Chapter 296 - 293: Universal Renewal

A new year began.

Jiangti was closed for three days for New Year’s Day, so the Ranking Challenge was postponed for three days as well.

The disciples were all sent home, lest their parents think the Yang Family was some kind of prison that didn’t even let them leave for the holidays.

However, when Tao Ying went to offer incense at the ancestral hall in the morning, she started to walk in but then stepped back out.

She looked up, squinting for a long while.

"Huh? Why does it feel... a little cleaner."

It didn’t just seem clean, either. There was a kind of faint, lustrous glow...

Tao Ying mulled it over for a long time, trying to understand it in terms she could grasp, and finally came to a conclusion:

Someone had scrubbed all the roof tiles during the night and even waxed them!

She turned to look at the other buildings for comparison and was shocked to find that they all had the same dazzlingly bright appearance.

It wasn’t the same as being "newly renovated." It was more of a...

A feeling of divine light held within, inspiring awe in all who looked upon it!

Keeping a building’s exterior constantly clean was nearly impossible. Even though the Yang Residence had been renovated half a year ago, it had already shown signs of wear. And now, suddenly...

It was truly beautiful!

Just then, Yang Shen walked up from behind her. Tao Ying asked curiously, "Shen, did you spend all night scrubbing tiles?"

Yang Shen paused for a moment, then smiled. "Something like that. A fresh start for the new year."

An image of Yang Shen panting and wheezing as he scrubbed the building’s exterior late at night appeared in Tao Ying’s mind.

’That must have been a lot of work...’

In reality, this was all the effect of the "Spiritual Building Technique." He had already finished applying it to the four buildings in the inner courtyard last night.

As a long-lasting Magic, the Spiritual Building Technique relied on the concentration of Spiritual Qi in the air to be maintained over time. What surprised Yang Shen, however, was that...

The base "Source Concentration" on Cyan Blue was enough to support the daily consumption of the Spiritual Building Technique.

This was a seemingly useless, yet extremely important piece of "information."

It meant that... the "Spiritual Qi concentration" in an ordinary urban area on Cyan Blue was already high enough to be considered a "Sect’s treasured land" on the Cultivation Side.

At least, the kind of place a low-to-mid-tier Sect would be located.

This wasn’t some treasured Immortal Mountain; this was within a massive metropolis.

Until now, Yang Shen had been unable to compare the difference in the Spiritual Qi environments of Cyan Blue and the "theoretically-existing Cultivation World."

All he could compare were the differences in people, such as their combat power, mystical qualities, and Cultivation speed.

He had just instinctively felt that a world that developed such a splendid path of Cultivation should have a higher Spiritual Qi concentration than Cyan Blue.

But... that might not be the case!

His own Cultivation speed, for example... with Four Spiritual Roots, which were not known for their early-stage efficiency, he had reached the Qi Refining Sixth Layer in nine months and wasn’t far from the Qi Refining Seventh Layer...

’Keep in mind, the knowledge came from the system, but the Cultivation was all my own doing...’

On top of that, the proportion of people with Spiritual Roots also seemed to be much higher.

Yang Shen suddenly felt... that the issue hidden behind this information was worth deep consideration.

If the Spiritual Qi concentration on Cyan Blue was no less than that of the Cultivation Realm... then why hadn’t a similar path developed here?

The upper limits of the Cultivation Side should be visibly higher than those of the Martial Arts Side.

Could it all be a coincidence? Not even a similar line of thought?

Unconsciously, the oracle bone script engraved on that leg bone came to Yang Shen’s mind:

"Heaven has cast out the Qi Dao, permitting only the Martial Arts. We have gathered the Qi Dao Fragments of the world and hidden them all here, hoping only that those who come after will know that we once walked this path."

However, these were not mysteries he could solve in a short time. Only when he reached a higher realm, able to view Cyan Blue as if it were the lines on his palm, might he be able to truly understand.

The Yang Family had no other plans today. Aside from Lin Yuebai, who was going to the Great Medicine Workshop, everyone else was just enjoying a peaceful holiday.

Amidst the cold winter, all things were being renewed, so they decided to tidy up Cangwu Garden as well.

The park’s vegetation underwent a new round of maintenance. Recently, Yang Shen had been directing the "Sun Worms" to have extra meals at night, preying on all the snakes, insects, rats, and ants in the garden, but they had also damaged a lot of the turf.

The adult worms were already close to the size of a grown man’s fist, and their digging left quite a few marks on the ground.

The few members of the Yang Family who had mastered Spirit Plant Magic wandered around, and whenever they saw a damaged patch, they would flatten it with a shovel and cast a "Ganlin Curse," which would more or less fix it.

Yang Shen’s instruction was: ignore the normal cycle of withering and flourishing, but take care of any particularly ugly spots.

It counted as a leisure activity. Cangwu Garden had few visitors to begin with, let alone during the holidays.

Xu Bamboo was somewhat clumsily casting her Magic. Compared to the "Escape Technique" she used for fighting, her talent in this area was honestly a bit mediocre.

But that was normal. Except for Yang Shen himself, who had the knowledge poured into his brain by the system, every one of the Hundred Arts Inheritance of Cultivation had an "aptitude" issue.

In contrast, Yang Shen had a new Magic, the "Earth Balance Technique," which made leveling the ground much easier. With a single Finger Technique, hundreds of square meters of land would be automatically scanned and the holes filled.

Xu Bamboo saw this but assumed it was an effect of True Gang. She remarked with a sigh, "That’s so convenient. Why not build something else? Like paving a new path?"

"Cangwu Garden is still a semi-public plot of land; it’s just that no one comes here," Yang Shen said, shaking his head. "We only do maintenance to pass Municipal Government inspections. We can’t pave it."

Only then did Xu Bamboo remember. She had lived here for so long that she had almost forgotten about the special circumstances.

"How can we buy it outright?"

Yang Shen said, "It’s not a matter of buying it. We’re already the owners of Cangwu Garden, it’s written in black and white. We’re just restricted by municipal planning and have to maintain it as an open park and accept the Municipal Government’s oversight."

Xu Bamboo: "I’m just curious... what if we wanted to use it normally? The kind of use where we can do whatever we want with it."

Yang Shen thought for a moment and said, "Based on Jianghuai City’s land auction prices and the location here, it’s about 6 million per mu. Cangwu Garden is 80 mu in total, which comes out to 480 million. And that’s without any bidding wars driving up the price."

Xu Bamboo was speechless. "480 million? Who could afford that!"

Even though the Yang Family was making money at a fierce rate, it wasn’t *that* fierce...

Yang Shen smiled. "Why else do you think we got it for only 10 million back then? Without all these strange restrictions, a developer would have snatched it up long ago to build a residential complex. And even then, the developer wouldn’t use their own money; it would all be bank loans."

"We’re already the masters of Cangwu Garden. It’s not a question of ’buying it again,’ but of finding a way to ’change the terms once.’"

"You’re right. As the foundation of the Yang Family, we need to find a way to gain complete control as soon as possible."

Change it into purely private land that doesn’t need to be open to the public.

The previous owner of Cangwu Garden had worked on this problem for ten years to no avail, and many real estate developers, like Cao Wei’s father, also considered it a dead end.

But the number one genius of Yanhua, who broke the national record, might be able to do it.

A young hero who participated in the development of an Exotic Realm and earned outstanding merit, might also be able to.

Especially the latter. On Cyan Blue, the development of Exotic Realms was the highest priority.

He had already contacted Huo Jun and Shen Juanzhou through official communication channels, expressing his hope that if his merits were to be rewarded, the reward could be geared in this direction. He would even be willing to use it as a pretext to pay a little extra money.

As for whether it would succeed...

The fact that his merits from the Exotic Realm development still hadn’t been finalized after all this time was telling.

’Looks like it’s gotten stuck somewhere.’

After all, on the surface, it was just changing the land-use designation—a matter of a few words. But in essence, it was equivalent to turning Yang Shen’s 10 million investment into 480 million...

It was a rather frightening amount.

His merits might not be enough.

It might even involve some urban planning issues from more than a decade ago.

It was a tough problem, but Yang Shen wasn’t in a hurry.

Things were always developing and changing, and it’s not like he was just lying down and doing nothing.

As his strength, reputation, and merits grew, someone would eventually take care of "this little matter" for him.

On Cyan Blue, strength was what mattered most, and his strength just so happened to be increasing exceptionally fast.

Yang Shen raised his hand, remotely snapping a dead branch from a towering tree to prune it. He said, "Zhuzi, you should be reaching the Late-stage Innate soon, right? The third layer of the Secret Transmission isn’t far off either."

Xu Bamboo nodded. "I’ll try to achieve both before we go to the Si Realm, so I’ll have more strength to protect myself."

Yang Shen: "I’ve already deduced the Sun Wheel Body Refining Technique to the Early-stage True Gang and added my own insights. Once you break through to the late stage, you can start practicing it in advance."

Xu Bamboo noticed a small tree had withered. For something to wither in the rich soil and water of Cangwu Garden, it was probably the work of pests. She gripped it with both hands and heaved it upward.

The earth cracked as she pulled the entire tree out, roots and all.

It was a clear display of her immense strength.

She tossed it a dozen meters away and said, "Great. I’ll also try to enrich it further based on my insights as a Sword Cultivator. If you think it’s worthy, how about adding a few Swordsmanship moves? There are quite a few people in the family who practice the sword."

"No problem. With the Yang Family’s cumulative efforts over time, we’ll eventually be able to flesh out this Body Refining Technique to an extremely high level."

This was also related to the system’s new main quest.

"New Main Quest: Your family’s development has shown initial results, but its absolute strength is still thin. Please cultivate your family members as quickly as possible, so that at least one reaches the Foundation Establishment Stage, and three reach Late-stage Qi Refining (Layers 7-9)."

"Retainers, allies, and servants do not count."

"Quest Reward: One random Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivation Method."

"Remark: Are you tired of being a Qi Refining Ancestor yet?"