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First Seat?! What did that mean?! Was that a title one could toss around lightly?! "First Seat" meant sitting in the foremost position. It usually designated the number one authority of a department or an institution. Yaoguang applied to the Zixiao Institute, and he was being addressed as First Seat?! He was the First Seat of the Zixiao Institute?! How... How was that possible?! The Zixiao Institute was a branch-sect-tier artifact refining facility. It fell directly under the Artifact Refining Hall's jurisdiction. The weight carried by the First Seat of such an institute ranked among the very highest in all of Longxiang City, easily on equal footing with their own Hundred Refinements Sect Master. Yaoguang had only just joined the Nine Cauldrons Sect; how could he possibly assume such a pivotal post?! Unfortunately, while she stood dazed in disbelief, Yaoguang had already departed the Hundred Refinements Sect, and Huang Yunqi could not bring herself to chase after him to pry for answers. She could only make discreet inquiries later. *** "Zong Yan and Ji Baichuan aren't at the sect?" Yaoguang asked in the car. "The two of them headed to the provincial capital early this morning to take the instructor licensing examination, preparing to apply for posts at higher academies. They probably won't be back until the day after tomorrow," Kong Xuan replied. Yaoguang nodded. "Send them a message. Tell them to drop by the Zixiao Institute once they return." Now that he had taken over the Zixiao Institute, he needed to place trustworthy people in key departments. Kong Xuan was one. Zong Yan could count as half of one. As for Ji Baichuan... If he was willing to accept Yaoguang's arrangement, he could take the role of deputy chief in the security section. If not, and he preferred to apply as an academy instructor, Yaoguang would respect his choice. "Take a trip to Dengxian Tower," Yaoguang instructed. The driver promptly changed lanes, pulling up outside Dengxian Tower before long. Stepping inside Dengxian Tower, Yaoguang headed straight for the premium pill section. With several hundred spirit stones on hand, he no longer had to scrape funds together just to purchase pills. Of course, he only bought three bottles of Heavenly Being Pills. As for the higher-grade Indestructible Golden Body Pills and Five Qi Origin Pills... Unless he possessed tens of thousands in assets one day, taking such top-tier pills for cultivation with his current net worth was terribly cost-inefficient. *The industries of artifact refining, alchemy, and array formations in the Cangwu Great World have developed at a breakneck pace. Three hundred years ago, spirit artifacts rivaling Foundation Establishment Great Cultivators were already commonplace everywhere; any high-tier qi refining cultivator with a bit of wealth could own one, and some high-tier cultivators even used superior spirit artifacts. As for the Foundation Establishment Great Cultivator tier... ordinary ones use top-grade spirit artifacts, while the wealthier ones directly wield dharma treasures rivaling Golden Core Perfected Beings. Artifact refining is like this, and alchemy is no different,* Yaoguang pondered. As long as he had enough spirit stones, he could push his body refining to the ninth tier that very day. Even for the major threshold from body refining ninth tier to Star Lord, since his comprehension and realm had already met the standard, he could cross it in three to five days. And with sufficient spirit stones, his [Merchant] experience could continually raise his [Martial Path] realm... With the two complementing each other, he could forge a Fiendgod body within a month or two, directly catapulting his combat strength to the peak of the Star Lord tier. *** The Zixiao Institute spanned over eight hundred thousand square meters, boasting no shortage of space. The First Seat's residence was naturally grand and luxurious. It consisted of three buildings—one primary and two auxiliary—while the exterior courtyard had everything: gardens, rockeries, and fountains. There was even a small skyport. The small skyport was specifically designated for docking flying boats. These were upgraded versions of hovercars, though each flying boat typically cost hundreds of spirit stones, and the better ones went for thousands. They were far beyond the reach of the average person. Moreover, much like flying swords, they were easy to purchase but difficult to maintain. A flying boat's operational cost was a substantial step above that of a flying sword. Across the entire Jiuxiao Domain, there were no more than thirty people who owned a flying boat. *** In the first-floor cultivation chamber, Yaoguang had just finished refining a Heavenly Being Pill and was sensing the effects of its medicinal potency... *If I don't obsess over maximizing the medicinal absorption and take one Heavenly Being Pill a day... I can reach body refining eighth tier in a little over two months. But that process will consume around three hundred spirit stones.* Three hundred spirit stones. He could barely afford it now. *Time itself equates to life. For cultivators in this world, even upon breaking through to the Great Cultivator stage, their lifespan is only two to three hundred years. If they engage in frequent life-and-death battles that deplete their vitality, there are plenty of Great Cultivators who pass away in their hundreds. Zong Lian is the prime example. He is now over a hundred and twenty years old, a Foundation Establishment cultivator who grew up through slaughter, and his remaining lifespan... is at most one sixty-year cycle...* Yaoguang calculated. If he slowly spent three to five years to become a Star Lord, by the time he reached that realm, he would have less than two hundred years of lifespan left. How could he live the life he desired then? *Ten thousand years is too long; seize the day. Securing my personal safety and surrounding environment as early as possible will allow me to retire early and enjoy life.* Yaoguang glanced at the brightly lit Zixiao Institute. As long as the new Zixiao swords produced by the Zixiao Institute secured enough orders going forward, there would be no need to worry about spirit stones. And to ensure that everyone in the Zixiao Institute was of one mind with him... *My body refining hasn't reached Star Lord, my spirit refining hasn't reached high-tier, and my artifact refining hasn't made master... Lacking that stature will affect my prestige and the morale of the refiners in the Zixiao Institute...* After a brief thought, Yaoguang made his decision. *Then let's break through a realm. Reaching the eighth tier of body refining won't take long anyway,* Yaoguang considered. With that thought, he began mobilizing the blood and qi within his body to nourish his mind, meticulously refining qi into spirit without wasting a single shred of vitality. In less than half an hour... His divine mind ascended to a new height. "All done. A breakthrough to spirit refining seventh tier." Yaoguang's eyes were calm, stirring without the slightest ripple. When one's realm already met the standard, spirit refining was far easier to break through than body refining. After all, spirit refining leaned toward the subjective; once you grasped the concepts, you grasped them, and the feedback was immediate. Body refining, on the other hand... It was too materialistic. Comprehension alone was not enough; it had to be proven and tested bit by bit through physical practice. *Now that I'm at spirit refining seventh tier...* Yaoguang recalled the anomaly when his [Divine Path] realm broke through to the Origin Spirit realm... The next instant, the divine mind in his spiritual world began to coalesce, gradually forming a translucent phantom. During this process, the phantom rippled slightly, as though on the verge of dissipating. Yet under Yaoguang's precise control, the phantom ultimately completed its metamorphosis and stabilized. The phantom's features were blurred and indistinct, only vaguely resembling him. It was fully linked to his essence, qi, and spirit, sustained by their combined force. Of course, the primary drain still came from his divine mind. And that drain was hardly small for him. With his freshly broken-through realm... He could only maintain it for several minutes. Yet cultivating divine mind and sustaining an Origin Spirit were two entirely different sensations. Take scouting and perception as an example. The former felt like watching a target through a television screen... There was ultimately a display separating them. Now, however... It was virtually equivalent to standing in person at the location he wished to perceive and observe. That clarity—and sensations extending beyond mere sight—felt right before his eyes. *Moreover, compared to scattered divine mind, an Origin Spirit is fully unified into a cohesive whole, granting a drastic leap in resilience and resistance to harm. It's like the difference between a disorganized rabble and trained elite soldiers; what they can accomplish isn't even on the same level.* Yaoguang quietly absorbed this profound sensation. However, this insight came at a price. The drain on his divine mind surged drastically. Several minutes later, Yaoguang's condensed Origin Spirit dispersed, reverting into divine mind that returned to his spiritual world to be nourished by the circulation of his blood and qi. "Quite energy-hungry," Yaoguang remarked. This was an issue facing every cultivation system in this era. Body cultivators and spirit cultivators had it somewhat better; sword cultivators and spell cultivators were the truly voracious consumers of energy. Spell cultivators in particular: with modern spells undergoing continuous refinement, the spells unleashed by a Foundation Establishment spell cultivator matched Golden Core spells from centuries ago, some of them even improved iterations. A single spell could completely drain their internal true yuan, forcing them to replenish it immediately. Sword cultivators were no different. Though they patrolled the skies at supersonic speeds, the moment they engaged in battle, their spiritual consumption multiplied severalfold, tenfold, or even dozens of times over. A single patrol to the East Sea could easily consume over a dozen spirit stones. Why was the Nine Cauldrons Sect predominantly a body cultivator sect? The low threshold for body cultivation was one reason, but another was the poor efficiency of the Energy Department. Its spirit stone output was limited, meaning it simply couldn't sustain so many sword cultivators. *** Early the next morning, Yaoguang arrived at his workstation and began operating the console. Before long, the primary systems of the entire Zixiao flying sword were projected and separated in midair by the workstation's display unit. Yaoguang inspected them one by one. In the end, he reached a rather speechless conclusion. "Too shoddy." The Zixiao sword... It was fine as an everyday flying sword, but as a life-bound flying sword, every aspect of its performance was dreadful. "How could a sword like this have over eighty orders a year?" He was somewhat puzzled. Using his authority as First Seat to pull up the order records, he quickly understood. "The buyers are all wealthy mid-tier cultivators. There are almost no high-tier cultivators among them." Even though spirit cultivators were the rarest talent in the Nine Cauldrons Sect, what spirit cultivator working support from the shadows could match the thrill of a sword cultivator spearheading an assault? Just like how many people preferred playing damage dealers in games, sword cultivation was everyone's top choice. Besides, sword cultivators soaring through the azure skies and roaming the heavens looked exceptionally stylish. Under these circumstances, many mid-tier cultivators wanted to forge a life-bound flying sword early on just to enjoy the thrill of sword flight. Their cultivation wasn't sufficient to support a spirit-artifact-tier flying sword, making a high-grade dharma artifact their best option. Though the Zixiao sword performed poorly, it looked magnificent. Its appearance and visual effects easily ranked among the most handsome across all life-bound flying swords, as evidenced by how well the ornamental variants of the Zixiao sword sold. A dashing flying sword catered perfectly to wealthy mid-stage qi refining heirs who loved showing off... Ultimately, it was no surprise that a sword with such poor performance still saw over eighty orders a year. "Eye-opening," Yaoguang remarked with a sigh. Reflecting on it... He had no intention of dismantling the ornamental sword production division. However, regarding quality... *Who would cultivate a high-grade dharma artifact as their life-bound flying sword? Only these second-generation heirs who care purely about showing off. Anyone with the slightest concern for practicality would go straight for a spirit artifact.* Yaoguang stared at the flying sword. After a long moment, he made up his mind. "We enter the spirit artifact market." The Nine Cauldrons Sect had already begun prioritizing the training of sword cultivators, resulting in a substantial number of high-tier sword cultivators. If he could craft cost-effective spirit-artifact-grade flying swords, he could ride this wave and rapidly gain momentum.