Eventually, Yan Rui decided to be honest and revealed the truth about the conditions set by Han Cai's elder in the sect. Their options were for their daughter to wait until Han Cai became a grandmaster alchemist or to revert the engagement back to Yan Pengfei and Xu Qiaolian. This made Xu Patraich frown, but he could not do anything.
The last to visit was the Pei Clan. The Pei patriarch had given a lot of thought and decided that he wanted Han Cai to be engaged to their clan's daughter instead of Xu Qiaolian, as the engagement during the banquet was not confirmed.
The Yan Clan had to give the Pei family the same response they gave to the Xu Clan. The Pei family patriarch was surprised to hear this, but he resolved that if Han Cai became a grandmaster alchemist, he would do everything in his power to build a relationship with the Yan Clan.
When you are busy cultivating, the years pass as days. It had been five years since Han Cai had joined the Azure Dragon Sect. Over the last five years, he spent his time cultivating, creating talismans, learning arrays, and concocting pills.
By the fourth year, he was successful in creating the Awakening Pill, but, to his disappointment, the pill did not awaken his abilities. There was some minor movement, but after that, his legendary abilities did not awaken.
This did not mean complete failure, as all his three Grandmaster abilities were semi-dormant now.
As the abilities became semi-dormant, they complimented his growth more.
His improved Yin and Yang array was a big help in his journey to become better at making pills. He could now make Earth-grade and Spirit-grade pills.
Spirit-grade pills were very potent and were usually made by expert alchemists for lower-level cultivators. Because they are so strong and hard to make, they were very sought after. Most groups only give these pills to their most important members because they are so expensive and can't be given to everyone.
Earth-grade pills, on the other hand, are only used by Earth-grade Immortals. These pills are hard to find, and you usually have to ask a level-six Alchemist to make them for you.
By being able to make Earth-grade pills, Han Cai had become a level six Alchemist. This was a big accomplishment, but it also meant he had three more levels to go to become a Grand Master Alchemist and awaken his grandmaster ability. These last three levels were going to be much harder than the first six. However, with how much Han Cai had already grown, it seemed like he was on the right path.
With his talisman-making skills becoming semi-dormant, Han Cai was able to mass produce obedience talismans. These talismans helped him to gain the loyalty of over half of the outer sect disciples from the list who were in need of a backing faction. In total, around thirty-two thousand outer sect disciples were now under his command. Although most of these disciples were from the alchemy hall, a significant number were also from other halls. Han Cai utilized Shu Tao to enlist disciples from different halls, who held important positions in the outer sect, to join his obedience faction.
Shu Tao did not personally reach out to the disciples. Instead, he used the disciples he had already recruited in the alchemy hall to extend their influence to disciples in the outer sect. They did not immediately recruit any disciple; instead, they would spend a few months assessing the potential recruits. If a disciple seemed to be in genuine trouble or need, they would offer assistance and then present them with the obedience talisman.
In the second year, there were only one thousand disciples, but after this first thousand joined, things accelerated quickly. With each of these thousand disciples recruiting a new disciple the following month, they soon had two thousand, then four, and so on. This process continued until they reached a total of thirty-two thousand disciples. Han Cai compensated these disciples with a hundred medium-grade spirit stones every month. This amounted to an expenditure of about 3.2 million medium-grade spirit stones every month, which was more than ten times the average income of a typical clan in the Azure Dragon Country.
However, Han Cai was also generating a significant income. He was concocting a massive number of high-grade pills to be sold to underground organizations throughout the Azure Dragon Country. He also used the outer sect disciples under his control to find merchants outside the sect.
Everything was managed by Blacky, Yongnian, and Shu Tao. Han Cai had remained secluded for five years, but today, after reaching core formation cultivation, he decided to leave Elder Du's abode. He felt like he was losing touch with the outside world and decided to take a stroll.
As Han Cai approached the dining hall, he noticed a large group of disciples milling about. As they saw Han Cai, they all stopped and bowed. It struck him then that Shu Tao must have prioritized recruiting disciples from the basic pill department. When these disciples had joined, they were at the Qi condensation stage, but with the help of pills and spirit stones provided by Han Cai, most of them had advanced to the foundation establishment stage.
Han Cai reminded himself to tell Shu Tao that the disciples should not bow to him publicly. This could potentially endanger his plan to stay hidden. He proceeded to the dining hall, where a disciple came forward and asked him what he wanted to eat. Han Cai asked for a serving of whatever was available, and the disciple promptly brought him his meal.
Han Cai couldn't help but feel a sense of amusement. It felt as though he had returned to the days of being a young master. Now, he didn't have to walk around the dining hall to get his food, like he had to when he first arrived. Han Cai requested a disciple standing nearby to call for Shu Tao. After a short while, Shu Tao arrived and took a seat across from Han Cai.
Han Cai inquired, "So, how many elders are there in need?"
Shu Tao replied, "In the basic pills department, there are 50 who are nearing the end of their lifespan, and there are 90 whose cultivation has reached a long-standing bottleneck."
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Gifts are always appreciated, but golden tickets and power stones matter a lot too.
If we reach 2000 power stones, I will release two supplementary chapters.
If we reach 1000 golden tickets, I will release five supplementary chapters.
Thank You
