Quote of the Day: "An empire's borders are not drawn on maps, but in the minds of men. To expand, you must first colonize their perception of the possible."
---
The world had not changed, but Lin Feng's interface with it had been fundamentally rewritten. Foundation Establishment was not just a new level of power; it was a new operating system for reality. The 100% System synchronization meant there was no longer a distinction between his will, his Qi, and the cold, analytical functions of the interface. The [Franchise Management Console], the [Karmic Echo], the [Territorial Awareness]—these were no longer tools he used. They were senses, as innate as sight or touch.
He stood in the main room of the teahouse, which now felt less like a headquarters and more like a shrine to a bygone era of struggle. Elder Bai and Su Ling knelt before him, not out of command, but from an instinctual, spiritual pressure—the weight of a Foundation Establishment expert, a Patriarch.
"Rise," Lin Feng said, his voice calm, yet it carried the resonance of a closing contract, final and binding. "The Serene Heart Teahouse is now the Serene Heart Sanctum. Our scope is no longer the city. It is the region."
He didn't need to explain. The change in him was explanation enough. His aura was no longer a force that pressed against them; it was an environment they existed within, an atmosphere of absolute, structured potential.
"The first order of business," Lin Feng continued, his gaze turning inward to the vast, intricate model of the [Conglomerate Core] that now served as his dantian, "is a hostile takeover of perception."
He projected an image from his core, a complex, three-dimensional map of the Blue Spirit Region materializing in the air between them. It showed sects, trade routes, resource nodes, and spiritual ley lines. But overlaid on this traditional map was a new data set: economic activity, Karmic cohesion, efficiency ratings, and potential for integration.
"The surrounding sects and cities see us as an upstart," Lin Feng stated. "A lucky novelty from a backwater city. They are preparing for a martial contest. They are fortifying their borders, training their disciples, and hoarding combat techniques."
A cold, utterly confident smile touched his lips. It was the same smile he had worn when facing Samuel Vance in the boardroom a lifetime ago.
"We will not give them a war. We will give them a merger offer they cannot refuse."
His plan was audacious in its scale and utterly alien in its methodology.
1. The 'Open Dao' Initiative: He would publicly release, for free, the foundational principles of the "Serene Heart Standard" for business management and spiritual resource allocation. It was a Trojan horse of efficiency, designed to make every small sect and merchant guild that adopted it more profitable, but also perfectly compatible for eventual assimilation into his network.
2. The 'Karma-Backed Bond': Using the [Mandate of Heaven] and the proven stability of his Conglomerate, he would create a new financial instrument. Sects could invest their Spirit Stones in return for a fixed annual yield, backed by the future profits of the entire Serene Heart ecosystem. It was a way to drain the capital of his potential rivals and turn them into dependent shareholders.
3. The 'Vertical Integration' Offensive: He targeted not the strongest sect, but the most critical choke-point: the "Verdant Lotus Guild," a collective of herb farmers who supplied 60% of the region's low-to-mid-grade spiritual plants. He wouldn't attack them. He would make them an offer of exclusive partnership so lucrative that to refuse would be economic suicide for their members.
The resources required were staggering, but his new Foundation provided them. The [Conglomerate Core] didn't just store Qi; it generated it as a function of its own efficient operation. His personal cultivation speed was now directly tied to the GDP of his enterprise.
He tasked Elder Bai with the diplomacy, Su Ling with preparing the agricultural integration protocols, and Master Yi with designing formation-based financial ledgers for the Karma-Backed Bonds.
Then, he summoned Chu Yue.
She arrived within the hour, her aura a tightly controlled storm of ambition and caution. She felt the change the moment she crossed the threshold. The air in the Sanctum was different—thicker, more intelligent. It felt like standing inside a living brain.
She looked at Lin Feng and saw not a man, but an institution given human form.
"Patriarch Lin," she said, the title feeling both strange and inevitable on her tongue.
"Director Chu," he replied, acknowledging her new, formal role within their joint venture. "The Void-Severing Pavilion has a choice. It can be the primary distribution and enforcement arm for the Serene Heart Conglomerate's expansion across the Blue Spirit Region, for which you will receive a fifteen percent equity stake in all new regional operations."
He paused, letting the scale of the offer sink in. He was offering the Pavilion a piece of an empire in exchange for becoming its logistics department.
"Or," he continued, his voice devoid of threat, only factual inevitability, "you can attempt to compete. My models, based on your current operational efficiency, debt-to-Qi ratio, and internal political friction, give you a 2.3% chance of surviving the next five years as an independent entity once our regional standard is implemented."
It wasn't a bluff. It was a financial forecast. With his [Dao Insight], he could see the fragile threads of loyalty and the structural weaknesses in the Pavilion's edifice as clearly as cracks in glass.
Chu Yue stood perfectly still. The old her would have bristled at the arrogance. The strategist in her, however, was running the numbers, and they were terrifyingly, irrefutably correct. The offer wasn't generous; it was a lifeline disguised as a partnership.
"You are not just expanding your business, Lin Feng," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "You are redefining the very substrate of power in the cultivation world."
"Yes," he said, simply. "The prospectus is ready. Do you wish to invest?"
She was silent for a long moment, her gaze locked with his. He could feel her calculating, not the profit, but the cost to her pride, to the Pavilion's centuries of tradition. And then he felt her decision before she spoke it—a shift in her Karmic signature, a reluctant, awestruck acceptance of a new, larger game.
"The Void-Severing Pavilion… accepts," she said, the words formal and binding.
[Regional Expansion Initiative: Launched.]
[New Major Shareholder Integrated: Void-Severing Pavilion. Loyalty: 70/100.]
[Conglomerate Core Efficiency: +12%.]
[Mandate of Heaven strengthens, now recognized at a regional scale.]
As Chu Yue left to deliver the news to her superiors, Lin Feng turned back to the projected map. The Blue Spirit Region glowed, a complex circuit board awaiting its master programmer.
He had achieved the ultimate leverage. He wasn't conquering the world with an army. He was issuing it an IPO. They would give him their resources, their labor, and their loyalty, and in return, he would give them a share in a future so prosperous and orderly it was beyond their current imagination.
The first chapter of his ascension—survival—was a closed ledger. The second chapter—consolidation—was complete. This was the third chapter: monetization of reality itself.
The prospectus of his soul was now public record. And the entire cultivation world was about to become a shareholder.