our plea. Our stone clans have been surrendering this much tribute for thirty consecutive years. In recent times, the earth and sky have quaked, the north has flooded, the east has burned, and life grows harder by the day. Gathering these things has truly become more and more difficult. Noble Immortal, in your great mercy, please forgive our inadequacy and reduce the tribute," the eldest stone patriarch beseeched.
"Yes, Immortal, please reduce it somewhat!"
"In recent years, our tribe's population has been declining."
"Immortal, please show us compassion! We will never forget your great kindness!"
The other stone patriarchs echoed his words.
"Reduce the tribute? Heh heh, of course! In fact, I could exempt you from the tribute entirely." Fang Yuan's smile was gentle and warm.
Joy bloomed on the stone people's faces.
"But I have one condition." Fang Yuan's tone shifted abruptly. "I need you to dig me a canal, so that the floodwaters of the north can flow through it and irrigate the east, where the fires are spreading."
"What?!" The words stunned the stone people.
They quickly recovered and began shouting.
"Noble Immortal, you can't do this!"
"Digging a canal is a massive undertaking! We stone people need our sleep. Without enough sleep, we die!"
"And there are raging flames and vast floodwaters there — you're sending us to dig a canal? That's sending us to our deaths!"
In an instant, the crowd surged with fury. Many young stone people who had been kneeling off to the side heard the commotion and impulsively rose to their feet, their gazes fixed on Fang Yuan with hostility.
"Master." The Fox Fairy, the land spirit at Fang Yuan's side, watched the scene unfold with growing worry.