Immortal Path Space

Chapter 231: Bloodline

After half a year of rigorous training, Wen Lan and the other nine individuals had all reached the pinnacle of Qi Cultivation. The Bee Queen of the Poisonous Bees had also reached Tier One.

Now, Wang Hong had replaced the Green Spirit Peach he had been providing to Wen Lan and the others with White Crystal Fruits to prevent their Spiritual Energy from advancing too quickly and becoming unstable.

Currently, as long as they had enough Foundation Establishment Pills, these ten individuals could all become Foundation Building cultivators. Wang Hong had planted Spiritual Herbs that produced Foundation Establishment Pills in his space, and they would mature in some time. When that happened, he could refine a large number of Foundation Establishment Pills. Even though these forty-plus subordinates didn't possess Spiritual Roots, with a stockpile of resources, he was confident that he could cultivate them all into Foundation Building cultivators.

Having more power would allow him to acquire more resources. In the early stages, his space expansion required a significant amount of Spirit Stones. As the space's size increased and the cultivation of Spiritual Objects reached higher tiers, the daily consumption of Spiritual Energy also rose significantly.

For example, the nearly one million Spirit Stones he had acquired this time were all stored in his Storage Bag to replenish his daily consumption. If the Spiritual Energy in the space was insufficient, when it reached a certain limit, the space would slowly shrink, releasing Spiritual Energy to supplement its consumption.

Furthermore, as the requirements for high-tier Spiritual Herbs' maturity increased, the required planting area also had to correspondingly increase. Some high-tier Spiritual Plants required thousands or even tens of thousands of years to grow, and some spirit woods, once fully grown, could cover several acres.

Therefore, as his Realm improved, the needed space area would undoubtedly increase. Wang Hong had no idea where the limit of space enhancement was or what it would develop into in the future. These were things he couldn't predict right now, as he was currently just a Foundation Building cultivator.

In any case, if he wanted to obtain more resources in the future, he needed a group of strong and capable subordinates. These subordinates lacked Spiritual Roots and were more suitable for body refinement. However, if they only focused on body refinement and couldn't reach the Foundation Building stage in Qi Cultivation, they wouldn't even be able to fly with magical tools in the future battles.

In battles to come, they would surely be at a disadvantage, just like how the human race often used Flying Boats to deal with Demonic Beasts that couldn't fly. It was said that once a body-refining cultivator reached the Golden Core stage, they could control their strength to fly through the air, just as proficiently as other Golden Core cultivators' flying techniques.

Raising his subordinates to the Foundation Building stage wasn't too difficult, but for Poisonous Bees, Wang Hong's wish to advance them to Tier Two was a challenging task. The Demon Clan had a limit to their Realm, and the heights they could reach were related to their bloodlines.

The bloodline of their mother, the Green-tailed Spirit Bees, determined that they were a Tier One Demonic Beast and couldn't advance to Tier Two. Unless Wang Hong could enhance their bloodline.

To elevate their bloodline, one needed to extract bloodline power from Demonic Beasts with higher bloodlines, from the essence blood at the heart of their beings, and use it to enhance their bloodlines. Only after their bloodlines were improved could they potentially advance to higher Realms.

Thinking about this, Wang Hong left his secret chamber and prepared to purchase some essence blood from higher-tier Demonic Beasts on the street. After all, as long as they were Tier Two or above, their essence blood should be stronger than that of the Poisonous Bees.

Wang Hong first visited his own shop, where Yin Ze was registering a Foundation Building cultivator. This cultivator needed to purchase a Tier Two Spiritual Herb and could only register here to be notified when it became available.

This method of shopping was quite common among Foundation Building cultivators because Tier Two Spiritual Objects were relatively scarce, but the demand was high. They often had difficulty finding them in stock and had to use this pre-order method to increase their chances of successfully purchasing them. They would often place orders with multiple stores to improve their chances.

"Do we have any essence blood from Demonic Beasts of Tier Two or higher in the shop?" Wang Hong asked Yin Ze once the Foundation Building cultivator had finished registering.

"Reporting to East Master, we've never received essence blood from Demonic Beasts at the heart." Yin Ze shook his head. The essence blood at the heart of Demonic Beasts was different from regular essence blood, as it had to be extracted directly from the heart and needed to be collected promptly; otherwise, it would dissipate into regular essence blood over time. Due to its rarity and widespread use, such as in alchemy or refining tools, it was not commonly found in the market.

Wang Hong usually only required regular essence blood for his talisman-making, and it wasn't too hard to come by. "Wang Alchemist, I do have some essence blood from Tier Two Demonic Beasts in my possession," he continued.

After finishing his registration, the Foundation Building cultivator who had not yet left approached Wang Hong.

He had previously sought Wang Hong's help in refining a pill, so they were acquainted.

"Oh! I wonder, how would you like to exchange?" Wang Hong asked, knowing that the other party surely had something in mind.

"Wang Alchemist, I'd like to exchange for a healing pill. What do you think?" said the Foundation Building cultivator.

"I wonder, how much essence blood do you have, and what's its quality?" Wang Hong needed to assess the quantity and quality of the essence blood to determine the exchange.

"Please have a look, Wang Alchemist." The Foundation Building cultivator promptly handed Wang Hong a small Jade vial.

Wang Hong opened the vial and found a small amount of essence blood inside, of decent quality.

After some thought, he agreed since the value of the two items was roughly equivalent. He handed over a Tier Two healing pill to the Foundation Building cultivator, who checked it and then left, satisfied.

"Yin Ze, from now on, let's actively purchase essence blood from Tier Two or higher Demonic Beasts. When you collect them, bring them to me."

After the Foundation Building cultivator left, Wang Hong instructed Yin Ze.

"Understood, East Master!" Yin Ze replied.

"East Master! We've made a total profit of 2,600 Spirit Stones this month. Here are the detailed accounts for your review," Yin Ze said as he handed over the accounts.

When Wang Hong took the ledger and scanned it with his Divine Sense, he found no issues and handed it back. Although this shop had tens of thousands of Spirit Stones in monthly revenue, that was only the turnover, and the profit margin wasn't that high.

Suppliers typically offered goods at an 80% or 90% discount, leaving the shop with a profit margin of only around 10% to 20% after factoring in costs like rent and personnel expenses. Making this many Spirit Stones per month was already considered good.

His shop in Azure Void City, on the other hand, made tens of thousands of Spirit Stones in monthly revenue because the items it sold, such as Spiritual Herbs, were sourced directly from Wang Hong. However, even with such sales, it wasn't too conspicuous because the monthly income also included the cost of goods.

Unfortunately, there was no immortal way trading company here, so he couldn't sell too many of his own items.

"Good job! Let's temporarily keep these 2,600 Spirit Stones in the shop as working capital. I also have a bottle of high-quality Condensing Qi Pills for you as a reward for the past few months!"

Wang Hong took out an exquisite Jade vial and handed it to Yin Ze.

"Thank you for your generous gift, East Master!"

Yin Ze eagerly accepted the Jade vial and stored it in his Storage Bag. The high-quality pills contained pure Spiritual Energy with minimal impurities, making them a rare and valuable item. More importantly, this reward represented Wang Hong's recognition of him.

After Wang Hong left, Yin Ze took out the Jade vial and carefully opened it. When he saw what was inside, he nearly dropped the vial it contained twenty high-quality Condensing Qi Pills.

He had thought he might receive two or three pills at most as a reward, so Wang Hong's generosity surprised him.

Later, Wang Hong searched the city's shops one by one and obtained another sample of Tier Two essence blood.

Back at home, he refined these two samples of essence blood and extracted a small amount of golden liquid from them. This quantity was far from enough to enhance the bloodlines of the Poisonous Bees, so he knew he needed to continue searching for more essence blood.

During this period, Wang Hong secluded himself at home to cultivate. He put the Resplendent Visage Elixir he had refined in the shop for sale, and it caused a frenzy among male and female cultivators in the city. There were already hundreds of cultivators registered in the shop, waiting for the elixir.

However, Wang Hong couldn't supply such a large quantity of Resplendent Visage Elixir for now, so he asked them to be patient.

While Wang Hong was in seclusion, in a secret chamber in Boundary City, a Foundation Building cultivator from the Beast Spirit Sect was receiving a young man who had just arrived from the sect.

"Senior Crane, when I came this time, Master asked me to deliver a letter to you," the young man said, taking out a Jade Scroll from his Storage Bag and handing it to the Foundation Building cultivator with the crane surname.

Both the young man and the Foundation Building cultivator shared the same master, a late-stage Golden Core cultivator, and their master's family was a powerful one in the Beast Spirit Sect, holding great influence.

The crane-surnamed cultivator received the Jade Scroll, probed it with his Divine Sense, and read it for a while before speaking, "Junior Qi, our master wants us to find an opportunity to kill the two individuals from the Qingxu Sect. Do you know why?"

"As for the reason, I only know a little bit. Do you recall that our master's favorite grandson was killed in a secret realm?" The young man calmly explained.

"Naturally, I remember that. Our master was furious, and dozens of disciples in the sect were slaughtered as a result of his anger. Even the sect leader couldn't do anything about it." The crane-surnamed Foundation Building cultivator showed a hint of satisfaction on his face.

"Are these two the culprits from back then? I heard they were already entrusted to Shadow Kill, but did even Shadow Kill fail to kill them?" The Foundation Building cultivator with the crane surname asked with confusion.

"It's not that these two are exceptionally skilled, but they've been holed up in the sect all along, making it impossible for Shadow Kill to get to them," the young man explained.

[Read at /shanefreak, and heartfelt thankyou for your support!]