Meeting Again

"Here already? They certainly look impatient," Yaoguang remarked. "Deliveries for our Jiuzhou battleships have already begun, and our flying sword business is booming," Li Hanqiu explained with a touch of emotion. "On top of that, the Southern Domain's emphasis on safety and fairness has drawn countless cultivators and factions from all over the world to settle here in recent years. Last year alone, our revenue surpassed three hundred million Pure Yang Great Pills—more than the other three domains combined. Even looking back over the past ten years, we brought in 2.4 billion Pure Yang Great Pills, yet our tribute payments have remained around only five hundred million. Naturally, certain people within the Heavenly Dao Sect have grown envious." "Oh? It's already broken three hundred million?" Yaoguang was somewhat surprised. "Most of the people we brought from the Nine Cauldrons Sect were technical talent. Once they arrived in the Southern Domain, every one of them received vast quantities of Pure Yang Great Pills, causing their cultivation to surge. As their strength grew, their craftsmanship in forging flying swords and battleships rose alongside it, naturally driving up production. Twenty years ago, our output was one battleship a year; now it's twenty a year. The same goes for the Zixiao-31 flying swords." Li Hanqiu smiled and added, "Especially lately, the Jiuzhou battleships have proven themselves in actual combat. A single fleet relied on the might of the battleships to encircle and slay a Void Piercing Battle Immortal. That one battle made the Jiuzhou battleships famous far and wide. On average, we receive no fewer than fifty orders each year—the waiting list already stretches a century into the future." "Production value has increased that much?" Yaoguang found it rather unexpected. "Twenty years ago, our artifact refiners averaged below Foundation Establishment, but now..." Li Hanqiu chuckled. "Having earned so many pills, they naturally haven't skimped on investing in themselves. At present, not a single refiner even slightly close to our technical core is below Core Formation. Core masters like Dong Liushui have even condensed a Radiant Sun Golden Core." With that, he added, "Pure Yang Great Pills... are truly miraculous. If not for them, how could we have nurtured wave after wave of top experts in just a few decades since arriving on Beihai Star?" Yaoguang nodded. Pure Yang Great Pills were indeed extraordinary. "Radiant Sun Golden Cores, hm?" Hearing that realm didn't stir much emotion in Yaoguang. After all, in the decades since arriving on Beihai Star, he had cultivated straight from the Heavenly Fire realm to the Void Shattering realm. The others had only reached the Radiant Sun Golden Core realm... Even those with the highest cultivation were merely circling the Incandescent White Golden Core, with not a single one breaking through to an Azure Blue Golden Core. It was only natural that he felt little impact. At this point, only the Void Piercing realm could earn a second glance from him. "Because orders are growing so fast that the queue extends a century out, Dong Liushui and the others would definitely find a way to set up several more battleship production lines if we had enough hands," Li Hanqiu said with a smile. Yaoguang was not too surprised by the mountain of orders for the Jiuzhou battleships. He had absolute confidence in their performance. After all, they had been designed personally under his hand as a supreme artifact refining grandmaster and formation grandmaster. "Orders are good, but keep an eye on profit margins as well," Yaoguang cautioned. "Battleships are inherently ultra-large spirit artifacts, priced a whole tier above ordinary ones. The overall performance of a Jiuzhou battleship is no worse than a top-grade spirit treasure vessel, yet our profit margin remains at three million per ship—over sixty million a year. If we can open another line and boost capacity a bit more, we could likely push close to a hundred million annually." "Over sixty million in profit from the battleship industry alone... That almost rivals the impoverished Northern Domain." Yaoguang smiled. No wonder the people from the Heavenly Dao Sect were in such a hurry. Across the Heavenly Dao Sect, the revenue for an entire cycle—every ten years—was roughly five billion Pure Yang Great Pills. Of those five billion pills, the amount paid directly to the sect, or rather the revenue the sect could freely allocate, hovered around three billion. The remaining two billion was split evenly across the four domains, administered and distributed by the four domain deputy sect masters. It sounded like a massive sum, but in reality, countless sectors required resources. Among them, formation maintenance and wear-and-tear alone represented an enormous expenditure. By the time the remainder was divided among the Supreme Elders, each might receive only a hundred million. A Supreme Elder earned just over a hundred million Pure Yang Great Pills across ten years. Yet the Southern Domain's battleship industry alone yielded sixty million a year—six hundred million over ten years. Add to that flying swords, commercial taxes, and revenue from other avenues... Who wouldn't look upon it with envy? As for how much labor and material cost the Southern Domain had invested to generate these revenues... Regrettably, they didn't care. All they knew was that the Southern Domain had brought in three hundred million this year! If this trend continued, a single domain's revenue would rival that of the entire Heavenly Dao Sect. It would be strange if they weren't envious. "Expand the production lines if needed. As for the lack of manpower... I expect we'll soon acquire a batch of refining talent," Yaoguang said. "Where from?" Li Hanqiu paused, surprised. "The Southern Domain may not have them, but the Heavenly Dao Sect does." "The Heavenly Dao Sect?" Li Hanqiu didn't understand, but he had always carried out Yaoguang's decisions without hesitation. "Then we expand?" "Expand," Yaoguang replied, then turned back to the main matter. "What level is this tribute delegation? Who's leading it?" "Just an ordinary group, led by a Void Piercing Battle Immortal..." Li Hanqiu answered. "Then they're still probing; they haven't drawn real steel yet." Yaoguang glanced upward. "Deducing from this... Sect Master Zong Wenxian hasn't returned yet. They don't have the guts to blow things up." "Do you wish to see them, Sect Master?" "A mere Void Piercing Battle Immortal thinks he can come here to extort me? I won't see him!" Yaoguang waved his hand dismissively. "Tell him directly that I am in secluded cultivation. Any decision within the sect regarding tax or tribute adjustments must be discussed and decided in a full enlarged conference convened by the sect master before being delivered to me. Otherwise, I will not recognize it." "Then I shall reply accordingly." "Go on." Li Hanqiu nodded and took his leave. Once Li Hanqiu was gone, Yaoguang turned his gaze back to his Wuji Sword, which was still undergoing refinement and fell just short of a complete transformation. *Once this response reaches them, certain individuals within the Heavenly Dao Sect will surely be displeased. After all... the profits are simply too enormous. Now we'll see who jumps out first to help set the stage,* Yaoguang thought to himself. His slaying of two Void Shattering demon cultivators and five Void Refining demon cultivators had deterred the Shadow Moon Sect and neighboring powers, but it clearly hadn't deterred the Heavenly Dao Sect. On one hand, he had relied on the power of the Heavenly Capital Dragon-Slashing Formation to kill those demon cultivators; on the other hand... If the Heavenly Dao Sect wanted to deal with him, it was easy for them to seize the moral high ground and boss him around under the banner of righteousness. Perhaps... there was also the element of assuming one's own people were easier to bully? Whatever the reason, as the Southern Domain's interests grew ever greater, he had to bide his time to bare his fangs within the Heavenly Dao Sect. When the time came, he would possess personal strength, the ability to generate immense wealth for the sect, and his cultivation would have reached Void Shattering... It would be time for Sect Master Zong Wenxian to vacate his seat. "I truly never expected that the young cultivator once hunted down by several Void Piercing experts could grow to such heights in mere decades." Just then, a crisp, clear voice drifted in. Hearing this sudden voice and the familiarity it carried, Yaoguang's pupils constricted. His gaze instantly snapped toward the Wuji Sword, which was currently fusing with Dao artifact materials. There, a woman with bare feet and flowing hair, radiating an indescribable cold aloofness, appeared to be examining the supreme Dao artifact embryonic blade. Every movement she made, every breath she drew, seemed to embody the ultimate harmony with heaven, earth, and nature... A Dao Lord! "So it is Dao Lord Penglai in person. Your arrival truly graces my humble Nandu Domain Lord Residence," Yaoguang said in a deep voice. Dao Lord Penglai turned around, her face as cold, fair, and jade-like as ever. Looking at Yaoguang, she seemed to finally take him seriously. "If I hadn't come in person, it would have been hard to imagine that aside from your remarkable talent in cultivation, you have progressed so far in artifact refining. Though I know nothing of refining, my senses tell me... this Dao artifact of yours is far from ordinary. Are you attempting to forge a top-grade Dao artifact?" Hearing this, Yaoguang was certain of one thing. This Dao Lord Penglai truly knew nothing of artifact refining. "I merely wish to test my limits," he replied with a smile, offering no precise answer. "Impressive," Dao Lord Penglai praised. "A pity you chose the Dao of the Void. Otherwise, I might not have resisted the urge to take you as my disciple." "Though the Dao of the Void has fierce Dao Contention, it isn't without its merits." "Dao Contention?" Seeing that Yaoguang had already considered this issue, Dao Lord Penglai chuckled softly. "It goes far beyond mere Dao Contention. Many Dao Lords of the Void are exceedingly narrow-minded. Right now, before your Dao Integration, it matters little. But the moment you begin integrating with the Dao, certain petty Dao Lords will surely leap out to sabotage you. As fellow integrators of the Void Dao, no matter where you hide, those Dao Lords will find you. This human tribulation is one you cannot escape even if you wish to." Yaoguang knew that Dao Lord Penglai spoke the truth. The moment a Void Shattering cultivator began Dao Integration, other integrated Dao Lords would inevitably sense it. And for each Great Dao, only a single person could ascend through the Gate of the Immortal Realm... To prevent further competitors from emerging, Dao Lords of the Void—and even those of other Daos—would pinpoint his location the moment he began integration and strike to kill him. Unless... he hid far enough away and in utter secrecy, and completed his Dao Integration swiftly enough to succeed before those Dao Lords could catch up. "How about we make a deal?" Dao Lord Penglai suddenly proposed. "When the Gate of the Immortal Realm opens next and I depart from the Penglai Immortal Sect, you must step forward to shelter and protect the survival and growth of the Penglai Immortal Sect. In exchange..." A confident light flickered in her eyes. "When you undergo Dao Integration, I can guard your Dao. Should any Dao Lord attempt to strike at you, I shall intercept them all and ensure you suffer not the slightest harm."