"Young Master Ye, our Tang Clan is willing to follow you. Our people are already the enslaved survivors of a fallen clan, dirt poor and with nothing to our name. Only by following you do we have any hope." After a moment, Elder Tang Wu spoke, breaking the silence in the secret chamber.
"Our Houtu Sect is merely a regional sect within Muzhou in the Beihuang Domain. We are insignificant in the vast Xuanhuang Star Domain. Holy Son Ye, I have a feeling that it is only by following you that our Houtu Sect can have a bright future. Therefore, I will lead the Houtu Sect to follow you," said the Sect Leader.
The other high-ranking members of the Tang Clan and the Houtu Sect also voiced their assent one after another. In truth, Ye Yunfei was now the greatest pillar of support for both the Tang Clan and the Houtu Sect. Their leaders understood that Ye Yunfei represented the hope for their respective forces to rise once again.
"Ah, Holy Son Ye, since you are establishing a force, it needs a name," the Sect Leader suddenly added.
"Let's call it Qingyun Palace," Ye Yunfei said after a moment's thought. The two characters 'Qing' and 'Yun' were taken from the middle characters of Su Qingluo's and Ye Yunfei's names respectively, combined to form this name.
"Remember, the Tang Clan remains the Tang Clan, and the Houtu Sect remains the Houtu Sect. You two forces must continue your lineages generation after generation. Qingyun Palace will serve more as an alliance," Ye Yunfei clarified.
"Understood," both Elder Tang Wu and the Sect Leader nodded.
Following this, Ye Yunfei took out several techniques and martial skills, handing them to Elder Tang Wu and the Sect Leader for safekeeping, to serve as the foundational inheritance of Qingyun Palace. A force needed several hereditary techniques as its core.
"For now, all members of our Qingyun Palace may cultivate the techniques in this inheritance. Once we grow and expand in the future, if we recruit new members, only those who have contributed significantly to Qingyun Palace or possess exceptional talent will be permitted to cultivate them," Ye Yunfei stated.
With a millennium of cultivation experience and having once been a Heavenly Emperor, Ye Yunfei had collected countless high-level techniques and martial skills from across the world. The ones he casually produced now were all incredibly precious. Of course, the truly top-tier techniques he would never impart lightly.
For instance, techniques like the Nine-Yang Scripture, the Nine Palaces Totem Wheel, and the Jia Mu Qing Emperor Body were for his personal cultivation alone. Only those closest and most important to him would receive those pinnacle techniques. Even the techniques practiced by Wu Heishan and Dugu Huan were merely high-level ones, not the absolute best. To date, only his father Ye Tianpeng and Su Qingluo had received those truly rare, top-tier techniques from him.
"Understood," Elder Tang Wu replied.
"By the way, when shall we announce the name 'Qingyun Palace' to the outside world?" the Sect Leader suddenly asked.
Upon hearing this question, everyone in the secret chamber fell silent. They all knew that with Ye Yunfei having accumulated numerous enemies, announcing the name Qingyun Palace would likely immediately attract a swarm of foes.
"After I select a suitable location for Qingyun Palace's headquarters, I will choose an opportune time to hold a grand founding ceremony, announcing the establishment of our Qingyun Palace to the entire Xuanhuang Star Domain. I will ensure Qingyun Palace's founding is glorious!" Ye Yunfei declared after some thought.
Though establishing Qingyun Palace was somewhat on a whim—born from the constant pursuit by multiple factions since arriving in the Xuanhuang Star Domain, sparking the idea to create a force of his own—it was in Ye Yunfei's character to do everything to the best of his ability once he decided to do it. Therefore, he would spare no effort to make Qingyun Palace become a first-rate, top-tier power in the Xuanhuang Star Domain.
"Excellent!" Elder Tang Wu, the Sect Leader, and the others present felt their blood stir with fervor upon hearing Ye Yunfei's words.
Over the next few days, Ye Yunfei and Huang Shang entered the Phantom Tower and devoted themselves to refining pills, producing a large batch of medicinal pills. Ye Yunfei also had Dan Jun enter to learn alchemy under him.
Watching Ye Yunfei refine various treasure pills and Dao Pills firsthand, Dan Jun regarded him with awe as if he were a celestial being. The various techniques Ye Yunfei employed, the meticulous control over every step, and the handling of every detail during the pill refinement process left Dan Jun astonished and filled with immense gains.
Most notably, the multi-cauldron refinement method demonstrated by Ye Yunfei and Huang Shang—simultaneously controlling multiple alchemical cauldrons to refine various pills at once—left Dan Jun utterly dumbfounded. He suddenly realized that even after a lifetime of dedicated study in alchemy, his skills were like those of an infant learning to walk compared to Ye Yunfei's.
"Dean Ye's alchemy level is far higher than I ever imagined!" Dan Jun couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
Under Ye Yunfei's guidance, Dan Jun began attempting to refine sixth-grade treasure pills. Ye Yunfei intended to nurture Dan Jun into Qingyun Palace's chief alchemist, so he was more conscientious with his teaching. In truth, Dan Jun was not lacking in alchemy talent. However, he had previously practiced only the lower-level alchemical techniques of the Tianxuan Continent and was limited by its heaven and earth environment, preventing him from achieving greater heights. Now, receiving personal instruction from a Pill Venerate like Ye Yunfei, his progress was swift.
Within just a few days, he managed to preliminarily refine sixth-grade treasure pills!
After several more days, a massive batch of pills was completed. Ye Yunfei entrusted these pills to Dan Jun for safekeeping, instructing him to distribute them to everyone as needed.
Simultaneously, Ye Yunfei had Elder Tang Wu organize people in groups to enter the Phantom Tower for cultivation. Whether it was members of the Tang Clan, the Houtu Sect, or those who had come from the Tianxuan Continent, their overall strength was not particularly high. To rapidly enhance their power, in addition to techniques, resources, and sufficient practical experience, they also needed time! And the Phantom Tower could provide ample time!
"Old Huang, from now on, you will be in charge of controlling the Phantom Tower for the time being," Ye Yunfei said to Huang Shang. As a ghost cultivator skilled in various profound and mysterious Ghost Dao techniques and adept at concealment, even a Soul Formation Realm expert would find it extremely difficult to seize the Phantom Tower from him.
"Alright," Huang Shang nodded.
"I need to improve my own strength as well," Ye Yunfei mused. He entered the Phantom Tower, found a quiet corner, set up an isolation formation, and began working on breaking through his Spiritual Power realm. With a group of martial artists now cultivating within, the Phantom Tower wasn't as serene as before.
One day later, Ye Yunfei broke through to the late-stage Great Mystic Pill Realm.
Though his combat power increased slightly with this advancement, Ye Yunfei understood that from now on, he would face Soul Formation Realm experts! Especially the Aoyue Demon King!
"To achieve a breakthrough in physical cultivation, I must find a batch of highly refined bloodline essences to cultivate the Tian Mo Blood-Tempering Art, or collect a massive quantity of wood-attribute energy to cultivate the Jia Mu Qing Emperor Body. Both are somewhat difficult at present. This is a shortcoming of all body-tempering techniques in this world: the higher the level attained, the more precious the required materials become. As for my Spiritual Power realm, if I wished, I could break through to extremely high realms in a short period.
But after rebirth, this body is only about twenty years old, lacking sufficient foundation. If my Spiritual Power realm advances too rapidly, it will inevitably leave flaws later, hindering long-term development. Therefore, if I want to rapidly improve my combat power, I have no choice but to rely on techniques and martial skills," Ye Yunfei murmured to himself.
"The Five Elements Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation, the Nine Palaces Totem Wheel, Sword Flight Arts, the Nine-Yang Scripture, Flying Immortal Sword Thrust, and spatial energy…" Ye Yunfei carefully reviewed the several martial skills and techniques he was currently cultivating.
"The Five Elements Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation is a powerful martial skill. I should go collect a batch of artifact-grade materials to upgrade my five Spirit Swords by reforging them. At the same time, I need to gather a batch of cultivation resources to cultivate the Nine Palaces Totem Wheel. Its power is, at the very least, equal to the Sword Formation, if not greater. Collecting artifact-grade materials and resources requires a significant amount of crystal stones. It seems I need to auction some pills," Ye Yunfei concluded.
Returning to the Tianxuan Continent, Ye Yunfei had left a large batch of cultivation resources for Hudao Academy and his Ye Family, and recently he had refined a vast quantity of pills. Consequently, his personal wealth was nearly depleted! He had to find a way to make money again!
As an alchemist, Ye Yunfei's first thought was naturally to sell pills. Thus, he refined a few exceptionally high-level Dao Pills, left the underground base, and headed towards a large city in Tian Province.