Chapter 129: The Immortal City Supplier
"Of course!"
Fang Jiaoyan nodded. Even if Gu Mo hadn't asked, she would have explained the situation thoroughly—after all, this concerned the very survival of her family. She couldn't afford to be careless.
As Fang Jiaoyan continued her explanation, Gu Mo finally understood the reasons behind the three conditions she had proposed.
Her family had relocated to Yuntian Immortal City a hundred years ago, spending all their wealth to purchase a plot of Grade-2 top-tier spiritual farmland within the city's domain. Centered around this farmland, they settled down.
Thanks to the output of this Grade-2 top-tier spiritual field, her family managed to cultivate a cultivator at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage—her husband.
Fang Jiaoyan's husband was indeed exceptionally talented. Not only did he reach the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, but he also became a spiritual herb master, successfully cultivating a Grade-2 spiritual plant: the Sword Bamboo.
Sword Bamboo was a type of spiritual plant that naturally contained sword qi, making it an ideal material for crafting sword talismans.
With Sword Bamboo, Fang Jiaoyan's family successfully became a supplier for Yuntian Immortal City. The city's daily trade volume was staggering, and maintaining that level of trade required a steady supply of goods. While part of the supply came from the many cultivators who gathered there, the majority came from the city's affiliated shops. To ensure their shelves were always stocked, Yuntian Immortal City scouted for suppliers within its sphere of influence.
These suppliers provided various spiritual materials, which the city purchased at relatively reasonable prices.
However, becoming a supplier was no easy feat. Only rare and valuable materials would qualify—common items were simply not accepted.
The Sword Bamboo cultivated by Fang Jiaoyan's family was one of those rare materials, which is how they qualified as suppliers. And being a supplier to Yuntian Immortal City was effectively a protective talisman within the city's domain.
No one would dare lay hands on one of the city's suppliers. Though the city never explicitly stated that it would shield them, disrupting a supplier's ability to deliver goods on time would negatively affect business—and business was Yuntian Immortal City's highest priority.
Anyone who harmed that business would face serious consequences.
Still, disruptions in supply didn't always come from external attacks—internal issues could also lead to delays. For example, Fang Jiaoyan's husband recently attempted to break through to the Core Formation stage but failed and died in the process.
His death was a massive blow to the entire family. It also meant the Sword Bamboo could no longer be delivered on time, since he had been their sole spiritual herb master.
Failing to meet delivery deadlines would mean losing their status as a city supplier.
And to lose that status right after their strongest Foundation Establishment cultivator died while attempting Core Formation would be incredibly dangerous. A Grade-2 top-tier spiritual field like theirs would undoubtedly attract numerous covetous eyes.
That's why Fang Jiaoyan laid out those three conditions—to find a spiritual herb master capable of cultivating Sword Bamboo. As long as they could deliver on time, they could retain their supplier status. And as long as they had that status, no one would dare move against them.
"I see."
Gu Mo nodded. The situation was better than he had imagined. He'd thought they might have provoked some formidable enemy, which would explain their urgency—but it was simply a matter of retaining supplier status.
Since no powerful enemies were involved, Gu Mo agreed to sign the spiritual field lease agreement. The lease term, however, was left open-ended.
Gu Mo didn't want to commit to a fixed term because he planned to stop leasing once he acquired a Grade-3 spiritual field. Fang Jiaoyan, for her part, also didn't want a fixed term—once her family trained another spiritual herb master, they would naturally want the field back.
"Fellow Daoist Hu, shall we visit my family's estate to inspect the spiritual field?" Now that the agreement was signed, Fang Jiaoyan invited Gu Mo to go with her.
"Alright."
Gu Mo nodded. He would be taking up residence there soon.
Fang Jiaoyan's family estate lay several thousand kilometers south of Yuntian Immortal City—still well within its core territory. The city's domain reportedly spanned tens of thousands of kilometers.
Everything within that range was considered part of Yuntian Immortal City. Over the years, much of the area's spiritual veins and farmlands had been leased or sold to cultivation families and small sects.
These groups relied on the city for survival. They grew spiritual plants, crafted talismans, refined pills, and forged magic tools to sell in the city—earning their livelihood while contributing to the city's prosperity.
The lucky ones managed to produce rare spiritual plants or items like unique pills or talismans, earning them supplier status with the city—an impressive accomplishment.
"Fellow Daoist Hu, that's my family's estate," Fang Jiaoyan said, pointing to a nearby mountain. The summit had been flattened to make way for about two mu of farmland—this was clearly the Grade-2 top-tier spiritual field.
Scattered across the mountainside were smaller plots of farmland, likely offshoots of the main field's spiritual vein. These offshoots had been put to use as well, cultivated into small fields. While not covered by the lease agreement, these fields could still yield a decent harvest.
Gu Mo wasn't interested in these side plots anyway.
At the foot of the mountain lay a sprawling complex of buildings—her family's estate. Judging by the size, the family was quite large. Given that they'd survived over a hundred years under the city's protection without any disasters, it made sense.
"Fellow Daoist Hu, here's the token for accessing the formation. With this, you can freely enter and exit," Fang Jiaoyan said, handing him a jade token. This was merely for access—the actual control token for the formation naturally wouldn't be given to an outsider.
Gu Mo accepted the token, and together they passed through the formation and landed atop the mountain.
Fang Jiaoyan made no move to introduce Gu Mo to her family members, and he didn't mind. They were merely in a landlord-tenant relationship—each fulfilling the terms of their contract.
He took a moment to sense the spiritual energy within the field. It truly was a Grade-2 top-tier field. Planted within were stalks of silvery bamboo that gave off a sword-like hum when the wind blew—Sword Bamboo.
However, the Sword Bamboo looked to be in poor condition. It clearly hadn't been tended by a spiritual herb master in some time. If this continued, the plants wouldn't die, but their quality would certainly degrade.
Gu Mo stepped forward and used his plant-sensing ability. Soon, he had a detailed understanding of the bamboo's condition. In short—the cultivation was mediocre at best.
Proper cultivation of Sword Bamboo required not only spiritual soil and rain, but also tempering with Minor Geng Metal Sword Qi. Only then could the plants thrive.
But the current crop clearly hadn't been tempered with any Sword Qi at all. They were simply force-grown using the field's potent spiritual energy.
Planting Grade-2 low-tier bamboo in a Grade-2 top-tier field and relying purely on the field's strength—that's brute-forcing, nothing more.
"How were these Sword Bamboos cultivated?" Gu Mo asked.
"Well…"
Fang Jiaoyan hesitated. Methods for cultivating spiritual plants were the closely guarded secrets of herb masters. But considering her husband was dead, those "secrets" no longer mattered. So she explained their cultivation method.
"Your herb master inheritance must be incomplete." Gu Mo shook his head after hearing her explanation. He now understood how vital a complete spiritual herb master inheritance truly was. They didn't even know about tempering Sword Bamboo with Minor Geng Metal Sword Qi.
That technique was just a casual line in one of the books Qi Chunde had given him—yet rogue herb masters might spend their lives seeking such knowledge.
This showed just how powerful the Shennong Valley herb master lineage truly was.
"Yes, my husband acquired the inheritance from the city's trade market," Fang Jiaoyan admitted, face slightly flushed. She'd assumed Gu Mo was trying to probe for their cultivation secrets—but now she saw that this Fellow Daoist Hu didn't even consider their method worth his time.
Though spiritual herb masters weren't as highly regarded as alchemists, smiths, formation masters, or talisman crafters, their inheritances were still hard to come by. Acquiring even a fragmented one on the trade market had already been lucky.
But seeing Gu Mo's clear disdain for their method, Fang Jiaoyan realized he must have a complete spiritual herb master inheritance. He was far above the level of her late husband.
"I'll handle the Sword Bamboo. I'll also be setting up some concealment and defensive formations here," Gu Mo said. He didn't want others to know what he was cultivating, so he planned to use the usual trio: an illusion array, a concealment array, and a masking array.
"Then I won't disturb you further, Fellow Daoist Hu." Fang Jiaoyan gave a polite bow and departed. She wasn't surprised by the formation setup—herb masters safeguarding their secrets was perfectly normal.
"Time to get to work."
Once she left, Gu Mo took out his array disk and began setting up. The illusion and masking arrays were the same as before, but the nut-shell defense array had a new core: a Grade-2 top-tier Nut as its nucleus, supported by other Grade-2 Nuts.
With a Grade-2 top-tier Nut at its core, the array should be able to fend off attacks from pseudo-Core cultivators. If he upgraded all the Nuts to top-tier, it might even hold against Core Formation cultivators.
The formation covered the entire two-mu field, but in truth, Gu Mo could only use one mu of Grade-2 top-tier spiritual land. The other mu was reserved for Sword Bamboo, as specified in the contract.
Still, with Gu Mo's skill, he could carve out an extra half-mu without affecting the bamboo's yield. This gave him about one and a half mu of usable land.
Although that was still a small amount, it would do for now. Without room for mass planting, Gu Mo decided to go the boutique route—focusing on improving plant quality over quantity.
While Gu Mo was busy, the family residence at the foot of the mountain had become rather noisy.
The rest of the family strongly opposed Fang Jiaoyan's decision to rent out an important Grade-2 premium spirit field to an outsider, because they were hoping for another option instead.
That option was to have Fang Jiaoyan remarry. Her beauty was well-known in the region, and many had coveted her. After the death of her Dao companion, several key figures from various family factions immediately expressed interest in marrying her.
And the dowry offered in return would be enough to help the entire family through this current crisis.
Compared to leasing the family's vital spirit field to an outsider, the other clan members preferred that Fang Jiaoyan remarry. Not only would the field stay within the family, but Fang Jiaoyan would also lose her authority over clan affairs—authority she held solely because she was the clan leader's Dao companion.
After all, though she was the clan leader's wife, she was still an outsider by blood. How could they allow an outsider to control the family's affairs? That power should go to someone from the direct bloodline.
In a cultivation clan with a legacy spanning hundreds of years, internal factions were inevitable. Each side had its own interests, and unity only occurred in the face of existential threats.
"Why does this family have so many shortsighted fools like you? If we don't lease out the spirit field, who will cultivate the Sword Bamboo? Who will supply the Immortal City? Once we lose our supplier status with them, do you even understand what the consequences will be?" Fang Jiaoyan felt a wave of exhaustion as she listened to the heated arguments around her.
After speaking, Fang Jiaoyan swept her gaze toward an elder with graying hair. He was in the late Foundation Establishment stage and was one of the most vocal opponents—because if Fang Jiaoyan remarried, he would almost certainly become the next clan leader.
"Heh, as long as you marry into the Xu family, we'll be allied. With both our clans united, no one in this region could threaten us," the elder, Lu Rong, sneered coldly.
"Lu Rong, are you an idiot?" Fang Jiaoyan couldn't help but laugh in anger. Entrusting the clan's future to another family—how absurd. The very ones they'd need to guard against the most would be the Xu family themselves.
"You—!"
Being cursed at to his face, Lu Rong burned with fury, but in the end, he held it in. In the cultivation world, strength reigned supreme—even within the clan. Though he was in the late Foundation Establishment stage, he was old now, and no match for Fang Jiaoyan, who was at mid-stage.
After all, as the clan leader's wife, she had received no small number of precious resources from the family.
Precisely because of this, Lu Rong wanted her gone through remarriage. That way, he could take the clan leader's seat, seize the family's resources, and as a bonus, the Xu family had promised him a Longevity Pill for facilitating the marriage. For a cultivator nearing the end of his lifespan, that pill was an incredibly tempting reward.
Even if it meant sacrificing a bit of the clan's interest, it was worth it. As long as he could extend his life by a few more years, he might break through to the peak of Foundation Establishment. And once he advanced, he could live another century in freedom—perhaps even have a chance at forming a Golden Core, if fortune favored him.
But all of that depended on getting his hands on that Longevity Pill.
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