Huangfu Bing'er nodded upon hearing Zong Ye Qin speak, finally grasping why the Nine-Tailed Fox and Three-Legged Crow, the two Great Demon Sages of the Demon Realm, would suddenly appear in the Eastern Sea Cultivation World and even destroy Black Sand Immortal City. Only that gray egg Ye Qin mentioned, and the mysterious, peculiar Purple Mansion space it contained, could motivate the two Great Demon Sages to take such a drastic action.

Many of her previous doubts were now cleared. "That floating island space is unimaginably useful for cultivators.

Just as Husband said, with enough spirit stones, one could obtain dozens of Vermilion Fruits. Husband, I, my father, Second Mother, and the core cultivators of Qingdan Palace could all rapidly ascend to the late Nascent Soul stage in a very short time." Although pleased, Huangfu Bing'er also felt a touch of worry.

"However, rapidly boosting our cultivation after consuming the Vermilion Fruits will likely invite external suspicion. If news of the fruits leaks out, it will bring immense trouble!" "With the Demon Sages appearing in the Eastern Sea Cultivation World, the East Sea will soon descend into chaos.

This catastrophe may not subside soon. We must take some risks and rapidly enhance our own strength to ensure our safety." Ye Qin gave a wry smile.

"Only you and I know about these Vermilion Fruits; we must try our best to prevent any leaks. Additionally, I plan to refine the fruit pulp into Origin Energy Pills, mixing them with other spiritual herbs to significantly dilute their potency—to just one-tenth of the original effect.

This way, those who consume them will merely believe they are rare elixirs." Ye Qin sighed softly. "Once Qingdan Palace acquires the necessary spirit stones, I will begin planting the Vermilion Fruit trees in the Wood Mansion.

Bing'er, prepare a list including your father, Second Mother, Shen Bao, Yan Xuan, Bie Ran, and about ten other core Golden Core cultivators from Qingdan Palace—they must be absolutely trustworthy individuals. After refining the Origin Energy Pills, the core cultivators will receive them for free.

Of course, other disciples can purchase them at lower tiers. I only hope the Qingdan Palace cultivators can preserve their strength as much as possible through this great tribulation." He regretted that Xiu'er practiced divine power and could not benefit from these elixirs.

According to Ye Qin's wishes, he would not risk exposing the Vermilion Fruits by having the general Qingdan Palace cultivators consume the actual fruits. However, Qingdan Palace originated from the Qingdan Immortal Sect in the Central Lands—his former sect—and its disciples were all familiar faces; he couldn't simply abandon them, hence this compromise.

"Understood." Huangfu Bing'er nodded solemnly. Her Husband had made his decision; her role was simply to execute the plan flawlessly.

After returning to Qingdan Palace, Ye Qin remained in seclusion, rarely emerging except for occasional trips to the market pavilions. All affairs were managed by Huangfu Bing'er.

The tens of thousands of high-grade spirit stones stored in the Qingdan Palace treasury were directly absorbed by Ye Qin into his Purple Mansion to cultivate the Vermilion Fruit trees. Yet, such a massive amount of spirit stones only allowed the trees to grow to a height of several zhang, without even budding.

Fortunately, the Qingdan Palace cultivators selling elixirs in the outside world began bringing back large quantities of high-grade spirit stones, depositing them into the palace treasury. Ye Qin took all these spirit stones into his Purple Mansion to nurture the trees.

Simultaneously, Ye Qin continued to consume the Vermilion Fruit pulp obtained from the Demon Realm, cultivating and raising his power. His current Fourth Layer Nascent Soul was still too low; he was merely an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator in the Eastern Sea Cultivation World.

A month passed. The Blood Sea descended into chaos.

Following the destruction of Black Sand City, Blood Sea Immortal City was also annihilated by the Demon Sages. The entire Eastern Sea Cultivation World was deeply shocked and plunged into immense panic.

The two major Immortal Alliances of the Eastern Sea decided to abandon the cities in the Blood Sea and begin a large-scale retreat from the area. It could be said the Eastern Sea Cultivation World was utterly chaotic.

However, none of this concerned Ye Qin. Ye Qin remained focused on cultivation and had now broken through to the Sixth Layer Nascent Soul.

Such a frighteningly fast rate of advancement was unheard of in the Eastern Sea Cultivation World; if other cultivators knew, they would surely go mad with jealousy. Fortunately, Ye Qin spent most of his time in seclusion within the palace, rarely venturing out.

Few external Nascent Soul cultivators knew Ye Qin, so there was no way for them to learn of his progress. As for the disciples within Qingdan Palace, they were very familiar with Ye Qin, but they were all Golden Core cultivators and dared not pry into the cultivation of an Ancestor-level figure like him.

They could only perceive that Ye Qin’s aura was becoming increasingly profound as he advanced from early to mid-Nascent Soul, but they did not know his specific stage. Over this past month, Qingdan Palace's finances were nearly depleted.

The vast majority of finished elixirs had been exchanged for spirit stones, which flowed into Ye Qin's Purple Mansion. The various Qingdan Palace cultivators lived somewhat frugally, facing shortages even in daily operational expenses, and even the cost of refining elixirs was becoming strained.

Some cultivators within the palace even began to complain and wonder why the palace's finances were suddenly so tight. This information soon reached Ye Qin’s ears.

Unable to provide a detailed explanation, he could only use the authority of the Great Elder of Qingdan Palace to command the cultivators to bear with it temporarily. However, all these sacrifices were worthwhile.

Ye Qin observed his Purple Mansion with his divine sense, his joy growing daily. Nurtured by hundreds of thousands of high-grade spirit stones, a single Vermilion Fruit tree in the Wood Mansion had flowered and borne fruit, yielding thirteen Vermilion Fruits at once.

These fruits were ripe, emitting a faint purple-pink mist, with an extremely rich fragrance, ready for immediate consumption. Ye Qin picked these dozen-plus fruits, giving one to Huangfu Bing'er to consume directly to boost her cultivation.

Overjoyed upon receiving the fruit, Huangfu Bing'er handed over palace affairs to Huangfu Rui and officially entered seclusion to forcefully raise her cultivation using the Vermilion Fruit. Given several months, this single fruit would be enough to push her to the peak of late Nascent Soul, with some pulp left over.

Ye Qin kept the remaining twelve fruits for refining Origin Energy Pills. The Vermilion Fruit only appeared in certain cultivation records, classified as a legendary supreme spiritual item.

In the Eastern Sea Cultivation World, no alchemist had ever managed to refine it into an elixir, meaning there was no existing formula. But this did not stump Ye Qin; as a Grandmaster Alchemist, his refining experience was vast, and formulating his own recipe was entirely possible.

By incorporating dozens of other rare spiritual herbs into the formula, he could successfully confuse onlookers, making it difficult for outside cultivators to discern the elixir’s true composition. Ye Qin intended to disperse the energy of one Vermilion Fruit across three hundred elixirs.

This way, the medicinal effects would be widely dispersed, preventing them from being too shocking. Even so, the energy contained within a single Origin Energy Pill would be immense, sufficient to rapidly advance a Golden Core cultivator’s strength—advancing one layer within a month was entirely achievable.

On this day, Ye Qin arrived at the Pill Refining Chamber of Qingdan Palace to begin the process of refining his Origin Energy Pills. Qingdan Palace specialized in alchemy, possessing numerous refining chambers and high-quality cauldrons.

Upon learning that Ye Qin was developing an entirely new spiritual elixir, the Golden Core cultivators and Foundation Establishment disciples of Qingdan Palace were delighted and incredibly excited, gathering outside the refining chamber to await the results. After all, Ye Qin's miraculous alchemy skills were what the Qingdan disciples admired most.

However, Ye Qin rarely refined elixirs within the palace to showcase his art, leaving the disciples with no chance to witness it. Three days later, Ye Qin opened the tightly sealed stone door of the refining chamber with a smile, appearing before the gathered Qingdan Palace cultivators.

Just by looking at Ye Qin's expression, it was clear that his newly developed elixir had been successfully forged. "Congratulations, Martial Uncle Ye!

The elixir is a grand success! Quickly, give me one to try." From the crowd of Qingdan Palace members, Shen Bao eagerly rushed forward, shouting excitedly.

Huangfu Rui, Sun Ran, and the other supervisors nearby glared at Shen Bao, rolling their eyes, unwilling to stoop to his level over such a minor matter. "Here is a small gourd of the newly refined Origin Energy Pills.

You may collect them based on your contributions to the Immortal Palace. All supervisors in the palace will receive one for free.

Furthermore, if any other cultivator wishes to acquire more, they can purchase them at cost price—limited to one per month—at a price of one hundred high-grade spirit stones each." Ye Qin smiled faintly and handed the small gourd of pills to his father-in-law, Huangfu Rui, for distribution. Huangfu Rui, having served as the Great Elder of the Qingdan Sect, held immense prestige.

When Huangfu Bing'er was in seclusion, he handled many of the palace's affairs. "One hundred high-grade spirit stones per Origin Energy Pill?" Huangfu Rui stared blankly at the small gourd in his hand.

All the Qingdan Palace cultivators gasped in amazement. Among them, the highest were at the Ninth Layer Golden Core, and the lowest were at the Foundation Establishment stage.

Many Foundation Establishment cultivators might not earn a single high-grade spirit stone in a month. Even for a Golden Core cultivator, earning one hundred high-grade spirit stones was no easy feat.

"These are high-tier elixirs refined for Nascent Soul cultivators, naturally they are expensive. However, Golden Core cultivators can crush the elixir and consume it slowly." Ye Qin simply chuckled, offering no further explanation.

This was the internal price for Qingdan Palace; he was selling them at cost. Outsiders would never secure an Origin Energy Pill at this price.

After settling matters at Qingdan Palace, Ye Qin proceeded to the market pavilion in White Floating City, heading toward the Heavenly Dao Merchant Guild. A month prior, Ye Qin had commissioned the largest merchant guild in White Floating City, the Heavenly Dao Merchant Guild, to forge small-divine-ability-grade flying swords for him.

Simultaneously, he commissioned the repair of the Great Wing Warship that was damaged while passing through the passage to the Demon Realm. The raw materials and the transformed demon spirits serving as the weapon spirits required for small-divine-ability-grade flying sword artifacts were astronomically valuable.

Likewise, the forging methods and conditions demanded extremely high standards. Ye Qin possessed some knowledge of artifact refining, but he was not a master smith, and he could no longer meet the requirements for forging small-divine-ability-grade flying swords.

Moreover, he urgently needed the flying swords and did not have sufficient time to forge the five swords himself. The fastest method was undoubtedly commissioning master smiths specializing in this craft to forge the small-divine-ability-grade swords on his behalf.

Furthermore, to forge five Five Elements flying swords of the small-divine-ability grade within a single month, even with the raw materials ready, was not something a single master smith could accomplish. Only the Heavenly Dao Pavilion, known as the foremost merchant guild in the Eastern Sea, possessed the capability to coordinate five master smiths to forge them concurrently.

Master smiths were almost all members of the Elder Council of the Heavenly Dao Alliance, holding highly revered positions. Mobilizing five master smiths to forge swords was no simple task.

If they were unwilling to work, mere money might not convince them. Or, they might defer the work for three to five months until they had a free slot.

Only someone like Ye Qin, a Grandmaster Alchemist and also a member of the Heavenly Dao Alliance Elder Council, had the prestige to commission five custom small-divine-ability-grade flying swords within a mere month. Those master smiths valued Ye Qin's top-tier elixirs.

Ultimately, the Heavenly Dao Merchant Guild merely served as a venue for trade and exchange—a mutual benefit swap between the Grandmaster Alchemists and Master Smiths of the Heavenly Dao Alliance.