Safe and Sound, Another Three Years!

Deep within the cave abode, Spiritual Qi gathered in dense concentrations.

Several jade boxes sat open before Shi Jian. Purple-Vein Ginseng, Black-Yellow Stone, Spirit Wood Fruit, and a second-tier superior-grade Blood-Coagulating Lotus lay quietly inside.

The unusual fragrance of the spirit medicines filled the entire stone chamber!

Sun Bo'an stood to one side, his hands at his sides and his expression respectful.

"I am about to enter seclusion."

Shi Jian opened his mouth wide, chewed the Purple-Vein Ginseng to pieces, roots and all, and swallowed it. Its pure medicinal power burst open in his belly, surging through his meridians and washing over his limbs and bones.

"The medicinal power of these high-tier Spirit Plants is overbearing. I must sleep for a while to digest them completely and use them to advance my cultivation."

Shi Jian swallowed the Blood-Coagulating Lotus in another mouthful. Dark red juice dripped down his fangs, and the Yao Qi around him began to churn violently. A faint blood-red glow spread across the black fur covering his body.

"During my seclusion, you will have full authority over the clan's affairs."

"But remember two things."

"First, wealth must not be flaunted. Dispose of the assets we brought back in batches, in other commanderies. I trust you know what to do."

"Second, unless the Sun Clan faces the threat of extermination, no one is to set foot on the back mountain. Anyone who disobeys will be killed without mercy."

Sun Bo'an bowed. "This junior will obey your decree, Ancestor. Please enter seclusion without worry. The Sun Clan will remain safe and sound."

Seeing this, Shi Jian said no more. He lowered himself onto all fours, and his eyes gradually drooped shut.

His breathing grew long and heavy. With every breath, the Spiritual Qi in the cave abode surged and howled, while his heartbeat gradually slowed...

Sun Bo'an did not dare disturb him. He withdrew from the cave abode and activated the three layers of isolation arrays on the back mountain. From then on, the Sun Clan kept an even lower profile...

There was a faint sense that they were withdrawing from the world.

Half a month later.

An unmarked merchant ship sailed out of White Cloud Commandery, down the Cang River, and into neighboring Qingzhou Commandery.

Sun Bo'an had changed into a Rogue Cultivator's attire and donned a bamboo hat. Using a Disguise Pill to alter his features, he had taken on the appearance of a thin, withered old man with a sallow complexion.

Qingzhou Commandery's underground black markets were quite famous. Though fish and dragons mingled there, they were good places to turn goods into cash and divide the spoils...

Sun Bo'an entered a pawnshop called the Hidden Fragrance Pavilion. Its shopkeeper was a fat man at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, with a turtle's face and mung-bean eyes.

"What are you selling, sir?"

The shopkeeper worked his abacus and smiled shrewdly. When he smiled, his pair of mung-bean eyes all but vanished.

Sun Bo'an did not answer. Away from home, he took care over everything, again and again. He took out a Storage Bag and tossed it onto the counter.

The shopkeeper swept it with his Divine Sense, and his expression changed slightly.

The Storage Bag contained the cores, hides, bones, and Essence Blood of dozens of level-one Demon Beasts, along with several first-tier spirit herbs in excellent condition.

"This batch is good quality. It all carries the bloody stench of slaughter. Fresh out of the Great Maple Mountain Range, I take it?" the shopkeeper asked in a low voice.

"Are you buying or not?"

"I'll buy. Twenty percent below market price."

"Fifteen percent. Otherwise, I'll go elsewhere."

"Deal!"

Sun Bo'an repeated transactions like this ten times in all across three black markets in Qingzhou Commandery, selling only a small portion each time.

He waited ten days to half a month between sales, never leaving any trace of his whereabouts.

The selling went on for more than half a year.

By the time Sun Bo'an returned to Hongtian City, eighty to ninety percent of the Demon Beast materials and high-tier spiritual items in his Storage Bag were gone.

In exchange, he had obtained a full five thousand low-grade Spirit Stones!

There were also three large chests of Yellow Dragon Pills and Qi-Gathering Powder suitable for Qi Refining Realm cultivators, as well as several mid-grade and superior-grade Law Artifacts.

Bolstered by this enormous supply of resources, a fervor for cultivation swept through the entire Sun Clan.

Spiritual Qi misted the air inside the council hall.

Sun Bo'an pushed two bottles of Yellow Dragon Pills toward Sun Wanqing.

"Wanqing, this is your pill allotment for the next six months. Keep it safe."

"How are things progressing at the Talisman Court?"

Sun Wanqing put the pills away, her expression as cool and clear as water. "The success rate for first-tier mid-grade talismans has stabilized at forty percent."

"We can produce Golden Light Talismans, Earth Travel Talismans, and Fire Rain Talismans in batches."

"Also, the Hundred Arts Chapter that Ancestor left behind contains an incomplete talisman pattern for a 'Thunderclap Talisman.' I've completed eighty percent of it. In a few more years, I should be able to make first-tier superior-grade talismans."

Sun Bo'an nodded in satisfaction.

A first-tier superior-grade talisman was a trump card that could threaten a Qi Refining Late Stage cultivator. It was enough to support the entire Lineage's talisman-making inheritance.

"What about Changping?"

Sun Bo'an turned to look to his right. Sun Changping's eye sockets were sunken, and his face was haggard from staying up late to refine pills for so long, but his spirits were unusually high.

"Thanks to Ancestor, the spirit medicines we brought back were in excellent condition. I tried my hand with the leftover bits and refined my first batch of 'Barrier-Breaking Pills.'"

"Only two pills came out of the batch, but they're enough to add a twenty percent chance of breaking through from the Qi Refining Sixth Layer to the seventh. They just have a little too much pill poison."

At those words, the breathing of the core clan members in the hall quickened.

Someone at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer was already a pillar of support for a small Lineage. At present, even counting everyone, the Sun Clan had only three cultivators at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer or above: Sun Bo'an, Sun Kezheng, and Sun Changping...

For a Foundation Establishment Lineage, that was rather embarrassing.

"Good!"

"Excellent!"

Sun Bo'an slammed his hand on the table, his eyes full of excitement. "Give one of those Barrier-Breaking Pills to Sun Xing and the other to Caiya."

"The Lineage will supply them with everything it can. Within a year, we must add two more Qi Refining Seventh Layer cultivators to the Sun Clan and strengthen the Lineage!"

Time flowed on, and the years passed in silence.

In the blink of an eye, another two years had gone by.

Hongtian City grew ever more stable, while the White Cloud Temple, having lost the Golden Core True Person who held the fort, contracted its sphere of influence...

Its control over the nine counties under its rule was far weaker than before.

As long as the spiritual taxes were paid on time, the White Cloud Temple had no time to concern itself with shifts of power among those below. They were already like ants on a hot pan.

Everyone in the organization had long since lost their former arrogance...

The Sun Clan, meanwhile, seized the opportunity to build up its foundations at a frantic pace.

In the back mountain's medicinal garden, Sun Caiya had successfully broken through to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, and her ability to cultivate Spirit Plants had become ever more well-rounded!

In the artifact workshop, Sun Tieshan had labored for years and finally refined his first Law Artifact. Even though the "Black Iron Shield" was only a low-grade Law Artifact, he had officially become an artifact refiner...

Among the younger generation.

Sun Mao was eleven and had reached the Qi Refining Fourth Layer. Sun Yao was ten and at the Qi Refining Third Layer. Cultivation speeds like theirs had been unheard of in the Sun Clan of the past...

The other younger clan members had each made progress as well!

Although they all had four or five Spirit Roots, the Lineage had enjoyed abundant resources in recent years, and most of them had also cultivated to the Qi Refining Second Layer.

With resources supplied in full and a complete selection of Cultivation Methods, the Sun Clan was bursting with vitality.

As its strength soared, its position also grew more secure.

Throughout Hongtian City's territory, the eight small vassal clans regarded the Sun Clan with a mixture of awe and fear.

Over the past two years, they had watched with their own eyes as the Sun Clan's market brought in a fortune every day, while its members became well-equipped and their cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds.

Fully integrating themselves was the only way to survive.

To bring the eight clans under their rule completely under control, Sun Bo'an made his second move: marriage alliances.

The Fang Clan's patriarch personally came calling with lavish gifts to seek the hand of a younger Sun Clan member for his eldest grandson. As the two were still young, they first arranged a childhood betrothal...

Qin Dazhuang, patriarch of the Qin Clan, sent his youngest daughter, who had the best aptitude of his children, to the Sun Clan to serve as Sun Mao's study companion and sword attendant.

He was trying to strike first and bind himself to the Sun Clan's future Foundation Establishment prospect!

Such things happened one after another.

Most involved marrying into the Sun Clan. Few managed to marry female Sun Clan cultivators; most of the women they married were Sun Clan mortals.

"Bo'an, isn't this move risky?"

Sun Kezheng sat in the tea room and took a sip of spirit tea. "Too many outsiders are getting involved. I'm worried they'll turn from guests into masters."

"Kezheng, what are you afraid of?"

"The rules are set in stone. Whether they marry into another family or marry someone into theirs, their lives are in the Sun Clan's hands. The Cultivation Methods they practice and the resources they consume are all provided by our Sun Clan..."

"As long as Ancestor is still here, they wouldn't dare harbor disloyal thoughts even if they had ten times the courage."

"The Sun Clan has too few people. If we want to control the hundreds of miles around Hongtian City, relying on just a few dozen of us is nowhere near enough."

"We'll tie them to us through marriage and have them manage the mortals, work the mines, and guard our outlying businesses. Sun Clan members need only focus on cultivation."

"We must use both kindness and authority, so that they don't work for us simply because they fear our power."

"Only if they help us from the bottom of their hearts, believing that when one prospers, all prosper, can there be true peace under our rule!"

Sun Bo'an set down his teacup, his gaze profound. "Ancestor said we must learn to make use of every resource. People are resources too."

Sun Kezheng nodded silently.

The Sun Clan of today did indeed have the beginnings of a great cultivation clan.

All was peaceful within and without, and flowers bloomed like a tapestry.

Everyone was looking forward to the day that being on the back mountain awakened.