Gu An put Little Black into the spirit beast pouch and followed Lin Changfeng and Lin Qingsong up the mountain.
The noon sunlight scattered specks of gold, and the maple leaves lost their subdued hue beneath the strong light, becoming leaping tongues of flame, reflecting Red Maple Mountain into a red mountain of flame. When the mountain wind swept through the treetops, tens of thousands of maple leaves danced in unison, bright and fervent.
Scarlet covered the mountainside, coloring every layer of forest.
These Red Origin Maples were first-grade lower-tier spirit trees, and the Lin Clan only had thirteen of them. They produced some Red Maple Spirit Sap, used for body tempering, and were quite popular. Of course, the ones before them were just ordinary maple trees; the real Red Origin Maples were planted by the Lin Clan at the mountaintop.
Halfway up the mountain, they came to row upon row of houses built into the slope. The Lin Clan had only nine cultivators. Why so many homes?
Lin Qingsong seemed to see Gu An’s confusion and explained, “Fellow Daoist Gu, don’t be fooled by all these houses. They are all for the mortal clan members. Our Lin Clan’s population is not thriving; we have lived together since the founding.”
Gu An understood. He hadn’t seen any mortals in the Qingyuan Sect and subconsciously hadn’t thought in that direction.
Seeing Lin Qingsong somewhat dejected, Gu An comforted him, “I see that many of the younger generation of the Lin Clan have Spirit Roots. I believe they will be able to expand the Lin Clan in the future.”
This wasn’t Gu An speaking idly. The Lin Clan had one old patriarch of the Lu generation, at the late Qi Condensation stage; two cultivators of the Chang generation, one at mid Qi Condensation and one at early Qi Condensation; and a full six people of the Qing generation, one of whom had even stepped into mid Qi Condensation at what seemed to be only twenty years old. For such a small clan, this was already quite good.
Lin Qingsong gave a bitter smile. “Thank you for your kind words, Fellow Daoist Gu.”
Lin Changfeng also sighed. “Qingsong, don’t think too much. Qingfeng has Three Spirit Roots. When his cultivation is higher, the Lin Clan will be better, and we will all be blessed.”
Gu An had some guesses upon hearing this, but it was their family matter, not his place to comment.
Before they knew it, they arrived at the mountaintop. Seeing several courtyards standing there, Gu An was led to the highest one.
Lin Changfeng stepped forward and knocked on the door. “Patriarch, the Qingyuan Sect’s Immortal Master Gu An has come to visit.”
The wooden door opened to both sides without any wind. Gu An only felt a faint surge of spiritual Qi, showing the person’s meticulous control over spiritual power.
“Welcome, Fellow Daoist Gu! You honor my humble home.”
Gu An cupped his hands to the clan leader, Lin Luping. “Greetings, Patriarch Lin. You look as well as when we last met.”
“You flatter me. Please, come in.” Lin Luping led him into the main hall.
In the main hall, a long wooden table was placed in the center. At the head was a grand armchair, with four chairs on each side. It looked like a place for discussions.
Gu An sat down in the first chair on the right. Lin Luping sat at the head. After tea was served, Lin Luping dismissed Lin Changfeng and Lin Qingsong, leaving only the two of them in the hall.
Lin Luping brushed aside the floating tea leaves with his cup lid. “Here to collect the spirit tax, Fellow Daoist Gu?”
Gu An nodded. He wasn’t surprised that Lin Luping knew about this. He wouldn’t have come to visit Red Maple Mountain for no reason, and it was already the seventh month, so it wasn’t strange.
“I remember that at this time last year, Fellow Daoist Chu also came. We were considered friends. I wonder how Fellow Daoist Chu is doing lately.”
Gu An hesitated slightly and said, “I am not very familiar with Senior Brother Chu, so I don’t know his recent situation.”
Lin Luping seemed to have just asked casually, not too concerned. Instead, he began to introduce the Lin Clan’s output. “Let me tell you, Fellow Daoist Gu. This year, the Lin Clan produced a little over fifteen jin of Red Maple tree sap, and harvested four thousand two hundred jin of Golden Cloud Rice.”
“Lin Qingping, the fifth of the Qing generation, broke through to the second layer of Qi Condensation. The cultivation of the others hasn’t changed.”
He took thirteen sacks of spirit rice and a jade jar from his storage bag and pushed them over. Gu An made a quick estimate. “Isn’t the rice harvest rather small? I was told you had eighty mu of spirit fields.”
Lin Luping gave a bitter smile. “Fellow Daoist Gu, I think you misunderstand. Although our Lin Clan claims to have eighty mu of Spirit Fields, more than half are just farmlands containing spiritual Qi, not of any grade.”
“Our First-Grade Middle-Tier spirit vein barely supports the nine of us. How could it also sustain eighty mu of proper spirit fields?”
Now Gu An understood. White Mirror Lake had a spirit vein of the same grade, and he found its qi thin even with no one else cultivating there. How could Red Maple Mountain have any to spare for the fields with nine cultivators drawing on it?
Of course, when Gu An said it was thin, he meant the concentration. He himself couldn’t absorb that much spiritual Qi; more of it was absorbed by the spirit fish or dissipated.
As for Red Maple Mountain, it was likely that every wisp of spiritual Qi was sucked clean, leaving no spiritual Qi to improve the grade of the Spirit Fields.
Gu An put the rice bags and the jade jar into his storage bag, estimating that each bag was about a hundred jin, and the Red Maple Spirit Sap in the jade jar was also over five jin.
That meant forty jin of Golden Cloud Rice was his. Ordinary spirit rice was about one spirit stone for ten jin. Golden Cloud Rice was of good quality, one spirit stone for eight jin. That made five spirit stones. And half a jin of Red Maple Spirit Sap was also worth about five spirit stones.
With ten spirit stones coming in, a smile appeared on Gu An’s face. He didn’t bother to check the output or everyone’s cultivation. After all, if these families intended to hide things, he, as a garrison cultivator, couldn’t find out anyway. The Sect also knew this well and had a general idea of each family’s spirit item output. As long as the difference wasn’t too great, it was fine. Enjoying the story? Read on at NovelPing.
What sort of man accepted a favor and then refused to return it?
With the Spirit Tax handover complete, the atmosphere in the hall became relaxed.
Gu An moved the floating leaves aside with his own cup lid. “Have you heard anything about those robber cultivators? I’ve spent the past year cultivating in seclusion and know little of what’s been happening.”
Lin Luping sipped his tea and sighed. “The Tu Clan in Yellow Wind Commandery. A small clan with only four cultivators, all at the middle stage of Qi Condensation.”
“I don’t know who they offended, but they were all slaughtered. Even several hundred mortals were not spared.”
“They also destroyed the spirit vein of Cunyun Mountain. An Elder of your Sect was furious and offered a reward of two hundred spirit stones.”
Gu An was shaken. Slaughtering mortals and destroying a spirit vein was practically daring the sect to strike back. “Are we sure these were robbers? Killing all those mortals sounds more like the work of demonic cultivators.”
Lin Luping shook his head. “It shouldn’t be. The flesh and bones of those mortals are intact, their souls undamaged. Demonic Cultivators wouldn’t let those go.”
“Instead, the four Tu family cultivators died miserably, as if from a vendetta.”
Gu An breathed out in relief. At least they weren’t demonic cultivators. Four hundred years earlier, a demonic uprising had struck the Qingyuan Sect. According to its records, ten Foundation Establishment cultivators had died, along with True Person Qingding. The thought was chilling.
He only needed to quietly raise his spirit fish and cultivate. That was the path to the Great Way. He naturally didn’t want any Demonic Upheaval to occur.
Gu An lifted his cup again and moved the leaves aside. “Destroying a spirit vein will probably draw the attention of a Foundation Establishment elder.”
“I hope so. With such a fierce person appearing, our Lin Clan is also very uneasy!”
Their conversation left Gu An uneasy. Yellow Wind Commandery did not border Blackrock, but the longer he lingered, the more could go wrong. Better to leave for Cloud City early. He said his farewells.
Lin Luping saw Gu An out of the courtyard gate. Returning to the main hall, he saw that the spirit tea in front of Gu An’s chair hadn’t been touched at all. He couldn’t help but wail in regret.
“My Peak Cloud Leaf!”