94: The virus is transmitted from person to person, and people influence each other. Better safe than sorry!

When Chen De had influenced about four to five hundred people, he returned to rest.

With so many people, one by one, how long would it take Chen De to influence them all?

Moreover, the number of people Chen De could control at this stage—no, rather, the number he could ensure control over after influencing them—

was roughly between thirty thousand and forty thousand. Chen De couldn't estimate it more precisely.

After all, everyone's physique is different, and the dosage needed for each person varies slightly.

When Chen De influenced them, using too much black liquid was fine, but using too little would be a big problem.

Among the influencing factors, cultivation level was the biggest.

Among the Outer Sect Disciples, cultivation levels varied, ranging from Ning Yuan Realm first level to Ning Yuan Realm ninth level.

There were even Outer Sect Disciples who had already broken through to the Spirit Opening Realm.

However, they did not have the privilege of immediate assessment for advancement like Inner Sect Disciples becoming True Disciples.

They had to wait for the annual Outer Sect to Inner Sect assessment, organized and arranged by the Sect.

Unlike the Inner Sect to True Disciple advancement, the Outer Sect to Inner Sect advancement had no requirement for how many years a disciple had served.

In other words, even if someone joined the Tianyan Sect just the day before the promotion assessment, or even on the day itself,

as long as their cultivation level met the requirements, they could participate in the promotion assessment.

For these Outer Sect Disciples who had already reached the Spirit Opening Realm, if Chen De wanted to influence them,

the amount of black liquid required would be hundreds or even thousands of times more than for other Ning Yuan Realm Outer Sect Disciples.

However, the wealth gained from them might not be hundreds or thousands of times more than what could be obtained from those in the Ning Yuan Realm.

This was because the source of resources Chen De obtained from them did not come from the disciples themselves,

but from the forces and families behind them.

Among those forces, there were naturally those who had reached the Spirit Opening Realm.

So Chen De's targets were those who seemed to have similar family backgrounds,

who would consume little black liquid yet yield significant returns.

It wasn't that Chen De couldn't produce more black liquid, but that the total amount of black liquid he could control was limited.

But if Chen De were to personally influence them one by one, he would die of exhaustion before finishing.

So Chen De chose to first influence four or five hundred people.

He applied a bit more black liquid to them.

He let them find targets themselves, as they had lived there for such a long time.

Not everyone, but they should have at least some understanding of the assets and family backgrounds of the people around them, right?

There was no need to ask them directly; their usual lifestyle would be enough to make a good guess about some of them.

This was the mutual influence tactic Chen De invented.

Birds of a feather flock together; let them influence each other!

Relying on this word-of-mouth method would surely be much faster than Chen De going door-to-door one by one.

Now, Chen De only needed to quietly wait for good news.

On the first day, over four hundred people turned into a thousand.

On the second day, over a thousand people turned into over three thousand.

On the third day, over three thousand people turned into over seven thousand.

...

By the sixth day, the number of influenced individuals had reached just over twenty thousand.

At this point, Chen De felt it was enough; if it continued to grow,

with Chen De's current strength, it wouldn't increase much more.

Because Chen De also had the burden of those in Tianfeng City, as well as Qing Yuzi and an Outer Sect Elder of the Scripture Pavilion.

There was no need to necessarily reach the current limit of what he could handle.

Saving some black liquid might also be useful for Chen De's subsequent actions.

Before doing anything, it's always good to leave a little room for error.

Otherwise, if Chen De suddenly needed it urgently for something, wouldn't that be awkward?

As for those left in Tianfeng City, Chen De did not plan to touch them.

Chen De had his own arrangements for those people, and they were quite important arrangements at the current stage.

In terms of priority, they even ranked above this group of Outer Sect Disciples.

Next, Chen De was going to assign them tasks and have them implement the plan.

According to Chen De's plan, it definitely wouldn't work for all these people to simultaneously ask their families for spirit herbs.

If twenty thousand Outer Sect Disciples of the Tianyan Sect simultaneously sent messages and items to their backing forces,

it would be very easy to attract attention.

Twenty thousand disciples would account for nearly thirty percent of the total number of Outer Sect Disciples in the Sect.

Although the Tianyan Sect claimed to have three hundred thousand Outer Sect Disciples, this was indeed true.

However, in the Tianyan Sect, most Outer Sect Disciples were out performing missions.

After all, the Sect couldn't support these disciples for free; they always had to provide some return.

No matter what these Outer Sect Disciples were like, the Sect absolutely could not operate at a loss.

For example, if this group of Outer Sect Disciples failed to break through to the Spirit Opening Realm before the specified age,

sending them away was naturally impossible; otherwise, wouldn't all the Sect's resources be wasted?

They would be dispatched to manage the Sect's industries outside, acting as minor deacons or the like.

Those who broke through to the Spirit Opening Realm could choose to become a hall master in an external industry, responsible for managing those deacons, or choose to be transferred back to serve as an Outer Sect Elder.

One by one, from top to bottom, everyone was arranged into position.

Of course, the most miserable among them were the Outer Sect Disciples, because they were still full of hope.

It was their age to strive, and their fighting passion was still high.

Naturally, they would desperately strive to improve their cultivation and frantically accept Sect missions.

Of course, it wasn't that no one chose to directly ask their family for resources.

But where there are policies, there are countermeasures.

However, regarding this, the Sect had already provided a solution.

That was, the Sect would forcibly assign some missions to each disciple.

And these were all mandatory missions that their backing forces could not interfere with.

Furthermore, there would be a mission contribution index each month.

Disciples who failed to meet the Sect's requirements would suffer greatly.

It was impossible to eat, live, and do nothing for free in the Tianyan Sect.

Some simpler missions would take about ten days to half a month.

Slightly more difficult ones might require several months, or even half a year.

The most crucial point was that a significant number of Outer Sect Disciples died each year while carrying out missions.

In the Tianyan Sect's Outer Sect death list, the proportion of deaths due to mission execution almost reached ninety-nine percent.

Tens of thousands of Outer Sect Disciples dying each year was not uncommon at all.

Especially those mandatory Sect missions, which had the highest mortality rate.

Therefore, on normal days, the number of Outer Sect Disciples within the Sect generally remained between seventy to eighty thousand, occasionally exceeding one hundred thousand.

If the Sect suddenly issued a large number of missions, the number could even drop below fifty thousand.

With Chen De's move, influencing thirty percent of the Outer Sect Disciples in the Sect, he naturally had to act discreetly.

Chen De dared not underestimate the keen insight of those high-realm martial artists.

Such powerful individuals, even the slightest clue, could be magnified countless times.

Chen De was not in that position and had not encountered such beings, so many of their abilities were unknown to him.

Therefore, no matter how strange Chen De's abilities were, he still had to be careful, careful, and even more careful.

So Chen De chose to request spirit herbs from their families in batches.

And the number of people in each batch varied, as did the time intervals between batches.

In such a situation, it was best to be cautious in all matters!