Half a month later, one day, Song Qingming was making talismans at home when he suddenly heard Song Qinghe's voice outside the door asking for a meeting.
After hearing this, Song Qingming hurriedly put down the talisman pen in his hand, put away the unfinished talisman making materials, tidied up the table, and welcomed Song Qinghe in.
When Song Qinghe saw Song Qingming, he didn't hesitate and asked directly, "Qingming, I wonder if you have any magical tools to set up a spirit gathering array. These past two days, I discovered a vein of earth with abundant spiritual energy in a valley west of the black iron mine. There's also a spring nearby. I want to cultivate a few acres of spiritual fields there. Can you help me set up a spirit gathering array?"
After Song Qinghe arrived at Lingyuan Mountain, he did not practice in seclusion all day, which was unusual for him. Instead, he wandered around Lingyuan Mountain. Song Qingming found it a bit strange, but did not ask much. Now he knew that he wanted to open up some spiritual fields here.
The Song family also has dozens of acres of spiritual fields in Funiu Mountain, which can produce tens of thousands of kilograms of spiritual rice every year. Thirty percent of this spiritual rice must be handed over to the Xiaoyao Sect, thirty percent to the main family, the Huang family, and the Song family can only keep forty percent.
In addition to supporting more than 20 cultivators in their own family, there is still a surplus of about 2,000 kilograms. The Song family puts these spiritual rice in Qinghefang, which can generate an income of more than 200 spiritual stones for the Song family every year. It is now an important source of income for the Song family.
"I've seen you wandering around these past few days, Sixth Brother, and I thought you weren't used to living here. Turns out you can't sit still. It just so happens that I have a set of formation flags on me. I'll go with you to take a look. Don't worry, leave the formation to me."
The Spirit Gathering Array is a common array that gathers spiritual energy from spiritual veins. It is usually set up in spiritual fields and spiritual medicine gardens. Some cultivators will also deliberately set it up in the cave where they practice, so that there will be sufficient spiritual energy when they break through their cultivation level or practice techniques.
It is not difficult to set up a spirit gathering formation. A low-grade formation master like Song Qingming can set it up easily. When he was still in Lingyuan Mountain, he often helped other cultivators in the clan to set up such formations, and he also had several sets of such formation flags on him.
Song Qingming followed his sixth brother and soon arrived at a valley not far to the west of the black iron ore mine. This valley was located on the hillside on the right side of the mine. From this high vantage point, one could see the entire black iron ore vein.
This place is dozens of feet high from the bottom of the mountain where the mine is located. The mountain wall is very steep. Ordinary mortals cannot climb up without external help. Even for the dozen or so innate martial artists who have some skills, it is dangerous to climb up.
The fact that Song Qinghe was able to find this place shows that he had worked hard in the past ten days since he came to Lingyuan Mountain.
The valley is a triangular platform, with only the tip slightly higher. It is about twenty feet in radius and a stream flows slowly through it.
Spring water flows out from the crevice at the tip of the valley day and night, trickling into a small clear stream, flowing between the rugged rocks covered with weeds and thorns, passing through the center of the valley, falling along the cliff, and finally converging into the Crescent Lake a few miles away.
Song Qingming carefully felt the spiritual energy here, and found that it was indeed more abundant than that at the foot of the mountain. With a little tidying up on the platform, it would be enough to open up two acres of spiritual fields.
Taking out five three-inch formation flags from the storage bag, Song Qingming buried these flags three feet underground in several places on the platform. He then took out a first-level formation plate and placed it in the center of the platform.
After a set of spells were performed, a wave of spiritual energy appeared on the ground of the platform, and the spiritual energy in the entire mountain was slowly guided by the spirit gathering formation and flowed towards the platform.
After an hour, the spiritual energy slowly stabilized. The two of them buried more than a dozen spirit stones under the ground where the spiritual field was to be opened. After a month, the spirit gathering array would slowly refine the spirit stones inside, and the land here would be infiltrated with spiritual energy and become a first-grade low-grade spiritual field.
After ordinary land becomes a spiritual field, you can plant some spiritual rice and other spiritual objects. The abundant spiritual energy in the spiritual field can also shorten the time it takes for the spiritual objects to mature.
Like spiritual veins, spiritual fields are divided into different levels. The lowest-level, low-grade spiritual fields refined by Song Qingming and his friends, even with the care of a spiritual plant master, can only shorten the time it takes for spiritual creatures to mature by one or two percent. If they can be planted directly on a second-level spiritual field, the time it takes for spiritual creatures to grow and mature can be shortened by at least thirty percent.
Low-grade spiritual fields can only grow some spiritual rice and spiritual grass that are relatively easy to mature. Low-grade spiritual rice matures about once a year and is the spiritual item that is easiest to profit from in the spiritual field. This is the type of spiritual item that all low-grade spiritual plant masters in the world of immortal cultivation like to grow.
Other first-level spiritual herbs or medicines usually take more than three years to mature. Planting some of them in the spiritual fields can generate a good income in the long run.
The Song family only dared to plant some first-level spiritual rice and medicinal herbs in their spiritual fields in Funiu Mountain. After all, planting high-value spiritual objects would often attract the prying eyes of other high-level cultivators. Without sufficient strength to protect them, even if you have spiritual medicine seeds, you still dare not plant them on a large scale, otherwise you will easily be targeted and cause disaster to be exterminated. In Qinghe County, only a few foundation-building families dared to cultivate some second-level spiritual medicines at home.
In the world of immortal cultivation, spiritual trees and herbs are divided into grades according to their age. Those with an age of less than two hundred years are grade one spiritual medicines, those with an age of more than two hundred to one thousand years are grade two spiritual medicines, and those with an age of one thousand to two thousand years are grade three spiritual medicines. There are not many places in the entire Wei State where grade three and above spiritual medicines can be grown. It is said that there is a grade four spiritual medicine in the Xiaoyao Sect's spiritual medicine garden that is more than two thousand years old.
After Song Qinghe opened up this spiritual field, he also became busy. With the help of Song Qingming, the two first spent a few days on the mountain wall, using magic tools to open a staircase of more than ten feet. This would make it convenient for mortals below to go up in the future. To cultivate spiritual fields, cultivators alone would definitely not be able to handle it. Some mortals would also be needed to help with some trivial matters. The Song family also employed hundreds of mortals to help cultivate the dozens of acres of spiritual fields in Funiu Mountain.
It took a day to migrate two mortal families from Crescent Lake to the platform to help Song Qinghe take care of the spiritual fields here and help the immortal master farm. The two chosen mortals were very happy. In the future, they would follow the immortal master. As long as they worked diligently and responsibly, they might be rewarded with some spiritual objects from the immortals one day.
After the spiritual energy in the spiritual field stabilized, Song Qinghe opened up a new cave on the mountain side of the platform and moved it directly from the mine at the foot of the mountain to the platform. Except for daily inspections of the mine, he basically stayed on the platform on weekdays. Apart from practicing, he was busy in the spiritual field.
After Song Qingming helped him set up the spirit gathering array, he soon received more than a dozen spirit stones from Song Qinghe to buy his spirit gathering array. Although Song Qinghe broke through to the fourth level of Qi Refining later than Song Qingming, he did not look as embarrassed as Song Qingming did after the breakthrough.
The reason for this is that he has a cultivator father to help support him. Song Qinghe is the son of his second uncle Song Changwu. After embarking on the path of cultivation, although his spiritual roots are poor, he has never lacked resources until now. He is also a spiritual plant master. He can earn some spirit stones by helping the family manage the spiritual fields on weekdays. In addition, his father subsidizes him. Compared with his brothers like Song Qingming who have to rely entirely on themselves, his life is much better.
Although Song Qinghe invested dozens of spirit stones in refining these two acres of spiritual fields, as long as he carefully cultivated the spiritual objects for a few years and waited for the quality of the spiritual fields to stabilize, he could still get a considerable income even if he left here and resold the spiritual fields to others or handed them over directly to his family.
For a profession like spiritual plant master, it is relatively easy to earn spirit stones in the early stages. Whether it is planting spiritual objects or cultivating new spiritual fields, it is a very stable income.
However, spiritual plant masters usually hide in spiritual fields all year round. They are not good at fighting or hunting monsters. Their combat effectiveness is lower than that of other cultivators. Most cultivators who choose this profession are people who can endure loneliness.