Chapter 146: Seven Thousand Li of the West Sea Is More Than Enough to Enshrine Shen Guang, But How Many Immortal Venerables Does the Red Lantern Illumination Sect Have? |
Missing two votes wasn't actually a big deal. Even if these two votes determined the success or failure of Mang Xiang's Golden Core Deliberations, it still wasn't a major issue.
What truly made the Immortal Venerables change their expressions was the voting result itself, combined with the fact that Mang Xiang had two Purple Mansion disciples, and what he had said the moment he stepped onto the Gathering Immortals Platform...
As it turned out, the situation was completely different from what they had anticipated.
Namely, there was a real possibility that the despicable Mang Xiang had never intended to attain Golden Core through the Gathering Immortals Platform's approval from the very beginning. The Red Lantern Illumination Sect was squeezing every ounce of their resources dry simply to prepare for war.
Missing exactly two votes aligned far too perfectly with Mang Xiang's two disciples. Even his previous failures might have been intentional!
Everyone—no, probably not everyone. Mang Xiang's allies likely hadn't been played; they might have known exactly what he was trying to do from the very start.
Perhaps the Red Lantern Illumination Sect would be the first major sect to prepare for a civil war within the Immortal Alliance...
Realizing this, how could those Immortal Venerables not be shocked and enraged?
However, the Immortal Venerables had reached the pinnacle of emotional control, and a Dao projection was not the same as their true bodies anyway.
However, the first to break the dead silence was Tianshe. The master of the Sky Serpent Sect shrank back, coiling around a massive pillar within the Gathering Immortals Platform, and spoke without the slightest fear.
"Mang Xiang, you truly know how to scheme. You schemed against all of us.
"The Immortal Alliance has been running for so many years; it really is time for a good fight. If it's war, then let it be war!
"Artifact spirit, let's deliberate on the matter of war—lift the restrictions on Golden Cores and Purple Mansions taking action!"
The Immortal Alliance was a grand stage; those with guts could step right up.
The strength of the Immortal Alliance did not come from the Alliance itself, but from the grand cultivators who formed it. It was strong only because they were strong.
In Tianshe's view, if they had to fight, they would fight. There was nothing to fear.
Mang Xiang's schemes were formidable, and he had deceived everyone over the years, but there were no cowards among the grand cultivators who sat on the Gathering Immortals Platform.
You, Mang Xiang, might be ruthless, but I, Tianshe, am stronger. We will just have to fight for it!
Tianshe's words were terrifying. The master of the Sky Serpent Sect seemed eager to seize benefits from the chaos. Naturally, the other Immortal Venerables would not agree.
The first to speak up was Shen Guang. He looked at Mang Xiang and said loudly, "Did you think it was just your own votes that were missing? You're wrong.
"There are so many True Persons and Purple Mansions taking up empty seats. Chi Ming has been dead for years, yet Zhuzhao is still pretending to be him to occupy a position.
"What does this count as? Ghosts casting votes?
"If we do things this way, the votes will never be calculated clearly!
"With the Immortal Alliance in this state, it truly is time for the Reform. I also support going to war!
"Fighting a bit and squeezing out the excess water isn't a bad thing."
Shen Guang attacked Chi Ming and took a jab at Zhuzhao in passing. Zhuzhao naturally refused to accept this. Controlling Chi Ming's Dao projection, he retorted angrily, "It is not your turn to speak about the Reform. What qualifications does a junior Golden Core have to dictate the affairs of the realm?"
The grand cultivators on the Gathering Immortals Platform argued every day. After all, happily cursing through a Dao projection didn't drain a grand cultivator's energy.
But the intensity of today's situation hadn't been seen in years, with several people actively clamoring to start a civil war within the Immortal Alliance.
Under these circumstances, the Dao projections of the Immortal Venerables who had only left a sliver of energy on the Gathering Immortals Platform and remained silent for a long time awakened one after another, inquiring about the situation.
The Gathering Immortals Platform instantly became lively.
The phrase 'junior Golden Core' provoked the Whitebeard General, who stated bluntly, "Zhuzhao, stop pretending. Everyone is clear about Chi Ming's death.
"You old things occupy empty positions and use the Immortal Alliance's laws to suppress us.
"We have been suppressed for years, and we've had enough.
"Fight! Let's fight right now!
"I have already passed down a Sacred Decree. Hidden Dragon Abbey will join hands with the Sky Serpent Sect and Fellow Daoist Shen Guang to swallow your Red Lantern Illumination Sect first!"
An unbreakable Immortal Alliance?
It didn't exist. They were merely gathered together due to a shared consensus. But if this consensus was exploited and trampled upon, the grand cultivators who suffered losses would inevitably be dissatisfied.
Of course, they wouldn't show it directly.
After all, the leaders of the Immortal Alliance were all top-tier grand cultivators. Any random one of them was a ruthless figure and a heavenly genius who had slaughtered their way to the top through countless hardships and obstacles.
Rashly expressing dissenting opinions would only turn them into a thorn in someone's side.
But... absolute fairness could not exist in any organization. Dissatisfaction would slowly accumulate, and when enough of it gathered, a breaking point would arrive.
For the likes of Tianshe, Shen Guang, and the Whitebeard General to want to start fighting directly meant they leaned heavily toward the Reformist Faction. However, their stances were not entirely identical; at the very least, Tianshe's position and privileges within the Immortal Alliance system were extremely high.
It believed its status had been earned through sheer strength, making Zhuzhao's daily role-playing in Chi Ming's Dao projection a bit too much to stomach—these people were stealing Tianshe's interests.
The conservative faction of the Immortal Alliance held many votes, and these votes represented the power to distribute benefits. But were the True Persons and Purple Mansions behind those votes actually still alive?
Zhuzhao claimed Chi Ming was still alive, but no one else acknowledged it. That was the core of the problem.
If some supported war, others naturally opposed it. Yuehua, who had been slacking off at the very top of the Gathering Immortals Platform, finally walked down amidst the chaos. Standing in the center of the platform, she declared, "Fellow Daoists, I know absolutely nothing about Mang Xiang's plans."
The Gathering Immortals Platform quickly quieted down at her words. This wasn't just because of Yuehua's profound statement—the Immortal Venerables suddenly realized that Mang Xiang hadn't spoken a single word up to this point.
"That's right, Mang Xiang. What exactly are you planning? Are you playing us?"
Immortal Venerable Lianpeng also voiced dissatisfaction.
Manipulating the Gathering Immortals Platform and threatening an Immortal Alliance civil war—Mang Xiang's actions today had crossed the line.
Of course, no one was willing to actually deal with him. From Shen Guang to Tianshe to the Whitebeard General, they were merely stating their stances; they were a long way from taking real action.
Furthermore, Yuehua and Lianpeng's mediation was essentially pressure from Mang Xiang's own allies. This posturing only deepened the doubts among the grand cultivators who didn't want to see Mang Xiang attain Golden Core.
What exactly was going on?
Everyone looked at Mang Xiang.
The Immortal Alliance was one of the few top-tier factions between heaven and earth; there was no stronger organization above it.
The Immortal Alliance boasted over one hundred and twenty Immortal Venerables and more than two thousand Purple Mansions.
The grand cultivators permanently stationed on the Gathering Immortals Platform were all Immortal Venerables. At this moment, the gazes of over one hundred and forty Immortal Venerables (some similar to Chi Ming) fell upon this mere Purple Mansion cultivator, yet Mang Xiang felt not the slightest pressure in his heart.
"Let's vote once more."
Mang Xiang spoke calmly, offering no explanation and merely asking to continue the vote.
He was not afraid!
Strength was the greatest source of confidence.
Under circumstances where Golden Cores could not easily be mobilized, the cost of dealing with a faction like the Behemoth Lineage would be so immense that Mang Xiang dared to point right at Tianshe's face and spit.
"Right, let's vote once more. Perhaps two people simply didn't receive the grotto-heaven transmission just now."
Qingrui spoke up to smooth things over.
In the eerie atmosphere, another round of voting began.
Throughout the entire process, over a hundred Immortal Venerables left their consciousnesses on the Gathering Immortals Platform, secretly colluding with their allies to prepare for the impending civil war.
Mang Xiang brought the momentum of starting a civil war if he failed to attain Golden Core, but the Reformist Faction, represented by grand cultivators like Tianshe, had accepted the prospect without hesitation.
A threat?
Sorry, but we also want to fight!
Although Yuehua, an ally of Mang Xiang, claimed to have been kept in the dark, the grand cultivators who had fought their way onto the Gathering Immortals Platform wouldn't believe a single word of it.
No matter how things ended today, it was prudent to prepare for an Immortal Alliance civil war.
It was the same old logic: if the neighbor hoards grain and I hoard guns, the neighbor becomes my granary.
No grand cultivator wanted their faction to become a granary or a soft target in a civil war, and no grand cultivator was willing to accept defeat easily.
Preparations were an absolute necessity—what if it actually happened?
Facing these questions and reprimands, Mang Xiang didn't explain much, silently enduring it all. He needed to see the results of the new round of voting before making a decision.
"The fifth deliberation on Mang Xiang attaining Golden Core: one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one against one thousand eight hundred and fifty. Denied!"
Tianshe stared at the artifact spirit in disbelief. How did the number of people opposing Mang Xiang actually increase?
"Haha, let's disperse. Mang Xiang, I look forward to you starting the war."
Shen Guang left behind a mocking remark and vanished from the Gathering Immortals Platform, while the other Immortal Venerables continued to interrogate Mang Xiang about his plans.
"You couldn't possibly be planning to start a real war, could you?"
"The problem doesn't lie with me, but with those who oppose me. In fact, I think the Immortal Alliance's rule requiring Purple Mansions to have the Gathering Immortals Platform's approval to attain Golden Core should be changed.
"My business is large and my roots in Wunan run deep, so I can't just run. But in the future, if a stunningly brilliant Purple Mansion appears and wants to attain Golden Core, and you try to block them, that will be the path to ruin."
Leaving behind these words, Mang Xiang departed, ultimately never mentioning the civil war again.
If the vote had passed right after he threatened to fight upon arrival, his prestige would have immediately skyrocketed to another level.
But now he had failed twice...
Bringing it up again would no longer be a threat; it would just be a joke.
"What do you guess he will do next?" Yuehua asked Qingrui, another female cultivator.
With the immediate threat of civil war alleviated, Qingrui relaxed a bit. She smiled and replied with a question, "If someone blocked you and told you to follow the rules and not attain Golden Core on your own authority, what would you do?"
Yuehua nodded in understanding and lay back down on the Gathering Immortals Platform to continue slacking off.
Qingrui, however, still couldn't figure out what exactly had happened with those two missing votes.
It couldn't have been Mang Xiang or his two disciples playing tricks. The two-vote margin came from ten swinging votes that kept jumping back and forth.
Who could it be?——
Meanwhile, Wang Yulou, still completely unaware that he had unexpectedly evaded a catastrophe, was carefully refining spirit pills under Wang Rongwen's guidance.
He had never refined spirit pills before, but his cultivation base had now reached the point where he was simply waiting for Foundation Establishment. Alchemy was similar to the artificing path; it could help him polish his cultivation base and reach the peak of the tenth layer of Qi Refining as quickly as possible.
On the other hand, refining artifacts every day was starting to get dull; practicing alchemy alongside it wasn't a bad idea. After all, Wang Yulou's proficiency in the fire-attribute artificing path was incredibly profound.
When Old Ancestor Xianzhu first invited Wang Yulou to learn alchemy, he had refused simply because his cultivation base was still low, and raising it had been his top priority.
"Another furnace exploded. Uncle Rongwen, was I being too arrogant by completely ignoring the pill recipes and trying to refine purely based on medicinal properties right from the start?"
Seeing a burst of black smoke puff out of the elixir furnace Wang Rongwen had lent him, Yulou asked helplessly.
"Hahaha, you are a master of the artificing path as well, so you definitely understand the logic. Things like recipes are prepared for mediocrities.
"When Uncle Xianzhu taught me alchemy, this was the exact path we took. I am far inferior to you, but didn't I manage to learn it as well?
"According to Uncle Xianzhu, pill recipes are dog shit. Many of them contain intentional flaws left behind by their creators. Believing in pill recipes is worse than believing a donkey can climb a tree.
"Moreover, the value of high-tier spirit pills is often directly tied to the rarity of the materials used, and too many of those materials are incredibly hard to find.
"Therefore, an expert Alchemist Master must eventually abandon pill recipes entirely. They must reach a level where they can analyze a material's medicinal properties and find suitable substitutes on their own."
"The pill recipe is the surface; the medicinal property is the truth. Reconciling medicinal properties is like harmonizing the differing aptitudes, types, and spirituality of spiritual materials. It is the necessary path to becoming a true Alchemist Master.
"Your artifact refining level is high, so naturally, you can learn alchemy easily. It is only slightly difficult at the start. Once you overcome that initial hurdle, this cultivation method is actually much faster in the middle and late stages than ordinary ones."
This was the profound mystery of a family inheritance. The Wang Clan cultivated wood methods, and their highest discipline of alchemy was wood-method alchemy, which naturally harmonized with the wood-attribute nature of spirit grasses and medicines.
Through wood-method alchemy, the Wang Clan's Qi Refining stage Alchemist Masters could easily turn a profit while refining the Foundation Establishment Pill.
Although Wang Yulou lacked a wood spirit root and could not inherit the Wang Clan's wood-method alchemy technique, it did not affect his ability to cultivate the family's secret alchemical inheritance.
This single concept of determining a pill recipe purely by its medicinal properties was the 'true teaching in a single sentence' that countless Alchemist Masters failed to grasp in their entire lifetimes.
Relying on this method, Wang Xianzhou perfectly customized a specialized spirit pill exclusively for Wang Yulou, tailoring it to his birthdate, age, cultivation base, cultivation rhythm, and fundamental spirit root.
The medicinal efficacy and power of these spirit pills were entirely designed around Wang Yulou. With their help, he achieved a terrifying cultivation speed, soaring from the first layer of Qi Refining to the sixth layer of Qi Refining in just a few years.
Of course, the expenditure was equally terrifying. The marginal effect of the spirit pills' medicinal power was enormous; ordinary cultivators would never even dare to dream of such a cultivation method.
Just as Yulou was about to toss another set of base medicinal materials into the elixir furnace to refine a few Qi Transformation Pills and find his rhythm, he stopped his hands and looked toward Wang Rongwen.
"Fast as it may be, let's stop the refining here for today. Uncle Rongwen, Senior Feng has come to visit. It is only proper that I go and welcome him."
After Wang Yulou left, Wang Rongwen sighed and shook his head.
This was the Wang Clan's Qilin child. His divine sense was much stronger than even his own, a cultivator at the Peak Qi Condensation realm.
He harbored no jealousy, feeling only concern for his nephew, Wang Yu'an, who was far away on the other side of the world.
When a grand cultivator was enraged, beacon fires rising across tens of thousands of li was nothing out of the ordinary.
A mere ripple of a storm from the Gathering Immortals Platform caused the fates of the Wunan cultivators to take a lap before the gates of hell.
Wang Rongwen could not imagine that, in a place unknown to him, Wang Yu'an had nearly been forced by grand cultivators into taking up arms against the Wang Clan.
——
In the front courtyard of the residence, Wang Yulou smiled and pointed at a large pit where the spiritual landscaping had not yet been finished. "This place is a bit unsightly; I've made Senior Feng laugh at my expense."
Stiffening his expression, Feng Jianxian feigned dissatisfaction.
"Your courtyard just hasn't been fully repaired yet. It will be beautiful once it is finished.
"Also, I've told you several times, just calling me Feng Jianxian is enough. It sounds much more comfortable. Why call me Senior Feng? It only makes our relationship seem distant."
The reason Wang Yulou was well-liked by others was actually hidden in the details.
Being considerate toward Fellow Daoists like Lin Ying and Zhou Yingxi was nothing special. However, in his interactions with Feng Jianxian, Wang Yulou always made sure to call him 'Senior Feng' first every time they met.
Feng Jianxian would then correct him, and only after would Wang Yulou switch to calling him Feng Jianxian. It seemed tedious, and Feng Jianxian himself found the back-and-forth troublesome, but this tediousness did not mean Wang Yulou's approach was wrong. Because of this routine, Feng Jianxian actually thought more highly of him.
This, too, was a form of cultivation.
In a cultivation world filled with deception and deceit, if one could not unite their Fellow Daoists and instead ended up despised by gods and detested by ghosts, how could they ever reach the opposite shore of the sea of suffering?
After their routine greetings concluded, the two chatted and laughed as they made their way toward the main hall.
Meanwhile, Mi Chuyun, the concubine that Zhou Yingxi had gifted to Wang Yulou, was silently calculating the time in her heart according to Wang Yulou's instructions.
Mi Chuyun and two others had been accepted into the Wang Family's Western Sea Branch, a minor faction that currently existed only in blueprints. Since the construction of the Wang Family's Western Sea Branch was not yet complete, they temporarily remained by Wang Yulou's side as attendants.
Just before welcoming Feng Jianxian into the estate, Wang Yulou had specifically sent a voice transmission instructing Mi Chuyun to silently count to one hundred, and then invite Zhou Yingxi to join him in the main hall.
Mi Chuyun was still a teenage girl and could not fathom the deeper meaning behind Wang Yulou's arrangement. As a result, she foolishly stood directly outside the door of Zhou Yingxi's quiet room and began counting.
Fellow Daoist Yingxi was not a fake Qilin child like Yuan Wu; she was the true Qilin child of the Zhou Clan. Naturally, she sensed the girl lingering outside her door and summoned Mi Chuyun into the quiet room.
"Little Mi, come in."
Called by Zhou Yingxi, Mi Chuyun cried out inwardly that things had gone awry. It seemed she had done something stupid and botched the task Senior Yulou had assigned her.
After all, she was a young girl born into a vassal family of the Zhou Clan. Facing Zhou Yingxi's inquiry, she naturally dared not hide anything.
Seeing the young lady of the Zhou Clan sit in silence after hearing her explanation, Mi Chuyun grew even more afraid. She feared her foolish mistake would end up offending both sides.
Dao Companions could argue during the day and make up by the foot of the bed, but she would be left shouldering the blame. At the thought of this, the young girl's eyes faintly brimmed with tears.
In truth, Zhou Yingxi remained silent simply because she was deeply pondering Wang Yulou's character.
Mi Chuyun was a member of a Zhou Clan vassal family; therefore, she belonged to the Zhou Clan, not to Wang Yulou. Naturally, her loyalties leaned toward Yingxi.
Despite this, Wang Yulou still entrusted Mi Chuyun with the task of timing her entrance. Perhaps this act in itself was meant to convey a message.
He desired a life where he meticulously plotted every possible step, exerting effort wherever he could...
So, did he hope she could keep up with his pace?
Zhou Yingxi could not figure it out. She felt she might have guessed the answer, but she was not entirely sure.
She would have to see if he continued to convey this meaning in the future.
If her guess was correct, she could further deduce that her Dao Companion respected her greatly, to the point of swallowing many words that might hurt their relationship.
Zhou Yingxi felt a slight numbness in her heart.
Being Dao Companions with a heavenly genius cultivator like Wang Yulou—especially when their relationship possessed an unstable emotional foundation and impure motives—was truly exhausting...
Zhou Yingxi, not in the best of moods, comforted Mi Chuyun with a few gentle words and then led her toward the residence's main hall.
What else could she do? Wang Yulou's methods were incredibly skilled. No matter how much she had to brace herself, Zhou Yingxi had to play her part and sing along; she could not afford to fall too far behind.
Otherwise, she would completely lose the initiative in their relationship as Dao Companions.
Her biological father, Mu Changze, when evaluating the master-disciple relationship between Zhou Bojiao and Mang Xiang from the perspective of a seasoned Foundation Establishment cultivator, had pointed out that it would be fraught with gambits.
The cultivation world had always been this deceitful; those who were even slightly foolish would not even know how they died when their end came.
Zhou Yingxi did not want to die. She still needed to live on to shoulder the heavy burden of the Zhou Clan.
Therefore, no matter how arduous the path, she had to keep walking.
After all, Wang Yulou was her Dao Companion. From this standpoint, however much Wang Yulou valued his relationship with her, Zhou Yingxi valued it equally.
Even if they faced major conflicts of interest regarding a future Purple Mansion opportunity, the foundation for an alliance still existed between them.
——
"Feng Jianxian, that day we went to Bright Moon Night Inn, I heard the Black Dragon Steed say it has a Great Demon brother.
"I happen to be lacking a Great Demon mount right now. If it can bring that Great Demon to the immortal city to serve me, I will naturally offer the appropriate thanks."
Wang Yulou had set his sights on the Black Dragon Steed's brother.
As a mount, the Black Dragon Steed was considered quite excellent, even among Great Demons.
Horses might sound as though they lacked combat power, but that only applied to mortal horses. From the Great Demon tier onward, the gap between demonic beasts and cultivators leveled out.
At the same cultivation base, if ten pinnacle Minor Demon Realm demonic beasts fought against ten Peak Qi Condensation realm cultivators, the cultivators would highly likely emerge victorious.
But if ten Great Demons fought against ten Foundation Establishment cultivators, the winners would likely be the Great Demons. This was because Great Demons could study all dharma methods, ranging from spell arts to divine abilities, and even artifact refining and alchemy.
Ordinary demons did not use magical artifacts, but Great Demons could wield spiritual artifacts. After a formidable Great Demon became a Demon General, if they possessed the right connections, they could directly enter the Immortal Alliance system to serve as a sect elder—the Sky Serpent Sect had taken in a Mountain-Overturning Flood Dragon just a few years ago.
Under these circumstances, a Great Demon like the Black Dragon Steed inherently possessed a tyrannical physical body. Combined with numerous other methods, its strength was not much different from that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Therefore, despite being a horse, the Black Dragon Steed was far from weak. Or rather, most Great Demons were far from weak.
There were exceptions, of course—opportunistic Great Demons whose foundations and demon bodies were both lackluster, much like Wu Jinyan among human cultivators.
"Wang Yulou, where did you just say you went?"
Zhou Yingxi walked in with a displeased expression. The moment she entered the door, she snapped at Wang Yulou.
It was unclear whether she harbored resentment because Wang Yulou had visited the Bright Moon Night Inn, or because his scheming was too advanced, forcing her to play a high-end game of wits.
Of course, snapping at Wang Yulou was one thing. Toward Feng Jianxian—whose reputation and background were both excellent, and who was a seasoned Foundation Establishment cultivator—her attitude was much more polite.
"Senior Feng, on the day of our marriage, you gifted us an eighth-grade purple goji mature tree. It was truly far too precious.
"Yulou does not understand these social graces and failed to prepare a thank-you gift for you. However, I heard that Senior has a special fondness for magical robes, so I prepared this roll of Thousand Li Red to express our gratitude."
As Zhou Yingxi spoke, she drew a roll of radiant red fabric from her storage bag and presented it to Feng Jianxian.
An eighth-grade purple goji mature tree was considered the best of the best. While not a spiritual object, it boasted extremely high yields. As long as it received sufficient spiritual vitality and spiritual qi, it would produce over a dozen eighth-grade purple gojis every few years.
In comparison, although the Thousand Li Red—a specialty of the Red Lantern Illumination Sect—was precious, it was ultimately slightly inferior in value.
It wasn't that Zhou Yingxi was stingy; she simply hadn't had the time to prepare. This piece of Thousand Li Red had been gifted to her by a close female friend in the past, and she was now pulling it out at the last minute to serve as a return gift.
Feng Jianxian smiled and shot a glance at Wang Yulou, the meaning self-evident.
"Yulou, you married such an impressive Dao Companion. You have much to look forward to in the days ahead."
However, Feng Jianxian also knew how to handle social situations smoothly. He reached out and tapped the rolled-up piece of Thousand Li Red.
"Whoosh~"
The crimson Thousand Li Red swiftly unfurled, floating in mid-air. It measured about one zhang and two chi long, and about eight chi wide; it was more than enough material to tailor two magical robes.
"The Red Lantern Illumination Sect's Thousand Li Red. It is crafted by dyeing premium lantern cotton with Vermillion Blood Stone powder.
"It is said to be woven from a single, unbroken cotton thread a thousand li long, forming a flawless piece of red cloth.
"A fine item. Little Friend Yingxi has been very thoughtful, hahaha."
Facing such a lavish gift from Zhou Yingxi, and given his strict adherence to propriety, Feng Jianxian naturally had no grounds to refuse Wang Yulou's earlier request. He repeatedly promised to do his utmost.
However, as the married couple walked Feng Jianxian to the door to see him off, Fellow Daoist Yingxi held Wang Yulou's arm and suddenly said, "Senior Feng is a highly renowned senior in the immortal city. I have only been here a short time, yet I have already heard of your great name from many Fellow Daoists.
"Seeing you today, I feel that Senior truly lives up to your reputation. Your extraordinary bearing is exactly like that of a sword immortal. You are a senior of high virtue and prestige, truly worthy of our admiration.
"It is just that you absolutely must not let Wang Yulou lead you astray.
"That Bright Moon Night Inn is not a proper place. My husband is young and does not understand that visiting such establishments will damage your reputation, Senior. I apologize to you on his behalf."
Faced with Zhou Yingxi's words, which pierced him straight to the core sentence by sentence, even the profoundly cultivated Feng Jianxian simply cracked his whip and rode off on the Black Dragon Steed, not daring to look back even once.
"Little Friend Yulou, this daughter of the Zhou Clan is beautiful, but I don't envy you in the slightest. Guess why?"
"Little Xi, you misunderstood. I wasn't the one who took Senior Feng there, it was..."
Wang Yulou tried to explain.
"So that means you had to go? Bright Moon Night Inn... the name is elegant enough, but don't tell me you don't know what they do there," Zhou Yingxi countered.
Wang Yulou immediately admitted his mistake.
"I shouldn't have gone. Even though we only drank two pots of Flowing Splendor Nectar that day, I still shouldn't have gone.
"Wife, I have an idea. Senior Martial Sister Lin's family has opened spirit food restaurants in several markets around Dripdrop Cave, and their culinary skills are quite high.
"We can poach two of their spirit food chefs for the immortal city, then transfer two highly skilled ones from the Wang Clan's Flavorful Bistros in other locations, and open a high-end restaurant in the Subsidiary City.
"This way, we can invite close Fellow Daoists to our home in the future, and we'll have a place to entertain those we aren't as close with. What do you think, Wife?"
Zhou Yingxi realized once again that dealing with him was a high-level game.
If she expressed dissatisfaction over him bringing up Lin Ying right now, she would lose the moral high ground.
But if she said nothing to appear magnanimous and understanding of the big picture, she would be forcing herself to swallow her anger.
Wang Yulou had admitted his mistake right from the start and even offered a business proposition. If she only focused on her dissatisfaction, she would fall right into his trap and look like a petty woman.
This bastard really wasn't simple...
Faced with Wang Yulou's seamless pivot, Zhou Yingxi stared at him for a long time, unable to think of a decent reply that wouldn't compromise her composure.
However, to outsiders, their profound and silent standoff simply looked like an affectionate gaze.
Just as Wang Yulou started to feel that he was bullying Fellow Daoist Yingxi a bit too much, Wang Rongchuan arrived, breaking the deadlock and saving her from her mental crash.
"Yulou..."
Wang Rongchuan appeared at the gates of the Jade Palace Estate, looking travel-worn. Seeing Wang Yulou right at the door, he offered a greeting, but then found himself struggling with how to address Zhou Yingxi.
The Wang Clan's generational hierarchy was quite interesting. A new generation every hundred years naturally accommodated the long lifespans of cultivators and the branching lineages of a cultivation family.
However, this meant that fathers, sons, uncles, and nephews sometimes belonged to the same generation. In such cases, immediate family members addressed each other by their actual relationships, while more distant clansmen used their generational rankings.
Under these rules, even though his cultivation base was lower, Wang Rongchuan was still Wang Yulou's senior and could appropriately call him Yulou.
But Zhou Yingxi was different. She was a noble lady from Perfected Man Fujiao's family, and her cultivation base was also at the tenth layer of Qi Refining. How should Wang Rongchuan address her?
This was no minor issue. Wang Rongchuan was cautious, afraid that addressing her inappropriately might cause trouble for Wang Yulou.
"Uncle Rongchuan, please come inside and have some tea first. We can discuss your matters unhurriedly."
Zhou Yingxi took the initiative to speak. On the surface, it seemed she was bailing Wang Rongchuan out by establishing how to address her, but in reality, she was bailing herself out from the awkwardness of being cornered by Wang Yulou.
A short while later, Wang Rongchuan accepted the spirit tea under Zhou Yingxi's warm hospitality. He took a sip and began reporting the results of his investigation.
"Yulou, it is roughly as you expected. The claim that there are thirty thousand cultivators in the West Sea is outdated information that has been passed down for over two hundred years.
"Western Sea Immortal City doesn't have a specific total count. However, the nine sectors within the immortal city and the seven sectors in the Subsidiary City each keep their own population statistics.
"Adding all those numbers together, the current Western Sea Immortal City has over fifty-seven thousand four hundred cultivators, nearly double the supposed thirty thousand.
"Taking into account the cultivators in the fourteen outposts, as well as those living between the inner and outer embankments of the West Sea, there must be at least one hundred thousand cultivators just within the area of influence of Western Sea Immortal City alone."
Zhou Yingxi was utterly confused by this, but Wang Yulou nodded slightly, signaling Wang Rongchuan to continue.
"As for the properties and shops within the immortal city, the Market Hall has detailed records. I presented your name and the Wang Clan's command token, so they let me take a look.
"The person who let me check the records was named Chen Hudi. He seemed interested in befriending you. He mentioned that despite seeing so many disciples from great clans, you were the first to show an interest in the exact number of shops in the West Sea.
"Setting that aside, out of the nine sectors within Western Sea Immortal City, eight have shops, totaling three hundred and thirty-eight establishments. All seven sectors in the Subsidiary City have shops, totaling five hundred and twenty-four establishments. They vary in size, and the types of businesses they operate are quite mixed.
"I couldn't memorize them all at once. Chen Hudi said that they are the immortal city's official records, so it wouldn't be appropriate to let me copy them down. I'm guessing he wants you to speak with him directly."
Wang Rongchuan paused here. He couldn't dump too much information at once; the listener needed time to process.
Wang Yulou looked toward Zhou Yingxi and noticed her secretly observing him, so he asked:
"Have you ever heard of this Chen Hudi?"
"Among the eight local True Persons of the West Sea, one is surnamed Chen, bearing the title True Person Poor Sea."
"Poor Sea?"
"To exhaust the West Sea to open new frontiers. My father mentioned him to Uncle Liangzhuo a while ago. If I recall correctly, True Person Poor Sea should currently be serving in the Immortal Alliance, meaning he isn't in the West Sea right now."
Wang Yulou nodded thoughtfully, gesturing for Uncle Rongchuan to continue.
"But Yulou, the recorded number of these shops is actually incorrect, because our Flavorful Bistro within the immortal city wasn't on the list.
"Many shops, regardless of whether they are inside or outside the immortal city, aren't in the Market Hall's records," Wang Rongchuan said mysteriously.
Wang Yulou raised an eyebrow. "Are they still paying taxes?"
Uncle Rongchuan smiled ambiguously. He lowered his voice and explained the intricacies involved.
"Of course. This involves two types of operations.
"For the shops inside the immortal city, they play the trick of 'one shop, multiple families.' This means one shop pays a single portion of taxes, but multiple actual shops operate under that shop's name. Our immortal city Flavorful Bistro uses this model.
"In the Subsidiary City, a large portion of the businesses are considered 'stalls.' They only pay a stall fee once every ten days, bypassing the immortal city's official ledgers entirely. The people collecting the fees bow directly to that individual. Our Subsidiary City Flavorful Bistro is classified as exactly this kind of 'stall'."
"The people collecting the fees bow to that individual."
Wang Rongchuan didn't mention who it was, but Yulou naturally knew, and Zhou Yingxi knew as well.
If one really had to ask who they bowed to, they might as well give up on cultivating immortality and return to Wang Family Mountain to raise donkeys.
"Good. Uncle Rongchuan, this information is extremely crucial. You've worked hard. Take this bottle of Qi Transformation Powder. Even if you don't use it yourself, you can save it for your child."
Wang Yulou personally walked Wang Rongchuan out to see him off. Upon returning to the estate, he unhurriedly resumed his cultivation.
——
When night arrived, just as Wang Yulou was planning to continue his explorations, Fellow Daoist Yingxi couldn't hold back anymore.
The bedroom was pitch-black, but Fellow Daoist Yingxi's eyes were wide and bright.
Since she had cultivated her wood method to the tenth layer of Qi Refining, her spiritual power occasionally manifested externally.
Specifically, once the lights were out, her eyes emitted a faint green glow in the gloom.
It wasn't frightening, but Wang Yulou always felt like he was holding a she-wolf in his arms, which he found quite amusing.
"Husband, why did you have Uncle Rongchuan investigate those things?"
On the bed, Wang Yulou was half-sitting up, leaning back against a pillow.
Fellow Daoist Yingxi lay in his embrace. A few stray strands of her hair stuck up, just enough to brush against his chin.
Gently stroking Zhou Yingxi's hair, Wang Yulou gave her a scalp massage while patiently asking, "Did you pick up on anything?"
His fingers scratched her scalp, making it ticklish but very comfortable.
However, faced with his sudden question, Zhou Yingxi failed to react for a moment.
"Ah... the Immortal Alliance's taxes can't be completely collected?"
Yulou smiled. When could taxes ever be completely collected? It was the same everywhere, throughout all of time, and cultivators were no different.
When grand cultivators had their subordinates run errands, they couldn't exactly forbid them from eating their fill.
It would simply be inappropriate.
"It's not just that. The figure of thirty thousand cultivators in the West Sea corresponds to the number of cultivators in a sect like Wondrous Peak Mountain.
"From its main sect disciples to the itinerant cultivators within its territory, Wondrous Peak Mountain probably has around thirty thousand cultivators in total.
"But in reality, the number of cultivators in the West Sea is sixty thousand, or even up to one hundred thousand if we count more broadly. This is equivalent to nearly half the population of the Red Lantern Illumination Sect.
"Since this seven-thousand-li stretch of the West Sea under the Immortal Alliance can sustain one hundred thousand cultivators and produce eight Purple Mansions, it isn't strange at all that Shen Guang Immortal Venerable was able to achieve enlightenment here."
Zhou Yingxi was shocked by Wang Yulou's unique set of calculations.
Linking the number of bottom-tier cultivators with the number of high-level cultivators seemed like a massive leap in logic, yet it also made an extreme amount of sense. This was her first time encountering a perspective like this.
"The seven-thousand-li stretch of the West Sea is narrow, but its length is significant. Calculating the area, isn't it exactly about one-third to one-quarter of the Red Lantern Illumination Sect?" Zhou Yingxi quickly began calculating.
Yulou didn't know if Fellow Daoist Yingxi's math was any good, but he knew a cultivator's brain definitely worked faster than a mortal's. Zhou Yingxi's calculation was extremely close.
The Red Lantern Illumination Sect's territory was vast, spanning more than three or four thousand li in length and width. Its overall area was between 3.5 to 4 million square kilometers, with minor factions constantly engaged in border skirmishes with other sects.
The Immortal Alliance's domain in the West Sea was seven thousand li long and five hundred li wide. The corresponding area was between 800,000 and 1 million square kilometers, and its borders were also heavily blurred.
Wang Yulou reached out and pulled his wife up a bit, shifting her to a position where he could kiss her just by lowering his head.
He lowered his head, savoring her lips as he asked, "Seven thousand li of the West Sea is more than enough to enshrine Shen Guang, but how many Immortal Venerables does the Red Lantern Illumination Sect have?"
Zhou Yingxi instantly lost any romantic thoughts. Her soft, relaxed body suddenly stiffened.
Seven thousand li of the West Sea is more than enough to enshrine Shen Guang, but the Red Lantern Illumination Sect has...
Did he think about these kinds of questions every single day?
"Alright, enough about this. Let's rest early."
Yulou pulled his wife under the covers, preparing to consummate the night, but after his intellectual provocations, Zhou Yingxi had entirely lost the mood.
"You had Uncle Rongchuan investigate just for this?"
"What? Put your hand down, we're already married. Yes, just like that, don't move... I had him investigate to understand the specific situation of the West Sea. He's familiar with the area."
"And what is understanding the situation for?"
"To earn spirit stones, of course. How can we cultivate without spirit stones?"
"Then have you found a way to earn them?"
"No, Wife. I can only hope you ask the ancestor for more."
"Big liar!"
As she spoke, Zhou Yingxi bit down on Wang Yulou's shoulder like a little dog.
Coupled with her eyes flashing with a faint green spiritual light, she looked even more like a she-wolf.
"Hahahaha, we have to wait. We must wait until people from the clan arrive to help me settle the affairs of the Wang Family's Western Sea Branch before we can start."
"Haven't you already received Ancestor Jingyi's approval?"
"You don't understand. Human hearts are the hardest thing to appease.
"Even grand cultivators can't stop their subordinates from skimming the Immortal Alliance's tax money.
"How could I, a mere Qi Refining cultivator, truly control a faction?"
"You can't even control your own family?"
Thinking of the Zhou Clan gave Zhou Yingxi a headache, so she was actually quite curious about Wang Yulou's views on family management.
"It's exactly because it is my own family that it's hard to manage. I can't even manage you, can I? A bit higher."
"Hmph, you should go to the Bright Moon Night Inn less. That guy surnamed Feng is not a decent person!"
Recalling the stories of the Golden Liquid Sword Immortal made Zhou Yingxi feel somewhat uncomfortable. She had been a noble young lady since childhood; how could she ever fathom something like a Golden Liquid Magic Sword?
A Golden Liquid Magic Sword... is that something a normal person would use?
Pah, disgusting!
"You don't understand. Feng Jianxian is unconstrained by convention, yet he holds true to his inner convictions. He lives the kind of life I envy."
"What, you want to learn from him? Learn to go to the Bright Moon Night Inn every day to find those sloshed foxes from the Moon Splendor Sect and do those filthy things?"
Wang Yulou asked in confusion, "Aren't we doing that right now..."
"Shut up!"