217: Chapter 217 concludes here.

Located not far from the north of Wuyang City, on a plain, stood a small city enclosed by blue stone.

The city was not large, covering only a few square miles. Judging by its scale, it was less than one-tenth the size of Wuyang City.

Thousands of buildings rose from the ground within it. The architectural styles here varied, roughly divided into five categories, but without exception, these buildings were arranged neatly and orderly. Viewed from high above, it looked like a military formation, possessing a certain aesthetic beauty.

In contrast, the buildings within Wuyang City appeared chaotic and uneven.

This place, resembling a small city, was the Yuanhong Trading Market Phase I project, which had been planned by the Pei Clan and took seven months to complete.

Originally, Pei Qingyun had planned for it to take four months. However, things did not go as planned.

During the construction of the Yuanhong Trading Market Phase I project, he made changes for safety considerations. Unexpectedly, after these changes, the workload nearly doubled, causing the construction period to extend by almost double, while the appearance began to resemble a city.

In the short term, the benefits of this change were not significant. But considering long-term plans and the subsequent phases of the project, this change was beneficial.

Just half a month ago, Yuanhong Trading Market Phase I was officially completed.

Wuyang City, Pei Clan Estate.

Pei Qingyun held a dark green Medicinal Pill in his palm, a hint of joy in his eyes. "The five viscera origin-returning pill has finally been refined."

Over the past half year, apart from Cultivating, Pei Qingyun would also refine Medicinal Pills during his spare time.

Thanks to the Analysis Technique, after analyzing the five viscera origin-returning pill, Pei Qingyun obtained its refining method.

But having the refining method did not mean he could successfully refine the Medicinal Pill. It still required him to constantly try until he succeeded.

After half a year of attempts, he had finally refined the five viscera origin-returning pill, which ranked in the top three among third-grade Medicinal Pills.

This was absolutely a milestone for the improvement of the Family's strength.

The improvement of the Family's strength would inevitably drive the growth of the family luck. In this way, his own rate of strength improvement would also increase accordingly.

Thinking of this, a smile also hung on the corner of Pei Qingyun's mouth.

But in the next instant, he restrained his smile.

"It's just that the Materials for this five viscera origin-returning pill are somewhat hard to find. The stock in the Jinhuai Prefecture market is not high, and the price is not low. Even if I bought them all, it would likely be a drop in the bucket. With my current success rate of less than twenty percent in refining the five viscera origin-returning pill, I still need a large amount of Materials to practice."

"Forget it, let's take it one step at a time." Pei Qingyun sighed softly.

In the Great Jing Dynasty, the royal Family and various top Great Families, in order to consolidate their own status and power, exercised extremely strict control over the refining methods and Materials for third-grade and above Medicinal Pills.

Like ordinary third-rate families, they might not even possess the refining methods for many second-grade Medicinal Pills.

As for the refining methods for third-grade Medicinal Pills, even some second-rate families might not have them.

Of course, no matter how strictly controlled, there would always be fish that slipped through the net. However, these few fish were of no consequence.

Even if some ordinary forces obtained the refining method, they would still need an Alchemist with sufficient talent and spare no effort to Cultivate them.

Alchemists were known as money-burning machines; not just any force could afford to Cultivate one. Cultivating a third-grade Alchemist could easily burn through hundreds of thousands of taels a year, which was reasonable.

The most important point was that even if you had the money to burn and a Genius Alchemist, it would be useless without Materials.

Even the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice.

By pinching off these two sources, it was equivalent to controlling the lifeblood of Martial Artists.

As for purchasing the five viscera origin-returning pill directly on the market, that could only be done through specific places.

Like external forces such as the Mingyuan Trading Firm. But similarly, these external forces did not have an infinite supply.

The reason Pei Qingyun was able to purchase the divine power transformation potion was through the Mingyuan Trading Firm token gifted by Chen Yuanba.

And this token was exchanged for a demon spirit pearl.

Thinking back, why had the Pei Clan's Five Viscera Realm Legacy reached the point of failing to bridge the gap between generations?

First, the divine power transformation potion was expensive; second, there were no formal purchasing channels.

This was also the dilemma faced by all bottom-tier Great Families.

Even though the Pei Clan was now raking in money daily, there was no way to break this monopoly.

Putting the five viscera origin-returning pill into a medicine bottle, Pei Qingyun walked out of the Pill Refining Room.

"I've gotten used to staying in the Pill Refining Room; coming out like this, I'm actually not used to it."

Facing the blinding sunlight, Pei Qingyun saw a familiar figure walking towards him.

The person who came was none other than the Secret Guard Commander, Jiu.

"Old Ancestor, Elder Pei Tianquan has sent a letter, please take a look."

Jiu bowed slightly, hands clasped together, and handed the letter to Pei Qingyun.

"Oh, it seems there is a result to the matter." In front of Jiu, Pei Qingyun opened the letter and carefully read through it.

Only after reading the contents of the letter did a look of surprise flash across his face.

When Pei Tianquan went to Liuhe Town, he had reported it to him, but being able to find Yin He made him slightly surprised.

The Qian Clan was, after all, a second-rate Family, yet they hadn't even managed to clean up a small tail like Yin He.

In his plans, he had long been prepared for the possibility of not finding Yin He.

Prefect Pang Bo giving a three-day deadline was undoubtedly a signal.

He and the Qian Clan were not in the same boat, and his goal was not to crush the Pei Clan.

In this way, he didn't need to use his backup plans. Even if he couldn't find Yin He, he could find someone else to take the blame. It's just that in that case, the Pei Clan would definitely have to bleed a little.

It wouldn't reach the point of hurting the bones and muscles, but it would inevitably be painful.

But even with this result, it was not unacceptable to Pei Qingyun. The strength of the two families was, after all, quite different.

Under the scheming of the Qian Clan, some losses for the Pei Clan were still within a controllable range.

With Yin He handed over to Prefect Pang Bo, the Qian Clan became the passive party.

But it was impossible to severely damage the Qian Clan just because of this matter. Pei Qingyun understood in his heart how Prefect Pang Bo would handle it next.

It was nothing more than the party that would have to bleed becoming the Qian Clan.

Regardless of which of the two results occurred, the ultimate beneficiary would be Prefect Pang Bo.

And the Pei Clan and the Qian Clan would still have to thank Prefect Pang Bo.

It could be said that he played a good game, a classic overt plot.

After pondering for a moment, Pei Qingyun did not write a reply, but instead instructed Jiu, who was beside him, "Tell Pei Tianquan that he did a very good job with this matter. Since Yin He has already been handed over to Prefect Pang Bo, the Pei Clan will no longer intervene in this matter."

"Yes." As the words fell, Jiu's figure disappeared from where he stood.

...

Not long after Pei Qingyun returned to the ancestral house, two guard teams, each with a hundred men clad in armor and wielding long spears, marched out from the Pei Clan Estate in a mighty formation, followed by four Dragon Scale Horse carriages.

It looked as if they were about to encircle and suppress some force. Such a grand display not only did not cause fear among the common people but instead attracted their attention.

If this had been a few years ago, it would have been absolutely unimaginable.

However, all of this was a benefit of the Pei Clan's development over these past few years.

Especially the expansion of the clan grounds and the Yuanhong Trading Market Phase I project, which supported nearly ten thousand families.

Among these people, most were ordinary commoners.

It was precisely because they benefited from it that their attitude towards the Great Family had also undergone a certain transformation.