Another seven days passed in the blink of an eye.
Tang Hao was very busy in those days.
In Provincial City, he could rely on others to manage his businesses. However, once back in Westridge, he needed to be hands-on in his company.
Haotian Health Products, Divine Liquor Company, and Masculine Wind were growing rapidly. Meanwhile, Haotian Plantations was also finally operational after a month of preparations. Its manager was a veteran in the industry.
Preparations for Haotian Group had also been progressing steadily.
Tang Hao managed the companies in the day. At night, he was even busier.
He crafted jade talismans as well as tended to his plants, especially the liquor trees.
He used most of his supply of jade talismans during his trip to Dongying a month ago, and he never had the chance to replenish them since then. The fight with the Wang family descendants also used many talismans.
He barely had any jade talismans left.
Without jade talismans, he did not feel secure. After all, the more jade talismans, the better.
To gather enough raw materials, he went to many places to buy tens of millions worth of raw jade. The jade was cut into small pieces to be crafted into talismans.
He planned to craft all types of talismans for any scenario.
He also crafted many sets of talismans, especially the Thirty-Three Heavenly Lightning Talisman Formation. He prepared a few sets in case of emergencies.
If he had more time, he would make even more. There could never be enough powerful attack talismans.
If he had more talismans during his encounter with Dragon Tiger Mountain, he would not have to call for help from Mao Mountain.
Without the jade talismans, his powers were limited.
Tang Hao spent some time every day tending to his crops and the liquor trees.
The liquor trees thrived under his care. They were about two meters tall and were covered in leaves.
They were still far away from reaching maturity, but they emanated a light fragrance of alcohol.
Tang Hao went to Dirtclod Village and transplanted the Tree of Youth to a plot of land in his plantation.
The Tree of Youth was a rare treasure. If the tree thrived and grew more flowers, he could use them to make more Pills of Everlasting Beauty.
The Pill of Everlasting Beauty could halt one’s aging process, which made it extremely valuable.
He had successfully made only one pill so far, which he gave to Sis Xiangyi.
Once he collected more flowers and made more of those pills, he could start selling them. Of course, he could give them away as presents too.
The pill should be popular among not only women but also men. After all, men were concerned about their appearances.
Tang Hao went to Mao Mountain. The charity foundation was finally set up. Tang Hao handed them the check for five hundred million dollars and also contributed some of his own money.
Mao Mountain also contributed a lot of money. They had contacts all over Huaxia and managed to pull in more funds.
As soon as it was set up, the charity foundation had more than ten billion yuan in funds. The news sent shockwaves throughout the entire Huaxia, and the media reported on it for a long time.
Of course, the charity foundation was part of Mao Mountain’s exterior setup. Both sides of Mao Mountain were the same entity anyway.
Tang Hao also went to check the progress of the Mao Mountain plantation.
Mao Mountain was surrounded by uncultivated mountains. They were all turned into plantations for lingzhi and ginseng.
Many young Taoist disciples carried plows and water cans, working hard under the hot afternoon sun. Many elderly Taoist masters who were Tang Hao’s acquaintances were hard at work in the plantation as well.
Tang Hao was experienced in planting and tending medicinal herbs. He surveyed the area and gave them many useful pointers.
Shabby Taoist Master and many other elderly Taoist masters followed him from behind. They behaved humbly and wrote down whatever Tang Hao told them.
A few more days passed, and Tang Hao had already amassed a respectable stash of jade talismans.
Tang Hao began to think about other things.
Now that he had encountered more and more cultivators, he was worried about the safety of the people around him.
Defensive jade talismans and the blood jade beads could only defend mundane attacks and would not be very effective against cultivators.
Even the defensive properties of the blood jade beads were not enough to withstand mundane attacks if they were powerful enough. The light shield could be broken.
Even though he had reached a truce with the Song family, there might be other accidents. He needed better ways to protect the people he cared for.
Tang Hao thought for a while. His strongest defensive item at the moment was a defensive jade talisman formation. However, each formation required tens of jade talismans and was not easy to bring around.
Individual jade talismans would be less powerful.
Tang Hao knew that he needed Artifacts with powerful defensive properties.
Too bad he did not know how to craft them.
Also, finding the necessary crafting materials in modern times was exceedingly difficult.
The bronze used in the qi gathering jars was passable, but it was the lowest grade. The quality was not good enough for crafting powerful Artifacts.
Jade would be an ideal material for defensive Artifacts. However, normal jade would not do. He needed spirit jade, which was at least a thousand years old and filled with qi. The blood jade beads were made using that type of jade.
Tang Hao had never found any jade close to that level in all the jade markets he visited.
Tang Hao flipped through his knowledge in his heritage. He found a method to produce spirit jade.
If he could not find spirit jade in the market, then he would have to produce his own.
Producing spirit jade was not a simple task.
According to his heritage, the jade had to be put in a place with a strong flow of qi, nourished with the power of the sun, the moon, and the stars, and fed with the blood of spirit creatures.
The text in the heritage was esoteric. However, putting the instructions in simpler terms, it meant that the jade had to bask in the open and be fertilized with animal blood.
The blood of the serpent monster or the sea dragon would do.
Tang Hao went to all the famous stone-gambling stores in the city and bought all the high-quality jade. He bought a few hundred pieces, which cost him a few tens of millions.
Those jade included Khotan jade and jadeite.
Now that he had the materials, he needed to find a suitable place for producing spirit jade.
After surveying a few places, he decided on a spot near Dragonrock Village. The valley with the Liquor Tree had leyline gathering formations and qi seal formations. That satisfied the strong qi flow.
Moreover, the spot was also exposed to the open sky. He could lay a talisman formation to focus the sunlight and moonlight.
After deciding on the plan, Tang Hao set into action. He dug a small pond in the valley about three meters a side. It was not very big, but it was enough to contain all the jade pieces.
He first buried the talisman formation underneath, then placed the pieces of jade inside the pond. The best quality jade was placed in the middle. It was the imperial jade that Tang Hao had obtained earlier. He had not used it ever since he used a portion for Sis Xiangyi’s accessories.
He placed jade pieces of lesser quality around it.
After placing the jade, Tang Hao poured the sea dragon blood and serpent monster blood into it, then added his own medicinal concoction that included ginseng and lingzhi.
Tang Hao had no more personal use for those two herbs. He might as well use it to nourish the jade.
