Chapter 17 Lin's Ambition Although the Foundation Establishment Immortal Sect has more resources, it also has more outstanding disciples. With the means and background of the Foundation Establishment Immortal Sect, as long as they are willing to pay the price for cultivation, not to mention the middle stage of Qi Refining at the age of 25, even the late stage of Qi Refining at the age of 25 can be cultivated. However, based on Ye Linyuan's understanding of those foundation-building forces, for foundation-building sects like Qinghe Xianmen, the core descendants would only be the bloodline descendants of the foundation-building ancestors, or the direct disciples of the foundation-building ancestors. Even if outsiders join the Qinghe Immortal Sect, it is nothing but a pipe dream to want to receive key training. Instead, they will become the object of exploitation of surplus value. Even if Lin Xuanhe entered the Foundation Establishment Immortal Sect, it would be basically impossible for him to become one of the core descendants. Instead, he would need to participate in various labors, hand over most of his income to the sect, and contribute to the core descendants' breakthrough to a higher level. Of course, there are also benefits to joining a sect. After all, the sect has superior cultivation techniques and ready-made sacred mountains and veins for you to practice, which is quite rare in the outside world. If you don't join a sect, it will be extremely difficult to stay in a small family. As long as you occupy the sacred mountain veins, you have to pay taxes, and the surplus value generated by the Qi training family will be harvested by the foundation-building forces. Of course, don’t think that paying taxes is a huge pain. There are countless people in the outside world who want to pay taxes on their knees but don’t even have the chance. If you are not convinced, you can also become a casual cultivator, but the life of a casual cultivator is even more precarious. You can only take risks to hunt monsters for a living, and then use the spirit stones you get at the risk of your life to rent other people's spiritual mountains and land to practice. There are also many fearful wandering cultivators who would reclaim deserted islands and plant spiritual rice such as Lingsui rice, then earn a meager profit and then rent spiritual veins for cultivation.
However, no matter what kind of cultivator they are, the living environment is extremely difficult. For them, most of the profits accumulated through decades of hard work have to be used to rent spiritual veins for cultivation. They spend almost their entire lives working for landlords, and when they grow old they are still penniless. Some poor independent cultivators, even after working hard all their lives, could not afford a pound of low-grade spiritual rice when they got old. Therefore, for independent cultivators, the biggest dream is to own a spiritual vein of their own, even if it means having to pay a considerable amount of taxes every year. Even though the Ye family was poor, they at least had a spiritual eye to guard their practice. This alone was enough to make most casual practitioners in the early to middle stages of Qi training envious. Of course, there are also a very small number of independent cultivators who possess extremely high talents in all arts of cultivation, or who, like Old Man Ye, have inherited the legacy of a cultivator who has achieved perfection in Qi training. With good opportunities, they may be able to cultivate to the late stage of Qi training. When one reaches the later stage of Qi training, or has mastered a hundred arts of cultivation, one's status and position will be very different. They are no longer considered the bottom of the Qi training world. Whether they purchase spiritual veins for their own practice or join the foundation-building Qi training forces as guests, they can all receive a certain degree of attention. At least people like this will no longer lack the spiritual energy needed for cultivation. Therefore, independent cultivators who can cultivate to the late stage of Qi training or above on their own basically have extraordinary qualities. "Fellow Daoists, are you all here for the Spirit Stones today?" Just as Ye Linyuan was lost in thought, Lin Shengwu on the opposite side suddenly spoke with a smile on his face. Everyone present nodded, and Qian Boren said calmly, "We are here today to ask for the spiritual stone we got that day." "I see." Lin Shengwu nodded, then looked at Lin Xuanhe on the side and said, "Xuanhe, bring the spirit stone." Lin Xuanhe did not delay at all, but took out three spiritual stones from his sleeve. Lin Shengwu took the spiritual stones, then looked at everyone and smiled, "We have collected enough spiritual stones these days, and were just about to send them to you, but I didn't expect you to come and pick them up in person today." "That's great. It saves us from having to make another trip." After saying this, Lin Shengwu handed the spirit stones to the three families, and then he looked at the people around him and said, "Everyone is here today, so please all bear witness, and we are clear of this matter." "This……"
Everyone present was slightly stunned when they heard this. Even Old Man Ye, Qian Boren, Zhang Daoyang and others looked at each other. They obviously didn't expect Lin to hand over the spirit stones so readily. However, they all smiled, took the spirit stones and said, "Since Lin is like this, let's just call it quits." When the three families were taking the spirit stones, Ye Linyuan glanced at Lin Shengwu, Lin Shengyang and Lin Xuanhe, and couldn't help but frowned slightly. He also understood why the Lin family was so straightforward. The three middle-stage Qi Refining masters of the Lin family are respectively 25, 63, and 87 years old. Coupled with the Lin family's ancestor who is in the late stage of Qi training, it seems that the Lin family has rising stars in three generations. This is a sign of prosperity. According to Ye Linyuan's experience, if a Qigong family has three generations who have reached the late stage of Qigong, then it can be guaranteed that there will be a Qigong master in every generation. In this case, such families are qualified to go further and have the possibility of being promoted to a foundation-building immortal clan. The Lin family is now gradually becoming more powerful, and they have killed a purple-scaled demon snake in the late stage of Qi training. It seems that there is a high possibility that a second person in the late stage of Qi training will appear in a short time. The world of immortal cultivation has always been one where the strong always get stronger. Once the Lin family has two people in the late Qi training stage in one era, the success rate of cultivating a third person in the late Qi training stage will increase greatly, not to mention that Lin Xuanhe is indeed a talented person. "If it is a sect that has reached the third stage of Qi training, then the Red Star Island alone may not be enough to satisfy the Lin family. They may want the entire Star Lake Seven Islands in the future." Ye Linyuan whispered in his heart, and had a clear understanding of the future rise of the Lin family. According to his experience, once the Lin family has a second late-stage Qi training master, they will inevitably begin to encroach on the Seven Star Lake Islands and use the resources of the Seven Star Lake Islands to cultivate a third late-stage Qi training master. And if the Lin family has three people in the late stage of Qi training, they will definitely annex the entire Star Lake Seven Islands. By then, there will be no place for the six major families in the entire Star Lake Seven Islands, and the Ye family will naturally no longer be able to survive on its own. Thinking of this, Ye Linyuan couldn't help but look at the people on the side, but saw that Qian Boren, Zhang Daoyang, and Old Man Ye all had gleams in their eyes, looking at the spirit stone with a solemn look. The major families in the seven islands of Star Lake are weak, and most of the cultivators are shallow-minded, but not all of them are short-sighted. Obviously, these three people have seen something, but the Lin family is powerful after all, and they have no excuse or reason to attack, nor do they have enough strength to stop the rise of the Lin family. Now that the goal had been achieved, everyone present had no reason to stay and could only bow and say goodbye to the Lin family. After leaving Chixing Island and boarding the boat, Qian Boran sighed and said, "The six of us joined forces, but our punch hit cotton. We can only watch the Lin family rise." (End of this chapter)