Qingzhou

"My spiritual medicine, don't eat it, don't eat it, please don't eat it."

In a certain place, an old cultivator desperately begged in the spiritual field, but the object of his begging was just a group of insects. How could they listen to his begging? In the blink of an eye, the lush spiritual medicine was only left with a bare stem.

"Kill, die, all die..."

Some cultivators went crazy, urged their spiritual power, and flew swords to kill the demon locusts frantically. Large tracts of demon locusts were crushed to pieces, but these demon locusts were just a drop in the ocean for the army of demon locusts. There were still endless demon locusts flying in front of them.

"Go quickly, don't kill them, you can't kill them all."

"No, half of the harvest of the whole family this year is here."

"Life is important. The demon locusts will eat people if there are no spiritual plants to eat."

Someone on the side desperately dissuaded him, dragged the cultivator who had exhausted his spiritual power into the family mountain gate, and watched the spiritual medicine that he had worked hard for many years and was about to mature being eaten by endless demon locusts.

"Add spirit stones, quickly, strengthen the formation, the spirit valley has been eaten up, the family's last spirit medicine garden can't be in trouble."

In another place, all the cultivators of a small family went out to protect a spirit medicine garden with a higher level. The formation master operated the formation inside, while the cultivators killed the monster locusts outside, striving to protect the last spirit medicine garden.

······· The clerk of the grain store

in Taixu City

walked out of the door, took down the price plaque, and replaced it with a new plaque. The casual cultivators who were queuing saw the price and immediately cursed. This was the third price increase today.

But the powerful consciousness of the Jindan cultivator came from the store, which instantly calmed the restless crowd. Those who couldn't accept it could only leave the team and look elsewhere.

In the city lord's mansion, all the shopkeepers of the grain stores received invitations from the Chen family cultivators. The Chen family came forward with a Yuanying and asked the grain store to control the grain price, but was unanimously rejected.

"Sir, it's not that I want to raise the price, but if I don't, I will lose money. I don't farm myself, I just collect the grain, and the purchase price goes up six times a day. What can I do?"

"Sir, I do grow grain, but do you know what the situation is now? In the past three days alone, I bought thirty sets of formations to protect the spiritual fields. The price of formations has also doubled. I also need spirit stones to operate the formations, and I have to hire formation masters to operate the formations. If I don't raise the price, I will lose money. If you want me to lose money, I would rather close the store and feed the grain to pigs."

"Sir, if you can't afford spiritual grain, you can buy fasting pills. Or you can starve. You won't starve to death if you don't eat for ten days or half a month during the Qi training period. At most, you will absorb less spiritual power."

"Sir..."

The shopkeepers each had their own reasons. With the locust plague, Qingzhou's spiritual grain harvest this year plummeted, and it is possible that there would be no harvest. It is impossible for them not to raise the price. This is a carnival for merchants.

Chen's Yuanying looked gloomy. The price of spiritual grains in the world of cultivation had always been very stable, about 500 to 600 kilograms per spiritual stone, but now it has skyrocketed three times, and this is just the beginning.

If Chen can't even control the price of the most basic spiritual grains, let alone other prices, the entire Taixu City will be in chaos.

He resisted the urge to force a price reduction countless times, and still persuaded them kindly. Now Chen can't force them. Chen was born not long ago, and once he used force, it would be a big deal.

"Sir, I'll give you a tip. To stabilize the price of grain, the simplest way is to increase the supply of spiritual grain. Chen's spiritual fields are at least tens of millions of acres. If Chen is willing to take out spiritual grain, the price of grain may go down."

Someone gave Chen's Yuanying a suggestion, which made him hold his breath in his throat and almost vomit blood. Chen occupied the Taixu Sect. There were many spiritual fields, but not many spiritual grains. Usually, this stuff was extremely cheap, and it was enough to eat. There was no extra food to release. Even if it was released, it would be a drop in the bucket, because the locust plague did not happen to Chen's family, but spread throughout Qingzhou. It was impossible to starve its own disciples and give others a bargain.

Chen's Yuanying had no choice but to report it truthfully. This matter was beyond his ability to handle. He hoped that Chen's ancestor would take action.

At the same time, in the former Wuji Palace Mountain Gate, now the Lu Family Mountain Gate, the top leaders of the four major families had gathered and were discussing countermeasures.

"The price of grain in Qingzhou has skyrocketed by three to ten times. All businesses have raised their prices collectively. We cannot intervene. If we intervene forcefully, we will be going against all businesses."

"It's not just the price of grain. The price of elixirs has increased even more terribly. In some places, the price has increased by more than twenty times. You can go without spiritual grains and won't die from starvation for a few days, but elixirs are related to the cultivation of immortal cultivators. Not allowing them to increase their cultivation is more painful than killing them."

"The prices of all commodities are skyrocketing, and public security has begun to deteriorate everywhere. The impoverished independent cultivators have done everything they can to make money. The guards of cities, towns, and markets are running around, and some small vassals have begun to cry out for help."

"What is even more terrifying is the escape of independent cultivators. The disciples stationed at the border of Qingzhou have reported that a large number of independent cultivators have fled to other states. Once all the independent cultivators in Qingzhou have fled, businesses will lose their profits, and cities will lose their tax revenues..."

"Now how to resolve this matter must be decided by the ancestors. If it cannot be resolved, our four major families will lose face. We have been slapped in the face like this less than three years after we were born. How can we be worthy of the family?" The

top leaders of the four major families are all reporting the current situation. It is certain that they have suffered losses, and what they need to do now is to stop the losses in time. If they do not stop the situation from getting worse, they may collapse.

"Have you caught the person who poisoned the area?"

"We caught a few. They are all local Qingzhou cultivators and desperate criminals. Someone paid them 10,000 spirit stones to do it. After searching their souls, we still couldn't find out who was behind it."

"I used secret methods to track it down. I only know that the direction is Bingzhou, but I can't find out the details."

Several people reported that Qingzhou was full of demon locusts, and it started in more than a dozen places at the same time. It was not a natural locust plague, but someone poisoned the area. They have caught the people who poisoned the area, but they are all independent cultivators. The real person behind the scenes can't be found at all.

"I have reported this matter to the ancestor. The ancestor can't do anything for the time being. We can only rely on ourselves,"

said the ancestor of the Lu family. The ancestor of Hedao is not omnipotent. Even if he takes action, he can't kill all the demon locusts in a short time. They still have to deal with it.

"Then what should we do?"

"We have thought of several emergency measures. The first point is that for local businesses in Qingzhou, we will use both soft and hard tactics to let them stabilize prices and prohibit them from hoarding goods. We will subsidize them by reducing or exempting tributes. As for businesses from other states, we will also notify them to cooperate with us and use taxes as subsidies.

The second point is for the four companies to take action and get food and low-level elixirs from other states, increase the supply, and bring down prices. The third point is to order the alchemists to urgently develop a poison to kill the demon locusts. There are too many demon locusts, and it is impossible to kill them by manpower. We can only rely on elixirs. The fourth point..."

said the ancestor of the Lu family. Now they have no better way, and can only use these methods to temporarily suppress it.

"Brother Lu, I have an idea, I don't know if it is feasible"

"Brother Chen, please speak"

"The four major families are going out to plunder. Yunzhou, Liuzhou, and Hezhou, these three states are all remote and backward, and the highest level of cultivation is only the transformation of spirits. We can just go and plunder directly"

said the ancestor of the Chen family coldly. Others store grain and he stores guns. Others are his granaries. There is food in the world, just rob it.

"If the Chen family wants to rob, go ahead"

"Brother Lu, you..."

"Brother Chen, have you forgotten why the four major families hid from the world at that time?"

The ancestor of the Lu family said coldly. At that time, the four major families were powerful and dominated Qingzhou. They were arrogant and tyrannical for tens of thousands of years.

Therefore, the resentment of others against the four major families accumulated from generation to generation and finally erupted. Although the four major families suppressed those people, they also suffered heavy losses themselves, so they had to hide from the world. Now are they going back to the old ways?

"Brother Lu, I don't mean that. I..."

"Anyway, my Lu family won't do it. The Lu family was born and has to follow the path of a famous sect. We can do whatever we want in private, but in public, my Lu family must be respected."

"My Yu family won't do it either. At most, all the independent cultivators in my Yu family's territory will run away. At most, it will take hundreds or thousands of years to recover. My Yu family doesn't have the ability to make the whole world an enemy."

The ancestor of the Yu family also said immediately. The ancestor precepts of the Yu family clearly stated how terrible it is to have the whole world as an enemy. It's okay to do bad things occasionally, but not often. After

the two ancestors said this, the ancestors of the Chen and Lin families could only remain silent and said no more, but they were still unconvinced in their hearts. They felt that this method was unnecessary and they had to go through so much trouble, which was simply a disease.

After the discussion, they left. The ancestor of the Lu family returned to the back hall, and the Hedao ancestor of the Lu family was already waiting.

"I heard it all. What Chen said makes sense, but it's not the right time yet."

"Yes, ancestor."

"Go and do it. If the overt means can solve the problem, then solve it. If not, then just go all out,"

said the Lu family's Hedao ancestor. In fact, he was already tempted by Chen's method, but this was not something he needed to use now. When there was no other way, then forget about etiquette, integrity, and moral bottom line.