Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 583 Value

"Vice Sect Leader Zhang, what brings you here?"

Upon seeing Zhang Min, Deng Kang immediately jumped up from the drunken chair under the shed, fanning himself with a palm leaf fan as he eagerly approached her.

Seeing this, Zhang Min smiled and asked, "Manager Deng, has the Jiuyuan Peiyuan Ointment I ordered arrived?"

Deng Kang's face immediately turned awkward, and he put down his palm-leaf fan: "To be honest, Vice Sect Leader Zhang, it's not that I'm unwilling to do my best, but there was an unexpected incident. Our caravan encountered a monster on the way back, and not only was the Nine Abyss Nourishing Essence Ointment lost, but all the goods were also lost. Only Leader Chi escaped with his life."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Min immediately frowned.

There were caravans in Xiaolan Valley. Back then, Jiang Liang organized four caravans to trade and exchange ordinary goods in the vicinity.

But the valley is not only inhabited by ordinary people!
Every three months, Jiang Liang would send a spirit farmer to accompany one of the caravans to Pushui Market to purchase spirit tools, spirit seeds, spirit fertilizer, or cultivation resources.

After Jiang Liang left, these caravans were taken over by the Chi family.

The Chi family maintained this practice while expanding the caravan's business scope. Nearby cultivation forces, such as the Chen family of Baolong Valley and the Huang family of Jinqianling, maintained contact with the Chi family through the caravan.

After leading her disciples back to Xiaolan Valley, she entrusted Deng Kang to convey her request to the caravan to purchase Jiuyuan Peiyuan Ointment. However, unexpectedly, after the goods were purchased, they were abducted by a demon beast before she could even see them.

"Does the caravan have any plans to travel to Pushui Market in the near future?" Zhang Min asked in a deep voice.

Jiuyuan Peiyuan Paste is a high-grade spiritual fertilizer, which is generally not on the list of spiritual farmers.

Because this stuff is extremely expensive, it is often used to cultivate medicinal fields and plant precious spiritual herbs that take decades or even centuries to mature.

Moreover, it is extremely rare. Not to mention the nearby cultivation forces, even Changyang Valley under the Li family's rule has none for sale.

To purchase this magical fertilizer, one must try their luck at Pushui Market. If even Pushui Market doesn't have it, one might have to go to other places.

Deng Kang scratched his head: "There is a plan, but the Chi family has suffered considerable losses, so they may not necessarily follow through with the plan."

How could Zhang Min possibly pay for the Jiuyuan Peiyuan Ointment before she even received it?

At most, they gave some deposit.

The reason the Chi family was willing to advance funds to buy Jiuyuan Peiyuan Ointment was because they could sell it to Green Cloud Cave at a higher price, which Green Cloud Cave could understand.

But if the spirit fertilizer is lost, can the Chi family still ask Green Cloud Cave for money?

Certainly not.

Not only Jiuyuan Peiyuan Ointment, but other goods were also affected. The caravan's misfortune caused the Chi family a huge loss.

Although he didn't know what the Chi family was thinking, he figured they probably wouldn't send any more caravans to Pushui Market anytime soon.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Min's face flashed with deep disappointment.

Given the relationship between Green Cloud Cave and the Chi family, she naturally wouldn't blame the Chi family, and wouldn't even ask for the deposit back.

Do I have to go to Pushui Market myself?
Just then, Deng Kang suddenly said, "Green Cloud Cave is buying spirit fertilizer to cultivate spirit soil, right? I have a substitute here, but I don't know if Vice Sect Leader Zhang would like it."

Zhang Min immediately gave her an inquiring look.

Deng Kang turned and went into the house, pulled out a large burlap sack, and casually poured it on the ground, where it soon piled up into a small black mud mountain.

Zhang Min stared in surprise, wondering why this spirit fat looked like mud.
Moreover, such rough treatment instantly reduced her expectations by a hundredfold.

Deng Kang noticed Zhang Min's expression and clapped his hands: "This isn't spirit fertilizer, but spirit soil. It was obtained from a traveling merchant who called it 'Five-Scattered Humus Soil.' To be honest, it looks terrible. I still don't know its origin. It looks like swamp mud that's been scooped up and dried, and the quality is inconsistent. Some of it is of no help to spirit plants at all, but some..."

Deng Kang paused for a moment, then said seriously, "It surpasses all ordinary spiritual soil on the market, and can even rival the soil cultivated with Nine Abyss Nourishing Essence Paste!"

"Comparable to Jiuyuan Peiyuan Ointment?"

Zhang Min was taken aback and blurted out.

Deng Kang nodded: "There is no doubt about that. I personally found a corner of the spirit field to test it out. I can take you to see it later."

Zhang Min was both surprised and suspicious. She bent down, grabbed a handful of soil, and examined it carefully.

After a long pause, she suddenly stood up and asked, "Manager Deng, how much is this five-layered rotten soil?"

"Very cheap."

Deng Kang chuckled and said, "The traveling merchants who sell this stuff have no idea of ​​the value of the Five-Fragmented Rotten Soil. Of course, selecting high-quality spiritual soil from it is also a difficult task. Anyway, if Green Cloud Cave wants it, I'll sell it to you for 5 spirit stones per 100 jin, and I can sell it for a maximum of 400 jin. If you still want it, I can continue to contact the other party."

Buying 100 catties of spirit soil for 5 spirit stones is undoubtedly a great deal.

Although most of these sacred soils are just ordinary soil.

But if even one-tenth of it could rival the soil cultivated by the Nine Abyss Nourishing Essence Paste, that would be a huge profit. Zhang Min hesitated only for a moment before quickly saying, "I'll take all four hundred catties of loose, rotten soil."

"That's a good feeling."

Deng Kang immediately moved out the remaining five scattered rotten soils.

After paying the spirit stones, Zhang Min summoned her disciples to move all four bags of spirit soil away. She then returned to the spirit field area rented by Green Cloud Cave and found half an acre of spirit field that had been separately allocated.

In the vast area of ​​the spirit field, only two spirit herbs, one large and one small, were planted.

"Thousand-Jun Grass"

Zhang Min murmured. She didn't actually know the specific effects of the Thousand-Jun Grass, but Li Xiangming had gone to great lengths to personally visit Suyun Ridge, so it wasn't hard to guess how precious it was.

After much thought, she realized that the advantage of Green Cloud Cave did not lie in the inheritance of cultivation techniques—Li Xiangming, as the sect leader, did not even specialize in the Lesser Xiaoxiang Technique; nor did it lie in the fact that Mao Jingze, Luo Changqing, and other late-stage Qi Refining cultivators were among its members.

These people might be able to support a small sect, but compared to a Foundation Establishment family of the size of the Li family, they are simply overestimating themselves.

Moreover, Li Xiangming himself could mobilize hundreds of cultivators from Puyin Mountain, which was quite an exaggeration. The power of Green Cloud Cave was merely icing on the cake for him.

The real advantage of Green Cloud Cave lies in its experience in cultivating spiritual plants. This might be insignificant in Hao County, but it has unique value in Pu County.

At least after Li Xiangming found the Thousand-Jun Grass, he didn't bring it back to Danggui Mountain, but instead ordered her to transplant it to Xiaolan Valley, which shows that the Li family is far inferior to Green Cloud Cave in the field of spiritual plants.

If Green Cloud Cave wants to gain Li Xiangming's protection but doesn't want to be swallowed up or consumed by the Li family, it must demonstrate its value and make that value unique.

The Thousand-Jun Grass may be the only chance for Green Cloud Cave to remain independent.

"Yin Feng!"

Zhang Min called softly.

Yin Feng, who was checking the growth of evening primroses in the neighboring spiritual field, immediately stepped forward: "Senior Sister Zhang, what brings you here?"

Zhang Min looked at him and asked, "You should still have the blood and bones of that Azure Moon Lion, right?"

"Azure Moon Lion?"

Yin Feng paused for a moment, then quickly recalled the white lion that had been parading through Monkey Valley. He nodded and said, "It's here. The Bone-Melting Demon Cultivator couldn't tame it, and the Azure Moon Lion was cooked into a spiritual dish by the spirit chef of Taibai Restaurant."

At this point, Yin Feng subconsciously licked his lips: "Our Green Cloud Cave also got a share, and I still remember the taste vividly!"

"Speak the key."

Zhang Min stretched out her slender finger and poked Yin Feng's forehead.

Yin Feng immediately straightened his expression, took out two large jade porcelain bottles and a rectangular jade box from his sleeve, and asked curiously, "Senior Sister, what do you want to do with the blood and bones of the Azure Moon Lion?"

Zhang Min explained, "I'll try the Boiling Blood Technique that my master mentioned."

"Blood boiling method?"

Yin Feng was stunned again.

This Boiling Blood Technique is a forbidden technique in the spiritual plant inheritance of Green Cloud Cave. It can use the essence blood and bone powder of boiled demon beasts to irrigate spiritual soil, greatly increasing the vitality of the spiritual soil.

However, this method cannot be achieved overnight.

The practitioner needs to constantly control the permeation of bone and blood into the spiritual soil to achieve a delicate balance; otherwise, the spiritual soil will not only fail to benefit but will also become necrotic due to the blood poisoning.

This process lasted for a full forty-nine days.

Normal Qi Refining cultivators simply cannot sustain this for such a long time, not to mention that this method has a huge hidden danger—evil energy!
When demon hunters go into the mountains to hunt demons, excessive killing can also cause them to acquire malevolent energy, which is extremely detrimental to their cultivation.

However, demon hunters can take the Burning Evil Pill and recuperate for a few more days to remove most of the evil energy. But cultivators who use the Boiling Blood Technique must endure the evil energy for forty-nine days.

During this period, the Burning Evil Pill did have some effect, but it was better than nothing.

There are rumors that using the Boiling Blood Technique will destroy the practitioner's potential for cultivation.

Even in Green Cloud Cave, almost no one has ever tried this forbidden technique.

Upon realizing this, Yin Feng's face turned pale, and he was about to speak.

Zhang Min slapped his head and said with a laugh, "Senior sister knows what she's doing, why do you need to worry about it? You should go to Changyang Valley to buy some fresh monster corpses for your senior sister."

(End of this chapter)