Modern World's Martial Dao Human Immortal

Chief!?

What does that mean!?

Is this title something that can be used so casually!?

Chief, the foremost ranking position.

It often represents the leader of a department or a unit.

Alkaid applied for a position in Purple Cloud Courtyard, and moreover, is called the Chief!?

He is the Chief of Purple Cloud Courtyard!?

This...

How is that possible!?

Purple Cloud Courtyard, that is a Sub-sect Level Artifact Refining Court.

Directly administered by the Artifact Refining Hall.

The weigh of such a Chief of an artifact refining court could rank among the top across Longxiang City, sitting on par with their sect leader of Hundred Refinements Sect.

Alkaid had just joined Nine Cauldrons Sect, how could he possibly take up such an important role!?

Unfortunately, while she was dumbfounded, Alkaid had already left the Hundred Refinements Sect, and Huang Yunqi couldn't bring herself to chase after him and ask.

She could only covertly inquire about it afterward.

...

"Zong Yan and Ji Baichuan are not in Hundred Refinements Sect?"

In the car, Alkaid asked.

"They both went to the capital early this morning to take an instructor certification exam, preparing for positions in higher education institutions, and should be back the day after tomorrow," Kong Xuan said.

Alkaid nodded, "Send them a message, to visit Purple Cloud Courtyard upon their return."

Since his arrival at Purple Cloud Courtyard, some key departments also needed to be staffed with people he could trust.

Kong Xuan was one.

Zong Yan could be considered another.

As for Ji Baichuan...

If he was willing to accept his arrangements, he could take a position as Deputy Head of the Security Department, but if he preferred applying to higher education institutions, Alkaid would respect his decision.

"Make a trip to Ascendant Tower."

Alkaid instructed.

The driver quickly changed lanes, and soon they stopped outside the Ascendant Tower.

Upon entering Ascendant Tower, Alkaid headed straight for the high-grade elixir area.

Carrying several hundred spirit stones, buying elixirs this time didn't require him to scrape together resources.

Of course, he only bought three bottles of Celestial Pills.

As for more advanced Immortal Golden Body Pills and Qi-condensing Pills...

Unless one day his assets reached ten thousand.

Otherwise, with his current wealth, using such top-tier elixirs for cultivation was extremely cost-ineffective.

"Cangwu Great World's artifact refining, alchemy, formations, and other industries are developing extremely fast. Three hundred years ago, spirit artifacts that were benchmarked against Foundation Establishment Great Cultivators had become commonplace.

Any Qi Refinement High-Rank Cultivator with a bit of assets could possess one, and even high-rank cultivators used superior-grade spirit artifacts, while in the realm of Foundation Establishment Great Cultivators... the ordinary ones used top-notch spirit artifacts, and the wealthy directly used magical treasures benchmarked against Golden Core True Persons.

This applies to artifact refining and alchemy alike," Alkaid pondered.

Given enough spirit stones, he could cultivate to Body Refinement Ninth Layer in a single day.

Even though moving from Body Refinement Ninth Layer to the great threshold of Star Master, with his current realm already achieved, he could cross it in three to five days.

And with sufficient spirit stones, his [Businessman] experience would also continually elevate his [Martial Path] realm...

Under their mutual enhancement, within a month or two, he would forge a Demonic God Body, and his combat strength would soar to the peak of Star Master.

...

Purple Cloud Courtyard spans over eight hundred thousand square meters, so space is not an issue.

The residence of the Chief is naturally spacious and luxurious.

It is divided into a main building and two auxiliary structures, and the outer courtyard consists of gardens, artificial hills, fountains—everything one could need.

There is even a small skyport.

The small skyport is specifically designated for docking flying boats.

This is an upgraded version of the hovering sedan, but each flying boat often retails for several hundred spirit stones. The better ones even cost several thousand spirit stones; it's not something everyone can afford.

Moreover, like flying swords, they are easy to buy but difficult to maintain.

The operating cost of a flying boat is much higher than that of a flying sword.

In the entire Nine Heavens Domain, there are no more than thirty people who own a flying boat.

...

The first-floor cultivation room.

Alkaid had just refined a Celestial Pill and was feeling the drug's effects...

"If not for maximizing the drug's effectiveness, taking one Celestial Pill a day... it would take a little over two months to reach Body Refinement Eighth Layer, but this process would roughly consume about three hundred spirit stones."

Three hundred spirit stones.

He could just barely afford that.

"Time itself represents life. In this world, even cultivators who have broken through to the Great Cultivator stage only live two to three hundred years. If they frequently engage in life and death battles, damaging their essence, there are Great Cultivators who die around a hundred years old.

Zong Lian is a prime example; he is now over one hundred twenty years old, having grown from battles among Foundation Establishment Cultivators. His lifespan... is at most another sixty years..."

Alkaid did the calculations. Stay tuned for updates on empire

If he slowly spent three to five years advancing to Star Master, by the time he reaches Star Master, he would have less than two hundred years of life left. How could he then live the life he desired?

"A millennium is too long; only seize the moment. Securing personal safety and environmental safety sooner allows for an earlier retirement to enjoy life."

Alkaid glanced at the brightly lit Purple Cloud Courtyard.

As long as the new production of "Purple Cloud" swords from Purple Cloud Courtyard had enough orders, there would be no worry about lacking spirit stones.

And to ensure everyone in Purple Cloud Courtyard was with him...

"Body Refinement not reaching Star Master, Divine Refinement not reaching high rank, not becoming a grand master in artifact refining... a bit lacking in weight, it would affect the prestige and the morale of the artifact refiners in Purple Cloud Courtyard...."

After a brief consideration, Alkaid had made up his mind.

"Then let's break through a realm; after all, advancing to Eighth Layer is close."

Alkaid pondered.

With that thought, he began to mobilize the qi and blood within his body, nourishing his mind and spirit, and meticulously transforming every bit of qi and blood force into Qi Refinement into Divine.

In less than half an hour...

His power of Divine Sense climbed to a new level.

"It's done, breakthrough achieved, Divine Refinement Seventh Layer," Alkaid said calmly without stirring any ripple.

In a situation where realms were already up to standard, Divine Refinement was much easier to achieve than Body Refinement.

After all, Divine Refinement leaned towards idealism. Once you understood, you truly understood, and the feedback was immediate.

As for Body Refinement...

Too materialistic.

Even if you understood, it wasn't enough; you still had to verify it bit by bit through practice.

"If it's the Seventh Layer of Divine Refinement..."

Alkaid recalled the anomaly when he broke through to the Primordial Spirit Realm in his "Divine Path"...

The next moment, the power of Divine Sense in his spiritual world began to condense, gradually forming a translucent phantom.

During this process, the phantom barely rippled, seemingly about to dissipate.

However, with Alkaid's precise control, the phantom ultimately completed its transformation and stabilized.

The features of the phantom were blurred, not clearly discernible, but it was somewhat similar to him, completely synchronized with his essence, and maintained by his very spirit.

Of course, the main consumption was still from the Divine Sense.

And this kind of consumption wasn't small for him.

With his newly achieved realm...

He could only maintain it for a few minutes.

But cultivating Divine Sense and sustaining a Primordial Spirit were two entirely different sensations.

Take sensing and perceiving as an example.

The former was akin to watching through a television...

There was still a screen in between.

But now...

It was almost like being personally at the site you wanted to sense and observe.

The clarity, the touch of senses other than vision, was within an arm's reach.

"Moreover, compared to scattered Divine Sense, the Primordial Spirit is completely coordinated into a whole, greatly improving its ability to resist risks and impacts, like the difference between a mob of disorganized people and a group of well-trained elite soldiers," Alkaid reflected quietly on this profound subtlety.

However, this kind of comprehension came at a cost.

The consumption of Divine Sense increased sharply.

A few minutes later, the Primordial Spirit that Alkaid had condensed dissipated back into Divine Sense, returning to the spiritual world, where it was nourished by the circulation of his qi and blood.

"Energy consumption," Alkaid remarked.

This was a problem faced by any cultivation system in today's world.

Body Cultivation and Divine Cultivation were somewhat manageable, but Sword Cultivation and Technique Cultivation were the real energy guzzlers.

Especially Technique Cultivation, with the constant improvement of techniques in today's world, a Foundation Establishment Technique Cultivator could release spells that were hundreds of years old at the Golden Core level, and some were even improved versions.

A single technique might deplete all the True Yuan inside them, necessitating rapid replenishment.

The same was true for Sword Cultivation.

Despite them patrolling the skies at supersonic speeds, as soon as they made a move, the consumption of spirit increased by several times, ten times, or even dozens of times.

A trip to the Eastern Sea could cost a dozen Spirit Stones.

Why was the Nine Cauldrons Sect known only as a major sect for Body Cultivation?

The low entry threshold for Body Cultivation was one reason, another was that the Energy Department's efficiency was poor, and the production of Spirit Stones was not high, unable to support so many Sword Cultivators.

...

The next morning.

Alkaid arrived at his workstation, operating the working bench.

Before long, major systems of the "Purple Cloud" Flying Sword were separated by the projection equipment on the desk and magnified into the void.

Alkaid inspected them one by one.

He finally came to a somewhat exasperated conclusion.

"Too poor."

The Purple Cloud Sword...

As a daily use flying sword, it was fine, but as a Lifebound Flying Sword, its performance was too poor.

"How could there possibly be more than eighty orders a year for such a flying sword?"

He was somewhat puzzled.

A brief check using his Chief's privileges over the order information, he quickly understood.

"The buyers are all wealthy middle-stage cultivators, hardly any high-stage cultivators."

Although the scarcest talent within the Nine Cauldrons was Divine Cultivation, Divine Cultivators acted behind the scenes, which could never compare to the thrill of Sword Cultivators on the front lines.

Just like many people prefer playing offensive roles in games, Sword Cultivation was everyone's first choice.

Moreover, Green Abyss Sword Control, soaring through the Nine Heavens, was extremely stylish.

In this context, many middle-stage cultivators wanted to train their Lifebound Flying Swords early on, to enjoy the thrill of sword flight.

Their cultivation couldn't support Spirit Artifact-level flying swords, so Superior Grade magic artifacts were their best choice.

Although poorly performing, the Purple Cloud was stylish.

Its appearance and special effects were definitely among the most attractive of all Lifebound Flying Swords, which was evident from the high sales of the aesthetically focused Purple Cloud Swords.

Stylish flying swords exactly catered to the likes of show-off rich second-generation Qi Refiners...

In the end, it was not surprising that the Purple Cloud, despite its poor performance, received more than eighty orders a year.

"Quite an insight," Alkaid exclaimed in realization.

After pondering for a while...

He had no intention of shutting down the production of aesthetically pleasing flying swords.

But in terms of quality...

"Who would use a Superior Grade magic artifact as their Lifebound Flying Sword? Only these showy second-generations. Anyone slightly emphasizing practicality would directly choose a Spirit Artifact."

Alkaid looked at the flying sword for a long while, then made a decision.

"Venture into the Spirit Artifact market."

The Nine Cauldrons Sect was starting to emphasize Sword Cultivator training, with a substantial number of high-level Sword Cultivators. If he could forge cost-effective Spirit Artifact flying swords, he could seize this opportunity and rise swiftly.