Senior sister, stop working and go home for dinner.

Chapter 406 Qingyang Valley

Qingyang Valley, Inner Gate Council Hall.

Incense burned calmingly inside the hall, its wisps of smoke rising gently from the bronze incense burner shaped like animal heads, lingering among the beams and pillars. Seven people sat in the hall, each surrounded by a faint aura of spiritual light, their auras as deep and solid as mountains.

At the head of the table sat an elderly man with white hair and beard, his eyes closed. He wore a white Taoist robe embroidered with thunder and fire clouds, the embroidery threads faintly glowing with spiritual light. This man was the Valley Master of Qingyang Valley.

Xuanzhenzi, a cultivator in the early Nascent Soul stage.

On each of the left and right sides sat three elders in the late stage of the Golden Core realm.

The atmosphere was so quiet and somewhat oppressive.

"Tell me all," Xuanzhenzi finally opened his eyes, his gaze sweeping across the faces of everyone present. "How much spiritual grain have you collected in these three months?"

The first man on the left, a dignified-looking middle-aged man, said in a deep voice, "Reporting to the Valley Master, the numbers reported by the Outer Sect Affairs Hall... are less than 30% of previous years."

"Thirty percent." Xuanzhenzi repeated these two words, his tone flat, revealing neither joy nor anger.

"It's not just spirit food," a female cultivator on the right said in a cold voice, "spirit beast materials, ores, medicinal herbs... all the products requisitioned from the surrounding villages are less than 30% of what they were in previous years. Some villages haven't even handed over a single grain of food."

"Where is he?" Xuanzhenzi asked.

The female cultivator remained silent for a moment.

"Half of the surrounding villages are empty," she said. "Xiaoshi Village, Wangjia'ao, Sandao Gou... all those villages that used to deliver grain on time are now deserted. The remaining ones are mostly populated by the elderly, the weak, and the disabled; the able-bodied have all run away."

"Where did they run off to?" An elder with a fiery temper slammed his fist on the table and stood up abruptly. "The Cloud Hidden Sect! That Cloud Hidden Sect! In the past two years, they've taken in all the peasants within a hundred miles! As soon as our people arrive, those peasants run over there, and we can't stop them!"

"Yunyin Sect." Xuanzhenzi slowly uttered these three words, a hint of apprehension flashing in his eyes.

Xuanzhenzi had been to this suddenly appearing force before, and it was precisely because he had been there that he was wary of it.

He remembered one evening two years ago when he rode his escape light alone towards the newly appeared mountain range to the east.

At the time, he didn't care much. The five Golden Core cultivators returning empty-handed was indeed strange, but it was just strange. Within this radius of three thousand miles, Qingyang Valley was one of the most prominent sects, and he, Xuanzhenzi, was a Nascent Soul cultivator who had been renowned for over a hundred years. Even if the "Cloud Hidden Sect" had some tricks up its sleeve, so what?

Until he stepped into the area within thirty miles of that mountain range.

In just a moment, his escape light almost dissipated.

It wasn't that someone intervened, nor that a formation was activated, but rather... rather, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth suddenly became uncontrollable.

Xuanzhenzi had lived for 173 years and had never experienced anything like it since embarking on the path of cultivation. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth was the foundation of a cultivator, the source of the dantian and purple palace, and the basis for circulating cultivation techniques. It was omnipresent and omnipresent, just as fish cannot live without water, cultivators could not live without spiritual energy.

But at that moment, the spiritual energy around him suddenly became unfamiliar.

It didn't disappear; disappearing would have been better. Instead, it became... "disobedient." The spiritual energy he wanted to mobilize only responded with less than 30% of its potential; the spiritual energy of heaven and earth that he tried to draw upon seemed to be held in place by something invisible, remaining completely still.

Xuanzhenzi's escape light immediately descended.

He stood on a ridge, gazing at the mountain peak that was faintly visible in the twilight, his palms damp with sweat.

It wasn't fear; he had lived for 173 years and had long forgotten what fear was.

Yes... I'm bewildered.

He recalled the ancient legends recorded in ancient books, which said that some powerful cultivators could "command heaven and earth" within a certain range, making spiritual energy obey their will and making the laws revolve around them. He had always thought that it was just a legend, an exaggeration and fabrication by later generations.

But at that moment, he suddenly wasn't so sure.

Xuanzhenzi did not continue forward.

He stood on that ridge for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, sensing the "disobedient" spiritual energy around him, and feeling the faint yet omnipresent sense of oppression.

Then he turned around and went back.

Upon returning to the valley, he issued an order: No one is allowed to enter the area within thirty miles of the Cloud Hidden Sect.

It's not that I'm afraid, it's that I don't want to die.

But now...

"Valley Master," the female cultivator on the right spoke, her voice still cold, "the Cloud Hidden Sect has taken in no fewer than five hundred mortals in the past two years. If this continues, within three years, there will be no place for us to stand within a radius of three hundred miles."

"A foothold?" the hot-tempered elder sneered. "It's almost gone! We can't harvest the spiritual grains, and the meager output from the mines to the north isn't enough to support my Qingyang Valley!"

"Quiet." Xuanzhenzi raised his hand.

The hall fell silent instantly.

Xuanzhenzi looked at everyone present, his gaze falling on the female cultivator.

"Qingluo, in your opinion, what is the Cloud Hidden Sect's intention in doing this?"

The female cultivator named Qingluo remained silent for a moment.

"A gesture of goodwill," she said. "They're making a gesture of goodwill towards mortals."

"A gesture of goodwill?"

"Valley Master, please consider this," Qingluo said slowly, "In the past two years, has the Cloud Hidden Sect ever provoked us? Has it ever sent anyone to Qingyang Valley to provoke us? Has it ever seized our mines, herb gardens, or spirit fields?"

Everyone looked at each other.

It really doesn't.

The Cloud Hidden Sect is like a ferocious beast lurking in the shadows, guarding its own territory and never taking the initiative to attack. They accept mortals who come seeking refuge; they grant mortals who ask for protection; but if you don't provoke them, they will never provoke you.

"They are..." Xuanzhenzi began slowly, a complex light flashing in his eyes, "establishing rules."

"Setting rules?" The hot-tempered elder frowned. "What rules?"

Xuanzhenzi did not answer.

He simply gazed at the deep night outside the hall, recalling that dusk two years ago when he stood on that unfamiliar mountain ridge, feeling the "disobedient" spiritual energy surrounding him.

They are telling everyone that there are rules here.

Elsewhere, mortals are like ants, and monks are like gods.

Not here.

"Valley Master," Qingluo suddenly spoke, "there is one more thing."

Xuanzhenzi looked at her.

Qingluo took out a jade slip from her sleeve and presented it with both hands.

"This is the news we received today. Wei Shanyue, the commander of the Western Army of the Great Qian Dynasty, sent twenty cartloads of congratulatory gifts to the Yunyin Sect. Under the guise of 'thanking them for protecting the people'."

The hall fell silent instantly.

Western Army.

An army of mortals.

Although the Great Qian Dynasty was the nominal ruler of this land, in the eyes of the immortal sects, those mortal armies were nothing more than ants entertaining themselves. Wei Shanyue had fought against the barbarians his whole life and was a formidable figure in the northern frontier, but in the eyes of Qingyang Valley, he was just a slightly capable ant.

Yet this insignificant ant sent twenty cartloads of congratulatory gifts to the Cloud Hidden Sect.

What does this mean?

This means that ordinary people are voting for the sect that "sets the rules" in their own way.

Xuanzhenzi took the jade slip, probed it with his divine sense, and after a moment, slowly put it down.

"Is Wei Shanyue's granddaughter in our valley?" he asked.

Qingluo was taken aback, then nodded: "Yes. His name is Wei Yiran. He has been in the valley for a year and works in the outer sect's servants' quarters."

Xuanzhenzi remained silent for a long time.

After a while, the calming incense in the hall burned down a bit, and the blue smoke gradually thinned out.

"Transfer her to the inner sect," he finally said. "Give her a separate courtyard, and her monthly allowance will be the same as that of an inner sect disciple."

Qingluo was slightly taken aback, then understood and bowed her head in response, "Yes."

The hot-tempered elder couldn't help but ask, "Valley Master, is a good-for-nothing servant worth it?"

Xuanzhenzi glanced at him.

That gaze was indifferent, yet it made the elder instinctively shut his mouth.

"It's not about whether it's worth it or not," Xuanzhenzi said, "it's about being prepared for a rainy day."

He stood up, walked to the palace entrance, and gazed at the deep night outside.

He retired two years ago.

Two years later, he was still retiring.

But he had a vague feeling in his heart.

This "retreat" probably won't last much longer.

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