At the time of the exhibition, it had been a strategic decision. By requiring all maintenance to be handled by him, he ensured continued access to every Jiangshi he sold. It was a perfect method for long term control and gradual infiltration.

Yet now, with tens of thousands of Jiangshi entering circulation, the workload created by this condition had grown into something unmanageable.

Each returned Jiangshi required inspection.

Each repair required attention.

Each upgrade demanded focus.

Han Yu could not abandon the clause. It was too valuable to his long term plans. Yet he needed a way to handle the workload without exposing his methods to others.

He considered bringing in disciples from the Puppet Peak.

The idea was quickly dismissed.

No matter how loyal or skilled they might be, the risk was too great. The presence of Eight Emotions energy within the Jiangshi could not be revealed, not even partially. Allowing outsiders into the process would introduce variables he could not control.

The solution came from an unexpected source.

Meng Jueyan.

She observed the situation quietly before offering her suggestion, her tone calm and practical.

"Master, why not use your own creations?"

The idea was simple.

The execution was brilliant.

Han Yu already had a growing number of Green Trust and Yellow Joy Jiangshi. These were the most stable and intelligent among his creations. Their ability to follow complex instructions and adapt to tasks made them suitable for more than just combat or display.

They could work.

Han Yu began testing the idea immediately.

He designed a structured maintenance system, dividing the tasks into tiers based on complexity.

Minor damage, surface repairs, and routine adjustments were categorized as basic tasks. These could be handled through standardized formation arrays that he had already developed. The arrays required minimal oversight and could be activated and controlled by the Green and Yellow Jiangshi.

More complex issues, such as core instability or structural corruption, were reserved for Han Yu himself.

The results were immediate.

Efficiency increased and the workload decreased.

For the first time since the orders began flooding in, Han Yu felt a sense of control returning.

He did not stop there.

To further support the system, he integrated puppets into the workflow. These were sourced from the Puppet Peak and customized to assist with repetitive tasks. They transported materials, maintained the blood pools, monitored energy levels, and ensured that each stage of production operated smoothly.

The combination of puppets and intelligent Jiangshi created a multilayered pipeline system.

Puppets handled the mechanical.

Jiangshi handled the adaptive.

Han Yu handled the critical.

The entire process began to flow.

Even then, the work remained immense.

Days blurred into nights as Han Yu moved between workshops, inspecting progress, refining techniques, and continuously optimizing the system. His control over Eight Emotions energy became more refined with each use, allowing him to produce Jiangshi with greater consistency and efficiency.

At the same time, the influx of Eight Emotions energy from the sect continued to sustain him.

Every transaction, every discussion, every reaction generated more energy. Excitement, greed, anticipation, and even envy fed into his reserves, ensuring that he never lacked the raw material needed for his creations.

It became a self sustaining cycle.

The more Jiangshi he sold, the more attention he attracted.

The more attention he attracted, the more energy he gained.

The more energy he gained, the more Jiangshi he could create.

Han Yu stood at the center of it all, overseeing a system that was growing far beyond its original scope.

What had once been a plan to quietly infiltrate the sect had evolved into something much larger.

An industry.

A network.

A foundation.

And as the number of Ju Series Jiangshi continued to rise, spreading across peaks, halls, and hidden corners of the sect, Han Yu knew that every single one of them carried a piece of his will.

They worked.

They served.

They obeyed.

And one day, when the time came, they would all listen... To him.

Five years passed since the day of the exhibition, and in that time Han Yu's life transformed into something that even he sometimes found difficult to recognize.

What had begun as a calculated gamble had grown into an overwhelming tide of work, influence, and responsibility that left him with little room to breathe. There were days when he would wake up already exhausted, only to realize he had not truly slept but merely paused between tasks.

Yet even in that constant motion, there was a quiet satisfaction that settled deep within him. Everything he had built was working exactly as intended, and the results were far beyond what he had imagined when he first stepped onto the Puppet Peak.

His days followed no fixed schedule anymore, because no schedule could contain them.

From the moment he opened his eyes, there were matters waiting for him. Production requests, maintenance queues, political invitations, internal disputes, financial reports, and research updates all converged upon him at once.

Even his cultivation had to be carefully woven into the gaps between responsibilities, a task that would have frustrated him in the past. Now, he accepted it as part of the price of what he was building.

At the center of managing all of this stood Meng Jueyan.

If Han Yu was the engine driving everything forward, then she had become the structure that kept it from collapsing. Over the years, her role had shifted so naturally that even Han Yu barely noticed when she stopped being simply someone he guided and became someone he relied on.

She managed his time with precision that rivaled any formation array, arranging meetings so efficiently that even the busiest elders found themselves adapting to her schedule rather than the other way around.

She handled correspondence with a calm authority that made others forget she had once been a slave. Letters bearing her seal were treated with the same weight as those written by Han Yu himself.

She filtered requests, dismissed trivial matters, and ensured that only the most important issues reached him directly. Banquets were arranged, negotiations were coordinated, and even conflicts between factions were sometimes routed through her before reaching Han Yu.