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Translator: Truth
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
During the latter half of his conquest, the only loot the Grand Sky Coalition invasion force could obtain from their enemy’s Outposts was the Blessings on their Divine Opportunity Column. No Thousand Demon Ridge sect was bold enough to put up a resistance knowing how futile it was. That was why they took everything they could back to the headquarters and destroyed those they couldn’t.
That said, there were quite a lot of battles during the first half of the conquest. Battles resulted in dead people, and dead people left their possessions behind. There were also some resources in the Outposts.
Lu Ye did not claim too many of these resources. The large majority of them were used to compensate the sects who lost cultivators in the battle.
Despite this, he was able to accumulate a sizable amount of resources over time.
Of this loot, the most valuable was probably the grand wards. He had a couple of complete sets, too. They cost at least ten thousand Contribution Points to purchase from the Vault of Providence, so naturally they could be resold for many things.
The sect had to grow, and the disciples had to cultivate. Naturally, they would need Spirit Stones and Spirit Pills.
Right now, the Outpost’s production was barely enough to meet the most basic cultivation requirement. If they could procure more Spirit Stones and Spirit Pills, then their cultivation speed would surely improve.
This was especially true after the quality of the Outpost’s World Spiritual Qi was drastically improved. The compounding factor would accelerate their cultivator’s growth even more.
Unfortunately, the Crimson Blood Sect did not have enough useful manpower at the moment. They even had to rely on Shui Yuan to manage and distribute the resources to the disciples.
After dumping the responsibility of recruitment to Shui Yuan, Lu Ye teleported back to the Outpost using the Divine Opportunity Column.
There were two disciples guarding the Sanctum of Providence right now. They were in the middle of meditating when Lu Ye’s arrival jolted them back to reality. When they opened their eyes and saw their Legate, they hurriedly saluted him and said, “Brother Lu.”
Lu Ye nodded slightly and walked out of the Sanctum of Providence. However, he could not see anyone for some reason.
Curious, he sent a message via his Battlefield Imprint and waited. At the same time, he grabbed a few Blood Sturgeons from his Storage Bag, placed his fingers between his lips and whistled.
A massive shadow descended from above. It was Beaky flying over from a nearby Spirit Peak. Lu Ye fed it the Blood Sturgeons as a treat.
“Brother Lu,” Gu Yang’s voice came from behind him. The prolegate had probably rushed over immediately after he received Lu Ye’s message.
“Where is everyone?” Lu Ye asked.
“They’re all cultivating,” Gu Yang explained.
It was only now Lu Ye understood why the Outpost looked like a ghost town. The drastic improvement in the surrounding World Spiritual Qi had pushed all disciples to lock themselves in their residences or training chambers to cultivate.
At this level of concentration, the Circles of Boon he had built in the training chambers were almost useless. The same went for his Gathering Spirits.
Gathering Spirits was most useful when the ambient World Spiritual Qi was neither too rich nor too diluted. That was not the case for the Outpost anymore.
In other words, the training chambers had become obsolete. For as long as a cultivator was cultivating in the Outpost, their cultivation efficiency was the same no matter where they were.
“I heard from Hua Ci that you guys did a good bit of Outpost development while I was gone,” Lu Ye said while combing Beaky’s feathers.
“It was Sister Hua who brought it up after consulting Sister Shui’s opinion. All we did was play second fiddle or perform hard labor.”
“Show me.” Lu Ye gave Beaky a pat and sent it back to its Spirit Peak. He then summoned his own Spirit Boat and flew himself and Gu Yang into the sky.
This was obviously Gu Yang’s first time flying on a Spirit Boat because he could not stop admiring the experience. However, he quickly regained control of himself as he was a man of steady character. Hua Ci would not have made him the prolegate otherwise. Gu Yang began pointing at a building below them and started, “This building is the Council Hall. We used to discuss important matters in the Sanctum of Providence, but Sister Hua thought we’re misusing the place and suggested that we build a Council Hall.”
“That building over there is the Guest Hall. It is where we receive and entertain our guests.”
“This area filled with Spirit Plants is the Plantation Zone. You notice how big it is? It’s because Sister Hua said that the sect had been in decline for too long, and its reserves were too spent. Our very first salary had come out of Sister Shui’s pockets, and the next few had come from your loot. That is why she wanted us to create a plantation zone to farm some medicinal herbs, Spirit Flowers, unusual plants and so on to alleviate some of the strain on the sect’s finances. If our disciples are interested, they can even apply for an area and plant their own plants. Of course, when harvest time comes, a portion of their earnings will have to be turned into the sect.”
“This here is the residential area. Sister Hua said that our residential area need not be too fancy, which is why I selected this area to be our Residential Zone. Anyone who is an acolyte is free to build their own residence here. The initiates and associates’ residential area is over there.”
“Those detached buildings over there are the guest accommodations. The environment is better for obvious reasons, and we built ten right from the get go because Sister Hua expects a lot of people to visit in the Crimson Blood Sect in the future. In the same vein, we’ve left enough space for future expansions.”
“That area over there is where the disciples spar…”
Gu Yang continued to explain as the Spirit Boat flew here and there. Slowly but surely, Lu Ye got a comprehensive picture of the Crimson Blood Sect’s Outpost.
He had to admit that the Outpost had changed drastically while he was gone. The whole place exuded a sense of order, growth and prosperity thanks to a systematic planning and development.
A while later, the Spirit Boat landed in front of the Council Hall. The first thing Lu Ye saw after going in was a ridiculously large seat of honor. It was flanked by two rows of smaller chairs. Enough space had been left at the center to accommodate at least a hundred people.
Lu Ye sat down at the seat of honor but felt like he was sitting on a stool because he could not reach the armrests or the back. It honestly functioned better as a bed because it had more than enough space to sleep on.
After Gu Yang stood in front of him, he said, “Gu Yang.”
“I’m here.”
“Are you aware what your biggest flaw is?”
Gu Yang mulled over the question for a while before shaking his head honestly. “I do not know.”
“When you were acting as my tour guide earlier, I realized that you could not stop mentioning your sixth senior sister. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, by the way. She was the one who helmed the development of the Outpost, so I understand why you find it necessary to tell me that the ideas were hers. However, excessive steadfastness is not a good thing. Hua Ci is no longer the prolegate, you are. For that matter, you don’t even have a successor in mind, do you?”
“I’m a Ninth-Order cultivator now. When I ascend to Heaven-Grade Seventh-Order, I would be forced to enter the Core Circle. It is only a matter of time before your sixth senior sister leaves as well. When the two of us are gone, you will be the lord and master of this Outpost. That is why you need to develop a sense of independence and judgment as soon as possible.”
“Our positions may sound enviable, but the responsibilities are honestly more trouble than they’re worth. I’m sure you’ve already realized that. Time is the most valuable resource during the early stage of anyone’s cultivation, but the Legate and the prolegate must spend at least some of that precious time on the development of the sect. Of course, we are lucky in the sense that our sect is starting from the bottom, so there are only so many things we need to worry about. Even so, it is inevitable that our responsibilities will eat into our cultivation time. Whatever you do, you must never neglect your own cultivation, understand?”
Gu Yang replied seriously, “Do not worry, Brother Lu. I will do my best.”
“One more thing. You are already a Seventh-Order cultivator, and you will leave for the Inner Circle when you reach the Eighth-Order. It is imperative that you select a successor as soon as possible.”
“I understand.”
“By the way, do you have the disciple register with you?”
“In fact, I do.”
“Show me.”
Gu Yang hurriedly handed him the book. Lu Ye began flipping through them page by page.
There were currently over seven hundred people in the Outpost, but their actual acolytes numbered less than twenty people. They had around two hundred initiates and over four hundred associates.
Lu Ye remembered some of the names on the disciple register, but most of them were completely unfamiliar to him. While returning the disciple register to Gu Yang, he said, “You have two days to select a hundred worthy candidates to become true acolytes. You may recruit the independent cultivators who are performing well as initiates as well.”
Gu Yang nodded seriously as he accepted the book. “I’ll finish it in just half a day.”
“You may take your leave now.”
Gu Yang turned around and started toward the exit.
Suddenly, Lu Ye recalled someone and asked, “Oh right, do you know where Feng Yue is? You know, the one from Clan Feng?”
Gu Yang stopped in his tracks and reported, “She’s usually tending to the Spirit Plants at the Plantation Zone, so I would expect her to be there right now. Before you ask, no one ordered her to tend to the plants, it was something she decided to take on herself. Also, Sister Hua often gave her some Spirit Pills and Spirit Stones because she thought she looked pitiful. When the disciples got hurt in a spar, they would seek her out for treatment as well. Finally, many disciples who wish to walk the path of a medicine cultivator are receiving free lessons from her.”
Lu Ye raised an eyebrow. “Oho. Now you grow a spine?”
Gu Yang blushed instantly.
“Tell her that I require her presence at the Council Hall.”
“Right away,” Gu Yang responded before taking his leave.
A moment later, a cowering figure stepped through the entrance of the Council Hall. She looked like an aggrieved housewife as she stopped about ten meters away from Lu Ye. Her lips were pressed tightly, her eyes were staring at her own feet, and even her breathing was suppressed like she was attempting to hide from an apex predator.
If there was one person who was decidedly not happy with Lu Ye’s triumphant return, it was be Feng Yue for sure.
During the time Lu Ye was gone, Feng Yue had managed to integrate herself into the Crimson Blood Sect. Although she had absolutely nothing to her name, she was able to convince most Crimson Blood Sect disciples to accept her with her identity and skill as a medicine cultivator.
Strictly speaking, she was treated as a supernumerary of the Crimson Blood Sect.
Lu Ye was the only person in the sect she couldn’t interact with without turning as taut as a string. Without exaggeration, she did not even dare to breathe too loudly in his presence.
She had hidden herself the second she heard that Lu Ye had returned to the sect. Otherwise, Lu Ye and Gu Yang would have seen her when they were patrolling the Plantation Zone. As Gu Yang had mentioned earlier, she was normally tending to the Spirit Plants at this time.
When Gu Yang had messaged her saying that Lu Ye required her presence in the Council Hall, her soul had nearly departed her body. Unfortunately, short of actually dying on the spot, there was no chance she could avoid this meeting. She could only obey and wait for the walking calamity to decide her fate.
“So, you’re in the Eight-Order now, huh?” Lu Ye’s voice reverbrated in the empty hall.
Feng Yue trembled and turned as the blood drained away from her face. She instinctively tried to make herself even smaller than she already was while answering, “Yes.”
“Get over here!”
If Feng Yue’s face wasn’t as white as a sheet before, she was now. She wanted to say no, but she seriously did not have the guts to do so. It had been months since the day she was nearly beheaded, and yet the image of Lu Ye’s saber still haunted her dreams to this day. Without exaggeration, the grass growing on her grave would have be ten meters by now if she hadn’t knelt fast enough that day.
