Chapter 128: Purchasing the Blueprint

"It is one thing that you were competing with the Ye Village for the Red Fire Mine Island, but for your sea vessel to be burned to ashes by them? To be defeated by such a primitive tactic! If you had kept seven or eight additional cultivators skilled in water arts on your ship, how could they have possibly destroyed it? And to think you are one of the ten city lords who passed the evaluation of the Blazing Fire Immortal Academy—how could you commit such a rookie mistake? I told you long ago, do not get carried away until the very end; you can never seem to break that habit. Had you been cautious, even with the aid of their few flying spirit beasts, your strength would still have been enough to overcome them. Even if you couldn't secure a victory, you certainly wouldn't have suffered such a crushing defeat."

Xun Guang ignored Min Cong’s miserable expression and continued his reprimand.

"Third Brother, what should I do now? Are we just going to let it go?" Min Cong asked in a low voice, too ashamed to lift his head.

"If you want revenge, it is not impossible, but you must wait for the right moment. Focus on managing your Immortal Village first. Once the village is stable and has weathered a few waves of beast tides, then we shall see. There is plenty of time; do not let hatred blind your judgment." Xun Guang’s tone softened slightly.

"But the Ye Immortal Village has acquired a Red Fire Mine Island, which provides a steady stream of spirit stone income. I fear that as time passes, the Ye Village will grow powerful, and it will be difficult to deal with them later," Min Cong said urgently.

Xun Guang thought for a moment. Seeing Min Cong’s anxiety, he couldn't help but say, "The Ye Immortal Village’s strength shouldn't be that great yet. Although they gained ten thousand spirit stones and a Red Fire Mine Island, within a year or so, they still won't be able to compare to other immortal villages with deep foundations. As long as you focus on your development, you can still surpass him. I promise you, in a month or two, once I have established a firm footing here in the Aolai Archipelago, I will definitely help you take your revenge."

Although reluctant, Min Cong had to admit that Xun Guang’s words made sense. In truth, he had known these things all along, but he needed a scolding to truly accept them. Realizing he could not take immediate revenge, he sat for a while longer before returning to the Min Immortal Island, swallowing his frustration and throwing himself into full-scale development.

Ye Mo and his party did not stay long at the Red Fire Mine Island. They constructed a mining site and left Gao Jian behind with a team of immortal guards to keep watch, transporting the excavated red fire ore back every three days. Ye Mo also sent several martial artists as overseers to assist Gao Jian in managing the forty or fifty mine slaves. Having had the experience of mining at Donglai Immortal Village himself, Ye Mo did not withhold food from the slaves, but he kept the overseers; there were always those who would slack off, and without supervision, the mining speed would not improve.

The security and defenses of the Red Fire Mine Island were also established. Yang You led a group of martial artists from the Ye Immortal Village to build a small spirit-wood camp within the canyon, along with numerous spirit-wood arrow towers. After all, the ore reserves here were significant, and it required long-term garrisoning, as well as protection against beast tides.

Three days later, the Ye Immortal Village received the first batch of red fire ore transported back from the island. However, although the Ye Immortal Village had a crafting workshop, they could not yet manufacture the Red Fire Spirit Sword, one of the five elemental spirit swords, because the workshop lacked the recipe.

Ye Mo carried over ten thousand spirit stones and a small amount of red fire ore through the Ye Immortal Village’s small teleportation array, returning to the Qingyun Immortal City. This was his first time returning to the main city since he had left for the Aolai sea region. Stepping out of the grand teleportation hall and sensing the familiar aura of Qingyun Immortal City, Ye Mo felt a wave of emotion. He recalled arriving here from the Donglai Spirit Island over a year ago; he had been like a country bumpkin entering the big city, curious about everything he saw. Now, a year later, he had become a city lord of the Immortal Alliance, with an immortal village of his own. In just a short year, he had risen from an ordinary wandering cultivator to a city lord-level cultivator and a member of the Immortal Alliance. Such a transformation was something most cultivators never achieved in a lifetime, and even among the children of noble families, only a tiny minority could reach it, yet he had done it.

"I must redouble my efforts to develop the village; my Ye Immortal Village has the potential to grow into a main immortal city," Ye Mo clenched his fists, telling himself inwardly. Taking a deep breath, he oriented himself and walked toward the street where the crafting workshops were clustered. Having lived in Qingyun Immortal City for a year, he was already quite familiar with the place.

He went straight to a small crafting workshop, took out a piece of his red fire ore, and asked for the price.

"First-grade red fire ore, average quality. One spirit stone for ten jin, we will buy as much as you have," the assistant master of the workshop said after carefully inspecting the ore.

"Red fire ore is this cheap? Isn't a first-grade Red Fire Spirit Sword worth one hundred spirit stones?" Ye Mo frowned, surprised. Red fire ore was the primary material for fire spirit swords and was much more expensive than black iron ore.

"My fellow cultivator, to craft a first-grade fire spirit sword, you need at least several dozen jin of red fire ore, plus several dozen jin of refined black iron, and a massive amount of charcoal. Every step of the process incurs costs. Furthermore, the success rate is not high, and apprentices must be paid. A single fire sword costs dozens of spirit stones just in materials. You see, how much can my workshop actually make? The spirit swords we craft still have to be sold to merchants, who then take their own cut," the middle-aged assistant master said, counting the costs on his fingers. According to his calculations, crafting fire spirit swords was barely profitable, and if one's crafting skills weren't refined, it could even lead to a loss.

"I’ll go take a look elsewhere," Ye Mo said, taking back the ore.

"My friend, these are the market rates; it’s the same everywhere you go," the middle-aged assistant master called out to him.

He visited several more workshops, but the quotes were not much different. The best offer he received was nine jin of ore for one spirit stone. Ye Mo didn't actually want to sell the raw ore; he just wanted to gauge the market to prepare for his own workshop.

"Forget it. It seems selling raw ore won't yield much. I'll just have Ah Li handle the refining. The ancient scroll has a specialized furnace anyway; it refines ore much faster than anything outside," Ye Mo thought to himself. He knew how to purify raw ore, and it was indeed arduous—grinding the ore into powder, quenching it, and then refining it to be used for spirit tools and artifacts. The purification process alone required dozens or hundreds of martial artists to work daily in many workshops. The ancient scroll could simplify this, making it thousands of times faster than methods outside. Even selling the purified essence would be more profitable than selling raw ore.

"Ah Li, Wang Hu, and Yang You should be able to craft the fire spirit swords directly. That mine site also produces black iron ore, so the materials are complete. All that's left is the recipe. With the ten thousand spirit stones I just acquired, buying a few crafting recipes won't be difficult," Ye Mo mused.

He stopped visiting workshops and headed straight for the Qingyun Immortal Academy. Ordinary cultivators, and even immortal families, could not purchase crafting recipes from the academy; only official city lords who had graduated from the academy had that right.

At the Qingyun Immortal Academy, Ye Mo visited his instructor, Kuang Zhen. Kuang Zhen was quite surprised by Ye Mo’s visit; it was the period when the new city lords were building their villages, and they were usually too busy to be wandering around. He inquired about the purpose of Ye Mo’s visit and learned that the Ye Immortal Village had just fought a small naval battle, defeated a city lord from the Blazing Fire Immortal Academy, and gained a sum of spirit stones.

"The Min family of the Blazing Fire Academy? They are just an ordinary family; there is no need to worry too much. Just be vigilant in your daily affairs; they wouldn't dare violate the rules of the Immortal Alliance," Kuang Zhen said after a moment of reflection.

Although the Qingyun Main Immortal City was in an alliance with the other thirty-five main cities, there was also intense competition. Kuang Zhen was naturally pleased that a student he had mentored had defeated a city lord from the Blazing Fire Academy.

"You are quite lucky to have obtained three young spirit birds and discovered an open-pit vein. With these resources, you are now on par with some city lords from minor immortal families. As long as you can hold out against the first few beast tides and develop, there is a good chance you can become a town-level immortal city." Kuang Zhen stroked his beard, looking at Ye Mo with a touch of admiration.

"I came here to purchase a few crafting recipes, and since I haven't seen you in a while, Instructor, I wanted to pay a visit," Ye Mo said with a smile.

"You haven't been to the Heritage Hall of the academy yet, have you? I will take you there."

Within the Qingyun Immortal Academy, pavilions stood tall, courtyards were layered, and streams flowed under bridges, with exotic flowers and herbs planted everywhere. A corner of an overhanging eave peeked out from among the trees, and the sound of noisy chatter drifted over. They were approaching a place where lectures were held, specifically for teaching about spirit plants. This particular pavilion, unlike the others in the academy, had striking vermilion octagonal eaves. Groups of qi-refining cultivators in various attires walked out of the building, chatting with their companions. Most were discussing their recent lessons, while others talked about the potential ranking list for this year’s city lords, debating which core student they should invest in.

"Compared to them, your batch of new city lords faces the most brutal competition," Kuang Zhen said, stroking his beard as he watched the students pass by.

"Why is that?" Ye Mo asked, taken aback.

"There are few places like the Aolai Archipelago. In the past, new city lords were scattered across various safe spirit islands in the East Sea Archipelago to build their villages and grow slowly; they were rarely concentrated like this." Kuang Zhen turned to look at Ye Mo and shook his head. "The Aolai sea region is very far from the main immortal cities, located at the edge of the East Sea Archipelago. The Immortal Alliance made a significant decision to send your batch of new city lords there to establish new villages."

"Is the Aolai sea region dangerous? Will there be妖族 (Yaozu/Demon Race) appearances?" Ye Mo asked, startled. He had never forgotten the ten-million-year blood feud between the human race of the Nine Provinces and the Demon Race of the East Sea.

"That is not the case. The Aolai Archipelago has few resources, so the Demon Race tribes would not be interested. Moreover, the Demon Race has been weakened and would not easily provoke a major war. We are just occupying these small archipelagos bit by bit; although it is meager, it can still cultivate many qi-refining cultivators. If we can rely on the Aolai Archipelago to develop a few immortal towns and produce a batch of Foundation Establishment cultivators, that would be even better," Kuang Zhen said, shaking his head.

"Where is your immortal city located, Instructor?" Ye Mo asked with curiosity. He knew that Kuang Zhen was a Golden Core city lord who possessed a famous immortal city.

"At the forefront of the East Sea Archipelago, not far from the territory of a Demon Race tribe," Kuang Zhen said with a calm smile. "However, these past few years have been quite peaceful, with no wars, which is why the Qingyun City Lord called me to the Qingyun Immortal Academy to specifically teach your batch of students. Before taking on your class, I hadn't served as an instructor for city lord students for decades. It was by chance that I became your teacher."

The two walked and chatted. Before long, they arrived at a magnificent blue-stone hall, with the characters "Heritage" carved in a vigorous and ancient style above the entrance. Outside the hall, black-armored guards were patrolling.

"This is the Heritage Hall of the Qingyun Immortal Academy, and also the largest repository of cultivation manuals and crafting recipes in the Qingyun Immortal City. This place is only open to official city lords of the Immortal Alliance. These soldiers are the Black Armor Guards of Qingyun; many of them are Foundation Establishment cultivators, and there are even Golden Core cultivators sitting in command," Kuang Zhen said casually as he led Ye Mo toward the entrance.