Chapter 193: Farming Contributions to the Sect

“Oh, Senior Brother Teng, please elaborate.”

Chen Mobai instantly became interested.

“Junior Brother Chen, your spiritual root talent is outstanding, and you’ve already reached the late Qi Condensation stage at such a young age. I presume you’ll be striving for the position of a True Disciple, right? After all, only True Disciples are eligible to exchange for Foundation Establishment Pills.”

Teng Jie’s words resonated with Chen Mobai. After a moment’s hesitation, he nodded, not bothering to hide his intentions.

“With your age and talent, Junior Brother Chen, your future is undoubtedly limitless. Senior Brother Liu from our Spirit Plant Department failed his Foundation Establishment last month and his cultivation level dropped. He should be stepping down from his True Disciple position voluntarily in the next few days.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Jun’s brow furrowed slightly. But remembering the three hundred contribution points Senior Brother Liu borrowed from him for the Foundation Establishment Pill, he remained silent.

“Among the sect’s twenty-four True Disciples, our Spirit Plant Department is guaranteed at least one spot. After Senior Brother Liu’s failed Foundation Establishment, his vitality was damaged, and he owes many fellow disciples a significant amount of sect contribution points. Before he repays them, he definitely won’t be able to rejoin the ranks of True Disciples.”

“After Senior Brother Liu, the one who should replace him as a True Disciple in the Spirit Plant Department is Senior Brother Li Li. However, he’s only filling in for a short period; his actual talent and ability are even inferior to Senior Brother Liu’s.”

“If Junior Brother Chen joins our Spirit Plant Department and cultivates here for ten years, by the time the next batch of Foundation Establishment Pills is refined and you’ve reached the peak of the ninth Qi Condensation layer, whether you compete with Senior Brother Li Li or secure another True Disciple spot for our Spirit Plant Department, it would be far better than being alone in the wilderness.”

These words stirred Chen Mobai’s heart.

Indeed, while the Divine Wood Sect outwardly required only ten thousand sect contribution points to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill, there were many hidden rules beneath the surface. For example, True Disciples had priority. Among True Disciples, seniority was determined by their ranking in the sequence. And within that sequence, those who had never attempted Foundation Establishment had higher priority than those who had failed once.

Chen Mobai’s original plan was to reach the ninth Qi Condensation layer in a few years, then challenge a True Disciple with little background during the sect’s grand competition and take their place. However, after listening to Teng Jie’s words, he understood that if he did that, even if he succeeded, wouldn’t he just become another True Disciple in the eyes of other disciples, without a background, and therefore ripe for challenge?

If he joined the Spirit Plant Department, though it might be a bit busy, at least he would have a ‘tree’ within the Divine Wood Sect to shelter him from the storm.

Still, was it too early to join now? Chen Mobai hesitated. He was currently single-mindedly focused on perfecting his Qi Condensation and truly didn’t want to waste time on other matters.

“Junior Brother Chen, there’s another crucial factor for exchanging Foundation Establishment Pills that I wonder if you’ve considered,” Teng Jie spoke again at that moment.

“Is it sect contribution points?” Chen Mobai understood instantly, hitting upon the key point.

Teng Jie nodded, elaborating on the details to this new sect disciple.

“The sect contribution point system is linked to spirit stones. Most sect missions award the completer the same amount of sect contribution points as the mission’s worth in spirit stones. This means we need to earn ten thousand spirit stones for the sect to accumulate enough contribution points to exchange for one Foundation Establishment Pill.”

“However, among all sect missions, there are a very few special cases. Due to their small scale, low yields, and no one being willing to do them, yet being essential to the sect, the Hall of Merits will adjust the contribution ratio to incentivize disciples to undertake these tasks.”

“Cultivating fields is one such task.”

“For other missions, one spirit stone is equivalent to one sect contribution point. However, cultivating fields takes nearly a year to yield a harvest. During this time, it requires constant insect extermination with spirit needle techniques, irrigation with rain-summoning spells, and protection against bird and beast incursions. The effort and reward are disproportionate, which has led to hundreds of acres of spiritual fields in our Divine Wood Sect being abandoned. All disciples knowledgeable in spiritual plants apply to maintain medicinal fields instead.”

“Because the value of a single high-grade Tier 1 medicinal herb is equivalent to the yield of an entire acre of spiritual fields.”

“After cultivators above the Qi Condensation stage undergo marrow washing and muscle strengthening, they consume spirit rice instead of common grains to avoid worldly impurities, in addition to fasting pills. If no one cultivates the fields, should the Foundation Establishment elders or even the two patriarchs do it themselves?”

“Therefore, to encourage disciples to cultivate fields, the sect specifically adjusted the sect contribution for farming, boosting it tenfold. But even with this, many disciples choose to give up after a year of farming, feeling that the effort far outweighs the reward.”

“If Junior Brother Chen is willing to demonstrate his skills, even if he cannot manage too many spiritual fields by himself, he could guide some newly initiated disciples and still claim a tenth of the contribution at harvest time.”

“Over ten years like that, you might not even need to borrow from fellow disciples when exchanging for a Foundation Establishment Pill.”

After these words, Chen Mobai was completely swayed.

So, farming could be that profitable? However, this was mainly due to his superior farming techniques from the Immortal Sect, combined with the abundant spiritual energy in Great Wood Ridge.

“Since Senior Brother is so sincere, it would be rude of me to refuse,” Chen Mobai said.

As soon as he spoke, all three exchanged smiles.

Thus, Chen Mobai immediately followed the two to Divine Wood City, located in the center of Great Wood Ridge.

This was also the only place in Great Wood Ridge where mortals resided, as outside the city lay vast medicinal fields spanning thousands of acres, the very heart of the Divine Wood Sect. With abundant spiritual herbs and insufficient personnel in the Spirit Plant Department, some common spiritual herbs were entrusted to the mortal descendants of the sect members for care.

The Three Halls and Twelve Departments all had offices in Divine Wood City. Nearly eighty percent of the Spirit Plant Department’s disciples were stationed here, tending to the medicinal fields. After Lu Jun and Teng Jie handed over the Jade Sprout Spirit Rice from their storage bags to the department steward responsible for collection, they had completed a departmental mission. Once the Spirit Plant Department confirmed the collection, Chen Mobai would find an additional 458 sect contribution points by swiping his Divine Wood Sect disciple token at the Spiritual Treasure Pavilion.

Although one sect contribution point was equivalent to one spirit stone, its price would increase by about twenty percent in private transactions.

“Junior Brother Chen, Junior Brother Teng, please wait here for a moment.”

Although invited, Lu Jun still needed to inform his superiors. Lu Jun walked in with a smile but quickly emerged with a strange expression.

“Both Junior Brothers, come in together.”

They walked into a large hall furnished with many chairs and saw quite a few people seated. Three individuals at the head sat in a line beneath a large map, each sipping tea with varied expressions. Below them, seven or eight Divine Wood Sect disciples were seated on two sides. The one leading on the left had a pale complexion, appearing to have suffered a significant blow to his vitality, while the one leading on the right had jaundiced skin and large, calloused hands and feet, looking like an old farmer.

After Chen Mobai and the other two entered, a plump Foundation Establishment cultivator pointed to the empty seats in the corner. Lu Jun immediately led them there to observe.