167: Chapter 167 Either take drugs to become stronger, or become fertilizer.

Elder Su Ming took the storage ring filled with "trash" and, without asking further questions, transformed into a cyan streak of light and vanished into the horizon.

Gu Yan watched him leave, then turned and walked back to the main hall of Qingyun Peak.

The hall doors slammed shut.

He walked to the center of the main hall and pressed one hand against the floor. Spiritual power surged, activating the "Ten-Thousand-Mile Image Transmission Formation" that had just been repaired and improved by Jiang Wanrou.

"System, encrypt the channel."

[Received. Signal frequency band disguised, now connecting to the Gu Mansion in Baifeng City...]

[Connection successful.]

Hum. The air vibrated, and two massive water mirrors slowly unfolded before Gu Yan.

Inside the water mirror on the left was an accounting room piled high with ledgers and abacuses.

Jin Feiyan was buried in a pile of documents half a person tall, her golden abacus clicking and clacking so fast that it was leaving afterimages. Her hair bun was slightly messy, and she had a cinnabar brush clamped in her mouth. She lacked her usual dignified appearance as a lady of a noble Family, looking more like a gambler with bloodshot eyes.

"Boss, you finally decided to show yourself."

Sensing the fluctuations of the Formation, Jin Feiyan took the brush out of her mouth and casually slammed a thick ledger onto the table, kicking up a layer of dust.

"The threshold of the Gu Trading Firm has nearly been trampled to pieces these past few days. The shops owned by the Lin Family in the seven surrounding markets have all been rebranded with our signs now."

She grabbed a teacup and gulped down some cold tea, her eyes shining with a frightening intensity: "Do you know what this means? It means that starting today, within a five-hundred-mile radius of Baifeng City, even if a single Spiritual Plant wants to be transported out, it has to pay me a toll."

Gu Yan looked at her money-grubbing appearance and nodded.

"Well done."

"Spare me the empty flattery." Jin Feiyan rolled her eyes and held out an open palm, "To swallow up these assets, I've exhausted all our liquid capital. If you don't send a blood transfusion from your side, next month I'll have to take the Gu Family to drink the northwest wind."

"There is no money."

Gu Yan answered very bluntly.

Jin Feiyan's expression stiffened, and she was just about to lose her temper.

"But there is plenty of stock."

Gu Yan pointed in the direction where Elder Su Ming had left: "Elder Su Ming took a batch of supplies back. Inside are five thousand Low Grade Magical Artifacts, three thousand bottles of second-tier Medicinal Pills, and twenty Profound Rank Cultivation Techniques. These are all 'backlogged stock' from the Lin Family's inventory."

"Backlogged stock?"

Jin Feiyan's eyes instantly turned into the shape of Spirit Stones. This might be backlogged stock in the Yunlan Sect, but in the resource-scarce Baifeng City, these were strategic materials—hard currency!

"Is that enough for you to recover?"

"Enough! More than enough!" Jin Feiyan picked up the cinnabar brush again and scribbled rapidly on the ledger, "With this batch of goods, I can completely crush those small families that are still sitting on the fence. Three months... no, one month! I will make the Gu Family the only 'sky' in Baifeng City."

Gu Yan turned his head to look at the water mirror on the right.

The background there was completely different. Dim, damp, and even through the water mirror, one could smell a pungent scent of blood.

Leng Yuechan, dressed in dark red soft armor, stood in the depths of the Gu Mansion's dungeon. Behind her stood two neat rows of guards wearing black iron heavy armor, their faces stiff.

These guards had no breath and no heartbeat, their exposed skin displaying an eerie cyan-gray color, covered in dense, blood-colored runes.

"Family Head."

Leng Yuechan wiped the blood from her hands, her voice as cold as a blade: "The corpses of the Shadow Kill Guards left behind by the Lin Family are of good quality. Coupled with the corpse-refining secret technique you gave me earlier, the first batch of thirty 'Blood Corpse Puppets' has been successfully refined."

She stepped aside to reveal the Puppets behind her.

"They feel no pain, possess infinite strength, and their Physical Body strength is comparable to the Early Stage of the Foundation Establishment Stage. And..."

Leng Yuechan snapped her fingers. Click. Thirty Puppets raised their hands simultaneously and drew the heavy blades at their waists in perfect unison. The blade edges were chilling, and their Killing Intent condensed into substance.

"They are absolutely loyal."

Gu Yan looked at those lifeless killing machines, a flash of satisfaction in his eyes.

This was the trump card he wanted.

"It's not enough."

Gu Yan spoke, his tone serious: "In the ring Elder Su Ming took back, there are also thirty jade bottles. Those are 'Secondary Blood Marrow' that I have refined."

"Blood Marrow?" Leng Yuechan was taken aback.

"A potent drug that can forcibly increase Physical Body strength."

Gu Yan explained: "Although the side effect is that the process will be extremely painful, even potentially painful enough to kill, as long as one survives it, it can allow a person to be reborn. It can forcibly forge a 'Pseudo-Tyrant Body' within the body of a Qi Refining Peak Cultivator who has no hope of reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage in this lifetime."

He stared into Leng Yuechan's eyes: "I want you to select a group of death-defying soldiers from the Family's collateral branches and those loyal dead soldiers who depend on us."

"Tell them, either take the drug to get stronger and become the core combat force of the Gu Family, or rot in the mud and be an ant for the rest of their lives."

Leng Yuechan's pupils contracted slightly.

She knew all too well what this meant. This was mass-producing combat power at the Foundation Establishment Stage!

Even if it was just "Pseudo-Foundation Establishment," in this remote region where Golden Core Cultivators do not appear and Foundation Establishment Cultivators dominate, thirty fearless Foundation Establishment Body Cultivators were enough to sweep through any hostile forces.

"I know what to do."

Leng Yuechan gripped the Formation Plate at her waist: "I will select the people tonight. Before the sun rises tomorrow, there will either be thirty more death soldiers, or thirty more corpses."

"One more thing."

Gu Yan's fingers tapped lightly on the tabletop, making a rhythmic "tada" sound.

"Have you investigated those 'rats' wandering outside the city lately?"

Mentioning this, Leng Yuechan's expression darkened.

"I have investigated. Their methods are very cruel; they like to consume the essence and blood of living people. I caught two live ones, but they self-detonated before I could even use torture. There were Restrictions in their Divine Souls, so I couldn't ask anything."

"No need to ask."

Gu Yan stood up, walked to the water mirror, and looked at Leng Yuechan: "Those are scouts from the Blood River Sect. They are coming for me."

"The Blood River Sect?!"

The women in both water mirrors changed expressions simultaneously.

That was a true Demonic Sect, a behemoth a hundred times more terrifying than half-baked ones like the Lin Family.

"No need to panic."

Gu Yan waved his hand, the corners of his mouth curling into a cold arc: "This is the territory of the Yunlan Sect; they dare not enter with great fanfare. At most, the ones coming are just small fries scouting the way."

"Those Blood Marrow are the surprise prepared for them."

"Remember." Gu Yan's voice carried a chilling Killing Intent, "No matter who comes, as long as they dare to step into Baifeng City, let those Blood Corpse Puppets teach them what it means to be 'welcomed like a guest'."

"On my Gu Family's territory, either leave money, or leave your life."

"Do you understand?"

"Yes!" the two women replied in unison.

The light and shadow dissipated. Gu Yan withdrew his hand, and the main hall returned to silence.

He walked to the hall entrance and looked at the churning sea of clouds outside.

Although everything had been arranged, the string in his heart did not loosen. Since the Blood River Sect could sense the aura of the blood river bead, it meant that the so-called "Blood Scion" must have some kind of special sensing Magical Artifact.

He couldn't hide.

"Since I cannot hide, I can only make myself harder."

Gu Yan touched the storage ring on the index finger of his left hand. Inside lay the rusty iron piece he had picked up from the black market, suspected to be a component of the "Asura Armor."

He had a premonition. This broken piece of iron might be the key to him dealing with the upcoming crisis.

"System, activate the 'Bloodline Furnace'."

Gu Yan turned and walked toward the secret room. "I am going to refine this scrap iron into an arm guard."