Lin Yi led Sun Yi to the specific storage unit containing the Foundation Consolidating Pills. The total inventory was lean—barely four hundred units. Sun Yi didn’t hesitate. He swept half of the stock into his personal storage bag.

Behind him, Lin Yi’s eyelid twitched violently, but he kept his mouth shut.

“What else?” Sun Yi asked, his expression unreadable. “Show me the next tier of growth accelerators.”

“For Qi Refining, that’s everything,” Lin Yi reported, checking his ledger. “The Foundation Establishment tier includes Gathering Spirit Pills, Essence Fruits, and Minor Spirit Pills.”

“Essence Fruits are classified as Foundation Establishment resources now?” Sun Yi raised an eyebrow. “I thought those were standard issue for Qi Refining.”

“The value is too high,” Lin Yi explained respectfully. “They are potent enough for Foundation Establishment seniors, so the Hall of Resources reclassified them.”

Sun Yi nodded. “What about the Gathering Spirit Pills? Is there a compatibility issue for Qi Refining users?”

Lin Yi paused, calculating the risk. “Technically, no. But the energy density is too profound. A Qi Refining meridian can’t absorb the full dose, resulting in significant wastage of spiritual essence.”

“Efficiency isn’t my concern. Volume is,” Sun Yi said flatly. “Take me to them.”

They arrived at the Gathering Spirit Pill section. Two hundred pills sat in sealed jade boxes. Sun Yi took half.

He skipped the Essence Fruits; his body had already built a tolerance to them. He also bypassed the Minor Spirit Pills after Lin Yi warned that the energy surge would result in a ‘body explosion’—specifically, death. If not for that minor detail, Sun Yi would have beta-tested them anyway.

“Log all withdrawals,” Sun Yi commanded. “If the Board asks, show them the manifest.”

“Understood, Sect Leader.”

Sun Yi turned to leave. At the vault entrance, he stopped and patted Lin Yi on the shoulder—a gesture of executive approval.

“Good work, Lin Yi. Your efficiency is noted. Focus on your cultivation. I have high-level projects in the pipeline, and I’ll need competent stewards to run them.”

Lin Yi straightened instantly, electrified by the praise. It was like a shot of adrenaline. “Rest assured, Sect Leader! I will not disappoint you!”

Satisfied with his new loyalist, Sun Yi engaged his travel technique and shot toward his cultivation chamber.

Back in his office, Sun Yi initiated ‘Deep Work’ mode. He sat cross-legged and popped a Foundation Consolidating Pill.

A sweet warmth flooded his system, dissolving into pure energy. He cycled the Five Elements Art, processing the intake. But the conversion rate was too slow.

Inefficient, Sun Yi thought. Time is money.

He poured ten pills into his mouth at once.

The energy surge was massive, a tidal wave of power crashing through his meridians. Sun Yi gritted his teeth and accelerated the conversion process. His cultivation bar began to fill at a visible rate.

While Sun Yi power-leveled, Patriarch Qingxuan hovered in the void above the Myriad Demon Forest, observing the field operations.

Below him, a five-man squad of Qingyun disciples was engaging two Tier-1 demon beasts. The creatures were apex predators, but against the coordinated formation of the disciples, they were helpless. The fight was over in minutes—a clean, textbook kill.

The Patriarch nodded, impressed. The teamwork was seamless. He flickered away, checking another sector.

On the ground, the squad was high-fiving.

“Fifty-six Tier-1s and five Tier-2s,” a Qi Refining disciple cheered. “We’re rich! Even after the split, that’s a massive spirit bounty.”

“This forest is a treasure trove,” another agreed.

“Only because of the artifact,” Zhao Hai, the team leader, interrupted, holding up his Spirit Plate. “Without the Patriarch’s Spirit Seeking Plate, we’d be dead. This thing revealed the ambush zones before we even stepped in them.”

The team fell silent, nodding in agreement. The Myriad Demon Forest was a graveyard for the unprepared. But with the Spirit Plate acting as a divine eye, they had bypassed every lethal encounter.

“The Sect Leader is wise,” a disciple said reverently. “The Battle Tower training, the subsidized artifacts, the Spirit Plate… he wasn’t sending us to die. He was ensuring our Dao.”

“I used to complain about the tribute fees,” another admitted. “But honestly? He earned it.”

“Silence,” Zhao Hai ordered. “We’re not done. Consult the Jade Mirror.”

He activated the Spirit Plate. A map of light projected into the air, dotted with red blips. He tapped a large signal. The display rendered a wireframe of a hideous beast, alongside its estimated power level: Tier-3 Threat Detected.

“Avoid,” Zhao Hai said instantly. “We go East.”

High above, Patriarch Qingxuan smiled. His Divine Sense swept the entire operational zone.

Over a thousand disciples were in the field. Zero casualties. A few minor injuries, but nothing a healing pill couldn’t fix.

Sun Yi’s corporate strategy—the five-man cells, the heavily subsidized safety gear, the radar technology—had turned a suicide mission into a profitable harvesting operation. As long as they followed protocol and avoided high-level threats, the risk was negligible.

A month flew by.

At the edge of the forest, a massive transport skiff hovered near a mountain peak. Patriarch Qingxuan stood at the prow, watching the horizon. Streams of light were shooting out of the forest as teams returned for extraction. It was the final day of the project, and the harvest was looking spectacular.