Chapter 111 Secret Realm
Yin Fuxue gasped, startled by her boss's ambition.
Every so often, a natural secret realm would open up in the desolate hills, sometimes every few weeks, and sometimes even every few months. Each opening was accompanied by a fierce and relentless struggle among the major sects for the treasures.
The treasures in the secret realm are divided into eight levels, from top to bottom: Supreme Treasure, Spiritual Treasure, Universal Treasure, Spiritual Artifact, and Dao Artifact.
The most precious treasures are often the key to a secret realm, and there is only one of them. They usually disappear naturally a week after the secret realm opens. Each sect will send at least some elites at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage or above to fight to the death for the treasures.
If he wants to obtain the supreme treasure in the upcoming secret realm without taking any damage, it means that he must successfully break through to the Foundation Establishment stage during this period.
The pressure on her was as heavy as a mountain of gold. Yin Fuxue didn't dare to waste a moment. She clasped her hands in greeting to the boss and then turned and entered the alchemy furnace.
As the patterns on the alchemy furnace were gradually covered by the shimmering white spiritual energy, Fang Zhuo walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window and looked at the architectural layout below, referring to the blueprints.
Having taken over the land left by the Medicine Sect, he needed to demolish some unnecessary buildings and make some minor renovations.
The main office building, warehouse, canteen, and alchemy laboratory can be kept, but the factory buildings that manufacture pills on assembly lines can be completely demolished and discarded.
He dialed the construction team's number, and a booming voice came from the other end:
"Hello, the Moving Mountain Sect is at your service. Our sect offers a full range of services including moving to evade debts, blocking roads and harassing people, door-to-door debt collection, and earth and water escape techniques. Our prices are fair and honest. How can we help you?"
These businesses sound like sunrise industries here.
It seems that the Mountain Moving Sect is doing quite well.
Fang Zhuo sent the rough planning drawings to the other party: "We need to demolish the factory buildings, give me a quote."
There was a moment of silence on the other end, followed by a low murmur of discussion:
"Senior, this workload is a bit heavy. How much do you think is appropriate to report?"
"Is the client mistaken? This total land area is a bit too big; it must be over a thousand square kilometers."
"Hey, wait a minute, the more I look at this, the more it resembles that auspicious land that the Medicine Sect occupied eight hundred years ago."
"That can't be right. The caller ID isn't the Medicine Sect's internal number. How could the Medicine Sect transfer its own territory? Their sect leader is just old, not senile."
"Besides, that piece of land is currently publicly valued at 80 billion, not 80,000 or 8,000. Just think about it, which big shot can pull out that much money at once these days..."
"Stop chatting, does the client still want it? Here's what we'll do, you quote nine million first, and if the client thinks it's too expensive, you can recommend the microloan platform we've been working with."
The hushed conversation ended, and a thunderous voice rang out again: "Boss, this job won't be easy. It'll cost at least nine million, and we can finish dismantling it all in a month."
Fang Zhuo: "Twenty million, demolish it in two weeks."
"So, if you don't think this is suitable, we have a microloan platform here that disburses loans incredibly quickly... Hmm? Twenty million??"
From the other end came the sound of things being knocked over: "You mean twenty million!? Hehe, that's fine, don't even mention two weeks, our entire clan can get it done for you in a week."
"May I ask the name of your sect? Oh, Giants Sect, that sounds like a good name. Best wishes for a pleasant meal, boss. Please wait a moment, our construction team will be here tonight."
After hanging up the phone, Fang Zhuo placed a protective shield worth 300 million spirit stones around the office building where Yin Fuxue was located, activated the automatic defense device for the entire plot, left an electronic password for the Moving Mountain Sect, and then flew back to the hotel on his sword.
Having spent a day and a night alone in the hotel, Fang Lieyang was sitting on the floor in the entrance hall of the suite, looking at two pages of a pirated martial arts manual printed out.
In the past two days, he ate eight buffet meals at the hotel restaurant. At first, he cautiously asked the waiter if these dishes needed to be paid for separately. After learning that they were all free, he would take a plastic bag to pack a portion for his father after each meal, so that his father would not go hungry if he did not come back at mealtime.
But his father never came to the hotel to find him during this time, and all the food became his extra meals.
The door lock clicked, and Fang Lieyang reflexively looked towards the doorway.
In his memory, his father was always conscientious at work. He spent his time cultivating his spiritual practice outside of work. Occasionally, he would come home early to bring him some second-hand talismans that could help with his cultivation. In any case, he rarely saw his father during normal working hours on weekdays.
And now he has not only seen it, but he has seen it twice.
Whether it was the penthouse suite of this five-star hotel or the expensive flying sword beneath his feet, both gave him a sense of unfamiliarity.
It feels like suddenly finding a gold mine in your own field—it just doesn't seem realistic.
Fang Lieyang changed into the new clothes and shoes his father had prepared for him. He nervously touched his arms and felt that the clothes were smooth and not prickly at all. Wearing them felt like he wasn't wearing anything at all, and he was very uncomfortable.
As they entered the entrance of the renowned private academy jointly run by several major sects, Fang Lieyang quietly tugged at his father's sleeve:
"Dad, the tuition here is expensive, over four million spirit stones a year. We'll have many other expenses in the future, there's no need for you to go to this kind of elite school. You'll go bankrupt if you continue like this..."
Upon hearing the word "bankruptcy," Fang Lieyang shuddered at the urge to imagine it.
But Dad didn't seem to be listening to what he was saying; he just stood idly to the side with a recruitment flyer in hand.
"Oh, really? Only four million spirit stones a year? That's very cheap."
"I'll be going out of town the week after next. You stay at school and focus on your training. Don't worry about our family's finances; at your current spending rate, you could never spend all your money in a lifetime."
Fang Lieyang touched his forehead.
It's normal; the temperature is warm, and there are no signs of fever to the point of delirium.
He suspected his biological father had gone mad, but had no proof.
After a whole day of anxiety, he finally posted something on the forum in the middle of the night—
[Help! My dad won the lottery, quit his job, bought a brand new high-end flying sword, booked a high-floor suite in a five-star hotel, and even sent me to a comprehensive aristocratic private school that costs over four million spirit stones a year. I'm so worried...]
[1L: Haha, so what are you worried about? If you're worried about not being able to spend all the money, you can transfer me a hundred right now.]
[2L: So rich kids really do have their troubles. Little brother, do you need a worry-relieving pill? It costs 500 spirit stones per pill~~]
[3L: I understand your anxiety, because this doesn't sound like winning the lottery, it sounds like someone overspending after receiving a loan from a microloan platform...]
[4L: Did they go gambling? How can a microloan platform extract so much money?]
[5L: Nine out of ten gamblers lose. Little brother, I'll send you a link. You can turn right and go to the Anti-Gambling Forum to observe the lives of the guys. You can arrange a small package to maintain your vital signs first.]
The forum comments section was getting increasingly off-topic. Fang Lieyang opened the message pop-up and found that his father had just transferred five million spirit stones to him, with a note saying it was pocket money.
...This money is enough to buy his life.
This is not right, very wrong. He is now quite certain that his biological father's mental state is not very stable.
Fang Lieyang carefully deposited the money into his Ling Shi Bao APP, intending to use it as an emergency fund when his family fell on hard times.
He switched back to the forum and found that his post had been buried on the homepage at some point, while a large number of discussion posts were highlighted in red, and related topics directly topped the trending list.
[Does anyone know if the Medicine Sect's land was sold? It seems it was sold to a new sect called the Giant Sect. The Giant Sect's leader even spent 20 million to have the factory demolished. Is that a huge sum?]
[1L: I'm here too early, I'll wait and see]
[189L: An insider came; I was there. The news is true. Our entire Medicine Clan is relocating today, and we didn't even take the expensively installed gas-gathering device with us.]
[190L: ? ? ? Huh? ? What's the Giant Sect all about? I've never heard of it before.]
[191L: The Medicine Sect's land is the best in the entire Wasteland, and they're willing to sell it? Did the other side cast a spell on the Medicine Sect Master? The number one succubus in Wasteland, huh?]
[192L replied to @191L: There's nothing we can do. The other side used a talisman from a Nascent Soul stage expert and even gave the sect leader 50 billion on the spot...]
[193L: He's so kind. He could have easily kept the coins after getting the talisman, but he still gave you hundreds of billions. That shows great sportsmanship.]
[194L: ...Is that the point? The point is that this person can come up with 50 billion in one go. You should ask which major sect in the world can come up with that much money right now. Damn, the Wilderness Hill is really going to change.]
[195L replied to @194L: That's not the key point. The key point is that before he went to the Medicine Sect to buy land, he also bought hundreds of millions of magic weapons from the Wanbao Pavilion, and the flying sword he used was the latest model released last quarter.]
[196L: Hmm? Speaking of which, I just saw a post on the homepage about a dad who won the lottery and bought a new flying sword... I have a rough guess, let me find the original post.]
[197L: Waaaaah, please, please find that post! I can hardly imagine how happy I would be if I had hundreds of billions. I would never have to compete with others for even a fifth of a Qi-Boosting Pill again, and I could even buy a whole one outright.]
[198L: Full payment? ? No, trust me, even a sect leader with a net worth of over 100 million has to wait for the crazy discount on cultivation pills next Monday.]
Fang Zhuo stopped reading the forum posts and returned to the cultivation room on the top floor of the office building. He took out a whole bottle of Qi Circulation Pills from the boxes of magical artifacts and potions that Wanbaoge had just delivered and ate ten of them at once, according to the maximum dosage limit.
His stamina is currently at its maximum, which should be much stronger than the original owner's cultivation talent.
Before starting his cultivation, he first clicked on all the red dot notifications on the system interface—
[Congratulations, host, you have completed Task One: Establishing a Sect]
[Reward: The Alchemy Technique Book]
[Note: After learning this technique, you can spend a certain amount of spirit stones to improve the quality of items. This process does not require the assistance of third-party tools such as forging furnaces or alchemy furnaces, but the amount of spirit stones consumed will be greater.]
[Congratulations, host! You have achieved the achievement 'Sect-related discussions have exceeded 100,000']
[Company's current reputation value: 10, matching title 'A First Try']
[Two unnamed blind boxes have been given away and added to your system inventory]
[Current number of blind boxes remaining: seven]
When he switched worlds, the system also gifted him a wealth-enhancing ability. His current 400 billion spirit stones generate over 3 million in interest daily. In other words, the cost of buying more days of his life has decreased from 10 million to over 6 million, and this figure will further decrease as his total wealth increases.
In other words, his time is not as tight as before.
Since Yin Fuxue hasn't been removed from the furnace yet, Fang Zhuo flipped through the book on the "Turning Stone into Gold" technique, memorized it, and then circulated it through his body.
This was the first time he had circulated his internal energy on his own since arriving in the world of cultivation. His blood had only circulated twice along his meridians when the surrounding spiritual energy seemed to have found its master and began to flow in.
Two weeks later, he could clearly feel that he was about to break through to the sixth level of Qi Refining.
Meanwhile, the patterns on the other alchemy furnace were flowing so fast that they couldn't be observed with the naked eye. Realizing that the person inside might be about to break through, Fang Zhuo deliberately stood a little further away from the furnace.
With a loud bang, the stove lid bounced outwards as if it had been struck by some kind of gas.
This process lasted for about five minutes, with streaks of purple lightning exploding in the sky, followed by a continuous downpour.
More than ten days after entering the alchemy furnace, Yin Fuxue emerged from it, covered in sweat:
"Boss, I've succeeded."
At the same time, the system also announced—
[Congratulations, host! Your investment target [Yin Fuxue] has broken through from the eighth level of Qi Refining to the early stage of Foundation Establishment, advancing two minor stages and one major stage, for a total reward of 1.7 billion spirit stones.]
[Congratulations, host! During this period, your son [Fang Lieyang] has broken through from the second level of Qi Refining to the third level of Qi Refining, advancing one small stage. The total reward is 500 million spirit stones.]
[The host receives double the cultivation points from both their investment targets and their wards, increasing their accumulated cultivation points by 10 points.]
[Loading for you...]
[Host's initial cultivation level: Qi Refining Level 6]
[Host's current cultivation level: Mid-Foundation Establishment]
A brief burst of golden light erupted from Fang Zhuo's body, and his limbs felt lighter than ever before. He beckoned to Yin Fuxue with his finger:
"Go over to the boxes and pick out a few magical artifacts you like. The secret realm will open at four in the morning. We'll go to the vast sea and wait for them."
The Vast Sea is not far from the Medicine Sect's territory; in fact, it's practically right next to it.
However, other sects had obviously arrived earlier than them. Thousands of flying swords were hovering in the air above this sea area, arranged in a strict hierarchy according to cultivation level and sect status, from low to high.
Among them, the late-stage Foundation Establishment and Golden Core cultivators from the major sects were positioned at the lowest point closest to the sea surface, while the disciples from other minor sects and the small teams from the major sects were positioned at a greater distance.
Besides these clearly prepared individuals, there were also a large number of cultivators at the eighth level of Qi Refining chatting and eating melon seeds on higher ground, waiting to rush in and grab the ordinary treasures that the major sects didn't want.
"Hey, why do I feel like there are an unusually large number of people here this time?"
"Your feeling is correct. The elder of the Weapon Refining Sect consulted a Nascent Soul expert in advance and said that the quality of this treasure is much higher than that of those found in ordinary secret realms."
"Damn, the Taiyi Talisman Sect is so rich! Look at the water-repelling talismans in their hands, there are at least thirty of them in that stack, that's worth more than 40,000 spirit stones."
"Why don't you take a look at the Medicine Sect? The market price of a single Breath-Sealing Pill is over two thousand. They gave at least two pills to each of the more than eighty people in the five teams. The Breath-Sealing Pills alone must be worth at least three hundred thousand."
"Why don't you just say that the Breath-Holding Pill is produced by the Medicine Sect itself? I estimate that the cost of this thing is less than two hundred, otherwise they would dare to waste it like this?"
"Even if the cost is two hundred, it would still add up to tens of thousands of yuan. Tsk tsk, no wonder you have to go to a major sect. If the pills for holding your breath cost this much, then the magic tools used must be even more expensive."
"Bullshit, the Medicine Sect has run away. Have you seen the forums? I heard that a sect bought the Medicine Sect's land, and their sect leader moved the sect to Yaoshan. You have no idea how remote that place is."
"I suspect it's just hype. How could such a large sect like the Medicine Sect move everything away all at once? I guess they think some of the factories are too polluting, or the elders feel that the laborers are stealing their spiritual energy, so they're deliberately trying to get rid of some of them."
"I simply don't believe anyone can pull out 50 billion spirit stones in one go..."
The sound of the waves below almost drowned out the laughter of the people around them. The waves at the entrance of the whirlpool grew larger and larger, and the surging water droplets splashed dozens of meters high.
The surrounding conversations gradually subsided as everyone focused intently on the whirlpool on the sea, waiting for the moment the secret realm would open so they could rush in at top speed.
Yin Fuxue was unsure and frowned worriedly: "Boss, did you bring anything waterproof? My breath-holding time is limited. Should we go back now and buy some water-repelling talismans?"
"The Vast Sea isn't very deep. I think about ten water-repelling talismans should be enough for the two of us, costing only a little over 20,000 spirit stones."
Before he could finish speaking, he saw the boss take out a palm-sized cone-shaped model from his storage ring. Then the model grew bigger and bigger like an inflating balloon until it finally became a vehicle that could accommodate two people.
All eyes turned to this side, and Yin Fuxue was so shocked that her jaw almost dislocated.
Wait, is that a submarine?!
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