Five Elements Sect - External Affairs Hall
Lin Jiang has been looking at the Internal Affairs Hall for an hour now. In front of him, there is a screen made of magical formations that projects numerous tasks.
Some tasks involve taking care of spiritual beasts for senior disciples, while others require guarding a certain place or hunting down evil forces and traitors. These tasks are all issued by the sect. There are also private tasks, such as seeking bodyguards or acquiring certain items. In total, there are more than ten thousand tasks.
However, despite having so many tasks, Lin Jiang hasn't found a suitable one. As it's almost time, he leaves, planning to come back tomorrow.
The rules of the Five Elements Sect state that outer disciples must complete at least three sect tasks each year, or earn one hundred or more Merit Points. Otherwise, their sect benefits will be suspended. If they fail to meet the requirements for five consecutive years, they will be expelled from the sect.
However, disciples can also request leave for a maximum of three years. After three years, they must make up for the missed tasks. If they fail to do so, they will be punished accordingly.
Lin Jiang graduated from Shanxue School and became a true disciple of the sect. He naturally had to carry out sect missions. There were countless sect missions, but not all of them were suitable. Lin Jiang had already spent two days at the External Affairs Hall.
He also realized that he, as a disciple with no cultivation and connections, would never get a good assignment. For example, guarding Medicine City would be a great assignment. Even the most challenging patrol team was quickly taken by others. If he could work in the management department, such as handling rental businesses, that would be out of reach for him.
"I might as well go farming, find a place at the foot of the mountain and live a simple life. I don't expect to rely on sect missions for resources anyway."
After returning, Lin Jiang revised his plan. Initially, he wanted to see if he could get lucky and land a good assignment, but now he gave up. He just wanted to find a place to survive, endure until his fifties, and then figure out a way to build a foundation.
Resources were not currently a problem for him. Although he spent a lot of money buying the Plastic Bone Pill, it didn't exhaust his wealth. Moreover, Lin Batian had given him a golden core assassin called Dark Night, which contained several hundred thousand spirit stones. It was more than enough for him to cultivate until the Building Foundation Period.
"Martial Uncle, I want to take over the spiritual land of Qingyang Mountain."
"Do you want to rent the entire land or just a portion?"
"The entire land."
"Qingyang Mountain has a special piece of land that is 1,500 acres. If you rent it alone, you won't have much time for practice. Have you thought about it?"
"Martial Uncle, I come from a rural area and used to work as a farmer. I have no one else to rely on. Now that I'm young, I want to save more money and build a foundation for the future."
"I see. Alright, if you agree with the requirements, just sign it if there are no issues."
Inside the Internal Affairs Hall, the responsible steward nodded. Without the support of elders, it would indeed be necessary to make a breakthrough and earn more money while young.
"Martial Uncle, I have signed it."
Lin Jiang quickly signed his name. He obtained 1,500 acres of first-tier spiritual land in Qingyang Mountain. The requirement was to deliver at least 450,000 kilos of spiritual paddy annually, or other tangible items. This would earn him 100 Merit Points. If he failed to deliver enough, it would be considered a mission failure, and he would have done it for nothing.
"Here is the approval document. Go to the estate treasury to get the formation method and necessary seeds and tools. Remember, be careful with the seeds. Whatever seeds you take, you will need to deliver the corresponding items next year."
"Yes, Martial Uncle."
"Go, next!"
"Thank you, Martial Uncle."
Lin Jiang thanked him and quickly went to the government warehouse. Lin Jiang received spiritual paddy seeds, which are relatively easy to grow and don't require much technical expertise. If it was for medicine, he wouldn't be able to handle it alone.
Of course, there is an even simpler option, which is to cultivate a type of grass used to make talisman paper. It only needs occasional watering after planting. However, the demand for this kind of grass is limited and grown in specific quantities, so Lin Jiang doesn't have the opportunity to grow it.
After receiving the seeds and tools, Lin Jiang flew to Qingyang Mountain. Qingyang Mountain is part of the Five Elements Sect's mountain gate, but it is considered to be on the outskirts.
Qingyang Mountain was already covered by a formation, and Lin Jiang just needed to use his token to enter. Inside, he saw vast farmland and three small buildings. Previously, Qingyang Mountain was rented by three disciples for cultivation.
Lin Jiang randomly chose one of the small buildings to live in, set up a formation, and began planning. Even for a strong cultivator, it is difficult to take care of 1,500 mu of spiritual land. Lin Jiang didn't expect to earn spirit stones by meticulously farming. He was only doing this for survival and to earn Merit Points.
"Oh my goodness, how did I forget about this? I have money! I can do online shopping!"
Lin Jiang suddenly had a realization. How could he forget about this skill? If he had money, he could spend it. What's there to be afraid of?
Early the next morning, Lin Jiang went to find Yue Qing. In his second year at Shanxue School, Yue Qing made full use of his connections as a second-generation cultivator. Everyone in Shanxue School knew that he had a Building Foundation Period ancestor, and this kid had the widest network.
"Junior Brother Xiao also discovered a loophole in Internal Affairs Hall?"
"What loophole?"
"Stop pretending, does Junior Brother Xiao really have the money to do this?"
Yue Qing had a knowing expression on his face. He had known about the loophole in the sect's Internal Affairs Hall tasks for a while now. His family had informed him.
The sect's tasks from the Internal Affairs Hall only focused on the results and not the process. So the disciples who were truly wealthy wouldn't waste their time doing the tasks themselves. They would take the tasks and pass them on to others, sometimes even paying a little more than the rewards provided by the Internal Affairs Hall. This way, they saved a lot of time on tasks and didn't need to worry about being expelled from the sect. After all, they had money to buy resources and didn't need to worry about cultivation issues.
Yue Qing was just like that. He had graduated from Shanxue School less than two months ago, and he had already completed all the tasks for this year. Of course, he didn't do them himself; he handed them off to others. But to do this, the prerequisite was having money.
There were also many disciples in the Five Elements Sect who were poor. They couldn't even afford to spend money, let alone worry about cultivation. For them, labor was the most honorable.
"Don't worry about the money."
"Just don't worry. I'll help you with this. You go back and wait. It'll be done in a maximum of two days."
"Thank you very much, Senior Brother Yue."
"We have lived in the same courtyard for three years, no need for formalities. We will continue to interact with each other in the future."
Yue Qing said. Lin Jiang has performed extremely well at Shanxue School. It is recognized that befriending Lin Jiang is a useful thing. It has been instructed at home to make connections with talented disciples. There might be a chance to use them in the future, and it may even bring profit with just one instance.
Two days later, there were about ten external disciples who arrived at Qingyang Mountain. Their cultivation level was not high, but they showed professionalism in their farming work, such as plowing the fields and planting trees.
After entering Qingyang Mountain, one person stayed behind to negotiate the price with Lin Jiang while the others started working.
"Senior Brother Xiao, we have been here at Qingyang Mountain before. It is said to be fifteen hundred mu of land, but in reality, it is eighteen hundred mu. The extra three hundred mu were secretly cultivated by previous senior brothers who contracted this land, and they get to keep the harvest as well."
"Is that so?"
"Senior Brother Xiao was introduced by Senior Brother Yue, so he surely wouldn't dare to lie. If senior brother doesn't believe it, we can measure again."
"No need, I trust you."
"Thank you very much, senior brother. We have a field of 1,800 acres to cultivate and sow. We will receive thirty-six 'magic stones.' If we need to fertilize or use magic to make it rain along the way, we will only charge ten 'magic stones' each time. When we harvest the spiritual paddy, and use magic to dry it, we will charge forty 'magic stones.' How does senior brother feel about this? If senior brother plans to rent this spiritual land long-term and come to us every year, we can offer a twenty percent discount on this basis."
"Okay, let's see how well you work this year. If you do a good job, I will hire you all. I will rent this spiritual land for a long time."
Lin Jiang calculated in his heart. According to his charging method, even if Lin Jiang didn't do anything himself and assumed that each acre could produce five hundred catties of spiritual paddy, he would still lose more than ten 'magic stones' each year because the harvested spiritual paddy had to be used for completing missions.
But overall, it's not a loss because by completing the missions, Lin Jiang will receive twelve 'magic stones' and four bottles of Qi Gathering Pills as salary each year, as well as one hundred Merit Points.
If ordinary disciples did this, they would have no hope in their cultivation. Without taking medicine, they would have to rely solely on meditation. They wouldn't even reach the peak of Qi Refining by the age of one hundred and sixty.
(Translated by Gravity Tales 😍)
"Thank you very much, senior brother. I will go and start working now."
"Go ahead."
Lin Jiang waved his hand. Since someone was working, he didn't need to go to the field himself. He stood aside and watched them work.
These people should be a professional team with very high efficiency. The bulls used for plowing the field were of an unknown breed, extremely powerful. They even made loud noises and the sparks almost flew out as they dragged the plow.
Lin Jiang also secretly calculated the area, and it was indeed over one thousand five hundred acres, but whether it was one thousand eight or not, he didn't know. It seems that poor people still know how to be resourceful, just like his predecessors, who also knew how to take advantage of opportunities.
The professional team was different. In just one day, they completed all the tasks, and Lin Jiang sent them off.
"From now on, I will take care of repairing the field, supplying water to the crops, and performing rain spells all by myself. Not for anything else, just to have something to do. Labor is honorable, after all."
Lin Jiang made up his mind that as long as farming didn't lose money, he also wanted to find something to do for himself. Otherwise, he was afraid of getting into trouble due to idleness.
Of course, he wouldn't do the fertilizing part. The sect's spiritual paddy cultivation used a mixture of demonic beast waste, low-level disciple's excrement, and leftover spirit stone powder that had probably gone through fermentation. It had a very unpleasant smell, so he would hire someone for this part.
Instead of wasting time, he might as well draw a few more spiritual talismans. Although he couldn't draw second-level spiritual talismans anymore after giving up his cultivation, first-level spiritual talismans were a piece of cake for him.
"The farming life begins. Call me Old Farmer Lin from now on. Haha."
Lin Jiang burst into laughter, then released Big Shadiao and Small Shadiao. If he didn't let them stretch their wings soon, they would rebel.

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