Yan Mei arrived at his residence in the Crystal District late on the second night.
Although he had only been in West Wind City for two or three days, to Yan Mei, the experience had been incredibly rich.
From an unknown passerby to controlling the entire West Wind City, it was something people could hardly believe.
His father had hoped he would become a disciple of a Sect in the Taoist Realm and eventually become an Immortal.
Yet now here he was, fighting for territory in a mortal city. Would his father be furious enough to cough up blood if he knew?
However, strictly speaking, West Wind City wasn’t exactly a mortal city; it was close to the Sects of the Taoist Realm and frequented by many Daoist Practitioners.
"Brother Huan, I didn’t expect you to even take out Xue Bo. Now, as long as Lao Liu is by my side, I assure you that West Wind City will only go in the direction we anticipate."
Taking control of a city for the first time, Yan Mei was extremely excited, even if it went against his father’s wishes.
Lao Liu was like a fish in water here in West Wind City—he was the strongest... apart from Brother Huan.
Oh well, since Brother Huan wasn’t showing off in West Wind City, it wasn’t wrong to consider it the strongest.
Ding Huan handed a book to Yan Mei and said,
"After West Wind City stabilizes, your main task is still cultivation. This is the Luo Shijin, the cultivation technique I practice.
Take a look, and if you think it suits, switch to practicing the Luo Shijin. It should be much stronger than your current Zheng Yang Jue."
"Thank you, Brother Huan," Yan Mei quickly accepted it.
Ding Huan did not want the fact that he had Divine Will during the Qi Cultivation to leak, so he did not engrave the cultivation technique onto a Jade Scroll.
Those in the Qi Cultivation Realm only need their intention to view the contents of a Jade Scroll. But intention and Divine Will are different—they are two separate things.
And to engrave content onto a Jade Scroll, intention would not suffice; one must possess Divine Will.
Yan Mei thought that the cultivation technique Ding Huan practiced must be extraordinary; otherwise, how could he have killed the three overlords of West Wind City?
Ding Huan then took out two Storage Bags and handed them to Lao Liu and Yan Mei:
"This is a Storage Bag; inside there are some simple Magic Artifacts. As for Crystal Stones, as long as you control West Wind City, there will be plenty of them."
Hearing that it was a Storage Bag, both Yan Mei and Lao Liu eagerly grabbed it.
Stroking the Storage Bag, Yan Mei couldn’t help but sigh,
"Among those who go to the Mortal World to recruit disciples, aside from elders and stewards, most disciples do not possess a Storage Bag. I, Yan Mei, have yet to join a Sect and already have a Storage Bag."
Ding Huan’s tone became solemn:
"Yan Mei, Lao Liu, remember what I’m going to tell you today. First, we may not stay in West Wind City for long. If I don’t find a way to Foundation Establishment after a long time, I will leave.
Furthermore, if someone from Da Xing Sword Dao or Blazing Star Lord Country comes over, we will also have to leave. As for Dual Soul Sect, they should not be able to find us in the short term."
"Rest assured, Brother Huan, I understand," Yan Mei had already considered this issue.
After briefing Yan Mei and Lao Liu, Ding Huan immediately entered his room to begin closed-door cultivation to deduce the path to Foundation Establishment.
His room was protected by a first-level defensive formation and a first-level attack formation.
His main goal was to avoid being interrupted at a critical moment in his deduction.
...
As Ding Huan’s understanding of the levels of cultivation deepened, he became increasingly aware of how naive he had been in thinking that reaching a Ninth-level Genetic Cultivator would lead straightforwardly to Foundation Establishment.
Foundation Establishment is a general concept; simply put, it’s the forging of the foundation of cultivation, which for a cultivator means creating a Tao Foundation.
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Much like how tall a house can ultimately be, it depends on how sturdy its foundation is.
Previously, Ding Huan knew of the four stages of Daoist cultivation: refining essence into Qi, Qi into spirit, spirit back to emptiness, and emptiness into the Dao.
But he was completely vague about what specific actions were taken in each stage.
He knew of these stages because he had read about them in tales from the Ming and Qing dynasties.
There were also records in the Daoist Books written by certain Loose Cultivators in Hua Xia during the post-spiritual energy era on Earth.
Previously, he had thought all this was myth and legend, with most Daoist Books being nothing but nonsense, until he saved Lao Liu and discovered Immortals truly existed.
The four stages of transforming essence into Qi, Qi into spirit, spirit back to emptiness, and emptiness into the Dao also truly existed.
And in Triple Heaven Star Land, it seemed one also practiced these four stages.
He was currently in the stage of refining essence into Qi.
There are infinitely many possibilities for reaching Foundation Establishment during the stage of refining essence into Qi.
For example, some people would reach Foundation Establishment by tempering their bones, cultivating their Inner Strength to the extreme—this was the Foundation Establishment of a Martial Artist.
Others could reach Foundation Establishment by connecting all the meridians in their body, which is the circulation stage of the Qi Refinement Realm.
Some disciples of Great Sects not only temper their bones but also complete meridian circulation, and only after cultivating their breath to the ninth level of Qi Cultivation do they begin Foundation Establishment.
Clearly, the foundation that disciples of Great Sects establish is far stronger than that of ordinary people, with much greater potential for development.
Therefore, disciples of Great Sects are much stronger than Loose Cultivators and family disciples.
He had no Spirit Root but had merged with a gene spiritual root and was cultivating the Luo Shijin.
Did he also need to first temper his bones, complete meridian circulation, and then cultivate his breath to the ninth level of Qi Cultivation before Foundation Establishment?
Leaving aside whether a Loose Cultivator like him could finish these tasks or whether he had already passed the stage of bone tempering and meridian circulation. Even if he could complete these, would it lead to the strongest Foundation Establishment?
It’s like building a house; the more solid the foundation, the higher the house can be built.
But if...
If the foundation is fixed, regardless of how solid it is, even if it’s the strongest foundation in the universe,
there’s a limit to how high a house can be built on it. The height of the house is restricted by the carrying capacity of the foundation.
Which means, for anyone who establishes a foundation,
there is a certain height awaiting them in their future cultivation. When they reach this height, it signifies that they have reached the end.
At that moment, Ding Huan found himself caught in a deep contradiction.
He wanted to follow in the footsteps of the Ancient Immortals of Hua Xia, but he worried that even if he built the strongest foundation, he would probably still fall short of reaching the heights of those Immortals.
Moreover, he practiced Genetic Cultivation, integrating a gene spiritual root. He hadn’t tempered his bones, nor had he completed the circulation of meridians...
...
In the blink of an eye, ten days had passed.
In just ten short days, West Wind City could be described as having undergone a transformation.
Because Ding Huan had been in closed-door cultivation, the city patrol guard developed by Yan Mei had grown to two thousand men.
Whether inside or outside the city, the previous scenes of bullying, fighting, and wanton killing were no longer to be seen.
Anyone doing business in West Wind City had to pay taxes and management fees.
Those residing in West Wind City were also required to pay a portion of the management fees.
Initially, most merchants had no choice but to swallow their complaints and look for a way out, ready to move away as soon as they found one.
It did not take long for these merchants to notice a difference.
The city patrol only charged these two fees, and all other charges were nonexistent. Moreover, these taxes included the cleaning of the streets.
In West Wind City, only the city patrol had the right to charge fees; any other person or organization daring to extort merchants was immediately executed.
Since business became more enjoyable and customers could shop without being cautious or fearing street robbery, the turnover of West Wind City’s shops skyrocketed in just a few days.
Some organizations and alliances, having lost their revenue streams, were quick to try to curry favor with the city patrol.
They thought that by building a good relationship with the city patrol, they could return to strutting through the streets and making easy money as before.
So, in recent times, countless gifts arrived at the city patrol—merchants, individuals, and many groups that Ding Huan had not eliminated.
The stance of the city patrol was to accept all comers.
No matter how much was sent, the city patrol never considered it too little and accepted everything.
This led to the necessity of clearing out two empty houses just to store the various gifts.
Some alliances, after sending crystal stones to the city patrol, assumed they had obtained protection and resumed robbing customers and traders in the streets.
They would soon find out that regardless of whether they had sent gifts or how much they had sent,
Anyone who violated the laws of the city patrol in West Wind City was executed without exception.
In just a few days, the various alliances in West Wind City had been halved.
These people cursed the city patrol privately, complaining that while accepting gifts was done without issue,
As soon as they broke the law, there was no mercy shown.
The goods sent to the city patrol were like throwing steamed buns to a dog, never to be returned.
After the initial rush of giving gifts, no one sent anything to the city patrol again, and West Wind City became even more peaceful and bustling.
Organizations and alliances with no way out had to either conduct honest business or leave for distant lands.
Sitting in the office of the City Lord Mansion, Yan Mei, looking at the rapidly improving ethos of West Wind City, contentedly patted Lao Liu,
"You, Lao Liu, came up with quite a good strategy."
Lao Liu was quite proud; receiving gifts without providing services was an idea he had come up with.
Yan Mei waved at the guard at the door,
"Call Gu Bin over."
Compared to Lao Liu and Yan Mei, Gu Bin had been even more successful recently.
He controlled over a thousand city patrol guards at the gate of West Wind City.
Now, who wouldn’t respectfully address him as Lord Gu?
He had never imagined that his days of idly chewing Joy Stick and waiting for death could turn around like this.
The only thing he found intolerable was the Joy Stick; the captain had expressly forbidden it, and he had tried hard to refrain from even thinking about it.
But sometimes, he just couldn’t help himself.
So, whenever he found it unbearable, he would stab himself a few times.
After having lived this kind of life, going back to his old ways was worse than death.
More than anyone else, he understood Ding Huan’s intentions and methods.
He was certain that if he dared to violate the rules of the city patrol and continued to chew on Joy Stick, even if Ding Huan didn’t kill him, he would definitely be driven away.
"Lord Gu, Vice Captain Yan would like to see you," a guard reported.
Hearing that Yan Mei had requested to see him, Gu Bin almost rode a unicorn at top speed back to the City Lord Mansion.
"Guard Captain Gu, I’m going to enter closed-door cultivation for a while. Appoint someone to take your position, and you’ll take over my workload for now. Make sure there are no mistakes," Yan Mei said, standing up to give his orders as Gu Bin returned.
Ding Huan had been in closed-door cultivation for over ten days, so he too had to put in some effort.
If he just wasted his time on managing West Wind City, Brother Huan would surely be disappointed.
"Don’t worry, Vice Captain Yan, I guarantee I’ll handle everything you’ve tasked me with," Gu Bin immediately saluted in the fashion of the city patrol.
"Good, if there’s anything you can’t handle, seek out Lao Liu, and if Lao Liu can’t handle it, then come find me," Yan Mei instructed again before turning to leave.
"Lao Liu, I’m gonna need to trouble you..."
Before Gu Bin could finish his sentence, Lao Liu rolled his eyes,
"Show some respect. When Brother Huan isn’t here, you should call me Brother Liu."
"Yes, Brother Liu," Gu Bin affirmed, a man able to bend or stand as needed. What did it matter to call a demon beast like Lao Liu ’brother’? Back when he joined the city patrol, he had to address everyone as ’brother’.
(Today’s update ends here, friends. Goodnight!)