110: Chapter 110 Soul Rift Pavilion

Zhang Mingxuan picked up a boundary stone, and DeepEye quickly provided a valuation. If this batch of goods were bought outside, it would cost at least 200 million. But now, they were just raw Materials in the warehouse.

"DeepEye, recalculate the mass production cost of the [Five Elements Battle Array]. Include our own boundary stone inventory as a variable."

The originally expensive "Spatial Stabilizers" and "Core Containers" saw their costs plummet instantly because the raw Materials were now self-sufficient.

[Calculation Report Generated]

[Executioner v2.0 · Space-Reinforced Type]

Changes: Used boundary stone fragments to replace the originally expensive Void Gazer crystals for the Spiritual Power Furnace shell, and filled the armor gaps with a boundary stone powder coating.

Performance: Resistance to spatial tearing increased by 40%, and it possesses spatial warp dash capability within a ten-zhang range.

Unit Cost: Dropped from 300,000 to 185,000, excluding boundary stone procurement costs, calculating only processing fees and other spiritual Materials.

[Qingmu Guard v2.0 · Node Type]

Changes: Implanted a miniature spatial anchor array to serve as a mobile base station for the battle array.

Unit Cost: Dropped from 250,000 to 160,000.

[Whole Battle Array Set]

Total Cost: 875,000 Spirit Stones (Original price 1.4 million).

Production Estimate: Relying on existing funds (approx. 60 million cash flow), production can be expanded to 68 sets (approx. 340 Golden Core level combatants).

"875,000 per set..."

Zhang Mingxuan looked at this number, his fingertips lightly tapping the desk. For less than a million, he could pull together a regular army squad capable of clashing head-on with an Early Nascent Soul stage Cultivator, or even hunting Nascent Soul Cultivators using terrain advantages in specific environments like ruins or forbidden lands.

This cost-effectiveness was practically daylight robbery.

"Su Li!"

His voice spread through the base via the Formation.

Before long, Su Li came running in out of breath.

Seeing the floor covered in boundary stones, his eyes nearly popped out.

"My Lord, this..."

"Don't ask; if you must, I just picked them up." Zhang Mingxuan pointed at the Ores on the ground. "Notify Ye Duan to stop all those Puppets still forging iron; the production lines are getting a full upgrade. I want to see at least fifty sets of [Five Elements Battle Array v2.0] offline within a year."

"Additionally," he paused, eyes flashing, "take those phased-out Black Blade Self-Destruct Puppets, package them slightly, give them a paint job, and sell them at the auction. Say they are... the latest guard-type Puppets developed by Bian, loyal, reliable, and amazingly powerful. Remember, limit the purchase."

Use phased-out trash to recoup funds, and use those funds to build real weapons of mass destruction.

Su Li listened in a daze, then a familiar, money-grubbing merchant's smile appeared on his face: "My Lord is wise! Those Loose Cultivator families who haven't seen the world will definitely fight over these things!"

...

Inside the laboratory at Bian Base.

The air seemed frozen. The micro-carving knife in Zhang Mingxuan's hand stopped above an unformed crystal, and the holographic blueprint projected by DeepEye flickered slightly due to its master's distraction.

A burst of hurried and chaotic footsteps came from outside.

"My Lord! Something big has happened!"

Su Li stumbled in, his face pale as paper, eyes bloodshot, and his gaze filled with a terror bordering on collapse. "Soul Rift Pavilion... Soul Rift Pavilion has moved against us! Just now, the managers of our three branches in the western Southern Border died suddenly in broad daylight! There wasn't a single wound on them, but their Divine Souls... their Divine Souls were like they were sucked dry, turning them into idiots!"

He tremblingly took out a black Jade Slip from his robes. "This is the challenge letter they sent... saying that if the Bian Chamber of Commerce doesn't hand over the blueprints for the 'Divine Sense Amplification Formation Plate' and submit to the Soul Rift Pavilion within three days, the next to die will be... will be me..."

"Getting impatient already?"

Zhang Mingxuan put down the carving knife, his expression unchanged. He didn't take the Jade Slip; instead, he raised a finger and tapped Su Li's forehead.

"DeepEye, activate Void-Piercing Mode. Scan the target's Divine Soul state."

Buzz.

A silver-white light flashed through his pupils.

Under microscopic vision, Su Li's Sea of Consciousness was no longer a secret. Deep within that shivering Origin of the Divine Soul, a "parasite" the size of a dust mote, composed of pure black mental power, was lurking. It was greedily sucking on Su Li's fear and constantly emitting a specific mental frequency—it was a tracking beacon and a curse that could be detonated at any time.

"Paltry tricks."

A wisp of greyish-hazy Hunyuan True Fire ignited on Zhang Mingxuan's fingertip.

The fire flashed and went straight into Su Li's forehead.

"Ah!"

Su Li let out a short scream, then slumped to the ground as if a heavy burden had been lifted. A wisp of black smoke rose from his head, twisting in mid-air as if trying to escape, only to be swallowed whole by that seemingly unremarkable flame, burned clean.

"Stand up if you don't want to die."

Zhang Mingxuan withdrew his hand, his tone cold. "Since they want the blueprints, I'll deliver them personally. However, this gift is a bit heavy; I'm afraid they won't be able to handle it."

"My Lord... you're going to move against the Soul Rift Pavilion?" Su Li climbed up from the ground. Although his mind was clear, his worry deepened. "That's a demonic sect with a Soul Transformation old monster backing it! Although it's only third-rate, Soul Venerable has been famous for a long time. It's said that one look from him can make a Nascent Soul Cultivator's Divine Soul collapse..."

"DeepEye, retrieve the combat power profiles for all members of the Soul Rift Pavilion. Aggregate data based on the Chamber of Commerce's intelligence network and Heizhang's preliminary reconnaissance."

Zhang Mingxuan ignored Su Li's panic, and a detailed organizational structure map quickly refreshed on his retina.

[Target Power: Soul Rift Pavilion, a third-rate demonic sect in the Southern Border]

[Top-tier Combat Power]:

Pavilion Master · Soul Venerable: Early Soul Transformation stage.

Characteristics: Primarily cultivates the "Soul-Rifting Demonic Scripture," Physical Body is weak, estimated to be only equivalent to a Golden Core Body Cultivator, Divine Sense strength is extremely high, close to the Middle Soul Transformation stage. Specializes in long-range curse-killing and Divine Soul control.

DeepEye Assessment: High-threat target. Conventional physical defenses are ineffective against him. However, considering the host possesses an AI brain + Divine Soul Firewall + Void-Piercing Eye, the threat of his Divine Soul attacks to the host is downgraded to medium.

[Core Strength]:

Four Great Ghost Kings: Early/Middle Nascent Soul stage.

All are ghost Cultivators who have refined malevolent ghosts into their bodies. High physical resistance, afraid of lightning and fire.

[Base Population]:

Golden Core Stage Deacons: Approximately 50 people.

Foundation Establishment/Qi Condensation Disciples: Over 3,000 people.

"One Soul Transformation, four Nascent Souls, and dozens of Golden Cores."

Zhang Mingxuan looked at this data, eyes flashing.

For an ordinary Early Nascent Soul Cultivator, this was an absolutely unshakable behemoth. Just those four Ghost Kings alone could surround and kill him, let alone that terrifying Soul Transformation old monster.

But for Zhang Mingxuan, this was a walking warehouse of Divine Soul Materials.