Chapter 313 : Forging the Skybound Treasure Fleet

Just a single Heaven's Ruin Province [a vast and resource-rich frontier region], its territory is somewhat larger than the combined lands of the Three Provinces. The Spirit Medicine [plants imbued with spiritual energy], mineral veins, and Demonic Beast [monstrous creatures that absorb spiritual energy] it nurtures are all precious resources.

The Three Provinces need the resources of Heaven's Ruin Province, while Heaven's Ruin Province needs the cultivators from the Three Provinces. One could say they are mutually dependent.

However, this territory is simply too vast, and the distance between them is too great. A single round trip often entails five or six years of arduous travel.

For Qi Refinement Cultivators [practitioners in the initial stage of cultivation] whose lifespans barely exceed a century, this journey is far too lengthy and taxing.

At this thought, everyone present fell into deep contemplation.

Chen Thalion glanced around the assembly and spoke. "During the past few Beast Tide Calamity [periodic, devastating invasions by hordes of demonic beasts], we have successively seized the remains of quite a few Third Rank [equivalent to the Purple Mansion Realm] Demonic Beast."

"If we gather a large quantity of first-rank spirit wood and do not prioritize speed or combat prowess, we could forge several medium to large-sized treasure boats."

Hearing this, expressions of delight appeared on everyone's faces.

Xu Darius, also an Artificer [a master craftsman who forges magical tools and treasures], nodded in agreement, unable to contain his joy. "Using the skeletal frames of Third Rank Demonic Beast as the keel and supplementing them with vast amounts of low-grade spirit wood, we can indeed construct Third Rank treasure boats."

"Such vessels would be relatively weak in combat, capable of flying only ten thousand Li-lengths [one Li-length equals five hundred meters] per day. Yet, they would be sufficient to carry over five hundred low-level cultivators." Dive deeper into the Dao at audio~novel.com.

Lyra Jiang's eyes lit up as she turned to Elara Lin and inquired, "How many Third RankDemonic Beast [powerful monsters that have reached the third major stage of cultivation] dragon bones do we still possess here?"

"Many of the bones were previously refined into Magical Tool [enchanted artifacts used by cultivators]," Elara Lin calculated for a moment before replying. "Now, only three skeletons remain that are suitable for crafting treasure boats."

"A mere three treasure boats are far from sufficient," Lyra Jiang shook her head, her gaze sweeping over the assembled group. "Your various clans also acquired some Third RankDemonic Beast remains in previous exchanges. I wonder how many you still have left."

Old Patriarch offered a faint smile and answered calmly, "My Chen Clan possesses four Third Rank skeletons suitable for crafting treasure boats."

As everyone spoke in turn, they discovered that the combined holdings of the great families within the Heaven's Ruin Alliance totaled twelve Demonic Beast skeletons.

Twelve Demonic Beast skeletons were enough to craft twelve treasure boats, capable of transporting six thousand cultivators in a single journey.

Once these treasure boats were completed, they could establish multiple shipping routes throughout the territory of the Heaven's Ruin Alliance, thoroughly linking the Spirit Mountain [mountains imbued with concentrated spiritual energy] of each great clan.

Eldrin Chen calculated and found that across the four provinces under the Heaven's Ruin Alliance, there were thirty-seven Third Rank Spirit Vein [sites where spiritual energy of the third rank naturally concentrates] and several hundred Second Rank Spirit Vein.

The cultivators here numbered over one hundred thousand. If these routes were opened, charging a mere ten Spirit Stone [a mineral that stores and radiates spiritual energy, used as currency and for cultivation] per person would generate an immense revenue stream.

If Qi Refinement Cultivators [practitioners at the foundational stage of cultivation] returned to their clans only once every ten years, with an estimated twenty thousand trips annually, the revenue could easily reach two hundred thousand Spirit Stone each year.

After deducting the cost of using the spiritual energy from the Spirit Vein to recharge the treasure boat's energy reserves, the annual profit still reached a staggering one hundred thousand Spirit Stone [a mineral that stores and radiates spiritual energy, used as currency and for cultivation]. Over a century, this would amount to a business venture with profits of ten million Spirit Stone.

It must be understood that although the Chen Clan was among the most elite Purple Mansion Immortal Clan [a family of cultivators whose patriarch has reached the Purple Mansion Realm], and the Spirit Vein [a natural conduit of concentrated spiritual energy] and Earth Vein [a terrestrial energy channel] they occupied were comparable to those of a weaker Golden Core Immortal Clan [a family whose patriarch has formed a Golden Core], their annual income was merely seventy to eighty thousand Spirit Stone.

Everyone present did their own calculations, and a flicker of desire stirred within each of them.

Yet they also understood that while these profits appeared immense, not just anyone could claim a share of this bounty.

With Lyra Jiang [a powerful female cultivator], a Golden Core Ancestor [a venerable elder who has formed a Golden Core], present, and Eldrin Chen [the protagonist, a formidable young cultivator] whose strength rivaled a true Golden Core [the third major realm of cultivation, marked by the formation of a solidified spiritual core] cultivator, this venture was certainly beyond their reach.

However, since the Demonic Beast [a monster that has absorbed spiritual energy and gained power] skeletons in their possession could be forged into treasure boats, Xavier Xu [a patriarch from the Xu Clan] still harbored some hope. He could not help but speak up, "Might I ask, Ancient Ancestor [a respectful title for a venerable elder], how are the shipping route businesses for these treasure boats to be arranged?"

Eldrin Chen exchanged a glance with Lyra Jiang. After all, they still needed the treasure boats from these Immortal Clan [powerful, long-established cultivation families]. Thus, he stated, "Regarding the shipping route businesses, the Purple Mansion Immortal Clan who possess treasure boats may claim a portion."

"You may contract for the routes, but you must surrender fifty percent of the profits as a franchise fee."

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in understanding. With a total of twelve treasure boats, the Chen Clan and Lyra Jiang controlled seven. The Pan Immortal Clan [the Pan family], Xu Immortal Clan [the Xu family], and a few other Immortal Clan combined could produce the remaining five.

For clans like the Xu Clan, possessing even a single treasure boat, despite surrendering half the profits, would still add five thousand Spirit Stone to their coffers each year—a substantial and welcome increase in revenue.

Although this amount would be deducted by various expenditures such as stipends for clan members, distributing stipends to the clan members was itself a necessary expense.

The great Immortal Clan [powerful families of cultivators] do not fear distributing stipends; what they truly fear is being unable to afford them. If there are insufficient positions to arrange for the cultivators within the clan, then that family would truly be consuming its resources without replenishment, destined to gradually decline.

The Chen Clan and Heaven's Ruin Mountain were no different. Operating the shipping routes required cultivators, and guarding the treasure ships also required a significant number of cultivators. A certain portion of the profits from this venture would be distributed as stipends.

Having decided to open the shipping routes, the group immediately returned to the clan to begin gathering materials to forge the treasure ships.

Forging large treasure ships required vast quantities of first-rank spirit wood; a single ship consumed over ten thousand logs. Even with the resources of the Chen Clan, gathering so much spirit wood at once was a difficult task.

Fortunately, the Verdant Leaf Bamboo [a type of spirit bamboo] from Green Sun Mountain was renowned throughout the Chu Kingdom. Lyra Jiang ordered the felling of tens of thousands of stalks and gathered a great amount of other first-rank spirit wood, finally assembling the necessary materials. Your portal to cultivation novels: audio-novel`com.

While the crafting difficulty for these Third Rank [corresponding to the Purple Mansion Realm] treasure ships was not high, it was an extremely time-consuming and laborious process. Eldrin Chen and Lyra Jiang did not personally intervene, but they mobilized hundreds of Artificer [craftsmen who forge magical tools and treasures] and Formation Master [masters who design and inscribe magical formations] from the Chen Clan and the Heaven's Ruin Alliance.

These Artificer inscribed low-grade formation runes onto each individual spirit wood log. Then, Third Rank Artificer took charge of the overall framework and design. After more than a year of meticulous work, the seven treasure ships were finally completed.

The other great clans, though slightly slower, also managed to forge their ships after a little over two years.

Once these treasure ships were completed, they immediately began operations, allowing cultivators from the Three Provinces to start entering the Heaven's Ruin Province.

For a time, with the influx of a great number of cultivators, the pace of development in Heaven's Ruin Province accelerated severalfold. In merely a few years, new small-scale Spirit Stone Mine [a site where Spirit Stones are mined] had been discovered and exploited.

Just as the various Immortal Clan [powerful families of cultivators] were developing Heaven's Ruin Province with fiery zeal, the high-ranking cultivators of the Heaven's Ruin Alliance had already entered seclusion for cultivation.

Individuals like Xavier Xu, Fang the Ancient Ancestor, and Elara Lin were all focused on nourishing their meridians, awaiting the next opportunity to attempt a breakthrough to the Golden Core [the third major stage of cultivation, where one forms a solidified core of spiritual power] realm.

The Old Patriarch was also engaged in relentless, arduous cultivation, striving to reach Purple Mansion Great Perfection [the peak of the Purple Mansion realm] as swiftly as possible to prepare for his own assault on the Golden Core realm.

Eldrin Chen had finally managed to extricate himself from his busy schedule, preparing to advance his final Life-Bound Magical Treasure [a magical artifact personally forged and bound to a cultivator's soul, growing in power with them].

By now, his Heavenly Separated Twin Swords, Earth-Fortress Sovereign Bell, and Flood Water Azure Lotus Platform had all ascended to the Fourth Rank [a grade corresponding to the Golden Core realm]. Only the Magnetic Treasure Mirror had yet to achieve its advancement.

He and Lyra Jiang had obtained four Void Gem [a rare spatial-aligned crystal]. Three of these had been forged into Teleportation Array Disk [a portable formation plate enabling teleportation]. Eldrin Chen had kept the remaining one specifically for the purpose of advancing his Magnetic Treasure Mirror.

This Magnetic Treasure Mirror suppressed all metal-attribute Magical Treasure [powerful enchanted artifacts used by cultivators] and divine abilities. By incorporating the Void Gem, it would gain the wondrous utility of sealing and suppressing one's foes. Access the full story on audio~novel.com.