Chapter 148: Seclusion
As soon as Chu Qiguang entered the room, Chen Zhu could immediately tell that he was in a great mental state.
He chalked it up to Chu Qiguang's recent business accomplishments, but unbeknownst to him, the real reason behind it was Chu Qiguang's breakthrough to becoming a fifth-state Dao artist.
Becoming a fifth-state Dao artist was much more difficult than reaching the fifth state in martial arts. According to Qiao Zhi, the number of fifth-state Dao artists in the world was likely lower than ten percent of their fifth-state martial artist counterparts.
People faced many different obstacles unique to themselves, and they could easily spend ten years meditating without making any progress.
Chu Qiguang's rate of progress was completely unheard of for Qiao Zhi, and he could only marvel at Chu Qiguang's aptitude.
Upon reaching the fifth state, Chu Qiguang's mental state was constantly thriving, and he no longer required any sleep. At the same time, his intelligence and learning ability had improved significantly.
He had also obtained the ability to glean the Heavenly Dao, granting him the foundation to begin cultivating orthodox Dao arts.
Unfortunately, the only orthodox Dao art in Chu Qiguang's possession at the moment was the Elixir of Undying, and it was an incomplete version, at that.
The side effects of the cultivation art were far too severe as well, so even if he had the complete version, there was no way he would actually consume the Elixir of Undying.
***
After visiting Abbot Chen Zhu and Daoist Master Law Origin, Chu Qiguang returned home with his new batch of Seven Treasure Pills.
He had sold off a third of his shares to Chen Zhu in exchange for 150 Seven Treasure Pills. Chen Zhu could only gather this many pills; there was a good chance that Chu Qiguang currently had all of, or at least the vast majority of, the Seven Treasure Pills in the entire Northern Mountain Manor.
Instead of claiming the shares for himself, Chen Zhu had pledged the shares to the Azure Sun Daoist Temple from the very beginning.
The profits reaped by the Azure Sun Daoist Temple benefited the entire Heavenly Master Religion in the Northern Mountain Manor, which would count as a major contribution to his name.
As a result, his status in the Heavenly Master Religion was elevated significantly, and the chief Daoist priest of the Northern Mountain Manor now looked at him favorably.
The chief Daoist priest was the most powerful figure of the Heavenly Master Religion in the Northern Mountain Manor. Had it not been for Chen Zhu's elevated status, he couldn't have secured so many Seven Treasure Pills for Chu Qiguang.
After giving the pills to Chu Qiguang, Chen Zhu cautioned him not to resell the pills within the Spirit Province. He was still convinced that Chu Qiguang was buying up these pills for resale purposes.
Chu Qiguang didn't bother to correct this misunderstanding, and he was very pleased with their exchange. In his eyes, shares that he couldn't redeem for actual money were nothing more than useless pieces of paper, regardless of how high their share price.
He could secure as many of these worthless pieces of paper as he wanted, so in his eyes, exchanging these shares for a bunch of Seven Treasure Pills was a fantastic deal, as they would allow him to reach the fifth state in half the time it would usually take him.
As for the shares that he had given up in exchange, there was a whole host of ways that he could recoup them. He wouldn't need to rug pull the people. He could simply recoup them from the Heavenly Master Religion, and he would be sure to do so in a way that would make Chen Zhu and the others feel as if they would profit from it.
Upon returning home, Chu Qiguang officially went into seclusion and began taking Seven Treasure Pills.
150 Seven Treasure Pills is roughly equivalent to half a year's worth of cultivation for me. That should be enough for me to reach the fifth state.
After consuming a Seven Treasure Pill, Chu Qiguang instantly felt much more alert and focused, allowing him to make much faster progress in his endeavor to direct his qi and blood into his brain.
The effect of each Seven Treasure Pill lasts two hours. By the time I take all 150, around twelve days will have passed. I should be able to get to Jade Face Mountain in time if I set off in twelve days.
With that in mind, Chu Qiguang focused wholeheartedly on his cultivation to the point that he almost cut himself off from the outside world. His martial arts cultivation base steadily progressed toward the fifth state as more qi and blood flowed into his brain.
***
One day in late January, White Rice was rushed into Chu Qiguang's courtyard. Upon encountering Qiao Zhi, he hurriedly asked, "Has our teacher come out of seclusion yet?"
"No," Qiao Zhi replied with a shake of his head. "What happened?"
"The son of one of the workers at the workshop was kidnapped, and by the time the bailiffs found him, he was already dead," White Rice reported, shaking his head sorrowfully.
Qiao Zhi was furious. Recently, there had been many people targeting the Azure Sun Trade Association and the textile workshop. The most brazen among them had tried to convince the skilled workers in the workshop to go and work for them instead.
When those attempts failed, they resorted to measures like kidnapping, extortion, and threats.
Through the investigations carried out by the cat fiends, it had been determined that the Chen Clan was very likely to be the main culprit pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Even though the bailiffs and the Daoist priests were doing their best to foil the Chen Clan's nefarious schemes, there were inevitably some bases that they simply couldn't cover.
"The Chen Clan claims that they've already developed water-powered looms and spinning machines. Is it true?" Qiao Zhi asked.
"I've sent my subordinates to check, and it appears that they're lying," White Rice replied with a shake of his head. "However, we confirmed that the people who tried to burn down the workshop five days ago were sent by them. If we hadn't caught them in time, the entire workshop would have burned down!"
Qiao Zhi was so furious that he rolled back and forth on the ground.
"Those bastards! They deserve to burn in meow!"
"They're not going to stop," White Rice said, sighing while shaking his head. "I heard that the Chen Clan has invested over a hundred thousand taels of silver in their cotton business.
“They've put everything on the line, and they won't stop until one of us has been driven out of business."
"The problem is that many people believe the rumors and think that the Chen Clan has actually managed to develop their own water-powered machines," Chen Gang chimed in, looking concerned. "There are also people spreading lies about how all of our cotton has burned into nothing.
“I also heard some people saying that Brother Chu took all the money with him and ran. Some even said that there's something operating the loom from inside a box!"
The final insinuation was actually true, but thankfully, the workers in the workshop had finally managed to make a breakthrough yesterday, completing a working water-powered loom that no longer required Zhou Yujiao's help to operate.
"These past few days, the Chen Clan has been sending some third-state martial artists to come and challenge Brother Chu, but Brother Chu can't come out to fight them because he's in seclusion, so there are a bunch of idiots who actually believe that he took the money and ran away!" Chen Gang said, sighing in frustration.
"The stock price has fallen a little yet again, and Wu Wei and Chen Zhu have constantly been asking me about when Brother Chu will make a public appearance to debunk all the rumors."
"We can't interrupt him right now," Qiao Zhi said, looking helpless. "He's at a critical juncture, and any interruption can result in catastrophic consequences. Argh! I'm so mad right meow! If I could turn into a human, I would abduct everyone in the Chen Clan and drown them all in the river!"
Just then, the door to Chu Qiguang's room slowly swung open, and a familiar figure emerged from within.
