Under the guidance of Qin Yi and Zhang Jianlin, Yaoguang met Zhao Siliang, the sect master of the Nine Heavens Domain branch.

This great cultivator, who had established a Dao Foundation and ignited his Truefire, showed great enthusiasm toward Yaoguang’s arrival. He personally assisted Yaoguang with a series of procedures. Within just two days, Yaoguang joined the Nine Cauldrons Sect and completed his induction as the chief of the Purple Firmament Institute.

The following day, accompanied by Zhang Jianlin, Qin Yadong, and Lin Sen, Yaoguang arrived at the Purple Firmament Institute.

As the only production center in Longxiang City that had the equipment needed to make life-bound flying swords, the two high-tier artifact refiners, Qin Yadong and Lin Sen, naturally held titles within the institute. One served as a high-level consultant, while the other was a standard consultant.

When the group arrived at the Purple Firmament Institute, several high-level officers had already prepared the relevant materials. Among them, Xiang Guangming, the chief officer, introduced the specific data regarding the institute.

"Including off-site personnel, the Purple Firmament Institute has a total of 16 high-tier refiners, 82 refiners, and 1362 apprentices," Xiang Guangming reported.

"Last year, the institute received orders for 84 flying swords, bringing in 2800 spirit stones. After deducting material costs and various expenses, we had a net loss of 1824 spirit stones.

"The sect provides an annual allocation of two thousand eighty spirit stones.

"After subtracting expenses for hospitality, wear and tear, and other costs, the current balance of spirit stones on the books is 103."

Xiang Guangming spent over an hour completing the information briefing for the Purple Firmament Institute.

After he finished, Zhang Jianlin turned to Yaoguang. "The sect master knows your current situation is difficult. He specially approved three hundred spirit stones to be credited to the account. He hopes you will perform well over the next four years and lead the Purple Firmament Institute through the current hardships, so it can avoid being downgraded."

Yaoguang nodded.

The Nine Cauldrons Sect’s Artifact Refinement Hall managed various branches that produced numerous refined artifacts and spirit artifacts, including flying swords, battle armor, and combat equipment. Depending on their importance and scale, these were categorized into sect-level key artifact refinement institutes directly under the Artifact Refinement Hall, branch-level institutes, city-level institutes, and basic-level institutes.

As a branch-level artifact refinement institute, the Purple Firmament Institute’s annual allocation fluctuated between 1500 and 3000 stones. This figure was roughly comparable to the annual revenue of the Hundred-Refinement Sect. Of course, that was only when the income of the great cultivator Zong Lian was included. Otherwise, the Hundred-Refinement Sect’s annual profit would have been a few hundred spirit stones at most.

"I will leave the Purple Firmament Institute in your hands. Don't be too pressured, and don't let artifact refinement cause you to neglect your cultivation, especially your psyche refinement," Zhang Jianlin said with a smile. "If you feel stuck in your artifact refinement right now, it might not be because your refinement skills are lacking, but because your cultivation level has not kept pace. Trust me, once your psyche refinement reaches the realm of a high-tier cultivator, you will find artifact refinement much more manageable."

"I hope it turns out as you say," Yaoguang replied with a slight nod.

"Alright, I will not disturb you any longer. I shall take my leave," Zhang Jianlin said.

As a great cultivator at the Primordial Psyche Realm, Zhang Jianlin naturally had his own matters to attend to. Yaoguang had Qin Yadong see him out on his behalf.

Yaoguang knew Zhang Jianlin’s advice made sense. If his Psyche Dao realm could break through to the Primordial Psyche Realm, his work in artifact refinement would indeed become much easier. However...

"403 spirit stones." That was the total amount of spirit stones he currently had at his disposal. But clearly, these stones could not be used for himself alone.

He turned his gaze to Xiang Guangming, who stood nearby. "How many types of the Purple Firmament flying swords are we currently producing?"

"Six in total: the speed type, the killing type, the stability type, the aesthetic type..."

"Wait, aesthetic type? Someone actually dares to use an aesthetic-focused sword as a life-bound flying sword?"

"Uh... yes..." Xiang Guangming lowered his voice slightly. "Furthermore, out of the eighty-four flying sword orders last year, eighteen were aesthetic types. It was the second best-selling model."

Yaoguang was speechless for a moment before saying, "Where are the files for the flying swords?"

"Right here." Xiang Guangming took out a box containing over a dozen jade talismans.

Yaoguang nodded. "You may go back to your work now."

"Alright," Xiang Guangming replied, but then added, "Chief, do you have a candidate in mind for your life assistant? Or do you have any specific requirements?"

"I have made arrangements," Yaoguang said.

"Understood." Xiang Guangming was not surprised. For a high-tier cultivator who was nearly an artifact refinement master, it was perfectly normal to have close, trusted followers.

Shortly after Xiang Guangming left, Qin Yadong and Lin Sen returned. Qin Yadong stepped forward and presented a jade box. "It was thanks to you, Chief Yaoguang, that we successfully overcame the energy-saving issues of the Immortal Shadow 60. Please accept this small token of appreciation."

Yaoguang swept his psychic thought over the box. It contained exactly one hundred spirit stones. It was not a small amount.

"I happen to be short on spirit stones. Thank you," Yaoguang said.

"You earned this, Chief Yaoguang," Qin Yadong said with a smile. He then continued, "Though it might be a bit forward of me to ask, the Immortal Shadow Artifact Refinement Institute was very satisfied with your improvement plan. Additionally... Chief An Zhe would like to invite you to join the continued development and refinement of the Immortal Shadow 60. I wonder if you could find the time?"

"Of course." Yaoguang smiled.

"Excellent! I will contact Chief An Zhe immediately to arrange a meeting in the Void Psychic World." Qin Yadong was all smiles.

Yaoguang was also satisfied. His hard work on the Immortal Shadow 60 had not been in vain; the time for his reward had finally arrived.

Although the Immortal Shadow 50 had not performed well in the market, its reputation was far from insignificant.

Compared to the 50 series, the performance of the 60 series had improved significantly across the board. Most notably, its achievement in reaching Cangwu's advanced level in terms of spiritual energy consumption was worthy of high praise. If the power, balancing, and stability systems could be further refined, cultivators of the Nine Cauldrons Sect would undoubtedly choose their internally produced flying swords over those from external sects, provided the functionality and price remained equal.

Once that happened, the sales volume of the Immortal Shadow 60 would see a substantial increase. Sales naturally translated into reputation. With that fame established, the orders for the new Purple Firmament model would surely not be limited to a mere double-digit figure when it eventually hit the market.

Through Qin Yadong’s introduction, Yaoguang engaged in discussions with the chief of the Immortal Shadow Institute within the Void Psychic World. Several hours later, An Zhe sent over the detailed data for the Immortal Shadow 60.

Yaoguang went to his private office and projected the Immortal Shadow 60 onto a workbench engraved with numerous array patterns.

"An eighth-tier refined artifact; optimizing it shouldn't be difficult," Yaoguang said with a slight smile.

If he committed to a thorough optimization, he could easily push the performance of this flying sword into the ninth tier. If a ninth-tier product he optimized were to be made available at an eighth-tier price, while being produced by the Nine Cauldrons Sect itself, his reputation would be established instantly.

With a smile, he immersed his psychic mind into his mental world. Within that mental world, three branches flourished with lush foliage. The most prominent was the Martial Dao branch, followed by the Psyche Dao and Refiner branches.

"My progress in the Martial Dao has almost completely stalled recently. It remains at 81% of the second form, the Heavenly Star..."

Meteor Star, Heavenly Star, Primary Star. These three forms represented three types of potential, much like Foundation Building, Dao Foundation, and immortal foundation within the qi refinement system.

In the outside world, star lords were divided into five tiers. A first-tier practitioner was a Meteor Star at the early stage who could integrate into a stellar force field. A second-tier was a middle-stage Meteor Star who had nurtured their own stellar force field. A third-tier was a late-stage star lord who had forged a stellar god-fiend body. Beyond that, a fourth-tier star lord possessed Heavenly Star potential and had cultivated a god-fiend body, while a fifth-tier star lord possessed Primary Star potential and a god-fiend body.

The Foundation Building Realm followed a similar pattern: cultivating true origin, forming an inner core, and igniting Truefire. These were the three stages of Foundation Building cultivation. However, only those who established an immortal foundation and ignited Truefire were considered fifth-tier. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Once a Dao Foundation is established, the Truefire within the body can be used to ignite the inner core, which resembles a liquid planet, causing nuclear fusion to occur and allowing one to attempt the breakthrough to the Golden Core Realm. This step is certain death for ordinary Foundation Building cultivators, and even for those with a Dao Foundation, it is a narrow escape from death, Yaoguang thought.

It is said that back then, over ninety percent of Golden Core cultivators were sacrificed. The path to the Golden Core Realm was paved with the blood of countless predecessors, which was the only reason the invasion of the Lunar Fiend Empire was stopped...

Since he had not grown a Qi Refiner branch, he was unable to follow that path of cultivation. However, since he already possessed the Martial Dao branch, he would first take that path to its end. But...

I have 503 spirit stones, but most of them do not belong to me. Based on the nutrients currently held by the Merchant branch, I cannot even achieve a breakthrough in the Refiner branch, let alone the Martial Dao. In that case... As he kept thinking, Yaoguang focused his attention on the Psyche Dao branch.

In the next moment, the branch grew rapidly! Its progress climbed steadily toward 100% until it finally blossomed and bore fruit.

Almost at the exact moment the Psyche Dao branch reached completion and bore fruit, symbolizing the Primordial Psyche Realm, Yaoguang’s psychic thought surged. It began to aggregate spontaneously, attempting to solidify into a phantom.

However, his psychic thought at the sixth realm of psyche refinement was ultimately too weak. Before the primordial psyche phantom could fully form, it ran out of strength and was forced to dissipate.

Nevertheless, this anomaly stirred something in Yaoguang’s heart. "As expected, in the Psyche Dao system, the realm is more important than raw power..."

He had a premonition that as long as he raised his psychic thought to the seventh realm of psyche refinement, he would be able to condense a primordial psyche ahead of time. Although his primordial psyche would be incredibly weak due to his weak psychic thought, with a perception range likely limited to only a dozen kilometers around him, it would still possess all the mystical qualities of a true primordial psyche.

"The Psyche Dao..." Yaoguang sighed. He could not let the Psyche Dao overshadow his main path.

With the experience previously shared by Leng Tianfeng, he was well aware of the various mysteries of the primordial psyche. After taking a moment to digest this knowledge, he turned his attention to the Dao Fruit that had condensed when his Psyche Dao broke through the ninth tier.

"The last Dao Fruit was Split Psyche, which gave me the foundation to practice multiple paths. I hope this one will upgrade that ability." Yaoguang mused.

However, he knew such a thought was somewhat unrealistic; dual cultivation was never that simple. Indeed, the result did not surprise him. The new Dao Fruit was...

"Psyche King?" Yaoguang sensed its power for a moment and was left astonished. His psychic thought could now form a resonance with the psychic thought, the psychic consciousness, and the psychic will of other cultivators. This allowed him to coordinate and unify the power of everyone’s psyche as if he were commanding a legion of soldiers.