Despite Lin Kui's previous threats, the Lin Family didn't launch an all-out war against the Su Family. Instead, they quickly pulled back and went quiet.
As for Guo Chudong, who had fallen into Su Family hands, he offered to construct a blessed land for free and not damage the Tier-1 spiritual vein, all in exchange for his life.
But the Su Family's appetite was far greater than he expected.
Release? Not a chance.
From now on, Guo Chudong would stay in the Su Family—as a servant.
Once captured, Guo obediently got to work. He used his geomancer skills to locate the core of the spiritual vein beneath the medicinal garden.
He then began constructing a blessed land, and even started the initial excavation of spirit stone ore.
A Tier-1 spiritual vein didn't yield much—only 100 to 200 low-grade spirit stones per month.
But over the course of a year, that added up to 1,000 to 2,000, which was no small amount for the Su Family.
Of course, none of this had much to do with Su Yu.
After sending Su Qingyi off, Su Yu returned to his steady cultivation.
To his surprise, the Cycle of Verdant Rings technique had a huge synergistic effect with his Spirit Infusion Technique (Yunling).
What had originally been slow, incremental progress in Spirit Infusion suddenly sped up by nearly 30% under the influence of the Verdant energy.
Meanwhile, the core energy of the Blood Whale Devours the Moon Technique had been fully charged thanks to his steady intake of demonic beast meat.
A month and a half later—
The blessed land was complete. Powerful formation arrays had been placed atop the spiritual vein's core mountain, locking and channeling its spiritual energy.
With the scale of this Tier-1 vein, it could easily support the cultivation needs of over a hundred Qi Refinement cultivators.
Su Yu moved in, and the density of spiritual energy inside the blessed land was at least 50% higher than outside.
With this environment, his cultivation progress saw a modest but meaningful boost.
The Su Family clan head, Su Peng, and the elders also relocated from Jiang City, settling in the new blessed land.
They named it Cangshan (Azure Mountain), in honor of the Su Family's ancestral cultivator, Su Cang.
From this day forth, Cangshan would be the new foundation of the Su Family.
As for the Lin Family?
The Su Family didn't act against them right away.
With the spiritual vein secured, their priority was development.
Strengthening the clan's foundation, nurturing talent, and accumulating power was far more important than launching a costly feud.
Once the clan grew strong enough—say, with a Foundation Establishment ancestor—they could crush the Lin Family like ants.
As for what kind of reward the elders had finally agreed on for Su Yu, he wasn't sure.
But Su Peng gave him a special token.
And more tangibly—Su Yu's monthly clan stipend for a third-level Qi Refinement disciple jumped from 6 spirit stones to 60.
On top of that, he was also given 1,000 low-grade spirit stones.
With such abundant resources—and over 100 drops of late-stage Tier-1 demonic beast blood—Su Yu went into closed-door cultivation within the blessed land.
A year flew by.
It had now been four years since Su Yu returned from the Cloud Sword Sect.
He was twenty years old.
Thanks to the abundant resources of the spiritual vein and never lacking for spirit stones, Su Yu's cultivation speed soared.
The bottleneck between the third and fourth level of Qi Refinement was passed in a single night—quietly, without fanfare.
When his Cycle of Verdant Rings reached One Cycle, Four Revolutions, a fresh wave of temporal aura bloomed around him.
At the same time, his Spirit Infusion Technique hit 100% mastery.
Inside his room—
Su Yu sat cross-legged, his body glowing faintly with verdant light.
Behind him, a phantom of a towering ancient tree shimmered into view.
With Spirit Infusion complete, even his divine sense glowed with a faint green luster.
At that moment, Su Yu could faintly sense the life energy of all the plants and trees within a several-li radius.
Even the way spiritual herbs "breathed" in and out the ambient energy of heaven and earth became visible to his perception.
But it only lasted for a few breaths.
A sharp pain pierced his mind, and Su Yu snapped out of the state.
His spiritual energy had been completely drained by that brief moment of heightened perception.
After sitting quietly to recover for a while, Su Yu opened his eyes, still shaken.
"The Cycle of Verdant Rings, when paired with a mastered Spirit Infusion Technique… has this kind of effect?"
It was shockingly powerful.
Draining, yes—but under that perception, he could detect the presence of rare spiritual herbs in the wild.
"Once I cultivate further, this ability will be incredible for herbal hunting," Su Yu thought with excitement.
He focused his mind and looked at his Proficiency Panel:
[Name: Su Yu]
[Cultivation: Qi Refinement Level 4]
[Lifespan: 20 / 109]
[Techniques:]
Cycle of Verdant Rings (One Cycle, Four Revolutions – 0.01%)
One Hundred and Eight Styles of the Crocodile Demon (Level 5 – 62.87%)
Blood Whale Devours the Moon Technique (First Realm – 0.01%)
[Spells:]
Wood Vine Technique (Mastered)
Spirit Nurturing Technique (Mastered)
Spirit Spear Technique (Mastered)
Spirit Infusion Technique (Mastered)
Looking at the panel, Su Yu calculated silently:
"Breaking through to the fourth level increased my spiritual power by nearly 30%. Even the strength of my spells seems slightly improved."
More importantly, his lifespan increased by five years after the breakthrough.
Two years of cultivation… for five extra years of life.
"With every step forward, I'm growing younger in spirit," Su Yu mused.
"Now that Cycle of Verdant Rings has progressed, I should be able to advance my body refinement technique within another year or two."
With late-stage Tier-1 beast blood to support him, his body refinement technique was progressing rapidly.
Even the breakthrough from level five to six would take only a couple more years at most.
As for the Blood Whale Devours the Moon Technique—
Su Yu stared at the unmoving proficiency bar.
"Strictly speaking, this isn't a technique—it's a pseudo-divine ability."
It didn't need constant cultivation.
Once its core was formed and filled with energy, it simply waited—until the moment of explosive power was needed.
Su Yu guessed the proficiency would only increase after using it in combat.
Looking at his spells, Su Yu rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Now that I've reached Qi Refinement level four, I can learn a few more spells."
With that in mind, he left his room and headed for the Archives Pavilion, which had also been moved to the blessed land.
From Fifth Elder Su Bin, he obtained two new techniques:
Ten-Thousand Vine Bind: a stronger wood-element spell for restraining enemies.
Spirit Devour: a high-grade wood-element attack spell.
Just as he was leaving, Su Yu's steps paused.
He glanced at the pile of Ancient Jade Caskets on a side shelf and frowned slightly.
Su Bin noticed his gaze and laughed heartily. "Boy, what's this? Got a feeling something's calling you? These are the real deal! Just brought them back from a major ruin. Pure ancient fortune inside!"
"One for ten low-grade spirit stones, no haggling."
Su Yu's face darkened. "Didn't you sell them for one stone each last time?"
"Heh heh," Su Bin grinned. "That batch wasn't from an ancient ruin."