Chapter 568

"I think so too—after all, with that terrifying Jiang clan leader around, who wouldn't want to go flatter him?"

Amidst the crowd's sighs and exclamations of awe.

On the other side.

Inside the Cangwu Guild.

Jiang Shan sat cross-legged on the ground, his aura surging around him.

Before him lay four massive cages.

Inside them rested the corpses of four Yuanhai Realm spiritual beasts.

Jiang Shan took a deep breath, his qi rapidly climbing, instantly reaching Yuanhai Realm Second Stage!

He slowly lowered his head, gazing at his own hands, eyes brimming with astonishment.

In the past, he never would have imagined he'd one day possess such terrifying cultivation speed!

In just a few days, he'd leapt from Zifeng Realm First Stage to Yuanhai Realm Second Stage!

Such rapid progress—if it spread beyond these walls—would surely cause a sensation!

"Still, my future cultivation speed won't be this exaggerated anymore..."

Jiang Shan sighed, shaking his head.

The higher the realm, the slower the rate at which he could metabolize the energy refluxed by Taotie.

But even slowed, his progress still far surpassed his former pace!

Thinking of this, Jiang Shan's face once again broke into an uncontrollable smile.

For the first time, he felt his future was so bright—he no longer feared being limited by his innate constitution!

In the future, I may yet reach the pinnacle!

Jiang Shan's gaze grew brighter, his expression more resolute.

He slowly rose, pulled out the Cangwu Token, and opened the group chat function.

In the internal group of Cangwu Guild senior members, he casually sent a few messages.

Mainly instructing them to purchase more spiritual beasts above Yuanhai Realm from other factions.

As for the purchase funds, they would naturally be deducted from his monthly resource allocation.

Since becoming Cangwu Guild's leader,

his monthly resource share had soared—buying a few mere Yuanhai Realm spiritual beasts was utterly trivial!

As for why he bought so many spiritual beasts, naturally, it was to conveniently use his Taotie avatar to devour them for cultivation.

After all, he couldn't possibly use human cultivators to train, could he?

If exposed, it might provoke universal outrage and bring disaster upon his family.

Thus, to prevent any risk, he'd set these spiritual beasts as his primary targets for devouring, aiming to minimize exposure!

After making these arrangements, he slowly rose, turned toward the window, and gazed into the distance.

"With the Guild expanding so rapidly, I still need more personnel..."

Jiang Shan's expression turned troubled.

In these days, the Cangwu Guild had expanded at a speed unimaginable to ordinary people.

Aside from its headquarters in Cangwu City,

it had opened eight branch outposts within Tiandou Prefecture alone!

In the neighboring Shanhai Prefecture, it had also opened two branch outposts!

In short, in this brief time, he'd already expanded the Cangwu Guild's commercial reach across two prefectures!

Though its rise had been too recent to build deep foundations, in scale, it now ranked among the top five guilds in Tiandou Prefecture!

"Still, give me at most one more month—then the title of Tiandou Prefecture's number one guild will belong to my Cangwu Guild!"

"Bihaizhao Family? They had foresight indeed..."

Jiang Shan smiled.

Yesterday, he received a message from the Bihaizhao Family.

The message's content? They admired their clan leader.

Thus, they wished to submit their family under the Cangwu Jiang Clan.

And their Tongbao Guild would merge into the Cangwu Guild!

The thought of absorbing the Tongbao Guild's branch outposts across multiple prefectures—accelerating the Cangwu Guild's growth—made Jiang Shan's heart throb with excitement.

But then he remembered the staffing gaps such a merger would create, and his head began to ache.

A single Cangwu Guild already gave him immense trouble.

Add a Tongbao Guild with even deeper roots—and what then?

Thinking of this, Jiang Shan couldn't help but sigh.

He raised the Cangwu Token, gazing at the clan leader's clan ID, and murmured:

"At this point, I truly still need the clan leader's intervention—send me more personnel..."

As soon as he spoke, he directed his consciousness to tap the call button and initiate a conversation with the clan leader.

Yet just then, a knock at the door suddenly interrupted his action.

Immediately, a trembling voice came through:

"L-Lord Guild Master, the Cangwu Jiang Clan's Grand Elder has arrived—he's downstairs right now..."

Hearing this, Jiang Shan was greatly surprised.

He set down the Cangwu Token, eyes thoughtful.

"If there was something urgent, Grand Elder could've just contacted me through the Cangwu Token—why come in person?"

"I'm afraid today's matter is no small thing....."

He understood the importance of the matter.

Jiang Shan hurriedly put away the Cangwu Token and rushed toward the door.

Along the way, he was constantly greeted with bows and salutations by members of the merchant guild.

Because most of the clansmen were busy cultivating on Cangwu Mountain.

So most of these people were not clansmen, but rather loose cultivators recruited by the Cangwu Merchant Guild from various places.

Before long, Jiang Shan arrived at the first-floor hall of the Cangwu Merchant Guild.

The moment he got there, he could not help but be startled!

Because all around stood a crowd of pitch-black people, their bodies emanating waves of terrifying aura!

What do these people want?!

Jiang Shan widened his eyes and looked around, discovering that the guild members present all had their heads lowered, trembling in fear!

At that moment, he instantly understood why the voice of the person knocking had been filled with dread.

Then, just as he was calming down and preparing to open his mouth to ask.

Seeing Jiang Shan come down, the Heavenly Demon Cult followers standing at the very front immediately stepped aside, clearing a wide, empty path.

And at the end of the path sat a large armchair.

The Grand Elder Jiang Hongguang sat upon it, holding a teacup in his hand, sipping hot tea.

Behind him stood three mysterious men draped in black robes, their auras even more intense than those of the people around them!

Seeing this scene, Jiang Shan could not spare the time for his inner astonishment.

He hurriedly stepped forward, walked to Jiang Hongguang and stopped, cupping his hands and saying: "Cangwu Merchant Guild President Jiang Shan, pays respects to the Grand Elder!"

As the clan's chief steward, the Grand Elder had truly rendered meritorious service and was deeply beloved by the clansmen.

Although his cultivation base could not compare to some of the clan's prodigies.

His position was indisputably second, only beneath the Clan Chief!

So even though the position of Cangwu Merchant Guild President was no inferior to that of the Elder Council, he dared not show the slightest negligence!

Following the sound of Jiang Shan's voice.

The Grand Elder set down his teacup, which was taken by the Sun Wheel realm emissary beside him.

Immediately after, he raised his head to look at Jiang Shan, sized him up a few times, and could not help but praise: "It's been only a little over ten days since we last met, yet such an astonishing change has occurred in you. Jiang Shan, it seems everyone has underestimated you....."

Possessing the Lei Lingti, his perception of Qi was naturally far more acute than that of ordinary people.

Added to the fact that Jiang Shan had only just completed his breakthrough and had yet to stabilize himself, causing his Qi to leak outward somewhat.

This allowed him to instantly see that the other's cultivation base had already reached the Yuanhai realm!

Hearing the Grand Elder's praise, Jiang Shan replied: "It is merely owing some of the Clan Chief's good fortune. Were it not for the Clan Chief, how could Jiang Shan in this life have welcomed such a destiny?