Barren Mountain

For the time being, Dong Lin had no plans to venture into the secret realm. After learning a bit about it,

he turned his attention to spirit rice cultivation.

With the sect sealing off its grounds, demand for spirit rice cultivation had soared severalfold.

The Cavern Repository had issued a series of missions involving spirit field cultivation and reclaiming spirit fields on barren mountains.

It seemed the sect intended to take this opportunity to develop the vast mountain forests within its territory on a large scale.

Dong Lin studied the missions in detail.

Renting one mu of reclaimed, fertile spirit field cost twenty low-grade spirit stones per year, with a minimum lease of five years and a maximum of twenty. There were 1,932 mu remaining.

Buying one mu of reclaimed, fertile spirit field cost four hundred low-grade spirit stones. There were 348 mu remaining.

"Looks like the sect has quite a few spirit fields that are for rent only, not for sale. Renting a field for twenty years would actually be worse than buying one outright. What strange pricing."

Dong Lin pondered in confusion as he continued reading.

Renting one mu of wasteland cost five low-grade spirit stones per year, with a minimum lease of five years and a maximum of twenty. If, upon expiration, the spirit field's fertility met the standard after inspection, a hundred low-grade spirit stones would be refunded as reclamation costs. There were 6,942 mu remaining.

Buying one mu of wasteland cost one hundred low-grade spirit stones. There were 6,942 mu remaining.

Wasteland referred to abandoned spirit fields. Their soil quality was far inferior to that of ordinary spirit fields, with most of their fertility having already drained away.

However, since they had once been spirit fields, some things still remained in the soil, making them far more valuable than ordinary plots of land.

After all, turning a plot of land into a spirit field suitable for cultivation required a great deal of preparation.

The first step was a Spirit-Gathering Formation. Usually, one would hire a formation master proficient in arrays to set one up within the designated plot.

The Spirit-Gathering Formation had to be buried roughly ten meters underground to ensure that the field's spiritual energy would not be depleted.

The grade of the Spirit-Gathering Formation and the density of spiritual energy surrounding the land determined the quality of a spirit field.

Some plots had a Spirit Vein directly beneath them. Such land could become excellent spirit fields even without a Spirit-Gathering Formation.

Next came measures against exotic insects and the irrigation of spirit water.

Unless cultivators guarded a spirit field day and night, they had to set up formations specifically designed to ward off exotic insects, or raise spirit beasts that preyed on them and release them into the fields.

Whether the soil had sufficient moisture was also important. If formations could continuously draw in spirit water treated with spiritual energy and spray it over the fields, the spirit plants would grow even better.

Although spiritual energy density was extremely important, merely increasing a field's spiritual energy density could not raise its fertility to the standard of a spirit field.

Opening up a spirit field involved an extremely complicated range of matters.

The quality of spirit fields outside varied wildly. Only the Celestial Sect had invested such tremendous effort into establishing unified standards for the spirit fields within its grounds.

Some spirit fields with spiritual energy density far exceeding the standard could be converted into spirit medicine fields, preventing a waste of resources.

After all, even the finest variety of Bloodjade Spirit Rice could not compare in value to spirit medicines that could be cultivated on a large scale.

It had taken the cultivation world thousands of years of exploration and development to transform mortal farming culture into large-scale cultivation of spirit plants.

The intricacies involved were such that even clear-minded cultivators needed to study them carefully before they could understand them.

I wonder how much it would cost to reclaim and fertilize a plot of wasteland until it met the standard for a spirit field. If it costs less than a hundred low-grade spirit stones, there might be some profit in it.

The sale of barren mountains occupied a dedicated large section. There were many barren mountains of varying sizes listed there, all undeveloped peaks near the sect.

The sale of barren mountains greatly interested Dong Lin.

Rather than renting or buying fields to cultivate, it would be better to buy an entire mountain. Once it was developed, he would become the lord of a mountain. Wouldn't that be far more impressive?

When the time came, he could say, "I am the lord of such-and-such mountain of the Profound Dao Celestial Sect." Wouldn't that instantly raise his prestige?

With that thought, Dong Lin took out his jade token and sought a detailed explanation from the disciple responsible for selling barren mountains.

The disciple selling the barren mountains was a senior sister dressed in a moon-white short robe and skirt. She held a beast-hide map, upon which the detailed information for the sect's mountains for sale had been inscribed.

"What kind of mountain are you looking for, Junior Brother? Do you have any requirements regarding size or location?"

After he and the senior sister roughly settled on the mountain's size and its distance from the inner sect, several suitable undeveloped barren mountains came into view.

Dong Lin carefully examined the locations, sizes, and shapes of several barren mountains through the jade token's projection. In the end, he selected one located seventy li southeast of Heaven Hall.

The mountain stood roughly 340 meters tall, and all land within a one-li radius had been included by the sect within the mountain's boundaries.

A one-li radius?

Dong Lin calculated silently.

That should be more than a thousand mu, right? Though the land on a mountain can't be used that efficiently.

But if I can reclaim even a hundred or so mu, wouldn't I make a killing?

Dong Lin nodded in satisfaction, then glanced at the price.

Six hundred mid-grade spirit stones.

Dong Lin calculated the money he had on hand, and his face immediately darkened.

If he bought this barren mountain, more than half his fortune would be gone.

And he would have to exchange precious Sect Contribution Points for spirit stones. That was simply too wasteful.

"Huh?" Dong Lin suddenly thought of something.

"Hello, Senior Sister. May I ask whether barren mountains within the sect can be purchased using Sect Contribution Points?"

Although the jade board only listed prices in spirit stones, things sold within the sect could generally be purchased directly with Sect Contribution Points, couldn't they?

"Junior Brother, do you want to use Sect Contribution Points to purchase a barren mountain?"

The senior sister responsible for selling barren mountains asked hesitantly.

"Is there a problem?"

"Oh, no, not at all. Junior Brother, you seem quite short on spirit stones.

Sect Contribution Points are much harder to obtain than spirit stones. We usually save our contribution points to exchange for precious breakthrough pills, suitable magical artifacts, and the like.

For things within the sect that can be bought with spirit stones, we generally do not consider using contribution points.

Of course, all these mountains within the sect can be influenced by the sect's Heaven-Tier Spirit Vein, so their value goes without saying.

Even if you use Sect Contribution Points, you can only get a twenty percent discount. It would still cost 480 contribution points.

Nearly five hundred contribution points is no small amount. Can you afford it, Junior Brother?"

"Four hundred and eighty contribution points? That is quite a bit cheaper."

Dong Lin had never earned Sect Contribution Points himself, so he had little concept of them and did not know just how precious more than four hundred contribution points were.

"Thank you for the reminder, Senior Sister. I'll think it over some more."

"Mhm, it's nothing. Junior Brother, you seem to have only just entered the Qi Refining Realm. Why are you already thinking of buying a mountain within the sect?

As a friendly reminder, relying only on Qi Refining Realm strength to hold a mountain is rather difficult."

Dong Lin looked at the senior sister before him with a puzzled expression.

"May I ask what you mean, Senior Sister? Can danger arise even on mountains within the sect's territory?"

"Junior Brother, you are still too young. There are countless strange beasts and monster spirits in these mountains.

The sect has only driven nearly all high-realm spirit beasts out of its sphere of influence one by one.

But spirit beasts below the Golden Core Realm have always roamed those undeveloped barren mountains within the sect.

Some exotic beasts have even multiplied into vast clans within certain mountains.

Without sufficient strength, buying a mountain alone would not be safe.

Those who generally come to buy barren mountains within the sect are either sect stewards at the Golden Core Realm or above, or groups of Foundation Establishment Realm disciples pooling their money.

A disciple at merely the Qi Refining Realm who wants to buy a barren mountain alone is someone I have never seen before."

At this point, Yun Shu covered the corner of her lips and gave a soft laugh.

Dong Lin awkwardly scratched his head, thinking that so that was how it was.

"Thank you for the warning, Senior Sister. I nearly spent recklessly."

"Senior Sister, how about we add each other as friends first? When the time is right in the future, I'll come find you to buy a mountain."

"After you reach Foundation Establishment, Junior Brother? That will be quite a long time from now.

Sure. My name is Yun Shu, and I am Steward Yun of the Cavern Repository.

If you ever want to exchange something at the Cavern Repository, you can come find me as well."

"Thank you, Senior Sister. If I get the chance someday, I certainly will."