Elder Fei had clearly guessed that recruiting Jiang Chen into the Treasure Tree Sect wouldn't be so easy. This matter would have to be handled gradually.
He wasn't in any rush to recommend Jiang Chen to Sect Master Xie Tianshu just yet.
After all, Elder Fei had been away from the Treasure Tree Sect's inner circle for decades. Though he had now gained the Sect Master's attention, he couldn't come across as too eager at the start, or he'd easily attract jealousy and be pushed aside.
Over the several days after returning to the Jiang residence, Jiang Chen sorted through all the spirit medicines and spiritual herbs he had obtained from the Labyrinth world. The haul was quite substantial.
Jiang Chen had spent a month inside the Labyrinth, and nearly all his attention had been devoted to this pursuit. On top of that, with his exceptional eye for quality, the yield was indeed impressive.
During his last period of seclusion, he had consumed all the spirit medicines useful to him personally. But the remainder still accounted for seventy to eighty percent of the total.
These spirit medicines and herbs — he had no immediate use for any of them.
"Spirit medicines I can't use are just gathering dust here. But the ones I need, I can never seem to get enough of. It seems I'll have to trade what I have for what I need. The Duobao Dojo has plenty of good things — let me see if I can find some of the spirit medicines I need there."
At this stage, apart from improving his own strength, Jiang Chen deeply felt the importance of having capable allies.
His eight personal guards all had decent talent, but they needed time to grow.
Although Gouyu had broken through to the Spirit Realm, Jiang Chen naturally didn't want a woman to charge into battle on his behalf.
Of course, Jiang Chen had his own targets for cultivation and investment.
He now had many trump cards, and many targets worth nurturing.
The army of Golden-Winged Sword Birds — if he could elevate them all to Spirit Grade spirit beasts, hundreds or even thousands of Golden-Winged Sword Birds would be a truly formidable force.
The Gold-Munching Mouse clan was even more extraordinary. Setting aside the fact that the Gold-Munching Mouse King itself possessed heaven-defying strength — comparable almost to Old Master Ye Chonglou — among its descendants, there were also some capable leaders with strength at least comparable to human Earth Spirit Realm experts.
However, the Gold-Munching Mouse clan — unless it was absolutely necessary, Jiang Chen preferred not to expose them publicly for the time being.
Until it was a last resort, Jiang Chen was unwilling to reveal such a trump card!
Aside from the Gold-Munching Mice and the Golden-Winged Sword Birds, the most promising assets were actually those two Silver Moon Demon Ape cubs.
These two cubs brought out from the Labyrinth world — Jiang Chen had used certain special methods to probe their bloodline inheritance.
Although he couldn't determine the specifics, the potential of these Silver Moon Demon Apes was definitely not to be underestimated.
Most importantly, the Silver Moon Demon Apes were born as Spirit Grade spirit beasts. Even as cubs, they already possessed strength equivalent to the first level of the Spirit Realm.
However, the cubs were simply too young. Before they could develop any real combat capability, they had been captured by Jiang Chen and his group.
Through the companion spirit medicines found in the Silver Moon Demon Ape's cave, Jiang Chen had been able to roughly analyze the bloodline characteristics of the apes. A preliminary plan for cultivating them was already forming in his mind.
"The Silver Moon Demon Ape in the Labyrinth world was roughly equivalent to a human Earth Spirit Realm expert. Its true cultivation level should have been around the fourth level of the Spirit Realm. Clearly, it hadn't completed even a single bloodline awakening. In the Myriad Heavens Planes, there are Silver Moon Demon Apes even at the God Grade. This Spirit Grade ape must be the lowest grade of the species."
Jiang Chen hadn't harbored any thoughts of raising the Silver Moon Demon Ape cubs to the Myriad Heavens level. With his current resources, that was simply impossible.
However, if he could find a way to help the Silver Moon Demon Apes complete their bloodline awakenings, their innate talents would be unlocked — and they would definitely surpass mere Spirit Grade.
"Ah, it seems like I have a lot of resources now, but when I actually need them, they're still not enough."
Jiang Chen's sources of income were indeed numerous, but his needs far exceeded them.
First, helping all the Golden-Winged Sword Birds break through to the Spirit Realm would be an astronomical expense.
Cultivating two Silver Moon Demon Apes would be an even deeper bottomless pit — one whose depths even Jiang Chen couldn't fathom.
"It's a shame I forgot to squeeze that old man Fei before. The old coot has made his way into the Treasure Tree Sect and landed a pretty high position — he's practically loaded now. Next time I see him, I'm definitely going to shake him down hard."
Actually, Jiang Chen wouldn't even need to squeeze him. The recipe for the Wash Dust Plain Heart Pill was priceless. Once it entered mass production, the profits would ensure that Jiang Chen wouldn't have to worry about expenses for years to come.
However, despite his carefree demeanor, Elder Fei absolutely wouldn't dare do anything without Jiang Chen's consent.
After all, when Jiang Chen had passed the recipe on to him, he hadn't given blanket permission for it to be used however he pleased.
Elder Fei was well aware of what he could and couldn't do.
"The next time I see Elder Fei, I could consider putting that Wash Dust Plain Heart Pill to good use — ease some of my most pressing needs."
Now, he decided to make a trip to the Duobao Dojo and exchange the remaining large batch of spirit medicines for some essential items.
Cultivating the Silver Moon Demon Apes was not something that could be accomplished overnight, so Jiang Chen wasn't in a rush.
But those Golden-Winged Sword Birds had gone through hardships alongside Jiang Chen, and he would absolutely not abandon them.
When he came to the Royal Capital of Tiangui Kingdom, worried about causing trouble, he had only brought a few with him. The vast majority were still waiting at the outskirts.
Thinking of this, Jiang Chen decided to find Tian Shao before heading to the Duobao Dojo.
As long as he obtained a Dragon Tooth Guard flight pass, those Golden-Winged Sword Birds could legally enter the kingdom without any restrictions.