Chapter 45: Nature Alliance

Time flew by, and another ten days passed, bringing us into July. Having finished harvesting the All-Mysteries Flowers, Xiao Yi handed twenty spirit stones to Lin Donglai: "Sorry, Junior Brother Lin, I don't have many spirit stones left on me, and I have to return the Sun-Gathering Array as well. Once I refine the All-Mysteries Pill and sell it, I'll make up the difference to you."

Lin Donglai accepted the twenty spirit stones and said, "These stones were grown together with my friends from the Spirit Field Mutual Aid Society. I plan to give two stones to each of them and keep the remaining six for myself."

He continued, "If you plan to refine All-Mysteries Pills in the future, you can keep letting us help with the planting. We have more experience now than before; as long as the seeds are good, I am confident we can grow them all!"

"We'll see how the profits from the spirit stones turn out," Xiao Yi said with a bitter smile. "I only know that the All-Mysteries Pill is very popular in Qingmu Immortal City. A pill shop manager is a relative of mine; I had to flatter him, telling him I am highly valued by the elders in my sect, just to obtain the pill recipe and the medicinal seeds."

"But it's been so long and I haven't given him any pills yet. I'm afraid he might turn on me. If I weren't in the sect, he probably would have come to collect the debt by now."

"That means it's worth the spirit stones," Lin Donglai analyzed. "Otherwise, he wouldn't have taken the risk of handing over the recipe and even helping you collect seeds."

"Once you bring the pills back this time, you'll definitely be able to fulfill your promise! He might even continue to invest in you."

"Competing for sect resources is a struggle, but this way is much more effortless."

Xiao Yi smiled. "I was thinking the same thing. However, one must be strong themselves to succeed. Wait for my good news!"

After finishing the harvest of the All-Mysteries Flowers, Xiao Yi rented an alchemy room at Earthfire Peak and went into seclusion to refine pills.

It remained to be seen whether these hundred-plus sets of materials could elevate him from a six or seven-year veteran alchemy apprentice to a true practitioner.

By the end of July, this season's spirit grain had also reached harvest time. Lin Donglai and the other seven members of Spirit Field Valley harvested the grain.

"Gestation Technique!"

Lin Donglai frowned slightly. This spell required him to gestate the seeds one plant at a time. "Does the sect have grain seeds that naturally bear fruit without the Gestation Technique? Or are our seeds specially processed so they cannot produce seeds without the spell?"

Lin Donglai kept this question to himself, but he still used the technique to gestate sixteen catties of each type of grain—the amount needed for two acres of land.

After spending several days and nights continuously casting the Gestation Technique, he successfully produced seeds for all five types of low-grade spirit grain.

While Lin Donglai was gestating the seeds, the others were busy harvesting the grain.

The group had planted a total of twenty acres of spirit grain. According to the initial distribution of spirit stone investments, each person was responsible for 2.5 acres.

The five types were Blazing Sun Rice, Blood Marrow Rice, Green Bamboo Rice, Golden Bell Millet, and Pearl Rice.

Although the seeds were different, the basic yields were similar, all reaching over four hundred catties per acre.

Lin Donglai primarily grew Blood Marrow Rice and Blazing Sun Rice.

However, since he participated in all five types, he had gained a fundamental understanding of these five types of first-grade low-grade spirit grains and could now call himself a "spirit farmer expert."

These yields were certainly sufficient to meet the requirements of the Spirit Plant Hall, which demanded three hundred catties per acre.

Becoming an outer disciple of the Spirit Plant Hall primarily involved completing the sect's spirit plant tasks.

Grain cultivation was included in this. Disciples were allocated spirit fields and seeds and received annual fertilizer subsidies. The requirement was to hand in 300 catties per acre per season to complete the task and earn merit points.

Over a year, one acre could yield a surplus of 200 catties of grain, earning about twenty spirit stones and five merit points.

Growing first-grade mid-grade grain earned 10 merit points per year, while first-grade high-grade grain earned 20.

However, the higher the grade of the grain, the longer the growth period and the relatively lower the yield.

While first-grade low-grade grain could yield 400 catties, mid-grade might only yield around 380, and high-grade might only reach 350.

Although the corresponding price of the grain was higher, the actual profit wasn't much more.

This was assuming one had the skill; those lacking proficiency wouldn't face severe punishment, but if they failed to meet the standard for three consecutive years, they would be barred from high-grade grain tasks and forced to grow mid-grade grain instead.

For first-grade grain, the sect's standard remained unchanged: a full 300 catties per acre per season.

Simply farming land yielded too little. The exchange price for a Foundation Establishment treasure was ten thousand merit points. It seemed like one only needed to grow two thousand acres of low-grade grain, but with so many disciples in the sect, how could anyone provide two thousand acres of spirit fields? And how could a single Qi Refinement disciple possibly manage two thousand acres?

Even for Lin Donglai alone, he would have to farm fifty acres of mid-grade grain in Spirit Field Valley for twenty years without spending a single cent to afford it.

Lin Donglai could still cultivate, and he had the Jianmu Dao Seed, but it would likely be impossible for others.

At the early stage of Qi Refinement, one could manage at most two or three acres; at the middle stage, five or six acres; and at the late stage, about ten acres. With the appropriate magical tools, one could manage even more.

For example, the previous Tianquan Manor had been given to an outer deacon who farmed the land with his descendants; they had since left to establish a cultivation clan elsewhere.

As for growing medicinal herbs, although the merit points were higher, the time required was much longer and demanded more meticulous manual labor.

Furthermore, merit points could not be hoarded forever. Although outer sect caves were a sect benefit with prices only one-third of the rental rates in Qingmu Immortal City, they could only be paid with merit points, not spirit stones.

Once the various medicinal seeds in the Spirit Plant Hall reached the first-grade high-grade level, they could only be exchanged for merit points and could no longer be bought with spirit stones.

While cultivation techniques could be claimed upon breakthrough without merit points, the spells used for cultivation required them.

Alchemists needed pill recipes and access to ancient alchemical texts; talisman makers needed talisman formulas and guidance on key techniques...

Additionally, various high-level pills, spirit fruits, and magical tools could only be exchanged with merit points.

Consequently, most disciples could only continuously earn merit points. Although the exchange rate for spirit stones was 1:1, the true value of merit points was far higher because much of the knowledge they bought could not be obtained with spirit stones alone.

Lin Donglai now felt that the path of selling gestated seeds for spirit stones was also somewhat unreliable. He thought to himself, "Those combat disciples don't engage in labor—where do their merit points come from? Does the sect lend them first?"

"Perhaps these Foundation Establishment treasures aren't meant for us outer disciples to see, but for the inner disciples. The inner sect is divided into nine peaks, and inner disciples serve under elders. Perhaps those treasures can only be exchanged at the inner sect peaks."

While lost in thought, Lin Donglai took the grain seeds to Huang Yue at the Spirit Plant Hall.

However, Huang Yue said, "Our Spirit Plant Hall does not accept low-grade grain seeds. We only accept first-grade high-grade and first-grade peak-grade grain seeds."

Lin Donglai had expected this, so he asked, "Why does the sect only accept high-grade seeds?"

"Because the original seeds for first-grade high-grade and above are all controlled by the Nature Alliance. Once their seeds are planted, they cannot be saved for future use; they can only be reproduced through highly proficient Gestation Techniques or the second-grade Spring Breeze Sprout Technique, making them quite rare."

"As for the original seeds for first-grade mid-grade and low-grade spirit grain, our Qingmu Sect has them ourselves."