Chongming Xianzong

Chapter 116 Confession
Kang Dabao left the shopkeeper surnamed Ye and returned to Chongming Tower. He asked Zhou Xinran to settle a team of soldiers first, and then took her back to the sect.

Sitting in the sect's meeting hall, after all the fellow disciples and disciples were seated, Sect Leader Kang finally spoke.

"The provincial court has sent a letter asking me to lead a team to meet up with Sima Fei in Wang County to suppress the bandits. With such a big commotion, both sides will probably have to gather hundreds of cultivators to fight, which will most likely involve foundation building." Kang Dabao paused here and looked around. Not to mention his fellow disciples and disciples, even the old cultivator Ji Wuwu showed concern. He couldn't help but feel relieved.

"It's a dangerous journey, and I'm afraid it's hard to be safe. There are always some things to be explained first." The head of the Kang family said in a serious tone, but Jiang Qing, who had done the attack, suddenly stood up and said, "Brother, let me go with you. As long as I still have the sword in my hand, no one can hurt you."

Upon hearing this, Master Kang's face seemed to show some kindness. After all, it was the junior brother who grew up in the cargo rack on his shoulders. Now the junior brother is Zhou Yixiu.

Kang Dabao felt warm in his heart, but he still scolded, "You are bragging. I have already said that this matter involves building a foundation, how can you not be injured? If you go with me, I will be serving as an official for nothing."

Jiang Qing's face turned pale when he heard this. He clenched his teeth, lowered his head and said no more.

"I'm not bringing anyone with me this time, so you just stay at home and take care of the house." Kang Dabao raised his hand and suppressed Yuan Jin who had just stood up to say something.

"Well, there is no point in talking any more. I called you here because I have some things to arrange. Junior Brother Zhou, please estimate the revenue of Chongming Building first."

"In reply to the headmaster, in the past three months, Chongming Tower has made a profit of 11 spirit stones from the sale of elixirs, 8 spirit stones from the sale of magic tools, and 42 spirit stones from the operation of the wine shop and accommodation. Based on this estimate, it is expected that the final profit for the whole year will be around 240 spirit stones."

"The head master previously exempted the rent for each store in Chongming Market for four years. Now, we can share the stall fees of the independent cultivators with the four stores. We can earn about 400 spirit stones a year. Excluding the 300 spirit stones for maintaining the market formation, we can still get about 70 spirit stones every year."

Zhou Xinran received the order, and a calm and serene look appeared on his originally plain face. He stood up from his seat and answered.

Kang Dabao nodded with satisfaction. After nearly a year of operation and the hard work of the pretty steward Zhou Xinran, Chongming Building finally seemed to be getting on the right track.

Excluding the dividends given to Pei Yi and Yuan Jin, and the salaries of the two chefs, Chongming Xiaolou can still make a stable profit of two to three hundred spirit stones a year, which is much better than the situation when it first opened.

"Junior Brother Zhou, please tell me about the situation of the spiritual field." Kang Dabao turned and looked at Zhou Yixiu.

"Last season, Rongquan planted a sparse amount of red spiritual grain based on my experience, but it didn't grow well. We only harvested eight hu and one dou of red spiritual grain from the twenty-one mu first-grade low-quality spiritual field. Not only did we earn almost no spiritual stones after deducting the expenses of spiritual fertilizer and seeds, but we also reduced the fertility of the spiritual field. This means that we won't be able to plant spiritual grain next year and we need to leave the field fallow."

"But I read the Nine Theories on Spiritual Plants left by the seniors in the sect. It said that in this case, you can plant some white alfalfa. Not only can it produce a little, but it can also increase the fertility of the spiritual field more than planting yellow sprout beans. I roughly calculated that according to this method, you can earn about 30 spiritual stones with the output of white alfalfa in one season."

"We can plant spiritual grains next year. Our spiritual fields are all newly opened, and their fertility is still a lot poor. We may not be able to grow red spiritual grains well. Junior brother prefers to plant brown grains. If all goes well, we can probably earn about 90 spiritual stones a year. We will continue to cultivate according to the crop rotation method every year, planting white alfalfa and brown grains in turn. After seven or eight years, when the fertility of the spiritual fields has improved, we can try to plant red spiritual grains and some low-level spiritual medicines. After another 20 to 30 years of cultivating the spiritual fields, Junior brother can try to upgrade some of the spiritual fields to first-class medium-quality ones."

"That locust tree is almost fully recovered. The female cultivator from the Lu family came to see it earlier. Next year, her black spirit bees will be able to collect honey. We will make a net profit of 120 to 160 spirit stones from the spirit honey alone. The locust flowers will also be produced, which will make about 80 to 100 spirit stones."

Zhou Yixiu was indeed a very good farmer. He had all the information about spiritual plants in his head. He answered Kang Dabao's questions in an orderly manner and his statements were straightforward. Even a complete layman who knew nothing about spiritual plants could understand him clearly.

"Based on the minimum calculation, Junior Brother Zhou's spiritual plants can earn about 250 spiritual stones for the sect each year. At most, it will be more than 350. Adding the 310 from Chongming Market, that means there will be at least 560 spiritual stones brought in each year." Kang Dabao closed his eyes and calculated, feeling delighted.

Whether or not there is a qualified master of farming can have a great impact on the development of the sect.

"Thank you for your hard work, Junior Brother Zhou." Master Kang praised from the bottom of his heart.

Zhou Yixiu even said he dared not, these days in Chongming Sect were indeed rare days in his years of cultivation where he could practice with peace of mind. He really had a sincere gratitude towards Kang Dabao in his heart.

"If I had come here earlier, I wouldn't be still at the fifth level of Qi training, with no hope of building a foundation." Zhou Yixiu sighed in his heart and looked at Kang Dabao with some worry in his eyes. If something happened to the head brother, he didn't know whether the current situation that he had worked so hard to build could be maintained.

"Junior Brother Yuan, you have been in charge of the sect's expenses these days, so tell us about it." Kang Dabao called Yuan Jin out again. In fact, he had always been doing this matter with Yuan Jin, so he knew most of it. However, since Chongming Sect had rarely held such a serious meeting today, he still needed to talk about it.

"There are not many expenditure items in the sect nowadays. The biggest part is still the annual salary and job allowance of each disciple." Yuan Jin paused, took out the jade slip he carried with him, and read it: "Our sect now has one late-stage disciple, with an annual salary of 40 yuan; four middle-stage disciples, each with an annual salary of 20 yuan, a total of 80 yuan; six early-stage disciples (Zhou Xinran, Han Yundao, Duan Anle, Kang Rongquan, Pei Que, Jin Shilun), each with an annual salary of 10 yuan, a total of 60 yuan; and two disciples who have not yet entered the Tao (Mo'er and Zhang Le), have not received annual salaries.

"At the same time, disciples who have not reached the age of dancing elephants (fifteen years old) will receive a subsidy of five spirit stones every year, totaling twenty spirit stones. The total annual salary is two hundred spirit stones."

"In addition to the annual salary, each disciple who holds a position will receive an allowance. The head of the sect receives 100 spirit stones a year; the deacon who teaches skills receives 20 spirit stones a year, the deacon who refines pills receives 20 spirit stones a year, the deacon who refines weapons receives 20 spirit stones a year, the deacon who manages spirit plants receives 20 spirit stones a year, the disciple who manages spirit plants receives 5 spirit stones a year, the disciple who manages the market receives 5 spirit stones a year, the disciple who manages the animal garden receives 5 spirit stones a year, and the disciple who is a chef receives 5 spirit stones a year. The total amount of the position allowance is 200 spirit stones."

"Early-stage disciples need to buy two bottles of Qi Condensation Pills every year, which only includes the raw materials, and costs two spirit stones. Mid-stage disciples need to buy one bottle of Qi Refining Powder every year, which costs twelve spirit stones. Late-stage disciples need to pay for their own elixirs, and an additional eighteen spirit stones are allocated. The total cost of elixirs is seventy-eight spirit stones."

"With this, plus the sixty spirit stones that need to be paid to the Pingrong County Government every year, our sect's annual fixed expenditure is five hundred and thirty-eight spirit stones."

Kang Dabao sighed after hearing this. Chong Mingzong was indeed earning a lot now, but his expenses were also not small.

The person primarily responsible for this situation is naturally Sect Leader Kang. The annual salary he offers to his disciples is one-third higher than that of long-established large sects like Cao Wu Sect, and is almost as high as that of Chong Ming Sect during its heyday.

But now, after some planning by Sect Leader Kang, the areas where large amounts of spirit stones were needed have been almost all spent. Instead of hoarding the earned spirit stones, it would be more cost-effective to distribute them as soon as possible to enhance the strength of the disciples.

Besides, the actual expenses are not that big. For example, Kang Dabao, the sect does not have enough spirit stones now, and he has never received the full 100-yuan allowance for the head of the sect.

As for Jiang Qing's Seven Lights Heart-Severing Sword, he explicitly stated that he would pay the sect back with his own spirit stones. He had picked up quite a few storage bags over the years, and it would be easy to pay it back by selling the odds and ends;
As for the hundreds of spirit stones that Yuan Jin had spent to get away from Master Qi, he also said that he would suspend his annual salary until he paid it off.

In this way, the Chongming Sect only needs to operate normally every year, and after distributing generous spiritual supplies to the disciples, there will still be more than one hundred or nearly two hundred spirit stones left. After saving for five or six years, it will be able to easily buy a top-level magic weapon similar to the Seven Stars Heart-Severing Sword.

This can be considered quite good among the spiritual forces in Pingrong County.

After decades of hard work, Kang Dabao finally helped Chongming Sect get rid of the poverty-stricken days of the past. After counting all this, he couldn't help but feel a little emotional. "Good." Thousands of words were left in his heart, and in the end, only the word "good" came out of Kang Dabao's mouth.

"Youngsters, please stand up and let me take another look." Master Kang calmed down his somewhat excited mood.

As the eldest senior brother of the next generation, Han Yundao, with red eyes, led a group of younger generations to the center of the hall.

"My dear son, practice hard and let me see the day when my Chongming Sect will no longer be controlled by others."

"Great uncle." The younger generations all wiped their tears. Kang Rongquan cried the most sadly, and his clothes were wet.

"I am about to go on a long journey, and I should not say discouraging words. However, this battle involves building a foundation, and I may not be able to come back safely. It would be more appropriate to decide on the position of the next headmaster first." Kang Dabao turned his gaze to his fellow disciples.

"Junior Brother Yuan."

"Yuan Jin is here."

"If I really can't come back, you just take on the role of the headmaster." Kang Dabao sighed, and as soon as he said this, the air in the hall almost froze.

Kang Dabao carefully glanced at the expressions of his fellow apprentices. They all had frowns and were very anxious, but there were some differences in the details.

Zhou Yixiu's face was filled with sorrow, Jiang Qing's face was mixed with anxiety and hope, and Yuan Jin's face was 99% fear mixed with 10% joy.

After Pei Yi's hope, fear and sorrow, there was an unconcealable flash of loss in his eyes.

To be fair, when it comes to the position of the leader of the Chongming Sect, regardless of the aspects of cultivation, qualifications, and abilities, Pei Yi should be much stronger than his junior brother Yuan Jin. If he were to be the leader, he would be more suitable.

But Kang Dabao hesitated for a long time, and still chose Yuan Jin as the head.

Perhaps this is also the reason why the uncles chose to move out of Chongming Sect and leave in anger after the old man made the decision that year.

However, power is tempting, and human nature is such that practitioners are not immortals after all, and it is still difficult for them to escape from the mundane world.

At that time, the master had no son, and his only daughter was a useless girl. She was not much younger than Kang Dabao, but her cultivation was even worse than Kang Dabao's.

Because of some things that were difficult to talk about, she left home early and never returned. Plus, she was a woman, so naturally she couldn't be the head of the sect.

However, there wasn't even a single immortal with spiritual roots among the He family at that time, so it was naturally impossible for this position to be passed down to the He family members in a simple way.

The old man was selfish at the time and passed the position to his eldest disciple instead of choosing the young and strong Uncle Li and others.

It is not known whether he had thought about it at the time, but this decision would cause the Chongming Sect, which he had managed to build up with great difficulty and had just shown some signs of revival, to completely fall apart.

Today, I am also selfish and unwilling to pass the position of the head of the sect to Uncle Li's line, which also hurts Pei Yi's heart.

But the Chongming Sect of today was almost entirely created by himself, so he will not repeat the same mistakes as before.

"Huh, the position that Master passed on to me should be passed on to Master's disciples. I should be able to do it well." Master Kang looked at Yuan Jin with some worry.

"Junior Brother Pei." Kang Dabao looked at Pei Yi again.

"Pei Yi is here." Pei Yi was a little dazed. When he heard Kang Dabao calling him, he was stunned for a moment before he stood up.

"Junior brother Song Cai Panmian, and a man of great talent, will be promoted to the position of elder to pass on the skills from today onwards."

"Junior brother thanks the headmaster." Pei Yi knew that this was Kang Dabao's consolation to him, and he felt much better in an instant. "In the heart of the headmaster, he still knows that I am better than Junior Brother Yuan."

Kang Dabao finally turned his attention to Jiang Qing. There were actually no exceptionally talented people among the next generation of disciples. The hope for the sect's revival would ultimately rest on this "Sword Immortal" of the Chongming Sect.

"When we are done, take all the treasures out of the coffin and give them to the third brother for safekeeping."

Just as Sect Leader Kang was thinking this, he saw Yuan Jin, who was no longer as sloppy as usual, walked out with red eyes, and immediately bowed down in the hall.

"It is not easy to restore the sect. I am an unworthy disciple. In the past, the sect leader relied on me alone to run the sect. I still remember the hardships I went through. Today, I am worried about you again, but I am powerless. I hope you take care of yourself and don't get hurt!"

"Disciple Chongming, thanks the master!" Pei Yi, the elder who taught the skills, immediately stepped out and sang loudly.

"Disciple Chongming, thanks the master!" Everyone in the hall stood up and bowed together when they heard the voice.

"I am unworthy of this. The revival of our sect depends on you all!" Sect Master Kang laughed through his tears and bowed deeply to the leader.

　Thanks to Jiulan Qiannian and Wumingzhishan for their monthly tickets.

　　Thank you for your reading, subscription, voting and comments. Thank you everyone
　　(Lao Bai has started working the night shift since this week, so the update will be in the afternoon again. Please be aware of this if you are following the update.)
　　
　
(End of this chapter)