“No. Ten percent market penetration is unacceptable. I want the entire user base—every single disciple—migrated to the Five Elements Art.”

Sun Yi’s voice cut through the air of the Central Hall. To him, this wasn’t just a cultivation manual; it was the new operating system for the Sect, and he couldn’t afford fragmentation.

Elder Han Yun looked pained. “But Headmaster, the feedback from the disciples is… poor. They complain that the Five Elements Art is sluggish. The power output is mediocre compared to specialized arts. They see no benefit in switching.”

“Headmaster,” Elder Jin Jue chimed in, his tone respectful but firm. “Consider the geniuses with Single Spirit Roots. Their cultivation speed with element-specific manuals is lightning fast. Forcing them to cultivate a balanced art like the Five Elements would be like shackling a dragon. Is it wise to stifle our best talents?”

Sun Yi didn’t answer immediately. He leaned back, his fingers drumming a rhythmic beat on the armrest of his throne. Tap. Tap. Tap.

He was running the behavioral simulations in his mind.

Suddenly, his gaze sharpened. “Relax. I won’t force a mandatory update. I have a way to make them beg to install it.”

“What method?” Jin Jue and the others leaned in, their curiosity piqued.

“You’ll see when the beta test goes live,” Sun Yi said, waving off the question. “Now, onto the next agenda item. The Seven Star Tower delivered a batch of Mi Luo Beasts. We need to scale our production capacity immediately.”

He turned to the logistics manager. “Elder Qin Chu, designate a secure zone for a breeding facility. Select disciples with high aptitude for spirit beast husbandry. I want a dedicated team.”

Sun Yi’s eyes gleamed with calculation. “As for their compensation package… treat them as Deputy Hall Masters. And implement this incentive structure: For every new Mi Luo Beast bred, award them ten thousand Sect Points. If they upgrade a Tier-1 beast to Tier-2, another ten thousand. If they hit Tier-3? Fifty thousand Points.”

Gasp.

The Elders’ eyes widened until they looked like saucers. The silence in the hall was deafening.

“Headmaster…” Qin Chu swallowed hard. “Isn’t that… isn’t that payout a bit excessive? It will wreck the economy.”

Sun Yi shook his head. “Excessive? It’s a rounding error. Do you realize the ROI on these beasts? As long as they increase the headcount, points are just digital numbers.”

He stood up and walked to the map of the region. “Right now, Qingyun has four thousand users. But once we execute the hostile takeover of the Chaos Demon Commandery, what happens to our subscriber count?”

He turned back to them. “Demand will skyrocket. If we rely solely on external vendors, we’ll be bottlenecked. We need internal production, and we need to R&D a method for sustainable harvesting—extracting the core material without terminating the unit.”

The Elders exchanged confused glances. ROI? Bottleneck? But they understood the gist: More beasts, more power.

Elder Qin Chu frowned, raising another point. “But Headmaster, if demand is so high, why did you cap our purchase order at ten million Spirit Stones? Why not leverage our full capital and buy out their stock?”

Sun Yi looked at the group of Golden Core masters and sighed, a sound of genuine exasperation.

“Your risk assessment is terrifyingly nonexistent. Do you have a death wish?”

The room went cold.

“Between the two transactions, we have moved over seventy million Spirit Stones in volume,” Sun Yi said, his voice dropping to a chilly whisper. “That is enough wealth to buy a kingdom. Do you think the Seven Star Tower is running a charity? They are a predatory conglomerate.”

“I’ve already pushed the envelope. We need to let the market cool down. If we flash any more cash, we invite a raid.”

The realization hit the Elders like a bucket of ice water. They had been so blinded by the sudden wealth that they forgot the golden rule of the cultivation world: Wealth brings calamity.

“The Headmaster’s foresight… is profound,” Elder Jin Jue muttered, wiping sweat from his forehead. “This old man was too greedy.”

“Speaking of security,” Sun Yi added. “The Ancestor is off-site. Even with the mountain-protecting formation, our firewall has holes. Take the Tier-3 talismans we purchased. Two for each of you. Keep them in your quick-access slots.”

Elder Ye Luo smiled faintly. “Is the Headmaster expecting a breach?”

Sun Yi nodded, his expression dead serious. “Paranoia is a survival trait. We must be prepared for a server crash.”

“Understood.” Jin Jue accepted the order without hesitation. “We will not be careless.”

“Good. Elder Qin, inventory the supplies, then launch the breeding program. The rest of you, come with me. We have raw materials to process.”

“Yes, Headmaster.”

Elder Qin Chu took the Storage Ring. His Divine Sense swept the contents, and he noticed a few items were missing—skimmed off the top. He glanced at Sun Yi, saw the calm expression, and wisely said nothing. He turned and left, dragging Er Gouzi with him.

Sun Yi remained unbothered. He was the CEO; taking a bonus was his prerogative.

Sun Yi led the remaining four Elders to the main peak’s secure processing facility. He tossed the Storage Bag containing the beast corpses to Elder Ye Luo.

“Elder Ye, initiate the extraction protocol. I need that essence.”

“Leave it to this old man,” Ye Luo said, catching the bag. He bowed and retreated to his workstation.

Sun Yi didn’t stop. He walked to the adjacent chamber—the VIP server room.

Inside, five disciples were cultivating with an intensity that warped the air around them.

Zhang Yuan and his four companions sensed the intrusion. They snapped their eyes open, cut the energy flow, and leaped to their feet.

“Greetings, Headmaster!”

Sun Yi waved a hand, dismissing the formalities. His eyes scanned them, reading their bio-metrics like a HUD overlay.

“Status report. How is the body tempering? Is the Five Elements Art fully installed?”

Zhang Yuan stepped forward, unable to contain himself.

“Reporting to the Headmaster! Migration complete. The Five Elements Art is running smoothly. Our physical specs have spiked—we’ve just broken into Tier-2 body tempering!”

Zhang Yuan looked like a different person. The depression from his failed breakthrough was gone, replaced by a radiant, almost manic energy.

And why wouldn’t he be? Since signing the ‘Soul Contract’ with Sun Yi, they had been living the whale life.

Sun Yi had enabled ‘God Mode’ for them.

High-grade Spirit Stones? Used like gravel. Tier-3 Spirit Tea? Drunk like water. Pills? Eaten like candy.

While other disciples grinded daily quests just to afford a single stalk of spirit herbs, these five were drowning in resources. If a pill had even a 1% marginal utility, they popped it. Waste was not a concept that existed in their new reality.

They were living a cultivation life that would make independent cultivators weep blood in envy.

“Initialize diagnostic scan,” Sun Yi muttered, placing a hand on Zhang Yuan’s shoulder.

His Divine Sense and True Qi flooded the disciple’s system, checking the structural integrity of the meridians and the density of the flesh.

Hardware integrity: 98%. Energy saturation: Optimal.

Sun Yi nodded. “Not bad. Your chassis is reinforced enough to handle the stress test. You are ready to open the secondary drive.”

The five disciples trembled with joy.

New Dantians.

They knew what this meant. They knew why Sun Yi had forced them to switch to the Five Elements Art. They were the prototypes for something that would shake the heavens.

Sun Yi flicked his wrist, tossing a Jade Slip to each of them.

“This manual contains the architecture for the expansion slot. Study the documentation. Memorize the edge cases. In a moment, I will bring an Elder to assist with the installation.”

“Thank you, Headmaster, for this fortune!”

The five bowed deeply, their voices cracking with emotion. The door to a new realm of power had just been unlocked.