Chapter 35: Alliance

The central square of the Fortune Cultivator Academy.

Upon hearing Lin Fan's words, the crowd at the banquet below began to murmur and debate!

Ye Qingxuan, somewhat dazed, watched the figures of Li Xuan and Zhu Dafu, matching them one by one with the two childish figures from his memory, and thought to himself:

"So it was them two."

When Ye Qingxuan first entered the Xuantian Sect, he had interactions with Li Xuan and Zhu Dafu.

At that time, they were all twelve-year-old youths.

Back then, he had even clashed with a fellow named Long Tian, who was a close friend of Li Xuan and Zhu Dafu.

Unfortunately, later on, that fellow named Long Tian apparently failed to pass the Xuantian Sect's assessment.

Recalling the information Long Tian had revealed back then, it seemed that Li Xuan and Zhu Dafu had already recruited quite a few Fortune Cultivators at the Xuantian Sect's Guest Academy, before they had formally joined the sect?

Thinking of this, Ye Qingxuan swept his gaze around the crowd in the square, looking meaningfully at the three figures of Lin Fan, Li Xuan, and Zhu Dafu at the center of the square.

It seems they came prepared!

Indeed, after the banquet had only been silent for a moment, many people stood up and laughed, saying:

"Hahaha, Senior Brother Lin, isn't this clearly you helping us? With the existence of the Alliance, we won't have to waste effort and energy dealing with these trivial matters in the future."

"Yes! By then, since we cannot leave the Blessed Land anyway, the resources produced by the Blessed Land might as well be handed to the Alliance to exchange for spirit stones for us."

"Hehehe, this makes sense, Senior Brother Lin is truly generous!"

Hearing everyone's words, many disciples of the Fortune Cultivator Academy on the outer edge of the banquet also showed expressions of interest.

Li Xuan, who had been silent and observing the entire scene, saw this and knew the time was ripe; he signaled Lin Fan with his eyes.

Sensing Li Xuan's gaze, Lin Fan immediately understood, and taking advantage of the support voiced by many friends in the square, he produced a scroll of contract and shouted loudly:

"Since everyone has no objections, then we..."

"Wait!"

At this moment, a young man with a square face on the outer edge of the banquet interrupted Lin Fan's words, stood up, and sneered:

"Then may I ask, Senior Brother Lin, what rules must we follow after joining the Alliance?"

Hearing this, those in the square who had previously shown interest all displayed expressions of hesitation!

Seeing the situation change, Lin Fan hurriedly opened his mouth to explain:

"Junior Brother Xiao Feng, rest assured! Everyone does not need to follow too many rules; you only need to choose which spiritual plants to cultivate in the Blessed Land in the future according to the market statistics compiled by the Alliance."

"So you mean that in the future, what spiritual plants everyone cultivates in the Blessed Land must be decided by the Alliance? Heh, farewell!"

That young man named Xiao Feng with the square face, after hearing Lin Fan's words, directly pointed out the crux of the issue, then turned around and left the banquet square without hesitation.

Seeing Xiao Feng leave, the others on the outer field also took their leave one by one, finding excuses to depart from the banquet square:

"Senior Brother Lin! I have something to attend to, so I take my leave first."

"Yes, Senior Brother Lin, I also have an urgent matter, so I take my leave first, please forgive me!"

Lin Fan's expression changed; he opened his mouth again to assure them:

"Everyone, rest assured, the types of spiritual plants compiled by the Alliance are absolutely of the highest value and will not cause anyone any loss! Junior Brothers, please trust Lin Fan!"

But Lin Fan's words did not have much effect.

However, because of the secret planning and recruitment that Li Xuan and Zhu Dafu had already started earlier.

In the end, more than thirty people chose to stay and sign the contract to join the Alliance, accounting for half of the disciples of this year's Fortune Cultivator Academy.

Seeing that matters had reached this point, Li Xuan finally opened his mouth and said:

"Junior Brother Lin, having more than thirty people join the Alliance in the early stage is already enough; since the others are unwilling, there is no need to force them!"

If they are unwilling to follow their arrangements to cultivate spiritual plants, then for them, there is absolutely no need for this Fortune Cultivator Alliance to exist.

Buying spiritual plants at market prices is not difficult to do within the Xuantian Sect.

What they wanted was simply to gather the strength of many Fortune Cultivators to monopolize the market of a certain low-grade spiritual plant.

In the early stage, more than thirty Fortune Cultivators were already sufficient.

Hearing Li Xuan speak, Lin Fan also stopped the words he had prepared to continue recruiting.

Watching the Fortune Cultivator Academy disciples leave one by one, a trace of regret appeared in Lin Fan's eyes.

The reason he agreed to let Li Xuan and Zhu Dafu take the lead in establishing this Alliance was that the two had promised him forty percent of the Alliance's profits.

The inheritance slot of his Blessed Land was for a second-grade Blessed Land.

Although the level was not high, his future path was far broader than that of those Fortune Cultivators who directly contracted first-grade spiritual lands.

After all, a second-grade Blessed Land, whether in terms of the speed of increasing a Fortune Cultivator's spiritual roots or the benefits it brings, far surpasses a first-grade Blessed Land.

If he could also use the vast resources obtained from the Alliance to cultivate the Blessed Land to the third grade, then his future would still have a glimmer of hope.

Therefore, Lin Fan was very dedicated to the establishment of this Fortune Cultivator Alliance.

Ye Qingxuan, sitting in a corner on the outer edge of the banquet.

Seeing that this play had concluded, he stood up on his own, let out a burp, and prepared to leave the banquet square.

After Ye Qingxuan left the square and hadn't walked far, he was just preparing to fly back to his small courtyard on his sword.

Unexpectedly, the little fatty who had been sitting beside him earlier chased up again and asked curiously:

"Why is everyone unwilling to join the Alliance? I feel it's quite good?"

Ye Qingxuan glanced at the little fatty and retorted:

"If you feel it's quite good, then why did you leave?"

Hearing Ye Qingxuan's words, the little fatty chuckled and said:

"Hehe, I saw everyone leaving, so I left too! My mother told me that if you don't know the way to go, just follow behind everyone; although you won't make a big harvest, at least it will be much safer!"

Looking at the grinning little fatty, Ye Qingxuan felt a stir in his heart and asked curiously:

"Then why did you insist on exchanging everyone's contact mark?"

"My mother told me to make more friends in the future; more friends mean more paths."

"Then where is your mother?"

The chubby boy's grinning face suddenly froze; he stopped walking, his expression turning gloomy.

"My mother passed away!"

Hearing this, Ye Qingxuan also stopped, looked at the chubby boy, and apologized:

"I'm sorry!"

"It's fine. My mother told me to be happier from now on. I'm not sad anymore, hehe!"

The chubby boy shook his head, still wearing a grinning expression on his face.

"By the way, you haven't told me why everyone is unwilling to join the alliance yet?"

Seeing the chubby boy ask again, Ye Qingxuan spoke:

"What do you think everyone desires most after becoming a Fortune Cultivator?"

Hearing this, the chubby boy shook his head in confusion:

"I don't know!"

Seeing this, Ye Qingxuan looked up at the high sky and said:

"It is freedom!"

"Freedom?"

"Yes, that's right, it is freedom!"

After speaking, Ye Qingxuan flew off alone on his sword, leaving the place.

For most ordinary people, once they become Fortune Cultivators, they can no longer see hope for the future; benefits and such are perhaps not what these Fortune Cultivators value.

The reason everyone is unwilling to join the alliance is simply that they do not want to bear another layer of restraint after already suffering the shackles brought by the Fortune Land.

The reason many are still willing to stay and choose to join the so-called alliance is simply that these people have not yet formally become Fortune Cultivators and have not realized this point.