Ran Boren, though not understanding Yang Hong's intentions, followed his orders diligently. After more than a month away, he returned with three million spirit stones and 200 first-tier spirit beast cubs.
Accompanying him were two invitations.
"Sect Master, both the Chaoyang Sect and the Imperial Beast Sect have sent invitations, asking us to join their alliances and promising many benefits."
Ran Boren continued with an eager tone and hopeful expectation,
"Sect Master, I suggest we join the Imperial Beast Sect's alliance. Our cooperation with the Imperial Beast Sect is the deepest. Half of the sect's spiritual herbs and plants are sold to them, and one-tenth of our pills are also sold to them."
"At the same time, the sect's meat supplies are basically bought from the Imperial Beast Sect. Therefore, I suggest we join the Imperial Beast Sect's alliance."
Without waiting for Yang Hong's response, Ran Boren excitedly began to make his suggestions.
Yang Hong glanced at the two invitations, which didn't even mention the alliance names, and sneered dismissively.
"You don't need to dream up nice things. What alliance? It's just about recruiting lackeys, finding muscle, or even cannon fodder. There's no need to join such an alliance, and we can't rush to our deaths.
Refuse them, refuse both!"
Yang Hong directly unleashed his spiritual power, shattering the two invitations crafted from third-tier spiritual iron into fragments, which he then scattered to the wind.
He then turned to more pressing matters.
"All the first-tier spirit beasts purchased should be given to the mortals near the sect. Let them learn to tame spirit beasts. Assign someone to teach them and also to protect the mortals."
"Sect Master, why go through so much trouble? It's very troublesome for mortals to tame spirit beasts. It not only wastes time and energy but can also lead to casualties."
Upon hearing Yang Hong's command, Ran Boren objected directly,
"Execute the order. If any mortal dies, the cultivator responsible for their protection will be executed!"
"Sect Master~ this doesn't seem appropriate, does it?"
"If you feel you cannot carry it out, I will kill you now and replace you with another War God Hall Master!"
Yang Hong directly exuded his killing intent, forcing Ran Boren to his knees.
"Furthermore, from today onwards, half of the disciples from the Dharma Transmission Hall, led by Ke Jimei, will be dispatched to mortal villages and towns to teach and instruct all mortals in the practice of the 'Ten Martial Arts'! "
Ran Boren didn't understand why Yang Hong was so angry, but he knew he had to obey Yang Hong's orders now.
"Yes~ yes~ this disciple will attend to it immediately and guarantee the completion of the task!"
"Get out!"
Yang Hong wasn't intentionally making a fuss. He had already reminded his disciples multiple times to help and teach the mortals, even having Gu Boji post many related tasks.
However, these disciples seemed to have forgotten that they themselves had grown from mortals. They had begun to look down on mortals.
Perhaps the distinction between immortals and mortals was a universal rule in the cultivation world, and not wantonly killing mortals was considered virtue.
But Yang Hong's Clear Breeze Villa would not be like that!
He was an ordinary person in his past life. In this life, he had risen from a prince in the cold palace to the master of a sect, and he had not forgotten his memories of being a mortal.
He still attached great importance to mortals.
In his opinion, there could be a distinction between immortals and mortals, but there should be no discrimination or enslavement of mortals.
Now that Clear Breeze Villa was heading in that direction, it needed to be corrected promptly.
Of course, he wouldn't go so far as to demand cultivators serve mortals with saintly devotion. What he required was a degree of respect, and he demanded that his disciples not forget their roots.
Yang Hong's attitude quickly spread throughout Clear Breeze Villa, and the disciples began to reflect and blame themselves.
Although it was somewhat inexplicable, the general atmosphere of Clear Breeze Villa quickly began to shift.
One day, Zhu Yuyan came to the Azure Sky Tree and asked him:
"Husband, some disciples below are asking if you're looking for an excuse to kill people again?"
"These idiots? Do I need an excuse to kill people? If I kill them, I kill them.
I want them to change their attitude towards mortals!
Why don't you enlighten these idiots and remind them not to forget that they grew up from mortals."
"I see. The disciples have indeed misunderstood."
After Zhu Yuyan left, the previously tense Clear Breeze Villa returned to its usual harmony. However, with Yang Hong's approval, Zhang Zhengyan began to recruit mortals to work as miscellaneous laborers in Clear Breeze Villa.
Even though they were just miscellaneous laborers and not even disciple apprentices, a large number of mortals eagerly signed up.
After all, being able to join a cultivation sect was the lifelong aspiration of all mortals without spiritual roots.
Moreover, it was a sect like Clear Breeze Villa, which was very friendly to mortals.
Yang Hong only occasionally checked on the sect's affairs, spending most of his time cultivating the Azure Sky Willow tree.
After six months, Yang Hong used the laws of time and creation to nurture them. The five ordinary Azure Sky Willow trees finally matured and began to bloom.
Their flowers bore a resemblance to those of willow trees on Blue Star, but they were much larger, each flower the size of a little finger.
Furthermore, these flowers retained their delicate quality, being very light and easily carried away by the wind.
The willow catkins of the Azure Sky Willow were the most valuable part of the entire tree, serving as a seventh-tier refining material.
They were not only lightweight but also possessed extremely high defensive capabilities. After processing, Azure Sky Willow catkins could be used as a superior material for refining eighth-tier magical robes.
They were a rare seventh-tier material in the cultivation world that could be used to refine eighth-tier magical artifacts.
In the cultivation world of the Yu Rou Plains, unprocessed Azure Sky Willow catkins were worth four million spirit stones per liang.
However, the yield of Azure Sky Willow catkins was also very low. Yang Hong's five Azure Sky Willow trees, though seventh-tier, had stopped growing at a height of nine feet and three inches.
The five Azure Sky Willows could only yield less than one liang of Azure Sky Willow catkins.
The output was truly scarce.
Fortunately, after flowering, the Azure Sky Willow trees immediately bore fruit. Under Yang Hong's magical acceleration, the fruits matured and fell within three months.
The only pity was that the fruits of the Azure Sky Willow trees were inedible and could only be used for propagation, and the yield of fruits was also not high.
After one season, Yang Hong only obtained 32 seeds.
The special Azure Sky Willow tree, however, had not yet bloomed. It had been transplanted to the summit of Mount Jiumei because the tree had grown too large.
Over three years, this special Azure Sky Willow had grown to over 680 zhang in height and was still rapidly growing. The diameter of its trunk was over 68 zhang, exactly one-tenth of its height.
This Azure Sky Willow tree had advanced to the eighth tier, and the spatial energy emanating from it was so dense that it could almost break through space directly.
This situation reminded Yang Hong of the "Space Trees" and "World Trees" from Western fantasy novels of his past life.
With a clear goal and the substantial amount of spiritual energy returned from each planting, Yang Hong had great motivation and anticipation for nurturing them.
It was a pity, however, that whenever he wanted to cultivate in peace, someone would always prevent him from doing so.
Three years after the first invitations, Ran Boren again presented two invitations to Yang Hong.
"Sect Master, the alliance names of the Chaoyang Sect and the Imperial Beast Sect have been revealed. Something big might be happening."
"Oh~ what big event is it now?"
Seeing Ran Boren's wry smile, Yang Hong became a little curious. He took the two invitations and, upon seeing their names, his pupils instantly widened.