Chu Le's words had barely finished when Chu Lie leaped out.
Chu Lie, his face contorted with anger, questioned, "Brother Le, what exactly do you mean now? Speak more clearly."
"None of us here understand your intentions."
...
Hearing this, Chu Le glanced at Chu Lie, sighed, and then said, "What I mean is, no matter what, the Chu family cannot perish in our generation."
"Otherwise, how will we face our ancestors?"
"Heed my command. Use our hidden agents to have the elite disciples of the younger generation flee Chu Domain."
"As for the rest of us, we will remain in the Chu family and defend the foundation built by our ancestors."
Upon hearing these words, Chu Xiong, Chu Yuxun, Chu Han, and Chu Si remained silent for a long time, sighing softly before all nodding in agreement.
None of them tacitly acknowledged the fate of the descendants who remained in the Chu family should a great calamity befall them.
Cutting off a limb to save the body was sometimes necessary for the continuation of a family; this was the way of survival for noble houses.
Even if it meant sacrificing themselves and their descendants.
...
Shu Commandery, Wei City!
Underground!
Faintly visible, crimson地火 (ground fire) churned beneath the earth, accompanied by wisps of steaming white mist rising into the air.
In the central area, surrounded by this ground fire, a massive rock spanning hundreds of meters jutted out from the mountainside, suspended in mid-air.
Beneath the fire vein, bubbles intermittently "glug-glugged," casting the natural alchemy chamber in a deep red glow.
Waves of heat surged upwards, making the entire alchemy chamber unbearably hot.
Standing on the stone platform, Wu Tao's body was enveloped in spiritual light, rendering him unaffected.
...
Wu Tao took out the five main ingredients he had collected: "Crimson Fruit," "Blackhead Ginseng," "Fire Dragon Ganoderma," "Twelve Magnolias," and "Cloud Snow Flower."
In addition to the five main ingredients, Wu Tao also brought out nine auxiliary ingredients.
"Snow Fruit," "Saffron," "Purple Smoke Grass," "Coptis Chinensis," "White Essence," Poria Cocos, and over a thousand other medicinal herbs were laid out one by one.
Seeing that everything was prepared, Wu Tao tapped his storage bag and retrieved the Frost Wind Cauldron.
Subsequently, Wu Tao circulated his spiritual power, channeling the power of the Origin of Time, and drew a line in the void with his finger, condensing a Time Talisman.
As the talismans, each imbued with the power of time, lit up, the Frost Wind Cauldron began to operate.
Wu Tao then stood by the Frost Wind Cauldron and slowly drew the ground fire to the base of the cauldron.
As the temperature inside the cauldron rose, Wu Tao waved his sleeve again, sending all the spiritual herbs and medicines into the cauldron.
After completing this, Wu Tao pointed his finger, and three streams of spiritual power shot out, transforming into three blooming fire lotuses that appeared out of nowhere beneath the three legs of the Frost Wind Cauldron.
As the Frost Wind Cauldron continuously operated, the dozen or so spiritual medicines gradually transformed into multicolored pure spiritual energy.
This multicolored pure spiritual energy constantly tried to escape through the gaps in the cauldron lid.
However, the Frost Wind Cauldron naturally generated an adsorption force, preventing any leakage.
Three days and three nights later, the vibrant five-colored spiritual energy within the cauldron gradually subsided.
Finally, the five-colored spiritual energy slowly transformed into faint golden embryonic forms of pills.
Seeing this, a divine light flashed in Wu Tao's eyes. He flipped his hands, formed another pill seal, and shouted. The interior of the Frost Wind Cauldron underwent another change.
A serene, profound black light controlled these nearly formed pills, guiding them through the final step in a more perfect manner.
Another day and night passed, and a clear, fragrant pill aroma wafted from within the cauldron. Wu Tao's expression remained solemn.
He withdrew the Time Talismans, which had been transformed by the power of time, and stopped injecting spiritual power into the Frost Wind Cauldron, allowing the temperature within the cauldron to gradually drop.
The ground fire beneath the cauldron was completely extinguished, yet the Frost Wind Cauldron radiated auspicious energy, with multicolored light flowing, and a strong pill fragrance permeated from within, lingering in the air.
Seeing this scene, Wu Tao opened the cauldron lid. He saw dozens of golden, shimmering pills, the size of dragon eyes, floating within. A smile finally appeared on his face.
"Golden Gang Immortal Spirit Pills, finally refined successfully!"
Wu Tao counted them carefully: forty-nine in total, precisely corresponding to the number of heavenly cycles.
Each pill was the size of a dragon's eye, perfectly round and full, emitting a faint glow all around, indicating they were of superior quality.
After collecting these forty-nine Golden Gang Immortal Spirit Pills into a prepared jade bottle, Wu Tao muttered to himself with pride, "Hahaha, I never expected my pill refining skills to improve so much. I can now refine forty-nine pills in a single batch, even for such difficult ones."
"If I maintain this pace and refine another dozen batches, the high-grade pills in the Pill Fragrance Pavilion will be able to last for some time."
...
As the current administrative city of Shu Commandery, Wei City had expanded more than tenfold. Centered on Qiantang Street, the central axes running east, west, north, south, and center were lined with prosperous architectural complexes.
Qiantang Street traversed the entire Wei City, connecting east, west, north, and south, stretching for hundreds of miles, straight as a line and extending endlessly. Its geographical location was exceptionally good.
It could be said without exaggeration that the entire Qiantang Street was the heart of Wei City.
Since the entire street was a prime location, ordinary cultivators or families, no matter how rich, could not claim even an inch of land on this street.
Only those in important positions under Wu Tao's influence were allowed to open their shops on this street.
This was also a perk Wu Tao provided to his own people.
...
Of course, the primary reason Wu Tao expended so much effort in making Wei City so prosperous was to collect taxes to expand and support his army of cultivators.
The reason Wei City had expanded to its current extent within a mere century was primarily due to the efforts of Wu Tao and his subordinates.
And the place where Wu Tao and his subordinates invested the most effort was the Dingxiang Pavilion, located in the center of Qiantang Street.
The Dingxiang Pavilion occupied an area of over a thousand square meters, consisting of a magnificent thirteen-story independent building.
The Dingxiang Pavilion was entirely constructed from the extremely valuable "Century-old Red Sandalwood," with a style leaning towards immortal aesthetics.
It exuded an ancient charm while simultaneously emanating an immortal aura. Both externally and internally, it was a top-tier pavilion.
The Dingxiang Pavilion was in the business of selling pills.
Each of the thirteen floors was responsible for receiving different types of guests.
The first to tenth floors served Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Core Formation stage cultivators, while the eleventh to thirteenth floors hosted cultivators of the Nascent Soul stage and above.
The pills from the first to tenth floors were generally refined by the master alchemists under the Wu Dynasty.
The pills from the eleventh to thirteenth floors were generally personally developed by Wu Tao.
The interior of the Dingxiang Pavilion was sumptuously decorated, with walls paved with jade, inlaid with colorful stones, and stairs made of green jade, exuding an unrestrained grandeur and luxury.
Wu Tao deeply understood the importance of spirit stones and, more importantly, what was needed to develop his enterprise.
Do not underestimate the Dingxiang Pavilion; this small place created value beyond most people's imagination.
The monthly revenue from spirit pill sales in the Dingxiang Pavilion was approximately three million spirit stones. After deducting various expenses and costs, the net profit was about one million spirit stones.
And one million spirit stones per month translated to twelve million spirit stones a year.
If nothing else, this was sufficient to maintain the Flying Demon Wolf Legion.
On the other side!
At the stronghold of the Liu Imperial family, high-ranking officials in the Ministry of War of the capital, Chang'an, had received news.
The head of the Chu family, who was originally their target for enfeoffment, had been killed by the head of another family. The Chu family's strength had significantly diminished, and they were no longer able to control Chu Domain.
The officials of the Ministry of War, who had initially chosen the Chu family based on their power, immediately abandoned them upon hearing this news.
The Third Prince Liu Zhi, who had a long-standing relationship with Wu Tao, recommended Wu Tao's faction upon learning of this situation.
Out of respect for the Third Prince Liu Zhi, the high-ranking officials of the Ministry of War dispatched scouts to conduct an on-site investigation to determine if Wu Tao's faction had the potential to become a feudal lord.
Thus, Wu Tao also gained the possibility of becoming a feudal lord and carving out his own territory.
After spending over a month in the alchemy chamber, Wu Tao, who had finally emerged, had been spending his days idly in his mansion for the past few days.
However, one day while at his residence, Wu Tao suddenly frowned.
This was because he noticed that the protective array of his mansion had subtly stirred, as if a small mouse had entered.
Wu Tao stroked his chin and muttered, "Interesting."
If it had been the Wu Tao of the past, he might not have detected such subtle movements.
However, the current Wu Tao was a great cultivator of the late Nascent Soul stage, his divine sense far exceeding ordinary imagination.
It was just that Wu Tao did not yet know what this "mouse" that had sneaked into his home intended to do.
"Tsk tsk, interesting. Let me see how you managed to evade my mansion's array's detection."
As Wu Tao spoke, a look of great interest appeared in his eyes.
One must know that although the array in Wu Tao's mansion was not particularly famous, it was called the Hundred and Eight Star Array, a subset of the Small Zhou Tian Star Array.
To be able to deceive the Hundred and Eight Star Array required more than just ordinary means.
While thinking this, Wu Tao expanded his divine sense, gradually locking onto the intruder's exact location.
Under Wu Tao's perception, a male cultivator in the middle Nascent Soul stage, holding a talisman, was furtively observing his surroundings.
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