Milestone Reached

The first thing that caught Yu Yan's attention when he entered the Pocket World was the Stealth-Blood Wolf.

It was curled up by the small sapling, whining like an abandoned puppy. His heart melted, and he slowly approached it, producing from his pocket a small pouch where he saved meat strips. He slowly ate them whenever he was bored but now they came in handy as treats instead of snacks.

Of course, it did cross his mind to get the beast some milk, but Magical beasts were all very different, and this one had already developed teeth, so he thought meat would be a good idea.

Maybe later, when he left this space, he could get some milk from the few beasts the clan raised.

It took him some time to get the puppy confident enough to approach him and even more time to get it active and playing around.

He took the puppy for a swim in the Chaos Spring and made it drink from the spring before watering the Sappling and settling down to cultivate.

***

Time passed by very quickly in a world where people lived longer than earthlings. Although, while Yu Yan cultivated, the world outside was very vibrant.

News of the Yu Clan's new Patriarch passed quickly through the Capital and even the provinces, cities, and towns around it.

The tension between the Divine Blood Empire and the Ghost Kingdom of the North was growing. For many emperors, the Empire had not gone to war to conquer more territory, but in recent times, the Princes were getting agitated and needed ways to prove themselves.

When an Emperor sits on the throne too long, his heirs begin to wonder if they'll live long enough to rule. They were each trying to glorify themselves as Princes if they could not become Emperor. And what better way to do so than to expand the territory and bring in new lands? That way, their achievements would be greater than even the Emperor.

This craze among the Princes caused an arms trade among many merchants. As each of the twenty-one Princes gathered and armed their forces, weapon prices in the market started to rise. Especially mortal weapons, almost getting to have the price of a Rank 1 Spiritual Artifact.

If anyone could leave the Empire to purchase weapons and bring them in, they would make a killing and become wealthy overnight!

But it was too risky to do so with bandits everywhere trying to get some gains from the situation. Thus all eyes turned to the mines within the Empire, number one of which belonged to the Yu Clan.

****

Two months passed in the blink of an eye and Yu Yan slowly opened his eyes and felt the Qi raging through him in a controlled manner.

"Status" he willed mentally.

[Host Information]

[Name: Yu Yan]

[Affiliation: Yu Clan - Legacy]

[Age / Lifespan: 16/ 2503 (+300)]

[Body Cultivation: Body Tampering Level 12]

[Qi Cultivation: Qi Condensation 4th Layer]

[Mental Cultivation: 6th Layer Foundation Establishment]

[Abilities: - ]

[Qi Cultivation Talent: Mortal Roots Level 9]

[Comprehension: 102 (Average 60)]

[Physique: Undying Sage Body (Ultimate Max)]

A satisfied smile spread his lips as he nodded confidently. Thanks to the Chaos Spring, his mental Cultivation was soaring far faster than his Qi Cultivation. Unfortunately, he had no Visualization Techniques or he would improve even faster.

Returning to the real world, he walked out of his room to find Lu Sheng standing in the Hallway with Zi Peng.

"Is there a problem?" he asked curiously since this was the first time he saw Lu Sheng here.

"No Master. We had nothing to do outside of training, so I organized guard duty for the squad.

Yu Yan was still confused, but after some more communication, he learned that the clan Elders had gotten worried since he hadn't made any move since he became Patriarch, so they sent guards to check on him and guard the courtyard.

Fortunately, Lu Sheng adamantly sent them away.

"You did well" Yu Yan praised. The Zi brothers were enough, he did not want any more uncertain personalities in his courtyard.

He could understand the Elders though. A young man had just gotten so much power, why wouldn't he use it?

Unfortunately, they would never know that to Yu Yan, power was in the system and not in the clan.

"If only the AI was here, maybe I could get cultivation techniques" Yu Yan sighed to himself. Seeing his attendants not being able to cultivate pained him physically.

"Did you register all the Alchemy Apprentices?" Yu Yan turned to Zi Peng and asked.

"Yes, Master," Zi Peng replied with a small bow.

"Okay good. From now on, there will be an Alchemy Hall in the clan. Choose someone to be in charge of it. Everyone interested can take tests to join this hall and the Apprentices will teach them freely. Pay special attention to the younger ones." Yu Yan started to instruct.

"Did you get the seeds I wanted?" He asked again and Zi Peng gestured. A maid walked forward and handed Yu Yan a small box which he accepted but kept his eyes on the maid.

"You should be one of the twelve from my wife, right?" he asked, then glanced at Zi Peng.

"Yes Master, the maid replied, her back bent as she didn't dare to raise her head. She was, after all, bought from a slave market.

"What is going on? Did you all forget my instructions so quickly? The twelve maids will form their own Squad and do not have to do any menial work. You will take instructions only from me," Yu Yan scolded sharply.

Suddenly getting an idea, he said to Lu Sheng, "From now on, your Squad will be known as Black Robes Guards, your responsibility is to protect this courtyard and everyone residing within. Including the maids."

Then turning to the maids, he considered for a moment.

"You will have a competition supervised by Lu Sheng, the strongest among you will become the Vice Captain. Lu Sheng is not your Captain, that spot will be left empty for now. Your squad will be Maidens. Your responsibility is to represent me in carrying out my will and gathering information."

Even he felt a little cringe when he finished; after all, the Yu Clan was just an insignificant clan, and here he was making arrangements like they were some big shots.

"Zi Peng, you and your brothers will be the link between this courtyard and the clan. You will work more with the Red Maidens. They represent the courtyard in the clan and you represent the clan in the courtyard. Arrange their salaries to be equal to the Black Robes"

Zi Peng immediately trembled and started to stutter.

"Master, there's twelve of them. Actually, they are slaves; we don't need to pay a salary," he objected.

Yu Yan shook his head sideways, he had already made up his mind.

"They are not slaves anymore," he instructed, and the maid began to tremble from excitement, almost falling down to lick Yu Yan's feet. Thankfully, they had all trained under Lu Sheng to have some discipline.

"But the brand..." Zi Peng reminded, and Yu Yan's gaze fell on the maid's brand on her forehead.

It was the number '8' used to mark slaves.

"From now on, the Red Sleeve Maidens will wear a veil and be addressed by numbers instead of names." Yu Yan shrugged and waved his hands, indicating he didn't want to talk about this anymore.

"Every ten years, both of you will host a competition to select new blood around the ages of 10 to 15, and they must not have Yu Clan blood in them," Yu Yan added after a while.

He continued to give more detailed instructions about the two squads he just developed before picking up the box and heading back to his room. Now that Mei Hua Lin had left, he didn't really have anyone he wanted to socialize with so he enjoyed the feeling of growth.

Before returning, he instructed Zi Peng to again gather for him two pairs of male and female of all the small animals the Clan had.

The Pocket World was increasing with every minor breakthrough and was quickly starting to feel empty.

Back in the Pocket World, he started to plant by the north edge, not wanting to bring anything near the middle. After planting all the seeds, he decided to focus on his Qi Cultivation for the next few years and then alternate for mental Cultivation.

Barely a day passed when Yu Yan was suddenly roused from his Cultivation by a system message.

He was startled as the system was always silent.

[Ding!]

[Milestone Reached: The Yu Clan has developed two Special Branches. The Red Sleeve Maidens and the Black Robe Guards]

[Rewards: Illusory Flow (Chaos Cultivation Technique), Battle Core (Chaos Cultivation Technique)]

Yu Yan was pleasantly surprised. The system awarded techniques for both branches as soon as they were established.

This was a timely reward he would have gotten long ago if that damn AI had not. . .

Anyway, now was not the time to think gloomy thoughts.

Before he could process any more thoughts, there was another System Message.

[Ding!]

[Achievement Complete: Build your own forces within the clan]

[Reward: Bond of Fate (Unranked Item)]

[Bond of Fate: Enter an agreement of loyalty with a willing party. If either party reneges on the agreement, the bond of Fate will be broken and the traitor will be punished]

Yu Yan played with the wolf cub as he tried to understand the function of this new item. It took him a few minutes but once he bonded with it, all information about it flooded his brain.

Coming out of the Pocket World, Yu Yan ordered everyone to assemble in the courtyard and one by one, they all entered into an agreement with him through the Bond of Fate.

The agreement was quite lenient.

The only requirement was absolute Loyalty to Yu Yan without putting him at risk through any direct or ambiguous means. The punishment for reneging was death enforced by the Bond of Fate.

All twenty-one of the Black Robe Guards and twelve of the Red Maidens swore this oath, but Yu Yan spared the Zi brothers.

He had a feeling they were deliberately assigned to him, and he didn't want to put them on the spot, so he claimed the oath only worked on mortals.

After swearing the oath with everyone, Yu Yan provided them with their respective cultivation techniques and a little water from the Chaos Spring sealed in small vials.

They were forbidden to share their techniques or any information about the water they had just drank and left to cultivate on their own.

The Alchemy Hall would still take some time as it involves some clan politics which Yu Yan lazily left to the Zi brothers.

Meanwhile, elsewhere someone was finalizing their plans to finish what they started with Yu Yan.