Chapter 141: The Grandmaster's Ultimate Art

Since taking over the Wantong Chamber of Commerce, Shen Qianzhong had demonstrated remarkable business acumen. Under his leadership, the organization had firmly cemented its reputation as the premier trade association, with its business operations expanding ever further. Yet, he was a man of immense ambition. The title of the number one Chamber of Commerce in the Yunchuan Prefecture no longer satisfied him; he desperately needed something new to bolster Wantong’s strength, secure a crushing competitive advantage, and break into the markets of the outer territories.

Originally, Shen Qianzhong had been pondering how to further expand his empire. That was until the Profound-grade Breakthrough Pill appeared at the grand assembly, giving him a sudden, brilliant realization. He understood that this was the breakthrough he needed. Even though Qing Xi had intentionally inflated the required quantity of medicinal herbs, Shen did not care. It was often said that the Spirit Medicine Sect was never short of money, but neither was the Wantong Chamber of Commerce.

Thus, after settling the profit-sharing scheme for the pills, Shen Qianzhong immediately asked, "The Wantong Chamber of Commerce will cover all the spirit herbs required for your alchemy, Fellow Daoist Qing Xi. May I ask what kind of herbs you need?"

"Wait a moment."

Qing Xi thought for a moment, took out a sheet of paper, and scribbled down a prescription. Each set of ingredients on the list contained over twenty types of spirit herbs, which could be converted into at least 1,500 wisps of Five Elements Origin. Since a single Profound-grade Breakthrough Pill only required 500 units of Origin, Qing Xi would be earning a two-fold profit on every pill he refined.

"This price should be quite reasonable," he thought to himself as he handed over the prescription. Shen Qianzhong accepted it and carefully tucked it away.

The two parties chatted pleasantly for a while. Once Shen Qianzhong departed, the several Xiantian-realm elders stood up, their gazes filled with admiration and respect as they looked at Qing Xi. After exchanging a few polite words with them, Qing Xi found an excuse and left the grand hall with Lin Feng and Xia Dang.

Watching their retreating figures, the Eighteenth Elder’s eyes shone. "With a disciple such as this, how can our sect not flourish?"

Another elder nodded solemnly, adding, "It was our ignorance that blinded us to Qing Xi’s true talent. Fortunately, we never made things difficult for him in the past, or else we would have missed out on a true dragon."

"I heard that when his spirit roots were tested, he was labeled as having scrap-grade potential. In my opinion, the Spirit Root Stele must have been faulty!" one elder remarked indignantly.

"Indeed. It seems that from now on, we old bones need to personally oversee the spirit root tests to ensure we don't overlook any more geniuses."

As the elders discussed, their outdated perspectives began to shift.

The trio returned to the small courtyard on the back mountain and sat down. Although they all wished to head to the Southern Territory, Xia Dang’s injuries had not yet fully healed, and Lin Feng needed time to adapt to his recent breakthrough. Consequently, Qing Xi decided they would depart in three days. Under Qing Xi’s guidance, Lin Feng continuously adapted to his surging power and cultivation. Meanwhile, Xia Dang relied on the spirit herbs provided by Qing Xi to recover; his depleted vitality was quickly replenished, restoring his handsome and dashing appearance.

"As expected of my little brother—this look, this temperament—he has at least half of my charm," Qing Xi observed, a satisfied smile on his face. Since Xia Dang insisted on calling him "Big Brother," Qing Xi simply accepted him as his subordinate.

That night, Qing Xi finally had time to organize the items in his system space. After some thought, he returned Xia Dang’s storage ring. Since he had accepted a little brother, he had to provide a welcoming gift. However, he had already processed the Demon Heart Cores previously stored in the bracelet, extracting fifty low-grade spatial imprints from them.

Xia Dang looked at the returned storage ring and found that the contents were almost entirely untouched. He was moved to tears. "Thank you, Big Brother!" This was a gift from his brother; although it felt a bit strange, Xia Dang believed that whatever his brother did was right, and he simply accepted it without question.

After dismissing Xia Dang, Qing Xi continued to clear out his system space. Including the Lava Demon, he had over two hundred Demon Heart Cores, all of which had been converted for their Origin and stripped of their spatial imprints. As for the bodies of the demons stored in the system, aside from the Lava Demon, the energy within the others had also been completely converted.

He pulled up the dashboard for the Five Elements Origin and, seeing the data, he couldn't help but gasp.

[Current stored Five Elements Origin: Metal (90,244,100,000 wisps), Wood (109,245,100,000 wisps), Water (109,827,100,000 wisps), Fire (119,578,100,000 wisps), Earth (107,489,100,000 wisps)]

"My hard work has truly paid off; I’ve finally accumulated 500,000 units of Origin." A smile bloomed on Qing Xi’s face. Although his Metal-type Origin hadn't yet reached 100,000, there were still over two thousand spirit herbs over a century old in his system space, ready to be converted at any time. If not for his concerns, he could upgrade his spirit root to Earth-grade at any moment.

"Pipi-Zhu, if I upgrade my spirit root to Earth-grade, will there be any physical changes?" Qing Xi had always been worried about being abducted by people from outside the territory. If a top-tier powerhouse from beyond were to discover something, it would be disastrous.

"According to comparative analysis with Zhou Shitong," the system replied, "the moment an Earth-grade or higher spirit root is born, a unique spirit root imprint manifests within the body, which is easily sensed by powerful cultivators. Therefore, any genius born in the Yunchuan Prefecture with an Earth-grade spirit root is eventually found and taken away. If you upgrade your spirit root now, you would theoretically be detected by such powerhouses."

"In that case, I will hold off on the upgrade," Qing Xi decided. He dared not take that risk. Furthermore, at his current stage, his Profound-grade spirit root was already sufficient.

He turned his attention to his ultimate techniques. The highest-level technique the system could currently deduce based on his stored martial arts was a top-tier Grandmaster technique called *Mountain Collapsing, Earth Cracking*. However, the cost was over 250,000 units of Origin, with 100,000 required just for the Metal-type alone—too expensive. Qing Xi disregarded it immediately.

"Didn't I obtain three Grandmaster techniques from the totem murals in the Library Pavilion last time? Pipi-Zhu, I recall you saying it would only take 100,000 units of Origin to deduce them." Compared to *Mountain Collapsing, Earth Cracking*, these three were a much better value.

"Those three are standard Grandmaster techniques. While they don't compare to *Mountain Collapsing, Earth Cracking*, their power is still commendable."

"It seems they are worth deducing." Qing Xi nodded. With 500,000 units of Origin available, there was no point in hoarding them. Before starting, he found Lin Feng and patted his head with the Hand of Good Fortune, then instructed the system to begin.

"Ding! Consumed 30,000 units of Origin. Deduced special Grandmaster technique: *Starry Illusion*."

"Ding! Consumed 30,000 units of Origin. Deduced offensive Grandmaster technique: *Sword Intent Annihilation*."

"Ding! Consumed 40,000 units of Origin. Deduced movement-type Grandmaster technique: *Water Stealth Technique*."

The system's notifications were like music to his ears. Excited and breathless, Qing Xi looked up and laughed aloud.

"Hahaha!"

His boisterous laughter echoed throughout the area. Hearing this, Xia Dang looked solemn and thought to himself, "As expected of Big Brother, even his laughter is so unique. Should I learn how to laugh like that too?"