Chapter 1425: Chapter 1425: 1410: Golden Passage
Chapter 1425: Chapter 1410: Golden Passage
“Upon inheriting the Primordial Era, mastering the Ten Thousand Worlds, the decree of the Heavenly Destiny Saint states: First-rank Viscount of North Sea, Ye Zhen, has relieved the people from their peril, saved countless citizens… unparalleled achievements… deeply comforting our heart… thus specially advancing his title to Third-class North Sea Earl…”
This was the delightful news brought to Ye Zhen by the envoy from Luoyi, accompanied by various items like seals, banners, attire, and insignia suited to his new rank as Third-class North Sea Earl.
Lastly, the envoy also brought an oral decree from Ren Venerate Emperor Ji Long: due to the invasion of water demons in North Sea County and the subsequent need for recovery, Ye Zhen is to focus entirely on royal duties and need not return to Luoyi to express gratitude.
Perhaps Ren Venerate Emperor understands Ye Zhen’s current situation. Leaving North Sea County, his stronghold, to return openly to Luoyi could expose him to numerous unknown dangers, thus necessitating this special decree.
Naturally, this special decree is also attributed to Ye Zhen’s recent outstanding performance.
Not only did he repeatedly insult the West Patrol Office, but he also brought down Xio Qiangu’s confidant Chii Jingshan, and most importantly, Ye Zhen had firmly established his footing in North Sea County, in the West Patrol.
Like a deeply driven nail, it’s hard to pull out once it’s firmly rooted.
With such a special decree, Ye Zhen felt at ease.
However, to speak candidly, Ye Zhen wasn’t particularly thrilled about this title advancement.
Due to Ye Zhen’s previous exceptional acquisition of a fiefdom, this promotion merely changed his title from Viscount to Earl without any substantial benefits.
Of course, that’s not to say there aren’t any; the privileges of an Earl are far more extensive compared to a Viscount.
For instance, the quota of Thought Spirit Pills available for purchase doubled from the previous cap of ten thousand Low Grade Thought Spirit Pills for a First-rank Viscount to over twenty-five thousand.
If managed well, twenty-five thousand Low Grade Thought Spirit Pills could yield considerable profit annually.
However, at the moment, Ye Zhen felt the number of Thought Spirit Pills was insufficient. How could he sell them for Spirit Stones?
Besides, though twenty-five thousand Low Grade Thought Spirit Pills sound like a lot, in terms of refining speed and energy content in High Grade Thought Spirit Pills, it’s only about twenty-five pills.
Definitely not enough.
Given Ye Zhen’s current cultivation, he could consume ten Low Grade Thought Spirit Pills a day, amounting to three hundred a month, and thus thirty-six hundred a year. The exchange rate and energy contained between Low Grade Thought Spirit Pills and High Grade Thought Spirit Pills is one to ten thousand.
In other words, based on this data, Ye Zhen would need three years to fully refine and absorb one High Grade Thought Spirit Pill.
But in reality, no matter who it is, cultivating with High Grade Thought Spirit Pills is at least three times faster than with Low Grade ones.
Regarding the actual rate, it varies from person to person. With Ye Zhen’s current speed, one High Grade Thought Spirit Pill lasts only nine months.
Furthermore, as he continually advances his cultivation, Ye Zhen’s refining speed will also increase. He estimates that after breaking through to the Divine Communication Realm, one High Grade Thought Spirit Pill would be sufficient for six months of cultivation.
Calculating like this, twenty-five High Grade Thought Spirit Pills are far from plenty.
After all, Ye Zhen also needs to bestow them to his subordinates like the Heavenly Patrol Divine General Niu Er, ten Dark Palace Realm Heavenly Patrol Divine Hunters, County Captain Tang Biao, and selected Military Commanders, including Liu Feng and Gu Tieqi. Most of their cultivation supplies come from Ye Zhen.
If it weren’t for Ye Zhen’s position as the second Patrol Envoy of the Heavenly Patrol Department’s Western Patrol, granting him certain privileges, plus some accumulated by the kitten from Changle, it truly wouldn’t be enough.
Still, when bestowing Thought Spirit Pills to the Heavenly Patrol Hunters and Military Commanders, Ye Zhen could only afford Mid-grade Thought Spirit Pills. There were simply too many people, and High Grade ones were not feasible.
Additionally, advancing to an Earl, there are other privileges, such as purchasing various magic artifacts and talisman scrolls blessed by priests from the Ancestral Shrine, and even establishing family shrines within the temple.
After respectfully seeing off the envoy who delivered the decree, Ye Zhen, in front of North Sea County’s civil and military officials, announced that he would begin a period of seclusion to cultivate in hopes of breaking through, leaving governmental and military affairs to Governor Qiao Hong and County Captain Tang Biao.
Simultaneously, he appointed Feng Jiumo as the Inspection Imperial Envoy of his fief, authorized to handle any illegal matters to keep Qiao Hong and Tang Biao in check.
That very night, Ye Zhen discreetly tunneled underground, leaving North Sea County.
The primary reason for Ye Zhen’s departure this time was to avoid disaster. Thus, from the moment he left, he employed his old technique—disguise, adopting the alias Di Kuohai.
Ye Zhen’s first stop was the waters under the jurisdiction of the Green-scaled Dragon Palace of North Sea. Having fiercely extorted Blue-scaled Dragon King and nearly killed Dragon Prince Ao Zheng, entering these waters openly would be a self-made trouble.
If his presence were revealed in that Water Mansion, great calamities could befall it.
Perhaps due to the absence of the Water Clan to command wind and rain, the torrential rain within North Sea County had stopped for two to three days. Riding on the Cloud Winged Tiger King Kitten within the clouds, Ye Zhen gazed upon the desolate fief below, harboring inexplicable expectations in his heart.
He wondered if upon his return, his fief, North Sea County, would be bustling with people.
Four days later, Ye Zhen dived into the sea, his body swaying gracefully like a swimming dragon, diving straight into the depths of the ocean. The faint aura of the Black Dragon emanating from him caused water demons with low cultivation within dozens of miles to roll their eyes and faint.
Even the occasional water demon at the Divine Communication Realm would tremble all over under the pressure of Ye Zhen’s Black Dragon aura, not daring to act presumptuously.
Ye Zhen planned to first visit the Great Saint of Jinghai and Liao Feibai. They had been apart for nearly three years, and he didn’t know how they were doing now.
Especially since the last time Ye Zhen communicated with Liao Feibai, she mentioned that Second Brother, the Great Sage of the Overturning Sea, was injured. Given her usual joyful but not worrisome personality, if she said that the Great Sage was injured, then Second Brother’s injuries were definitely not minor.
Besides visiting his three brothers and Liao Feibai, Ye Zhen’s primary goal in returning to the Xiansheng Water Mansion was to make a trip back to the True Profound Continent.
Ye Zhen had a considerable amount of funds at his disposal; barring any major accidents, these were sufficient to support his personal cultivation for hundreds of years without any issue.
But if he wanted to make a significant impact, he was still far from enough.
Moreover, Ye Zhen was currently in a situation where expenditures exceeded earnings. The annual output from the North Sea County’s fief was quite limited, and after paying the tribute to Luoyi, the remainder barely supported the operation of North Sea County.
The bottom line was that the foundation of North Sea County was too weak.
Adding to that, Ye Zhen planned to fully develop North Sea County, expand the army, and implement a series of measures, which meant he could not expect any profits from this fief in the coming years. On the contrary, Ye Zhen would have to invest a lot into it.
In such circumstances, although Ye Zhen’s wealth was substantial, it would not last long at his current rate of consumption.
During previous investigations, Ye Zhen discovered that the True Profound Continent housed a small, fragmented world containing many heavenly materials and earthly treasures rare in the Primordial Continent.
There were even several kinds of heavenly materials and earthly treasures that had almost become extinct in the Primordial Continent, especially several types of herbs.
Ye Zhen believed that as long as he could start transactions between the two realms, he could develop a golden passage—an exclusive, monopolistic channel.
It wasn’t uncommon to have such monopolistic golden passages between two realms.
On the Primordial Continent, there were over a hundred such monopolistic golden passages, each tied to major forces. Of course, gaining them involved blood and fire.
For instance, the Nine-Toothed Wood is a rare spirit wood. Its grade is about the same as the Spirit Void Fruit in Ye Zhen’s hands, and its effect is extremely mysterious, especially vital to the Ancestral Shrine of Great Zhou.
Thousands of years ago, to obtain large quantities of Nine-Toothed Wood, the Great Sun Priest of the Ancestral Shrine of Great Zhou initiated an invasion war.
In that war, the official records show Great Zhou deployed five million elite Imperial Guards, and the Ancestral Shrine dispatched a hundred thousand priests to conquer that small world.
Unfortunately, the battlefield turned unexpected. That small world possessing the Nine-Toothed Wood somehow invited a large reinforcement, defeating Great Zhou’s Guards and even causing the fall of a Great Sun Priest from the Ancestral Shrine.
This enraged the Ren Venerate Emperor Ji Long, who immediately sent hundreds of war-tested elites from the Human-Demon Battlefield to reinforce the fight.
But for some reason, the battle concluded inconclusively. After establishing a trade passage, that small world offered a large amount of Nine-Toothed Wood as compensation and ended the war.
After that battle, the population of that small world decreased by fifty percent, but from that point forward, the good days for that small world had just begun.
It is said that the Ancestral Shrine spends millions of high-grade spiritual stones and equivalent resources annually to procure Nine-Toothed Wood.
The value of this monopolistic golden passage is thus evident.
Presently, Ye Zhen wants to create such a monopolistic golden passage, but he clearly understands that with his current power, once exposed, he absolutely cannot protect it.
Therefore, Ye Zhen plans to operate this monopolistic golden passage in a more concealed manner, but before establishing such a golden passage, he must return to the True Profound Continent. Only after completely controlling the True Profound Continent can this be realized.
Additionally, the power of the Xiansheng Water Mansion guarding that Ancient Teleportation Formation must be significantly strengthened.
Ye Zhen prepared the fourth condition in negotiations with the Blue-scaled Dragon King regarding the ransom for Dragon Prince Ao Zheng precisely for this purpose.
The Xiansheng Water Mansion, where the Great Saint of Jinghai and his people resided, was two million miles to the west of the Marquisate Haiyuan Kingdom and over three million miles to the east of North Sea County. Normally, a martial artist at the Peak of the Ninth Stage of Dao Entrance Realm would take nearly a month to reach the Xiansheng Water Mansion, but Ye Zhen’s speed was exceptional.
It took him less than ten days to enter the waters of the Xiansheng Water Mansion.
However, as soon as Ye Zhen entered the waters of the Xiansheng Water Mansion, he sensed immediately that something was off!
The conditions within the waters of the Xiansheng Water Mansion were noticeably different from those within other water mansions!