The Young Patriarch's Worries

Just as his thoughts churned, the water beside the boat suddenly roiled. With a splash, a head emerged from beneath the surface, followed by a tender hand gripping the gunwale. With a fierce heave, a lean, bald man flipped himself out of the water and into the boat.

More than a dozen coils of dark-green aquatic grass were wrapped around his waist, each stalk seven or eight feet long and as thick as a finger, its surface shimmering with flecks of blue light.

The moment Zhao Tai saw him board, he flew into a rage. "Zhao Xiaoqi, why are you climbing aboard again? If you dirty the boat, can you bear the responsibility?"

"Brother Tai, please don't be angry. Next time, next time I'll definitely be more careful."

The lean Zhao Xiaoqi grinned as he repeatedly cupped his hands and begged for forgiveness, utterly unafraid that Zhao Tai might run to the young master with some malicious complaint.

Zhao Sheng was jolted from his thoughts. Raising his head and spotting the Azure Blue Grass on Zhao Xiaoqi's body, his eyes lit up. He beckoned. "Xiaoqi, come here."

Hearing the master summon him, Zhao Xiaoqi darted to Zhao Sheng's side in a few strides. As he untied the spirit grass, he eagerly claimed credit. "Master, take a look—are these Azure Blue Grass plants old enough?"

Zhao Sheng pinched the sticky skin of the Azure Blue Grass, then brought it close to smell it. He nodded in satisfaction and praised, "Not bad. They all have more than a hundred years of growth. Xiaoqi, you did very well. You truly deserve to be called the Zhao Clan's Contemporary White Dragon of the Waves."

"Oh, I don't deserve Master's praise. Xiaoqi would never dare accept it." Zhao Xiaoqi put on a flattered, overwhelmed expression, but his grin was so wide that his gums showed.

Unlike cultivation sects, some Cultivation Families lacking sufficient strength often made full use of the power of their mortal relatives.

The Zhao Family of Dragon Carp Lake was just like that. There were only around thirty cultivators in the family, while the total clan population had already surpassed fifty thousand.

There were many mortals in the Zhao Family like Zhao Xiaoqi who served the cultivators. They handled whatever tasks they could, doing their utmost to reduce the cultivators' miscellaneous burdens.

For example, diving underwater to gather herbs, steering boats and casting nets to catch spirit fish, simply processing medicinal herbs, making raw materials for Talisman Paper, and so on.

Seeing Zhao Xiaoqi receive praise, Zhao Tai hurriedly held up a crimson carp before Zhao Sheng. It was two feet long, sleek and powerful in form, its scales glittering like blood crystals and its fish eyes like jade pearls.

"Young Master, what do you think of this Red Carp?"

Zhao Sheng took one look and shook his head. "It isn't even three feet long. It hasn't grown long enough. Release it!"

At those words, Zhao Tai dejectedly walked to the side of the boat and loosened his grip, releasing the Red Carp back into the lake.

He did not understand why they had to release a spirit fish that had been so hard to catch, nor did he understand why the old ancestor had established such a strange rule.

Even if it was under three feet long, it was still a spirit fish! A single jin of meat could sell for one Spirit Stone.

Zhao Tai did not know the principles of sustainable development, so naturally he could not understand why Zhao Sheng had set down this rule in the first place.

Seeing Zhao Tai come away empty-handed, Zhao Xiaoqi snickered twice, then attentively said, "Master, are these Azure Blue Grass stalks enough? If not, I'll dive down again."

Zhao Sheng put the Azure Blue Grass into his Storage Bag and shook his head. "No need. These are enough for a while. After you return, go to the Merit Hall and collect your merit."

Zhao Xiaoqi was overjoyed at this. The merit of the Merit Hall was a fine thing that gold and silver could not buy. It could be exchanged for many treasures immensely precious in the mortal world, such as Spell Talismans, spirit pills and precious medicines, profound martial arts, and more.

"Master, wait a moment. Xiaoqi will get you a few more stalks."

As he spoke, he turned and plunged headfirst into the water, quickly vanishing beneath the surface.

Zhao Sheng had no time to stop him.

Seeing this, Zhao Sheng helplessly shook his head.

Perhaps this was the aftereffect of becoming the Zhao Clan's patriarch.

Ever since he had been pushed into the position of patriarch, Zhao Sheng had possessed little real authority. He had no say in family affairs and could not manage them.

Yet he still had certain privileges that came with being patriarch. For instance, he could assign merit tasks and had the authority to manage the mortal relatives. Most importantly, among the twelve Water Vein Cultivation Rooms, one would always be reserved for the patriarch's exclusive use.

Especially the exclusive right to a Water Vein Cultivation Room.

The reason he had come to Dragon Carp Lake to fish for Spirit Carp was to evade the "harassment" of certain cultivating Elders.

It could not be helped. The number of cultivation rooms on the spirit vein was limited, while the number of cultivators in the family far exceeded it. Demand utterly outstripped supply.

Especially after the two clan elders, Zhao Jinding and Zhao Jingang, occupied two of them, the cultivation rooms became even more stretched than a patched coat.

There were twelve two-hour periods in a day, and every cultivation room was booked solid.

Thus, the cultivation room in Zhao Sheng's hands became a great fragrant bun everyone wanted a bite of.

After Zhao Chongwei successfully borrowed the cultivation room, the cultivators of the First Branch came one after another, each scrambling to bring up the matter of "borrowing the cultivation room."

But on this matter, Zhao Sheng remained exceedingly firm, insisting on the principles of justice and fairness.

He would not let his seat tilt to one side. The First Branch and Second Branch had to be treated equally.

Aside from the six periods he used for himself, the remaining six periods would be rotated between the two branches, one person per day.

For this, he was repeatedly blamed and criticized by the Elders of his own branch, but Zhao Sheng remained unmoved.

If the Zhao Family wished to develop and grow strong, unity had to come first.

The collapse of any great power often began with internal strife.

Zhao Sheng had reincarnated at just the right time. Had he arrived ten or twenty years later—

The Zhao Family would likely have long since fallen apart.

From the day he became patriarch, Zhao Sheng had begun trying to gradually dissolve the barriers and conflicts between the two branches.

And the first thing he did was propose issuing the spirit stipends owed to the clan members over the past two years.

Besides the Foundation Establishment Pill and the Jade Void Talisman Scripture, the Storage Bag Zhao Jinfu left behind also contained some Low-Grade Spirit Stones, mid-grade Spirit Stones, talismans, magical artifacts, medicinal pills, and other treasures.

All told, they amounted to more than forty thousand Spirit Stones.

Meanwhile, the annual spirit stipends of all thirty-one Zhao Family cultivators added up to only a little over eight thousand seven hundred Spirit Stones.

Aside from seventeen thousand Spirit Stones, the remaining magical artifacts and other treasures that were not easily sold were placed in the treasury as family reserves.

Zhao Sheng's proposal was brilliant. Both branches of the Zhao Clan nodded in agreement, without a single objection.

The matter of reissuing cultivation stipends greatly eased the conflict between the Zhao Clan's two branches.

Moreover, the two clan elders entered the cultivation chambers to undergo three months of secluded recovery.

With no one left to lead them, the Zhao Family's sword-drawn, bow-bent tension also eased considerably under Zhao Sheng's masterful way with words.

When they happened to meet, members of the two branches would even greet one another.

Zhao Sheng saw it very clearly: the reason the Zhao Family had become like this was, when all was said and done, the fault of one word—"poor."

So they had to find every possible way to increase income and cut expenses!

Zhao Sheng sighed inwardly, unable to help thinking of that Spirit Herb Garden on the shaded side of Heaven Pillar Mountain.

It was not yet time.

At the very least, he would wait until he advanced to the Qi Refining Middle Stage before attempting to enter that place.

The profound lesson from his previous life remained vivid in his memory even now. He would never, under any circumstances, underestimate the dangers of the Death Treasure Land.

Three days later, in the Zhao Clan grounds, inside a talisman-making room in Harmony Courtyard, Zhao Sheng stood solemnly before a water-bent wood table. Holding a first-rank mid-grade Brocade Fox Talisman Brush, his strokes writhed like dragons and snakes as he smoothly drew a Spring Breeze Rain Talisman.

Suddenly, his brow furrowed. A wisp of blue watery vapor rose from the Talisman Paper on the table, and the entire sheet instantly blurred beyond recognition.

A haze filled the air, condensing in the blink of an eye before swiftly spreading through the entire room.