The cave dwelling was located at the foot of Mount Tianquan. Although called a cave, it was more like a mountain villa; however, the interior did indeed connect to a cavern, which served as a dedicated meditation room. This was the area where the spiritual energy was most abundant, specifically drawn from a spiritual vein. An additional Spirit Gathering Array had been installed; once spirit stones were embedded, the spiritual energy could reach the effect of a high-grade First-Tier resource, making it ideal for secluded cultivation.
A half-acre of spiritual farmland had been cleared at the entrance. It was of high-grade First-Tier quality, but it had fallen into disuse after the cave was sealed, leaving nothing but a few patches of wild grass instead of spiritual plants.
After inspecting the site for a while, the disciple from the Construction Hall said, "There are no major issues with this dwelling, but because it hasn't been inhabited for a long time, it lacks human vitality and shows some signs of spiritual erosion. We will need to re-trace the array patterns."
"Then I thank you, Senior Brother."
Lin Donglai was indeed satisfied with the dwelling.
"If you are satisfied, then sign the spiritual contract. This dwelling requires twelve merit points per month. A one-year lease costs only one hundred and twenty merit points. Furthermore, the sect only accepts merit points and does not accept spirit stones."
Lin Donglai said somewhat sheepishly, "I currently do not have any merit points on me. I wonder what the sect's policy is for disciples like us?"
The array disciple from the Construction Hall smiled. "That is normal. You can sign a separate spiritual contract. As long as Senior Brother Liu acts as a guarantor, you can borrow the merit points immediately. However, these merit points can only be used for leasing dwellings. Full leases start at a minimum of three years and renew automatically. If you repay the debt to the Construction Hall within those three years, there will be no interest."
"Ah?"
Lin Donglai hadn't expected that there was such a way to use merit points to squeeze disciples. Dwellings required merit points, cultivation resources required merit points; even with his fifty acres of land, he would have to work with other members of the Spiritual Field Mutual Aid Society, and he would soon need to invite Nie Caixia as well. It wouldn't be a one-man operation.
Under these circumstances, after barely earning enough to cover the rent for the dwelling, there wouldn't be much surplus left.
*They must have calculated this,* he thought. He decided to ask later where Ding Zhen and the others lived and what grade their dwellings were. Their level was average, so a low-grade First-Tier dwelling would suffice; he just feared being tricked into leasing a mid-grade First-Tier dwelling, which would create too much pressure and force him to work excessively hard on outer sect missions.
Liu Jinyang, however, said, "Junior Brother Lin, cultivating in a place with dense spiritual energy is different from cultivating elsewhere."
"For example, when facing Qi Refinement bottlenecks, they will be naturally eroded in a place with abundant spiritual energy."
"Or when practicing spells, the time it takes to recover spiritual power after each use is much faster than outside. By using merit points to trade for time, you can reach the late stage of Qi Refinement sooner and fight for a chance at Foundation Establishment."
Liu Jinyang was already at the late stage of Qi Refinement, so his words sounded like the wisdom of an experienced practitioner.
The environment of this dwelling was indeed excellent.
"Then let's sign it!"
Lin Donglai decisively signed the contract. Liu Jinyang smiled, and the disciple from the Construction Hall smiled as well.
"I'll take you to see Tianquan Village as well, Junior Brother. It's not far from here."
The array disciple from the Construction Hall needed to return to prepare materials to touch up the array patterns; completing this task would earn him a commission.
Originally, leasing a mid-grade First-Tier dwelling wouldn't have put much pressure on Lin Donglai, but leasing a high-grade First-Tier dwelling would motivate him to work harder and create greater value for the sect.
Lin Donglai silently calculated. For mid-grade First-Tier spiritual grain, if he handed over three hundred catties, since the seeds and fields were provided by the sect, he was essentially just a tenant farmer. Being able to receive merit points equal to thirty percent of the grain's true value was already an act of sect benevolence, not to mention the annual subsidy of two merit points per acre for spiritual fertilizer.
However, if he rented the fields himself, bought his own seeds, and bought his own fertilizer, the risk would be too high. It was better to act as a tenant for the sect.
At the very least, for one acre of land, after providing the free seeds, he could earn 10 merit points of contribution per year, plus 2 merit points in fertilizer subsidies.
Forty acres would yield 480 merit points.
For high-grade First-Tier, it would be 20 merit points per acre per year, plus 4 merit points in fertilizer subsidies. Ten acres would yield 240 merit points.
In total, that was 720 merit points, plus some extra harvests.
For instance, rice stalks could be fed to spiritual oxen or sheep, and the Talisman Hall would collect them to make paper.
But Lin Donglai couldn't handle all of this alone. He was only at the third level of Qi Refinement, and he had seven helpers at the second level of Qi Refinement, plus the task of bringing Nie Caixia into the fold.
Even if Lin Donglai took the lion's share, there were still ten acres of mid-grade and two acres of high-grade land that could be used to grow spiritual herbs. Spiritual herbs were much more profitable than spiritual grain, but they also required much higher investment costs.
Calculating it this way, if he used those 360 merit points for the dwelling lease, his daily life would be extremely tight.
With a single thought, Lin Donglai made his choice: "For their level, growing mid-grade spiritual rice is a challenge, and growing ten acres of mid-grade spiritual herbs would likely be too difficult. Only Nie Caixia and I have the skill to grow spiritual herbs."
"I'll wait to see how well Xiao Yi refines the Wondrous Pills. When the time comes, I'll have him bear part of the cost of growing the herbs; it'll be a win-win. It would be best to bring in more alchemy apprentices or low-grade First-Tier alchemists. We can choose which herbs to plant based on what they need, and let them bear the costs of seeds and fertilizer. Once harvested, we can follow the sect's model: give them seventy percent and convert the remaining thirty percent into merit points."
"This way, I can also train a few more mid-grade spiritual farmers and help the sect cultivate more alchemists."
Lin Donglai was already beginning to apply the principles of "farming" to his social dealings.
Upon arriving at Tianquan Village, he saw it was shaped like a mountain villa, situated in a valley where a medicinal spring flowed from Mount Tianquan. The valley was shaped like a precious vase, with the "mouth" of the vase serving as the entrance to the village, complete with gates and array restrictions.
Entering the village, he saw houses built against the surrounding mountain walls.
The central area consisted of various plots of spiritual farmland.
By eye, Lin Donglai estimated the farmland was more than fifty acres. Using his Spiritual Vision technique, he discovered that the extra plots were irregular—scattered here and there—with insufficient spiritual energy and fertility, sitting at roughly the low-grade First-Tier level. These were the unregistered spiritual fields.
In the center of the fields were two processing pools. One connected to the Pill Pool on Mount Tianquan and was used to process waste liquid and pill toxins; its liquid was a swirling mix of many colors. The other was a medicinal spring used to process the purified liquid, and its water was relatively clear.
"This truly is a good place." Lin Donglai was quite satisfied. Stepping barefoot onto the spiritual field, he sensed that the earth energy was not much inferior to what he had experienced on Tengshe Peak.
"As long as you like it, Junior Brother," Liu Jinyang said. "The former deacon of Tianquan Village cultivated here for over thirty years. He married a Dao companion and had three concubines; it was quite an immortal life. He had over a dozen children. Once he reached sixty and realized he had no chance at Foundation Establishment, he retired from the sect and took his wife and children to establish a family outside."
"These houses were built by them back then."