“The true test of leading efficiently does not necessarily lie in doing extraordinary things himself and awe his people but getting the people to do the extraordinary things themselves.”

Upon his return in his manor, Qai recalled the 3 young Qi Condensation stage cultivators he just saved and contemplated the thought of taking in more cultivators on his side.

He wanted to steadily build his own force of cultivators—apparently, he did not want to just rely so much on his giant Ants all the time.

Of course, he completely understood that his Queen Ant could not simply seal everyone’s cultivation base, otherwise, she might suffer some form of backlash. So his line of thinking was not the same as how he roped the Crag Brothers in.

Qai’s main concern was to gain some sort of loyalty from his own people.

He did not want to get people to work for him like mercenaries whose loyalty was completely directed to coins. Without a doubt, if he did something like that to lure cultivators with resources, then sooner or later, one or two might backstab him.

Neither did he want to form some kind of an organization as big as and as steady as a sect—since he didn’t much have to offer.

In the first place, he wanted people at his beck and call and not some kind of learning institution. He wanted some kind of ‘Knights’ Order’ whose members would swear fealty to him.

As he thought of these things, Qai suddenly recalled when his father, Count Augusto, was lecturing to him and his brothers about a method to rope people in.

“Just like fishing a big fish with a long line, the fishing line cannot be kept tight all the time, since it can be broken by the big fish. What you need to do is relax for a while, tighten up, and tremble constantly, consuming the physical strength of the big fish, and finally catch it.”

This was actually what he was trying to employ on Old Ye Mo.

The strategy was all good, but there was no nobility system among the cultivators which was the basis of measure for recruiting knights back in his old life. So Qai could not guarantee that it would always work wonder for him.

In the cultivation world, strength and power were the measures of respect. And only when one could become respected and powerful enough that he would be able to gain followers.

‘Again, it's all about strength.’

Qai could only think of breaking through faster to become stronger.

However, even if he was already in the great circle of the Qi Condensation stage, he still wanted to solidify his foundations before attempting to make a breakthrough.

Besides, he had just established his Saints Hall, and from the rumors, he heard in the Rising Sun City, the city lord might soon confront the Saints Hall’s sudden appearance—and he wouldn't allow that to occur while he was in seclusion.

Qai could only sigh.

In the meantime, he would just rather enhance his abilities.

Qai thus went to his tool refinement master and presented the latter his Dart and some other refining materials.

“Old Ye Mo, I want you to refine me another masterpiece quality of yours, a Dagger.”

He had been wrongly using his ‘Sky Piercing Dagger’ cultivation technique with a dart for quite some time already. But now that he had a tool refinement master at his disposal, his long-overdue treasure dagger could now be acquired.

Also, he discussed with Old Ye Mo about the possibility of refining their Saints Hall official outfit. But instead of a simple-looking sect-type robe, Qai actually wanted a ‘Robe Armor’—a concept that Old Ye Mo did not understand at first, but when Qai described it in detail, the old cultivator quickly got the gist of it.

“We’ll be needing a lot of materials for your request.”

Qai had already used a lot of materials when he refined several times all the formation Flags which he used to set up the Array formations around the mountain peak—but even then, he still possessed a considerable amount of resources from all the spoils he got as well as from the earnings in his shop.

So he showed all of them to Old Ye Mo who nodded in satisfaction in response.

‘This Young Master of ours is filthy rich.’

However, that would be the last of resources Qai could spare.

The old tool refinement master cleared his throat and looked at Qai pleadingly.

“Young Master, I might need your Dark Flame again for this.”

Apparently, Qai knew that using the Soulfalme was no longer necessary.

Old Ye Mo just became fond of using the Soulflame. So Qai let it slide, lest the old cultivator ruined his Dagger in return.

“Old Ye Mo, a master once refined my flying Guandao with a drop of my blood as part of its materials, do you need one?”

The old cultivator's eyes turned wide at the idea.

Of course, he had known such a method—it was just that he had long placed it at the back of his mind. In the past several years, as a captive, he naturally did not care much about all of the treasures he refined for the bandits.

And it had been long since he put his dedication in refinement. But now that an opportunity presented itself, he would want to advance his own attainments in tool refinement by creating Qai’s requested treasure.

When Qai saw the change in Old Ye Mo’s bearing, he felt satisfied as well as deep respect towards the latter.

Immediately thereafter, he went to the Crag Brothers and discussed the possibility of establishing a shop in the Rising Sun City.

“We need a steady flow of Spirit Stones and resources, so I can only rely on you two for now. As for the items to be sold, I will add some of the formation Flags I refined, and we’ll ask Old Ye Mo to refine some treasures for us.”

The two gave their few suggestions in response and eventually went down to the city for the task.

Then Qai went to Ji Wuheng and gave a few instructions about the level 1 Blood Horses herd.

“Bring 2 Ant Soldiers with you and pick as much Blood Horses you can tame and bring them here. Our Saints Hall will be breeding those horses for everyone’s beast mount.”

Then Qai summoned all of the Ant Workers and instructed them to hoard as much precious materials, herbs or whatever they could find in the vast forested area—regardless of their grade or value.

Qai was not expecting much since the surrounding area did not much have spiritual Qi energy. But As long as they could be of use, he wanted to have them since he needed to replenish their wealth as soon as possible.

As for the rest of the Ant Soliders, he stationed them around the corners of the mountain peak to guard the Saints Hall.

Finally, he summoned his Spirit Beast Eland and rode on it, as he strolled around the Saints Hall.

He wanted to once and for all inspect all the improvements his group had made in the past months.

Apart from the Tool Refinement Hall, most halls including the Pill Alchemy and Talisman Refinement Halls, as well as the storages were expectedly empty—even the Treasury Hall did not have much.

Inside the storages though, most items left were all the spare Darkgold construction bricks they had yet to refine.

Looking at it, the entire mountain peak was literally quiet with only structures around.

Further, the training ground had a dozen medium-sized dueling stages made from Darkgold limestones but they were all empty as well.

However, if there was one area in the Saints Hall that could be said to be lively, it was the tract of land devoted to garden plots. It was filled with varying precious plants and herbs.

When Qai came to the place, a lush of spiritual Qi energy hovered onto him.

Qai smiled at the thought that at least there was something that made the mountain peak worth keeping for.