Ugh... The higher the level, the slower it is to produce. Precision and complexity have all risen significantly compared with the spirit artifacts and refined artifacts I was making earlier. On top of that, we don't have enough workers who can master this refinement technique. In the end... the monthly output of the improved Purple Firmament Type 15 flying swords is less than a hundred. Yaoguang thought to himself.

At the summit of the mountain within the Purple Firmament Institute, Yaoguang withdrew his psychic thought, ending a full day spent coordinating the psychic thought and psychic consciousness of the artifact-refining masters and grandmasters.

He had wanted to guide those masters and grandmasters into studying deeper, more advanced materials so they could keep pace with the growth of his artifact refinement technique. But if this trend continued, once his artifact refinement technique advanced three to five levels further, he feared he would be left with no one usable at all, forced to handle everything personally.

Three to five levels might be an exaggeration, but once this order is completed and I obtain the Primordial Unity Bell... he trailed off as he perceived the ancient tree within his mental world. My core skills are the Martial Dao, Psyche Dao, Refiner, and Array Caster branches. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

As for the current progress of these four...

Come to think of it, the cultivation system in Cangwu is right in the middle of a transition between old and new. The old systems can no longer perfectly explain the current ones. It's time for innovation. I remember hearing that the Cangwu Alliance plans to reform the cultivation system and even proposes theories like the nine realms of Qi Dao and the nine realms of Pill Dao. Why is there no follow-up?

Yaoguang looked at the four major branches he possessed, excluding the Merchant and Daemon Hunter branches. According to the newly introduced and widely accepted rating system within the Great Cangwu World, the Refiner branch ranked the highest, roughly equivalent to a level 9 four-star refiner, capable of producing fourth-generation high-grade astras. The Psyche Dao branch followed, comparable to a level 7 one-star psyche cultivator, meaning a completed Dharma Form.

Below that, the Array Caster branch stood at level 6, four-star, and the Martial Dao branch was also level 6, but likely only three-star. After all, whether the Martial Dao or Psyche Dao, neither seemed to have designations above three-star. Only the more lenient secondary professions, such as artifact refiner, array caster, and alchemist, could likely reach four- or even five-star.

Of course, the Golden Core Realm of qi cultivation was an exception. Considering the progression from initial Golden Core, through Fission Realm and Fusion Realm, all the way to the Crimson Golden Core, the Golden Core Realm effectively started at level 7, four-star, or level 9, one-star. The conventional ten-level system simply could not measure that realm precisely.

My secondary professions still can’t compare to the primary ones. An artifact-refinement master rarely enjoys the treatment of a great cultivator, and even an artifact-refinement grandmaster cannot stand shoulder to shoulder with a Golden Core cultivator in terms of importance. Maybe it's not three levels lower, but it's at least one or two levels. Yaoguang pondered inwardly.

Of course, array casters were excluded from this. Array casters were considered essential and were nearly treated the same as the most important cultivators.

Once this order of six hundred Purple Firmament Type 15 improved flying swords is finished, I will pour everything into the Martial Dao branch. I wonder how far this spirit treasure can push the Martial Dao branch. Reaching the Star God Realm is certain. The question is how far I can go along that path... Yaoguang’s gaze lingered on the Martial Dao branch.

He very much looked forward to what the world would be like once he reached the Star God Realm. If the Star God Realm's progress reached a hundred percent, would it contain information on fourth-generation star gods, or even fifth-generation star gods? And beyond that, what kind of profundity awaited above the Star God Realm?

As he was thinking, Yaoguang seemed to perceive something and rose to his feet.

"Young Master?" Lei Yun and the others immediately stood as well.

Yaoguang nodded to them without saying anything and walked to the doorway. Several streaks of sword light were already tearing through the air toward him. At the front were Lou Yuyu and Xu Qiexing.

"Deputy Hall Master Yaoguang," Xu Qiexing said with emotion. "You’ve worked hard."

"As I should," Yaoguang replied. He then turned to Lou Yuyu and asked, "Is Chief Shen happy with the two delivered batches of improved Purple Firmament Type 15 flying swords?"

"They are excellent. Truly excellent!" Lou Yuyu said with a broad smile. "The maximum sword speed of the Purple Firmament Type 15 reaches 117.1. Of course, that speed is pushed by Chief Shen himself, so it isn’t representative of everyone. But for other sword cultivators skilled in sword control, peak bursts of sixty to eighty are common. Even sword cultivators not skilled in sword control can exceed forty when going all out. In other words, they can switch battlefields across fifty thousand kilometers in a single hour."

Naturally, no sword cultivator could maintain maximum speed for a full hour. The strain on true origin and psychic consciousness would be enormous. Sustaining that speed was impossible without continuously consuming treasured pills to recover. And treasured pills could cost tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, each. No faction could afford that. Most sword cultivators relied on more cost-effective true origin recovery methods.

Even so, this kind of sword speed was more than enough to toy with any enemy. After all, the most important attribute of a sword cultivator was speed. They had to attack when advancing, and defend when retreating.

Yaoguang nodded. "As long as you are satisfied."

"Of course I am." Lou Yuyu then looked toward Xu Qiexing.

Xu Qiexing immediately produced an ancient bronze bell no larger than his palm.

"Is this the Primordial Unity Bell?" Yaoguang asked in surprise. "Isn’t the order still unfinished?"

"Refining a spirit treasure also takes time, so the sect master asked me to deliver it to you first," Xu Qiexing said. "Deputy Hall Master Yaoguang, you must constantly use your talent to coordinate the artifact-refining masters producing the Purple Firmament flying swords. That places extremely high demands on the stability of your psychic mind. This spirit treasure earlier might even help increase your efficiency."

Yaoguang looked at the spirit treasure. Li Qingshan had already sent him all the related information. Its primary function was to protect the psychic mind, but it would also simultaneously nourish it.

The psychic mind was a collective term used when psychic will, psychic consciousness, and psychic thought were difficult to distinguish clearly. For cultivators on the qi cultivation path, this spirit treasure nourished psychic consciousness. For cultivators on the psyche refinement path, it naturally nourished the primordial psyche instead.

The psyche refinement realms were highly subjective, but that did not mean that daily cultivation could not increase them. Many psyche refinement cultivators focused on nourishing psychic thought. Once their psychic thought grew strong enough, they would cross a tribulation, using it to drive a transformation of their realm.

Someone like Yaoguang, who first raised his realm and only then crossed the tribulation, relying on heavenly lightning to temper and strengthen psychic thought, was actually the exception. That was precisely why Li Qingshan had sent this treasure ahead of time. He hoped Yaoguang could rapidly enhance his psychic thought, endure more Purple Firmament Lightning, and one day truly achieve what Dharma Form cultivators could do and generate a Void Psychic World with a single thought.

"That's..." Yaoguang looked at the spirit treasure. He wanted to say something, but did not know how to put it into words. There was no need to say more.

"Then I accept it. I will deliver the remaining flying swords as soon as possible," Yaoguang said calmly.

Lou Yuyu nodded. He was about to speak again when Li Qingshan’s psychic consciousness suddenly reached his ear. "Emergency meeting."

He glanced at Yaoguang. Yaoguang, Xu Qiexing, and the others seemed to have received the same notice.

"Why don’t you rest for a while at my residence?" Yaoguang said.

"We would be honored." Both men offered a fist-and-palm salute in response.

After entering the courtyard, they split off portions of their psychic minds and entered the Void Psychic World. As they arrived, one figure after another also manifested. The meeting was not large. Aside from hall master-level figures, there were not many deputy hall masters, branch sect masters, or domain lords present. Just over thirty people attended in total.

"What happened? Why are we having an emergency meeting?"

"Hall Master Lou, did something change in the East Sea?"

"Is the Great Sun Sword Sect finally making a move?"

The early-arriving hall masters and branch sect masters exchanged thoughts, speculating about what had happened. Before the discussion could continue for long, the figures of Li Qingshan, Huang Tianhao, and Murong Hui appeared simultaneously.

"Sect Master." Everyone offered their greetings.

Li Qingshan nodded and went straight to the point without wasting words. With a casual wave of his hand, streams of light projected images into the center of the hall. They showed a group of people smashing, looting, and burning the property of another group.

But it went far beyond that. After seizing the supplies, the attackers slaughtered everyone. No matter how desperately the victims begged for mercy, they were still killed on the spot. As everyone watched, expressions of surprise appeared on their faces.

"This isn’t happening within our Nine Cauldrons Sect, is it?" Liang Qiu asked.

"If something like this happens inside the sect, I will step down as hall master of the Garrison Hall immediately," Jiang Zhouyue said at once.

At the same time, she examined the buildings and writing within the projection and judged, "This is the Xuanming Sect."

"It is indeed the Xuanming Sect." Li Qingshan nodded.

"The Xuanming Sect is in chaos? That makes sense. After suffering such massive losses in the East Sea and losing so many great cultivators, internal interests are bound to be reshuffled, triggering disorder. That’s a good thing. Once they fall into chaos, we won’t have to worry about them for a long time and can focus on dealing with the Great Sun Sword Sect," Xu Qiexing said with a smile.

"It is chaos, but this kind of chaos looks deliberately guided by the Xuanming Sect’s higher-ups. To inflame public sentiment and worsen the situation, they chose a target to vent on. A target that gives them an internal explanation, and at the same time ensures they can smoothly avoid the trouble caused by the loss of so many great cultivators," Li Qingshan’s expression turned solemn as he said. "That target is the survivors of the Artifact Sect who fled to the Heavenly Star Continent and elsewhere after the Artifact Sect collapsed."

"The survivors of the Artifact Sect..." As soon as these words were spoken, Xu Qiexing seemed to realize something. His smile faded.

The expressions of the other hall masters also grew heavy. After a long pause, Zhang Ruosheng finally spoke. "When our Nine Cauldrons Sect was founded, we called on all Artifact Sect members to return and rebuild our homeland together. But they clearly had no intention of coming back."

"That’s easy to understand. In their eyes, the founders of our Nine Cauldrons Sect were nothing more than insignificant nobodies within the Artifact Sect. As for those who managed to flee, which of them wasn’t related to a great family or a high-ranking figure within the Artifact Sect? Asking them to submit to us would feel worse than killing them," He Xifeng said flatly.

"Then what is there left to discuss? If the Xuanming Sect wants revenge, let them have it. The Artifact Sect is the Artifact Sect. The Nine Cauldrons Sect is the Nine Cauldrons Sect. They don’t acknowledge our Nine Cauldrons Sect. So why, now that they’re in trouble, should we be the ones to rescue them?" Liang Qiu said.

He had already understood why Li Qingshan had convened this emergency meeting. And his words found support from quite a few people. Just as He Xifeng had said, most of them had been outsiders within the Artifact Sect back then, oppressed by the great families and given no future at all. Toward those people, they harbored little goodwill.

Now, with the East Sea situation still unresolved, asking them to risk a full-scale war with the Xuanming Sect to save others was something they were naturally unwilling to do.