43: Nine-layer Golden Elixir

[In the thirty-fifth year, you took a group of people and, after traveling through multiple places, finally arrived at the Chaotic Star Archipelago behind the Great Abyss Dynasty.]

[Although it is desolate here, there are already many low-level Cultivators who have come here to seek refuge.]

[Because strictly speaking, this place can no longer be considered the territory of the Great Abyss Dynasty.]

[Its master is—the Luanshen Sea!]

[The Luanshen Sea is boundless. Legend has it that as long as one crosses the Luanshen Sea, they can reach the Tiannan Cultivation World.]

[However, after so many years, apart from those powerful Cultivators born natively in the Luanshen Sea, very few people have crossed over from the Eastern Continent Cultivation World.]

[However, this has nothing to do with you, nor do you plan to head to the Tiannan Cultivation World.]

[What you want to do now is to make a home in the Chaotic Star Archipelago.]

[You arrived at the Far North Island within the Chaotic Star Archipelago.]

[This place is closest to the shores of the Great Abyss. Other than belonging to the Luanshen Sea in name, there is no difference from the mainland.]

[After all, even though the area of the Far North Island is not outstanding, its territory is still close to twenty percent of an Imperial Dynasty's size.]

[After paying five hundred thousand Spirit Stones, you obtained a territory equivalent to nearly half a city.]

[You divided this territory into two halves, establishing the Su Family in one half, and building a merchant guild in the other.]

[The thirty-sixth year.]

[You turned over a new leaf and started anew.]

[By doing business honestly, your business became more and more prosperous.]

[But only you knew.]

[This did not actually make money.]

[Even if your entire Family and all your subordinates worked hard for a whole year, the Spirit Stones earned could not even match two months of your consumption.]

[You knew very well that this was not a sustainable way.]

[In the long run, you would only eat through your savings until nothing was left.]

[You began to look for a way out.]

[Finally, from the mouth of the Far North Island's Lord, you obtained this piece of news.]

[The Luanshen Sea is recruiting Cultivators.]

[Recruiting Cultivators?]

[You furrowed your brows.]

[Strictly speaking, the Luanshen Sea belongs entirely to Perfected Lord Luanshen.]

[This person's cultivation is extremely powerful; no one knows what level his true cultivation has reached.]

[At the same time, he also likes to wander around, so he left the Luanshen Sea to be managed by his subordinates.]

[But as mentioned, the Luanshen Sea is merely Perfected Lord Luanshen's territory. It is neither a Sect power nor an imperial Family; only the island lords of the islands at sea can be considered members of the Luanshen Sea.]

[Other Cultivators in the Luanshen Sea can only be considered residents here.]

[But now that the positions of island lords are already fully occupied, why would they need to recruit Cultivators?]

[You sensed that something was not quite right.]

[At the same time, your Crisis Awareness sent a warning. Although it wasn't strong, you ultimately decided to give up on accepting the island lord's recruitment.]

[The thirty-ninth year.]

[You and Mu Ningshuang successfully became Dao Companions.]

[The Power of Leadership activated, and your cultivation received a certain boost.]

[You reached the eighth layer of the Golden Core.]

[Furthermore, the boost from the Power of Leadership this time was massive, and you felt that you were not far from the ninth layer of the Golden Core.]

[At the end of the same year, your fourth child was born.]

[He has the best talent among all your offspring, possessing a Wood-attribute Single Spiritual Root and a Medium Grade spiritual physique called the Azure Wood Spiritual Physique.]

[You named him Su Qingyun, hoping that his future path of cultivation would be a meteoric rise, just like his name.]

[From then on, you did not take any more wives.]

[Because you knew that your Dao Companions already had decent talent, and there was absolutely no need to waste all their time on raising offspring.]

[Furthermore, you do not have many cultivation resources now.]

[Although it can still support everyone's full-speed cultivation for now, it will eventually run out one day.]

[You began to ponder some profitable businesses.]

[But you did not know any of the Four Arts of Cultivation.]

[Your Dao Companions were also completely clueless about them.]

[Only Ji Qingxuan had studied Alchemy for a period of time when she was young.]

[But what she knew was truly limited, and the Tier 1 Medicinal Pills she refined were of almost no use to you and the merchant guild.]

[Helplessly,]

[you had no choice but to go back to your old trade on the Far North Island.]

[Relying on the connections you had built up over the years, you secretly intercepted and killed many Cultivators who had fled to the Far North Island with Family resources, all without being discovered.]

[Your pockets began to swell.]

[But at the same time, you did not forget to grease the palms of the Island Lord, Wang Beixuan.]

[Because killing is strictly forbidden in the Chaotic Star Archipelago.]

[Once caught fighting on the island, the light punishment is expulsion from the archipelago, while the heavy punishment is the crippling of one's cultivation.]

[If Wang Beixuan never found out, it would be best for everyone to live in peace.]

[But once discovered by him, having accepted your benefits, he would still serve as a way out.]

[In the forty-fifth year, you broke through to the ninth layer of the Golden Core.]

[With this level of strength, you could already be considered the number one person under the Island Lord, Wang Beixuan.]

[Furthermore, because you were generous and philanthropic over these years, and the goods sold by your merchant guild were fair and reasonably priced, you gained quite a reputation on the Far North Island.]

[You became the Vice Island Lord of the Far North Island.]

[However, it was only in name; you still did not belong to the Luanshen Sea.]

[You began to expand your sphere of influence.]

[Although it didn't make money, you managed to spread your business across more than half of the Chaotic Star Archipelago.]

[You gained the support of many Loose Cultivators.]

[In the forty-seventh year, more and more people from all over the Eastern Continent Cultivation World headed to the Chaotic Star Archipelago.]

[This also caused the resources of the Chaotic Star Archipelago to become somewhat strained.]

[After all, the entire Chaotic Star Archipelago combined is only equivalent to the area of two Imperial Dynasties, and because it is at sea, there are simply not enough resources to supply all these Cultivators.]

[You realized that if the Chaotic Star Archipelago continued like this, a great disaster would surely ensue.]

[You reported this news to Wang Beixuan.]

[He felt that what you said made a lot of sense; during this period, he had also noticed this problem.]

[Those Loose Cultivators were fine; having no Spirit Stones, they were willing to go out to sea to hunt Yao Beasts in exchange for cultivation resources.]

[But those Cultivators who brought large amounts of Spirit Stones were different.]

[Using the Spirit Stones they brought from the inland, they hoarded a large amount of Spirit Medicines and cultivation resources in the Chaotic Star Archipelago.]

[This made the already scarce cultivation resources of the Chaotic Star Archipelago even scarcer.]

[Although some Cultivators only needed Spirit Stones to maintain their normal cultivation, they were ultimately a minority.]

[The cultivation of most Cultivators required not only Spirit Stones, but also various Spirit Pills and Spirit Medicines.]

[If this supply and demand were interrupted, their cultivation speed would drop significantly.]

[Wang Beixuan asked you how to resolve the current situation.]

[Your answer consisted of only two words—expulsion.]