Chapter 40: Hidden Genius

Ye Liuyun and Liang Xue entered the great hall and ransacked the mercenaries' hidden treasure completely.

These mercenaries were indeed quite wealthy; just the low‑grade Crystal Stones amounted to several hundred thousand pieces.

There were also various weapons, pills and other items. With these, they finally didn't come back empty‑handed.

Ye Liuyun and Liang Xue retraced their steps and rushed to the guards' garrison.

Ye Tianci told them that he had already wiped out all the guards and, according to plan, was clearing the battlefield, piling the spoils, ore and other items together, while the corpses were stacked in another heap.

Looking at the mountain of ore, it seemed that the City Lord's Residence hadn't had anyone come to transport the ore for quite some time.

Liang recognized the ore as high‑content iron ore, worth at least a hundred‑plus thousand low‑grade Crystal Stones.

Ye Liuyun immediately acted with Liang Xue, loading all the ore onto transport. Even the corpses, including Ye Liuyun's, were placed into the Storage Ring, and the Black Python was taken away as well.

After everything was cleared, they withdrew quickly, slipping away in the dark back to the Ye Clan.

They reached home soon, and the sky was already bright.

A few of them changed clothes and threw them into the forge furnace to burn.

Although they had toiled all night and were somewhat fatigued, everyone wore excited expressions.

Ye Liuyun immediately led everyone to the rear hall. Its space was vast enough to display all the spoils.

Including the Crystal Stones, Crystal Coins, weapons, pills, ore and other items they had collected, everything was laid out with no one hiding anything.

Then Ye Liuyun began the distribution. Liang Xue priced all items in terms of Crystal Stones, and then everyone took what they needed.

The Crystal Stones were first handed out, and after the ore and other goods were sold, Liang Xue and Ye Liuyun would divide the proceeds.

After a busy morning, everyone returned fully loaded. Ye Liuyun and Liang Xue packed the leftovers and returned to Wanbaoge together.

After arriving, Liang Xue handed the ore and other items to the Elder. Adding the money left from selling the Storage Ring, she settled everything with Ye Liuyun.

Later, Ye Liuyun then sold the recently acquired pills as well, converting everything into Crystal Stones, leaving only one hundred thousand Crystal Coins on his person.

Ye Liuyun tallied up and found he now possessed over five hundred thousand low‑grade Crystal Stones, which made him feel a bit smug.

Now he could count himself a rich man!

He kept over a hundred thousand low‑grade Crystal Stones, and used four hundred thousand Crystal Stones to exchange with Liang Xue for four hundred mid‑grade Crystal Stones.

He originally thought he was quite wealthy, but after swapping for the mid‑grade Crystal Stones, he realized he was still far from rich.

Thinking of Lin Xueying in the Henglin Shanmai, who always carried twenty thousand mid‑grade Crystal Stones, while he only had four hundred; compared to her, he was still poor!

Liang Xue, after learning Ye Liuyun's thoughts, gave him a mocking laugh.

Fortunately Ye Liuyun was optimistic; he possessed pill‑refining and artifact‑refining techniques, so he wasn't worried about lacking money in the future.

Later, Ye Liuyun spent several ten‑thousands of Crystal Coins to buy many medicinal herbs, bringing them back to keep for future pill‑refining.

After returning to the Ye Clan, Ye Liuyun resumed his cultivation routine.

In less than two days, Ye Liuyun received a shocking piece of news.

Mo Tianheng has disappeared.

Ye Liuyun knew that Mo Tianheng had gone to the outside world.

Thus his heart grew restless, prompting him to speed up his cultivation.

He cultivated Qi for several days, raising his realm to the Body Refining Eighth Peak. Then he took a Gu Yuan Pill and began reconstructing new Meridians.

Once the Meridians were rebuilt, his realm was ready to break through to the Body Refining Ninth Layer.

He forced it down, condensing Qi.

He knew that the quality of Qi mattered more than its quantity. That was why he could repeatedly fight across realms.

Moreover, his Qi's nature was already different from others', containing Xuan Qi, making it far stronger than ordinary Qi.

Through his effort, his Qi became much more refined.

He then took another Gu Yuan Pill, using Qi to expand his Qi Sea, enlarging it by more than double.

At that point he stopped.

Since seven Meridians had already been rebuilt inside his body, Qi circulated within him far faster than that of ordinary people.

He also began practicing outward projection of Qi to attack enemies, not inferior at all to practitioners of the first or second True Essence Realm.

Especially his Thunderbolt Fist, Overlord Blade Technique, and Cutting Heaven Finger—these three arts, when combined with outward Qi attacks, reach farther and hit harder.

Ye Liuyun felt that with his full power activated, even against ordinary True Origin Triple cultivators, he could withstand blows without needing a Soul Sword.

Ye Liuyun trained daily with the Metal Puppet; the Metal Puppet's realm also rose to True Origin Triple, and the amount of Crystal Stones required increased considerably.

Ten mid‑grade Crystal Stones per day for one hour of training would be exhausted in three days.

Ye Liuyun simply gave all four hundred mid‑grade Crystal Stones to the Puppet.

In the blink of an eye, he became poor again!

His family gave the inner‑court disciples only a few dozen low‑grade Crystal Stones each month—hardly a drop in the bucket.

"Cultivating the martial path really consumes a lot! Looks like I'll have to find a way to earn money," he thought.

Meanwhile, Fengyang City also underwent a great upheaval.

The Ye Clan and Mo Clan, during this period, began to join forces to retaliate against the City Lord's Residence, jointly seizing its assets.

In an instant, many of the City Lord's Residence's shops transferred into the hands of the Ye and Mo Clans.

The City Lord's Residence suffered heavy losses. The contingent of guards that had ambushed the Mo Clan was also entirely eliminated by the Mo Clan Elder and Mo Tianheng.

Adding the white‑haired elder, the City Lord's Residence's main combat power had almost entirely vanished, unable to resist the joint forces of the two Great Clans.

One of their mineral veins was suddenly seized by unknown hands, and all the guards of the vein disappeared. In the end, the vein was seized by the Ye and Mo families, jointly mined, with profits shared.

Wanbaoge also halted its cooperation with the City Lord's Residence, instead increasing collaboration with the Ye and Mo families, and constantly suppressing the City Lord's Residence's commerce.

Other minor clans also changed their sails with the wind, flocking to the Ye and Mo families and cutting off ties with the City Lord's Residence.

The City Lord's Residence hit wall after wall, suppressed to the point it could not lift its head.

Upon hearing the news, Ye Liuyun felt a secret thrill.

However, he hadn't been proud for long, the news that they had seized the Chengzhu Fu's Mineral Vein was leaked.

There are no impermeable walls in the world. After the Ye Clan disciples involved in the operation became rich, someone spent money lavishly, was discovered by a keen observer, and the secret was pried out.

The Chengzhu Fu demanded that the Ye Clan hand over Ye Liuyun.

However, this time the Mo Clan did not side with the Ye Clan. The Mo Clan's genius disciple Mo Tianheng went missing, while the Ye Clan's Ye Liuyun remained. This also made them wary.

But relying solely on the Chengzhu Fu, they could not do anything to the Ye Clan.

Finally, the Clan Chief pretended to punish Ye Liuyun, locking him in a formation deep in the clan's rear mountains.

Though called imprisonment, it was actually to protect him from retaliation by the Chengzhu Fu.

Anyway, Ye Liuyun cultivates wherever he is; training in the rear mountains does not delay him.

Just as Ye Liuyun was being 'imprisoned,' a prominent figure arrived at the Ye Clan, a middle-aged man who was actually the true palace guard of the Heavenly Fortune Royal Mansion.

The Ye Clan members were terrified, thinking he had come to seek justice for Ye Qingyun.

Thus the Clan Chief secretly resolved that he would not hand over Ye Liuyun no matter what.

But the middle-aged man was courteous: 'Everyone, no need to be formal; I merely heard that the Ye Clan produced a genius, and I came to verify. If true, I can directly take him into the Heavenly Fortune Royal Mansion.'

Upon hearing this, the Clan Chief and the elders relaxed considerably. However, considering that Ye Qingyun had merely been a menial worker in the Heavenly Fortune Royal Mansion before, they did not want Ye Liuyun to follow in his footsteps.

If they went there to become menial workers, it would be better to stay in the clan, where prospects are brighter.

Thus everyone tacitly summoned Ye Tianci and the other Ye Clan disciples, but did not call Ye Liuyun.