Chapter 62 Busy at the End of the Year

[Qingfeng Sect? Why is this cultivation competition being held at Qingfeng Sect?]

[Isn't the Qingfeng Sect supposed to have no one with spiritual roots? How come they're qualified to host the cultivation competition?]

[A sect that doesn't even have any proper cultivators dares to hold a cultivation competition?]

Wait a minute, perhaps someone in the Qingfeng Sect has awakened their spiritual root?

[Those junior disciples? Even if they awaken their spiritual roots, how much cultivation can they possibly have? If the host country participates but doesn't get a single ranking, wouldn't that be incredibly embarrassing?]

One post after another appeared on the forum, and the focus of the discussion shifted to who within the Qingfeng Sect had awakened their spiritual root.

Those cultivators who had purchased spirit-grade vegetables all had a conjecture in their minds.

Qingfengpai and Li Chang'an have a good relationship and live close by. Qingfengpai is also the only "restaurant" that can wholesale vegetables from Li Chang'an so far.

Perhaps someone within the Qingfeng Sect frequently ate those spiritual-grade dishes and awakened their spiritual roots? After all, only cultivators who have tasted them truly understand the benefits of spiritual-grade dishes to cultivation.

Although the possibility is high, no cultivator has voiced this speculation on their platform.

After all, the cultivation competition was about to begin, and they didn't want any more competitors vying for the food.

At this point, silence is the best course of action.

*

While the cultivators remained relatively calm during their discussion on the platform, the elders from the various sects were anything but able to sit still.

In the past few days, many elders from various sects have come to the Ling'an City branch of the Cultivation Alliance, wanting to inquire about the reasons for Qingfeng Sect's selection.

In the end, they were all dealt with by the branch manager.

On this day, the people from the three upper sects stormed in, ignoring any attempts to stop them, and went straight to Yuheng's office.

Among them, the deputy sect leader of Zixiao Sect looked particularly ugly, and even couldn't help but use his spiritual power to smash the door of Yuheng's office.

As soon as he entered the office, he couldn't contain his anger and asked, "Star Lord, is this how you show favoritism to the Qingfeng Sect? What qualifications does the Qingfeng Sect have to host the cultivation competition? And where is my Zixiao Sect inferior to them?!"

Yuheng raised his eyes indifferently and looked at the deputy sect leader of Zixiao Sect, as well as the people from Linglan Sect and Liantian Sect behind him.

He gently put down the book, his tone still mild: "When have I ever shown favoritism towards the Qingfeng faction?"

The deputy sect leader of Zixiao Sect sneered: "Before the opening of Xuanling Immortal Mountain, the Star Lord personally promised that if there were any spiritual objects in Xuanling Immortal Mountain, 30% would be given to Qingfeng Sect. Isn't this favoritism?"

"No one in the Qingfeng Sect has spiritual roots, yet they were qualified to compete for the host venue. Does the Star Lord dare to say that he did not make an exception?"

Yuheng looked at him quietly, and only after he finished speaking did he say, "Now that Xuanling Immortal Mountain has an owner, the spiritual items in the mountain are no longer distributed by the alliance, and Qingfeng Sect has not received the 30% of spiritual items I promised. Therefore, your first question is invalid."

"The second question is that now that someone in the Qingfeng Sect has awakened their spiritual root, they are naturally qualified to run for the position. The vice sect leader can go and investigate in person."

After answering, he smiled and asked, "Any further questions?"

The two elders from Linglan Sect and Xuantian Sect looked at each other in bewilderment.

Someone from the Qingfeng Sect has awakened a spiritual root?!

The deputy sect leader of Zixiao Sect did not pay attention to this, or rather, he noticed it but did not take it seriously.

"Then why was the Qingfeng Sect chosen? In what way are we, the three upper sects, inferior to them?"

More precisely, how is their Zixiao Sect inferior to the Qingfeng Sect?

Their Zixiao Sect has a history of over two thousand years. It covers a vast area, and the mechanical arts left by their ancestors give the sect a unique landscape. Visitors who have been there say that it perfectly matches their imagination of a cultivation sect.

Why should the opportunity to host the Cultivation Grand Competition, a chance to showcase one's sect to the outside world, be given to the Qingfeng Sect?!

"Where exactly is our Zixiao Sect lacking?!" the deputy sect leader roared, his spiritual power erupting from his body.

Yuheng slowly frowned.

He stood up and teleported to the vice sect leader of Zixiao Sect, raising his hand to pat him on the shoulder.

"Calm down." As soon as the words fell, the spiritual energy fluctuations that had erupted from the Vice Sect Leader of the Purple Cloud Sect instantly dissipated.

The vice-headmaster stared wide-eyed in resentment.

Yuheng's hand, seemingly gentle, rested on his shoulder, but in reality, it carried an irresistible force, rendering him unable to move.

“Every sect in the Cangxuan Realm has its own unique characteristics.” Yuheng glanced at the elders of the Linglan Sect and the Liantian Sect. “Your Zixiao Sect prides itself on being unique, but which sect isn’t unique these days?”

His words were like a knock on the door, and the elders of Linglan Sect and Liantian Sect immediately lowered their heads with some unease.

"The venue was chosen by a vote of more than 300 alliance branch ministers. It's not something I can decide alone. Before you come to me, don't you use your brain?"

After Yuheng finished speaking, he glanced coldly at the deputy sect leader of Zixiao Sect, and then released his hand.

The vice-leader was still unwilling: "Then why..."

"The reason why Qingfeng Sect has a simulated secret realm trial is that none of your sects have one."

Yuheng interrupted him, "Whether it's to give the disciples the opportunity to face challenges and hardships, or to only care about immediate interests and make money from ticket sales, you should all think it through."

After he finished speaking, he turned his back to the three of them and slightly raised his hand. The three of them felt the things in front of them rush forward, and when they came to their senses, they were already standing outside the gate of the Alliance branch.

“This…” The Linglan Sect elder looked at the two people beside him.

"Simulated Secret Realm Trial, what is this?"

"It means exactly what it says. It simulates the secret realm trials that were part of the previous cultivation competitions. It's quite easy to understand." Elder Lian Tianzong shrugged.

"I didn't expect the Qingfeng Sect to have the strength to do this. No wonder they were qualified to host it." After the Linglan Sect elder finished speaking, he immediately remembered that there was a deputy sect leader of the Zixiao Sect next to him, and he looked over with embarrassment.

"Brother Fu, don't be angry. There will be another chance in five years," he comforted him.

The deputy sect leader of Zixiao Sect paid no attention to him, only glancing disapprovingly in the direction of Qingfeng Sect before turning away.

The elders of Linglan Sect and Liantian Sect exchanged glances.

"...This simulated secret realm trial is probably dangerous. I'll go back and inform my disciples first."

"Me too, me too. I'll take my leave now."

*

As the year draws to a close, things are getting busy at Xuanling Immortal Mountain.

The crops on the 600 mu of land are all ripe, and the lotus roots in the pond are also ready for harvest.

Similar to spirit rice, those lotus roots were planted in inferior spirit soil, soaked in the water of the Ningjing River, and blessed by water essence. By the time they bloomed, they had already become spirit-grade quality.

When it reaches the Spirit quality, the lotus root, which originally didn't bloom much, can bloom for up to ten days. Each lotus flower is beautiful, with its petals spread out, elegant and pure, and it also emits a faint fragrance.

Perhaps because the pond's silt layer was just low-quality spiritual soil, it took the spiritual lotus root a full three months to mature.

As soon as it ripened, Li Chang'an dug one out and used it to make several dishes that very night.

Lotus root was used in all the dishes on the table, but no one found it boring and everyone ate with great relish.

After tasting it, all the members of Xuanling Immortal Mountain except for the Sword Spirit affirmed the quality of the spirit lotus root.

With the help of the mountain god's antlers, the sixty-mu pond yielded a total of 480,000 jin of lotus roots.

Of these, 300,000 jin were crisp lotus roots and 180,000 jin were starchy lotus roots.

There are hundreds more storage boxes in the warehouse.

In addition, the chickens and ducks that Li Chang'an had raised for several months had grown up and laid a lot of eggs.

The shrimp and crabs in the pond have multiplied and grown a lot.

With the shrimp and crabs ripe, the mandrills are enjoying three meals of shrimp and crab every day.

Li Chang'an used the mountain god's deer antlers to harvest all the crops on the 600 mu of terraced fields.

Looking at the now barren fields, Li Chang'an turned to the mandrills and mushroom spirits and said, "The New Year is next week, so let's not plant anything after this harvest. Let's take a holiday and have a good New Year."

"We'll start planting after the Lantern Festival. By then, the tea essence should have grown eight hundred new branches of spiritual energy essence, and we should continue to build terraces upwards."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Tea Essence suddenly appeared beside him.

“It’s not eight hundred branches,” the tea spirit said. “It’s twelve hundred branches made from spiritual essence.”

One thousand two hundred?!

Li Chang'an was somewhat stunned. "How come there are so many?"

The tea spirit sighed and looked up at the sky helplessly: "The lightning tribulation when you reached the Golden Core stage brought a lot of spiritual energy to the East Floating Sky Island, and my spiritual power also increased a lot, so the spiritual essence branches that grew naturally increased."

The tea spirit was very happy to see so many new branches of spiritual essence growing.

The thought of having to give all these branches to Li Chang'an made her feel a pang of heartache.

After all, if those branches containing spiritual essence were left to grow normally, or transformed into nutrients for his body, they would be of great benefit to him.

However, since he had already promised to give it to Li Chang'an, he wouldn't go back on his word.

Li Chang'an looked at the undeveloped land above.

With 1,200 tree branches, we can cultivate more spiritual fields and grow more vegetables.

Thinking of this, Li Chang'an smiled and quickly thanked the tea spirit: "Thank you, you've worked hard."

The tea essence then hummed twice in satisfaction.

After all the vegetables, spirit rice, and spirit lotus roots were harvested, Li Chang'an began to count the number of chickens and ducks.

There are two thousand mature chickens and ducks. In the past few months, these chickens and ducks have laid a lot of eggs. The unfertilized ones were eaten or sold to Qingfeng Sect, while the fertilized ones were kept and hatched into many chicks and ducklings.

The chickens and ducks are raised on vegetables from Xianshan Farm, so the quality of their meat is naturally excellent.

Li Chang'an kept fifty pairs of breeding chickens and ducks, and planned to sell the rest.

As for the twenty pigs, although they weighed two hundred jin, Li Chang'an did not intend to sell them.

Those were pigs he specifically bought for breeding purposes: one boar and nineteen sows. None of them were sterilized, and now they are all robust and healthy, making them very suitable for breeding the next generation.

After the inventory was completed, Li Chang'an contacted Xie Kuling and Yang Hao early the next morning.

Yang Hao specially brought his wife Deng Yan and daughter Deng Yang with him.

His daughter is now five months old. She is fair-skinned and tender with big eyes. She stares at the mushroom spirits and occasionally crawls over to play with them. When she sees the mushroom spirits, which had originally gathered in a clump, scatter and run away, she sits on the ground and giggles.

This time, Yang Hao and his group brought a lot of gifts with them.

"We're going back to our hometown to pay respects to our ancestors after the New Year, so we won't be able to come over to offer our New Year's greetings. Consider this an early greeting," Deng Yan said with a smile.

Li Chang'an accepted the gift and returned the favor with a gift in return.

Besides the dishes from Xuanling Immortal Mountain, there are also the eggs of the Mingyi Bird.

In return, Yang Hao ordered 300 chickens and ducks, 100 catties of shrimp, crayfish and river crabs, and ordered the other vegetables, spirit rice and spirit lotus root according to the maximum quantity that Xiaoping'an Supermarket could consume.

The family of three then left.

Xie Kuling also decided on the daily required quantities of chicken, duck, shrimp, crab, vegetables, and spirit rice.

Before leaving, he informed Li Chang'an of the news that the Qingfeng Sect had successfully won the bid to host the cultivation competition.

"It is thanks to your 'sponsorship' that the Qingfeng Sect was able to obtain this opportunity. My uncle, disciples, and I have discussed it and plan to make you a nominal elder of the Qingfeng Sect."

Nominal elders are not required to teach or supervise disciples, but they can still receive offerings from the sect.

Now that spiritual energy is depleted and there are no spiritual stones or herbs, each sect uses its income as offerings and distributes dividends to its elders.

Li Chang'an was slightly taken aback: "How can that be..."

Xie Kuling interrupted him, not letting him refuse: "You've helped us a lot, and you've always given us discounts when we sell vegetables, so this is what you deserve. I should have given it to you earlier."

"Besides, the dividends from the Qingfeng Sect are not much, probably far less than your income from selling vegetables."

Li Chang'an touched his face.

After all, it was the Qingfeng Sect's good intention.

He didn't refuse anymore and nodded in agreement: "Then I won't stand on ceremony."

Xie Kuling smiled, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and left.