Falling Cloud Mountain Range.
Cloud Mist Peak.
In a secluded chamber hidden within the Su Family's backyard, a young man sat cross-legged on a cold jade bed. The air around him exuded a chilling aura, making anyone who saw it shiver involuntarily. However, the young man remained unfazed by the cold.
After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes, a hint of regret flashing in them.
"I pushed too hard after all. Reaching the late stage of True Martial Realm isn't as easy as it seems," Su Xun shook his head with a hint of frustration.
"System, check-in," Su Xun spoke without dwelling on it.
Breaking through such barriers couldn't be rushed, especially considering that his cultivation at the peak of the mid-stage of the True Martial Realm already placed him among the elite in this small corner of the Azure Cloud Kingdom.
[Ding, check-in successful. Congratulations, host, on obtaining a True Martial Pill.] the system's voice rang out, and Su Xun reacted with a sense of familiarity.
A True Martial Pill, as the name suggested, was a pill that helped break through the True Martial Realm. He had acquired quite a few of these through check-ins, but his own cultivation had already surpassed that point, rendering them redundant. He could only save them in the family treasury as rewards for future generations.
Su Xun, a graduate from the 21st century on Blue Star, had transmigrated into a person with the same name and surname. He had spent two decades in this world. In that time, he had progressed from being a waste to reaching the True Martial Realm, a remarkably rapid cultivation speed.
According to his understanding, the realms progressed from lowest to highest as follows: Elemental Martial Realm, Spirit Martial Realm, Profound Martial Realm, Earth Martial Realm, Heavenly Martial Realm, True Martial Realm, Profound Origin Realm, Heavenly Origin Realm, Enlightenment Realm…
Each realm was further divided into four levels: early, mid, late, and peak.
As for whether there were realms beyond the Enlightenment Realm, Su Xun wasn't entirely sure. After all, as far as he knew, the Azure Cloud Kingdom only had the old ancestors in the True Martial Realm as its strongest existence.
Just as Su Xun was about to stand up, the system's voice rang out again.
[Ding, congratulations, host, on reaching a full twenty years of check-ins. The God level Check-in System is about to transform into the God level Family Development System.]
[It shall take upon the responsibility of developing the family and will add the feature of customizing Gold Finger abilities based on check-ins, aimed at nurturing the future generations and advancing the family.]
"Explain in detail," Su Xun was surprised for a moment, but quickly digested the words of the system.
[The God level Family Development System is an evolved version of the God level Check-in System. The host can seek suitable family members within the family and customize various system functions for them, such as summoning system, tenfold return system, and so on.]
After listening to the explanation, Su Xun understood.
"System, open the attribute panel," Su Xun commanded with a thought.
Host: Su Xun
Cultivation: Mid-stage peak of the True Martial Realm
Family: Su Family
Constitution: None
Spirit Root: Ice Spirit Root
Technique: Cold Jade Art (Earth-rank Top-Grade)
Martial Skills: Life and Death Seal (Earth-rank Top-Grade), Cold Jade Spike (Earth-rank Top-Grade), Thousand-Mile Ice Seal (Earth-rank Top-Grade)
Family Luck: 50,000
Su Xun glanced at the panel and then exited. He immediately entered the Gold Finger Customization Store, but after a glance, he exited. Unfortunately, his wallet couldn't afford it. The lowest-priced system there required a whopping 100,000 points of Family Luck. Well, he would consider it when he had the resources.
Su Xun was helpless. Family Luck was a mysterious concept, not easily obtainable. After years of effort, he had only accumulated 50,000 points of Family Luck.
Exiting the secret chamber, Su Xun pondered how to acquire more Family Luck. The quickest method was undoubtedly through conquering territories and expanding his family's influence. However, Su Family was just a family, and such thoughts were unrealistic. Developing the family was a slower but more sustainable approach.
Just as Su Xun was lost in thought, a voice sounded outside the door.
"Come in," Su Xun called out and took a seat, waiting for the visitor.
A middle-aged man in his forties entered the room and greeted Su Xun with a bow.
"Uncle Grandfather," the man respectfully greeted Su Xun, an odd scene of a middle-aged man bowing to a young man of around twenty. But, Su Xun was the young master of the Su Family, and age and seniority often held more weight in this world.
"Yes, what's the matter with the family?" Su Xun acknowledged with a nod and inquired.
"It's like this, news has come from Tiannan County that the young master of the Liu Family, one of the four major families, has become a direct disciple of the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect. Leveraging this relationship, the Xue Family has been annihilated, and the Yuan and Qi Families have declared themselves vassals of the Liu Family," Su Zeduan reported, stealing a glance at his junior patriarch.
"So, the Liu Family thinks it's invincible and wants to make a move against the County Lord's Mansion?" Su Xun deduced the reason behind the matter.
"Uncle Grandfather is truly wise," Su Zeduan flattered quickly.
"Interesting. This is probably the Heavenly Sword Sect testing the waters using the Liu Family. Although the County Lord's Mansion seems to be part of the Azure Cloud Kingdom, its loyalty belongs to our Su Family. Since they've stuck their hand out, let's break it off," Su Xun's eyes glinted with a chilling light as ice fragments started floating around him, causing Su Zeduan to shiver involuntarily when he looked up.
"Go ahead and handle it. It's just a small Heaven Sword Sect. Just keep it discreet," Su Xun added, quickly dispelling the chilling aura.
After all, he had just managed to erase the Su Family's presence from the public eye. It wouldn't do to expose them again so soon. But he wondered how long this situation could be hidden after the system's transformation.
"How's the development of the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce?" Su Xun thought of something and stopped Su Zeduan, who was about to leave.
Su Zeduan was about to leave, but when he heard his uncle grandfather's question, he turned back.
"The Kyushu Chamber of Commerce has already expanded to the three prefectures, including Hexi Prefecture. However, there's resistance in the remaining four prefectures, including the Imperial Capital. It's difficult to intervene," Su Zeduan said somewhat helplessly.
The three major families controlled the Imperial Capital, and the other four prefectures were under the control of feudal lords and the royal family. Progress wasn't going smoothly. The top experts of the Su family could indeed overwhelm them, but the Su family was just a family and lacked a military force, making it difficult to make headway.
"Do your best to develop the rest. I'll handle this matter in a few days," Su Xun also knew that the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce wasn't without power. However, its emergence aimed to divide the cake among these powers, some of which lacked industries and even had many gray businesses.
Over these years of hiding, the Su family couldn't do without cultivation resources. The rewards from daily check-ins were not enough for the entire family. The Kyushu Chamber of Commerce provided a lot of resources to the Su family. Su Xun's plan was to spread the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce throughout the entire Divine Martial Continent.
Seeing that Su Xun had no further instructions, Su Zeduan retreated on his own. Since his uncle grandfather had spoken this way, he decided to directly ask two peak late-stage Heavenly Martial Realm experts to act this time. He believed it would be foolproof.
After all, the strength of the County Lord was only at the late stage of the Earth Martial Realm, and this was due to the results of Su Family's cultivation. As for the Liu Family, having an expert who just entered the Earth Martial Realm was a cause for celebration.
As for the Heavenly Sword Sect, despite having a True Martial Realm ancestor sitting in power, the representatives sent to the Liu Family were at best at the late stage of the Earth Martial Realm to the completion stage. They were hardly a concern at all.