205: Family leap forward, everyone upgraded

While Shen Yuanmo was stabilizing his Half-step Nascent Soul cultivation in the secret chamber.

Outside, the Shen Family, and even the entire Qingzhou, were undergoing an earth-shattering upheaval.

Deep within the Shen Family's treasury.

Shen Qiming, the newly appointed Marquis Zhongyong and Governor of Qingzhou, stared blankly at the piles of wealth that had formed small mountains before him. His mind buzzed, and his breathing became hot.

"Patriarch... no! Marquis!"

Shen Qifa Shen Qifa, at this moment, clutched an ancient purplish-gold pill scripture tightly, so excited that his bones trembled, his two small mustaches twitched incessantly, and his entire old face turned a pig-liver color.

"Look at this! The Purple Yang Pill Scripture! It's the Song Family's pill Dao general outline, passed down for thousands of years and never shared with outsiders!"

"From first-tier to fifth-tier, over a thousand Pill Formulas! It's all their refining experiences and improved secret methods!"

His voice was trembling, like a child holding a peerless treasure, and he shakily picked up another Jade Slip.

"And this! "the exploitation of the works of nature"! The Song Family's Artifact Refining general outline!"

"My heavens, there's even a simplified refining blueprint for the heaven burning tower ship! Even the simplified version is a fourth-tier High Grade war Magic Treasure!"

Shen Qiming took the Jade Slip, and a wisp of his Divine Sense just probed into it.

Buzz!

A vast torrent of Artifact Refining knowledge, like a sea of smoke, instantly rushed into his mind. The Formation structures and Artifact Refining techniques recorded within were so exquisite and complex that he felt all his lifelong learning was like a firefly before the bright moon in comparison!

"We've struck it rich! Our Shen Family has truly, truly struck it rich!"

Shen Qifa could no longer hold back. Hugging a pile of shimmering Jade Slips, he collapsed onto a small mountain of Top-Grade Spirit Stones and Heaven And Earth Treasure, tears streaming down his face, sometimes laughing, sometimes choking back sobs.

"With these Legacies, plus the endless resources we've seized, and the hundred thousand Top-Grade Spirit Stones bestowed by His Majesty the Immortal Emperor! Our Shen Family's Foundation has soared by more than a hundredfold!"

"This isn't a thousand-year Foundation!"

"This is the Foundation of a ten-thousand-year great Family!"

Shen Qiming's chest heaved violently as he forcibly suppressed the ecstasy that nearly burst through his skull.

He understood that the Shen Qifa was right.

The value of the knowledge and Legacies represented by these Cultivation Technique classics far exceeded that of Spirit Stones and Magic Treasures.

This was the accumulated wisdom of a top third-rank aristocratic Family, refined over thousands of years of time and toil!

"Shen Qifa." Shen Qiming's voice was as steady as a mountain, carrying an unquestionable resolve, "From this moment on, you are to put aside all Alchemy tasks and do only one thing: diligently study this Purple Yang Pill Scripture! Any resources you need, draw directly from the treasury, regardless of loss!"

He turned, his gaze sharp as he swept over the several Elders responsible for Formations and Artifact Refining beside him.

"The same goes for you! Chew up and swallow "the exploitation of the works of nature" and the remains of the heaven burning tower ship! I want to see our Shen Family's own Artifact Refining Hall and Formation Hall erected in the shortest possible time!"

"Yes, Patriarch!"

The Elders roared in unison, a flame called ambition burning in the depths of each of their eyes.

After arranging all this, Shen Qiming, in his capacity as Governor of Qingzhou, began to reshape the order of the entire Qingzhou with an iron fist.

Holding the Immortal Emperor's decree, he legitimately consolidated military and political power, uprooting the old forces that feigned obedience and replacing them with direct descendants of the Shen Family, as well as elites from the Chen and Zhang Families who had sincerely pledged allegiance.

Immediately after, all strategic resources within Qingzhou, such as Spiritual Veins and mines, were swiftly integrated by him.

Those resource points that had once been occupied by various factions were now all brought under the Governor's Mansion, to be uniformly allocated by the Shen Family.

He wasn't merely seizing by force.

To those families who voluntarily submitted, Shen Qiming provided ample compensation and preferential treatment, even opening up Cultivation quotas in the Prefecture City and granting privileges for trade with the Shen Family.

With a mix of coercion and benevolence, striking a balance between severity and grace.

In just a few months, the chaotic Qingzhou was completely unified.

All power, all resources, like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, converged into the deep pool that was the Shen Family!

...A year later.

When Shen Yuanmo pushed open the secret chamber door and stepped out again, the entire Shen Family mansion had taken on a new look.

His Divine Sense spread out like a tide.

The current Shen Family mansion was more than three times larger than a year ago, with pavilions and towers shrouded in spiritual mist, like an immortal's abode.

Inside the mansion, hurried young Shen Family clansmen could be seen everywhere.

The weakest of these young people had already entered the Qi Refining Middle Stage!

On the training ground, hundreds of guards in unified spiritual armor were practicing a new combined attack battle Formation.

It was a simplified and enhanced version that Shen Yuanmo had deduced based on the principles of the Purple Yang Heaven Burning Battle Formation and the Five Elements Qilin Battle Formation.

Boom!

Accompanied by a low roar, the Qi of hundreds of Foundation Establishment Cultivators was linked by the battle Formation, actually condensing a majestic Qilin Dharma Idol in mid-air!

The Dharma Idol roared to the sky, emanating a pressure strong enough to make even Late Golden Core Stage Cultivators change color!

"Yuan Mo! You've come out of seclusion!"

Two figures appeared before him almost instantaneously, none other than Shen Qiming and Shen Zongdao, their faces filled with uncontainable joy.

"Father, Old Ancestor." Shen Yuanmo looked at the two of them, also revealing a smile.

His father, Shen Qiming, had already broken through his Bottleneck and entered the Early Golden Core Stage, thanks to the immense resources.

And Old Ancestor Shen Zongdao, having accumulated deeply, had successfully entered the Middle Golden Core Stage not long before Shen Yuanmo emerged from seclusion!

"Good! This is good!" Shen Qiming excitedly patted his son's shoulder heavily, "You've been in seclusion for a whole year, we were so worried!"

"I've made Father and Old Ancestor worry."

Shen Yuanmo did not explain the mysterious changes in his cultivation, merely waved his hand.

Buzz!

Dozens of Jade Slips, shimmering with various Dao rhythms, floated neatly on the table in the main hall.

"Father, Old Ancestor, these are the Cultivation Techniques, Pill Formulas, and Formation diagrams that I have re-deduced and optimized this past year, based on the classics obtained from the Song Family. From Qi Refining to Nascent Soul, they should complete the last missing piece of our Family's Legacy."

"You... you've deduced so many again?!"

Shen Qiming and Shen Zongdao almost simultaneously picked up a Jade Slip and probed it with their Divine Sense.

The next moment, both their bodies trembled violently!

The Jade Slip in Shen Zongdao's hand even fell to the ground with a "crack," but he was completely oblivious, merely staring intently at Shen Yuanmo, his eyes filled with shock and horror.

The Cultivation Techniques recorded within were not merely optimized! They were practically seizing the creation of heaven and earth, perfect and flawless, directly pointing to the Great Dao of Nascent Soul!

That day, Shen Yuanmo placed this batch of top-tier Legacies, refined through Perfect Deduction, into the Family's Merit Hall.

When the news spread, the entire Shen Family was completely ignited!

All Shen Family clansmen, like the most devout believers, cultivated day and night, accepted tasks regardless of cost, and diligently studied their skills, all to earn enough merit to exchange for those classics that could help them leap like a carp over the Dragon Gate!

Driven by this almost fanatical atmosphere.

The Shen Family's strength experienced a true explosion!

In just one year!

The number of Foundation Establishment Cultivators in the main Shen Family boldly broke through the... 120 mark, from the original fifty-one!

Throughout the entire Shen Family, from the Golden Core Old Ancestors to the Qi-inducing children, everyone's face was beaming with an unstoppable pride.

The Shen Family had completely shed the immaturity and apprehension of a ninth-rank minor Family.

Now, whether in terms of resources, Cultivation Techniques, the number of powerful individuals, or that domineering spirit that looked down upon all, they truly possessed the Foundation and grandeur befitting a top third-rank aristocratic Family!

And all of this was just the beginning.