The eleventh year after contracting the Blessed Land!
This year, the Earth Mystic Realm remained calm as usual. With the joint suppression by the major hegemonic powers, the chaos of the outer realm battlefield did not spill over into the Earth Mystic Realm.
This year, Ye Qingxuan’s Heavenly Blessing Shop continued its steady development. Every year, a considerable number of low-ranking disciples, either preparing to head to the outer realm battlefield or returning from it, came to Ye Qingxuan’s shop to purchase supplies.
Among all the items, the third-grade Spirit Cleansing Pills refined by Ye Qingxuan himself were the hottest sellers.
As one of the more difficult third-grade pills to refine, only about one-fifth of third-grade alchemists could successfully produce Spirit Cleansing Pills.
Furthermore, even with the same type of pill, there could be subtle differences in quality.
Without a doubt, the effects of Spirit Cleansing Pills refined by other third-grade alchemists were slightly inferior to those produced by Ye Qingxuan.
Therefore, after experiencing the effects of Ye Qingxuan’s pills firsthand, customers naturally chose to return to his shop for their next purchases.
As time passed, the Heavenly Blessing Shop gained considerable fame among some low-ranking disciples.
However, since Ye Qingxuan was working alone and didn’t dedicate all his time to alchemy, the third-grade Spirit Cleansing Pills he refined were always in short supply, even after the shop gained popularity.
This situation, fortunately, did not affect the business of other shops in the Xuantian Sect’s market district.
After all, the daily transaction volume of the Heavenly Blessing Shop was barely a drop in the bucket compared to the entire market.
This year, Ye Qingxuan began teaching Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu the Four Arts of Cultivation.
The two brothers had successfully broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage the previous year and were now at the early Foundation Establishment level.
With a long future ahead, Ye Qingxuan knew he couldn’t handle everything personally. It would be ideal if Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu could master the Four Arts of Cultivation.
However, he didn’t require them to study all four arts. Instead, he had each choose two to focus on.
In the end, Ye Zhaoheng chose alchemy and talisman crafting, while Ye Zhaoyu selected artifact forging and array formations.
After they made their choices, Ye Qingxuan began teaching them their respective arts, but this didn’t consume too much of his own time.
The master introduces the path, but cultivation depends on the individual. Ye Qingxuan now had plenty of spirit stones—enough resources to allow the two brothers to learn through trial and error.
He only needed to spare a little time each month to answer their questions.
As for Ye Qingxuan himself, he continued to follow his own cultivation routine steadily and methodically.
It wasn’t until the end of this year that someone Ye Qingxuan never expected to see sought him out at his Qingxuan Blessed Land.
Inside the stone pavilion.
Ye Qingxuan looked at the person he hadn’t seen in years and asked curiously,
“Zhu Dafu, long time no see. What brings you to my Qingxuan Blessed Land this time? You’re not still trying to recruit me into some Blessed Cultivator Alliance, are you?”
The visitor was none other than Zhu Dafu, with whom Ye Qingxuan had little interaction.
Zhu Dafu’s family ran a trading company—the Zhu Family Commercial Firm—which was backed by a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Although the Zhu Family Commercial Firm wasn’t particularly renowned in the vast Eastern Domain, it was still a considerable enterprise.
Originally, Zhu Dafu was supposed to be the firm’s primary heir. However, his talent was slightly inferior to that of a cousin from a branch family, as he only had a five-element spirit root.
The firm didn’t lack people with business acumen; what it needed were powerful cultivators who could protect the business and ensure its smooth operation.
Given Zhu Dafu’s talent, even with the firm’s full support, his chances of reaching the Nascent Soul stage were slim.
Therefore, after much deliberation and negotiation among the senior management of the business, his cousin from a collateral branch was ultimately chosen as the successor of the business and given full support and training.
As for Zhu Dafu, his parents sent him to develop within the Xuantian Sect.
After all, without the firm’s all-out cultivation support, the Xuantian Sect was a better environment for Zhu Dafu’s growth. Only within the sect could he regain a sliver of hope for eventually reaching the Nascent Soul stage.
However, after entering the Xuantian Sect, Zhu Dafu felt he had been treated as a discarded pawn and was naturally unwilling to accept defeat.
So, after meeting Li Xuan, the two hit it off immediately. Full of ambition, they decided to carve out their own enterprise within the sect.
After some discussion, they set their sights on the overlooked blessed cultivator disciples within the Xuantian Sect.
Their plan was to recruit a group of blessed cultivators, control the market for low-grade spiritual herbs, reap substantial profits to support their own cultivation, and simultaneously lay the groundwork for a future vast commercial empire.
Burning with ambition, they approached Lin Fan, who was about to inherit a second-grade blessed land. After making various promises and painting rosy pictures, they successfully brought him onboard.
And that was how the Blessed Cultivator Alliance eventually came to be.
Hearing Ye Qingxuan’s teasing remark at the end, Zhu Dafu smiled wryly and said,
“Brother Ye, don’t even mention it. The Blessed Cultivator Alliance disbanded long ago.”
“Disbanded?”
Ye Qingxuan was genuinely surprised. He hadn’t paid much attention to the alliance Zhu Dafu and Li Xuan had formed, but he never expected it to fall apart in just over ten years.
Seeing Ye Qingxuan’s surprised expression, Zhu Dafu shamefully recounted the rough outline of events:
Their initial plan wasn’t necessarily bad.
But ultimately, none of them came from major powers and lacked experience. They completely failed to grasp the vast market scale within the Xuantian Sect.
Relying solely on the few dozen first-grade blessed cultivators they had gathered, they couldn’t even make a ripple in the sect’s low-tier market.
After much effort and running around, Zhu Dafu and Li Xuan ended up wasting a significant amount of cultivation time, and the returns were far below expectations.
In fact, after all their maneuvers, the first-grade spiritual herbs they handled didn’t even achieve normal market profits.
Finally, amid widespread dissatisfaction, the Blessed Cultivator Alliance completely disbanded. Lin Fan became estranged from Zhu Dafu and Li Xuan, turning from friends into foes.
Li Xuan seemed to see through everything and let go of these external pursuits, devoting himself entirely to solitary cultivation.
Only Zhu Dafu remained deeply unwilling to accept the outcome. By chance, he learned of the existence of the Heavenly Blessing Shop.
The shop had opened not long ago, yet its business was exceptionally booming. This piqued Zhu Dafu’s curiosity about its owner.
Through layers of connections, he discovered the identities of Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu. When he learned that the shop’s owner was Ye Qingxuan, Zhu Dafu could hardly believe it. He had secretly looked into the shop’s operations.
Although he didn’t know the exact profits, Zhu Dafu understood that with its thriving business, the Heavenly Blessing Shop was nothing to scoff at.
He thought about how their group had bustled about, only to gain nothing and waste their efforts. Meanwhile, Ye Qingxuan, whom they had overlooked, had easily established a solid foundation after becoming a blessed cultivator.
After much internal struggle, Zhu Dafu finally decided to seek Ye Qingxuan out at Qingxuan Blessed Land.
After hearing the general gist of the story, Ye Qingxuan wasn’t surprised that Zhu Dafu had easily traced the shop’s owner back to him.
After all, Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu, who managed the shop, were his attendants. It wasn’t difficult to uncover their identities.
This was something Ye Qingxuan couldn’t currently avoid.
He wasn’t afraid of his identity as the shop’s owner being exposed. Even if it were known, no one within the Xuantian Sect could do anything to him.
However, he didn’t want matters related to the shop to disturb his peaceful cultivation.
After pondering for a moment, Ye Qingxuan looked at Zhu Dafu, a glint of sharpness in his eyes, and said with a faint smile:
“So, Brother Zhu, what is the purpose of your visit today?”
