Clan Cultivation: The Ye Clan

Time flies, and three years have passed in the blink of an eye.

That year, Ye Zhenzhen was nine years old. Her cultivation level had just reached the fourth level of Qi Refining. Her cultivation level was slow, not because she didn't work hard, but because, based on her cultivation experience from her previous life, she started with medicinal baths from the first level of Qi Refining to expel impurities, temper her meridians, and absorb spiritual energy at a speed comparable to that of a Heavenly Spiritual Root. Therefore, when Ye Zhenzhen cultivated, she worked hard to compress her spiritual power and expand her dantian, making her spiritual power more abundant and storing more spiritual power than someone at the sixth level.

Three years ago, the two people Ye Shiqing captured were indeed from the He family. From these two people, he learned that the He family and the Zhou family were cooperating to destroy the Ye family. The two families had already agreed that after the deed was done, they would split the spoils 30/70.

The situation was critical, so Ye Anbo quickly contacted a rogue cultivator friend who was known as the Playboy. This man managed to seduce the illegitimate daughter of the He family, who had married into the Zhou family, into bed within a week. Her husband caught them in the act, and the illegitimate daughter was sent back to her parents' home that same day. The illegitimate daughter wanted to go find the Playboy, but he had disappeared as if he had never existed.

The relationship between the Zhou and He families began to crack.

At this time, Ye Shibai secretly reached a cooperation agreement with the Zhao family. The Zhao family's weapon-refining skills improved rapidly, and they quickly occupied the market in Zhuxi County, causing the He family's income to plummet.

At this time, after tracking several elites of the He family, Ye Shiqing found the source of raw materials that the He family had hidden. The He family actually found a vein of dark blue stone on the other side of the Zhuxi Mountains. Dark blue stone is a first-grade high-quality ore and a commonly used material for first-grade weapon refining. This vein has been mined for many years and it is estimated that it can be mined for at least another ten years.

However, that geographical location was no longer under the jurisdiction of Zhuxi County. Ye Shibai thought about it and contacted a weapon-refining family in the neighboring Nanfeng County. One provided the information, and the other provided the manpower. They directly split the mine vein 30/70. Just in case, they paid in full at once. The Ye family received 1,000 catties of dark blue stone plus 20,000 low-grade spirit stones.

The He family suffered heavy losses, not only losing a spiritual vein but also five highly skilled cultivators.

When the Zhou family heard that the He family had discovered a mineral vein, they not only failed to report it but also began mining it without authorization. The Zhou family directly reprimanded the He clan patriarch and increased the He family's tribute payments.

The cooperation between the Zhou and He families has completely collapsed, giving the Ye family a chance to catch their breath.

To the outside world, apart from selling a few more first-grade high-quality pills, the Ye family kept a low profile as usual.

Internally, the Ye family entered a period of rapid development.

First is alchemy. Fifth Grandfather Ye Shilan's research on segmented alchemy has been a great success. The current alchemy is divided into two parts: extracting the medicine and condensing the pill.

Clan members must first learn about medicinal herbs, then begin practicing herb extraction, and only after passing that can they begin condensing pills. This process not only improves speed and quality but also increases the yield of pills, allowing the clan's Cotton Rain Pavilion to earn a large amount of spirit stones.

Secondly, there was the matter of talisman making. The construction of the talisman paper workshop took half a year. During this half year, Second Grandfather Ye Shiqing led more than a dozen clansmen, plus Ye Zhenzhen, on more than a dozen hunting trips. Each time, they harvested some demonic beasts, spirit blood, a large amount of white spirit bamboo, and a few second-grade high-quality purple jade bamboos, which he gave to Ye Zhenrong so that he could try to refine a talisman brush.

Ye Zhenzhen, this human body detector, releases her divine sense every time she goes out to survey the surrounding area for any dangers, and incidentally scribbles on the map jade slip.

After the talisman paper workshop was built, Ye Anbo couldn't wait to start making talisman paper. After a month of trials, he finally succeeded. It is conservatively estimated that he can produce nearly 100,000 talisman papers a month.

With experience in making talisman paper, the success of making talisman ink is a breeze.

Meanwhile, Ye Zhenrong was still unable to refine his talisman brush. In order not to put pressure on his son, Ye Anbo bought 10 talisman brushes from other shops and began to try drawing talismans.

After trying more than ten times, Ye Anbo finally drew a first-grade low-level cleansing talisman. After testing it and finding that it worked without any problems, he arranged for 10 people with better aptitude in the family to learn how to draw talismans. In the first month, each person made 100 talisman papers, but the finished products were less than 10%.

Ye Zhenzhen was shocked to hear this result; it was a complete waste. She then subtly told her uncle that the key to drawing talismans lay in the control of divine sense and the stable output of spiritual power in the hands, both of which were indispensable.

After understanding the reason, Ye Anbo's success rate in drawing talismans soared to 50%, but the success rate of others remained around 10%. Upon closer observation, it was discovered that most people's problem was unstable spiritual energy output.

To solve this problem, Ye Anbo took Ye Zhenzhen to the Zhao family's weapon refiner. After expressing their needs, at Ye Zhenzhen's suggestion, the weapon refiner made a square stone tablet three zhang high. On the four sides of the stone tablet, maze-like stripes were engraved. Each side required a different amount of spiritual power to drive it. The east side required 10% of the spiritual power to drive it. When a person placed their hand at the starting point and input 10% of the spiritual power, a light would start from the starting point and travel along the maze stripes until the spiritual power was cut off, at which point the light would stop. The other three sides required 20%, 30%, and 40% of the spiritual power, respectively.

After the stone tablet was completed, Ye Shibai named it the Wenling Tablet.

After the Spirit Stabilizing Stele was completed, Ye Zhenzhen found a weapon refiner to make a five-sided stele three zhang tall. This time, it not only stabilized spiritual power, but also added one of the five elements to each side. The requirements for this stele were even higher, requiring a stable output of elemental spiritual power. People with water and wood spiritual roots needed to output water spiritual power on the water side. If the attribute was correct and the spiritual power was stable, the light would light up and begin to move along the maze stripes. This requirement was even higher and was later called the Five Elements Spirit Stele.

The two stone tablets were placed in the square not far from the council hall. After they were placed, the clansmen stepped forward to test them and discovered that they lacked control over their spiritual power. They all actively cultivated to make up for it, and at the same time, the success rate of drawing talismans also increased.

At this time, the family established standards for talisman makers, requiring family members to first learn how to make talisman paper and ink, and then start practicing on the stone tablet. After passing the practice, they could start trying to draw talismans, with a minimum success rate of 30%.

The Ye family had accumulated a large number of talismans of various kinds, but they did not start selling them. Instead, they collected all the talismans drawn by their clansmen. Furthermore, they strictly forbade any clansmen from selling the talismans, otherwise it would be considered treason.

Finally, there's cultivation level. After the family arranged medicinal baths for its members, everyone endured immense pain and expelled impurities from their bodies. Over three years, everyone's cultivation level increased by at least two levels.

The fastest risers were Second Grandfather Ye Shiqing and Eldest Uncle Ye Anbo. Both of them had reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, and it felt like they only needed the Foundation Establishment Pill to successfully establish their foundation.

So, Second Grandfather Ye Shiqing, Eldest Uncle Ye Anbo, and Third Uncle Ye Anyuan set off with Ye Zhenrong and Ye Zhenzhen.