"This is the income report for the past few years for our Great Qian, along with the inventory of all accumulated spiritual materials."

Zong Shou casually took the list from Hu Zhongyuan, knowing that it was most likely Ren Bo and Zhang Huai who had sent Hu Zhongyuan to deliver it. A trace of his spiritual sense swept over it as he began to focus on reading, though in truth, he didn't pay it much mind.

Zong Shou hadn't involved himself in the governance of the Great Qian of the Cloud Realm for several years now.

He had no idea what the annual revenue was, the current state of the spirit stone mines across various regions, the supply of artifact-refining materials, or spiritual herbs. He knew nothing of how much the military forces had expanded.

He only vaguely knew that things seemed to be growing very quickly. After exhausting the deposits of Blood Essence Divine Iron, the Blood Cloud Cavalry had expanded to a massive force of twenty thousand, with another twenty-seven thousand sets of Blood Cloud Cavalry armor still sitting in storage without owners.

The simplified versions, the Celestial Dipper Soldiers and Celestial Dipper Crimson Crossbowmen, had grown to a scale of three hundred and sixty thousand.

With the increase in Innate Realm experts, the Yellow Tier Dao Soldiers were also being organized. According to Qiu Wei's intention, they planned to raise sixty thousand at once.

The number of Spirit Realm retainers now stood at over ninety, and there were even fourteen Immortal Realm cultivators.

He truly wondered how Great Qian could afford all of this now?

To make such massive investments in military strength, how had the Deliberative Hall not objected?

Zong Shou shook his head inwardly, but as the information within the jade talisman was completely imprinted upon his mind by his divine sense, he was suddenly slightly startled.

"A yield of seven thousand nine hundred Low-Grade Immortal Stones annually? Is this true?"

Immortal Stones must be condensed and refined from ordinary spirit stones by cultivators above the Spirit Realm. And behind every single Immortal Stone lies the consumption of spirit stones calculated in the millions.

Seven thousand nine hundred Low-Grade Immortal Stones—even with the three Middle-Thousand Worlds under his command now, the total output was only about that much.

Hu Zhongyuan looked rather confused and glanced at Zong Shou.

He recalled that Great Qian sent informational talismans to the Yuan Lian Realm for reporting every month.

Not thinking too deeply, he excitedly said, "It is all due to the great surge of the spiritual tide. In these past four years, across just two Cloud Continents, forty-four large and medium-sized mines have been newly discovered. Now, the real problem is a shortage of mining manpower! These seven thousand nine hundred Immortal Stones are all surplus! Since spiritual stone reserves suffer losses, the various Prime Ministers consulted and requested that the domestic retainers refine nearly half of the excess spirit stones into Immortal Stones. Furthermore, according to Zhang Huai, next year's income should still double!"

Zong Shou's mouth opened slightly, unable to close.

In other words, the income from just the Cloud Realm could offset ninety percent of the annual revenue from all of Great Qian's territories outside the Cloud Realm?

A feeling of listlessness immediately washed over him. All the territory he had fought tooth and nail to claim in the Outer Domain, and its annual revenue was less than that of the Cloud Realm at this moment?

Kong Yao, Zhang Huai, and the others, resisting the restraints and pressure from the various sects and teachings, forcefully secured the Southern Wind Cloud Continent. Then, south of the Central Cloud Continent, they expanded the territory by tens of thousands of miles.

This nearly doubled the territory of Great Qian, and their achievements truly seemed no less than his own.

Truly worthy of being called the paramount Great-Thousand World, known as the 'Immortal Realm'!

The only strange thing was that according to his 'past life' memories, the spiritual energy of the Cloud Realm, and the yield of spirit stones, should not have exploded like this.

Could it be that this was also due to him? That the spiritual tide began its full bloom decades ahead of schedule?

He, this butterfly, had only flapped his wings a few times, attempting to alter his own destiny, yet he had stirred up a massive storm.

With the massive increase in spirit stones, other artifact-refining materials and spiritual herbs naturally also saw explosive growth.

However, because the time elapsed was still short, many rare treasures had not truly matured as their required years had not passed.

But even from the names and quantities listed in this jade talisman, the sheer scope was still shocking to Zong Shou!

Compared to the Cloud Realm, the Tian Fang World at this time was truly not even worth mentioning—

No wonder so many extraterritorial alien races from antiquity coveted this place.

There was a vast amount of information in this talisman. Even with Zong Shou's cultivation, his divine sense only swept through it for a moment before he finished browsing everything.

He couldn't help but secretly mock himself. For a monarch to be in his position was truly bizarre.

"This was entrusted to me by the Duke of the State to hand over to Your Majesty before I departed. The Duke's intention is to expand the army by another five hundred thousand next year: one hundred thousand Yellow Tier Dao Soldiers, increasing the number of Blood Cloud Cavalry to five thousand, and establishing an additional fifteen thousand Black Fox Iron Cavalry!"

Hu Zhongyuan spoke while cautiously watching Zong Shou's expression.

"Seeing that chaos is imminent in the Cloud Realm, our Great Qian must increase its military strength to protect our sovereign territory. Great Qian can fully afford it now. However, this proposal was obstructed by the Deliberative Hall and could not pass. Prime Minister Ren agrees, but he couldn't persuade several of the councilors, so it had to be shelved."

Fifteen thousand Black Fox Iron Cavalry? One hundred thousand Yellow Tier Dao Soldiers?

Zong Shou sucked in a sharp breath. Qiu Wei truly had grand ambitions!

But after a careful calculation, if the output of spirit stones could double again next year,

It was indeed affordable—

At that time, the Cloud Realm alone would have one hundred and sixty thousand Celestial Dipper Soldiers and Celestial Dipper Crimson Crossbowmen, and a massive force of fifty thousand Black Tier Dao Soldiers.

This strength would not be insignificant. When Xiang Wang started his sweep across the world with twenty thousand troops, it was no more than this!

With such a magnificent army, breaking through the Great Shang would be as easy as turning over a hand!

But as soon as this thought arose, Zong Shou shook his head again.

The territory he ruled was like this, but the territory under the jurisdiction of the Great Shang and its vassal states was ten times larger than Great Qian!

The dividends brought by the spiritual tide would only be even greater for the Great Shang!

The increase in Dao Soldier numbers would only be more significant.

He established the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty thinking he had the capital to contend with the Great Shang, but unexpectedly, in just a few years, the national strength of the Great Shang had also surged by at least tenfold!

His heart filled with emotion. Zong Shou didn't even need to consider Qiu Wei's proposal for military expansion in detail before approving it.

It was abundantly clear that the current Cloud Realm was only half a step away from a chaotic era, needing only a single spark.

Qiu Wei possessing such foresight, preparing for trouble before it arrived, truly comforted him.

Temporarily engaging in reckless military buildup was unavoidable—

"The proposal for military expansion is viable! The specifics still require discussion."

After speaking, Zong Shou tossed a jade pendant to Hu Zhongyuan: "Take this and go see Yi Ren; she will make the necessary arrangements."

Hu Zhongyuan's face immediately lit up with irrepressible delight, knowing the matter was settled.

Zong Shou could appoint one-third of the councilors in the Deliberative Hall.

Qiu Wei sending him to see Zong Shou was precisely for this purpose.

And after Zong Shou departed, the one who directly controlled these councilors was Xuanyuan Yi Ren, who was completely obsessed with alchemy and rarely concerned herself with state affairs.

With the support of this faction of councilors, the military expansion proposal would not be obstructed... After inquiring further about the situation within the Cloud Realm, he learned that in Great Qian's territory, aside from the Central Continent, the newly occupied Southern Border still saw sporadic rebellions, but generally, there were no more military engagements.

Even the Southern Wind Cloud Continent was gradually calming down due to Great Qian's clean politics and lenient taxation.

With no immediate worries, Zong Shou left Hu Zhongyuan by the boundary river and flew away alone in the Demon-Warding Divine Shuttle. While flying, he quietly praised.

"This boy, Zong Yuan, his father truly did not misjudge him—"

While everyone else was striding forward into the Spirit Realm, only Zong Yuan patiently held back, stopping right before the Spirit Realm, allowing others to surpass him. He caught up step by step in the path of Spiritual Arts, reaching the Ninth Stage realm over several years. Then, during a battle, he mastered the path of Spirit and Martial Unification, using this to break through into the Spirit Realm in one go. Although he started a few years later than others, his potential was even more limitless. Now, due to long accumulation, he was advancing by leaps and bounds.

Compared to him, while the others progressed rapidly, they lacked a certain brilliance.

The Demon-Warding Divine Shuttle had become Zong Shou's trademark. Upon nearing the Cloud Realm, Zong Shou stopped using it, switching to sword flight and adopting the appearance of Tan Qiu.

The disguise artifact given to him by Wei Xu back then was naturally outdated now.

But now, Zong Shou himself was a master of Illusion Arts. With the Black Fox divine ability, the Blood Eye Illusory Technique, and the Illusion Heart Realm, once he changed his appearance, he was no different from a Sage Venerable of the Zenith Realm; one who wasn't paying close attention might not recognize him.

As he approached the Cloud Realm, he could sense more than a dozen divine senses sweeping toward him from all directions. Some identified him and withdrew, while others lingered around him. Most carried cold malice, and Zong Shou could vaguely feel the pity and mockery in the minds of these divine sense masters.

Zong Shou ignored them all and continued flying toward the direction of the Azure Life Dao.

"Since Martial Uncle Yuan Jing and Martial Uncle Fan Meng have both returned to the Cloud Realm, then that girl should be back too, right? Haven't seen her in years, I miss her quite a bit—"

The person he was thinking of was Su Chuxue. Without that girl around, life seemed to lack a great deal of fun, even in their usual teasing and jesting.

Approaching the outer perimeter of the Azure Life Dome, he could already sense the atmosphere of extreme tension. All the magic arrays and restrictions were fully deployed, and pairs of patrolling cultivators guarded the exterior. Even Zong Shou was halted outside the restrictive formation.

Fortunately, quite a few recognized the former Chief Disciple of the Azure Life Academy. After confirming it wasn't an imposter, they granted him passage.

And just as Zong Shou was about to step into the Azure Life Dome, he saw several figures waiting outside. Two of them were Zhao Yanran and Xuan Yunlan, who had returned ahead of him. The other three: one was Han Fang, now vibrant and full of life, his white hair having turned black—clearly having passed his tribulation and attained the Saint Realm. The figure in the center was Wei Xu, the current Lord of the Azure Life Dao, seated on the high throne. The last one was Ming Yu, whom he had met once.

Three Saints waiting for him, the Lord himself waiting—this was the highest form of courtesy.

"Junior Brother, you truly shouldn't have returned this time!"

As Zong Shou arrived, Wei Xu turned around and walked alongside him, his expression showing a trace of displeasure. "Your intentions are good, and Senior Brother is deeply grateful. But this action is completely unnecessary. The Yuan Lian World is now the sole retreat for the Azure Life Dao; it requires your care in the future and cannot tolerate the slightest error. Why involve yourself in this turmoil at such a time?"

Zong Shou frowned upon hearing this. Had this Wei Xu already become so dispirited and lethargic? In a situation like this, how could he even talk about transcending tribulation?

A breath of resentment welled up in his chest, and Zong Shou's tone instantly turned cold.

"Then this time, Senior Brother Wei won't contribute anything? Not even the courage to fight to the death? Have you completely lost hope?"

Wei Xu was momentarily stunned and looked closely at Zong Shou.

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