Beast Taming Clan: I Have a Jade Book

And as for the Tier Five Spiritual Vein, just feeling the Spiritual Energy made them think that one hour here might be worth a full day of Cultivation on a Tier Two Spiritual Vein!

“Third Uncle, Great-Grandfather has summoned us!” Once they were on Celestial Shadow Peak, Ye Jingcheng spoke up.

Seeing this, Ye Xingliu also nodded. He brought these clansmen to the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall, had Ye Xingxiao of the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall start arranging their placement, and then went straight to the Clan Assembly Hall.

At this moment, there were quite a few people in the Clan Assembly Hall.

Ye Haiyan and Ye Haifei, who had already broken through to Purple Mansion, were there; Ye Jingfeng, who was preparing for a breakthrough, was there as well, and so was Ye Jingfu.

As the Vice Hall Master of the Commerce Hall, although Ye Jingfu’s Cultivation was a bit lower, he had now completely taken over the role Ye Xinghe once held in the Ye Family.

“Great-Grandfather, Uncle Haiyan, Uncle Haisheng…” Ye Jingcheng greeted them one by one.

“Jingcheng, Xingliu, you’ve come back at just the right time. The Ye Family’s statistics on the development of the Affiliated Clans over these years are already compiled!” Ye Haicheng also spoke.

Back when they divided the Affiliated Clans, Ye Jingcheng had also taken part in the decision-making. Now was the time to witness the results of the past eleven years.

Although the Nascent Soul ceremony had not officially begun, those Affiliated Clans had all arrived in advance by now, and the lists of gifts they offered were already in hand.

“Jingfeng, you explain it.” Ye Haicheng also looked toward Jing Feng.

“Yes!” Ye Jingfeng nodded and then slowly began:

“Reporting to the Patriarch and all Uncles of the clan, at present the Ye Family’s affiliated forces are divided into two parts. One is the Foreign Affairs Tower, which now has its full quota of three hundred people. Among them there are only three Foundation Establishment Cultivators, but those proficient in Alchemy and Artifact Refining and Talisman Making number over one hundred and thirty. Of them, three have skill levels exceeding Tier Two, and within the Celestial Tower there are two Dual Spirit Roots and twenty-three Three Spirit Roots, with Female Cultivators making up more than fifty percent!” Ye Jingfeng first spoke of the Foreign Affairs Tower.

This Foreign Affairs Tower is divided into three towers: Martial Arts Tower, Art Tower, and Celestial Tower.

Those in the Martial Arts Tower are all fairly strong; they are responsible for errands for the Ye Family and for maintaining the small oases, and in the future they will also serve as overseers in some Tier One and Tier Two Ore Veins.

The Art Tower, as the name suggests, is outstanding in the Four Skills of Cultivation.

They can refine Magical Artifact Spirit Pills, Spirit Talismans, and Arrays for the Ye Family, and those clansmen who master these skills are also targets for marriage into or out of the Ye Family.

The Celestial Tower, on the other hand, is composed of young Loose Cultivators who have been recruited.

Some of them were sent over by Small Forces; for example, the Wan Family sent in a Three Spirit Roots talent, so in the Celestial Tower there are even Cultivators just over ten years old.

The most crucial factor in the Celestial Tower is talent, as it is the main pool for marriage alliances of the Ye Family in the future, and also the key place for cultivating Female Cultivators.

Compared with Female Cultivators trained by other clans, the Ye Family is still not at ease taking them as brides, but those cultivated within their own Celestial Tower naturally do not present those issues.

This can also gradually improve the quality of the Ye Family’s Spirit Roots.

After finishing his explanation of the Foreign Affairs Tower, Ye Jingfeng then began speaking about the Affiliated Forces:

“At present, the Affiliated Forces have been roughly divided into three tiers. Forces like the Wan Family, powerful Foundation Establishment Clans of this degree, number four; they all have Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators and are also expected to possibly become Purple Mansion Clans in the future. Second-rate Foundation Establishment Clans have at least two Foundation Establishment or above Cultivators and can stably bear the title of Foundation Establishment Clan; there are currently six of these. Third-rate Foundation Establishment Clans only have a single Foundation Establishment Cultivator and may lose their qualification as Foundation Establishment Clans at any time; there are currently eleven of these. As for the Affiliated Clans with no Foundation Establishment at all, the bottom-tier, there are twelve at present! All of these have their own oases!” Ye Jingfeng introduced.

“Among them, the three clans that require our attention are the Wan Family, the Ma Family, and the Xu Family. Counting their Honored Guest Elders, the Wan Family currently has over thirty-eight Cultivators, occupying four oases, two of which they opened themselves; the Ma Family, counting their Honored Guest Elders, already exceeds fifty people. I suspect that back during the Zhang Jia period, they were already secretly developing their clan. They occupy as many as five oases, four of which they opened themselves. As for the remaining Xu Family, they currently have nineteen Cultivators and occupy three oases, one of which was opened by them.”

Ye Jingfeng slowly spoke, and at the same time he showed a look as if he had more to say but was hesitating.

“Great-Grandfather, many Affiliated Clans are now asking, while presenting their gifts, whether a hundred years from now we will still grant them oasis protection?” Ye Jingfeng asked as well.

“We won’t!” Ye Haicheng rejected it outright.

“Why should we keep protecting them? Right now they can turn in enough tribute, but once we raise the tribute in the future, they will start having different ideas!”

“Besides, if a Cultivation Realm is to develop, how can it remain overly peaceful? If it did, how would our Ye Family’s Spirit Talismans sell, how would our Magical Artifacts sell?” Ye Haicheng spoke decisively.

Hearing this, Ye Jingfeng was momentarily stunned; clearly he had not considered this point.

“Jingfeng, at times we have to be ruthless!” Ye Haicheng added.

The Ye Family kept these Affiliated Forces naturally hoping they could grow. First, to form a Cultivation Realm market; second, to push into the Celestial Departure Grassland.

That way, if a massive Beast Tide forms in the future, there will be clans standing in front to resist it.

This has already been verified in the Taihang Mountain Range and the Cyan Cloud Sea Domain.

If they were all Loose Cultivators, they would definitely slip away in secret.

But once they become Cultivation Clans, they will have misgivings.

Moreover, the Desert Sea and the Cyan Cloud Sea Domain are similar in that Demon Beasts do not easily launch full-scale Beast Tides.

After all, Demon Beasts in the mountains don’t like the Desert Sea environment.

And Demon Beasts of the Sea Domain aren’t suited to going ashore and slaughtering on land.

So even if these clans encounter Beast Tides, there will still be some hope.

“In addition, the clan will arrange for some clansmen to secretly spread the word that after the hundred-year protection period ends, we will no longer provide protection. Either they curry favor with our Ye Family clansmen, or they increase their tribute, or they compete with other clans!”

“And if there is annexation, they will bear the tribute for the new oasis, and on top of that, hand over an additional thirty percent of the Treasure!” Ye Haicheng spoke again.

“Of course, whenever Cultivators engage in conflict, slaughtering Mortals must be strictly forbidden!”

When he finished speaking, he also looked at Ye Jingcheng and the others to see if they had any other opinions.

Ye Jingcheng naturally had no objections; this was something they had discussed more than ten years ago.

The Ye Family gave them oases and gave them room to develop, but that was never meant to allow them to develop peacefully forever.

Once competition appears, only then will the Ye Family’s Spirit Beasts, Spirit Puppets, Arrays, and Spiritual Elixirs and Magical Artifacts sell more smoothly.

And the prices can be raised as well.

“How is their current occupation of the Celestial Departure Grassland?” Ye Jingcheng asked again.

The Ye Family had arranged some Hidden Peaks. The Concealment of these Hidden Peaks was actually not all that advanced, so he guessed that those Affiliated Clan Cultivators would also take risks and attempt to push toward the Celestial Departure Grassland.

“The Wan Family, the Ma Family, and the Xu Family have all already begun. The other clans have not been observed doing so yet!” Ye Jingfeng nodded.

“Keep guiding them. The Cultivation Realm must be like flowing water. Without people dying, without people taking risks, that kind of Cultivation Realm is not what the Ye Family wants to see!” Ye Jingcheng also nodded.

“Right, about Wan Chengjie wanting to marry into our Ye Family—Great-Grandfather, should we agree to this or not?” Ye Jingfeng asked.

“We will not agree. Wan Chengjie is fine in everything, except that he’s too smart. And he is from the Eastern Domain. It’s fine to let him be the figurehead for these Affiliated Clans, but if he marries into the Ye Family, he might go digging into the secret of the Beast Communication Pattern!” Ye Haicheng refused outright.

“Have the Wan Family send in a youngster in his teens to marry in instead, so they can rest assured that our Ye Family’s development is not centered in the Desert Sea, and we won’t turn on them once the donkey is out of the mill. What we promised back then regarding protecting the Wan Family, we will definitely uphold!” Ye Haicheng added.

Only then did Ye Jingfeng nod.

After that, he went on to talk about the Treasures those Affiliated Clans had brought this time.

But these Treasures really were nothing impressive.

There was no helping it. The Ye Family was not about to hold the ceremony in the Eastern Domain this time, and since these clans didn’t have any Purple Mansion Cultivators, they naturally couldn’t bring out any great Treasures.

Most of their inheritances in Spirit Talismans, Spirit Pills, Artifact Refining Techniques, and the like had already been collected almost entirely by the Ye Family by now.

“Great-Grandfather, when the Nascent Soul ceremony begins, we should each present our own gifts as well, so that the Dragon Ancestor’s face is better preserved!” Ye Jingcheng said.

Presenting gifts is also a form of display, and it is an important step in winning over the Earth Dragon Demon Emperor.

“Mm, this indeed must be done!” Ye Haicheng also nodded.

Now the Ye Family had quite a few High-Tier Demon Beasts. This Nascent Soul ceremony was also a chance to firmly win the hearts of these High-Tier Demon Beasts.

Although the Ye Family in most cases relied on Blood Contracts, if they wanted Demon Beasts to pass down their service generation after generation, they still had to play some emotional cards!