Dao Companions Help Me Live Forever

Chapter 207: Daily Financial Crisis

After the news of the death of the cultivators spread, the recently appointed head of the Li family, Li Liangyu, unexpectedly chose a policy of leniency.

Upon regaining power, he did not exterminate the members of the Xiu family. Instead, he executed some of the Xiu family members who had previously insulted the main family as a deterrent, while others had their cultivation abolished, their assets confiscated, and were expelled from Qiufeng Mountain.

Even the direct bloodline of the cultivators, for the most part, were spared and allowed to live as ordinary people.

Because cultivators were not good at procreation, they only married one wife in their lifetime, which was the Li family's youngest daughter, Li Liangyu's great-grandmother.

Their offspring also carried half of the Li family's bloodline.

Seeing that even the Xiu family members could have a peaceful end, the smaller families under the Xiu family's control were not worried about being purged. At most, it was considered a loss of wealth to avoid disaster.

And indeed, that was the case.

Li Liangyu liquidated the Li family's assets, and anyone who had colluded with the Xiu family and encroached upon their property had to return the assets within a specified period and provide sufficient compensation, and he would not hold them accountable.

Except for a few die-hard members who failed to see the situation clearly and were used as examples, most people cooperated.

Even the county magistrate, Yan, did not say much about this.

For a newly appointed cultivator to regain control of the family business, it would inevitably lead to a bloody massacre. The fact that it had turned out like this was already giving him face.

After all, if the situation in his jurisdiction was unstable, it would have a slight impact on his personal achievements.

At the same time, County Magistrate Yan was glad that he had not acted rashly and called for reinforcements at the slightest sign of trouble.

Otherwise, he might have caused trouble even where there was none.

Furthermore, as Li Liangyu regained power, County Magistrate Yan also noticed his goodwill towards him - the Li family voluntarily paid taxes!

Although it was only commercial taxes, and the crucial agricultural taxes remained the same, paying less was still paying less. But this small step by the Li family was a big step for his personal achievements.

It was pitiful that even though he was a disciple of the Xuan Yang Sect, a county magistrate, and a Gold Core cultivator, he had to use his wits to collect taxes every year.

The main reason was that the spiritual fields of these local families were not entirely their own; many of them were under the control of the elders of the sect.

According to the rules of the sect, each elder at the Gold Core stage had a certain standard of tax-exempt land as a benefit.

So, in order to pay less tax, the local families would voluntarily transfer their spiritual fields to the names of the elders.

After all, they only had to pay three-tenths to the elders, while they had to pay five-tenths to the city lord's mansion. Anyone could do the math.

In this situation, almost all the tax-exempt land under the names of the elders was always in excess.

But would he dare to investigate?

If he dared to investigate one elder today, in the eyes of others, he would dare to investigate the second, the third...

Anyone who dared to do such a thing would meet with an accident in no time. They would be transferred to remote areas to guard, or even be assigned to the most dangerous frontline troops, ending up on the casualty list.

Of course, he wouldn't mention his elder brother; as a Gold Core cultivator, he also had excess tax-exempt land under his name.

So, the collection of agricultural taxes relied entirely on the land registry in the city lord's mansion, which had been passed down for nearly five to six hundred years.

In five to six hundred years, there were more than a hundred thousand acres of newly cultivated spiritual fields in the area.

But he wanted achievements, he wanted to climb up, so he had to tackle this tough issue.

After all, the Xuan Yang Sect had put in a lot of effort to govern the Xuan Yang Realm, and it was not just to satisfy their desire for power.

They were a cultivation sect, and their ultimate goal was always cultivation, immortality, and ascension.

But cultivation resources couldn't just fall from the sky.

There were hundreds of spiritual stone mines and countless resource mines in the Xuan Yang Realm, but the major source of income for the sect was the billions of acres of spiritual fields.

Even the richest veins would be depleted through mining, but the spiritual fields attached to the veins would never be depleted.

As long as the spiritual energy of heaven and earth did not decline, and the spiritual veins did not dry up, the spiritual fields attached to the veins would never have to worry about poor harvests.

The spiritual fields could be reused, and the spiritual rice produced could, to some extent, serve as a substitute for the currency of spiritual stones.

So, whoever could bring in more agricultural taxes for the sect would be a great contributor to the sect.

Now that the Li family had voluntarily paid taxes, County Magistrate Yan saw the difference between Li Liangyu and the cultivators.

This new cultivator who had seized power halfway had the temperament of not caring about his own interests. It seemed that he could be a cooperative partner.

As a result, County Magistrate Yan and Li Liangyu's relationship deepened, vowing to explore a bright future for the government and the people through cooperation.

And Yu Xian, who had no presence in all of this, was naturally overlooked.

...

In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed.

On this day, at the Li family mansion on Qiufeng Mountain.

In a luxurious carriage room.

Yu Xian woke up with the sunlight shining on him, and there was still a faint fragrance of flowers in the air.

He squinted at the sun outside the window for a while before coming back to his senses from the absurdity of the previous night.

Yesterday, Yulan successfully broke through the mid-term of the Foundation Building without taking any elixirs. This truly surprised him.

After receiving Chen Yi's Transcendent Pill, Yulan's physique has indeed greatly improved, and she now has the potential for a Gold Core.

Even with various elixirs as treats, Yulan used to struggle to increase her mana, and she never dared to think that she could break through her realm with her own abilities.

Naturally, he was the one to help stabilize her cultivation. Who else but him? He resolutely offered his strong body.

He diligently cultivated the Red Powder Peach Blossom technique, never daring to relax.

However, halfway through their cultivation, Luo Han was tricked by someone and "accidentally" intruded, like a little white rabbit entering a wolf's den, unable to escape the tiger's mouth.

In order to achieve better cultivation results, the three of them had to squeeze together.

During the fierce battle, Yu Xian, who was not satisfied, even called for Master Liu to assist them.

Master Liu, as his contracted spirit ghost, had been nourished by his powerful spiritual energy day and night, and was already much stronger than before.

As the Ten Thousand Beasts True Man said, even without ghost cultivation techniques, one's cultivation can naturally increase.

Not long ago, Master Liu had already broken through the Ghost General realm, equivalent to a Foundation Building cultivator of the human race.

However, this was only limited to the lower realms.

If Yu Xian couldn't cultivate independently, only after he broke through the Nascent Soul realm would Master Liu have a chance to break through the Ghost King realm.

The Foundation Building realm that she had once desperately sought was now easily surpassed.

When human cultivators break through the Foundation Building realm, their bodies undergo a transformation, stepping into the extraordinary non-human realm, and the same goes for spirit ghosts.

The most obvious manifestation is that Master Liu has the ability to transform between reality and illusion, that is, his physical body.

And so...

Yu Xian sat up from the bed, supported his lower back, and walked out of the room, secretly reminiscing.

"Occasionally doing something absurd does indeed bring a fresh feeling, especially with Master Liu's new physical body, which is ever-changing and infinite.

But ordinary people can't handle it. Absorbing Yang energy once is not a joke."

In the courtyard.

Yulan, with a radiant and vibrant appearance, was brushing the fur of a white tiger. She bent her body, her round buttocks tight and elastic.

It made Yu Xian have the impulse to pat her.

The white tiger was of normal adult tiger size, with snow-white fur and a king-shaped pattern on its forehead. Its eyes were bright and intelligent, obediently lying at Yulan's feet.

Water fell from nowhere, washing its fur, and occasionally it would playfully shake off the water, which would elicit a burst of laughter and scolding from Yulan.

"Amiao, you're going to die!"

Yulan grabbed Amiao's head and shook it vigorously, her face never stopping its smile.

No matter what, Amiao was the companion she had raised since childhood, accompanying each other for decades, with deep feelings.

Moreover, Amiao was as intelligent as a human, and their relationship was not just that of a pet and its owner, but also companions and friends.

Yu Xian looked at this warm scene, and a smile involuntarily appeared on the corners of his mouth.

Having encountered too many glamorous women outside, what lingered in his mind was still the virtuous and motherly type like Yulan.

Only when Yulan was by his side did he have this feeling of letting go of all defenses and enjoying tranquility.

He sat on the side, quietly watching, allowing the warm spring sunlight to fall on him.

"Husband."

After playing with Amiao for a while, Yulan walked towards Yu Xian.

"I have something to ask of you."

Yu Xian lazily said, "What is it?"

Yulan pointed to Amiao, who was looking pleasingly beside her.

"I want you, husband, to help Amiao see why it can't break through. I've fed it several second-order demon pills.

According to reason, it should have broken through long ago."

Previously, it was difficult to obtain a second-order demon pill, but now Yulan could easily take out seven or eight from her storage bag.

When they crossed the Jinpeng Demon Vein before, even though they didn't intentionally collect them, they had accumulated quite a few.

Yu Xian beckoned, and Amiao affectionately approached, its head just washed clean without any odor, but instead had a faint floral scent.

Yu Xian was very familiar with it, it was the fragrance carried by Yulan's Hundred Flowers Mystical Body cultivation.

Now that Yulan had made some progress in her cultivation of the Hundred Flowers Mystical Body, when they practiced together, they would naturally emit a strong floral fragrance.

Not only could it enhance each other's mana during cultivation, but it also had a cheering effect, truly living up to the name of Mystical Body.

Amiao often had close contact with Yulan, leaving behind the scent on her body was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Let me take a look at what's going on."

Yu Xian rubbed Amiao's tiger head, its fur soft and floating, with a hint of warmth. His divine sense scanned Amiao's body like the most precise instrument.

After a moment.

Yu Xian's eyebrows slightly furrowed and he said,

"Amiao is getting old."

Yu Lan couldn't understand and asked, "But Ah Miao is clearly very healthy, isn't he?"

Yu Xian said, "Old age and good health are not contradictory. Don't forget, when I brought Ah Miao back, it had already been imprisoned by the father and son of the Guihu Sect using secret methods for twenty years. During those twenty years, its physical body hardly grew at all, and it also consumed its most potential golden period. Even though you secretly gave it a lot of elixirs over the years, and later even fed it second-grade demon pills to make up for its deficiencies, these things can only make it appear to be full of vitality on the surface. In reality, just now I sensed that Ah Miao's vitality has been continuously declining. In this situation, it's like when our human cultivators reach sixty years old and their vitality declines, it's almost certain that they will perish on the spot before breaking through to the Foundation Building stage."

Ah Miao's eyes suddenly dimmed, and it lowered its head in despair, tears streaming from its tiger eyes.

Yu Lan felt a pang of heartache as she watched, but when she turned her head and saw her husband's half-serious expression, the sadness on her face disappeared. She pouted and said, "I know you must have a solution, so stop scaring Ah Miao."

Ah Miao raised its head in confusion, with tears still swirling in its eyes, looking quite comical.

Yu Xian, like a mischievous child who had succeeded in his prank, had a very wicked smile on his face.

"You shouldn't have come to me for this matter. What can a second-grade alchemist like me do? You should go find your sister Han'er. She has been researching the use of demon pills in medicine, and I remember she also discovered quite a few elixir formulas to replenish vitality. Among them, there is one elixir formula with an extremely violent nature that cultivators' bodies cannot withstand, but it's different for demonic beasts. You should ask her to help refine a batch and have Ah Miao take it when it breaks through. That way, it can temporarily make up for its lack of vitality foundation. Oh, and just in case, you should also prepare a life-extending pill for Ah Miao, a highly vitalizing spirit pill. With that, its breakthrough will be foolproof. After breaking through to the second grade, the demonic beast will stimulate its bloodline, undergo rebirth, and the impact of Ah Miao's childhood deficiency will be almost negligible."

Yu Xian touched Ah Miao's head and asked with a smile, "But Ah Miao, how will you repay Yu Lan for helping you so much?"

Ah Miao whimpered and looked at Yu Lan with pleading eyes.

Yu Lan quickly said, "Husband, don't scare Ah Miao."

Yu Xian said impatiently, "It's only you who still treats it like a little kitten. It's almost sixty years old! It's already the age of a grandmother. I don't want you to spend so much effort raising it, only for it to run away like an ungrateful wolf."

"Ah Miao, it's time for you to show sincerity. Otherwise, without my permission, Yu Lan won't be able to help you."

Ah Miao looked at Yu Xian, then at Yu Lan, with a struggling expression. Finally, it sighed in a human-like manner and extended a tiger paw to write on the ground:

"I can form a blood contract with Yu Lan and become her spiritual pet."

Yu Xian nodded in satisfaction.

"Very good, but the matter of the blood contract is not urgent for now. We'll see what your bloodline talent is when the time comes. If it's too lousy, you'll spend the rest of your life working to pay off your debts."

However, he had a premonition that Ah Miao's bloodline talent would not be too bad.

After all, the talent of the Ghost Tiger was extremely high. It's just that these years of comfortable living had made it a bit lazy, but Ah Miao was ambitious. If nurtured properly, it would also be a great labor force in the future.

Yulan said dissatisfiedly, "Husband, Ah Miao and I are good friends."

Yu Xian knocked on Yulan's head and said, "Do you see its mother being mistreated while working under me? You're standing up for it, but you won't even know when it gets sold."

Yulan touched her sore head and remembered how Ah Miao's mother, the Ghost Tiger, looked fat and chubby now. It seemed like it was indeed the case.

She couldn't help but stick out her tongue and coquettishly said, "Husband, I was wrong to blame you. I'm going to find Han'er sister. Ah Miao, let's go. Don't disturb husband sunbathing."

After saying that, the two of them ran away as if escaping.

Yu Xian didn't mind and casually waved his hand, and a reclining chair appeared in the courtyard.

Then he took out a gourd, which contained the spirit honey brewed by the queen bee for many years, mixed with the hundred-flower wine he brewed. He had the right to speak when it came to nourishing oneself.

He gulped down two mouthfuls and squinted his eyes, lying down and enjoying the leisurely time.

He didn't know how long had passed.

When Yu Xian opened his eyes again, there was another person under the setting sun.

"Shiwen, when did you come back?"

Not long after arriving in Qiufeng County, Zhao Shiwen established a small caravan under Yu Xian's instructions. They didn't aim to make money, but mainly to explore the channels.

Since Li Liangyu regained control of the Li family, the caravan had been exclusively doing business with the Li family and quickly grew and expanded. Now, they even had several Foundation Building cultivators serving as guards for the caravan.

In the past six months, under the protection of Wan Tianchou, Zhao Shiwen had even made a special trip to the capital city and brought back a lot of information.

Zhao Shiwen smiled sweetly, "I've been back for a while. I saw you sleeping, so I didn't disturb you."

Yu Xian rubbed his temples, and all the remaining exhaustion disappeared.

After all, last night was not a normal cultivation session. He acted as the furnace himself, and if it weren't for the hanging, which could make up for it, he wouldn't dare to play like that.

"You've waited for a long time. Is there something you need?"

Zhao Shiwen gave Yu Xian a white look and said, "You don't have to be so polite with me. I came back to tell you some good news. This time when I went to the capital city, I found a source for the demon pill you wanted."

Yu Xian immediately became spirited.

"What's the price?"

He had everything ready, except for the three-tiered Yao Dan.

If he wanted to refine the Five Elements Yuan Dan, the other auxiliary materials were easy to obtain. The main issue was finding some Five Elements spiritual objects. It didn't matter if they were low-tiered or in large quantities, as they could be used as substitutes. Otherwise, even with Wu Laozu's strength, he wouldn't be able to gather the materials for alchemy.

Only this main material was causing him trouble.

Given the choice, he naturally preferred the Yao Dan as the main material, with the Gold Core as a backup option.

However, he couldn't possibly charge into the Ten Thousand Yao Mountain Range alone and slaughter everything in sight.

The lesson from Wan Shou Zhenren was still fresh in his mind. Once he attracted the attention of the Yao Emperor, he might not be as lucky as Wan Shou Zhenren.

Another important reason was that he was lazy.

He worked so hard in his cultivation and had gathered so many followers just to exploit them and make himself happy.

What was the point of doing everything himself?

So his original plan was to have Wan Tianchou lead Yang Hou and the Queen Bee to set up an enhanced Mist Prison Formation and hunt the Yao Kings in the Ten Thousand Yao Mountain Range.

Even if they were discovered, they would be the ones to die.

He would just help them keep a record and seek revenge for them in the future.

Fortunately, he accidentally discovered in the county records of Autumn Wind City that the city would also experience a beast tide every once in a while.

After further research in this area, he found that every border adjacent to the Ten Thousand Yao Mountain Range would experience a beast tide at regular intervals.

Not only would Yao Kings appear, but even the fall of Yao Emperors would occur.

So Yu Xian's clever mind turned.

Since a beast tide occurred at regular intervals and Yao Kings and Yao Emperors occasionally fell, there must be many Yao Dan left behind.

As long as he paid a certain price, he might be able to buy Yao Dan.

If it could be solved with money, why risk his life?

Zhao Shiwen went to the capital city for this matter, and it unexpectedly went smoothly.

Seeing Yu Xian so excited, Zhao Shiwen had to pour cold water on him and said, "A third-tier lower-grade Yao Dan costs one hundred high-grade spirit stones. The higher the grade, the more expensive it is."

Now, Yu Xian's excited heart stopped beating, his trembling hands stopped shaking, and he could only take a sharp breath.

"How much?"

"One hundred high-grade spirit stones, and they only accept high-grade spirit stones. If you use lower-grade spirit stones, the price will increase by at least ten percent."

Zhao Shiwen repeated helplessly.

Yu Xian almost groaned, "Why is it so expensive?"

Considering that he had been the tyrant of Shangyang City for more than twenty years, replacing the authority of the True Immortal and plundering for so long, he had only accumulated a little over one million spirit stones, plus some miscellaneous materials for magic tools.

It was only about one million two hundred and thirty thousand.

Adding his gains from the Ten Thousand Yao Mountain Range, he would have to empty all his assets just to buy two of the lowest-tiered third-tier Yao Dan.

Of course, now that he controlled the Li family, although this year's profits hadn't been distributed yet, it was estimated to be only one or two hundred thousand spirit stones.

He wanted to leave a way out, so he didn't empty their family fortune just because he held Li Liangyu's life in his hands. It was only half of what the Zhao family had done in the beginning.

In other words, his seven or eight years of dividends were only enough for one Yao Dan, not to mention the auxiliary materials for alchemy.

It would take five to six hundred years to accumulate enough spiritual energy from the Heavenly Dao to advance to the next level of divine ability, even if there were no interruptions in between.

By then, his ashes would have turned into fertilizer.

Zhao Shiwen explained, "The third-tier Yao Dan can not only be used as a material for external Gold Cores, but also as a major medicine for alchemy and a consumable for refining tools. It has many uses. However, I asked the major trading companies in the capital city. If we can trade in the black market, the price should be cheaper."

Yu Xian tapped the armrest of the recliner with his finger and felt like he was back to the time when he first arrived in Shangyang City and was struggling because of spirit stones.

"No need to go to the black market. It's a mixed bag there, and we're newcomers. If we attract attention, it will only cause trouble."

He did want to fish, but he didn't know his own weight. If he accidentally caught a big shark and got swallowed, it would be a problem.

"I'll figure out the issue with the spirit stones. You just need to buy one Yao Dan for now."

Yu Xian reached into his pocket and felt around, then reluctantly took out a storage bag filled with spirit stones and handed it to Zhao Shiwen.

With the one Wan Shou Zhenren had given him, he now had two Yao Dan in his hands, which could temporarily last for a while.

Damn it, he needed to cultivate two fake Dan cultivators and send them to the Ten Thousand Yao Mountain Range to hunt beasts.

"Alright."

Zhao Shiwen accepted the storage bag but didn't leave immediately. Instead, she looked at Yu Xian with some anticipation, her eyes shimmering like water.

"Master, I missed you."

Yu Xian's waist, which had just recovered, couldn't help but twitch, but he still smiled affectionately.

"I missed you too."

As he spoke, he held Zhao Shiwen's hand and walked towards the bedroom.

This was his good concubine, but he couldn't afford to pay her salary for now, so he could only repay her with his body.

(End of this chapter)