The three younger members of the Yang family stood at a loss, unsure of what to say.

He Shenglai turned his gaze toward the youthful face of Yang Lingrui.

"You must have consumed quite a bit of that Spirit Liquid, taking a single drop every three months, have you not?"

Yang Lingrui's expression grew tense. He stole a glance at his two elders before nodding fearfully.

"Ah-a small family in a remote, impoverished region would indeed act like this, treating a single Qi Gathering spiritual plant as a family heirloom."

He Shenglai continued, "It is a pity no one in your clan knows alchemy. Consuming the Spirit Liquid directly causes more than half of its medicinal efficacy to dissipate from the body. If it could be refined into Spirit-Holding Pills, the effects would be vastly superior."

With that, a satisfied expression appeared on He Shenglai's face.

Now that both his curiosity and his sense of superiority had been fully satisfied by the Yang family, he was naturally in a splendid mood.

"Very well, let the matter rest here. Town Chief Gao and I will not spread word of this, so set your hearts at ease."

He slapped his waist, tossing out a handful of Spirit Crystals-exactly thirty in total.

"I will not mistreat your family. Consider these Spirit Crystals a personal compensation from me."

Yang Guanfeng immediately showed a delighted face, stepping forward and bending down to gather them up one by one.

With the matter resolved, He Shenglai and Gao Hui departed from the Yang family estate together, heading back toward Liuye Town.

Once the two had gone, the Yang family's Restricted Grounds returned to tranquility.

Yang Lingrui wiped the tear tracks from his face and eagerly asked, "Two ancestors, did Lingrui perform well enough this time?"

Yang Guanfeng and Elder Yu dropped their facades, both letting out light laughter.

"Haha, more than well enough-it was absolutely excellent!" Elder Yu praised.

Because they had not known when Lingrui would emerge from his Secluded Cultivation, the play was originally meant for only Yang Guanfeng and himself.

Yet, as luck would have it, Yang Lingrui broke his seclusion this very day, allowing them to add him to the act on short notice.

Who could have guessed the child possessed such a natural talent? Not only did he immerse himself in the role instantly, but he even managed to shed real tears at the critical moment, completely convincing He Shenglai from beginning to end.

"With this foundation laid, we only need to wait another half a year, and then Linghu and Lingqing will no longer need to hide from public view," Yang Guanfeng said with a smile.

He was a man of deep calculation. From the moment Gao Hui mentioned that the dynasty would dispatch cultivators to purchase Demon Beast corpses, a rough plan had already formed in his mind.

He foresaw that any dynasty cultivator visiting the Yang family would likely grow suspicious.

Since hiding was out of the question, he decided to turn the situation to his advantage, deliberately letting the outsider discover the "secret" hidden within the Restricted Grounds.

This would not only explain why his and Yang Lingrui's cultivation had progressed so rapidly, but it would also make it perfectly natural when the Yang family produced two more cultivators in the future.

Though a Four-Leaf Spirit-Holding Grass was valuable, it was exactly as He Shenglai had said.

At the end of the day, it was merely a Qi Gathering spiritual plant. While it meant everything to the Yang family, it was nothing extraordinary to slightly stronger forces, falling far short of the threshold where possessing a treasure invites disaster.

Therefore, he had previously instructed Yang Linghu and Yang Lingqing to take Spirit Stones and conceal themselves deep within Little Pine Mountain.

He, Elder Yu, and Yang Lingrui had then staged a grand performance, completely deceiving both He Shenglai and Gao Hui.

Furthermore, through this maneuver, they had even pocketed an extra thirty Spirit Crystals-a truly unexpected bonus.

When Linghu and Lingqing returned from the mountains, the five of them gathered to discuss how to allocate their total of one hundred and sixty Spirit Crystals.

Yang Guanfeng never ruled the three children with absolute patriarchal authority; instead, he always encouraged them to think critically and voice their own insights.

This way, when the day came that he and Elder Yu were no longer around, the younger generation would still be capable of supporting the Yang family.

"Two ancestors, I believe reinforcing the protective formation of our Restricted Grounds remains our family's highest priority. We should set aside the funds for that first,"

Yang Lingrui spoke first.

Following him, Yang Linghu also spoke up: "Next should be a Spatial Item! Our family now has five cultivators, yet we do not possess a single Storage Bag. It is far too inconvenient when traveling."

He had keenly remembered their previous inability to transport the large haul of Demon Beast corpses.

If the Yang family had enough Storage Bags, he could have brought those corpses to the market himself, earning far more Spirit Crystals.

Finally, everyone turned their eyes to Yang Lingqing, awaiting her response.

The young girl pondered for a moment before speaking: "Since the two ancestors have already expanded the Restricted Grounds, our family will surely recruit cultivators of other surnames in the future. My suggestion is to use the remaining funds to purchase complete sets of basic cultivation methods and technique arts. The quality need not be excessively high-those suitable for the mid-to-late Qi Gathering stage will suffice. We should emulate the established Sects and establish a Yang Family Sutra Library."

As her voice fell, Yang Lingrui immediately came to a sudden realization: "Indeed, that is the proper path. Sister Qing is far more thorough in her thinking."

Cultivators of external surnames naturally could not enjoy the same privileges as the core bloodline.

With a library in place, the Yang family could restrict the realms and strengths of these external cultivators, preventing any future backstabbing or rebellion.

"Lingqing's method is sound."

Elder Yu nodded in approval. "In the future, the core family cultivators residing in the main courtyard will be treated like direct disciples, while the external cultivators in the branch courtyard can seek methods from the library, living as ordinary disciples."

Listening to the three children share their views, Yang Guanfeng nodded repeatedly.

"Then we shall settle upon these three matters first. Elder Yu, you may set out within the next two days to invite Liu Zihao over."

Yang Guanfeng then commanded, "As for the three of you, continue to cultivate diligently under the guidance of the Spirit Stone Immortal Venerable. Though the Beast Tide has passed, our family will still face numerous challenges ahead. You must not slack off."

"We obey the ancestor's decree, and shall keep it close to our hearts!"

Early the next morning, Elder Yu departed for the Fish Ridge River Market, carrying one hundred Spirit Crystals with him.

Following several days of quiet cultivation, Chen Yang-ensconced within the Restricted Grounds-sensed a sudden fluctuation of spiritual Qi, which drew him out of his half-asleep state.

"Oh? It is finally this lad Linghu's turn."

The source of the spiritual Qi disturbance was indeed Yang Linghu.

He had been bottlenecked at the peak of the first layer of Qi Gathering for quite some time, and the several brush-with-death encounters during the Beast Tide had finally granted him the catalyst for a breakthrough.

After a month of quiet meditation and integration, he had achieved full comprehension today, immediately striking at his bottleneck on the spot.

In this regard, Yang Linghu resembled Yang Guanfeng the most; both were martial temperaments who needed to temper themselves through combat to advance.

The other two children, who were also in deep meditation, sensed the shift in Yang Linghu's presence and withdrew from their focus.

Knowing how rare an opportunity for a breakthrough was, they said nothing, silently watching over Yang Linghu's advancement.

Although Linghu's innate aptitude was somewhat lacking and his cultivation progressed slowly, his talent in other fields was remarkably high.

For instance, in the mastery of technique arts, even before reaching the second layer of Qi Gathering, he had already managed to train the Brute Force Art to its second layer.

The same held true for his current breakthrough.

When Yang Lingrui and Yang Lingqing broke through to the second layer, they had both required several days of secluded cultivation. Yet, it took Yang Linghu a mere two hours to completely shatter his bottleneck, without any dawdling whatsoever.

"Whew-"

Having stepped into the next realm, Yang Linghu exhaled a long breath. "After more than a year, I have finally achieved the second layer of Qi Gathering."

"Congratulations, Brother Hu!"

"You have worked hard, Hu-zi!"

The two stepped forward to offer their congratulations, and Yang Linghu accepted them with a hearty laugh.

At the same time, a new pearl manifested within Chen Yang's body, which he began to slowly digest and absorb.

Previously, fully digesting the pearl provided by Yang Lingrui's breakthrough had granted him a full year's worth of spiritual power.

This time, the pearl from Yang Linghu's advancement to the second layer was smaller in size; Chen Yang estimated it held roughly half a year's worth of spiritual power.

Upon thoroughly absorbing the spiritual power and the accompanying insights, Chen Yang became even more certain that Linghu possessed an extraordinary gift for technique arts.

He had initially assumed the boy was merely transitioning from the first layer to the second layer of the art, but it turned out Linghu had already touched the threshold of the third layer of the Brute Force Art, sitting just a single step away from mastery.

Following a brief exchange, the three children returned to their meditative states.

Listened to the lessons of the Beast Tide, they felt the precariousness of their clan's survival more deeply than ever.

Though they had the protection of the Spirit Stone Immortal Venerable, a blacksmith still needed to be strong enough to wield his own hammer; they could not rely on the Spirit Stone to manifest its might for every single tribulation.

Otherwise, it would not be long before its existence was completely exposed.

Should that day come, a catastrophic disaster would surely descend upon the Yang family.

Thus, the three children were pouring every ounce of their effort into their daily cultivation, striving to attain the strength required to stand on their own as quickly as possible.