Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 363 Arrangement
To reassure the disciples of Green Cloud Cave, Li Xiangming patiently explained his plans and arrangements again and again. Finally, he personally led everyone to Xiaolan Valley to inspect the rented spirit fields.

Looking at the dozens of acres of densely packed spiritual fields, everyone was very excited.

"Who planted this Yuquan rice? It seems to be growing poorly."

Yin Feng squatted beside one of the spirit fields, fiddling with the rice seedlings.

Seeing this, Li Xiangming explained, "These spirit fields were previously managed by recruited spirit farmers."

"These spirit fields are being wasted."

Yin Feng muttered something.

Li Xiangming smiled. Most of the spirit farmers recruited by Jiang Liang were transformed from rogue cultivators.

These people don't understand the art of cultivating spiritual plants; they're just doing this to earn a living, so they grit their teeth and work hard in the spiritual fields.

Compared to skills like alchemy and talisman making, learning about spiritual plants is very simple.

For example, to grow Yuquan rice, you only need to learn a few minor spells, regularly irrigate, repel pests, and fertilize, and the resilient Yuquan rice will naturally grow.

There may be some unexpected situations along the way, but after a few times, you can always find a solution.

Therefore, the profession of ginseng farmer actually has no entry requirements.

However, if we want to increase the yield of Jade Spring Rice, or plant more precious and fragile high-level spiritual plants, a few minor spells are far from enough.

We must thoroughly study the habits of spiritual plants, provide them with the most comfortable growing environment, eliminate all adverse factors, and replenish their spiritual energy from time to time.
Behind this simple sentence lies a vast ocean of knowledge about spiritual plants.

Not every spirit farmer has the opportunity to cultivate a wide variety of spirit plants and thus gain rich experience.

Those who are proficient in this art can be respectfully called spiritual plant masters.

Green Cloud Cave has decades of experience in cultivating spiritual herbs, has accumulated a lot of knowledge about spiritual plants, and has produced many spiritual plant masters. Whether it is Zhang Min, who is a true disciple, or Yin Feng, who is an inner disciple, they all started by cultivating spiritual herbs.

Their understanding of spiritual plant cultivation techniques far surpasses that of rogue cultivators who have only been spiritual farmers for a few years, and they naturally look down on the skills of these rogue spiritual farmers.

Seeing Yin Feng muttering to himself, Li Xiangming couldn't help but laugh and scold him, "These spirit fields here all belong to us. Those spirit farmers won't care anymore. You'd better take good care of them, kid."

Yin Feng looked up, grinning foolishly.

At this moment, Zhang Min, who was standing beside her, asked in a low voice, "What about the Yuquan rice in the field?"

Half of the thirty acres of spiritual fields rented by Green Cloud Cave were planted with Jade Spring Rice.

These sacred rice plants won't be ripe for several more months.

"They're all being given away to everyone, so that everyone can have a good meal at the end of the year."

Li Xiangming replied with a smile.

Even if fifteen acres of Yuquan rice are fully ripe and sold at a good price, they would only fetch two or three hundred spirit stones.

For him now, it's nothing.

Instead, we should use this opportunity to further win people's hearts.

Sure enough, everyone was even more excited upon hearing the news.

Zhang Min gave a wry smile and asked, "Won't this have a negative impact? What about the Li family?"

"It doesn't matter!"

Li Xiangming waved his hand magnanimously: "I still have this much power. However, the most urgent matter is not the spirit fields, but finding a place for a sect to be located."

As he spoke, Li Xiangming handed Zhang Min a topographical map of Xiaolan Valley: "The southeast of Xiaolan Valley is the Chi family's territory; the southwest is the settlement of the Chi family's mortal clansmen. The northeast is our spiritual fields. You should live in the northwest so that you can watch over the Chi family. Here are two construction talismans, which should be enough for you for now."

Zhang Min accepted the creation talisman and was filled with emotion: "Master's judgment was correct. You are the most ideal sect leader."

She knew very well that if anyone from Green Cloud Cave were to become the sect leader, they would only be able to comfort everyone with the sect's loyalty and encourage them to persevere, or make empty promises to inspire them.

Li Xiangming, however, had arranged almost everything perfectly.

Since arriving in Puxian County, they hadn't even started doing anything yet, but they had already obtained such a good place to stay in Xiaolan Valley, as well as a large area of ​​cultivated spiritual fields.

This was something that no one had ever dared to imagine before.

Li Xiangming wasn't smug. Instead, he glanced at her and said in a low voice, "My situation is special, so I don't usually stay here. As the deputy sect leader, you are the real leader. I'll have to trouble you to take care of the sect from now on."

Zhang Min quickly replied, "Please rest assured, Sect Leader, I will definitely take good care of everyone."

Li Xiangming nodded, took out a cloth bag from his body, and put it in Zhang Min's hand: "This is a thousand spirit stones. I'm leaving it for you in case of emergency. We're poor right now, so we need to be careful with our spending. But don't worry about spending what you need. If you run out, just come to me for more."

"I'm only afraid of letting down the sect leader's trust!"

Zhang Min stared at the spirit stone in her hand, hesitating to put it away.

The sect leader has already admitted that he will not pay much attention to Green Cloud Cave.

Therefore, this spirit stone was actually given to her to use freely.

But she felt a lot of pressure.

Although the sect leader mortgaged the spiritual vein and received a full 5000 spirit stones.

However, 1500 spirit stones have already been spent to save Fang Renkui.

When they went south, the sect leader bought some cultivation pills to appease the disciples.

It must have cost a lot to bribe officials in Puxian.

Now he has taken out another thousand spirit stones.

She estimated that the sect leader had at most two thousand spirit stones left.

This is not a small number.

However, the spiritual veins that have been mortgaged must eventually be redeemed.

And it only lasted for a short five years.

The more spirit stones you spend during this period, the more difficult it will be to redeem the spirit vein in the future.

We can't possibly wait five years and then shamelessly ask the sect leader to pay for the redemption of the spiritual veins on his own, can we?
Even if the sect leader were willing, he probably wouldn't have the financial resources.

Therefore, the 1000 spirit stones in her possession are of paramount importance.

If used properly, Green Cloud Cave can not only grow stronger, but also successfully redeem the spiritual vein and return to Hao County.

But if she messes things up and can't help the sect leader cover the ransom shortfall, she will become a sinner of Green Cloud Cave.

"Don't feel too much pressure, I'll figure something out."

Li Xiangming offered a word of comfort.

Zhang Min remained silent for a moment, then took a deep breath and carefully put the cloth bag away.

Some things just have to be done by someone.

For the sake of the sect, she was willing to bear these pressures.
-
After settling the disciples of Green Cloud Cave, Li Xiangming went to see Chi Laiyi.

Xiaolan Valley is, after all, the territory of the Chi family. Arranging for people to live there all the time will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the Chi family.

However, Chi Laiyi behaved very respectfully in front of Li Xiangming.

They always greet you with "welcome" and tell you they'll obey orders.

Li Xiangming simply didn't say anything more.

As they were parting, Chi Laiyi suddenly remembered something and whispered, "My lord, Deng Kang wishes to see you."

"Deng Kang?"

Li Xiangming raised his eyebrows; this person was also a recruited spirit farmer.

Unlike the other Lingnong, Deng Kang was promoted to be Jiang Liang's deputy because of his talent.

Before going to the Spirit Serpent Chamber of Commerce, Jiang Liang specifically recommended this person to Li Xiangming.

Li Xiangming was worried about having no one to use, so he made him replace Jiang Liang and become his agent in Xiaolan Valley, responsible for supervising the recruited spirit farmers to cultivate spirit fields.

"Let him come over."

"Yes!"

A short while later, a plump cultivator in his forties flew over. As soon as he saw Li Xiangming, he bowed deeply and said in a passionate voice, "This humble one, Deng Kang, greets Master!"

Unlike Jiang Liang, Deng Kang came from a humble background. It is said that his mother supported herself and her son by earning money from a hundred households, while his father is unknown. Later, his mother died of illness, and Deng Kang had no choice but to sell himself to a restaurant as a child laborer, making a living by washing dishes.

After more than ten years of washing, Deng Kang accidentally entered the world of cultivation and became a rogue cultivator.

However, his mediocre talent prevented him from making significant progress in his cultivation.

Now in middle age, he has only reached the third level of Qi Refining. This level of cultivation is not impressive even among the Spirit Farmers.

Fortunately, the recruited spirit farmers, even though they had never seen Li Xiangming's true face, knew that their employer had a close relationship with the Li family.

Therefore, most people kept to their own business, and at least no one openly opposed Deng Kang.

"But what happened to the Ginnons?"

Li Xiangming told Deng Kang to stand up and asked directly.

"The boss is truly a genius."

Deng Kang first offered a string of flattering remarks before cautiously saying, "The landlord brought a group of people over and rented out thirty acres of spirit fields all at once. Most of the spirit farmers are quite worried about this."

Upon hearing this, Li Xiangming immediately understood Deng Kang's purpose.

The spirit farmers in Xiaolan Valley were all hired by him, and he paid them a monthly salary of 2 spirit stones.

This salary isn't high, but it's stable enough.

Over the course of a year, that's 24 spirit stones, enough to buy four bottles of Yellow Sprout Pills.

It should be noted that most spirit farmers are low-level rogue cultivators in the early stages of Qi Refining.

Their cultivation levels are low and their abilities are limited. They usually wander around the cultivation world, just trying to make a living.

Nowadays, being able to exchange cultivation resources for land reclamation and farming in the relatively safe Xiaolan Valley is already a pretty good option.

This can be seen from the fact that Jiang Liang recruited a total of forty spirit farmers in two years.

Everyone thought this was a rare and excellent job.

But as soon as Jiang Liang left, the atmosphere in the valley suddenly became tense.

They exist because of Jiang Liang.

Now that Jiang Liang is gone, do they still have any value?

Sure enough, not long after, the spiritual fields they had painstakingly cultivated were rented out, and the rent was for thirty acres.

At this rate, it won't be long before all the spirit fields in Xiaolan Valley are rented out.

Once the spirit fields are gone, the spirit farmers are like water without a source or a tree without roots.

How could the employer bear to continue spending so much money to support them?

“The dismissal of Ling Nong is inevitable, and Manager Deng should be prepared.”

Li Xiangming replied calmly.

He knew that Ling Nong didn't want to lose his job, which was why he asked Deng Kang to sound him out.

He didn't hide anything and spoke frankly: "My original plan was to build 100 mu of spirit fields in Xiaolan Valley. Jiang Liang is well aware of this, and I'm sure you've heard about it as well. So far, Xiaolan Valley has 45 mu of qualified spirit fields, another 40 mu is under construction, and the remaining 15 mu has also been planned."

"In other words, by the year after next at the latest, I will have to dismiss most of the barons."

Deng Kang's body trembled slightly. Although he had long anticipated this outcome, he still couldn't help but feel disappointed when he actually heard it.

Since Lingnong was no longer there, his position as steward was no longer commensurate with his title, and the employer naturally had no reason to continue employing him.

Going back to a life of hardship and wandering as a hermit is not an easy thing to adapt to.

However, he still managed a forced smile: "I understand, I will follow your orders, Master."

Li Xiangming glanced at him and said, "Don't be discouraged. I will have my own opportunity to use you. Go back and tell everyone that if others can rent, they can rent too. As long as they meet the standards I set, they can rent spirit fields."

"Can we rent it too?"

Deng Kang was overjoyed.

The concept of renting out sacred fields is not unfamiliar.

It was especially popular in markets and neighborhoods.

This is because markets often have large-scale defensive formations, ensuring safety. Some powerful and wealthy people like to build a lot of spiritual fields on the outskirts to attract tenants to contract them and earn land rent.

However, this phenomenon diminishes outside of market areas.

The reason is very simple!
Most cultivation factions regard spiritual fields as their foundation and prefer to locate them within the core area of ​​their faction.

For example, the Li family's spiritual fields are mostly located on Tailai Peak; while the Chi family's spiritual fields are all located in Xiaolan Valley.

Leasing out these spiritual fields in the long term is tantamount to opening the door wide to outsiders.
Everyone knows that one should not allow others to sleep soundly under one's bed.

Cultivators place even greater importance on their own safety.

Therefore, most cultivation forces are unwilling to directly rent out spiritual fields, and even if they do, they will carefully select tenants.

Inexperienced barbarians like them were not qualified to rent.

Of course, there are exceptions. Some larger forces, due to their extensive and dispersed territories, will rent out some of their remote spiritual fields without any scruples.

However, Xiaolan Valley is clearly not in this category.

At least in the original plan, the owner did not intend to rent out the sacred fields of Xiaolan Valley.

That's why Deng Kang was pleasantly surprised.

If a spirit farmer stays to rent a spirit field, then who will supervise the spirit farmer?
Who will check the harvest?

Who will collect the rent?

It's all because of Steward Deng!

"The boss is wise! Everyone must be overjoyed to hear this news!"

Deng Kang quickly began to flatter him.

Li Xiangming smiled slightly. The spirit fields in Xiaolan Valley were originally cultivated for profit.

He adopted the employment model in order to better control the scale and output of spiritual plants and meet the needs of the Li family and Qingyang Temple.

For example, if he wants to plant evening primrose, he can plant hundreds of acres of evening primrose with just one order.

However, renting it out makes it difficult to achieve the same effect.

Lingnong had his own ideas.

He's good at growing Yuquan rice, but if you insist he grow evening primrose, neither of you will benefit in the end.

However, as Li Xiangming moved south from Green Cloud Cave, his thoughts changed.

The Green Cloud Cave is an expert in the cultivation of spiritual plants, far superior to the cheap spiritual farmers they hire. Naturally, Li Xiangming wanted them to be the main force in cultivating spiritual herbs.

However, he couldn't afford to hire ten spirit farmers and spirit plant masters at the late stage of Qi Refining.

It would be better to rent it out. After all, as the sect leader, I only need to influence Green Cloud Cave's choices to the greatest extent possible.

Since most of the developed spiritual fields had already been rented to Green Cloud Cave, Li Xiangming no longer had any intention of managing the rest centrally, so he simply rented them all out.

It just so happens that the people who leased the spirit fields are the spirit farmers who developed them, which put Li Xiangming at ease. He waved his hand and said, "This is still a long way off. At least we need to wait until the spirit fields are developed before you can properly reassure everyone."

"Yes!"

Deng Kang left in high spirits.

Watching the other person's retreating figure, Li Xiangming fell into deep thought once again.

The remaining spiritual fields were managed step by step, and with Deng Kang overseeing them, he only needed to transfer money.

Green Cloud Cave has settled down and needs some time to recuperate. It will be busy again next spring when they plant spiritual herbs and recruit apprentices.

During this time, there was nothing he could do to help.

However, we could focus our attention on Jiang Liang's Spirit Serpent Merchant Guild.

I wonder how well he got along with Hua Lun.

He really wanted to go to Pushui Market in person to find out where the Thousand-Jun Grass was.

But with the Foundation Establishment Ceremony imminent, he simply couldn't spare the time.

By the way, the Herbal God Pill that Liu Xiong Yu sought was also a business worth handling.

Thinking of the Herbal Elixir, Li Xiangming also thought of the Green Sheep Taoist.

It's been a long time since I've seen him, and I'm starting to miss this old Taoist priest.

I haven't yet explained things to him in detail since I returned from Foundation Establishment?
After a moment's thought, Li Xiangming decided to return to Tailai Peak immediately.

(End of this chapter)