Li Daoxuan was looking for a tool.
Chopsticks?
Don't be ridiculous.
Even if Dadunliang Mountain were shrunk two hundred times in every direction, it would still be a solid mountain of stone. No amount of chopsticks—divine or otherwise—was going to pierce that.
If you wanted to drill through rock, there was only one answer.
An electric drill.
Li Daoxuan hurried out of his apartment and headed straight for the property management office. Smiling politely, he said to the young woman on duty, "I need to drill a hole at home. Could I borrow an electric drill?"
The property manager smiled back and handed him a compact, one-handed drill. Then she added a box filled with drill bits—long ones, short ones, thick, thin, everything imaginable.
Li Daoxuan thanked her and returned home.
He plugged the drill in and gave it a test run.
"Whiiiz—!"
The sudden noise made him flinch. His hand shook, and he nearly dropped it.
"…Yeah," he muttered. "Definitely not a beginner-friendly tool."
No matter. He'd improvise.
He adjusted the diorama box, sliding Dadunliang Mountain toward the edge until it was well within reach. With his left hand, he steadied the mountain. With his right, he slowly lowered the drill.
"Here it comes!" Cheng Xu shouted.
"Look! Look!" Zhong Gaoliang pointed wildly. "The celestial artifact!"
Seven thousand labor reform prisoners sucked in a collective breath.
Before their eyes, an incomparably strange and colossal object descended from the heavens. It looked vaguely like a short musket, except its front ended not in a barrel, but in a bizarre, spiraled iron spike.
Cheng Xu blinked.
"…Doesn't that look like Jin Gang Zuan?"
The same nickname as the bandit chief they had captured and executed days ago.
The massive drill bit extended downward, stopping at the base of Dadunliang Mountain. It hovered, shifted slightly left and right, as if choosing a spot.
Then—
"Whirrrrr!"
The switch was pressed.
The drill bit spun at terrifying speed.
The labor reform prisoners cried out in shock, "It's spinning! So fast! It's unbelievable!"
"CRASH!"
The drill slammed into the mountain wall.
Stone shattered instantly. Debris exploded outward. Dust billowed like a storm cloud. In the blink of an eye, a massive hole had been gouged straight into the rock face.
The entire crowd fell silent.
Then—
"What if that drilled into us?" someone whispered in terror.
Cold shivers ran through the prisoners.
If Dao Xuan Tianzun had used such a thing when we were still doing evil… would any of us have survived?
We're lucky. Truly lucky.
The Tianzun spared our worthless lives.
The celestial artifact showed no mercy.
The drill bored deeper and deeper, Dadunliang Mountain offering no resistance at all. Within moments, the mountain was pierced halfway through, revealing a dark, yawning cavern within.
The artifact rose into the sky.
Then it returned—this time bearing an even longer drill bit.
It plunged back into the tunnel and continued.
Cheng Xu and Zhong Gaoliang watched in a daze.
Such power… could only belong to Dao Xuan Tianzun.
They silently thanked him for allowing mortals like themselves to witness such divine might.
"CRASH!"
The mountain was pierced through.
Li Daoxuan leaned down and peered into the diorama box, looking through the hole from one end to the other.
"Good," he said. "Straight through."
He gently shook Dadunliang Mountain to test the tunnel's stability.
To him, it was a light nudge.
To Cheng Xu, it was an apocalyptic event.
The entire mountain swayed violently, as if an earth dragon were twisting beneath it. Cheng Xu nearly lost his footing, his scalp tingling with fear.
After a moment, there were no cave-ins.
No collapsing stone.
Li Daoxuan nodded in satisfaction. To be safe, he inserted a thick PVC pipe straight through the tunnel, reinforcing it.
Then—
Whoosh.
His consciousness shifted via co-sensing, descending into the golden-thread statue of Dao Xuan Tianzun on Cheng Xu's chest.
"It's done," the statue said calmly. "Have the labor reform prisoners clear it out. Then pave a cement road straight through to Yan'an Prefecture."
"It's… done?" Cheng Xu exploded with joy.
He sprang up and bolted toward the tunnel without saying a word to anyone, waving his arms wildly.
The golden-thread statue asked, "What are you doing?"
Cheng Xu laughed uncontrollably. "I want to be the first inside! I want to touch the tunnel carved by the celestial artifact!"
The statue fell silent.
Cheng Xu rushed in. Inside the tunnel, the smooth cylindrical pipe left him momentarily stunned. He touched the walls, then roared at the top of his lungs, "I'm here!"
His voice echoed endlessly.
"Hahaha! Hahaha! I'm the first! I'm the first!"
Li Daoxuan sighed.
Forget it. I'm too lazy to deal with this lunatic.
Whoosh.
His consciousness shifted again, landing on Zhong Gaoliang's chest.
"Organize them," the statue said. "Start building the road."
Zhong Gaoliang finally snapped out of his daze.
"Everyone!" he shouted. "Get to work! Flatten the floor—it's too round. Lay cement all the way to Yan'an Prefecture!"
"When the road is finished, this project ends—and you'll all be released from labor reform and join the army!"
Seven thousand voices erupted at once.
"Good!"
"Long live Dao Xuan Tianzun!"
"The celestial artifact is incredible!"
"My last days of labor reform!"
"Hahaha! Finally free!"
They surged into the tunnel like a flood.
Zhong Gaoliang watched, chuckling, then suddenly paused.
"This tunnel should have a name," he mused. "How about… the Dao Xuan Tianzun Tunnel?"
From the statue came an immediate response.
"No. That's terrible."
Zhong Gaoliang blinked. "But Tianzun dug it! That name sounds perfect."
"Still terrible."
"…Then the Red Sorghum Tunnel?"
Li Daoxuan was silent for a moment. Then: "Go amuse yourself. I'll name it."
After some thought, he said, "It will be called the Huangqiu Terrace Tunnel."
Zhong Gaoliang was confused. "Does that name have some profound meaning?"
"No," Li Daoxuan replied.
It was simply the name that appeared on future maps of his own dynasty, at this exact location.
He was merely borrowing it.
Inside the tunnel, the labor reform prisoners immediately got to work.
A Blue Hat, without waiting for orders, began barking instructions at the Yellow Hats:
"Bring soil! Level the floor first!"
"Compact it, then lay cement!"
"And drainage ditches—both sides! If this floods, we're all dead!"
The tunnel rang with noise, sweat, and hope.
A mountain had fallen.
A road was being born.