17: Chapter 17 A Heart-to-Heart Talk, Future Development!

Night winds blew through Hongtian City.

Inside the Sun Clan Meeting Hall, the lamplight flickered, reflecting a lone figure beneath its glow.

Sun Boan sat in the main seat with a thick ledger spread out before him; he stared blankly at the string of numbers at the end of the book.

Three thousand one hundred and twenty Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

This was all the liquid capital currently in the Sun Clan's treasury, including the Foundation accumulated over the years and the spoils of war Shi Jian had distributed to him earlier.

It was a lot, truly a lot.

In the past, the Sun Clan wouldn't have been able to save this many Spirit Stones even over several years.

But it wasn't enough, far from enough.

Yun Song's words from earlier that day were still swirling in his mind: the Baiyun Assembly, the foundation establishment pill.

A single foundation establishment pill had a market floor price of ten thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones; at auctions, they were often bid up to twelve thousand, or even inflated to thirteen thousand.

Sun Boan was forty-eight years old this year, at the eighth level of Qi Refining, with four Spiritual Roots.

This was thanks to that rebellion; otherwise, he would likely still be stuck at the sixth level of Qi Refining. Without a foundation establishment pill, he wouldn't even touch the threshold of Foundation Establishment in this lifetime!

But even if he sold everything he owned, sold all the Sun Clan's existing spiritual fields, and squeezed every drop out of those eight vassal families, he still wouldn't be able to scrape together enough money for even half a foundation establishment pill.

"Clan Chief."

A voice came from outside the door. Sun Boan snapped back to his senses and saw a massive black rat crouching on the threshold...

"The Old Ancestor wants you to go to the back mountain."

Elder Rat flicked his tail and turned to vanish into the night. It was Sun Boan's first time seeing him; though he was momentarily shocked, he regained his composure in an instant.

Shi Jian was too mysterious—so mysterious that he didn't have the slightest thought of resistance.

Thus, he didn't dwell on it too much. Taking a deep breath, he stood up and headed out.

Back mountain—

At the entrance of the Spiritual Vein, Spiritual Qi hung thick in the air.

Shi Jian lay on a boulder with several freshly roasted Spirit Beast legs placed before him. He didn't use fire Spells, relying entirely on the two youngsters, Sun Mao and Sun Yao, to build the fire and roast them nearby.

Both children were now at the first level of Qi Refining, and they used the Fire Control Technique quite skillfully.

"Old Ancestor, it's roasted!"

Sun Mao wiped the sweat from his forehead and offered the beast leg with both hands.

Shi Jian took a large bite of the meat, chewed a few times, and swallowed it. The scene before him was one of filial piety and parental affection.

Sun Boan approached and bowed. "Greetings, Old Ancestor."

"You two head down first. I'm going to have a chat with your Clan Chief grandfather."

Shi Jian waved a paw. Sun Mao and Sun Yao, accompanied by their Dao-protecting black dog, gave their acknowledgment and obediently withdrew...

The surroundings grew quiet.

Shi Jian swallowed the meat in his mouth, his gaze falling upon Sun Boan.

"Want to buy a foundation establishment pill?"

Those few words directly pierced through Sun Boan's thoughts. His knees went weak, and he knelt on the ground. Not daring to hide anything, he said in a dry voice:

"Junior... indeed has such thoughts."

"Junior is already at the eighth level of Qi Refining and can break through to the ninth level in a few more years. I should be able to reach Perfection before sixty. Without the help of a foundation establishment pill..."

"I fear that in this life, Foundation Establishment will be hopeless."

Shi Jian gave a cold laugh.

"Can you afford it?"

Sun Boan pressed his forehead to the ground. "I cannot. Even if the entire Sun Clan exhausts all its strength, we cannot scrape together ten thousand Spirit Stones."

"Let's say you did manage to scrape it together."

Shi Jian shifted his position, resting his front paws on the edge of the rock. "You are forty-eight this year. With your four-Spiritual Root Aptitude, even if you used a foundation establishment pill, what are your chances of success?"

Sun Boan trembled all over, unable to answer.

"I'm afraid your chances of breaking through are less than thirty percent."

Shi Jian answered for him. "There's over a seventy percent chance that your Breakthrough will fail, and you'll end up at the tenth level of Qi Refining, the so-called Great Perfection of Qi Refining."

Hearing this, Sun Boan gritted his teeth, his eyes full of resentment, but this was the most likely reality.

"The cultivation world doesn't care about sentimentality; it only cares about pros and cons."

Shi Jian continued in a flat tone, devoid of any emotional fluctuation. "You know very well what kind of Foundation the Sun Clan has right now."

"That Family fortune of three thousand Spirit Stones is life-saving money you need to keep for the clansmen's monthly stipends, for nurturing clansmen, and for maintaining the clan-protecting Formation."

"For a vague hope of less than twenty or thirty percent, you're prepared to throw in the entire future of the Sun Clan?"

Sun Boan knelt on the ground, cold sweat breaking out and dripping down his cheeks.

Shi Jian raised a paw and pointed in the direction where Sun Mao and Sun Yao had left.

"Those two little ones are five and four years old."

"They've only been cultivating for a month or two, yet they've already completed the induction of Qi into the body and stabilized their Realms. In another half-year, they'll reach the second level of Qi Refining."

"They have three-Spiritual Root Aptitude and extraordinary bone structure; I personally used demon power to widen their Meridians."

"In another ten years, when they are fifteen or sixteen, they'll reach at least the fifth or sixth level of Qi Refining. Before twenty, they'll certainly step into the seventh level. By thirty, they'll have hope of reaching Qi Refining Perfection and attempting Foundation Establishment!"

"At that time, their blood and Qi will be at their peak, and their Foundation will be solid."

"Even without a foundation establishment pill, they'd have a twenty or thirty percent chance of establishing their Foundation on their own. With the assistance of a pill, they'd have a fifty or sixty percent chance."

Shi Jian stared into Sun Boan's eyes. "Three thousand Spirit Stones spent on you would just be for a bit of noise. Left for them, it means one or two Foundation Establishment Cultivator for the Sun Clan's future."

"Can't you figure out this math?"

Sun Boan's mind roared.

He had been so immersed in his longing for longevity that he had ignored the most basic reality. He was old, after all; the Sun Clan's future did not lie with him...

He looked up, the resentment in his eyes gradually fading, replaced by a sense of clarity.

Regardless, Sun Mao and Sun Yao—one his granddaughter, the other a nephew of his lineage—it would be excellent if they succeeded.

At the very least, his Bloodline would be carried on and passed down!

"Junior almost made a foolish mistake."

Sun Boan kowtowed heavily. "Thank you, Old Ancestor, for the wake-up call. Junior will immediately abandon the thought of Foundation Establishment. For the remainder of my life, I will do my utmost to pave the way for the Sun Clan's younger generations."

Shi Jian nodded with satisfaction.

This old fellow wasn't completely stupid; he knew when to advance and when to retreat. If he had remained obsessed, the Clan Chief would likely have had to be replaced yet again.

"Rise."

Shi Jian tilted his chin slightly. Sun Boan stood up and wiped the cold sweat from his face.

Then, Shi Jian opened his mouth and spat out five Jade Slips, which landed at Sun Boan's feet. "When I asked you to organize the Legacy before, I found there were still flaws."

"I spent over half a month going through all the library collections of your Sun Clan, the Lin Clan, the Ye Clan, and those eight vassal families, re-summarizing the Legacy."

Sun Boan was stunned. He quickly picked up a Jade Slip and scanned it with his Divine Sense.

With just one look, he sucked in a breath of cold air.

It was so detailed.

In the past, the Sun Clan's library was a mess of cluttered Cultivation Technique Jade Slips; younger Disciples picking techniques relied entirely on Luck...

But now, Shi Jian had categorized all the techniques and mapped out an extremely clear cultivation path.

The first Jade Slip contained a brand-new basic breathing technique!

It integrated the strengths of various families, specifically for children below the third level of Qi Refining to build their Foundation. The Spiritual Qi circulation route had been optimized, making it thirty percent more efficient than before.

The second Jade Slip contained the primary Cultivation Techniques.

They were divided into the Five Elements—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth—to be cultivated according to Spiritual Root attributes. Among them, the "Thick Earth Essence Cultivation Art" and "Azure Wood Eternal Spring Art" were listed as core techniques, accompanied by detailed Breakthrough insights and notes on bottlenecks.

The third Jade Slip was the chapter on spells.

From low-tier Fire Bullet and Water Shield Spells to mid-tier Earth Escape and Wind Blade Combo techniques, they were divided into three Ranks based on difficulty.

The fourth Jade Slip was the chapter of a hundred arts.

It included basic knowledge of Alchemy, Talisman Making, Formations, Artifact Refining, and Spirit Plant cultivation, extracted from the miscellaneous studies of those eight vassal families.

The first-Rank Legacies of various disciplines were all collected and standardized.

Among them, the paths of Alchemy, Artifacts, and Talismans extended to the second Rank. Although not perfectly complete, they were sufficient to nurture second-Rank skills.

The fifth Jade Slip contained the sect rules and the contribution point system.

When Sun Boan saw the fifth Jade Slip, his breathing quickened.

"Old Ancestor, this contribution..."

"Without rules, there is no order."

"Previously, your Sun Clan relied entirely on Bloodline ties. But considering the future growth of the clan, this needs to be implemented to avoid internal conflicts."

Sun Boan gripped the Jade Slip, his hands trembling slightly.

With these five Jade Slips, the Sun Clan was no longer just a cultivation Family tucked away in a corner, but an orderly cultivation lineage!

As long as there was a steady stream of descendants, the Sun Clan would surely endure for hundreds or even thousands of years.

In time, once the new generation grew up, the Sun Clan would surely soar and possess an even broader future.

"The Old Ancestor's foresight is profound; Junior is filled with absolute admiration!"

Sun Boan knelt once more. This time, he was genuinely convinced, without the slightest pretense, and he even realized how correct the choice to rebel had been.

"Enough, cut that out."

"Implement these rules. Do your job well and don't be foolish. With steady progress, the Sun Clan will eventually rise."

"By the way, the demonic threat has been resolved."

"Have those eight families return to their respective clan lands and develop their livelihoods. Also, tell them that from now on, all spiritual items they produce can only be traded in Hongtian City."

"You should put more heart into managing your own casual market in the future."