Thirteen Independent Cultivators Skilled in the Hundred Arts
Seeing that everyone had quieted down, Ling Pengqiu then spoke.
"Our clan will naturally fulfill its promise regarding the rental of Spirit Vein. However, it has been agreed beforehand that our clan will only rent the 505 First Rank Spirit Vein and 20 Second Rank Spirit Vein within the Lingxiao Ridge area."
"Since you have more than four thousand people, it is not possible for you to rent a Spirit Vein by yourselves. You need to gather at least eight people to rent a Spirit Vein. Fellow Daoists who have chosen to rent a Spirit Vein together can come to me to rent Spirit Vein with their battle merits."
Although there are more than two thousand Spirit Vein in the Muddy Swamp Territory, the Ling Clan currently lacks manpower and cannot make use of the Spirit Vein in that area.
Even so, the Ling Clan did not intend to rent it out to those rogue Rogue Cultivator of unknown origin, so as to prevent the Ling Clan family members in the Muddy Swamp Territory from encountering accidents or causing other troubles when they were guarding the Spirit Vein.
This is highly possible, after all, there are quite a few Rogue Cultivator who are ruthless enough to pose as Evil Cultivator just by wearing a veil.
As for the Spirit Vein within the Muddy Swamp Territory, which the Ling Clan could not utilize due to a shortage of manpower, the Ling Clan had other arrangements.
As for the Spirit Vein in the Lingxiao Ridge area, the Ling Clan was willing to rent them out mainly because they lacked manpower to attack the Demon Beast in the Muddy Swamp.
Furthermore, the Lingxiao Ridge area was not a permanent residence of the Ling Clan clan.
The five Second Rank Spirit Vein of Lingxiao Ridge – Cloud Peak, Spirit Medicine Valley, Spirit Beast Mountain, Yellow Earth Mountain, and Black Earth Mountain – will not be guarded by low-level clansmen in the future. The cultivators who will guard those places in the future will all be at least at the Foundation Establishment Realm. With such cultivation, and by using the formations of those five Spirit Land, they will be able to deter villains.
The more than four thousand Rogue Cultivator present had all anticipated what Ling Pengqiu said, since the Ling Clan had indeed said long ago that they would only rent more than five hundred Spirit Vein in the Lingxiao Ridge area.
They had already chosen trustworthy allies and planned to exchange their battle merits for Spirit Vein together.
Because there were too many Rogue Cultivator renting Spirit Vein, Ling Pengqiu also invited young disciples such as Ling Chengxia from the mountains to help.
After more than a day, Ling Pengqiu finally managed to temporarily determine the ownership of the 505 First Rank Spirit Vein and 20 Second Rank Spirit Vein in the Lingxiao Ridge area for the next two hundred years.
Following that, Ling Pengqiu made over four thousand copies of the Spirit Vein Distribution Map in the Lingxiao Ridge area and distributed them to everyone present, informing them of the locations of the Spirit Vein they had rented.
However, afterwards, Ling Pengqiu did not let them leave Yan Sun Mountain directly, but kept them there.
Ling Pengqiu was terrified that after this group of Rogue Cultivator left Yan Sun Mountain, they would venture into the Muddy Swamp Territory and plunder the spiritual objects on the Spirit Vein there.
Ling Pengqiu dared not take the risk.
The more than four thousand Rogue Cultivator in the mountains also understood this principle.
They had all witnessed the formidable strength of the Ling Clan Pengyun, the Patriarch Pengyun. He was a ruthless man who could even kill the Swamp Crocodile King, who was at the peak of the Golden Core Third Layer realm.
Lineage with such powerful figures in charge dared not provoke them, so they obediently stayed in Yan Sun Mountain.
Ling Pengqiu followed suit, seeking out two rogue Qi Training Ninth Layer Rogue Cultivator with relatively good Qi, and asking them to help deliver the message in exchange for Spirit Stone.
They then sought out the group of Rogue Cultivator and inquired further.
"Among you, are there any masters of the Hundred Arts? If so, my Ling Clan is willing to invite you to join our clan at a high price and serve as Guest Elder. If you perform well, our clan can bestow upon you a high-level inheritance of the Hundred Arts, helping you to advance further in the path of the Hundred Arts."
"It is not impossible to even gift them a Spirit Vein to help them establish Lineage, become a vassal of the Ling Clan, and receive the protection of our clan."
Upon hearing this, the eyes of the four thousand Rogue Cultivator immediately turned fiery.
To permanently possess a Spirit Vein of one's own is something these Rogue Cultivator dream of.
As for being a vassal, although it sounds unpleasant, with the backing of the Ling Clan Golden Core clan, they would definitely live a good life.
Unfortunately, most Rogue Cultivator can only admire this from afar. The various arts and crafts are extremely difficult to master, and those circulating in the market are very rare. Even fewer of these arts and crafts end up in the hands of Rogue Cultivator.
Without the inheritance of various skills, it is naturally difficult to master them.
This also makes it extremely rare for a rogue Rogue Cultivator to be a master of all arts.
Of these four thousand Rogue Cultivator, only thirteen identified themselves as Rogue Cultivator of the Hundred Arts and approached Ling Pengqiu.
Ling Pengqiu, who rarely participated in Lineage decision-making, was slightly disappointed to see that there were only thirteen people skilled in various arts.
Little did he know that the fact that thirteen of the four thousand rogue Rogue Cultivator were able to emerge was largely thanks to the Ling Clan's decision to hire these rogue cultivators to participate in Rogue Cultivator battle, at the cost of Spirit Vein.
Without such generous conditions, these thirteen skilled artisans would not have risked their lives to serve the Ling Clan family.
After regaining his senses, Ling Pengqiu began to question the thirteen artists in detail about their respective arts and their ranks, and then had them demonstrate their arts skills in front of him.
Although he was not a master of all arts, he still had the insight to judge those who were.
After confirming the true skill level of the thirteen artists, Ling Pengqiu inquired about various information about them, such as their artistic ranks.
Most of these thirteen artists were at the Qi Refinement Realm, but there were also two rogue Rogue Cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Realm.
These artisans all possess the five most common skills found in the Cultivation World: alchemy, talismans, artifacts, formations, and planting.
Among them, there are as many as seven Spirit Planter who have mastered the most widely circulated Spirit Plant Inheritance in the market: three are First Rank Low Grade Spirit Planter, three are First Rank Middle Grade Spirit Planter, and one is First Rank High Grade Spirit Plant Farmer.
There are three Talisman Crafter who have mastered the talisman-making tradition, which is also relatively common in the market: one Second Rank Low Grade Talisman Crafter and two First Rank Middle Grade Talisman Crafter.
That Second Rank Low Grade Talisman Crafter was one of the Foundation Establishment stage Rogue Cultivator. His name was Xiahou Shan, he was over 140 years old, and his cultivation was at the Early-Stage Foundation Establishment.
The other two first-tier Talisman Crafter were his apprentices.
This person used to live in White Cloud Market Town, outside the White Cloud Mountain Range, and made a living by refining Spirit Talisman Cave.
Because his wives and concubines had given birth to several children with Spirit Root, and he happened to hear about the Ling Clan hiring cultivators to fight using Spirit Vein, he decided to establish Lineage and risk his life to serve the Ling Clan family.
White Cloud Market Town used to hold an extremely important position in the Yan Kingdom, serving as the first line of defense against the Demon Beast of the White Cloud Mountain Range.
It is precisely for this reason that White Cloud Market Town attracted a large number of Rogue Cultivator who made a living by hunting Demon Beast, and it became the largest market in the Yan Kingdom due to its large flow of people.
Xiahou Shan was not originally from White Cloud Market Town. He moved to the White Cloud Mountain Range with his children, wives, concubines, and two disciples because he saw that White Cloud Market Town had a large flow of people and that the Spirit Talisman Cave he made would be easy to sell.
The remaining Foundation Establishment Realm Rogue Cultivator was named Fang Jiu. He was about the same age as Xiahou Shan Xiahou Shan, but his cultivation was higher, reaching the Middle-Stage Foundation Establishment stage. His Pill Refining skills had also reached the peak of the Second Rank Low Grade, but he lacked the subsequent Second Rank Alchemy Inheritance, which was why he had not been able to break through.
It is worth mentioning that this person used to be located in White Cloud Market Town and was an old acquaintance of Xiahou Shan. The two of them came together to help the Ling Clan attack the Demon Beast.
The last two Qi Refining Realm practitioners were respectively proficient in formation and weapon crafting, and both were at the First Rank Low Grade- grade level.
These thirteen skilled artisans are all useful to the Ling Clan, who have just acquired a large number of Demon Beast corpses and Spirit Vein.
However, considering the uncertainty surrounding the arrival of these thirteen artists, Ling Pengqiu did not directly promise them that they could join the Ling Clan as Guest Elder retainers, but instead told them to go back and wait for news.
Afterward, Ling Pengqiu spent some time inquiring about the reputations of the thirteen Hundred Arts Masters from other Rogue Cultivator.
Those skilled in a hundred arts are extremely rare in the Cultivation World. Those who can become Rogue Cultivator in a hundred arts are generally quite famous. There are quite a few Rogue Cultivator gathered in Yan Sun Mountain, including Rogue Cultivator from all over the Yan Kingdom.
There were quite a few Rogue Cultivator who knew those thirteen masters of various arts.
From the words of those Rogue Cultivator, Ling Pengyun also learned that the reputation of the thirteen Hundred Arts practitioners was neither good nor bad, but they were all a group of well-known ascetic cultivators.
Ling Pengqiu greatly appreciated this.
"These thirteen masters of various arts have not wasted their Hundred Arts Talent."
Regardless of their profession, earning Spirit Stone is much easier for them than for ordinary cultivators.
Once a cultivator has enough Spirit Stone, he will naturally use them to improve his cultivation.
Breaking through to higher realms and extending lifespan is the long-cherished wish of all cultivators.
After finding out all this, Ling Pengqiu stopped paying attention to the Rogue Cultivator and returned to a newly built courtyard and quiet room halfway up the mountain.
Ling Pengqiu, who has been busy ever since the end of the war, finally has time to deal with his own affairs.
He patted the Storage Bag at his waist and took out a Soul Gathering Bottle.
This Soul Gathering Bottle contains only the soul of a Demon Beast.
Ling Pengqiu gazed at the Demon Beast's soul inside the bottle, his eyes flashing with a sharp light, yet also tinged with a hint of regret.
"With the help of the Demon Serpent's soul, which is Half-Jiao in body, my Lifebound Magic Item, the Crimson Sun Raging Flames Fan, will surely complete its transformation."
"It's just a pity that the soul of this Demon Serpent, which has the body of Half-Jiao, originally belongs to the earth element, not the fire element that complements my Lifebound Magic Item."
"In the future, when I obtain the follow-up Cultivation Method of the Flame Fire Annihilation Art and learn about the third-tier Flamefire Annihilation Spirit-Pattern Restriction, I will need to integrate a fire-attribute dragon's soul into this Law Treasure in order to refine it to the level of a magic weapon."
That earth-attribute dragon-python soul was the only one Ling Pengqiu found among the more than 250,000 Demon Beast Demon Beast attacking the mountain in the Muddy Swamp Territory a few days ago—a dragon-python with Half-Jiao bloodline.
Although the serpent with the body of Half-Jiao had reached the Foundation Establishment Completion, Ling Pengqiu was not weak either, with a cultivation Foundation Establishment Eighth Layer. Moreover, he was protected by the Five Elements Return Origin Grand Array, so he did not need to defend and could go all out.
The serpent with the body of Half-Jiao was also killed by Ling Pengqiu.
After he killed the demon, its soul naturally fell into his hands.
Demon Serpent and Demon Snake that have transformed into Half-Jiao bodies are extremely rare; only one might be born out of tens of thousands of Snake Demon and python demons.