Immortal Cultivation: Starting as a Fortune Cultivator - Chapter 35

The central plaza of the Fortune Cultivators’ Hall.

Upon hearing Lin Fan’s words, the people seated at the banquet below broke into murmuring discussions!

Meanwhile, Ye Qingxuan felt somewhat dazed. As he looked at the figures of Li Xuan and Zhu Dafu, they overlapped in his memory with those two childish figures from the past. He thought to himself:
“So it was the two of them.”

When Ye Qingxuan had first entered the Xuantian Sect, he had crossed paths with Li Xuan and Zhu Dafu.

Back then, they were all just twelve-year-old boys.

At that time, he had even clashed with a friend of Li Xuan and Zhu Dafu, a guy named something like Long Tian.

Unfortunately, it seemed that fellow Long Tian later failed to pass the Xuantian Sect’s entrance assessment.

Recalling the information that Long Tian had let slip back then, it seemed Li Xuan and Zhu Dafu had already recruited quite a few Fortune Cultivators while staying at the Xuantian Sect’s reception lodge, even before officially joining the sect?
Thinking of this, Ye Qingxuan swept his gaze over the crowd, giving a meaningful look towards the three figures of Lin Fan, Li Xuan, and Zhu Dafu at the center of the plaza.

It seemed they had come prepared!
Sure enough, the banquet fell silent for only a moment before many people stood up, laughing:

“Hahaha, Senior Brother Lin, isn’t this clearly you helping us? With the existence of an alliance, we won’t have to bother with these trivial matters anymore in the future.”

“Exactly! Anyway, we won’t be able to leave our Blessed Lands. It’s better to hand over the resources produced there to the alliance to exchange for spirit stones on our behalf.”

“Hehe, well said! Senior Brother Lin is most benevolent!”

Hearing these words, many disciples from the Fortune Cultivators’ Hall seated on the outer edges of the banquet also showed signs of being moved.

Li Xuan, who had been silently observing the entire scene, saw this and knew the timing was ripe. He signaled Lin Fan with a glance.

Sensing Li Xuan’s gaze, Lin Fan immediately understood. Capitalizing on the support voiced by his many friends in the crowd, he promptly took out a scroll of contracts and proclaimed loudly:

“Since no one has any objections, then we—”

“Hold on!”

At that moment, a square-faced youth from the outer seats interrupted Lin Fan. He stood up and sneered:

“May I ask, Senior Brother Lin, what rules would we need to follow after joining this alliance?”

Hearing this, those in the crowd who had been somewhat tempted immediately showed hesitation!

Seeing the situation changing, Lin Fan hurriedly explained:

“Junior Brother Xiao Feng, rest assured! Everyone won’t need to follow too many rules. It’s just that in the future, when choosing what spirit plants to cultivate in your Blessed Lands, you’ll base it on market statistics compiled by the alliance.”

“So you mean, from now on, what spiritual materials we cultivate in our Blessed Lands will be decided by the alliance? Hah, farewell!”

After hearing Lin Fan’s words, the square-faced youth named Xiao Feng directly pointed out the crux of the matter, then turned and left the banquet plaza without hesitation.

Seeing Xiao Feng leave, others from the outer area also began to take their leave, finding excuses to exit the banquet plaza:

“Senior Brother Lin! I have matters to attend to, I must take my leave.”
“Yes, Senior Brother Lin, I also have urgent business. Please forgive me, but I must go now!”

Lin Fan’s expression changed. He spoke up again to reassure them:

“Everyone, please be at ease! The categories of spiritual materials the alliance selects will definitely be the most valuable, causing no loss to anyone! Please believe me, Lin Fan!”

However, his words weren’t very effective.

Nevertheless, thanks to the covert groundwork of recruitment and persuasion that Li Xuan and Zhu Dafu had already begun earlier,

in the end, over thirty people chose to stay, sign the contract, and join the alliance. This accounted for about half of the current disciples in the Fortune Cultivators’ Hall.

Seeing that things had reached this point, Li Xuan finally spoke:

“Junior Brother Lin, having over thirty people join the alliance initially is already sufficient. Since the others are unwilling, there’s no need to force them.”

If they weren’t willing to follow their arrangements for cultivating spiritual materials, then for them, establishing this Fortune Cultivators’ Alliance would be fundamentally pointless.

Purchasing spiritual materials at market price wasn’t difficult within the Xuantian Sect.

What they wanted was simply to pool the power of numerous Fortune Cultivators to monopolize the market for a certain low-grade spiritual material.

For the initial stage, over thirty Fortune Cultivators would be enough to use.

Hearing Li Xuan speak, Lin Fan also stopped his prepared attempts to recruit further.

Watching the Fortune Cultivator Hall disciples leave one by one, a trace of pity flashed in Lin Fan’s eyes.

The reason he had agreed to Li Xuan and Zhu Dafu’s proposal to spearhead the formation of this alliance was their promise of a forty percent share of the alliance’s profits for him.

His inherited Blessed Land slot was for a second-grade Blessed Land.

Although its grade wasn’t high, his future path was much broader than those Fortune Cultivators who directly contracted first-grade spirit lands.

After all, a second-grade Blessed Land, whether in terms of the speed of enhancing a cultivator’s spiritual root or the benefits it brought, far surpassed a first-grade one.

If he could further leverage the vast resources obtained from the alliance to nurture his Blessed Land to the third grade, then a sliver of hope for his future might still remain.

Therefore, Lin Fan was deeply invested in the establishment of this Fortune Cultivators’ Alliance.

Seated in a corner of the banquet’s outer area, Ye Qingxuan,

seeing this play had reached its finale, also stood up casually, let out a satisfied burp, and prepared to leave the banquet plaza.

After leaving the plaza, Ye Qingxuan hadn’t gone far and was just about to summon his flying sword to return to his own courtyard,

when the little chubby fellow who had been sitting next to him earlier caught up again, curiously asking:

“Why was everyone unwilling to join the alliance? I thought it sounded pretty good?”

Ye Qingxuan glanced at the little fatty and countered:
“If you thought it was good, then why did you leave?”

Hearing Ye Qingxuan’s words, the little fatty chuckled:

“Hehe, I left because I saw everyone else leaving! My mother told me, when you don’t know which path to take, just follow behind everyone else. You might not gain big rewards, but at least you’ll stay much safer!”

Ye Qingxuan looked at the grinning little fatty, his heart stirring slightly. He asked curiously:

“Then why were you so insistent on exchanging contact imprints with everyone?”

“My mother said I should make more friends in the future. More friends mean more paths available.”

“What about your mother?”

The smile on the little fatty’s face suddenly froze. He stopped walking, his expression dimming:
“My mother passed away.”

Hearing this, Ye Qingxuan also stopped. Looking at the little fatty, he apologized:
“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. My mother told me to be happier in the future. I’m not sad anymore, hehe!”
The little fatty shook his head, his face still wearing that same grin.

“By the way, you still haven’t told me why everyone was unwilling to join the alliance.”

Seeing the little fatty ask again, Ye Qingxuan spoke:

“What do you think is the thing Fortune Cultivators desire most after becoming one?”

Hearing this, the little fatty shook his head in confusion:
“I don’t know.”

Ye Qingxuan, seeing this, looked up towards the sky and said:

“It’s freedom.”

“Freedom?”

“Yes, exactly. Freedom.”

After saying this, Ye Qingxuan flew away on his sword alone.

Most ordinary people, after becoming Fortune Cultivators, can no longer see hope for their future. Things like profit, perhaps these Fortune Cultivators don’t value them highly.

The reason everyone was unwilling to join the alliance was simply because, after bearing the shackles of the Blessed Land, they didn’t want to layer on another binding constraint.

The reason quite a few were still willing to stay and join the so-called alliance was merely because these individuals hadn’t officially become Fortune Cultivators yet and hadn’t realized this point.