Chapter 280: with translation of chapter title

Upper City District, the eleventh city branch of the Tianyuan Consortium.

This towering building that pierces the clouds is like a sharp sword thrust into the firmament, isolating the acid rain and gloom of the slums in the cloud layer below.

Compared to the struggling environment of the slums still on the wasteland.

Here, a constant-temperature system maintains the most comfortable temperature, and the air is filled with an artificially synthesized cedar scent.

Regional steward Lin Si held a cup of wine worth thousands of credit points, standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the underground black market below that resembled an ant nest.

Beside his ear, the assistant's voice echoed with a city-wide intelligence briefing.

"Report, last night the underground black market saw a large-scale firefight; the former leader of the Iron Blood Society, Iron Tu, suspected of having broken through to the fifth stage of Nascent Soul, displayed unknown energy fluctuations, single-handedly slaughtering the Poison Python Gang, the Wild Wolf Gang, and several other big and small factions. Currently, the entire underground black market has been integrated into a new organization called the Ancient Immortal Gate, whose nominal leader is a pauper named A Qi, but actual control lies in Iron Tu's hands."

Lin Si swirled his wine glass.

"Unknown energy fluctuations?"

He snorted in disdain,

"Eighty percent it's some lunatic in the black market who doesn't care about his life, cooking up some low-quality potion that burns life to overdraft potential; these bottom-dwelling rats, for a moldy piece of bread, will do anything."

The assistant stood to the side, carefully asking for instructions:

"Should we send the internal security forces to clean them up? After all, they've now unified the black market, which could affect our scrap recycling share and tax revenue."

"Clean up? Why would we clean up?"

Lin Si turned around, walked to the chair and sat down,

"The more chaotic the black market, the higher our tax collection costs. Now someone has gathered that scattered sand for us, making management actually more convenient."

He reached out and flicked a few times on the holographic screen, pulling up the data on the Ancient Immortal Gate.

"Pass my words to that Iron Tu; I don't care whether he calls it the Ancient Immortal Gate or the Old Dog's Den—next month's tribute will be increased by twenty percent over the baseline, and the share of recycled obsolete crystal cores will be raised by fifteen percent. As long as he delivers on time, he will be the legitimate administrator of the underground black market in Eleventh City; if he fails to deliver, let him and his sect go fill the mining pits."

"As you command." The assistant withdrew.

Lin Si continued to savor the red wine.

To the consortium, the turnover of lower-level gangs is nothing more than changing a batch of leeks to harvest.

As long as it doesn't touch the core interests of the Spirit Gathering Matrix, they have no interest even in taking another glance.

Even if they become stronger.

Can they become stronger than the immortals behind them?

This world ultimately belongs to the four great clans.

……

……

One week passed.

Gu Yuan originally thought that, with Iron Tu causing such a big commotion and unifying the underground black market, it would surely draw a crackdown from the Upper City Consortium.

He had even prepared to take the opportunity to probe the consortium's depths.

The result was calm and tranquil.

The consortium's regional steward merely sent someone to deliver a verbal message, added a bit of tax, and then there was no further word.

"The thinking of these upper-class people is truly pure to the point of boredom," Gu Yuan commented.

Without conflicting interests, even taking action feels like a waste of energy.

However, the information sent over by the regional steward is quite interesting.

In short.

It simply means digging up all the information on everyone in the Ancient Immortal Gate except him and Gu Xuan Ce, leaving nothing untouched.

It also includes video records of various major events and violations of the Tian Shu Source World's laws.

This is a threat, and also a warning.

It tells them, we have all your records, you must obey!

So… this is also why Gu Yuan, upon discovering that this world is not one of those he had visited before, decided to come here alone by immersing his divine sense.

One reason is to confirm the effect of the 【Immersion】 function.

The other reason is considering this situation—if he were to bring a large number of his family members over, they would inevitably be exposed in a very short time.

Then… he proceeded along the process of the previous few worlds.

That way… the system's extra reward, the Enlightenment Dao Mat, would be unobtainable.

As for the tax increase mentioned by the consortium, Gu Yuan doesn't care at all.

Next month?

If you have the life to take it, you also need the life to enjoy it.

Since there is no external pressure, Gu Yuan turned his attention back to A Qi.

In the deep secret chamber of the air-raid shelter, A Qi was soaking in an iron tub filled with murky medicinal liquid, gritting his teeth to endure the pain of his meridians being forcibly widened.

Over this past week, Gu Yuan has gone to great lengths.

The laws of the Tian Shu Source World are deficient, and spiritual energy is exhausted.

In order to let this kid's foundation be as complete as possible at a normal level, so that he won't later be stuck in the Saint Dao realm due to aptitude issues.

Gu Yuan, while suppressing his realm, also picked out a lot of scraps.

Those inferior spiritual herbs that could only be used to feed spirit beasts in the Primordial Immortal Domain, when placed in the Tian Shu Source World, even a single stalk taken out could stir up a bloody storm.

Gu Yuan refined those spiritual herbs into the gentlest medicinal liquid, aided by the guidance of soul power, to lay the foundation for A Qi.

This process is very painful.

But whether it's Gu Yuan, Gu Xuan Ce, or Gu Xue Dao…

Who among them hasn't come through this?

Otherwise, how could Gu Yuan not have started cultivating until he was eighteen?

For a family that can already be called an immortal king lineage, early slow progress is essentially irrelevant.

What matters is the height that can be reached in later stages.

That is the key to a family's enduring legacy.

"Operate the *Primordial Qi Induction Chapter*, channeling the medicinal potency to strike the third acupoint," Gu Yuan's voice echoed in A Qi's sea of consciousness, stern and unquestionable.

A Qi trembled all over, black‑tainted blood oozing from his skin.

He desperately mobilized the faint spiritual energy within, repeatedly smashing against the blocked acupoint.

Failure.

Again failure.

Until the fiftieth attempt, accompanied by a muffled blast, the acupoint finally burst open.

A Qi collapsed limp in the iron barrel, gasping heavily.

Third Realm.

Converting to this world's standards, it roughly corresponds to the Purple Mansion Realm after Foundation Establishment.

Gu Yuan looked at the pool of black water in the iron barrel and couldn't help sighing.

"What a rotten piece of wood," he thought inwardly.

Resources enough to cultivate a Ten Realm cultivator in the Ancient Immortal Domain were hard‑stacked onto a mortal, yet it only barely pushed the realm up to the Third Realm.

The talent was shockingly poor.

What made Gu Yuan even more speechless was A Qi's combat ability, which was embarrassingly terrible.

The realm had risen, but A Qi's control over power was a complete mess.

With only Third Realm cultivation, facing a mercenary equipped with second‑tier combat crystals and rich combat experience, he would likely not even get a chance to retaliate.

"Immortal, I have broken through!"

A Qi crawled out of the iron barrel, feeling the surging power within, a smile barely hidden on his face.

He felt he finally had the confidence to challenge Tie Tu.

Gu Yuan poured cold water in time: "Don't get too happy yet. The realm you have now was forced out of you with herbs. In a real fight you can't even surpass a Purple Mansion in this world, let alone handle a Foundation Establishment veteran. Now, practice this basic fist technique a thousand times."

A martial skill titled *Shattering Rock Fist* was imprinted in A Qi's mind.

The smile on A Qi's face instantly collapsed, and he could only dutifully sweat it out in the secret chamber.