Immortality Starts With Investment Chapter 4: The Green Cloud Sect Quota!

"Alchemy, money!"

Boosted by the system's fresh inspiration, Ye Chen brimmed with vitality and quit dawdling around.

Experiencing two lifetimes, Ye Chen grasped a key truth: Wealth grants a man true boldness. This held firm across any realm. On Earth, riches allowed gym sessions, home purchases, car ownership, global adventures, and freedom from others' control.

The cultivation realm followed the same rule. Lacking spirit stones forced a life like Lin Ke'er's, playing the 'green tea' role for scraps of resources. Yet with spirit stones, daily drudgery vanished. Superior housing could be rented, top-tier pills consumed, and premium spiritual rice savored. As power surged, others sought your favor.

Armed with the simp system, Ye Chen realized that greater strength unlocked higher-caliber female cultivators. The feedback multiplier would soar higher.

Thus, Ye Chen's motivation blazed fiercely. He yearned to test the complete mastery of First-Grade Alchemy and witness its true prowess.

Yet as Ye Chen retrieved the herbs from his storage box, meticulously sorting and inspecting them, his forehead creased. Issues plagued the ingredients. Qi Gathering Pills demanded withered yellow grass and red rose as primaries, but the red rose showed flaws.

Several plants had obviously been mishandled in storage, their petals subtly whitening—not glaringly so. This diminished red rose, stripped of vital medicinal essence, no longer qualified as the core component. Employing it meant pure loss.

Ye Chen's prior self, a total beginner, overlooked such defects. But armed with perfect First-Grade Alchemy insight, Ye Chen now knew these herbs inside out and detected flaws effortlessly.

Ye Chen extracted every red rose bundle and discovered at least one-third flawed. His face soured instantly. Little surprise his predecessor's failures mounted so high. At home, success hit about 20%.

Out of five pill batches, one typically succeeded. Here, though, victories came once in seven or eight tries. It clicked now. Sabotage lurked in the shadows.

Ye Chen's gaze sharpened with this epiphany. The shop supplied these herbs. This venture was Ye Family's own. Higher failures hurt the family. Who plotted this?

...

Knock, knock, knock...

A soft voice sounded beyond the door: "Nephew Ye, how are you faring?"

Recognizing the tone, Ye Chen's mouth twisted into an icy grin. Speak of the fiend, and he arrives!

Ye Chen shoved the red rose into the storage box, flashed a genial smile, and courteously swung the door open. "Manager Zhang, what wind blows you here? Enter, please."

His decade in government service taught Ye Chen valuable lessons.

Entering was Manager Zhang, a rotund fellow beaming amiably. "I came to see how your alchemy progresses. Hope I didn't interrupt?"

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Ye Chen shook his head at once. "Not at all. Pill refining advances steadily. Still adjusting to the setup, so it's slower than hoped. Likely hitting the deadline at best."

Manager Zhang, catching the lingering char scent and the heap of tossed herbs nearby, grinned wider. "Ah, Nephew Ye, such humility! As a Ye family scion, with our own shop here, deadlines flex for you. I'll stretch it no problem—my say-so suffices. Your diligence promises stronger odds for Green Cloud Sect entry ahead."

Green Cloud Sect?

Ye Chen noted it calmly on the surface, but inwardly, suspicions solidified. This very man supplied the tainted red rose to undermine him.

A dominant local force, Green Cloud Sect boasted a Golden Core Ancestor at its helm. Ye family's founding ancestor served as its outer disciple once. Fate denied him foundation formation, so he departed to establish the Ye lineage, which flourished over time.

Green Cloud Sect endorsed such exits. Hopeless disciples spreading out bolstered the Sect's reach. They even delegated missions occasionally.

The founding ancestor retained Foundation Establishment Elder pals from those days, who dropped by now and then. Aid flowed when crises hit the family.

Hence, Ye family prospered. Post-founder's passing, Green Cloud Sect links weakened. By the third-generation leader, bonds snapped entirely.

Still, Green Cloud Sect favored such quasi-allied clans. Producing a Foundation Establishment member earned two entry slots.

Ye family's present patriarch, Qi Refining peak, chased Foundation Establishment. Sustaining such a powerhouse demanded vast resources.

So the fifth generation, Ye Chen among them, got dispatched to labor for clan resources fueling the head's push. A noble family offering.

Yet perks lingered: those dual Green Cloud Sect slots. Seven fifth-gen youths vied fiercely, judged by upcoming feats. That's why Ye Chen's old self slaved over pills till exhaustion claimed him.

Indeed, sect membership offered vast futures and horizons dwarfing the petty Ye family. Even sans Foundation Establishment, inner strife festered deeply.

Third branch's sole heir was Ye Chen. Second branch ran the shop. His predecessor trained alchemy under second uncle even.

This clicked fully for Ye Chen. No shock at the predecessor's weak skills, blind to red rose faults. No wonder sabotaged supplies from the shop. They rigged his doom to bar Green Cloud Sect contention.

Ye Chen scoffed inwardly. This Qi Refining clan shunned unity for collective ascent, instead undermining kin for elusive slots. Pure folly.

Should the head attain Foundation Establishment, such a clan doomed anyway. Clarity stripped Ye Chen's illusions about the Ye family.

That Green Cloud Sect slot, though, fired his ambition. System rules: superior female cultivators yielded bigger feedback multipliers.

Earth's beauties chased metropolises. Cultivation mirrored it. Elite women joined sects inevitably.

Green Cloud Sect entry could net Ye Chen 20x, 30x, 100x multiplier beauties. Decades skipped instantly.

The mere idea thrilled Ye Chen. Sects demanded pristine formal disciples: no prior cultivation, spotless origins. Loose cultivators like Lin Ke'er, opportunity-starved, stood no chance.

Ye Chen matched that boat. Thus, this slot… he seized it no matter what!