Past Biluo Canyon lies the Rose Star Dew Orchard.

This area isn’t just a rural garden mountain region; in fact, it is a very important Holy Land of the Dawn Church.

The first sacred ground of the Dawn Church, the Starlight Pond, is located here. The blessed stone tablet is submerged in the pool, entwined with aquatic plants, becoming a sacred place affecting the entire territory, increasing the yield of all farmland by more than twenty percent.

The wheat yield per acre in the territory could soar from about 160 jin to over 300 jin, thanks to the influence of these religious holy grounds and the infusion of abundant Divine Grace from the Dawn Goddess.

And beside the Starlight Pond is the station of the territory’s strongest Knight Order, the Sun of Vengeance Half-Lion Griffin Knight Order.

Occasionally, a few Half-Lion Griffins can be seen moving in the apple orchard, helping the territory capture wild boars and wolf packs. This meteor basin and canyon indeed hid quite a few fierce wild beasts.

Of course, goblin warbands and beastmen are also present, these things spreading everywhere like duckweed blown by the wind, impossible to completely eradicate.

Even if you clear them out this month, in three to five months, they will emerge from the wild again, batch after batch, never knowing from which shadow or corner they will appear.

Of course, none of this affects the beauty here. As the end of spring and early summer arrives, the orchard is in full bloom, colorful and vibrant, decorating the basin and canyon with boundless vitality.

And Su Li surprisingly discovered an unexpected construction—a Mother Earth’s Holy Pool that had quietly been built without his intervention.

This is a sacred ground similar to the Nun Court for the Dawn Church, capable of continuously nurturing Dawn Church nuns.

The engineers have erected an elliptical holy pool in the middle of the orchard, bordered with natural stonework, its surface carved with symbols of harvest and life such as wheat ears, grape sugar, and blooming flowers.

In the center of the pool is a small island, not very large, with a circumference of just over 3 li, on which stands the Ogham Stone of the Goddess. The church nuns and believers hung garlands made of wheat ears on the stone tablet, and placed flowers and fruits around the stone.

A lush garden surrounds the holy pool, planted with fragrant plants such as lavender and rosemary.

Around the Holy Pool is a group of dozens of farmers, herbalists, midwives, food merchants, lovers, and tree hedge wizards praying around the stone tablet and shrine.

Su Li directly let Death’s Claw land beside the Holy Pool, admired it for a moment, and then asked Vandar, "When was this holy ground built? I remember your church has been gathering funds and would only start construction after raising 1000 Golden Crowns."

Vandar smiled and nodded, saying, "Indeed, our church, from cultivators to believers, would all contribute to this holy ground. But the main donation came from the Knight Clan and manorial lords in the territory. They are all the large landowners of the territory and urgently needed a Dawn Nun stationed in their villages, so the donations were as high as 60 to 70 Golden Crowns, with the smaller ones contributing 5 to 6 Golden Crowns."

"Then, not long after the beginning of spring this year, we finally successfully gathered the funds. After discussion within the church, the location of the holy ground was determined to be near the Rose Star Dew Orchard. Both because the scenery here is beautiful, and to ensure the nuns’ quiet meditation is undisturbed by the outside world. Of course, it also saved on the cost of garrisoning troops here, as everyone trusts in the military strength of the Sun of Vengeance Half-Lion Griffin Knight Order."

That is indeed quite good.

Su Li smiled and said, "Originally, I had thought that once the territory’s finances were adequate, I would allocate funds to you through the Bishop’s Council. I didn’t expect you to be so efficient, having already completed the construction. How many nuns do you have here?"

Talking about this hopeful matter, Vandar’s old face was filled with excitement. In this dark and despairing world, the teaching of their Dawn Goddess Church most emphasizes hope.

"The wealth created in our territory is actually not small, it’s just that, Lord, your assets have been invested and maintained in the military. This caused many strata to benefit from it, obtaining a large amount of wealth." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

This is, of course, to be expected, as Su Li is not a despotic ruler; to govern the territory, he must gather a group of interest groups around him. And in Hesse Territory, this vested interest group surrounding him is undoubtedly composed of several very obvious forces, namely the knights, artisans, clergy, territorial bureaucrats, and large landowner class.

The size of the benefits distributed among these forces is ranked in order. From this perspective, the Empire is somewhat akin to a strengthened version of the Longyou Military Group. The difference is that the craftsmen in this world have indeed extraordinary levels, whether they are pharmacists, wizards, or church cultivators, they can produce a large amount of extraordinary wealth.

Thus, these noble and military aristocrats from the front line do indeed have sufficient interests and wealth to help Su Li maintain control over Hesse Territory.

And the church is naturally happy to strengthen its influence in this manner.

Vandar continued, "After building Mother Earth’s Holy Pool, we promptly dispatched nuns to the impoverished countryside and villages to select a group of women with potential and began to train them to become Dawn Church nuns."