Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 246 Ten Directions Valley

In the world of cultivation, the circumstances of independent cultivators and scions of aristocratic families are vastly different.

As a member of the Li family, Li Xiangming can focus on cultivating Taoist arts without distraction, because the family will provide him with the necessary elixirs, magical artifacts, and other supplies.

The same applies to the most promising talents in a sect; they can focus wholeheartedly on cultivation without being distracted by external things.

However, independent cultivators do not receive such treatment; if they do not acquire some additional skills, their access to resources will be extremely limited.

They rely on spirit stones to buy everything, but the source of these spirit stones has become a problem.

Furthermore, for independent cultivators without spiritual veins, spirit stones are more of a precious cultivation resource than a simple currency for trading.

You'll find that spirit stones are always scarce for rogue cultivators. Their harsh reality forces them to work hard in their cultivation while also expanding their skills, such as alchemy, weapon crafting, and talisman making, to alleviate the pressure of cultivation.

However, this also squeezed out their time for breathing exercises and cultivation.

This often results in independent cultivators falling far behind those from aristocratic families and sects in terms of their cultivation level.

This is also something that can't be helped.

Although the cultivation world does not emphasize bloodline, it does emphasize one's origin.

The descendants of a Golden Core cultivator are not necessarily more talented than impoverished, independent cultivators.

But the food and supplies they have are undoubtedly hundreds or thousands of times better than those of independent cultivators.

Independent cultivators can only sacrifice their cultivation time to learn unorthodox methods and earn spirit stones to make up for these gaps.

That's how it was with Granny Lai and the others.

Apart from her being a fortune teller, everyone else had their own special skills.

Zhang Can is a weapon refiner, Xie Daoren is an alchemist, the Flower Monk is skilled in talisman making, and the mysterious corpse driver is proficient in corpse magic and puppetry.

These undisciplined cultivators, who were used to being carefree, formed a group while on the run, not because of deep affection, but because they valued the complementarity of each other's skills.

Although the Li family possesses a considerable number of alchemists and weapon refiners, and has also trained talisman makers such as Li Chenglu, they are weak in divination and puppetry.

This is why, while maintaining a strong presence in front of Granny Lai and the others, Li Xiangming also displayed a certain degree of restraint.

Even their covetousness for Xiaolan Valley was wiped clean.

He actually intended to win him over.

The same logic applies to persuading Li Qianxiong to hand over Jiming Mountain.

"Since this person has made a great contribution, it is not impossible to lend out Jiming Mountain. This matter is entrusted to you."

Li Qianxiong nodded slowly.

Since settling in Danggui Mountain, the Li family has been exploring the uncharted wilderness nearby, hoping to find more spiritual veins.

However, it seems that the Tailai Peak spiritual vein has absorbed all the blessings of the area, making it difficult to find any spiritual traces in the surrounding area.

The Chen family's Baolong Valley, the Luo family's Shangqing Plain, the Ji family's Qingfeng Ridge, and the Chi family's Xiaolan Valley—these rare spiritual lands are all located four or five hundred miles away, and each possesses only a spiritual spring or a spiritual pool.

The same applies to Jiming Mountain.

Although the Li family discovered this place and sent people to occupy it.

But it was already more than 400 miles to the southeast.

The Li family is short-handed and has not even been able to fully develop Danggui Mountain.

The Lingtan Pool of Jiming Mountain thus became a chicken rib—tasteless to eat but a pity to throw away.

Nevertheless, the Li family would never give up so easily.

When negotiating with Granny Lai, Li Xiangming kept emphasizing that he was lending Jiming Mountain, just like when Hengyue Sect lent the Jin Guang Lake spiritual vein to the Li family.

"I understand, I will explain it to them."

Li Xiangming nodded and then asked, "Now that the Zhenhun Sect and Shengyi Sect are fighting again, when will the patriarch return to Tailai Peak?"

Liu Xiongyu's sudden attack on the Mountain Moving Sect caught the Li family off guard.

Fearing that the Li family would be ruined and suffer retaliation, Li Qianxiong personally oversaw the Maojing Mine and contacted Shengyimen. More than half a month has passed since then.

"I have other things to do, you go back first." Li Qianxiong shook his head, his gaze distant, lost in thought.

Seeing this, Li Xiangming stopped asking questions and went back to Tailai Peak first.

Upon returning to Tailai Peak, Li Xiangming immediately went to his eleventh uncle, Li Chengpei, to inquire about Gao Can's injuries.

Knowing his purpose, Li Chengpei exclaimed in amazement, "This person is simply a freak; in just a few days, his injuries have already shown signs of improvement."

"really?"

Li Xiangming was pleasantly surprised and carefully observed Gao Can.

Unfortunately, he couldn't figure it out, so he could only ask Li Chengpei to take good care of Gao Can.

"Don't worry, I'll let you know as soon as he wakes up."

Li Chengpei said this.

Upon hearing this, Li Xiangming felt relieved and returned to his own courtyard.

The courtyard was deserted; Cao Yanjun was nowhere to be seen.

Li Xiangming was not surprised; Cao Yanjun should currently be at the Beast Breeding Peak.

It is said that she found a very interesting fire-breathing horse among the couple's congratulatory gifts, and it was fiddling with something.

After thinking for a moment, Li Xiangming decided to go and take a look at Cao Yanjun.

This trip to Daishan lasted for more than half a month.

Having finally returned, I immediately need to contact my mother-in-law and others to discuss matters related to Jiming Mountain, which will probably take more than half a month.
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Danggui Mountain, Yushou Peak.

After years of development, this place is no longer the little hill that no one cared about before.

As Li Xiangming walked along, all he could see were towering guard towers and sturdy isolation walls.

And patrolling soldiers everywhere.

As far as Li Xiangming knew, the Beast Breeding Room had carefully divided the Beast Breeding Peak into three major areas: birds, beasts, and ferocious beasts. The so-called ferocious beasts referred to demonic beasts with high cultivation levels and violent temperaments, such as the Blackwater Serpent of the past, and did not refer to animals alone.

In addition, the Beast Breeding Peak also has special zones for insects, reptiles, beetles, fish, etc. Each zone is further subdivided into different beast farms according to the type and characteristics of the monsters.

The size of the beast arenas varies, mainly depending on the number and habits of the monsters.

The "Ten Directions Valley," where the Fire-Scaled Steed is located, is situated in a river valley near the Beast Breeding Peak, stretching for dozens of miles.

This area is certainly far smaller than the Shangqing Plain of the Luo family, and it is not suitable for large-scale horse breeding.

However, the primary responsibility of the animal breeding center is to tame monsters, not to raise them.

The Blackwater Serpent's cave was only ten zhang in circumference back then.

After strolling around the Beast Breeding Peak, Li Xiangming learned that Cao Yanjun was indeed in the Ten Directions Valley, so he rushed over without hesitation.

At the entrance of Shifang Valley, there is a small army of more than twenty people stationed. They come from Changtai Township and are an armed force that assists the animal breeding house in guarding this place.

In the past, the Li family would send additional cultivators to protect the beast tamers in order to ensure the growth of the beast breeding house.

However, with the expansion of the beast-breeding facility several times, it now has more than 30 beast tamers, so the Li family canceled the dispatch of those cultivators.

However, even with more than 30 beast tamers, the number of monsters that the Beast Breeding House obtains from the Beast Capture House and the Geng family is increasing, and with the construction of a large number of beast farms modeled after Yuyuan, the number of beast tamers is still insufficient when spread out.

Moreover, taming monsters is not something that can be done overnight.

Even a low-level demon in the early stages of the Spirit Summoning Realm needs two to three months to be initially tamed.

It would take three to five years to see any results with a beast like the Blackwater Serpent.

Therefore, the animal breeding center had to rely on ordinary people to help look after the animal farms that could not be cared for by beast tamers in the short term.

Shifang Valley is an overlooked beast farm. Although it is large in scale, most of the monsters inside are ordinary horse demons, sheep demons and the like. Even if they are tamed into spirit pets, they are not popular. No beast tamers have moved in for two years.

"Yanji!"

(End of this chapter)