Chapter 37: Choosing a Spiritual Land

"Attendants?"

Hearing Bai Zichun's words, Ye Qingxuan felt somewhat puzzled. Could a Fortune Cultivator really have the quota to recruit their own attendants? The materials he had read in the Library hadn't mentioned this.

What Ye Qingxuan didn't know was that for the Xuan Tian Sect, allowing Fortune Cultivators to recruit attendants was a trivial matter, naturally not recorded in the special space of the Library.

After all, attendants provided no substantial help to the growth of a Fortune Land!

Seeing Ye Qingxuan's confusion, Bai Zichun smiled and explained:

"After becoming a Fortune Cultivator, you will be confined to one location. Moreover, a Fortune Land is not small; you will always need manpower to help handle some trivial matters, right?"

Speaking thus, Bai Zichun gave Ye Qingxuan a detailed introduction to the situation regarding attendants.

Fortune Cultivator attendants do not belong to the disciples of the Xuan Tian Sect; the sect will not provide cultivation resources for them. However, they may cultivate around the Fortune Land where their master resides.

Furthermore, Fortune Cultivator attendants must swear a Dao Vow: during their tenure as attendants, they must not violate the sect's rules, nor commit any acts of betrayal against their Fortune Cultivator master!

However, the Fortune Cultivator themselves must not arbitrarily commit acts detrimental to their attendants!

Moreover, the higher the rank of the Fortune Land, the more attendant quotas the Xuan Tian Sect grants.

After all, once a Fortune Land advances, its area will increase significantly; at that time, the Fortune Cultivator will need more attendants to handle trivial matters!

For instance, after Ye Qingxuan becomes a First-Rank Fortune Cultivator, he will be entitled to two attendant quotas.

Such attendant quotas are also a precious asset for small families or independent cultivators outside.

Outside, there is no cultivation environment as excellent as that within the Xuan Tian Sect!

Of course, after becoming an official Fortune Cultivator, the Fortune Cultivator's token will possess the authority to communicate with the various halls of the sect.

At that time, the Fortune Cultivator themselves can also use the sect token to post missions in the Mission Hall using contribution points, hiring sect disciples to handle affairs!

However, hiring disciples of the Xuan Tian Sect to handle affairs is certainly not as convenient as commanding one's own attendants.

After listening to Bai Zichun's explanation, Ye Qingxuan finally understood!

However, the matter of attendants is not urgent; the immediate priority is to first confirm the spiritual land for the contract and secure the territory.

Thus, Ye Qingxuan respectfully bowed to Bai Zichun and said:

"Thank you, Steward, for your guidance. This disciple intends to first investigate the situation of the spiritual land!"

Upon hearing this, Bai Zichun nodded:

"Mm, go ahead! Return to find me to register once you have confirmed it!"

"Yes, Steward!"

After bidding farewell to Bai Zichun, Ye Qingxuan rode his sword and fled toward the direction of the teleportation array.

Bai Zichun, remaining on the spot, watched Ye Qingxuan's departing figure, nodded again unable to help himself, stroked his beard, and praised:

"Neither arrogant nor impatient, acting with steadiness. Excellent, excellent!"

One can only say that first impressions are truly important; once one has a favorable impression of a person, one can always find virtues in them that are not even virtues.

After leaving the Fortune Cultivator Courtyard, Ye Qingxuan first took the teleportation array, arriving at the First-Rank Late-Stage spiritual land closest to the Xuan Tian Peak, the main peak of the Xuan Tian Sect!

In fact, "closest" was only relative to the area of the Xuan Tian Sect; a distance of about twenty thousand kilometers was already extremely far for Ye Qingxuan, who was currently only in the Qi Refining realm.

Ye Qingxuan flew on his sword, arriving above this spiritual land!

What met his eyes was a not-too-large mountain peak, the most inconspicuous existence within the Xuan Tian Mountain Range.

Around this mountain peak, there were also many other peaks or valleys possessing Second-Rank or Third-Rank spiritual veins.

Although these were merely Second-Rank or Third-Rank spiritual veins, the overall density of spiritual energy here was comparable to a Fifth-Rank spiritual vein in the outside world!

However, no disciples of the Xuan Tian Sect had come to open up cave dwellings around this area, because such territory was not worth the attention of core disciples who possessed the authority to open cave dwellings.

The reason the spiritual energy density far exceeded the rank of the spiritual vein itself was simply because there were far too many high-rank spiritual veins within the Xuan Tian Mountain Range.

The entire Xuan Tian Mountain Range possesses one Tenth-Rank spiritual vein, which is located on the main peak, Xuan Tian Peak, of the range.

In addition, the Xuan Tian Mountain Range also possesses over a dozen peaks with Ninth-Rank spiritual veins, over a thousand peaks with Eighth-Rank spiritual veins, and countless peaks below the Eighth Rank.

Even the Fortune Cultivator Courtyard where he had previously resided was built upon a Sixth-Rank spiritual vein; this was one of the reasons Ye Qingxuan could reach the peak of Qi Refining in merely twenty-plus years with a single-element spiritual root.

It was also the reason why the cultivation speed of the various disciples within the Xuan Tian Sect far surpassed that of the outside world.

The spiritual energy inadvertently leaking from these high-rank spiritual veins filled the entire Xuan Tian Mountain Range, keeping the spiritual energy within the range at an extremely high concentration.

Regarding this, the high-ranking members of the Xuan Tian Sect adopted a laissez-faire attitude, choosing not to intervene and seal off the spiritual energy of these high-rank spiritual veins.

This is because spiritual veins are mutually reinforcing entities!

Spiritual veins are equivalent to the meridians of the Earthly Mystic Realm; their function is to help the world purify negative energy and absorb and transform chaotic energy from outside the world, helping the world accumulate the foundation for advancement.

Therefore, as long as the spiritual veins are not destructively damaged, they are equivalent to sustainable resources, continuously growing and advancing with the flow of time.

When dense spiritual veins gather in one place, their spiritual mechanisms intertwine, creating a mutually reinforcing effect that accelerates the advancement speed of the spiritual veins.

This is the key to every world accumulating enough energy to continuously grow until it advances, and also the main reason why hegemonic powers like the Xuan Tian Sect can remain prosperous for ages, even becoming increasingly flourishing.

It can be said that as long as the Xuan Tian Sect manages well and does not destructively mine its spiritual veins, the spiritual energy within the Xuan Tian Mountain Range will continue to increase slowly; the only difference is the length of time required.

This is the main reason why the various hegemonic powers of the Earthly Mystic Realm cultivate Fortune Cultivator disciples.

They do not value the meager low-rank resources brought by Fortune Cultivators in the present; what they value is the future of each sect's base, accumulated over countless years by generations of Fortune Cultivators.

Following the information prompts on the map, after Ye Qingxuan arrived at the summit of this mountain peak, he spread his spiritual sense and probed the surroundings of the peak.

Ye Qingxuan quickly found a circular cave entrance with a diameter of three meters at a position between the mountain waist and the summit; outside the entrance, there was also a protruding stone platform.

After entering through this circular cave entrance, Ye Qingxuan discovered that the area near the entrance was a fairly large flat ground, mostly covered with stones.

However, walking further inward revealed a world of its own.

Deep within the interior of the entrance lay a vast space; above the space, a pure white pearl emitted a gentle light, illuminating the entire space brilliantly!

"I didn't expect there to be a byproduct of a spiritual vein?"

Ye Qingxuan was no longer the ignorant youth of the past; the books he had read over these years were not in vain, and he naturally recognized this pearl!

This pearl is a spiritual pearl born alongside a spiritual vein!

Judging by its aura, Ye Qingxuan determined it should be a First-Rank Mid-Grade Spiritual Pearl; the spiritual energy contained within it is equivalent to a High-Grade Spirit Stone, and the spiritual energy inside the pearl is extremely gentle, very suitable for cultivators to use for recuperation after injury.

Below the spirit pearl lay a flat expanse roughly ten li in diameter.

At the center of this flatland stood a spirit spring; the spring's eye was now continuously gushing spirit water, causing the overflow from the deep pool to form streams that roamed freely.

Surrounding the spirit spring were patches of fertile spirit soil. Beneath this soil, under Ye Qingxuan's spiritual sense exploration, a jade-green spirit vein flickered in and out of view. Judging by its aura, it had indeed only recently advanced to the late stage of the first realm!

Within the spirit soil derived from the spirit vein, various spirit plants were currently growing, though most were of little use!

After examining the core spirit vein of this spirit land, Ye Qingxuan turned and retraced his steps.

Upon reaching the entrance, Ye Qingxuan stood on the stone steps inside, gazing at the distant scenery beyond the mountain peak, instantly feeling refreshed and at ease.

His impression of this spirit land was quite good, yet he did not make a decision lightly.

He took to the skies on his sword once more!

After leaving this place, Ye Qingxuan boarded a teleportation formation and, after several transfers, traveled to the other two marked spirit lands.

Of the other two, one was a sizable valley with a beautiful environment; the other was also a mountain peak, though its surroundings were slightly inferior to the first one he had seen.

After wandering back and forth, Ye Qingxuan ultimately returned to the very first mountain peak.

"This will do!"

After inspecting the three spirit lands, Ye Qingxuan made his choice.

He chose this spirit land primarily for two reasons: