Chapter 162: The Spirit Eagle, Sovereign of the Skies!

"Damn it, the Lou, Bai, and Ren clans—the three great immortal villages—are just too strong. The Lou clan alone now has over twenty large warships, while we only have ten light armored warships." Wang Hu’s face was full of shock, tinged with some resentment.

The people of the Ye clan’s immortal village had worked so hard just to grow stronger, yet the Lou clan’s immortal village seemed to have effortlessly become the top immortal village in Aolai.

"Wang Hu, are you scared?" Ink Ling snapped sharply, sensing the heavy atmosphere in the room.

"Me?" Wang Hu snorted defiantly. "What do I have to be afraid of?"

"Hmph, then why did you look so frightened the moment you heard how strong the Lou clan is?" Ink Ling teased.

"Hey, hey, hey, Auntie, don’t slander me, Wang Hu. I’m at least a bona fide artifact refiner now; there’s no way I’d be such a coward," Wang Hu said indignantly as he stood up, eyes wide, trying to look imposing.

"You? An artifact refiner? What magic device have you even made to dare call yourself that?" Ink Ling pounced on his weak point, determined not to let him off.

Wang Hu’s face fell, his voice softening, "I’m just indulging in the fantasy of being an artifact refiner a bit early. Is it really necessary to dig so deep?"

The hall erupted in laughter.

Wang Hu had this habit: back when he was just an artifact apprentice and hadn’t even forged a first-rank spirit sword, he already called himself an apprentice. Now, as an apprentice managing a forging workshop, he had started calling himself an artifact refiner.

Ye Mo, however, smiled wryly.

These two jokers had completely dissolved the earlier tense mood with their banter.

Ye Mo’s lips curved slightly. "Wang Hu, tell me, how can we catch up to the top immortal village in Aolai?"

"Ah," Wang Hu was caught off guard, his mouth agape for a long moment before bluntly replying, "When I become a master artifact refiner, then I can catch up to you, Brother Ye. As for now, I can’t think of a way."

Ye Mo smiled bitterly again, shook his head, and turned his gaze to Yang You and Gao Jian beside Wang Hu.

Gao Jian understood and stood up with a serious expression. "I think, compared to the Lou clan’s immortal village, our Ye clan is comprehensively behind. Whether it’s combat power, pill refining, artifact forging, trade, or resources, we’re at a clear disadvantage.

"We still have 100,000 spirit stones of ransom money that we haven’t spent. We can use that to develop ourselves.

"I think we should use this money to focus our breakthroughs on one area—maybe pill refining or artifact forging.

"Or we could spread it out to raise our village to the level of a great immortal village, increasing the number of immortal guards and improving all technical aspects. Our goal would be to become the strongest immortal village in the eastern Aolai Archipelago within half a year.

"That way, even if the Lou clan in the central Aolai Archipelago is strong, they won’t be able to touch our eastern district immortal village from thousands of miles away."

"Hmm," Ye Mo nodded after thinking for a while but didn’t comment further.

Gao Jian’s suggestion was rather mediocre. Of course, it was also a helpless measure since there was no better idea for the time being.

Ye Mo then looked toward Lin Zhi.

Lin Zhi’s expression was grim. "Brother Gao’s suggestion may not work. Increasing the number of immortal guards is easy—we just recruit a large number of wandering cultivators.

"But the technical side is not promising. Take poison spirit pills, for example. I can only refine second-rank poison spirit pills now, and the success rate isn’t high. To improve, I have to practice a huge amount day after day. Short-term improvement is impossible.

"Poison spirit herbs take a long time to mature. We don’t have any in the village, so we have to buy them, which is costly. Early investment exceeds income.

"The same applies to pill refining. Artifact forging is a bit better since we have raw materials, but it still takes time to improve the art.

"In contrast, many cultivators in the Lou clan are family descendants, trained from a young age. They have superb shipbuilding technology, developed powerful warships, and a wealth of talents.

"The Bai clan excels in pill refining, and the Ren clan in trade. They each dominate their own fields. Even if we want to develop these areas, can we catch up? Or do better than them?"

Everyone fell silent once again.

Ultimately, the discussion returned to the same point: Ye village’s foundation was too weak, with too little talent accumulated to compare with the great clan descendants of other immortal villages.

"What about directly recruiting pill refining apprentices and artifact apprentices?" Ink Ling frowned thoughtfully before asking.

She only mentioned recruiting apprentices because skilled pill refiners usually look down on ordinary immortal villages. Except for special reasons, they wouldn’t risk going to a new village.

Ye Mo shook his head with a bitter smile. "We might attract some, but it will definitely come at a high price. And it won’t change the fact that we’re behind.

"Lin Zhi is right. Even if we copy others’ methods, regardless of whether we can do it well, even if we do, we’re only chasing from behind. There will never be a day we overtake them."

"Oh," Ink Ling sulked and fell silent. After Ye Mo’s words, she realized her suggestion was unrealistic.

Suddenly, Chang Fei spoke up to Ye Mo. "City Lord, we occupy as many as fifteen sub-islands, not much less than Bai clan’s immortal village.

"In terms of resources, we’re not lacking. But many of the resources we’ve mined are just stored inside the village, never fully utilized or converted into strength. Making the best use of these resources is most beneficial for the growth of our immortal village."

Ye Mo nodded slightly, thinking about the piles of ore and raw materials in the village warehouse, feeling somewhat troubled.

Everyone present voiced their opinions.

"The strengths of the Lou, Bai, and Ren clans lie in warships and overall strength, pill refining, and trade, respectively. They have developed these advantages to the extreme.

"By maximizing their unique strengths, they have become one of a kind, attracting many wandering cultivators. Their advantages are hard for us to surpass.

"What unique advantage do we have?"

Ye Mo looked around at everyone, posing the question. He already had a vague idea but wanted to hear more suggestions.

Everyone pondered and frowned. Though the Ye clan’s immortal village was decent among the dozen or so villages nearby, finding a truly unique strength was difficult.

Ye Mo was no exception.

"What is Ye clan’s immortal village’s advantage?"

Yang You, who had been silent all along, hesitated a moment before speaking up. "Brother Ye, how about our three spirit eagles? Does that count as an advantage?" He wasn’t too sure since the village only had three spirit eagles.

Everyone’s eyes lit up instantly.

"Spirit eagles."

"Yes, that is indeed one of our immortal village’s greatest strengths. These three spirit eagles are our strongest combat force."

"Most importantly, they possess a unique advantage in the skies."

"Back when we had two demon eagles on the cliff behind our village, we mobilized all cultivators and warriors in the village and barely managed to kill them. That shows how tough those demon eagles were. One spirit eagle is even more formidable than five cultivators of the same Qi Refining stage. If we command the spirit eagles, they would be nearly invincible, able to take on ten enemies single-handedly."

"Right now, we are all Qi Refining cultivators. Without the ability to fly on swords like Foundation Establishment cultivators, we can only move on land or sea. The skies over the Aolai Archipelago can only be dominated by spirit birds."

"Among lower-level spirit birds, there are many types: spirit cranes, black kites, spirit pheasants, spirit sparrows. Among them, the golden eagle is the fiercest raptor, best suited for aerial combat."

"If we want to gain a combat advantage over other immortal villages, we must break through with spirit eagles."

"Yu Cui, let’s build a massive spirit eagle cavalry. Even if the Lou clan’s warship fleet is powerful, we don’t fear them at all. They roam the seas; we soar the skies. Who’s afraid of whom?"

"As long as we have the strongest combat force, we can seize many spirit islands and abundant resources, exchanging them for plenty of spirit stones. With spirit stones, who do we fear?"

"Yes, even if we have to spend a fortune buying and raising spirit eagles, we must build up the eagle cavalry."

Everyone’s spirits soared. Finally finding a breakthrough, they excitedly exchanged views.

Ye Mo even recalled his ancient painting scroll. It could be used to nurture spirit eagles and had an acre of spirit farmland where spirit grains grew in three days, saving a lot of resources.

"Exactly. Since the Lou clan immortal village developed a huge warship fleet to dominate the Aolai seas, we will develop the spirit eagle cavalry to dominate the skies of the Aolai Archipelago."

Ye Mo nodded with satisfaction and stood. "I’ve decided to use most of the 100,000 spirit stones ransom to raise spirit eagles. Any objections?"

As city lord, he naturally had absolute authority over the immortal village’s development decisions.

They had already discussed thoroughly. Now, all that was needed was his final resolve to fully commit to raising spirit eagles.

Everyone agreed unanimously.

Besides forming a spirit eagle cavalry, no one could think of any other way to compete with the Lou clan’s massive warship fleet.

"City Lord, how many spirit eagles do we need to raise? They consume a lot of spirit grain daily. Our village doesn’t grow much spirit grain, and it takes a long time to mature. Before then, we must buy spirit grain from outside. Given our finances, how long can we sustain this?" Chang Fei suddenly remembered a concern and quickly asked.

"If we want to form a formidable aerial force, the number cannot be too small; otherwise, we can’t intimidate other strong immortal villages. If one eagle squadron consists of five spirit eagles and five cultivators, then we need at least thirty or fifty eagles to pose a serious threat and make other villages wary."

"Our village’s development strategy must be adjusted. The spirit eagle pavilion will be the top priority, followed by the spirit planting workshop. Other areas, though important, must yield to these two."

"I will personally oversee the spirit eagle pavilion, so no worries there."

"Ink Ling will manage the spirit planting workshop. We need to add more workers, hire many wandering cultivators, and cultivate all spirit farmland on our islands as much as possible. Until then, we must buy grain to feed the spirit eagles. The first year will be tough, but once our village’s spirit grains are harvested, we won’t have to worry about shortages."

Ye Mo pondered and instructed everyone, "There are many details to work out—let’s improve them as soon as possible!"