The Sunset Is Red Group

After asking around, the only one who eagerly said he wanted to go was Mo Yuanjiao.

It was worth mentioning that Lin Xiao had also sent messages to all the elders, but they had no interest in a place as far away as the cultivation world, nor in going out with a bunch of youngsters.

However, the elders did take up the suggestion of going on a trip. They simply left the younger generation out of it, started a group call of their own, and held a little meeting.

In the end, they unanimously made a decision.

They would form their own tour group and go traveling.

They even came up with a name: the Lingxian Sect Sunset Glow Travel Group.

They would not be going to the cultivation world, though. They would be touring the mortal world.

Goodness, aside from the Pusi Kingdom and the few countries around it, the mortal world supposedly had more than seventy countries in all. How interesting! Who would have thought there were so many countries in the mortal world?

They had heard that the customs and traditions in many places were completely different. They had often heard all sorts of strange and fascinating stories from various countries whenever they went to Xiushui City, and had long been unbearably curious.

They had never originally considered going on a trip, but once Lin Xiao brought up traveling to the cultivation world, they immediately thought: If they were going to travel, why not travel around the mortal world instead? They had not even explored their own homeland yet. Why on earth would they go all the way to some distant place?

And so things turned out this way. The cultivation-world travel group consisted of just Lin Xiao and Mo Yuanjiao, while every elder who was not particularly busy signed up for the mortal-world travel group.

Traveling around the mortal world was so much better. These days, Xiushui City at the foot of the mountain had so many airships running to all sorts of regions every day that any matter in the sect could be reported and dealt with in time. Once it was taken care of, they could simply go back out and continue their trip.

Goodness, why had they never thought of this before? The more they considered it, the more perfect it seemed.

The elders were remarkably efficient. By the following day, they had already finalized the number of travelers and the departure date.

Yang Jinshu was chosen as the head of the Sunset Glow Travel Group.

Although she was the Law Enforcement Hall Master, every disciple of the Lingxian Sect was capable of passing through the Heart-Questioning Path. Everyone was busy, and there were practically no conflicts between them, not even over the most trivial matters. Whenever something did occasionally come up, they would peacefully discuss and resolve it among themselves. As a result, Yang Jinshu’s main duty on a normal day was arranging patrols.

Other than that, she helped out in various other places.

Now that she was going on a trip, she directly handed the Law Enforcement Hall’s work over to the other disciples there, which would also give the disciples a chance to gain more experience.

Yang Jinshu specifically drew up a travel itinerary that included nearly all the famous scenic spots throughout the mortal world and arranged them into the most efficient route.

Lin Xiao did not interfere much with the elders’ affairs, but with so many of them involved, the commotion they made was impossible to ignore.

At one point, he heard that they were preparing a great deal of food for the journey. Some of the elders had even pickled large quantities of their own specialty vegetables, planning to trade them with the locals in other countries so they could sample different flavors while promoting communication and cultural exchange.

They gave it a grand name: pickle diplomacy.

They also went to the Finance Hall and applied to the sect for a large spirit ship, just in case they encountered places that were not served by scheduled airships and transportation proved inconvenient.

After all, some of the older folks were not very accustomed to flying on swords by themselves. Besides, everyone’s cultivation level was different, so their flying speed and endurance varied as well.

And really, why wear themselves out flying when they could use a spirit ship? It would not cost many spirit stones, anyway.

Most of the elders had a habit of saving things, and although they did spend spirit stones from time to time, they had still accumulated quite a substantial amount. The spirit stones needed to power the ship were hardly worth mentioning to them.

As for why they still intended to prioritize scheduled airships, only using their sect’s own spirit ship when no scheduled route was available, the reason was obvious: some places had so many scheduled departures that the fares were extremely affordable. Taking a scheduled airship was cheaper.

In addition, the elders brought along many local specialties from Xiushui City.

The spirit-farmland group even planned to take a large number of the high-quality mortal crop varieties they had cultivated.

These superior mortal seeds had been developed incidentally while they were researching spiritual plants. Quite a few had already been distributed to residents with farmland in Xiushui City, who had planted several rounds of crops with them. Many had seen significantly increased yields, though a small number had not produced particularly good harvests.

There were also some seeds that could be grown in the carefully managed experimental fields of the Lingxian Sect’s spirit-farmland group, but they were extremely ill-suited to the climate, soil, and environment around Xiushui City. The cost of modifying the environment was far greater than the value of the harvest, so those seeds had not been distributed for wider cultivation.

Even so, the elders of the spirit-farmland group had not abandoned that batch of seeds. They had stored them carefully. After all, there was nothing wrong with the seeds themselves. Perhaps they would encounter a suitable place in the future where the seeds could demonstrate their value.

They had brought out some of those seeds at agricultural exchange fairs before, but they were all mortal varieties, so the sects and cultivators had looked down on them. Mortal countries could certainly have made use of them, but many officials felt that using new varieties was too risky. Besides, these had been researched by immortals—could those barefoot peasants in the countryside really grow them successfully?

They thought their own countries were doing well enough. There was no need to spend time and effort experimenting with new crops.

People were lazy by nature. Especially when something did not seem closely connected to their own lives, or when there was no immediate crisis forcing them to act, why would they bother making improvements? Things were fine as they were.

That was what most people thought.

The elders of the spirit-farmland group understood this to some extent, because only a few years earlier, they themselves had been what many members of the upper classes considered insignificant “barefoot peasants.”

Now that their horizons had broadened, they had come to understand all the more clearly just how small and insignificant they appeared in the eyes of others.

So although they had always worked hard to promote various crop varieties, they had never placed much hope in others willingly spreading them.

It was more reliable to do the work themselves.

And now, the opportunity had arrived.

The elders of the spirit-farmland group picked out plenty of every type of seed, and also brought along many seedlings and fresh samples of the finished produce.

Lin Xiao strongly suspected that by the end of the trip, the elders might turn it into a series of agricultural aid missions, staying in each place for a while to help the locals.

After all, the lives of many farmers at the bottom of society in this era were far from easy. The harder life was, the less willing people were to try unfamiliar things, because the unknown represented instability.

People said that poverty drove change, but as long as life was still barely manageable, there were actually not that many people brave enough to take the risk.

So, in order to demonstrate the value of their seeds, the elders might very well go to great lengths to let people see the results for themselves.

Lin Xiao hesitated over whether he should advise them beforehand. Otherwise, this trip would be far too exhausting. They were supposed to be going on vacation, yet they were making themselves work so hard…

But then he thought about it again. This was something the elders genuinely enjoyed. It was their passion, their path.

Forget it. He would stay out of it.