Countermeasures

Yaoguang, Li Qingshan, and Wu Qingying brought Sheikh to the Alchemy Hall, transferring control of the spirit treasure, the Azure Jade Cauldron, into his hands. Along with it, the refining method for the Hundred Acupoints Astral Pill was also handed over to him. Having received what he needed, Sheikh was eager to repay Yaoguang's kindness, quickly secluding himself to study the craft. Wu Qingying, on the other hand, decided to take a three-day vacation to get some proper rest. She did not even entertain the thought of discussing alchemy with Sheikh, a Rank Nine Three-Star Alchemist. For the next three days, she only wanted to lie down and empty her mind. ... Meanwhile, accompanied by Li Qingshan and a group of staff members, Yaoguang toured the Nine Cauldrons Sect headquarters. "You spend almost all your time traveling between the Jiuxiao and Beidou Domains. This must be your first time taking a proper look at our Nine Cauldrons Sect headquarters, right?" Li Qingshan smiled and said, "Although our Nine Cauldrons Sect headquarters is located on what was once merely a branch sect of the Artifact Sect, it still has a rich historical heritage. If you have some free time, it's well worth looking around." "There will be opportunities," Yaoguang replied. Drawing upon information gathered from the Virtual Spirit Realm, he quickly transmitted via divine mind: "The reason the Immortal Alliance is being so unreasonable with us isn't because they've confirmed we did it, but simply because the Wuji Astral Palace is stirring up trouble behind the scenes..." "I know." Li Qingshan nodded with a smile, adding in an easygoing manner, "At the end of the day, it's because our Nine Cauldrons Sect is weak, tempting the Immortal Alliance to extort us." "Does the sect have a way to counter this?" "It's difficult," Li Qingshan said. "Although the Patriarch's stance is extremely firm... it hasn't reached the point of mutual destruction after all. Furthermore, if we completely fall out with the Immortal Alliance, it will be very detrimental to the development of the Nine Cauldrons Sect. There are still many areas where we rely on pills sold by the Immortal Alliance... Therefore, no matter how fiercely we fight behind the scenes, we must still maintain a veneer of decorum on the surface... Under these circumstances, our Nine Cauldrons Sect will ultimately have to make a slight concession." "A concession..." Yaoguang frowned slightly. He had cleaned up his tracks thoroughly. Theoretically, the Immortal Alliance shouldn't have cast their eyes upon the Nine Cauldrons Sect for at least three to five years. Yet the Wuji Astral Palace had meddled, throwing a wrench into things. Still, if this caused the Nine Cauldrons Sect to suffer extortion, he would feel uneasy. "Rest assured, we have our ways." At that moment, a stream of divine sense was transmitted through the Virtual Spirit Realm. With a thought, Yaoguang and Li Qingshan manifested together inside the Virtual Spirit Realm. There they met Li Hanqiu, who had arrived early, looking completely unhurried. "Is the negotiation settled?" Li Qingshan asked. "Yes. The Nine Cauldrons Sect will fully open its spirit pill market and no longer levy additional taxes and tariffs on the Immortal Alliance's spirit pills," Li Hanqiu responded. "The spirit pill market..." Li Qingshan's expression changed. If the treasure pill market was an area where the Nine Cauldrons Sect depended on the Immortal Alliance, the spirit pill market was a different story... The Nine Cauldrons Sect had the capability to refine various generations of spirit pills; at most, their costs and efficacy could not match the Immortal Alliance's. Yet by virtue of the sect's previous protective policies, a large share of the spirit pill market within Nine Cauldrons Sect territory had remained in their own hands. Now, once the spirit pill market was fully opened... Under the onslaught of the Immortal Alliance's more cost-effective spirit pills, the Nine Cauldrons Sect's own alchemy sector would take a severe hit, and orders would almost certainly be cut in half. When that time came, the spirit stones that would have otherwise circulated within the Nine Cauldrons Sect would effectively all be swept away into the Immortal Alliance's pockets. "This is actually an opportunity," Li Hanqiu said with a smile. "Over the past five years, our Nine Cauldrons Sect has built up a decent base of cultivators practicing the Xuan Yuan Creation Technique, and the pills developed by the Alchemy Hall specifically for those cultivators have achieved modest success. We can take advantage of the shock the Immortal Alliance's spirit pills bring to our local industry, prompting those less competitive alchemy branches to pivot toward refining pills designed specifically for the Xuan Yuan Creation Technique system, thereby accelerating our cultivators' progress in the technique." Hearing Li Hanqiu's words, Li Qingshan gradually calmed down. What his Martial Uncle said was not without reason. This truly was an opportunity. An opportunity to force many alchemy branches to transition. Furthermore, it was foreseeable that the Xuan Yuan Creation Technique would inevitably become the mainstream cultivation system of the world in the future. Those alchemy branches that began refining the corresponding pills in advance would undoubtedly hold a first-mover advantage. Securing this first-mover advantage meant that in the future, when the Nine Cauldrons Sect grew powerful enough to unveil this cultivation system, the entire Cangwu Great World might well fall under the sect's leadership as a result. This was in itself an overt strategy that he, Li Qingshan, and Yaoguang had devised together. An overt strategy that would allow the Nine Cauldrons Sect to eventually replace the Wuji Astral Palace with this advanced cultivation system and achieve the formal unification of the Cangwu Great World. If utilized well, this extortion by the Immortal Alliance could be turned from a crisis into an opportunity. "I was worrying too much," Li Qingshan admitted. "You need to pay close attention to keeping the Xuan Yuan Creation Technique's heritage confidential," Li Hanqiu instructed. "Continue to publicly claim that this is a newly developed cultivation technique of our own. Furthermore, the technique must only be disclosed internally one layer at a time, and no one is permitted to spread it outside..." Li Hanqiu continued, "Naturally, once more people cultivate it down the line, leaks will only be a matter of time. But that will likely be eight or ten years from now. With all the smoke screens we release during this period, even if other sects get hold of an incomplete version and learn it was developed internally by us, they won't necessarily take it too seriously. That will buy us another eight to ten years. By the time two decades have passed, this generation will have grown up, and a wave of Foundation Establishment and Unity Realm cultivators will have emerged. When that day arrives, we will have nothing left to fear." "I understand. Everyone cultivating this technique must swear a heart demon oath. In addition, Hall Master Yaoguang is helping screen and monitor these disciples, and we teach it layer by layer. I am confident we can prevent leaks for eight to ten years," Li Qingshan said with a smile. Li Hanqiu nodded. Then, he turned his gaze toward Yaoguang. "You possess your own inheritance, so it does not surprise me that after forming your Dharma Idol, you could unleash strength surpassing Feng Ao's. However, the Golden Core power you exerted at the time..." "It was the method of refining an external core," Yaoguang replied. "An external core?!" Having researched the Xuan Yuan Creation Technique for so long, Li Hanqiu naturally knew of this technique. Yet, recalling the instability of that Crimson Golden Core... He said with lingering apprehension, "You took far too great a risk." "I had full control," Yaoguang said with a smile. "For others, it would indeed be exceptionally risky. But with sufficient understanding of the nine layers of the Golden Core, combined with having achieved a Dharma Idol ahead of time, the process isn't necessarily that difficult." Hearing this, Li Hanqiu pondered for a moment and nodded. "True. But you are the only one who could pull off something like that. Anyone else... even if given a Crimson Golden Core, would be powerless to manage it." After a pause, he added, "Unless it were an exceptionally stable Crimson Golden Core." "A stable Crimson Golden Core... that would require the sixth layer of the Golden Core. If such a person existed in the Cangwu Great World, they would probably be enough to wear down every single Radiant Sun Golden Core to death," Yaoguang remarked. Li Hanqiu nodded in deep agreement. "An external core..." Listening to the two conversing, Li Qingshan could not hide the envy in his eyes. This was a technique that allowed someone to directly wield Crimson Golden Core-level power. He had also switched to the Xuan Yuan Creation Technique and had already mastered its first layer, straightening out and solidifying his foundation. In truth, for cultivators of the Cangwu Great World, the first layer was not difficult. The real difficulty lay in the second layer, the Unity Realm. This realm required the unification of essence, qi, and spirit. Among them, "essence" represented the physical body, while "spirit" referred to the Origin Spirit. However, many Foundation Establishment cultivators did not cultivate both their physical body and Origin Spirit. It was easy to foresee that this step would bottleneck them for quite a long time. Naturally, it was only a matter of time. The version of the Xuan Yuan Creation Technique that Yaoguang had handed over to them was simply too complete. Complete to the point where it contained not only myriad annotations, but also excruciatingly detailed cultivation insights. It was as though the manual had been taken apart and ground into digestible pieces for them to study; as long as one possessed acceptable talent and comprehension, failing to master it was out of the question. "True Person Li, having researched the Xuan Yuan Creation Technique during this time, have you made any gains?" Yaoguang asked. "Some, naturally. The state of my Golden Core is considerably better than before, but I am still far from stabilizing it completely." "No need to rush. Step by step." "Hahaha!" Hearing Yaoguang's comforting words, Li Hanqiu could not help but laugh. Who could have thought that he, the foundational pillar of the Nine Cauldrons Sect, would one day be comforted by a junior just like an ordinary old man? Yet, recalling that Yaoguang had succeeded in mastering an external core while cultivating a Dharma Idol, holding an immeasurable future... A sudden wave of warmth and gratified relief welled up in his aged heart. Who could have imagined that such a peerless genius would appear within the Nine Cauldrons Sect and lead the sect toward a glorious future that was already becoming visible to the naked eye? ... Yaoguang stayed at the Nine Cauldrons Sect for just a single day. Li Qingshan, along with various hall masters and deputy hall masters who happened to be at the main sect headquarters, hosted a lavish banquet in his honor. Outside the Virtual Spirit Realm, this served as a true gathering for everyone. The next day, Yaoguang set off back toward Longxiang City in the Jiuxiao Domain, taking Sheikh and the Azure Jade Cauldron with him. As for why he brought Sheikh along... It was because Sheikh was currently unsuited to appear in the public eye. To ensure he was not detected by any Dharma Idol from the Immortal Alliance or the Wuji Astral Palace, staying by Yaoguang's side was the safest choice. Otherwise, even at Chicheng, the Nine Cauldrons Sect's headquarters, Sheikh might still be detected by a Dharma Idol's divine mind probe, which would lead the Immortal Alliance to realize that the Nine Cauldrons Sect was indeed behind the incident at Dengxian Tower. ... As the former premier city of the Jiuxiao Domain and the site of a branch sect, Longxiang City possessed every necessary facility. The branch-grade Alchemy Hall was also intact. Although its contents had previously been moved away and its grade did not match that of the main sect's Alchemy Hall, a single order from Yaoguang was enough to restock it. All the equipment was restored and allocated for Sheikh's use so that he could concentrate on pill refining. As for Yaoguang himself... He returned to his residence on the peak of the Zixiao Institute, intending to properly digest his gains from this trip to the Immortal Alliance. Focusing his mind, he soon "saw" an initial prompt of feedback. [An efficient trade.] [You successfully obtained an abundant harvest at minimal labor cost; the Merchant branch has received nutrients for growth...]