Cultivation, Inc.I Use Capitalism to Fix a Dying Sect

The medicinal energy of the Small Spirit Pills dissolved into Sun Yi’s bloodstream, refining into True Qi. But to Sun Yi, the transfer rate was excruciatingly slow.

Throughput is suboptimal. The bandwidth is there; I need to saturate the connection.

He tipped the bottle and dumped ten Small Spirit Pills directly into his mouth.

Zhang Yuan and the other disciples watched in horrified silence. Their eyes bulged.

In the cultivation world, refining pills was a delicate process. One pill at a time. Careful meditation. To swallow ten at once wasn’t cultivation; it was suicide. The violent clash of medicinal energies would typically rupture a cultivator’s meridians like over-pressurized pipes.

Sun Yi chewed them like breath mints.

Gulp.

A massive, chaotic surge of energy exploded in his stomach.

Warning: Energy spike detected. Rerouting to Five Elements Engine.

The Five Elements Art spun into high gear, the five internal vortices acting like high-speed cooling fans, shredding the chaotic energy and integrating it into his system.

If an ordinary early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator attempted this, they would be painting the walls with their own blood. But Sun Yi’s “hardware”—his Tier-3 physical body—was built to tank this kind of abuse.

It took some time to process the batch. His cultivation base ticked upward, a noticeable jump, though the progress bar to the mid-stage was still frustratingly empty.

He frowned. Still not enough.

He grabbed another handful of ten pills. Down the hatch.

The efficiency curve was dropping—diminishing returns were kicking in—but Sun Yi didn’t care. As long as the ROI was above zero, he would keep brute-forcing the upgrade.

Time blurred. Eventually, Sun Yi opened his eyes. The True Qi in his body was humming with a denser frequency.

Stable. System restored to operational parameters.

He looked up. Zhang Yuan and the others had finished studying the jade slips and were staring at him, a mix of awe and terror on their faces.

“Status report. Are you ready for the installation?”

Zhang Yuan took a deep breath, his gaze hardening. “Headmaster, I am ready. I can begin opening the new Dantian at any time.”

“Good. Hold that thought. I need to fetch the catalyst.”

Sun Yi walked over to Elder Jin Jue’s stockpile, retrieved the specific materials required for the surgery, and returned.

“Zhang Yuan, you’re up first,” Sun Yi said, gesturing to the center of the room. “Beta tester number one.”

“Yes, Headmaster!”

Zhang Yuan stepped forward and sat cross-legged in the center of the cultivation chamber.

Sun Yi knelt beside him, arranging the materials. “We are targeting the Gold Gate—the Right Lung. I will be monitoring your vitals personally. Do not panic. Just follow the algorithm I wrote in the manual.”

Zhang Yuan nodded. He took the fist-sized clump of spiritual material Sun Yi handed him and swallowed it whole.

Minutes ticked by. The atmosphere was heavy with tension.

Suddenly, Zhang Yuan’s eyes snapped open. He channeled his True Qi into his right lung, igniting the material.

BOOM!

A muffled explosion echoed from inside his chest.

Zhang Yuan’s body convulsed. It felt as if a grenade had gone off inside his ribcage. A tearing, searing pain ripped through his right lung, threatening to shred his consciousness.

His face turned the color of ash. Sweat instantly soaked his robes.

“Brother Zhang!” Zhao Lun and the others started to rush forward.

“Hold position!” Sun Yi barked.

He placed a hand on Zhang Yuan’s back, injecting a stream of Divine Sense and True Qi to stabilize the volatile energy. He glanced at the terrified disciples.

“Relax. This is within expected parameters. His hardware—his physical body—is barely meeting the minimum system requirements. The installation is putting stress on the chassis, but the integrity will hold.”

As predicted, the agony peaked and then began to subside. The chaotic energy found its rhythm, swirling into a stable vortex.

Zhang Yuan gasped, his chest heaving. Slowly, he opened his eyes. A sharp, metallic light flashed in his pupils.

“I… I succeeded!”

He pressed a hand to his chest, feeling the hum of a second energy center. “I have opened the Gold Gate!”

Sun Yi smiled faintly. “That tearing sensation wasn’t a bug; it was a feature. It means it worked.”

Zhang Yuan scratched his head, offering a sheepish, pained smile. “It… it was indeed harrowing, Headmaster.”

Sun Yi tossed him two High-Grade Spirit Stones. “Don’t celebrate yet. Run the setup Cultivator. Use these stones to synchronize the Five Elements Art with the Gold Gate. You need to calibrate the new power source immediately.”

“Understood!” Zhang Yuan grabbed the stones, his eyes burning with renewed fervor, and began to cultivate.

Seeing the success, the fear in Zhao Lun and the others evaporated, replaced by burning jealousy.

“Zhao Lun. You’re next.”

“Coming, Headmaster!” Zhao Lun scrambled over and sat down, looking like a puppy waiting for a treat.

“You saw the procedure,” Sun Yi said, his voice clinical. “Your specs are similar to Zhang Yuan’s. It’s going to hurt. Are you ready to pay the price?”

Zhao Lun nodded vigorously. “Headmaster, this disciple is prepared to endure anything for the Dao!”

“Execute.”

Sun Yi monitored the process closely, gathering data. Subject 2: Similar reaction. Pain threshold reached. Stabilization successful.

Soon, Zhao Lun had a functioning Gold Gate in his lung. He collapsed, panting, face pale but grinning like a maniac.

“Next. Li Yu.”

Li Yu didn’t need to be called twice. He practically threw himself onto the mat, beaming with a sycophantic smile.

Then came Wei Xiao and Zhou Yibo.

It was an assembly line of agony and ascension.

It took Sun Yi a full day and night to oversee the process for all five disciples. By the end, every single one of them had successfully unlocked all five auxiliary Dantians.

Sun Yi stood up, stretching his stiff back. “Diagnostic check. How does the system feel?”

He looked at Zhang Yuan.

Zhang Yuan stood up. The air around him seemed to warp slightly. Six Dantians—one main, five auxiliary—were humming in perfect resonance. The Five Elements Art wasn’t just circulating; it was roaring.

The True Qi inside the five new Gates was terrifyingly pure, each isolated to a single element.

“Headmaster…” Zhang Yuan clenched his fist, feeling the surge of power. “I feel… I feel we could tank a Foundation Establishment cultivator right now.”

Sun Yi chuckled. “That’s not a feeling. That’s the math.”

“With six cores running in parallel, your energy output rivals a Tier-2 engine. If you use the specific elemental gates to drive matching Tier-2 Spirit Weapons, you can suppress an early Foundation Establishment cultivator. Whether you win or lose depends on your micro-management.”

Sun Yi’s expression turned serious. “Now, I have a quest for you.”

The five disciples snapped to attention, bowing deeply. “Please instruct us, Headmaster!”

“For the next ten days, you are on lockdown. Your objective is to master the ‘Five Elements Sword Art’. Budget is unlimited. Use High-Grade Spirit Stones for fuel. Pick any Tier-2 Spirit Weapon from the armory that suits your build.”

Sun Yi’s eyes gleamed with corporate ambition.

“In ten days, we launch the marketing campaign. You five will publicly challenge the Sect’s Foundation Establishment cultivators. I want you to brutally demonstrate the superiority of the Five Elements Art. I want a complete domination.”

The disciples were stunned. Challenge their seniors? Challenge the elite?

But as the power of the six Dantians surged through them, doubt turned into confidence.

“Headmaster, rest assured!” Zhang Yuan shouted, his voice ringing with steel. “We will exert every ounce of strength! We will not let the Sect’s prestige falter!”

“Good. Get to work.”

Sun Yi waved them off and left the room.

He walked to the adjacent VIP cultivation chamber. The atmosphere there was significantly heavier.

Elder Jin Jue, Elder Ye Luo, and the others were gathered, but instead of triumph, their faces were etched with frustration.

“Situation report,” Sun Yi said, scanning the room. “Why the long faces?”

Elder Ye Luo, a Golden Core powerhouse, sighed deeply. “Headmaster… I am ashamed. I attempted to open the auxiliary Dantian using the method you provided. I failed.”

Sun Yi paused. Failed?

That didn’t fit the simulation. Ye Luo was a Golden Core cultivator. His energy control should be perfect.

“Let me run a diagnostic.”

Sun Yi walked over and placed a hand on Ye Luo’s shoulder. Divine Sense flooded in, analyzing the internal structure.

A moment later, Sun Yi pulled back, the realization hitting him.

“I see. It’s a scaling issue.”

“Scaling?” Ye Luo looked confused.

“Elder Ye, you are in the late Golden Core realm. Your energy density is massive. To blast open a new Dantian in a body saturated with Golden Core energy, you need a much larger dose of the catalytic material.”

Sun Yi paced the room. “But a larger dose means a larger explosion. The kinetic force required to open a Dantian at your level… it’s exponential compared to what Zhang Yuan just went through.”

He looked Ye Luo in the eye. “Your software is compatible, but your hardware is obsolete. Your physical body couldn’t withstand the detonation required to open the gate.”

“According to my calculations,” Sun Yi stated grimly, “to survive the procedure, a Golden Core cultivator needs a physical body tempered to at least Tier-3.”