2.0 New Mission

After seeing Village Chief Du home, Lin Xiao and Liu Yunan returned to the sect.

The two of them went straight to the Cultivation Hall and dragged Qin Jianghe out.

Qin Jianghe was somewhat surprised to see Liu Yunan appearing together with Lin Xiao instead of handling affairs in the Affairs Hall or cultivating. He asked him, “Why aren’t you cultivating?”

Lin Xiao took out the key and waved it in front of Qin Jianghe’s eyes.

“Our sect has acquired a farm at the foot of the mountain.”

“Huh? Brother Xiao, why did we acquire a farm at the foot of the mountain?” Qin Jianghe took the key and turned it over in his hand several times. It was indeed an ordinary key.

Lin Xiao and Liu Yunan then took turns explaining the farm’s origins to him.

Qin Jianghe was deeply moved after hearing the story. He returned the key to Lin Xiao and asked, “Brother Xiao, do you have any plans?”

Lin Xiao nodded.

“I’m planning to move some of our sect’s basic spiritual plants to the farm at the foot of the mountain. After that, we can sell those spiritual plants to outsiders, supplying only cultivators from the mortal world.”

Qin Jianghe nodded when he heard this. “That makes sense. In any case, these low-grade spiritual plants take up space, and they can’t fetch much of a price in the cultivation world.”

Whenever their Finance Hall went to the cultivation world, they would bring along the sect’s surplus spirit grain, inferior medicinal herbs, and other low-grade spiritual plants to sell.

But in truth, the profits from these things were not very high.

Compared with the cultivation arts, planting low-grade spiritual plants had a much lower barrier to entry, so many cultivators who had no particular skills of their own simply opened up fields and cultivated them.

Moreover, there were countless spiritual farmers in sects of all sizes. On top of that, the cultivation world had no shortage of land. As a result, low-grade spiritual plants could not command much of a price there.

The profits were far lower than those from talismans, formation disks, pills, and magical artifacts.

“Once more cultivators start coming here to trade, this place will naturally become a trading hub. At that point, we’ll need to set up formations around the farm at the foot of the mountain,” Lin Xiao continued.

“If this place is to become a trading hub, it obviously can’t be included within our sect’s mountain-protecting formation. We’ll also need to carefully establish various rules and regulations, as well as management procedures for the trading hub.”

Liu Yunan immediately thumped his chest in assurance. “Don’t worry, Brother Xiao. The two of us are familiar with this sort of thing. We’ll definitely get it done properly!”

Lin Xiao smiled. “I can entrust the sect to you two. What could I possibly have to worry about?”

“All right, then. For now, make a set of regulations. As for the defensive formations and such for the farm, I’ll handle those.”

After discussing the matter with them, Lin Xiao was about to seek out He Yi and ask about the patterns arranged inside the mine.

However, when he glanced at the sky, he saw that it was not yet the Hour of the Snake. Classes were still in session at the Cultivation Hall on Azure Cloud Peak, so he had no choice but to set the matter aside for the time being.

But he suddenly remembered something else.

“Sys, how are you still not done updating?”

Ding—the system update is complete. In view of the host’s diligent cultivation last night, this excellent system did not wish to disturb a host who was working hard at cultivation, and therefore temporarily disabled message notifications and entered sleep mode.

Thanks to the host’s efforts, the current Lingxian Sect has become a sect that is beginning to take shape. To promote the sect’s further development, Sect Construction Version 2.0 is now being activated.

There are countless sects under heaven. The world in which the host’s sect is located is poor in resources and fraught with danger. If the sect develops step by step as usual, it will ultimately find it difficult to make a name for itself. Please continue striving, boldly expand your horizons, and build a one-of-a-kind super sect in all the world.

Three consecutive notification messages rang out in Lin Xiao’s mind, making his head buzz. And that still wasn’t the end. After pausing for only a moment, the system immediately sounded again.

Ding—Congratulations, host, on activating the Version 2.0 Sect Construction Mission: A sect that wishes to become a super sect must first be a renowned presence within its own territory. Please vigorously develop the sect, raise its prestige in the mortal world, and gain the support of no fewer than ten sects from the mortal world.

Hiss…

Good grief.

“The moment you finish updating, you give me such a huge mission. I’d have been better off if you hadn’t updated at all!” Lin Xiao loudly protested at the system.

The system remained unmoved.

As the difficulty of the mission increases, the mission rewards will also increase accordingly. The host’s efforts will be rewarded. Please work hard and strive to complete the mission as soon as possible.

The system even set off two fireworks in Lin Xiao’s mind.

What could Lin Xiao do? He could only carefully read through the mission twice. After confirming that it had no time limit, he breathed a sigh of relief.

As for the rewards, he would leave them to fate.

Perhaps sensing Lin Xiao’s lack of enthusiasm, the system’s second firework vanished before it had even finished exploding, leaving not even a spark behind.

Lin Xiao: “…”

Forget it. He would set that matter aside for now. The important thing was to set up a formation for the farm at the foot of the mountain.

He arrived at the Formation Hall.

Since everyone was essentially cultivating at the moment, the Formation Hall was completely empty.

Alone in the main hall, Lin Xiao did not hurry to carve the formation. Instead, he picked up the brush and ink from the nearby desk and began writing and sketching.

Since he intended to develop the farm into a trading center for cultivators from the mortal world, he certainly could not simply set up a defensive formation and call it done.

Regardless, security and defense were indispensable. He wrote that down on the paper.

He tapped the brush against his hair.

Next, there ought to be a requirement prohibiting cultivators from fighting inside.

Otherwise, if this place really became a trading center in the future and cultivators started fighting inside, who knew how many things would be damaged? Once losses of that sort occurred, the trading center’s reputation would inevitably suffer. It might even gradually decline until no one came anymore.

That absolutely had to be prevented. He wrote this point down as well.

Besides that…

Lin Xiao thought of the methods used by the cities in the cultivation world to collect entrance fees.

He also remembered the bookstore he had visited when he went to watch the Talisman Master Tournament.

Senior Liao had said that the bookstore belonged to his mortal enemy, Yin Xuanzi.

The entrance fee could be put aside for now. Lin Xiao was extremely interested in the way that bookstore charged its customers.

If they could obtain that method, then everyone who wanted to sell things at the trading center—or open a shop there—could be required to register their store. Buyers would then need to possess receipts or similar vouchers issued by the shops before they could leave the trading center.

This would greatly reduce theft, robbery, and similar incidents.

Furthermore, it would make it extremely convenient for the trading center to collect transaction taxes from outsiders who wanted to do business there.

The more Lin Xiao thought about it, the more tempted he became.

However, Senior Liao had said before that the reason the Tortoiseshell Bookstore possessed this function was mainly because it had that tortoiseshell…