Blessed Land Quota That Forces People to Death

Ox Ridge.

With the autumn harvest season fast approaching, this small settlement built around the New Moon Blessed Land was not filled with joy, but rather shrouded in anxiety.

However, this did not affect Yu An, who was 'standing' in the courtyard basking in the sun.

As the saying goes, human joys and sorrows are not shared.

What's more, he was now just a speechless tree.

He stood in the corner, looking over the simple stone wall, half his height, at Old Man Yu, his face etched with worry, returning from the fields with his three sons.

As soon as they stepped into the courtyard, Yu Xiaoshan, Old Man Yu's twelve-year-old youngest son, dropped his hoe, ran to the stone vat, scooped up a ladle of water, and gulped it down.

Yu Dashan closed the door and asked his father with a worried expression, "Dad, Uncle Zhao just said the decision about the Blessed Land quota price increase has been made. What about our family?"

"What do you mean, 'what about it'? Are we not going to pay the Spirit Stones just because the price went up?"

Fifty-year-old Old Man Yu was indeed burly, standing at a full 1.9 meters, but his face was deeply lined, and he always seemed burdened by a heavy weight, struggling to breathe.

He sat down on a stone stool not far from the tree, massaging his leg as he pondered.

He had encountered price increases for the Blessed Land quota before, but never like this year, where it had doubled. It was the first time in a hundred years.

His family of four rented ten mu of Spirit Fields. It wasn't that they didn't want to rent more, but tending to Spirit Fields was meticulous work, and they simply couldn't manage more. If anything went wrong, it would be more loss than gain.

Adding to that, the weather this year had been unusually good, and the harvest from the Spirit Fields was expected to be twenty percent higher than in previous years.

After calculating, the yield per mu could be exchanged for about seven Spirit Stones. After deducting the rent of two Spirit Stones per mu, there would be a surplus of fifty Spirit Stones.

According to the price of the Blessed Land quota in previous years, five Spirit Stones per person was enough. For his family of four, that would be twenty Spirit Stones, leaving thirty Spirit Stones, which would make life easier next year.

But who would have thought that just as they were about to have a bumper harvest, a bolt from the blue would strike.

The price of the Blessed Land quota had directly skyrocketed to fifteen Spirit Stones per person.

This meant that for all four of them to enter the Blessed Land, they would need to pay sixty Spirit Stones, leaving a shortfall of ten Spirit Stones.

How would they make up for it?

What about next year? Would they even eat?

This was pushing people to their deaths.

He couldn't understand what the big shots living in the Blessed Land were thinking. If they pushed people to death, who would farm the Spirit Fields for them next year?

Could the rumors be true?

"But where would our family get so many Spirit Stones?" Yu Dashan couldn't help but say.

"The Zhou Family's Insect Hunter Team is recruiting. How about..." Yu Ershan said calmly.

Compared to his elder brother, who had inherited their father's burly and honest appearance, Yu Ershan was tall and thin, with a better appearance, but his face had a sickly pallor.

Before he could finish speaking, Old Man Yu cut him off curtly.

"Nonsense. Is it easy to get Spirit Stones from the Zhou family? That's blood money! During the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster, how many years did their Insect Hunter Team not suffer losses of seventy to eighty percent? Someone like you, who has only just reached Fetal Movement Minor Accomplishment, would just be bait for the insects."

"Dad, why don't I go? I've reached Fetal Movement Major Accomplishment and completed one Blood Change. Dealing with ordinary insects shouldn't be a problem." Yu Dashan said forcefully.

"You shut up too. Even if we have to risk our lives, it won't be you." Old Man Yu glared at his eldest son.

Seeing the oppressive atmosphere in the courtyard, Old Man Yu continued, "The family has saved five Spirit Stones, and with the fifty Spirit Stones from the Spirit Field harvest, it's enough for you three brothers to enter the Blessed Land. For the remaining ten Spirit Stones, keep three for your second brother's medicine, and exchange the rest for spirit rice. Your third brother is growing, and your eldest brother still needs to undergo Blood Change. Eating ordinary food won't be enough."

"Dad, what about you?" Yu Dashan immediately became anxious.

"Your dad is fifty, and he's had a good run. When the time comes, I'll dig the cellar deeper and hide in it. The Black Annihilation Wind Disaster will only take a dozen years off my life, and there should still be some left. If any lone insects come by, I can still save up some assets for you." Old Man Yu said fiercely.

He had considered borrowing, but the price increase for the Blessed Land quota wasn't targeting just his family. No one had any surplus grain, and everyone was trying to find a way to get through this ordeal.

As for not entering the Blessed Land? That was no different from waiting to die.

Ever since the great upheaval of heaven and earth three thousand years ago, every winter, this world would be swept by the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster, which symbolized death.

Outside the Blessed Land, for an ordinary person who hasn't cultivated, one day is equivalent to losing one year of life. A Black Annihilation Wind Disaster lasts for a hundred days, which is equal to losing a century of lifespan.

The problem is, how many ordinary people can even live to be a hundred years old?

Hiding in a deep cellar is a good idea, and it's a helpless choice for some.

But if the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster could be easily avoided, it wouldn't be something that makes people's faces turn pale.

The Black Annihilation Wind Disaster is just a general term. Its terrifying aspect isn't the wind force that can blow an adult away, nor the cold of minus forty or fifty degrees Celsius, but its invisible, intangible nature, like a rule, that directly strips away a person's life.

Even if you hide underground, that invisible wave will descend out of nowhere, making it impossible to evade.

Only through cultivation can one fundamentally resist the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster.

Take Old Man Yu, for example. Although he is over fifty and his aptitude is average, he has barely managed to cross the threshold of Fetal Movement Major Accomplishment. It's just that he is too old and his qi and blood are weak, making it impossible for him to complete Blood Change.

With his strength, he can already greatly resist the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster's ability to strip away life. As he said, one wind disaster can, at most, take away ten to twenty years of his life.

After Fetal Movement Major Accomplishment and completing a certain number of Blood Changes, one reaches Perfection of Fetal Movement.

If one can "seek" an Immortal Destiny, there's a chance to revert to innate and begin Qi Refining, becoming a true cultivator.

Cultivators in the Qi Refining realm will have their ability to resist the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster further enhanced.

Simply put, the higher the realm, the more stable the life origin, and the less damage the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster will inflict.

Only by refining the false into the true and forging a genuine immortal foundation can one completely ignore the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster. This is the Foundation Establishment Realm.

It is also the pursuit that countless people tirelessly strive for.

However, becoming a strong cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Realm only allows one to ignore the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster's ability to strip away life. It does not represent absolute safety, nor does it mean one can disregard the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster as nothing.

Because, along with the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster, there will be an endless swarm of insectoids. These special insectoids seem to be naturally immune to the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster and thrive within it.

Some powerful insectoids can even prey on Golden Core True Persons.

Compared to a Golden Core True Person, what is a mere Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator?

And these insectoids possess keen senses; even hiding in a deep cellar carries the risk of being discovered.

Once discovered, the ultimate fate is to be gnawed to death.

In the world after the great upheaval, only the Blessed Land can shelter all living beings.

As the saying goes, for every gain, there is a loss; fate has its own way.

Although the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster brings death to all living beings, within death, there also lies creation.

For ordinary life forms, the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster is poison, but for heaven and earth, it is the best nourishment.

The Black Annihilation Wind Disaster harvests life, yet it nourishes heaven and earth. Thus, some fertile lands slowly evolved into Spirit Fields, which were then opened up by humans to plant various crops.

And through repeated cycles, some special plants tenaciously survived and evolved into spirit roots, possessing the ability to resist the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster.

It is precisely by relying on these heaven and earth spirit roots that humans have established Blessed Lands, becoming towering lighthouses amidst the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster, protecting humanity.

It can be said that in the first few years after the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster descended three thousand years ago, there were almost no ordinary people left in this world. Only those who had reached Fetal Movement Major Accomplishment or Perfection could barely eke out an existence.

Even cultivators suffered heavy losses while resisting the insectoids.

Undoubtedly, it was a catastrophe.

It wasn't until the appearance of the Blessed Lands that humanity was given a chance to breathe, and as time passed, they slowly developed and grew stronger.

However, the scale of the Blessed Lands is limited and cannot satisfy the daily living needs of everyone.

Moreover, outside the Blessed Lands, there are numerous mineral resources and fertile Spirit Fields, which, if managed well, can be a great fortune.

Thus, around these Blessed Lands, various settlements emerged. Only when the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster descended would people purchase Blessed Land quotas to enter and take refuge.

In the past, Blessed Land quotas were generally around five Spirit Stones, and at most seven or eight when prices were high. No one expected them to reach fifteen Spirit Stones this year.

It's no wonder the settlement was filled with wails.

Hearing about the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster, Yu An's heart skipped a beat. His two-meter-tall, young tree form trembled slightly, its branches and leaves swaying gently.

His transformation did not affect Old Man Yu's family.

After all, no one would have thought that a human soul resided within this little tree.

Six months ago, Yu An, who was still living on Earth, returned to his hometown for the Qingming Festival to sweep the graves and tidy up the old house that hadn't been lived in for years. Except for the elm tree that was said to have been planted by his great-grandfather, everything else faded with the passage of time.

Counting the days, that elm tree was over a hundred years old, with a trunk diameter of over a meter and a height of over twenty meters. It was lush and green, showing no signs of age, and was a local landmark.

At the same time, elm trees have many symbolic meanings, even being called money trees.

And "Yú" (elm), sounds like "Yú" (surplus).

"Yúqián" (elm seeds) means "Yúqián" (leftover money).

There are even many folk sayings about elm trees warding off evil and averting misfortune, stating: "An elm tree behind the house keeps a hundred ghosts away."

This elm tree holds many childhood memories for Yu An, having witnessed the growth of four generations of his family.

Years ago, someone offered a hundred thousand to buy this elm tree, but Yu An's father refused. Later, when Yu An took charge, he wanted to sell it, but the tree already had a plaque and an "ID card."

Nominally, the tree belonged to his family, but his family only had ownership rights; they couldn't sell it, let alone cut it down.

Qingming coincided with the elm tree's flowering. The entire tree was covered with yellowish-white elm seeds, whetting the appetite and reminding Yu An of the elm seed steamed buns he ate as a child.

So he climbed the tree, wanting to pick some. As a result, he accidentally fell from the tree.

When he woke up again, he had arrived in this world and transformed into a young elm tree seedling.

For the past six months, he couldn't move or speak, as if he had truly become a tree. Every day, he could only do his best to absorb the sunlight from above and draw nutrients from the earth, striving to grow.

At the same time, he also gained a general understanding of this world from the occasional words and phrases revealed by Old Man Yu's family.

The language and culture of this world bore some similarities to Huaxia on Earth.

Especially some things that only appeared in myths and legends.

For example, there were blessed lands and even grotto-heavens, and various heaven and earth spirit roots.

More importantly, this was a world where one could cultivate immortality and live forever.

At first, Yu An was genuinely excited. This was like traveling to Beihai in the morning and Cangwu in the evening, swallowing a golden elixir, and having his fate in his own hands, transcending the three realms and outside the five elements.

Even though he was just a tree, it couldn't extinguish his heart's desire to cultivate immortality and live forever.

But the conversation he just overheard from Old Man Yu's family plunged him into silence.

In fact, during this period, he had occasionally sensed a tremor in the heavens and earth in the unseen.

If nothing unexpected happened, it was a sign that the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster was about to strike.

The Black Annihilation Wind Disaster was not only harmful to humans but also to creatures like plants and beasts.

Don't be fooled by Ox Ridge's lush and verdant appearance; in reality, most of it grew this year.

The plants in this world possessed extremely strong life resilience.

Even though they were destroyed by the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster and the insectoids every year, the seeds buried in the ground or the preserved roots would sprout forth in the spring of the following year.

There was a type of bamboo on Earth that could grow one meter in a day and night, but for the plants in this world, that was commonplace.

Here, many trees could grow dozens of meters tall in just one spring and autumn.

Simply planting some ordinary grains would be enough to feed the entire family.

What was truly precious were the medicinal herbs and spirit fruits grown in the Spirit Fields, those spirit rice that contained spiritual energy.

And the heaven and earth spirit roots that could resist the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster and possessed all sorts of miraculous creations.

Of course, the humans in this world were also strongmen with stronger physiques.

Like Yu Xiaoshan, who was only twelve years old and hadn't even started Fetal Movement yet, could lift a two-hundred-jin stone.

The sickly Yu Ershan could also kill a cow from Earth with a single punch.

Yu Dashan, who had already achieved Fetal Movement Major Accomplishment and undergone Blood Change once, could lift twelve hundred jin with one arm.

But all of this was insignificant compared to cultivators who had truly embarked on the path of cultivation and begun Qi Refining.

It was also nothing compared to the swarms of insectoids that covered the sky.

And now, Yu An, reborn as a tree, had to start considering what to do next.

The Yu family's three brothers could enter the blessed land, but what about him?

Stay here and wait for death with Old Man Yu?

Even though they all shared the surname Yu, their relationship hadn't reached that point.

Just then, Yu Xiaoshan walked straight up to him and stared intently at him.

This startled Yu An.

Could he have been discovered?