Chapter 281: Foundation Establishment Mission Completed

Chen Miaomiao was slightly surprised when she met the Tao Hua Sect Master.

Then, she inwardly chided herself. ’I guess I really am full of stereotypes.’

The Tao Hua Sect Master was a plump, beautiful woman in elegant courtly attire.

She spoke with a constant smile, which made her seem incredibly approachable.

She reminded Chen Miaomiao of the court ladies depicted in paintings from the Tang Dynasty in Huaxia.

Dong Yulan was by her side on this trip back from Demon Cave Valley.

Unexpectedly, before Dong Yulan could even speak, the Tao Hua Sect Master, An Yingzhen, spoke with a smile, her words unsettlingly perceptive, "I’m guessing you have a Secret Technique for cultivating large quantities of Spirit Grass, and you want to partner with me."

Even Dong Yulan glanced at An Yingzhen in surprise.

Chen Miaomiao only paused for a moment before smiling as well. "Yes."

She admitted it frankly.

After all, her objective was obvious, so it wasn’t surprising she had been found out.

An Yingzhen then asked, "What terms are you offering?"

"I approach this partnership with you in good faith, Sect Master. The terms are the same as with the Feique Sect: a fifty-fifty split. We will manage the Spirit Grass cultivation, so the Taohua Sect disciples can carry on as usual. I just need access to the Taohua Sect’s Spirit Fields."

An Yingzhen nodded. A deep dimple appeared on her plump cheek as she suppressed a smile. "That sounds excellent."

If the Longevity Sect truly had a method for cultivating Spirit Grass, a fifty-fifty split was definitely a bargain for the Taohua Sect.

An Yingzhen then asked the key question: "Then how do we seal this agreement?"

Chen Miaomiao also smiled. "We can sign a Spirit Contract, Sect Master."

A Spirit Contract was the same type of pact that Song Jiulai and Nan Qi had signed before.

They were most effective when signed between Cultivators of comparable strength.

Because it required a drop of Heart Blood, violating the contract would naturally cause a backlash that harmed one’s cultivation.

However, if the cultivation gap between the two parties was too great, the Spirit Contract wasn’t nearly as effective.

But here, one was at the Early-stage Foundation Establishment, and the other was at the Late-stage Foundation Establishment.

Chen Miaomiao had confidence in herself and didn’t think the gap was insurmountable.

She’d catch up sooner or later.

She was signing this Spirit Contract with the Sect Master to prevent An Yingzhen from going back on her word.

As for the Taohua Sect disciples, the system would naturally take care of that.

An Yingzhen raised an eyebrow but agreed readily.

The swiftness of her agreement surprised even Dong Yulan. "You’re really willing to do this?"

An Yingzhen looked back at her, seemingly confused. "Why wouldn’t I be? The Taohua Sect can only get so big on its own, and we have no special expertise in cultivating Spirit Grass. If someone is willing to partner with us, it’s a wonderful opportunity. Even you are cooperating with the Longevity Sect, so why shouldn’t I?"

There was another reason, too.

She knew that if she didn’t sign now, the Longevity Sect would force her to sign sooner or later.

The only difference would be that the latter scenario would involve a more aggressive approach.

Because once a large volume of the Feique Sect’s Elixir Pills entered the market, the Taohua Sect would eventually be squeezed out with no room to fight back.

The Feique Sect already had more members than the Taohua Sect, and now with the Longevity Sect joining them, her Taohua Sect stood no chance of winning.

Unless she were to inform on them.

But what good would that do?

If a Major Sect like the Sea View Sect got ahold of the Secret Technique for cultivating Spirit Grass, she wouldn’t get any benefits herself.

Could she expect the Sea View Sect to let a few scraps fall through the cracks for her?

Impossible.

An Yingzhen knew perfectly well that she was just the Sect Master of a small sect. Her cultivation couldn’t even compare to that of a Sea View Sect disciple.

Who would care about a minor Sect Master like her?

Informing on them would be a total loss.

By cooperating, regardless of the Longevity Sect’s ultimate goal, her Taohua Sect stood to gain, at least for the time being.

Chen Miaomiao’s eyes curved into crescents as she smiled. "You’re a refreshingly straightforward person, Sect Master."

An Yingzhen glanced at her and said, "My surname is An."

Chen Miaomiao nodded. "Chen Miaomiao pays her respects to Master An."

The partnership with the Taohua Sect was thus settled, with a smoothness that defied imagination.

But Chen Miaomiao’s thoughts were already racing ahead.

’Now that the Taohua Sect is on board, the restructuring work can proceed.’

’The Taohua Sect is a Medicine Sect, so all operations related to Elixir Pills can be moved to their side.’

’The Feique Sect can then focus solely on Artifact Refining.’

’With the Medicine Sect and Artifact Refining covered, the next step is to cultivate a Beast Taming Sect.’

’This is currently our weakest area.’

’Beast Taming requires a more suitable environment.’

’One that we currently lack.’

’There’s only the site of the former Spirit Fox Sect, which was destroyed.’

’I wonder if its ruins still exist.’

After considering these points, Chen Miaomiao relayed the various tasks to Fan Guzhou.

She needed to focus on researching the progress of the Spirit Grass, so these other matters had to be handled by Fan Guzhou.

Fan Guzhou thought for a moment before saying, "This is a good opportunity. We can have a group of the Loose Cultivator players who haven’t officially joined the Sect search for the old Spirit Fox Sect ruins. But if the sect was destroyed, wouldn’t the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect have sent people to take over the territory?"

Chen Miaomiao shook her head. "It was just a small sect. There are no other Beast Taming Sects around here besides the Spirit Fox Sect. Neither the Netherworld Sect nor the Liuyun Sect are equipped to take it over. We can go check it out and see what kind of environment is actually needed to raise spiritual beasts."

Fan Guzhou hissed, "So the Taohua Sect is taken care of. That just leaves the Liuyun Sect and the Netherworld Sect. We still don’t know enough about the Netherworld Sect! Most importantly, there’s that Thunder Stone Ore Vein. Has Han Tian gone over there yet? Shuang Xiahuai has wanted that vein for a long time and keeps asking us about it."

For once, Chen Miaomiao rolled her eyes. "What’s the rush? Our progress is already plenty fast. This game has only been out for a few months, and we’ve already brought both the Taohua Sect and the Feique Sect into the fold. Haste makes waste. If we rush to acquire those other two sects, they might become unstable. At least the Taohua Sect is close by; if there’s any sign of trouble, we’ll find out quickly."

"Besides, we have a very important problem right now."

Chen Miaomiao said, "The Palm Thunder technique we have is only the Initial Stage version. Once you reach the Foundation Establishment Stage, you need the Middle Stage version to continue cultivating it. But I’ve checked, and the Middle Stage technique is basically monopolized by the Major Sects. It would be extremely expensive to buy."

Most of the players are still using the Initial-stage Palm Thunder technique.

New players, meanwhile, don’t even have a powerful Cultivation Technique like Palm Thunder to practice.

This is because there were only 100 scrolls of the Initial-stage Technique for Palm Thunder.

Even if the scrolls could be copied, the players’ current cultivation is too low to replicate a Cultivation Technique.

Although not every player can afford Palm Thunder, there will always be newer players who miss out entirely.

Players are already asking the system about this.

But the system’s reply is, "The standard for further Sect expansion has not yet been met."

In truth, even Song Jiulai was at a loss for the moment.

She would have to wait until the Golden Core Stage to be able to copy the Cultivation Technique. For now, the players would just have to bear with the situation.

After all, the initial Sect reward had only been 100 scrolls.

Perhaps because the problem was so urgent, within a month of entering the Dragon Frost Swamp, something finally happened. While on her way to the Sea View Sect to pay her dues, Song Jiulai received a message that was music to her ears.

[The Sect now has ten disciples at the Foundation Establishment Stage, completing the mission to reach ten Foundation Establishment Stage disciples within half a year. Your Sect is flourishing. This is news worth celebrating!]

[The corresponding reward will be distributed shortly. Please stand by!]