Chapter 13: Li Luo, the Bottomless Pit

With an excited heart, Li Luo did not sleep all night.

Early the next morning, in the attic of his room, Li Luo rubbed his heavy eyelids, his gaze carrying a hint of regret as he looked at the sandalwood box before him.

Nearly half of the Spirit Water Marrow Light within still remained unused.

Li Luo realized he had still overlooked one point: although his Empty Phase meant he did not need to worry about the erosion of impurities within the Spirit Water Marrow Light, absorbing a single vial of Spirit Water Marrow Light still required time, and it was impossible for him to mix dozens of vials together and use them directly. Doing so would cause interference between them, and instead render the Spirit Water Marrow Light ineffective.

So after an entire night, he had only absorbed twenty-seven vials of Spirit Water Marrow Light.

Of course, if outsiders were to learn of this, they would probably think Li Luo had gone mad, because they had never heard of anyone daring to play around like this.

Absorbing twenty-seven vials of Spirit Water Marrow Light in one night — the impurities contained within would accumulate, and it probably would not take long before they sealed his Phase Palace shut.

Generally speaking, only those who had reached a dead end would choose such a desperate, nearly insane act.

That truly was a case of sink or swim.

"However, the effect is quite decent."

The regret in Li Luo's eyes lingered for a moment before fading, and his gaze then grew bright, because within his perception, the radiance of his first Phase Palace was already purer than yesterday, and even the Phase Power flowing within had become a fraction more vigorous and refined.

Judging by this pace, Li Luo roughly estimated that if he wanted to elevate his "Water Light Phase" to Reach Fifth Rank, he would probably need over a hundred more vials of fourth-rank Spirit Water Marrow Light.

Calculating this way, Li Luo's promotion from fourth-rank to fifth-rank Phase would consume nearly two hundred thousand Sky Gold coins.

This amount, Li Luo could actually accept, but when he extrapolated further to the subsequent advancements, his entire person felt somewhat unwell.

Because after fifth-rank, the prices of those fifth-rank Spirit Water Marrow Light would increase exponentially, and the advancement of Affinity Rank would also become far more arduous.

Wouldn't that mean going from Reach Fifth Rank to Reach Sixth Rank would consume nearly a million Sky Gold coins?

From Reach Sixth Rank to Reach Seventh Rank — several million?

And beyond that?

For a moment, Li Luo suddenly felt a little suffocated. Although he did not manage much, he still knew that the total annual income from all the merchant guilds and industries of the entire House Luolan Mansion was only around several million Sky Gold coins.

Even if he swallowed House Luolan Mansion whole, it would probably still struggle to provide the Sky Gold coins needed for him to advance to eighth-rank, right?

This so-called Acquired Phase was simply a bottomless pit!

Li Luo rubbed his brow. The House Luolan Mansion left to him by his father and mother would probably truly be unable to support him, this spendthrift son, in the future.

"However, if I can refine Spirit Water Marrow Light myself in the future, I can save quite a bit."

Li Luo thought of his Water Light Phase. In a sense, this was an advantage unique to him. If he could leverage this well, the Spirit Water Marrow Light he refined in the future would likely be one of a kind on the market. Looking at it this way, learning the Art of Phase Refinement also needed to be put on the agenda.

"It seems Father and Mother also thought of this point… that's why they made me become a Phase Refiner, to prevent House Luolan Mansion from being eaten bankrupt by me." Li Luo sighed, once again feeling the deep foresight of his father and mother.

In the end, Li Luo still did not dare to keep thinking about this problem. Anyway, at least for now.

So he shook his head, went straight back to his bedroom, and collapsed to rest.

Over the next two days, Li Luo entered a hardcore grinding mode. During the day, he cultivated the "Canglan Meditation Chart" until reaching its limit, then practiced Phase Arts for two hours, and afterward began consuming Spirit Water Marrow Light to elevate his Affinity Rank.

And this all-out cultivation yielded decent results. His Phase Power level rapidly rose to the Fourth Seal, and his own fourth-rank Water Light Phase was also growing increasingly refined.

At this moment, Li Luo felt nothing could hinder his progress.

Until the Spirit Water Marrow Light ran out.

Old residence, in an account room.

Cai Wei sat at the desk in a long dress, her figure slender and graceful, the curve of her chest rather ample and surging. Yet at this moment, her beautiful oval face was slightly furrowed as she gazed at the account books before her.

"Steward Gu, this year House Luolan Mansion's income from Tianshu Prefecture seems to have declined quite severely." Cai Wei lifted her gaze from the account books and looked at the several stewards before her.

The middle-aged man called Steward Gu gave a bitter smile and nodded, saying: "The Head Steward speaks correctly. House Luolan Mansion has nine merchant guilds and eighteen mineral properties in Tianshu Prefecture. The medicinal properties, however, due to internal changes within the Mansion, this past year the three families in Tianshu Prefecture have been encroaching on us rather tightly, with the Song Family being the worst. Among the nine merchant guilds, two were broken up by the Song Family through various means this year, and were ultimately swallowed up by them."

Cai Wei's beautiful eyes turned somewhat icy. House Luolan Mansion had risen from Nanfeng City in Tianshu Prefecture, and thereafter had risen at an astonishing pace to become one of the four great Mansions of the Great Xia Kingdom.

However, in Tianshu Prefecture, besides House Luolan Mansion, there were also the Three Great Families. Although in overall scale these three families could not compare to a complete House Luolan Mansion, within Tianshu Prefecture they were also old-established powers, deeply rooted with profound foundations.

Back when the two Family Heads were still present, House Luolan Mansion was at its zenith, and these three families were extremely well-behaved, each and every one obedient. But who could have expected that now that the two Family Heads had gone missing, they would seize upon House Luolan Mansion's internal and external troubles and begin leaping about.

Cai Wei had previously heard Jiang Qing say that behind these three families, there might very well be instructions from other top powers — nothing more than constantly probing the true strength of House Luolan Mansion as it stood now.

The three families of Tianshu Prefecture: the Song Family, the Bei Family, and the Di Fa Family. Among them, the Song Family was the strongest, and in the past two years had also been the most active, constantly using various means to encroach upon, suppress, and devour House Luolan Mansion's merchant guilds and industries in Tianshu Prefecture.

And one must know that in previous years, the Family Head of this Song Family would come every year bearing seasonal gifts to pay his respects.

The before and after contrast was truly like a stage play.

However, Cai Wei had been through quite a lot and was certainly not naive. The existence of House Luolan Mansion itself squeezed the interests of the Three Great Families. Now that the other side saw House Luolan Mansion plagued by internal and external troubles, wanting to find ways to step on it a few times — one could not say they were unjust, it was simply a matter of differing positions, and naturally one must regard the other side as mortal enemies.

But right now, House Luolan Mansion truly could not spare any extra strength to put out fires in Tianshu Prefecture. After all, every other place needed support, and on top of that, the existence of Manager Pei Hao… only added frost to snow for House Luolan Mansion.

Cai Wei was silent for a moment, then said decisively: "Some of the merchant guilds whose profits and losses cannot be reversed — for now, just shut them down directly. There's no need to entangle with the other side."

Temporary forbearance was necessary. As long as House Luolan Mansion stabilized, when the time came, everything these three families had eaten would have to be honestly spat back out.

Hearing her decision, the several stewards below also assented, because they too understood that House Luolan Mansion's situation in Tianshu Prefecture was indeed somewhat outmatched.

Tap tap.

And at this moment, someone suddenly knocked on the door. Cai Wei said "come in," the door was pushed open, and Li Luo walked in.

The several stewards, seeing this, hurriedly bowed.

Li Luo waved his hand, and Cai Wei told them to withdraw first. Her beautiful eyes turned to the former and said: "Does the Young Mansion Master have some matter?"

Li Luo gave a light cough and smiled: "Indeed, there's a small matter I need to trouble Sister Cai Wei with."

Sister Cai Wei's narrow, slightly alluring beautiful eyes blinked, and she vaguely sensed some unease, but still said: "What is it?"

Li Luo revealed a gentle smile and said: "It's nothing else, it's just that the fifty portions of fourth-rank Spirit Water Marrow Light from before have been used up, so I wanted to trouble Sister Cai Wei to help me procure another hundred portions."

The expression on Cai Wei's fair, smooth oval face gradually froze at this moment. Her beautiful eyes widened as she stared at Li Luo, and her full chest rose and fell slightly.

"Procure another hundred portions? Fourth-rank Spirit Water Marrow Light?"

Cai Wei's hands could not help but clench tightly. She had only been managing House Luolan Mansion's finances in Tianshu Prefecture for how many days? Was she about to go bankrupt directly?

So she endured and endured, and finally could endure no longer. She slapped the table, her willow brows bristling upward.

"Li Luo, are you trying to make it impossible for me to keep doing this job?"

(End of this chapter)