Chapter 302 : The Essence of Dominion

In truth, the low-grade resources from Heaven's Ruin Lake held little practical value for the two of them. They were simply converted into Spirit Stone [a mineral that stores and radiates spiritual energy] and contribution points, which were deposited into the Clan Treasury. When Spirit Stone were needed, they could simply draw from the Clan Treasury reserves.

For Lyra Jiang and Eldrin Chen, the most useful resource remained the Five Elements Essence [a refined spiritual essence containing the power of the five elements].

Following this great war, the Heaven's Ruin Alliance had become the undisputed master of the Three Provinces. As the Alliance's leader and deputy leader, the two naturally enjoyed certain privileges.

Henceforth, whenever they required Five Elements Essence, every family under the Heaven's Ruin Alliance banner and all affiliated cultivators would be obligated to sell their produced Five Elements Essence to the pair as a priority.

Furthermore, this proportion could be no less than fifty percent of their total output, and the price could not exceed the market floor price—which was eight thousand Spirit Stone for fifty thousand strands of essence.

Back when Lyra Jiang had just achieved Core Formation [the stage of forming a Golden Core], Five Elements Essence was scarce within the Chu Kingdom. The two had even been forced to pay a premium of fourteen thousand Spirit Stone to acquire fifty thousand strands.

With this floor-price privilege secured, they would save a staggering sum of millions of Spirit Stone during their Golden Core Stage [the cultivation stage centered on the Golden Core]—no insignificant amount.

Moreover, this arrangement would allow the Heaven's Ruin Alliance to monopolize the Five Elements Essence trade within the Three Provinces, which was excellent for both stockpiling reserves and for profitable resale.

In previous years, the price premium on Five Elements Essence was primarily due to layers of middlemen skimming profits.

For instance, when the Chen Clan transported Five Elements Essence to Celestial Ruins Mountain in the past, the actual purchase price for fifty thousand strands was only around seven or eight thousand Spirit Stone. The profit from selling it at Celestial Ruins Mountain could reach as high as two thousand Spirit Stone. This chapter is provided by *audio-novel.com*. Support the original.

In truth, the Rogue Cultivator [a cultivator not affiliated with any major clan or sect] and individual clan members did not receive a great deal of Spirit Stone [a mineral that stores and radiates spiritual energy, used as currency and for cultivation] from their efforts; over half of the profits were claimed by various intermediaries.

For example, the Five Elements Essence [a refined spiritual essence containing the power of the five elements] produced by a clan cultivator might be purchased by the clan for a price of five Spirit Stone, only to be sold in the market for seven Spirit Stone.

After paying the market taxes, the purchasing clan's cost would rise to eight Spirit Stone. Selling it across provinces to a Purple Mansion Cultivator [a cultivator who has established their Purple Mansion, the third major realm] or a merchant who hoarded such goods would push the price to Ten Spirit Stones.

The merchant, upon selling it to a high-realm cultivator in need, would add another one or two stones to the price. If a high-realm cultivator was in urgent need, the profit margin could increase by several more tenths.

With the Heaven's Ruin Alliance [a major alliance of cultivators and clans] now purchasing directly, all these middlemen were cut out. Clan cultivators could sell their Five Elements Essence directly to the Alliance, saving the two of them vast sums of Spirit Stone.

Achieving this was an immensely difficult task. It required not only overwhelming strength to suppress the various local powers but also immense credibility and trust.

These local powers referred to the great Foundation Establishment [the second major realm of cultivation] and Purple Mansion Immortal Clan [a clan powerful enough to have Purple Mansion realm cultivators]. In truth, the Five Elements Essence trade in each province and county was largely controlled by these major Foundation Establishment and Purple Mansion Immortal Clan.

While the annual profits might not seem staggering—for instance, after over a century of development, Yu County's Five Elements Essence trade now only brought in twenty thousand Spirit Stone per year—over a century of operation, this amounted to an industry worth two million Spirit Stone.

The combined profits from all the intermediate links totaled at least several hundred thousand Spirit Stone. The major Purple Mansion Immortal Clan of Yu County—the Chen, Pan, and Meng clans—all held a share of these interests. While Foundation Establishment Immortal Clan [a clan whose strongest members are in the Foundation Establishment realm] could not claim a direct share, they still received a portion of the tax revenue.

And this was just for a single county. If one accounted for the nine counties of the Three Provinces, the annual trade reached a scale of one hundred thousand Spirit Stone. Over a century, this soared to ten million Spirit Stone, with profits numbering in the millions.

This immense profit and market had, in years past, been controlled by over a dozen Purple Mansion Immortal Clan and hundreds of Foundation Establishment Immortal Clan within the Three Provinces. Their interests were deeply intertwined, and even the former Green Sun Sect lacked the necessary public trust to seize control of this trade.

Thus, these local powers were notoriously difficult to deal with. Typically, even a Golden Core Immortal Clan would find it exceedingly difficult to intervene.

Fortunately, Eldrin Chen and Lyra Jiang now possessed formidable strength. Moreover, their prestige and reputation within the Heaven's Ruin Alliance were impeccable, having led the alliance's various Immortal Clan and Rogue Cultivator to substantial gains.

Alliance elders like Xavier Xu and Qingmei Fang, who were at the False Core stage, still harbored hopes for the duo's Golden Core Formation Pill.

Setting aside their lack of strength and limited influence, even if they were to break through to the Golden Core realm, they would still owe Lyra Jiang and Eldrin Chen a profound debt of gratitude. After all, if a Golden Core Formation Pill were auctioned publicly, it could easily fetch a premium of several hundred thousand Spirit Stone [a mineral that stores and radiates spiritual energy, used as currency and for cultivation].

The reason for selling it to them at a preferential price of two million Spirit Stone was precisely because they were internal members of the Heaven's Ruin Alliance. Countless cultivators from outside the alliance coveted this opportunity, wishing they could take their place.

After Eldrin Chen led the Chen Clan Cultivators in cleansing Heaven's Ruin Lake of its Foundation Establishment and Purple Mansion Demonic Beast [demonic beasts at the Purple Mansion realm], he delegated the remaining mundane affairs to the clan's Caleb and other Clan Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

He issued orders to procure Five Elements Essence [a refined spiritual essence containing the power of the five elements] while he and Lyra Jiang began refining various Pill.

Lyra Jiang focused on refining mid-to-high-grade Third Rank Pill, such as the Dharma Essence Pill. Eldrin Chen, meanwhile, handled the Foundation Establishment Pill and the lower-to-mid-grade Third Rank Pill.

With his Quasi-Fourth Rank proficiency in Alchemy, his Pill Success Rate for mid-to-high-grade Third Rank Pill would not be low, but it certainly could not match that of Lyra Jiang.

Over the years, assisting Lyra Jiang had allowed him to refine a considerable number of high-grade Pill [a medicinal pellet refined from spiritual herbs and materials, used to aid cultivation]. He no longer needed to use these Third Rank [the third major stage of cultivation, corresponding to the Purple Mansion Realm] mid-to-high grade pills to hone his technique. To truly elevate his Alchemy [the art of refining spiritual herbs and materials into medicinal pills], the best path was to refine Fourth Rank [the fourth major stage of cultivation, corresponding to the Golden Core Realm] Pill.

As there was currently no opportunity to refine Fourth Rank Pill, it was better to refine Foundation Establishment Pill [a special pill that aids a cultivator in breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm] and Third Rank Low Grade pills to help shoulder some of Lyra Jiang's burden.

During this Beast Tide Calamity [a periodic invasion of demonic beasts that threatens human settlements], the Heaven's Ruin Alliance [a coalition of cultivation forces] had harvested a total of sixteen Purple Mansion Great Demon [a demonic beast whose power is equivalent to a human cultivator in the Purple Mansion Realm] Inner Core [the condensed spiritual core of a demonic beast, a valuable alchemical material]. Furthermore, they had scavenged five stalks of Purple Marrow Fruit [a rare spiritual fruit that strengthens the marrow and bones] from various Spirit Mountain [a mountain imbued with concentrated spiritual energy].

To begin the furnace and refine these pills, Lyra Jiang dispatched her External Incarnation Body [a powerful technique that allows a cultivator to project a secondary body formed from their spiritual essence] to stand guard at Heaven's Ruin Lake. The two of them specifically returned to Green Sun Mountain to utilize the power of the Fourth Rank Underground Fire Vein [a subterranean vein of potent fire-attribute spiritual energy, ideal for alchemy and artificing] for pill refinement.

For this batch of Foundation Establishment Pill, Eldrin Chen took the lead. Aunt Elara and Silas Chen, both Third Rank Low Grade Alchemist [a practitioner skilled in the art of alchemy], assisted him as aides in processing the supplementary herbs.

As Eldrin Chen refined the Foundation Establishment Pill, he simultaneously imparted his alchemical experience to the two of them. The complete novel can be found at https://audio-novel.com.

"This Demonic Core [the spiritual core of a demonic beast, often containing its elemental affinity and power] belongs to a Crimson Flame Serpent [a fiery serpent demonic beast]. It contains a scorching flame spirituality that is highly detrimental to a cultivator's Foundation Establishment [the second major stage of cultivation, where one solidifies their spiritual foundation]."

"With my cultivation level, I can naturally use my mana to forcibly separate the flame spirituality. However, your cultivation is insufficient. If you wish to use this Inner Core to refine a Foundation Establishment Pill, you would need to neutralize its spirituality using Flood Water Essence [a spiritual essence of the Water element, associated with the Heavenly Stem 'Ren'] or Sunflower Water Essence [a spiritual essence of the Water element, associated with the Earthly Branch 'Gui']."

Eldrin Chen's words paused briefly, and he couldn't help but let out a soft, amused chuckle. He suddenly remembered that Lyra Jiang had once spoken these very same words to him years ago.

Shaking his head, he continued to focus on the alchemical process before him.

After twenty-one batches of the Foundation Establishment Pill [a rare and potent elixir that aids cultivators in solidifying their foundation], and with the assistance of two others, Eldrin Chen had managed to refine one batch every three days. Yet, the entire process still took two full months to complete.

Upon successfully refining the Foundation Establishment Pill, Eldrin Chen let out a sigh of relief. A careful count revealed a yield of one hundred and twenty-seven of these precious pills. Continue your cultivation journey at audio-novel[dot]com.