The Master of Beasts

With Chen Jiuge's full support, Li Qiuwen's plans were swiftly put into action. One after another, Tongxin Inns belonging to Chen Jiuge sprang up in dozens of Immortal Cities.

Soon after, Tongxin General Stores, primarily selling a variety of miscellaneous resources, also stood tall beside the Tongxin Inns.

During the establishment of these enterprises, Li Qiuwen even managed to form a merchant caravan using the borrowed Giant Rhinoceroses, a display of capability that greatly pleased Chen Jiuge.

The only problem that arose was a severe shortage of personnel. Their defense capability was adequate for now; Chen Jiuge, who had already reached Divinity Transformation, found it quite simple to refine Purple Blood Daoist Soldiers, thanks to his 'Green Vine Immortal Body' whose regenerative abilities had improved even further. These Body Refinement Daoist Soldiers, at the Divinity Transformation level, were sufficient for current defense needs.

However, the position of store manager required a true Cultivator.

For this reason, Chen Jiuge sought out Sister Wen again, asking if personnel could be drawn from the Martial Arts World.

After inquiring about her junior brother's reasons, Wen Ruo shook her head and said, "Junior Brother, if you need personnel, your best option is to select them from your own family. People from a small world won't necessarily obey you docilely upon arriving in this world."

Sister Wen's words reminded Chen Jiuge that he did, in fact, have a family. He had inadvertently forgotten about them due to the Chen Family's extremely faint presence in his life.

If the Elders of the Chen Family knew, they would surely cry foul. A discipleship ceremony had been scheduled for ten years later, but it had to be postponed because Chen Jiuge's Master's Life Span Tribulation arrived earlier than expected. Furthermore, with some issues cropping up in their own small world, the Chen Family was currently in a complete flurry.

While waiting for the discipleship ceremony to be held, they also had to deal with the problems in their small world. As for Chen Jiuge's parents, because Hua Yu had broken through to the Returning to Void realm, she and Chen Chen had gone on a honeymoon together and were completely unreachable.

He used a Communication Stone to contact his parents, who were on their honeymoon.

Looking at the radiant projection of his parents, Chen Jiuge first expressed how much he missed them, then brought up his need for personnel to establish his businesses.

"So, Jiuge, you're short on people?" Hua Yu realized.

"Yes, Mother, I need manpower, preferably those with a certain level of Cultivation, because the Tongxin Inns I'm establishing are quite large-scale. We can't manage with staff who are too weak," Chen Jiuge nodded.

"The Chen Family probably can't spare many people. Their small world has run into some trouble; it seems quite a few members of the Demon Clan have infiltrated it. How about this: your father and I have traveled for many years and met many decent Loose Cultivators. A good number of them are planning to settle down in an Immortal City. I think they would be willing," Hua Yu proposed.

"Thank you very much, Mother. In that case, I won't disturb you and Father any longer."

"You little rascal."

After disconnecting the communication, the staffing issue was mostly resolved; now, all he had to do was wait for people to arrive.

Speaking of which, Li Qiuwen bought another batch of Spiritual Bees today, and I haven't even extracted their Bloodline yet, Chen Jiuge thought, in a good mood.

After dealing with the new batch of Spiritual Bees, Chen Jiuge suddenly found that A Little Green and Not Quite White were squabbling again.

Pulling apart the two fighting Plant Elves, Chen Jiuge looked at the little elf whose two small head-flowers were askew and asked curiously, "What's wrong with you two? Why did you start fighting?"

Not Quite White, hands on her hips and fuming, exclaimed, "It's all his fault! This flower sea is clearly ours, but he actually said it's his!"

A Little Green protested indignantly, "Your territory is so much bigger than mine! My little elves don't even have a place to sleep."

"That's because you don't take good care of them! What does that have to do with me?" Not Quite White retorted disdainfully.

A Little Green felt his forehead flush with anger. "All I have are non-blooming Spiritual Medicines, what am I supposed to do?"

Then, the two little elves started fighting again. Watching them tumble into a ball, Chen Jiuge helplessly separated them once more.

"I understand your problem." He took out the Life Origin Ore. The rich life essence instantly attracted the two little elves. "Not Quite White, you share some of your space with A Little Green. In return, I'll bury the Life Origin Ore in your flower sea first. Ten years from now, I'll bury it in A Little Green's territory, and we'll rotate it like that. How does that sound?"

Not Quite White agreed wholeheartedly at once; this Life Origin Ore looked incredibly tempting to absorb! A Little Green hesitated for a moment but, thinking of his little elves, ultimately accepted.

After resolving the conflict between the two groups of Plant Elves, Chen Jiuge discovered another small problem.

This was because of security concerns for the businesses. Chen Jiuge had sent out many Golden Dogs, but there still weren't enough. Moreover, the remaining Golden Dogs were somewhat reluctant to leave.

Looking at Black Eye's somber expression, Chen Jiuge said in exasperation, "Get a handle on your clansmen's thinking! They're supposed to be battle-ready Golden Dogs, but now they're all too lazy to leave. Is this how they should be acting?"

Black Eye replied helplessly, "Master, it's not that I don't want to manage them. The main issue is that our clan members have mostly grown up in Eden Garden over these many years and have a natural fear of the outside world. Plus, we have a large number of pups."

"Fine, I've offered high enough benefits. Anyway, next time Li Qiuwen comes to pick up dogs, I don't want to see this situation. Otherwise, the whole clan will be dispatched to the ecological zone."

Black Eye nodded in fright, promising there would be absolutely no problem next time.

Watching Black Eye leave, Chen Jiuge muttered, "Honestly, none of them ever make things easy."

Having finally found some leisure time and preparing to brew a cup of Spiritual Tea to relax, Chen Jiuge received a call for help from the Golden Iron Back Apes.

"What's wrong?" Chen Jiuge was generally quite magnanimous towards the ever-diligent Golden Iron Back Apes.

After so many years of cultivation and with abundant resources, the number of Golden Iron Back Apes had grown to nearly a thousand, and their Commander had even achieved Divinity Transformation Cultivation.

"Boss, Da Bai, Er Hu, and Qi Daoyuan are bullying us monkeys too much!" the Commander exclaimed, his face a mask of grief and indignation. If it weren't for the fact that they were all male, Chen Jiuge might have suspected something far more scandalous had occurred.

Following the Commander's account, Chen Jiuge arrived with him at the place where the Golden Iron Back Apes stored their monkey wine.

Seeing the two Fire Qilin sleeping in the wine pool, Chen Jiuge felt his blood pressure soar. So *that's* where these two rascals have been hiding all these years! I was wondering why I hadn't seen them around, he thought.

Extending a large hand, he hauled the two beasts out of the wine pool. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked coldly.

Da Bai, waking with a start and seeing Chen Jiuge, flinched and stammered, too scared to speak. Qi Daoyuan, on the other hand, was completely unfazed and defiant, saying nothing.

"Qi Daoyuan, you can go back now. This is Eden Garden, not Vermilion Bird Peak," Chen Jiuge said to Qi Daoyuan, his voice dangerously low.

"Ah, I was wrong, Big Brother! Please forgive me this once, for Da Bai's sake and the inheritance I gave him." Qi Daoyuan truly didn't want to return. Vermilion Bird Peak was incredibly dull. That little girl is always either out on missions or cooped up cultivating. It's nowhere near as interesting as Eden Garden! he lamented internally.

"Da Bai, it's time for you to get some training too. In a few days, I'll arrange for you to go to the Fierce Beast small world." Chen Jiuge had actually decided on this arrangement for Da Bai some time ago, but it had been forgotten momentarily due to the Beast Breeding Competition.

"Um, I think I could go with Da Bai," Qi Daoyuan suggested.

This suggestion wasn't bad, so Chen Jiuge agreed. Of course, Qi Daoyuan would have to provide his own Merit for entering the small world.