Pian Province was part of the Overseas Territories where the Immortal Alliance experimented with innovations in the Dao Path, essentially a vassal territory serving as a testing ground.
It was administered by Xue Lansheng, a grandmaster of the Pill Dao, who was responsible for opening Workshops, establishing Production Yards, and supplying all manner of elixirs.
Since ancient times, Pian Province had been a Blessed Land rich in spiritual essence and suited to growing spirit herbs. Its earth veins nourished the land in every direction, with interconnected springs running throughout. It also enjoyed abundant sunlight, making it ideal for most exotic flowers and rare herbs.
Establishing Medicine Gardens here and processing and refining their produce nearby offered a chance to develop modern pill factories.
To that end, the Immortal Alliance's cultivators had established many Medicine Gardens here, hoping to increase production and grow their wealth.
Moreover, wherever spiritual essence existed, ore veins were bound to gather, allowing Spirit Fields to be opened and spirit stones to be mined.
Such things were the essence of Heaven and Earth, but they would not fly into cultivators' treasure pouches out of thin air. For the most part, wealth still had to be accumulated through labor: slave workers and artisans chipping away with hammer and axe, or operating Mechanism Puppets and various Mecha to crush and sift materials.
Thus, Pian Province maintained no small number of slave workers and artisans.
The purchases of Blessed Lands and transfers of assets that Mei Xuan had previously discussed with Li Chen had likewise been orchestrated by those administering this territory.
Master Xue Lansheng was an expert in the Pill Dao, wholly absorbed in profound techniques. He spent years in secluded cultivation, studying the Great Dao of the Golden Core, while practical affairs were largely managed by his disciples