With nothing else to do, Li Chen asked Mu Qingrou about her expansion plans.
Mu Qingrou explained her plan. She intended to develop the mountain behind the sect, which would let her increase the number of disciples to fifteen thousand. Any more would be difficult for her to manage, and she had no spare resources to support them.
Fifteen thousand would already make for an enormous sect, surpassing even the Purple Cloud Immortal Abode at its peak.
Her words reminded Li Chen of something, and he asked, "If you had enough resources, could you keep expanding?"
Mu Qingrou nodded. After thinking for a moment, she said, "It would be difficult, but I believe I could manage it-at least thirty or forty thousand, perhaps more. It's just that our resources would probably leave us stretched thin."
There was no helping it. The cultivation world only had so many resources, and Mu Qingrou felt that expanding to fifteen thousand was already the limit.
And that was with the increase in resources following the Sea Clan's appearance.
Without the Sea Clan, supporting even ten thousand disciples would have nearly bankrupted the sect.
That did not even include outer disciples and nominal disciples.
A gleam flashed through Li Chen's eyes at her words, and an idea suddenly occurred to him.
He smiled faintly and said, "Actually, you could take out a 'loan' of resources from the Imperial Court to develop your sect, then repay a certain amount of interest and principal each quarter."
Mu Qingrou's brow furrowed slightly as she listened. Clearly, she had reservations about the proposal.
She asked quietly, "A loan? Your Majesty, wouldn't that be rather risky? If the sect couldn't repay it, wouldn't that..."
Li Chen waved a hand to tell her not to worry and continued, "This model would