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

Chapter 142: The Qingyun Sect’s Explosive Rise

“A miracle! This is truly a miracle!”

“We did it! We actually succeeded!”

“Hahaha! The Heavens have blessed us! To think we could produce a supreme treasure like the Heavenly Soul Liquid!”

“Headmaster, you are a god among men!”

“Indeed! All glory to the Headmaster! If he hadn’t led us in constructing the Demon Refining Tower, we never would have seen this day.”

“The Headmaster is a peerless genius! The absolute pride of our Qingyun Sect!”

Sun Yi waved a hand, his laughter cutting through the roaring crowd. “Hold the applause. This was a team effort. Without your research data and manual labor, I wouldn’t have been able to get this hardware operational for months.”

“And let’s not forget,” Sun Yi added, his gaze sweeping over the teary-eyed disciples. “During the tower’s beta phase, your feedback optimized the whole system. The ROI on this belongs to all of us.”

“Together, we’ve bypassed the system. We’ve shattered the ancient curse that bottlenecked Low Grade Spirit Root cultivators. You all did phenomenal work!”

Sun Yi raised his voice, commanding the room. “Moving forward, every one of you gets employee benefits. This first batch of Heavenly Soul Liquid goes straight to you for the first-gen upgrade!”

Another tidal wave of cheers shook the hall. Among the crowd were numerous Qi Refining Grand Perfection cultivators, men and women who had spent decades trapped by their Low Grade Spirit Roots.

“Headmaster, you are too generous!”

“Headmaster, thank you for giving this old man a chance at destiny!”

“You are the greatest Headmaster in the history of the world!”

Over three hundred pairs of eyes locked onto Sun Yi, practically glowing with fanatic gratitude.

“Hahaha, I’m your Headmaster. This is just good management,” Sun Yi said with a grin. “But R&D never sleeps. The research on our miscellaneous arts must continue. I want to see you push the limits of your innovation.”

“We understand, Headmaster! We swear to the Heavens we will not let you down!”

Sun Yi nodded, but then the casual smile vanished from his face, replaced by a cold, calculating gleam.

“Listen closely. The Heavenly Soul Liquid is a high-value asset. A single data leak could trigger a hostile takeover that would utterly annihilate the Qingyun Sect. Therefore, this project is now top-secret. No one speaks of the Heavenly Soul Liquid to the outside world. Everyone here must swear a Dao oath. Now.”

The atmosphere in the room turned instantly frigid.

Elder Yan didn’t hesitate. He bit down on his index finger until it bled, using the crimson drops to draw a complex blood talisman in the air.

“I swear by my Dao heart!” Elder Yan bellowed, his voice echoing with spiritual weight. “I shall take the secret of the Heavenly Soul Liquid to my grave! If I violate this oath, may the Heavens pulverize my soul and the Earth grind my bones to dust!”

Seeing Elder Yan set the standard, the rest of the three-hundred-plus cultivators immediately followed suit, their voices blending into a thunderous chorus of binding oaths.

Sun Yi nodded in satisfaction as the karmic threads settled. Beside him, Elder Jin Jue leaned in, whispering, “Headmaster, isn’t this… a bit extreme?”

“Not extreme enough,” Sun Yi replied flatly. “The Heavenly Soul Liquid disrupts the entire cultivation market. If word leaks, the major Sects from the Heavenly Saint Commandery won’t just send a cease-and-desist. They will slaughter us all to steal the formula.”

“Elders,” Sun Yi addressed his management team. “Issue a Sect-wide gag order. No disciple is allowed to even whisper the words ‘Heavenly Soul Liquid’. Furthermore, scrub the archives. Any text or jade slip mentioning it is to be permanently deleted.”

Seeing the lethal seriousness in Sun Yi’s eyes, the Elders swallowed hard and nodded.

“From this moment on, the Qingyun Sect does not possess the Heavenly Soul Liquid,” Sun Yi declared, a sharp flash of strategic realization gleaming in his eyes. “We only possess the Qingyun Dew.”

A rebrand. Even if a rival scout intercepted a transmission mentioning the ‘Qingyun Dew,’ they would assume it was just standard sect spring water.

“Understood, Headmaster,” Elder Han Yun said, immediately rising to his feet. “I will head to the Scripture Library right now and purge the database.”

“Elder Qin Chu,” Sun Yi turned to the next manager. “Go fetch our inventory of demon souls. We need to ramp up production.”

“Right away,” Elder Qin Chu bowed. “We harvested a massive bounty from the Myriad Demon Forest last time. The vaults are still practically overflowing.” He blurred into a streak of light as he rushed off.

Sun Yi then looked at Elder Jin Jue. “Elder Jin Jue, go to the War Hall. Gather every single Qi Refining Grand Perfection disciple. Once the Miscellaneous Arts Hall finishes their system update, the War Hall gets the next batch of liquid.”

“At once, Headmaster!” Elder Jin Jue’s blood was boiling. He knew what this meant. The Qingyun Sect was about to experience an explosive rise in power that would shake the entire region.

“Elder Ye Luo,” Sun Yi continued down the line. “Download the Split Spirit Technique into all Grand Perfection disciples using the jade slips I recorded. Once they have absorbed the Heavenly Soul—sorry, the Qingyun Dew—you are personally responsible for overseeing their software installation. Train them until they master the technique.”

“Consider it done, Headmaster,” Elder Ye Luo nodded firmly.

“Elder Li Tai, you’re on Quality Assurance,” Sun Yi said. “Work with Elder Han Yun. Inspect every single Grand Perfection disciple who has loaded the Split Spirit Technique. Verify that their Body Refining, Qi Refining, and Soul Refining stats meet the minimum system requirements for Ascension. Then, funnel them to the main peak for their breakthroughs. Don’t worry about the overhead costs. Burn as many Spirit Stones as needed to ensure a zero-percent failure rate.”

“Leave it to me, Headmaster!” Elder Li Tai grinned, practically vibrating with excitement. He could already envision the monstrous army of Foundation Establishment cultivators the Qingyun Sect was about to spawn.

“Alright, that’s the roadmap. Get to work,” Sun Yi dismissed them, then looked toward Er Gouzi. “Changqing, you’re the tech lead here. Help your fellow disciples from the Miscellaneous Arts Hall install the Split Spirit Technique. If you hit any bugs, ping me.”

“Understood, Headmaster!” Er Gouzi nodded vigorously.

Sun Yi’s gaze swept over the electrified crowd one last time before he turned and launched himself into the air.

He flew directly into the 3rd level of the Demon Refining Tower. Moments later, the massive structure hummed back to life.

Standing in the center of the control room, Sun Yi initiated the startup sequence. He withdrew a massive stack of Sealing Soul Talismans. With a wave of his hand, thousands of captive Demon Beasts were fed directly into the Soul Refining Flag hovering above.

While monitoring the system diagnostics, Sun Yi pushed the boundaries of the tech, searching for ways to optimize the processing speed.

Rank 1 demon souls were instantly vaporized. The system chewed through them with zero lag. However, when Sun Yi uploaded Rank 2 demon souls, the Soul Refining Flag’s rendering speed noticeably throttled. The spiritual vortex slowed as it ground down the denser souls.

Eventually, the system pushed through, fully converting the Rank 2 souls into pure energy.

Not long after, Elder Qin Chu arrived at the 3rd level, manifesting beside Sun Yi to hand over a heavily enchanted Storage Ring.

Sun Yi swept the ring with his Divine Sense. The inventory was staggering. There were tens of thousands of Rank 1 demon souls, thousands of Rank 2s, and even several dozen Rank 3 demon souls.

Deciding to stress-test the hardware, Sun Yi pulled out a Talisman containing a Rank 3 demon soul. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the Sealing Soul Talisman toward the Soul Refining Flag.

Crack!

The talisman shattered. Instantly, a monstrous, single-horned spirit rhinoceros materialized in the air.

A vast wave of soul pressure slammed into the chamber walls, accompanied by a furious, thunderous roar that shook the very foundations of the Demon Refining Tower.

The massive black vortex atop the Soul Refining Flag reacted instantly. Thick, inky mist lashed out like living chains, wrapping around the spirit rhinoceros. A gravitational force heavy enough to crush steel enveloped the beast.

The rhinoceros thrashed violently, its spectral hooves tearing at the air as it fought the pull. It held its ground for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, pure brute force pitted against the array.

But the system was relentless. With a final, despairing bellow, the beast was sucked into the swirling black abyss.

Even inside the vortex, the rhinoceros didn’t go down without a fight. The internal arrays groaned as the beast’s soul continuously resisted the refining algorithms. It took the Soul Refining Flag a full two hours to finally pulverize and convert the stubborn Rank 3 soul into liquid.