Chapter 1472: Accelerate the Deduction

The Wind Rises Across the Nine Provinces

As Lu Ye felt a headache coming on, Chu Shen approached him, his face beaming with a warm and enthusiastic smile. He cupped his hands from a distance and declared, "Chu Shen of the Hegemony Palace, greetings, fellow Daoist!"

"Hegemony Palace?" Lu Ye frowned slightly. "What kind of dreadful name is that? Aren't you afraid of getting beaten up when you go out?"

Chu Shen's eyebrows wiggled. "It's the kind of hegemony that just overflows!"

Lu Ye simply pretended not to understand such a blatant hint. As long as he didn't admit it, no one could mistake him for Fa Wuzun.

Chu Shen understood the sensitivity surrounding Fa Wuzun's identity. Even though he had confirmed that the person before him was Boss Fa, he wouldn't expose him since Boss Fa himself wasn't admitting it.

The only thing he didn't quite understand was how Boss Fa coincidentally appeared here. The last time he had sent a message, he'd wanted to invite Boss Fa to establish their base, but Boss Fa hadn't responded, leading him to believe it was a lost cause. Yet, here they were, meeting by chance today.

This was an opportunity he absolutely couldn't miss. He knew exactly how powerful Boss Fa was, and with him as their pillar, the Hegemony Palace's strength would undoubtedly increase by a substantial margin.

Not rushing to state his intentions, Chu Shen knew that Boss Fa wasn't easily swayed; being too eager would only backfire. He politely inquired, "May I ask your name, fellow Daoist?" He genuinely didn't know Boss Fa's real name, as "Fa Wuzun" was merely an alias.

Lu Ye glanced at him indifferently. "Li Taibai!"

"So it's Senior Brother Li," Chu Shen said respectfully. "Chu Shen offers his greetings!"

"What are you doing here?" Lu Ye asked. Although he already had a guess, he still needed to confirm.

Chu Shen replied, "It's like this, Senior Brother, our Hegemony Palace has decided to establish our base here. If Senior Brother is interested..."

"Find another place!" Lu Ye interrupted before Chu Shen could finish.

He still needed to wait for the power of the Small Star Palace to fully manifest here; how could he allow others to interfere? Besides, there were so many deserted islands on the Myriad Manifestation Sea. Chu Shen had many other options and didn't need to insist on this particular spot.

"Huh?" Chu Shen was momentarily stunned, then looked at Lu Ye with a pitiful expression. If anyone else had spoken to him like that, he would have already summoned Xiao Dai and the others to form a defensive array. But with Boss Fa's decree, how could he dare to object?

"Any objections?" Lu Ye asked, looking at him.

Chu Shen quickly replied, "No, no, no! How could I possibly have any? I'll find another place right away and absolutely won't disturb Senior Brother's peace! So, Senior Brother, I'll take my leave now?"

"Go on."

He had only walked a few steps when he suddenly heard Lu Ye's voice from behind: "Wait."

Chu Shen turned around. "Does Senior Brother have any other instructions?"

Lu Ye pondered in silence. His original thought was to wait for the Small Star Palace's power to mature and avoid any disturbances. However, if his concept truly came to fruition, this desolate island would gradually transform into a spirit island...

Once it became a spirit island, it would inevitably attract attention. Even if Chu Shen didn't come, others would.

On the contrary, if Chu Shen occupied this place in advance, it might reduce some trouble and keep the situation within controllable limits.

After all, Chu Shen was the young master of the Cart Bell Realm and had Jiuyan as a powerful backer. Even if the Hegemony Palace was just starting and its foundations weren't strong, it was unlikely many would dare to cause trouble; Chu Shen's name alone offered a layer of protection!

Thinking this way, allowing Chu Shen's Hegemony Palace to occupy this place didn't seem like a bad idea at all. In fact, it might even have some advantages...

"Senior Brother?" Chu Shen asked, seeing Lu Ye remain silent and unsure what he was contemplating.

After a long moment, Lu Ye finally made a decision. He spoke, "From now on, this place will be the territory of the Hegemony Palace, but I have one condition!"

Chu Shen's expression became solemn. "Senior Brother, please state it!" Lu Ye pointed to the location of the mountain cave where he had been staying. "That area belongs to me!"

Chu Shen was stunned, then overjoyed. "No problem!" he exclaimed, thinking to himself that it wouldn't matter if the entire island belonged to Lu Ye, let alone just that small area.

Boss Fa was truly reliable! This clearly meant he had agreed to Chu Shen's previous suggestion and was preparing to stay and oversee Hegemony Island. Since Boss Fa hadn't explicitly stated it, Chu Shen could pretend not to know.

He felt utterly delighted!

Currently, Hegemony Palace had limited personnel. Apart from Xiao Dai, Xiao Wai, and a few others, the remaining individuals were hired by Chu Shen from Zhao Lai Island using spirit jade. Such recruits naturally lacked significant loyalty, and their strength wasn't high because the conditions Chu Shen could offer were not particularly attractive.

Lu Ye had assumed that with the Cart Bell Realm and Jiuyan as his backing, Chu Shen would be well-provided for and have no shortage of spirit jade. However, Chu Shen actually had an agreement with Jiuyan that prevented him from acting under the names of Jiuyan or the Cart Bell Realm while adventuring. Jiuyan certainly wouldn't provide him with material support. The spirit jade he was currently spending was the 500,000 Lu Ye had given him after the auction.

At present, Hegemony Palace had fewer than twenty members, all early-stage Star Constellation cultivators. With Lu Ye, their combat strength at the Star Constellation realm was now assured.

However, for a force to truly establish itself on the Myriad Manifestation Sea, a Moon Radiance realm expert was essential.

Nevertheless, no one would bother attacking such a desolate island, so the presence of a Moon Radiance realm expert was irrelevant. The Hegemony Palace members were working with great enthusiasm on the island. Lu Ye watched for a while, shook his head helplessly, and returned to his mountain cave to continue comprehending the blade technique inheritance.

After comprehending for a while, he used some treasures to restore his damaged divine sense. Then, Lu Ye activated the power of his innate tree and began to deduce the Concealment Spirit Mark.

This was a time-consuming task that required slow, meticulous work for fine results. Therefore, whenever he had free time, Lu Ye would dedicate himself to deducing the Concealment Spirit Mark.

However, this was Lu Ye's first deduction since the innate tree underwent its third transformation.

Soon, Lu Ye noticed something unusual.

The efficiency of this deduction seemed much faster than before, and he could even manually control its speed.

This discovery overjoyed Lu Ye, as deducing a new spirit mark had always been a lengthy process, typically taking at least half a year. Since the innate tree's second transformation, he had only managed to deduce four new spirit marks in total: Void, Divine Edge, Sacred Guard, and the new Spirit Link.

He had always wanted to increase the innate tree's deduction speed and efficiency, but he hadn't known how.

It was only after this third transformation that the innate tree seemed to gain this ability!

During the deduction, the speed of the yin-yang binary transformations on the innate tree's leaves was significantly faster than before. Under his control, this efficiency could be pushed even further.

He was overjoyed, confirming his earlier suspicions. The innate tree indeed possessed other functions after its third transformation. Previously, he had only realized that its power to incinerate external objects could be used on others, but he had always felt that the three transformations shouldn't be limited to just that.

It seemed his earlier thoughts were correct; he just hadn't been deducing spirit marks and thus hadn't noticed.

However, Lu Ye immediately noticed something amiss: as the innate tree deduced, its stored fuel was rapidly being consumed. Although the rate of consumption wasn't as high as when he delved deep into the Myriad Manifestation Sea, it was still remarkably fast.

The more Lu Ye accelerated the efficiency of spirit mark deduction, the faster the innate tree's fuel was consumed; conversely, the consumption would slow down.

He was utterly speechless. It turned out that increasing deduction efficiency came at a price: the consumption of fuel!

Lu Ye had previously replenished a large amount of fuel for the innate tree, thinking it would last for many years as long as he didn't delve deep into the Myriad Manifestation Sea for cultivation. However, it now seemed this hope was dashed.

If he wanted to quickly deduce new spirit marks, he would have to consume a large amount of fuel. It was the same principle as his cultivation: exchanging resources for time!

Overall, however, this change in the innate tree was beneficial for Lu Ye. He had many spirit marks to re-deduce, and if each took at least half a year, it would be impossible to deduce them all without several decades. But now, with sufficient fuel, this time could be drastically reduced. Although resigned to the cost, Lu Ye chose to proceed. For him, time was precious, and consumed fuel could simply be bought with spirit jade, which was a minor matter.

On Hegemony Island, the construction of Hegemony Palace was in full swing, and more Star Constellation realm cultivators were recruited. These new recruits didn't quite understand why Chu Shen chose such an insignificant, desolate island as a base, as it seemed to hold no practical value even if forcibly occupied. However, they were merely hired hands, receiving a fixed monthly salary, and only needed to focus on their assigned tasks without worrying about grander plans.

Chu Shen would occasionally visit Lu Ye, but Lu Ye usually declined, as he was preoccupied with deducing spirit marks and comprehending blade techniques, leaving him no time for visitors.

Chu Shen didn't mind.

One day, when Chu Shen came to visit again, Lu Ye surprisingly didn't refuse him and allowed him into the cave, which greatly surprised Chu Shen.

He didn't stand on ceremony. Convinced that Li Taibai was indeed Boss Fa, he naturally dropped the formalities.

He took out the wine and dishes he had brought, then sat opposite Lu Ye, and they drank and chatted casually.

Lu Ye also learned why Xiao Dai and the others were with Chu Shen. Those women originally had nowhere to go, so Chu Shen had specifically sought them out, promised them a bright future, and brought them to his side.

Of course, the main reason was Fa Wuzun acting as a bond; otherwise, the women wouldn't have so easily joined Chu Shen's venture.

"What do you plan to do after occupying such a desolate island?" Lu Ye asked.

Chu Shen scratched his head. "I don't know either. It's just that I never had freedom in the Cart Bell Realm before, and there's not much to do now that I'm out. I couldn't just go rely on others, so I thought of gathering my own team to see if I could accomplish something. At the very least, I want to make a name for myself. In the future, when I, Chu Shen, stand forth, people won't say 'That's the young master of the Cart Bell Realm'; they'll say 'That's the Palace Master of Hegemony Palace!'"

Chu Shen, still young, acted purely on impulse without much foresight. He looked at Lu Ye and asked, "Senior Brother, do you have any advice for me?"

Lu Ye held his wine cup and calmly stated, "The name 'Hegemony Palace'... it doesn't sound very good!"

If anyone else had said that, Chu Shen would have dismissed it as nonsense. But coming from Boss Fa, there had to be a valid reason. He nodded repeatedly. "Yes, yes, I think so too. Then, Senior Brother... could you suggest a name?"