Cohabitation with Sword Spirit-Chapter 172 - 142: Crowdfunding the Cyan Cloud Tournament Champion

November 11, 2017

At the Qian Family Mansion, inside the Gold and Silver Mountain. A large dark golden gate was tightly closed, its surface covered with intricate and smooth spirit patterns, fully displaying the gate's weight and solidity.

Even a Mountain-Overturning Realm master, attacking with full force, would struggle to destroy this gate within a few blows. Yet at this moment, while the heavy dark golden gate remained shut, it trembled slightly, as if there were monstrous waves inside, or perhaps mountains crumbling and collapsing.

Outside the gate, several dozen people stood in the rather narrow corridor, their eyes fixed on the commotion within the dark golden gate.

In Cyan Cloud City, almost all elder-level figures from the Qian and Lu Families were present. Even the elusive Patriarch Lu Fang of the Lu Family, who rarely made appearances, had unusually stepped out of seclusion, standing with a solemn face beside Qian Long, matching the iron-blue face of Qian Long, forming a spectacle of eerie similarity.

Not far off, a few elders from the Qian Family were also on edge. Sixth Uncle Qian, watching the trembling dark golden gate, turned to inquire of an elder from the Lu Family nearby.

"The commotion now seems much greater than anticipated... Shouldn't there be a problem?"

The Lu Family member next to him, one of the key figures in the plan, also looked at the commotion inside with a heart full of anxiety, said tremblingly: "Theoretical verification from before didn't present any issues. Although the Qian Family has little bloodline fusion with the Lu Family, you are still a long-standing Immortal Cultivation Clan with undisputed dormant power in your bloodline. Five hundred years ago, outstanding figures emerged. While the original formula of the Bone Marrow Cleansing Spiritual Liquid is designed for the Lu Family, it actually suits other cultivators as well, only with efficiency differences. We've already used an increased dosage; at most, it will cause uncontrolled mutations..."

"Uncontrolled mutations!?"

A Qian Family member nearby opened his eyes wide in disbelief: "We spent nearly a million Spirit Stones just buying Spiritual Liquid materials! With twenty thousand Spirit Stones claiming to buy one complete set of Enhanced Spiritual Liquid, we could have bought five sets! Now you're telling me about uncontrolled mutations!?"

The technical responsible party's voice trembled even more: "Any enhancement inevitably brings along uncontrolled mutations, it's just a matter of probability. Our clan has also experienced multiple mutations during experiments, but optimistically speaking, mutations aren't necessarily all bad, with over a third being benign mutations. For example, our own Lu Yun was fortunate enough to develop a pair of cat ears, which were incredibly cute..."

"You pervert, get lost! How can that be a benign mutation?! Also, does that mean there's a two-thirds chance of being malignant!?"

"No, there's also some probability for neutral ones, like gender transformation and such... Even malignant mutations mostly just mean growing a tumor or something. So far there haven't been any fatal cases."

However, the more this technical person explained, the more alarmed those around became, even the Lu Family members felt unbearably tense.

In this cooperation project, the main investor was the Qian Family, with the Lu Family only contributing some techniques and rare materials. If an incident occurred, according to the contract, they would be liable for astronomical compensation. Given the Lu Family's cash flow situation—whether main family or branches—they would have to sell off everything to bear the compensation burden, ending up unable to sustain the kind of cultivation like that of little princess Lu Xin.

If not for the immense potential of this project and the dire need for funds, they wouldn't have brought it out for investment... A twenty thousand Spirit Stone Enhanced Spiritual Liquid truly would bankrupt many small families unable to gather even one set; yet the Lu Family still hopes to thrive through this. By now, the only thing left is desperately seeking investors and fooling people into sacrificing for a chance at investment.

Fortunately, the tense atmosphere did not last long before the tremors of the dark golden gate stopped. A moment later, the gate slowly opened, and the first person to emerge was a muscular man, bare-chested, wearing a mask on his head. Seeing everyone outside the door, he nodded: "It's done."

"Good!"

The corridor instantly erupted in a chorus of cheers. The Lu Family's technical elders were so overjoyed that their legs weakened, almost collapsing to the ground.

Only the two family heads, Lu Fang and Qian Long, remained unmoved, earning deep admiration from the elders beside them, silently acknowledging these leaders' composure likened to a mountain collapsing without flinching.

Only after a while did Lu Fang speak first: "What exactly happened here? Can I leave now?"

The accompanying steward was already sweating: "Patriarch, it's not yet your time to speak."

"Am I supposed to stand here idly all day?" Clearly displeased, Lu Fang huffed and glared, "I told you, I'm just here to show face. Don't prepare any speeches for me; I can't remember them!"

The steward Lu He was almost spitting blood: "Patriarch, patriarch, let's discuss this at home, let's discuss this at home!"

"Can we go back now? Then why did you drag me out from the training room? Can't you guys have some sense?"

"We'll talk at home, let's discuss this at home..."

After sending Lu Fang off, the atmosphere inside finally returned to normal. Qian Long coughed and asked, "When will Ye'er be able to come out?"

The bare-chested man wiped his body and responded in a muffled voice: "It will take about another hour. Young Master Qian Ye's talent and aptitude are indeed exceptional; the Bone Marrow Cleansing Spiritual Liquid's effect exceeded expectations, with the Twelve Golden Bloodline revival rate surpassing 1.4% and still rising without showing signs of diminishing over time..."

Sixth Uncle Qian questioned, "Only a little over one percent?"

The muscular man smiled, "Even your Qian Family's genius ancestor Senior Qian Liexian had a bloodline revival rate of at most 70%. Qian Ye is only at the Cloud Surge Realm, with a revival rate of 1.4% for the Twelve Golden Bloodline. With our specially crafted medicine, his power will at least double out of thin air during the QingCyan Cloud yun City competition."

"Double out of thin air!?"

This data far exceeds the technical information initially provided by the Lu Family—the report suggested that Qian Ye's power increase would be at most fifty to sixty percent, with only a few moments available for explosive growth. In this context, the gap between him and Li Wanqing could be closed, but the odds of winning were merely sixty-four percent.

However, with his power doubling, the situation completely changes. In a battle between experts, many times the difference lies within direct margins; a power increase over ten percent can often result in overwhelming dominance in actual combat. Let alone if the power doubles!

The Qian Family was ready to "celebrate" immediately; some knowledgeable elders even took out sparkling wine imported from Golden Jade City from their Storage Bag to aim at the Patriarch's face—later, they turned their attention to Qian Jing's face to pop the bottle.

But then they heard Qian Jing ponder, "In this half month, we've cooperated fully with the Lu Family, sparing no expense, and have achieved today's results. But hasn't the Li Family made any moves?"

Hearing this, the elders of both the Qian and Lu Families looked at each other until Master Qi of the Qian Family spoke, "The Li Family has also increased its investments, updating their disciples' Magical Treasures and replenishing their Spiritual Medicines, but there haven't been any major moves; the disciples' power enhancements are limited. As for the most important person, she has been in Shen Garden all this time... in seclusion."

"In seclusion in Shen Garden? That's Wang Jiu again?"

The actions of the Li Family made the Qian Family somewhat anxious.

Limited power enhancement in ordinary disciples isn't considered good news, as even the Qian Family's ordinary disciples have only limited power enhancement, just the opened Flower Rain permissions and such. Their focus is on Qian Ye; as long as he can overwhelm Li Wanqing and win the championship, other matters aren't as important.

According to general theory, Li Wanqing left QingCyan Cloud yun City at 14 and cultivated Yuqing Daoist Skill anew on Yuqing Mountain. She refined Yuqing Taoist Armor, and with more than 2 years starting from scratch, her cultivation today can be considered almost against nature, exceeding her current potential at 17 years old. It would be tough to rapidly enhance it in a short time through any means.

But when things involve Wang Jiu, it's hard to say.

After all, Shen Qingming also surged from Barrier-Breaking Stage to her current level in less than half a year, which is very against nature. If Wang Jiu does indeed have a way to squeeze more potential from Li Wanqing, the Qian Family's massive investment would be in vain.

Just as the Qian Family elders began discussing the matter, Qian Long spoke.

"Don't just fixate on the Li Family. The Lu Family has exposed their core secrets this time; do you think it's to help us win the championship? Now that our two families have joined forces, there's also competition between us... Our expenditure on Spirit Stones this time is no less than a million. So, regarding the Lu Family, give us a reliable report."

The muscular man hesitated for a moment, looking at the highest-ranking person present.

Lu Xin nodded, "Go ahead."

"Young Master Fang Chen completed the enhancement two days ago; Yin Yang Pupils awakened simultaneously, with an overall bloodline revival rate exceeding 3%. However, due to his weaker foundation, he still lags behind Qian Ye in terms of power."

Qian Long chuckled coldly twice, "Being at 3% now doesn't guarantee the same after a month. But this is how it should be; the rivalry on the same starting line is the exciting part. Next, we'll all use our methods and see who gets the last laugh."

Seeing this, Lu Xin didn't say much, "Alright, now with this situation of three strong rivals, this aligns with the original intention of the QingCyan Cloud yun City competition. We'll meet again next month."

With that, he led the Lu Family elders to exit the scene, leaving only a few resident technicians to answer questions for the Lu Family people and take care of Qian Ye, who had just completed Marrow Cleansing.

Qian Jing asked his brother solemnly, "Do you think the biggest competitor this time is the Lu Family?"

Qian Long shook his head, "Neither the Li Family nor the Lu Family can be underestimated; our Qian Family is still emerging, and we must not underestimate the heritage of these established clans. Since we're committed this time, we must strive for the best."

"But regarding the budget..." Qian Jing gritted his teeth, "If not, we'll sell some..."

Qian Long waved his hand, "No need to touch our fundamental assets; if relying solely on our family's funds isn't enough, then let's raise funds."

"Raising funds?"

"Yes, in Golden Jade City, it's probably called packaging concept and IPO to raise money..."