The day ended with over six hundred cultivators of the ninth-tier Grand Ascension Realm from the Chaoyang Sect returning laden with spoils.
Qingfeng Villa obtained not only a large quantity of spirit stones but also several verbal agreements.
However, Yang Hong was not at all worried that the immortal and Buddhist sects would renege on these agreements. No one would foolishly offend him before the grain crisis was completely resolved.
He had stipulated in the agreements that the leaders of the seven great immortal sects and three great Buddhist sects must make a Heavenly Dao oath before he would provide the next batch of seeds.
He was no novice cultivator to believe the lie of a promise made in good faith.
After harvesting the wheat and transplanting some obstructive spirit plants, Yang Hong did not leave the Qingxun Plain. He immediately began planting soybeans.
He decided to first use the System to imbue a new strain of soybean.
As expected, after successfully imbuing the first soybean, he again received a ten-thousandfold cultivation return. His cultivation surged to the Tribulation Crossing Realm, and he was once again ignited by the karmic fire.
However, the heavenly Dao seemed to be gradually accepting the seeds by the third time. The size of the black karmic fire decreased to below a hundred zhang. After being burned, his cultivation stabilized at the fourth layer of the Integration Realm.
It took another one hundred and twenty days to plant the entire Qingxun Plain. He was burned by fire three more times, but his cultivation remained stable at the fourth layer of the Integration Realm and did not drop further.
Everything began to develop in a positive direction.
Time flew by, days and months turned, and the seasons changed.
In the blink of an eye, thirty-six years had passed. The mortal grain problem had been completely solved, and there was even surplus grain to feed livestock, and to domesticate wild beasts and demonic beasts.
For the sake of food, some low-level demonic beasts had already been tamed by ordinary mortals, becoming human labor.
For example, ox demons for plowing fields, various beast-drawn carriage demons, and tiger and wolf demons for guarding houses.
Humankind had indeed become the true masters of the Taiyuan Continent, with the demon race completely submissive.
However, various undercurrents surged beneath the surface.
...
The seven-colored shield over the Qingxun Plain closed once more. This time, no one was waiting to greet Yang Hong outside the plain, nor did he need anyone to.
"Huh~ It's snowing. Such heavy snow."
Without the obstruction of the seven-colored shield, snowflakes as large as goose feathers fell one after another. In just an hour, they had painted the verdant plain white.
Sitting at the Tian Shu position of the plain, Yang Hong did not activate his magic power, allowing the heavy snow to fall on him and feeling the slight coolness.
"There's spiritual energy in the snowflakes, and quite a lot of it. This change in heaven and earth is quite significant."
Amidst the cool chill, implicit with rich spiritual energy, Yang Hong's heart stirred, and he took out a spirit energy concentration measuring disc.
After the pointer spun rapidly, it stopped at the position of 242. At this position, the pointer would also jump up and down by two units, but the approximate spiritual energy concentration was certain.
The spiritual energy concentration of the entire Qingxun Plain had reached the ninth tier, making it a top-tier existence on the entire Taiyuan Continent. Besides Qingfeng Villa's Shallow Dye Plain, there was hardly a better spiritual land.
And the ninth-grade spirit plants on the Qingxun Plain were more numerous than those on the Shallow Dye Plain.
Seven-colored spiritual flowers, 1.296 million plants of each kind, all ninth-grade.
Ninth-grade Azure Sky Willow trees: 96,000. Ninth-grade Moonlight White Spirit Tea: 8,100 plants. Ninth-grade Xi Yang Fruit trees: 3,600. Ninth-grade Chang Yue Fruit trees: 3,600.
Other mutated ninth-grade spirit plants: 833 plants. This number alone was equivalent to the number of ninth-grade spirit plants on the Shallow Dye Plain.
However, the Shallow Dye Plain had seven pseudo-immortal treasures, which the Qingxun Plain could not match, no matter how many spirit plants were grown.
The spiritual energy concentration of the Shallow Dye Plain was top-grade spiritual energy that even the spirit-measuring disc could not measure, something the Qingxun Plain could not compare to.
Yet, the entire cultivation world knew of the Qingxun Plain's fame, but almost no one knew about the Shallow Dye Plain.
The external facade of Qingfeng Villa had now changed to Liuhua Plain. All cultivators and mortals who were not disciples of Qingfeng Villa had been relocated.
Entry and exit to the Shallow Dye Plain were only through designated teleportation arrays, and only disciples recorded by the Azure Sky Willow demons could teleport.
Others were strictly prohibited from entering the Shallow Dye Plain.
Thanks to the top-grade spiritual energy of the Shallow Dye Plain and the vast amount of spirit stones exchanged from immortal and Buddhist sects, the cultivation of Qingfeng Villa's disciples had advanced by leaps and bounds over the past thirty years.
There were now 283 disciples in the Tribulation Crossing Realm, 8,829 in the Integration Realm, 40,821 in the Separation Realm, and 4,912 in the Nascent Soul Realm.
As for those below the Nascent Soul Realm, there were hundreds of thousands.
However, the inner disciples still numbered only 36, while the outer disciples had expanded to 3,600. Disciples above the Nascent Soul Realm were eligible to become miscellaneous disciples. Those below the Nascent Soul Realm were all miscellaneous.
Hundreds of thousands of cultivators served as miscellaneous disciples.
However, Qingfeng Villa's true strength was hidden within the Shallow Dye Plain and not revealed to the outside.
What was revealed were the miscellaneous disciples and a small number of servants.
There was now a saying of praise in the cultivation world: "You are qualified to compete for a miscellaneous disciple position at Qingfeng Villa."
And a saying of disparagement: "You're not even qualified to be a miscellaneous disciple at Qingfeng Villa."
Qingfeng Villa had become a standard of measurement.
Under the joint certification of the Immortal and Buddhist Sect Alliance, Qingfeng Villa was now a fifth-grade sect, with a marking of five cloud patterns on its mountain gate plaque.
With Qingfeng Villa's strength, awarding it a seventh-grade sect would have been easy, but Yang Hong strongly requested a lower rating, resulting in a fifth-grade sect.
As for Qingfeng Villa disciples, they paid little attention to the so-called sect ratings. Their sole concern was the disciple ranking within Qingfeng Villa.
Unfortunately, Yang Hong was very strict in this regard, refusing to open up higher disciple ranks. Even when Zhu Yuyan repeatedly proposed opening up the core disciple tier, he refused.
In his opinion, as long as the disciples were loyal, the three disciple ranks were more than sufficient.
He had even already considered the next sect leader of Qingfeng Villa in his mind –
Gu Boji!
Although Gu Boji's cultivation was still only in the Golden Core Realm, his personality was stable yet not rigid, driven yet not reckless, capable of maintaining the status quo while also possessing initiative.
He was an excellent candidate for succession.
However, his decisiveness was insufficient, and his combat strength was also lacking, requiring more experience.
He was in charge of the Liuhua Plain, but today he had come to see Yang Hong again.
"Sect Leader, Master Wangyuan of the Buddhist sect has come again, still requesting a price reduction for the seeds."
Halting his flying sword before Yang Hong, Gu Boji lowered his head in shame. He felt truly ashamed to have to seek instructions for such a simple matter, yet he dared not make a decision on his own.
"Hmm~ That bald donkey is here again?
On the immortal sect side, did Old Man Chaoyang also make things difficult for you."
"Uh~ The Sect Leader sees clearly."
Hearing Yang Hong's words, Gu Boji chuckled awkwardly and admitted it with his head bowed.
"Directly tell them that Qingfeng Villa will cease all seed sales starting today. From tomorrow onwards, Qingfeng Villa will seal its mountain gates and cease all external communication, dedicating itself fully to developing its strength."
"Ah~ Sect Leader, please reconsider! It's not necessary."
Upon hearing Yang Hong's words, Gu Boji immediately knelt in mid-air, his face pale.
This was going to cause a major incident!
Or was he going to sever ties with the cultivation world?
"Get up.
Those high-ranking sects will never be satisfied. They will continue to exploit us, as well as other small sects.
We have lowered the price of grain seeds again and again, yet not one of them is satisfied."
"Initially, when the Taiyuan Realm lacked grain, they fawned over us and granted us every request. But as the food crisis eased, those scoundrels started thinking about exploiting us too."
"If we cannot afford to offend them, can we not afford to avoid them?"
As Yang Hong spoke, his anger grew. He was good-natured, but not without temper.
"The disciple understands. I will handle it immediately."
Hearing the Sect Leader's anger, Gu Boji straightened his back and turned to announce the news of Qingfeng Villa's closure.