BOOK 2: CHAPTER 443: CONTINUING THE PAST AND OPENING THE FUTURE: MARITIME STRATEGY

Vol 2 Chapter 443 Continuing the Past and Opening the Future: Maritime Strategy

The conclusion of the first fifty-year plan marked the beginning of the second fifty-year plan.

Ziwei Yuan, Heavenly Palace Hall.

Apart from Zheng Fa, eleven Nascent Soul cultivators of Jiushan Sect were all present, along with hundreds of Nascent Soul and Golden Core disciples attending as observers.

The sect’s elites gathered in one place. Many disciples glanced around, feeling a mix of novelty and excitement, yet also an inexplicable solemnity, refraining from whispering.

Because they knew this meeting would decide the future of Jiushan Sect for the next fifty years.

Thanks to the presence of these disciples, the atmosphere in the hall differed from ordinary meetings—silent yet turbulent, solemn yet spirited.

The Heavenly Emperor sat at the head. When he exchanged glances with Uncle Pang and others, a playful smile flickered in his eyes.

Allowing these disciples to attend was naturally meant to collect opinions from all levels of Jiushan Sect, to identify the most pressing issues for the next fifty years.

To be honest, their cultivation levels were so high that they often couldn’t truly understand the difficulties faced by the disciples, let alone mortals.

Of course, for the Heavenly Emperor, there was another channel to collect public opinion—namely, the desires of all living beings.

From another perspective, this was also part of cultivating these disciples.

Currently, among the high ranks of Jiushan Sect, there were few who clung to power. Or rather, cultivators placed more importance on cultivation itself;

power and influence were only tools to aid that.

Therefore, training disciples to take charge of various departments in Jiushan Realm was not unacceptable to the elders.

When Uncle Pang and the others looked at these disciples, their eyes were mostly filled with pride.

Many of these disciples were their students, and to some extent, there was a bond of teacher and student.

Seeing them grow into such outstanding figures filled the elders with great satisfaction.

...

The meeting had little idle talk and quickly moved to the main topic.

"Last year, our sect’s total income, converted into spirit stones, was about thirty-two million spirit stones."

The Nine Chapters Calculation Spirit stood in the center of Heavenly Palace Hall, announcing the most important agenda—economics.

Everyone listened attentively.

All the disciples present had undergone trials in the mortal realm;

almost none were ignorant of worldly affairs.

Therefore, they naturally understood that for any sect, even any cultivator, the economy was arguably the most important issue.

Listening to the Nine Chapters Calculation Spirit’s summary, many were stunned—because Jiushan Sect truly made a huge profit.

The Heavenly Emperor clearly remembered that when his original body first arrived at Jiushan Sect, the annual income was only a bit more than twenty spirit stones, not even thirty thousand spirit stones. 𝐑ᴀɴÔ𝖇Èȿ

Now, the sect’s annual income had increased over a thousand times!

Not only the disciples, but even Uncle Pang and the others looked bewildered at the concept of spirit stones: they of course knew the approximate data, but only when converted into spirit stones did they gain a real, tangible understanding.

Seeing their astonished expressions, the Heavenly Emperor tapped the table and explained, "We don’t actually have that many spirit stones. Most of it consists of pills, spirit tools, and spirit materials, calculated at market price."

He found this normal.

To put it plainly:

In its early years, Jiushan Sect was just one sect within the Hundred Immortals Alliance.

Now, Jiushan Sect’s territory had expanded over a hundredfold. Coupled with the promotion of various technologies, productivity had skyrocketed. It could even be said that the sect had initially stepped from an agricultural society into an industrial society, creating an economic miracle that left everyone in the sect in disbelief.

The joy in Uncle Pang’s eyes grew stronger, but the Nine Chapters Calculation Spirit’s next words dampened their mood.

"In terms of expenditure, our sect’s total spending last year was thirty million spirit stones. The specific expenditures are as follows..."

"Three hundred thousand?"

Uncle Pang exclaimed in shock, his expression full of pain.

They had not known this figure before. Except for Zheng Fa, only Senior Sister Zhang was familiar with all the data.

Specifically, most of Jiushan Sect’s expenditure was spent on disciple cultivation, industrial construction, and various researches.

These three areas alone consumed about twenty million spirit stones.

The rest was for livelihood expenses, various task rewards, and so forth.

They could both earn and spend heavily.

The Heavenly Emperor explained, "In recent years, the number of Nascent Soul disciples advancing has increased significantly, so the expenses have also risen."

Everyone nodded in understanding.

The increase in Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and even Nascent Soul cultivators was not by breath alone;

every cultivator consumed resources.

The Nine Chapters Calculation Spirit continued reporting: "According to estimates, next year’s expenditure will further increase. The total budget for next year should be set above thirty-three million spirit stones."

"No way..." Uncle Pang could no longer hold back. "So, what we earn in a year isn’t enough to cover next year’s spending?"

Seeing some doubt on others’ faces, the Heavenly Emperor explained, "The large expenditure next year is partly because the number of Nascent Soul and Nascent Soul cultivators in the sect will increase further."

"On the other hand, there will be an additional two million spirit stones invested in Jiushan Military Academy."

Uncle Pang muttered, "Two million?"

The Heavenly Emperor nodded slightly, affirming, "This relates to the main goal of the next fifty-year plan."

"The most important achievement of the last fifty-year plan was the establishment of Jiushan Sect’s industrial system and the strengthening of economic power." The Heavenly Emperor stood and looked around the hall, speaking loudly, "In the next fifty years, our focus will shift toward military affairs."

In short, massively increasing the military budget!

"Since the Nine Nether Demon Ancestor’s proving of the Dao, the world has undergone tremendous changes, unseen in the Xuanyi Realm for millions of years."

"In the coming years, at most a few decades, Golden Immortals will appear in Xuanyi Realm. Whether these Golden Immortals are friend or foe, no one can guarantee."

"We cannot wait until the enemy appears to strengthen Jiushan Sect’s combat power."

"Preparation must be made in advance."

The Heavenly Emperor’s words made even Uncle Pang nod.

No one wanted a tragedy where people died but the money remained—such a fate must not befall Jiushan Sect.

The Heavenly Emperor smiled. It was well known that to increase military funding, one had to create a formidable enemy.

Jiushan Sect had plenty of ready enemies, with even Golden Immortals lined up.

"Whether it is me or Senior Sister Zhang, it has become much more difficult to rapidly improve cultivation in a short time."

The Heavenly Emperor was clear-headed.

Compared to Tianhe Venerable, he was luckier—he inherited a lifetime of achievements from Tianhe Venerable and had access to the modern world.

Unfortunately, the situation in Xuanyi Realm was developing too fast.

Tianhe Venerable had ample time to gradually reach invincibility. Compared to Lu Mo and those Golden Immortals, he was still a baby under a hundred years old.

Therefore, Jiushan Sect must frantically increase military spending.

"The main goal of Jiushan Sect in the next fifty years is to strengthen combat power based on the previous fifty years."

"More specifically, to enhance the damage capability of the Slaying Immortal Sword Formation, ideally elevating it to a level capable of killing Golden Immortals."

Uncle Pang and the others nodded.

Currently, the Slaying Immortal Sword Formation had the combat power of a top True Immortal and was already formidable, as well as the most powerful means in Jiushan Realm.

Therefore, to counter Golden Immortals, improving the Slaying Immortal Sword Formation was the most practical approach.

"Then, use the Divine Thunder Army as a supplement to the Slaying Immortal Sword Formation."

These two points were old topics, so the Heavenly Emperor passed over them quickly.

"As for the industrial plan, there are two main points: one is to consolidate our dominant position in artifact forging and talisman path, thoroughly occupying the artifact forging market of Haori Mountain."

"Second, increase investment in pharmacology and alchemy."

At this point, the Heavenly Emperor glanced at Master Song of Qingmu Sect, then at Mu Qingyan.

As for alchemy, the Hundred Immortals Alliance had developed early.

Mu Qingyan had led research in pharmacology for almost twenty years.

There were quite a few achievements. Both in alchemy and pharmacology, Jiushan Sect was now much stronger than before.

But compared to Taishang Dao, it was still far behind.

Mu Qingyan was a bit anxious, but Zheng Fa thought more openly—it was a long-term, high-investment industry.

In modern times, pharmaceutical companies grow stronger with age.

Not to mention Xuanyi Realm.

"The pill industry, on one hand, is to accelerate disciples’ cultivation," the Heavenly Emperor explained, "and on the other hand, is for combat needs."

For Xuanyi cultivators, pills were very important in daily life.

It could even be said that this was more profitable than artifact forging—

Essentially, pills were a necessary consumable in Xuanyi Realm, often taken two at a time every few days.

As for magical tools and artifacts... how to say it, cultivation could proceed without them, right?

When war comes, the importance of pills would naturally rise to another level.

As if sensing the Heavenly Emperor’s gaze, both Master Song and Mu Qingyan showed some pressure on their faces.

Uncle Pang frowned, "Industry... with sect spending rising, can we sustain it?"

This was a mature concern.

In the last fifty years, their development of Jiushan Realm in the Hundred Immortals Alliance and use of trade routes could not be said to have much room for progress anymore.

Seeing no one respond, Uncle Pang suddenly said, "How about cutting some other expenses?"

The hall fell into dead silence.

Everyone understood that there were actually not many places to cut—because disciple cultivation must not stop, nor could industrial construction.

Therefore, the main areas to save money were two: livelihood expenses and task rewards.

Uncle Pang’s meaning was to tighten belts and make Jiushan endure hardship to develop the military.

The disciples’ expressions immediately changed slightly.

The Heavenly Emperor shook his head, "Not to that extent yet."

Uncle Pang was a bit stunned. Then Senior Sister Zhang stood, took out the Feixian Brush, and drew two strokes in the void.

A maritime map appeared in the hall.

On the map were hundreds of dense glowing points, divided into blue and white.

"Our next growth point for income is the maritime region!" Senior Sister Zhang said loudly.

Everyone’s spirits lifted, carefully examining those points.

"The blue points on the map are places we have explored before, suitable for breeding various sea spiritual beasts and spiritual plants."

"This is thanks to the research of Elder Qian, Elder Jiao, and Elder Xuehe."

"Estimates show that if marine breeding goes smoothly, agriculture alone could bring nearly one hundred million spirit stones in annual income."

"Not only that, marine breeding can cultivate some rare spirit materials. Combined with Jiushan Sect’s artifact forging ability, the annual value created could exceed three million spirit stones."

"If the Agriculture Academy’s research breaks through further, these incomes will be even higher."

Whispers began in the hall.

Millions of spirit stones seemed small compared to the thirty-two million figure mentioned earlier.

But this was already a major industry.

Xiao Yuying asked, "What about the white points?"

"Those are seabed spirit minerals," Senior Sister Zhang explained. "The maritime area is vast, and the amount of spirit minerals is actually not less than on land, just harder to mine."

"But for Jiushan Sect, with mechanical power and artifacts like Divine Thunder Warships, this difficulty is completely surmountable."

"According to disciples’ exploration results, the total value of seabed mineral veins is at least ten billion spirit stones, possibly more."

The hall fell completely silent.

The figure of ten billion spirit stones stunned everyone into a blank mind.

Although it was just the total reserve and mining remained a problem, it was still ten billion!

Uncle Huang slammed the table, "The ocean must belong to Jiushan Sect!"

Everyone in Heavenly Palace Hall nodded, some even with greed in their eyes.

Only Xiao Yuying frowned silently, a hint of worry in her gaze.

Senior Sister Zhang was not finished: "Additionally, according to disciples’ exploration, the newly appeared ocean area in the extreme north of the maritime region is probably no smaller than the original Xuanyi Sea."

"Although for safety, we have not sent disciples there to explore, the maritime region will inevitably become more important after the world changes."

Everyone understood this.

After Xuanyi’s expansion, the maritime region changed the most. Those new cultivators wanting to trade with Xuanyi must cross the ocean.

Therefore, the value of maritime trade routes would naturally increase.

In fact, Jiushan Realm could seize some advantage here.

Trade routes were already the main income source for Jiushan Sect.

It could be said that the value of trade routes was not less than those seabed spirit minerals, and even more continuous.

"Therefore, if we firmly control and deeply develop the maritime region, Jiushan Sect’s income can at least double, perhaps much more."

No one questioned Senior Sister Zhang’s summary.

...

After the Heavenly Emperor and Senior Sister Zhang finished speaking, everyone discussed further.

The second fifty-year plan of Jiushan Sect was taking shape.

Although there were many details, the most important grand strategies were still the two points stated by the Heavenly Emperor: focusing on military and developing the maritime region.

The rest were details.

After everyone left with the newly issued “Second Fifty-Year Plan Outline,” Elder Yu slowly walked out of Heavenly Palace Hall and approached Uncle Pang.

"Aren’t you afraid the disciples will hate you?"

Uncle Pang glanced at him sideways but said nothing, seemingly not understanding what he meant.

Elder Yu shook his head helplessly, "Do you really want to bear the blame?"

Uncle Pang smiled, "Some things are hard for Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang to say."

He looked at the disciples’ backs with a calm expression.

"No need for you to say it either."

Elder Yu felt conflicted inside.

This junior brother was very clever. Couldn’t he know that cutting disciple rewards would anger everyone?

He was doing it on purpose.

"The other elders are either outsiders or lack the qualifications," Uncle Pang said softly but thoughtfully, "Only we few old ones can bear it."

Elder Yu had to admit this was true.

"If we don’t bear this blame, who will?" Uncle Pang said insightfully. "Besides, haven’t I already borne it?"

Honestly, no one could conjure spirit stones out of thin air.

If Jiushan Sect wanted to counter Golden Immortals and increase military investment, they either had to squeeze their own people or snatch from outsiders.

Their choice was the maritime region—although it was Jiushan Sect’s territory, the Dragon Lord had a special status and was an ally. The past relations between them were fairly pleasant.

But now, the Dragon Lord’s thoughts were somewhat unpredictable.

Far away, Xiao Yuying flew alone in the sky.

Recalling Senior Fairy Xiao’s silence during the meeting, the two exchanged a glance and sighed together.