I established the Eternal Immortal Clan by taming beasts.

Three months later, the Spirit Beast Garden on the east side of Shattered Star Lake.

The morning light filtered through the gaps in the tree canopy, spreading a patchwork of dappled light across the ground.

Lin Xinyao squatted in front of a row of low wooden incubation racks, her spirit pen recording the spiritual energy fluctuations on the surface of a spirit beast egg.

The fine white lines on the eggshell were flashing at a faster frequency than three days ago, the thickness of the spiritual light layer had increased by one line, the internal spiritual energy fluctuations had become more active, and the pulse rhythm was clear and stable.

Her fingertips paused on the pen handle of the spirit-testing pen to confirm that the reading had been fully recorded before she straightened up and wrote down the current value in the booklet next to her.

The ink quickly seeped into the white paper, leaving a line of neat small characters. As she closed the booklet, she pressed her fingertip against the corner to smooth out the page.

Lin Che stood at the edge of the incubation rack, his gaze sweeping over the row of spirit beast eggs that were incubating.

To avoid any unforeseen circumstances, the Lin family temporarily placed the incubation work in the Shattered Star Lake clan territory, and Lin Che personally brought back all the eggs.

Each egg is placed in an independent groove, the bottom of which is covered with a layer of light blue spiritual liquid. The liquid surface is kept at a straight line distance from the lower edge of the egg, neither touching it nor leaving too large a gap.

The grooves are connected by channels about half a finger wide, and the spiritual liquid in the channels flows at an extremely slow speed, carrying a faint spiritual energy fluctuation, connecting the entire row of incubation racks into a unified environmental control system.

"How's the situation with this batch of Cloud-Treading Black Steeds?" Lin Che asked.

"Better than expected." Lin Xinyao closed the booklet and turned around.

The morning light fell on her beautiful face. A few strands of hair on her forehead were blown by the morning breeze and fell above her brow bone. She did not reach out to brush them away, but simply tucked the booklet in her hand under her arm.

"The activity within the first batch of ten eggs has been activated, and the rate of spiritual energy absorption is continuously increasing. Based on the current trend, the earliest one is expected to hatch in about twenty days."

The hatching progress of the Azure Cloud Black Crane is slightly slower than that of the Cloud-Stepping Black Steed, but it is still within the expected range. Their eggshells are more sensitive to the spiritual energy environment and require a longer stabilization period before the hatching process can begin.

She paused for a moment, her gaze lingering on the row of glowing spirit beast eggs: "I plan to start the hatching process for the Sky-Splitting War Wolves after the first batch of hatched cubs have passed their infancy."

Different breeds have very different requirements for care and feeding density during the early stages. To be on the safe side, it is better to introduce them in batches according to breed.

The hatchlings of the Cloud-Treading Black Steed take about forty days to develop. Once they have fully passed this stage and begun feeding independently, the eggs of the Sky-Splitting War Wolf will then be activated. This avoids the situation where both types of cubs require concentrated care, leading to a shortage of manpower.

Lin Che nodded: "You handle it as you see fit, just make sure the process is stable. The breeding methods for these species are very different from the ones we used in Shattered Star Lake. Fifth-tier high-grade bloodline spirit beast cubs have a higher demand for spiritual energy in the early stages, and may require special feeding ratios. Also, you need to pay attention to the flow of spiritual energy around the incubation rack. If any additional adjustments are needed, apply directly to Xuan Qi."

"Understood." Lin Xinyao's fingertip traced the edge of the booklet, turning to the back of the current page, where there was a hand-drawn sketch marking the distribution of spiritual energy around the incubation rack. She touched a mark with the tip of her pen and added a line of small text.

Lin Che's gaze passed over the incubation racks and landed on the slowly taking shape complex of buildings outside the Spirit Beast Garden.

The spirit beast garden on the east side of Shattered Star Lake, which was originally divided into several free-range areas by wooden fences, has now been leveled into a connected open space.

The spirit beasts from the original two southeast districts were relocated to Qingze. Most of the buildings above were demolished and rebuilt, the ground was compacted, and the outline of the bluestone foundation is gradually taking shape.

One courtyard after another rose from the ground, each building following a unified planning layout, from the rammed earth foundation to the construction of the walls.

Although there is still room on the island in the middle of the lake, the Lin family is growing larger and larger, and it is becoming a bit crowded.

Now that the Lin family's sphere of influence has grown, it's time to expand it further.

The original spirit beast gardens on the southeast and spirit herb gardens on the north have been shut down recently. These places will be transformed into new residential areas for the descendants of the Lin family to live in.

The relocation of the spirit beast and spirit herb garden was also for the sake of the clan's cultivation.

The spiritual energy on the spiritual vein where Shattered Star Lake is located is limited. The Lin family is a beast-taming family, and the spiritual energy consumed by cultivators and spirit beasts is already very high. If a spirit beast garden is set up here, the pressure on the distribution of spiritual energy will be even greater, which would be a loss.

Besides, the Lin family now has such a large territory that they don't lack space to raise spirit beasts.

Even excluding the undeveloped areas, the Lin family still possesses a legacy from the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect, whose mount breeding base is far superior to Shattered Star Lake.

To be honest, everyone had considered moving the Lin family directly to that secret realm.

However, Shattered Star Lake was the beginning of the Lin family's prosperity and their ancestral home. It was the Lin family's base of operations, and its geographical location was also very special, so they eventually gave up the idea.

"Once the infrastructure at the breeding base is completed, the first batch of spirit beast cubs will be moved there." Lin Che withdrew his gaze. "The spiritual energy environment there is more suitable for their growth. The spirit beasts raised there will be stronger than those raised in Shattered Star Lake. When these cubs start to grow, the density of spiritual energy in the environment will have a great impact on their bone development and bloodline stability. If a spirit beast with a fifth-order superior bloodline stays in a low-order environment for too long, its physique and spiritual energy reserves after adulthood will be limited."

"Yes, we've already started preparing the free-range area over there."

Lin Xinyao shifted her gaze back to the incubation rack, her eyes slowly moving along the row of glowing eggshells.

"It may take one to two months for the first batch of Ta Yun Wu Zhui to adapt to the new environment. I plan to let them hatch and stay at Sui Xing Hu for a full month until all their vital signs are stable before moving them there."

The free-range area there has a more open terrain, which is suitable for them to practice running. If they are moved too early, the young animals' spatial awareness is not yet fully developed, and they may experience stress due to the drastic change in environment.

Ultimately, the Lin family decided that they couldn't hire outside helpers to run the mount training base; they had to keep it firmly under their own control.

After all, the spirit beasts inside this secret realm are extremely valuable, and this secret realm is also crucial for the future development of the Lin family.

So originally, Lin Xinyao only had seven or eight members of the Xin generation helping her manage the Lin family's spirit beast garden, but now she has directly transferred a hundred people to her to jointly undertake the spirit beast breeding work in various areas.

Lin Che nodded and said nothing more.

After completing his inspection, he returned to the main area and ran into Lin Xuanqing, who had just come out of the array workshop.

The ink stains on her cuffs were thicker than before. There was a dried dark blue ink stain at the elbow of her left cuff, and there were also indelible ink stains between her right fingers, which had seeped into her fingernails.

She walked a little faster than usual, her left hand holding a scroll of array diagrams that had just been rolled up, with a section of paper edge still sticking out from the edge of the scroll.

"Father." She slowed her pace at the corner of the corridor, turning slightly to the side. "We've finished reading the array inheritance. We analyzed the structure of the third layer of the array last month, and only the final core part needs further confirmation. The locations of the first batch of sub-arrays that need repair have also been determined, including the basic environmental control array in the incubation area and the data collection core array on the second floor of the main hall. The materials list has been compiled, and we can begin purchasing." She spoke slightly faster than usual, a speed characteristic of someone switching from a highly focused work rhythm.

Lin Che nodded slightly: "I trust you to handle things, but don't let your cultivation and Master Qin's cultivation fall behind. The sooner you break through, the sooner our Lin family will have a high-level array master, and Master Qin's breakthrough will mean that our Lin family will have a fourth-level array master."

Lin Xuanqing nodded gently, understanding what his father meant.

In fact, she spends most of her time hiding.

With the Azure Emperor's Longevity Body, she has an infinite lifespan, so she can naturally cultivate some secret techniques to digest her lifespan and increase her cultivation speed.

In fact, she had already broken through to the Golden Core stage long ago, and her speed was no less than that of Lin Xuanjing, who had a top-grade spiritual root. However, as the Lin family's trump card, she had never revealed it at all.

Apart from her father, Lin Che, no one else in the Lin family knew her specific abilities and cultivation level; they only knew that she was a genius in formations.

"Father, don't worry, I will work hard. I will also keep an eye on my master. She's been obsessed with deconstructing the array system of the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect lately. Sometimes she sits in the workshop all day without moving. I will remind her to pay attention to adjusting her time."

Lin Che patted her shoulder: "The heavy responsibility of the Lin family's formations is now entrusted to you."

After saying goodbye to her father, she continued walking along the corridor toward the main area, but at a faster pace than before.

Lin Che stood in the corridor, his gaze sweeping over the construction and work taking place in all directions, before turning and walking toward the council hall.

Inside the council chamber, Lin Xuanqi was checking the material data against a new account sheet.

The table was marked with fine lines, each row labeled with the material name, and each column corresponding to a different use category.

His pen moved slowly across the paper, occasionally pausing on a line to draw a line under the number before turning to the next page to check the corresponding entry.

Hearing footsteps, he looked up and said, "Father, the budget for the first batch of materials has been finalized, but the current stock in the warehouse can only support the first two phases of construction. We'll run out of resources for the rest."

"And then there are spirit stones. We already used up most of our reserves during the beast tide, and now the expansion has taken a huge toll. Besides, even if we had spirit stones now, we couldn't buy the materials we needed."

Lin Che slowly sat down, not in a hurry to answer, but first picked up the spiritual food in front of the boss and tasted it.

The dish of spiritual food was brought by Lin Xuanqi this morning. It was served on a shallow celadon plate, with very faint steam rising from the edge.

Lin Che picked up a piece and put it in his mouth, chewing slowly, letting the refreshing flavor melt on his tongue. Then he put down his chopsticks and turned his gaze back to the account sheet.

This is indeed a problem.

With the Greenwood Merchant Guild in Burning Bone City shut down, the Greenwood Merchant Guild and Hundred Flavors Restaurant in Early Sun City alone cannot obtain enough spirit stones.

Now, due to the chaos of the beast tide, the Chuyang City area is completely separated from the heart of the Southern Region.

Previously, with major chambers of commerce stationed in Burning Bone City, the Lin family could buy almost anything without any problem. But now that they have withdrawn, the road has been cut off, making it a real challenge to make purchases.

"Let's strengthen trade with Lady Wanyue." Lin Che tapped his fingers lightly on the table twice. "Their territory has been developed for many years, so I believe they have no shortage of basic resources, and they should also have a lot of various spirit ores and materials in stock."

Let's discuss with them about postponing the delivery of our spirit stones; we can offer a price higher than the market rate.

Once our first development zone is fully operational and the discovered spirit mines are officially developed, the spirit stone shortage should be alleviated.

Lin Xuanqi listened attentively, and quickly jotted down a few key points on the edge of the paper with his spirit pen: "Understood. I will do my best to advance the cooperation with the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox Demon Emperor, and at the same time complete the mining of the spirit stone vein as soon as possible."

He then opened another stack of documents on the table and pulled out a light gray jade slip from the middle: "Speaking of which, there is one more thing."

He pushed the jade slip across the table: "This morning, news came from Zhihei that the Fang family, the Reverse Fate Demon Palace, the Qingyun Sword Sect, and the Hundred Herbs Valley have all sent their second batch of official messengers in less than five days. According to the messengers' schedules, the fastest Fang family representative will arrive at the outskirts of Chuyang City in about three days."

Lin Che turned his gaze away from the window and onto the light gray surface of the jade slip on the table.

The jade slip was made of a different material than the previous batch of correspondence letters. It was lighter in color and had no engravings on the edges. There was only a thin label on the front with the names of the four forces and their estimated arrival times written in small characters.

His fingers didn't touch the jade slip; instead, his gaze lingered for a moment on the writing on the label: "Second batch... What's different about this batch of messengers compared to the last one?"

"The Fang family has sent a steward who is in the late stage of the Golden Core realm. He is a member of the Fang family's main branch and holds a high position in the family."

The identity of the messenger from the Demon Palace of Rebellion has not yet been fully confirmed, but judging from the speed of the communication and the level of the channel, it should not be an ordinary external affairs disciple.

The Azure Cloud Sword Sect and Hundred Herbs Valley sent their own elders, both of whom were of much higher rank than last time.

Lin Xuanqi put down the secret letter and turned his gaze back to Lin Che: "Last time was just a preliminary exploration, this time it is a formal statement. If they want us to fight and restrain them, they will probably offer a condition that we cannot refuse. If they want to further win over the Lin family, they will also bring more specific terms."

Lin Che thought for a moment: "Since they are coming, let's wait in Chuyang City. We won't greet them or avoid them. When they arrive, we'll just follow the normal reception procedures."

"Have Zhihei come back so we can discuss the specifics."

"clear!"