The Thriving Cangming Cave Mansion

Han Yuan took a moment to check the time.

Five days had passed in the blink of an eye.

He had thought not much time had gone by, but it had been longer than he imagined.

Han Yuan left the Cultivation Room and went to the window on the fourth floor to look outside. The entire cave mansion had undergone a tremendous transformation.

A large number of cultivators moved about within the cave mansion.

The several hundred mu of Spirit Fields had already been planted full of spirit plants. Some cultivators busied themselves in the fields, while tender shoots carpeted the earth in lush green.

Han Yuan noticed that all these cultivators wore a badge on their chests. One was a Wisteria Flower, the blossom of the purple vine that had produced the Purple Vine Wood Heart Fluid Han Yuan had once consumed. The other was a Spirit Beast with wings on its back, nameless to him yet brimming with majesty.

The Beast Garden on the other side was likewise well-staffed. Quite a few young Spirit Beasts and ferocious beast cubs frolicked mischievously within, while the cultivators behind them looked somewhat clumsy, run ragged by the Spirit Beasts. The scene was even rather cheerful.

There were also many cultivators moving about in several functional buildings at the center. He noticed that these cultivators did not wear badges, but every one of them had a Wooden Token engraved with "Cangming" hanging at their waist.

In the distance, a disciple wearing a Wooden Token spotted Han Yuan standing by the window. He first bowed to Han Yuan, then swiftly turned and entered the building.

Before long, Chang Chun arrived at Cangming Tower at great speed.

Han Yuan nodded and smiled at him. "You've worked hard."

"Not at all," Chang Chun replied.

Han Yuan asked, "How is the cave mansion operating now?"

"This is a report on the cave mansion's operations over the past five days. Please review it, Estate Master." Chang Chun presented him with something resembling a report.

Han Yuan gave it a glance.

The Liu Family and Di Family had each arranged for two hundred cultivators to take up residence in Cangming Cave Mansion, responsible for operating its various industries. Chang Chun had likewise recruited two hundred disciples to run the cave mansion and its functional buildings. In total, six hundred people were keeping the cave mansion running.

Chang Chun had arranged for disciples to guard the gates, clean, patrol, communicate, and so on. Everything had been organized in perfect order.

When Han Yuan looked at the accounts, his eyes lit up as well. He had assumed recruiting disciples would incur considerable expenses, yet Chang Chun had already achieved a balance between income and expenditure. The proceeds generated by the functional buildings under Qin Feng's management had offset the disciples' wages and other expenses. It greatly exceeded Han Yuan's expectations.

Come to think of it, without Chang Chun, he truly would have been at a loss over how to operate the cave mansion.

He was gradually beginning to understand. True Disciples had originally been prepared for the children of great families, even carrying the implication of funneling benefits their way. After all, most of the sect's upper echelons had family backgrounds. These immense benefits had been prepared for themselves from the start.

Though an occasional common-born disciple would become a True Disciple and grow rich overnight, such cases were few. It was merely a sliver of hope offered to the common-born. Moreover, operating a cave mansion required a great deal of manpower, and in the end, the benefits would still flow silently into the hands of the various aristocratic families, like rain moistening all things without a sound.

Though it looked like an even split, selling large quantities of raw materials naturally meant wholesale prices. Once the Di and Liu Families refined them into finished products, the profits from selling them would definitely double. So what was the real ratio? Han Yuan knew it perfectly well. And among the disciples in those functional buildings, there were surely members of other families too.

Han Yuan set the report aside, looked at the thriving sight outside the window, and smiled meaningfully at Chang Chun. "Chang Chun, you've done very well. But a cultivator's most important matter is their own cultivation. You've been bustling about these days—your cultivation has fallen behind."

Chang Chun smiled awkwardly. "I have indeed been rather busy lately. I'll step up my cultivation afterward."

"You needn't worry too much. You've helped me greatly, and I won't treat you poorly. At the very least, when it comes to Foundation Establishment, I can let you try a few more times." Han Yuan drew him another pie in the sky.

Chang Chun said excitedly, "Chang Chun will certainly not disappoint the Estate Master's expectations!"

"Mm. Go attend to your work. I'm returning to secluded cultivation."

"Yes!"

Chang Chun withdrew.

Only then did Han Yuan notice that another document lay on the table, its contents sealed.

He casually picked it up and opened the seal.

Qin Feng reports: My subordinates accidentally learned that Chang Chun is suspected to be a descendant of a collateral branch once expelled by the Chang Family. Two days ago, a disciple surnamed Chang spoke with Chang Chun for a long time before leaving half an hour later.

Reading this, Han Yuan merely smiled calmly.

Flames sprang into existence from nothing and burned the letter to ashes.

Wangcai beside him looked at Han Yuan in confusion. He raised a paw, ignited flames as well, and looked at him expectantly.

Han Yuan could not help but laugh. He tossed the report to Wangcai.

Wangcai's flames instantly burned the report to ashes. Its tail began wagging rapidly, as though it were immensely pleased.

"Didn't you used to follow Liu Sisi around all the time, begging her for Spirit Beast pills? Why are you lying atop Cangming Tower sunbathing now?" Han Yuan asked with amusement.

"Woof! Woof!" (Her scent changed. It smells uncomfortable.)

Wangcai looked innocently at Han Yuan.

"Dog nose. Come on, accompany me in cultivation."

"Woof! Woof!" (All right, all right!)

Wangcai wagged its tail happily.

Cangming Cave Mansion continued operating steadily as Han Yuan silently shut the Cultivation Room's door.

Random Buff Multiplier: 20

Spirit Gathering Array's spirit-gathering effect *20

The spiritual energy in the Cultivation Room rapidly grew abundant at an astonishing pace.

Han Yuan picked up a Meridian Opening Pill and directly tossed it to Wangcai. Wangcai caught it in one bite and swallowed it. The Meridian Opening Pill's medicinal power began spreading through its body, while Han Yuan placed his palm on it and used his own spiritual power to help Wangcai refine it.

Wangcai wagged its tail in delight. It felt exceptionally comfortable.

Han Yuan fed it these precious materials one after another. He even gave Wangcai a Longevity Pill to swallow.

After this entire process, Wangcai underwent obvious changes. Its cultivation speed increased by around twenty percent compared to before.

"What a pity. You normally can't enjoy the Random Multiplier. Only when you break through to Foundation Establishment will you likely have a chance to benefit from it."

Han Yuan patted Wangcai, signaling it to cultivate.

Wangcai ran a lap around the Cultivation Room before lying down in a corner, obediently drawing in and exhaling spiritual energy.

Through the changes in Wangcai's body, Han Yuan discovered that the next thing best suited for consumption was Blood Vein Grass.

"Although immortal cultivators do not place much importance on body refinement, the stronger the body, the stronger every other aspect can become. Blood Vein Grass may seem the most inconspicuous, but perhaps it will be the most helpful to me."

Taking out a stalk of Blood Vein Grass, he plucked its four leaves and swallowed them.

His stomach, which had just been strengthened, began rapidly digesting the leaves. A peculiar medicinal power started spreading from his stomach.

With his Spiritual Sense, he saw scarlet energy enter his flesh and blood, then naturally form new red veins. Because they were exactly the same color as his flesh, they would have been impossible to detect unless one stared at them constantly.

After these veins appeared in his flesh, it became more lively and resilient. Those Blood Veins seemed to become the meridians of his flesh, with some apparently connecting to his miniature meridians and "secretly" drawing spiritual power from them to enhance all aspects of his flesh.

"Interesting. So this is how so-called physical aptitude is improved!"

Put plainly, it was simply an additional means of absorbing spiritual power!

The Blood Veins on the Blood Vein Grass were incredibly wondrous. They could merge seamlessly with human flesh, without the slightest sense of being foreign matter. If he did not look carefully, he would not even be able to detect these veins.

"Not only do they add another way to absorb spiritual power, these veins can also protect the flesh from harm. They can even mobilize blood and qi throughout the body to accelerate recovery from flesh wounds. What a fine thing!"

Han Yuan marveled at the wonders of Blood Vein Grass, but the world did not value it highly. The improvement to body-refining aptitude was not great, perhaps only a few tenths, and after consuming a limited amount, it would cease to have any effect. Furthermore, immortal cultivators did not value body refinement, for in the end they cultivated the Primordial Spirit and comprehended the Great Dao. The physical body became far less important.

Han Yuan did not care about its enhancement of the physical body. What he cared about was the Blood Veins themselves!

Because these veins had miraculously connected with those miniature meridians!

Ordinary cultivators had no use for such miniature meridians and did not even know meridians could be this tiny. They only used the primary and secondary meridians, at most adding a few small branch meridians.

But Han Yuan's cultivation art was different. After undergoing the transformation of Random Doubling, it had become somewhat different even from the original Ancient Wood Nourishing Spirit Art. He could make use of these miniature meridians, and because they were so numerous, they had instead become the main force behind the Ancient Wood Nourishing Spirit Art!

Now that these Blood Veins had hooked up with his main force, how could he not pay close attention?