Quote of the Day: "Infrastructure is not an expense. It is the skeleton upon which the body of an empire is built. Neglect it, and the empire collapses under its own weight."
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The two hundred Spirit Stones from the Whispering Jade Pavilion were a salve, but the spiritual scar from Team Gamma's betrayal remained. The Conglomerate had survived its first internal hemorrhage, but the event had exposed a critical vulnerability: his operations were still too centralized, too reliant on his personal oversight and the fragile, long-distance tether of Dao Contracts. He needed a system that was resilient, not just productive.
The arrival of Master Yi, the Formation Master, was therefore not just an addition to payroll; it was a strategic necessity.
The man was exactly as advertised: disgraced, brilliant, and prickly with pride. His robes were worn at the edges, but his eyes held the sharp, unfocused intensity of someone who saw the world not as solid matter, but as a tapestry of interlocking energy flows. He looked around the teahouse, his gaze lingering not on the herbs or the people, but on the Qi-gathering formation Lin Feng had patched, the privacy ward on the closet, his expression a mixture of contempt and professional interest.
"Amateur work," Yi stated, not as an insult, but as a simple fact. "Functional, but crude. Like using a rock to hammer a nail when a fine chisel exists."
Lin Feng didn't take offense. He valued the same brutal honesty in assessing assets. "Then you will have the opportunity to design the fine chisels. Your first commission is not a single formation. It is a network."
He laid out his vision. He needed a centralized formation core for the teahouse—a "Server," as he thought of it in his old world's terms. This core would then link to smaller, satellite nodes he would provide to each franchise team. The nodes would serve three functions:
1. Real-Time Tracking: Not just location, but vital signs and spiritual state of the team members.
2. Secure Communication: Allowing for encrypted, long-range messaging.
3. Automated Karma/Capital Logging: Directly interfacing with his System to record yields and loyalty fluctuations the moment they occurred, removing the lag of manual reports.
It was an unprecedented request. Formations were typically static—walls, gathering arrays, traps. What Lin Feng was asking for was a dynamic, intelligent, spiritually reactive network.
Master Yi was silent for a long time, his fingers tracing invisible patterns in the air. The avaricious gleam in his eyes had been replaced by the pure, unadulterated fire of creative challenge.
"It's... possible," he murmured, almost to himself. "A core array based on a modified Thousand-Mile Eye scripture, with slave-nodes acting as spiritual mirrors... The data transfer could be encoded into the harmonic resonance of their own Qi signatures... The loyalty metric... difficult, but perhaps by monitoring the coherence of their Dao Oath connection..." He looked at Lin Feng, his earlier arrogance replaced by a stark, hungry respect. "The materials will be expensive. Exotic. The core will require a Spirit-Heart Crystal. A large one."
"Name them. You will have a budget of three hundred Spirit Stones for the prototype," Lin Feng said without hesitation. It was a massive investment, but the potential ROI in security, efficiency, and data fidelity was incalculable.
[Capital Score: 812/1000.]
[Karma Score Increased!]
[Trait 'Visionary Outlook' has been acknowledged.]
[Trait 'Rule Exploiter' has been utilized (exploiting the laws of formation science).]
[Dao Heart Stability: 75/100.]
The System approved of the ambitious infrastructure project. Building robust systems was, it seemed, a high-value Karma activity.
For the next week, the teahouse was transformed into a laboratory of esoteric energy. Master Yi, now possessed by a manic drive, covered every available surface with complex diagrams scrawled on spirit parchment. Strange components arrived: geodes that hummed with captured lightning, polished lodestones that spun on their own axis, vials of liquid starlight.
Lin Feng watched, his [Meridian Sight] allowing him to appreciate the terrifying complexity of Yi's work. It was a symphony written in Qi, a language of power and precision he was only beginning to understand. He didn't interfere. He managed. He ensured the flow of capital and resources was uninterrupted, he shielded Yi from all distractions, and he used the Moonlit Mind Tea to keep his own mind sharp enough to grasp the broad strokes of the design.
The final piece, the Spirit-Heart Crystal, arrived under guard. It was the size of a human fist, pulsing with a soft, intelligent light, containing a miniature galaxy of swirling energy. The cost had been another two hundred stones. The gamble was monumental.
The activation was a silent, profound event. Master Yi, sweat pouring down his face, performed the final series of hand seals, injecting his own Qi into the core array now etched onto a circular platinum disk in the center of the teahouse. The lines glowed, then blazed with a white light. The Spirit-Heart Crystal rose from its housing and settled into the center of the disk, flaring once before its light dimmed to a steady, powerful thrum.
A new interface window, more sophisticated than the console, opened in Lin Feng's mind.
[Serene Heart Network: ONLINE.]
[Core Integrity: 100%.]
[Linked Nodes: 4 (Team Alpha, Team Beta, Su Ling, Elder Bai).]
[Data Stream: Optimal.]
He could feel them now. Not just as icons, but as presences. He could feel the steady, earthy pulse of Team Beta as they excavated a new vein of ore. He could feel the vibrant, green energy of Su Ling as she nurtured her cross-bred herbs. He could feel the calm, weathered aura of Elder Bai negotiating with a new supplier. The data wasn't reported; it was streamed.
He handed Master Yi the first satellite node, a smaller, palm-sized version of the core disk. "For you. A test."
Yi took it, his pride warring with his scientific curiosity. He infused it with his Qi. Instantly, his node appeared on the network, a complex, multi-faceted icon representing his unique spiritual signature. His loyalty metric, which had started at a neutral 50, ticked up to 65. He was impressed. He was invested.
[Karma Score Increased!]
[Trait 'Inspiring Presence' has been acknowledged.]
[Master Yi's Loyalty: 70/100.]
The network was a success. It was more than a tool; it was an extension of his will, a nervous system for his growing empire. The vulnerability exposed by Team Gamma had been patched with a system of absolute, benign awareness.
That evening, as Lin Feng meditated, feeling the serene pulse of his network and the steady flow of data like a tranquil river, a new, foreign signal brushed against the edge of his awareness. It was sharp, azure, and probing. Chu Yue.
She wasn't trying to breach the network, but she could sense its existence, a new, powerful energy signature where before there had been only a modest teahouse. Her probe was one of pure, unadulterated shock.
Lin Feng didn't block her. He didn't challenge her. He simply allowed the network's serene, powerful presence to be felt. It was a message in itself.
A moment later, the probe vanished.
Lin Feng opened his eyes. The teahouse was quiet. The core formation hummed softly. His franchise teams were working, their statuses glowing steadily in his mind. The betrayal was a memory, its lesson learned and its weakness fortified.
He had built his skeleton. The body of his conglomerate now had a spine. And for the first time, he felt not like a shopkeeper who had gotten lucky, but like a sovereign whose dominion had just been formally, spiritually, and irrevocably established.
The foundations were complete. The true construction could now begin.