Chapter 3503: Refining the Transoceanic Thunder Boat

The Thousand Butterfly Secret Realm featured a steep, towering peak. On its summit stood a cyan palace, over a hundred zhang tall, with "Thousand Butterfly Hall" inscribed in three golden characters on its plaque.

Wang Qingfeng sat in the main seat, holding a silvery-white crystal. Its surface was adorned with golden patterns.

Wang Yuyan and a graceful young woman in a golden dress stood to the side, looking respectful.

The young woman in the golden dress was Chen Yuting, Wang Yuyan's cultivation partner. She was at the mid-stage of the Void Refinement realm. Chen Yuting had ascended from the Mysterious Cloud Realm, landing on the Wang family's mainland spirit-ascension platform.

The Mysterious Cloud Realm was not under the Wang family's control; cultivators there could ascend at the mid-stage of the Spirit Transformation realm. Chen Yuting had enemies in the Mysterious Cloud Realm, and they had backing in the Mysterious Sun Realm. After searching for a suitable spatial node, she ascended to the Mysterious Spirit Continent, thus avoiding her enemies.

Chen Yuting was a formation master, and under the Wang family's tutelage, she advanced to the Void Refinement realm.

As long as one was sufficiently capable and loyal to the Wang family, they would be given important responsibilities. Important positions across various departments of the Wang family were held by non-Wang disciples.

In earlier years, Wang Yuyan, Wang Yuyu, and Su Hongshang all studied artifact refining. Su Hongshang later became Wang Yuyu's dual cultivation partner, and both advanced to the Void Refinement realm.

Under the guidance of their elders, Wang Yuyan became Chen Yuting's dual cultivation partner. After Wang Yuyan advanced to the Void Refinement realm, he sent a soul clone to the lower realm to help Chen Yuting eliminate her enemies.

As a hidden force of the family, they entered the Thousand Butterfly Secret Realm for secluded cultivation. In addition to their cultivation, they were responsible for directing clansmen in mining Ethereal Stone.

"An Ethereal Divine Crystal! This is a material for setting up cross-realm communication arrays," Wang Qingfeng exclaimed with a laugh. "Haha, we've struck it rich! Heavily reward the clansmen who mined this Ethereal Divine Crystal!"

Ethereal Divine Crystals typically only appear in large Ethereal Stone veins. They hadn't expected to mine one so quickly; this was far more precious than Blazing Gold Crystals.

"Yes, Ancestor Qingfeng!" Wang Yuyan replied.

Wang Yuyan agreed. The family had a strict system in place: whether it was mining or conducting business, as long as one performed well, the family would provide rewards, and severe underperformance would incur punishment.

"You've mined an Ethereal Divine Crystal! It seems the reserves of Ethereal Divine Crystals here are quite substantial!" a gentle male voice remarked.

No sooner had the words fallen than a blue rainbow flew in, landing inside the main hall. It was Wang Changsheng.

"Father, why are you here?" Wang Qingfeng asked, surprised. "Greetings, Ancestor!" Wang Yuyan and Chen Yuting hastily bowed, looking respectful.

"I came to see how you were doing," Wang Changsheng said. "How many Ethereal Divine Crystals have been mined so far?" He already held an Ethereal Divine Crystal in his hand.

"Yuyan, Yuting, you two should report!" Wang Qingfeng instructed, knowing the details but giving them an opportunity to present.

"Yes, Ancestor Qingfeng," Wang Yuyan replied. He acknowledged, pulling out a thick blue ledger. "Currently, one Ethereal Divine Crystal has been mined; the rest are Ethereal Stones," he reported. "The mine where this Ethereal Divine Crystal was found has had its workforce tripled, hoping to unearth another Ethereal Divine Crystal."

He handed the blue ledger to Wang Changsheng, who flipped through a few pages, nodded, and praised, "It's recorded in great detail."

The blue ledger contained very detailed information, including the number of cultivators mining the Ethereal Stone vein, the name, cultivation, and age of each cultivator, and the amount of raw Ethereal Stone mined each month.

The more raw Ethereal Stone mined, the more contribution points earned. This 'more effort, more reward' system motivated cultivators to mine diligently.

"My wife handled the ledger," Wang Yuyan said modestly. "Your grandson doesn't manage much."

"This is what your granddaughter-in-law should do," Chen Yuting said respectfully.

"Cultivation is fundamental," Wang Changsheng said gently. "Establish a good reward and punishment system, and simply oversee it periodically. Don't let it affect your cultivation, understand?"

Wang Yuyan and Chen Yuting agreed, looking excited. While there were many Void Refinement cultivators in the family, only a handful of clansmen ever had the chance to speak with Wang Changsheng.

"Alright, you two go on and get busy!" Wang Changsheng waved, dismissing them. "Father, are you going to refine a cross-realm treasure ship?" Wang Qingfeng asked.

"Yes, I plan to refine a Cross-Sea Thunder Boat to send some clansmen to the Azure Sea," Wang Changsheng explained his intention. "Even if a major disaster were to strike the Mysterious Spirit Continent, our family would still have a chance to rise again." He added that the Azure Sea's geographical location was excellent, but difficult to reach; a Cross-Sea Thunder Boat would make the journey much easier.

Besides the Heavenly Void Jade Book, Wang Mengbin had also brought back a Tarnished Cloud Stone, which could be used to refine a top-grade heaven-reaching spirit treasure of the flying type.

The Tarnished Cloud Stone had been corrupted, but Wang Changsheng had purified it using the Azure Lotus Creation Cauldron, making it suitable for artifact refining.

Flying Thunderwood could be used to refine the Cross-Sea Thunder Boat, a top-grade heaven-reaching spirit treasure of the flying type. This also laid the groundwork for refining a cross-realm treasure ship; rare treasures typically require multiple refinement attempts, and it's unlikely to succeed on the first try, even with the refinement method.

"Refine a Cross-Sea Thunder Boat? The Azure Sea!" Wang Qingfeng repeated, somewhat confused. He hadn't expected to go to the Azure Sea.

Wang Changsheng nodded. "Once the Cross-Sea Thunder Boat is refined, I plan to send you and a group of clansmen to the Azure Sea. We shouldn't put all our eggs in one basket."

"No problem, your son will obey," Wang Qingfeng agreed.

Wang Qingfeng gathered the high-level artifact refiners within the Thousand Butterfly Secret Realm, and under Wang Changsheng's guidance, they began refining the Cross-Sea Thunder Boat.

On the Thousand Spirit Continent, within the Nine Yuan Mountain Range, stood the headquarters of the Nine Yuan Commercial Alliance.

In a secluded estate, Su Xiangdong sat in a stone pavilion while Bu Zizai reported to him.

"The Heavenly Moon Clan's newly advanced Grand Ascension cultivator is holding a Grand Ascension celebration! And they invited me to attend?" Su Xiangdong said, frowning. "I recall that Xun Mu only advanced to the Grand Ascension realm five thousand years ago. Now the Heavenly Moon Clan has another newly advanced Grand Ascension cultivator?"

Given the Heavenly Moon Clan's foundation, cultivating a few more Grand Ascension cultivators wasn't an issue; the difficulty lay in finding tribulation materials, which were not easy to come by for Grand Ascension cultivators.

It was the same for True Spirit families and major clans in other realms: they could cultivate more Grand Ascension cultivators, but their need for tribulation materials would only increase. A few more or a few fewer Grand Ascension cultivators didn't make much difference, unless an inter-realm war was about to erupt; only then would True Spirit families and major clans cultivate more Grand Ascension cultivators.

"Indeed," Bu Zizai replied, puzzled. "And the Heavenly Moon Clan is widely distributing invitations."

More powerful forces would usually conceal several Grand Ascension cultivators who could play crucial roles at critical moments. Yet, the Heavenly Moon Clan was different; they had added two new Grand Ascension cultivators within ten thousand years and were widely distributing invitations, as if they wanted the entire Mysterious Sun Realm to know.

"In the past five millennia, the Ye family's Grand Ascension cultivator has been traveling across the Mysterious Sun Realm in a cross-realm treasure ship, seemingly searching for something," Su Xiangdong mused. "With the Heavenly Moon Clan frequently holding Grand Ascension celebrations, could they have the same objective as the Ye family?"

Sensing something, he took out a glowing magic plate and channeled a spell into it. A familiar female voice responded: "Ancestor, your granddaughter has returned."

"Jianjia, where have you been? Why were you missing for so long?"