Cultivation begins with separation.

Chapter 367 The Dilemma of the Yi Family in Yangzhou
Neither Yi Qing nor Yi Ling took Yi Mo's matter to heart.

Similarly, after hearing Yi Ling's words, Yi Mo rushed to Yangzhou.

After spending half a month returning to Yangzhou, Yi Mo's already bad mood worsened.

Yangzhou is a superior prefecture.

The Yi family was just a small cultivation family located in a medium-sized county.

There are countless families like the Yi family in Yangzhou that specialize in cultivating immortality.

After briefly reviewing the family's current situation, Yi Mo discovered that the Yi family of Yangzhou was on the verge of bankruptcy.

That's right, it's bankruptcy.

The concept of overspending is quite normal in a prosperous place like Yangzhou, a place associated with cultivating immortality.

Yi Mo turned off the magic artifact screen and closed his eyes.

At that moment, he remembered what Yi Dong had told him when he was a child.

When Yi Dong was a child, he told him that a country, or even a large power, whether it is a mortal country or a cultivation country in a chaotic period, is superficially maintained by things like material output and taxation.

However, that's not actually the case. As Yi Dong said, in the Heavenly Capital Spirit Realm, from ancient times to the present, and even in the human kingdoms outside the Heavenly Capital Spirit Realm, what sustains everything has never been anything like material output or productivity levels, but rather something very obvious yet easily overlooked: "loans".

Through "loans," the upper echelons of the nation can multiply limited resources dozens of times in exchange for cheap labor from the lower classes.

Yi Dong didn't go into details about this, but he mentioned it to explain why he lent money within the family, causing most of the family members to be in debt.

In Yi Dong's view, rather than letting the Immortal Kingdom exploit the Yi family members, it would be better for him to do it.

Most of the cultivators in the Yi family of Qingzhou will gradually accumulate debt over time, and a portion of their salaries will be used to repay these loans.

In this way, the cultivators of the Yi family seemed to enjoy high salaries on the surface, but in reality, many clansmen never understood until their deaths that the "high salaries" they thought were good were all fake. Considering all the interest they paid on their loans, the rewards they received for working in the Yi family and for working as independent cultivators outside the Yi family seemed to be about the same.

Yi Mo didn't disbelieve Yi Dong's words, but he thought Yi Dong had exaggerated somewhat.

Nowadays, the laws of the Immortal Kingdom are strict and there is no "usury". In Yi Mo's view, the loan interest rate allowed by the government is very reasonable. Therefore, Yi Mo did not use Yi Dong's methods to exploit his clansmen, and also supported some clansmen to take out loans in critical moments.

The reason for this is that a large part of the Yi family in Yangzhou are direct descendants of Yi Mo, and they are all related to Yi Mo.

At first, Yi Mo didn't pay attention, but later he discovered that his family was gradually becoming unable to make ends meet, and was even starting to drag him down significantly.

But what good will it do to know?
Not only was Yi Mo aware of the potential threat posed by the loan, but many small cultivation families within the Immortal Kingdom were also aware of it.

But their people couldn't help it.

For example, if someone at the peak of Qi Refining is just a little short of buying a Foundation Establishment package with spirit stones, and they have no choice but to take out a loan, can they refuse to take out a loan in this situation?
Similarly, during cultivation, when you encounter a crucial treasure, do you buy it or not? If you buy it, the opportunity to become an immortal may lie within it; if you don't buy it, you may fall behind step by step, and never have any hope of ascending to immortality. In the face of life and death, who can calmly consider the future?

In Yangzhou, there are very few families with distinguished achievements; if there are, they have simply divided their branches.

But there are thirteen ancient families here.

These thirteen ancient families were the masters of Yangzhou.

They not only monopolized the supply of many spiritual items and elixirs, but even the loan business was ostensibly theirs.

The reason why these ancient families could monopolize loans in a superior state like Yangzhou was not only because they had a strong financial foundation, but also because they were constantly attracting deposits.

By depositing and lending, taking advantage of the interest rate difference, one can obtain huge profits without even spending a single spirit stone.

Most of the loans taken out by the Yi family came from the businesses controlled by those thirteen companies.

Some ignorant cultivation families might think that moving to a different continent would allow them to get rid of the Thirteen Families.

But Yi Mo knew the inside story: in a superior state like Yangzhou, most of the profits from the spirit stone loan industry went to the official government of the Immortal Kingdom.

The "official" here refers to the central finance department of the Immortal Kingdom, not just the Yangzhou government.

In other words, as long as they are still in the Heavenly Capital Spirit Realm, no matter where the Yi family of Yangzhou runs, they cannot renege on their loan.

If they cannot repay the debt, the useful cultivators of the Yi family in Yangzhou will likely be transformed into war puppets, or become tools for alchemy and weapon crafting, or experimental materials. Even cultivators of little value can become cheap miners.

If a loan cannot be repaid in the end, there will be no situation where the debt is cleared up; instead, it will continue to accrue interest, and as long as the family bloodline is not extinct, it will continue to accrue interest.

Of course, the Immortal Kingdom still has some humane aspects. In general, the debts owed by descendants will be shared reasonably according to their cultivation level, and no one member of a clan will be made to bear the debts of everyone in the clan.

Similarly, the loans taken out by cultivators will not involve mortals. Even if the Yi family goes bankrupt, only the cultivators will bear the consequences.

Unlike loans, deposits are usually confiscated when the depositor dies unexpectedly and there are no legal heirs.

The Yi family of Yangzhou, besides its own members, also included the Fang and Dongfang families who were attached to it.

In addition, there were also some non-clan members brought by Yi Mo's many Daoist partners.

Those people and their descendants also relied on Yi Mo.

The individual loans may not seem like much, but when put together, they made Yi Mo feel depressed.

"If I can't regain my position as Heavenly General, let alone what will happen to others, even I myself might have no hope for the rest of my life." In fact, if he hadn't lost his position as Heavenly General, Yi Mo wouldn't have cared much even if the loan had multiplied several times.

The Heavenly General wields great power in the Immortal Kingdom and is also a key cultivator cultivated by the military. His loan amount will be very large, and he will not need to worry about repayment for a long time.

However, even if one loses their position as a high-ranking official and becomes another less important official, their loan amount will immediately be reduced.

Yi Mo had considered borrowing spirit stones from the Yi family of Qingzhou.

In Yi Mo's view, the Yi family of Qingzhou must have a lot of spirit stones, and as long as he leaks out a little bit, he can solve his troubles.

In fact, he did ask, but Dongfang Hong only gave him some spirit stones at first, and then said that the other spirit stones were with Yi Dong and there was no way to get them out, and told him to go to Yi Dong to find a solution.

They tried to find Yi Dong, but he couldn't even get into Zijin Mountain.

Dongfang Hong was at a loss, and Yi Ze had also asked around but couldn't borrow any money. The other brothers and sisters were in even more trouble, so Yi Mo didn't ask Yi Qing and Yi Ling.

In fact, paying off the loan is only a temporary solution, because those who have enjoyed the benefits of advance consumption will not change their nature.

The best solution is to restore his status as a Heavenly General.

Initiating an extraterrestrial war within the Immortal Kingdom will generally yield enormous benefits for any celestial general who survives the conquests beyond the realm, with minimal pressure to repay debts.

After pondering for a while, Yi Mo opened his eyes, his gaze becoming somewhat resolute.

Although he didn't know exactly what Yi Ling wanted him to do by gathering his clansmen.

However, he knew that what Yi Ling had asked his people to do was definitely not a good thing.

This time, Yi Ling asked him to gather his clansmen, which is most likely related to the fighting.

Perhaps, many members of the Yi family in Yangzhou will die.

However, Yi Mo still decided to agree to Yi Ling's request.

The Yi family of Yangzhou is too bloated. If things continue like this, even if they overcome this current difficulty, it will drag them down in the future.

After meeting Yi Qing and Yi Ling, Yi Mo's heart was not at peace.

Although he couldn't hear their thoughts, he had a vague sense of their strength.

He was quite certain that he was no match for the two of them now.

In the first year of Kan Shui, he was still able to fight Yi Qing, and the two were evenly matched.

Only two hundred years have passed, yet such a huge gap has already appeared in their strength, which makes Yi Mo extremely unwilling.

When Yi Mo was studying at the Dao Academy, he believed that he was the one with the brightest future among the five siblings. After all, within the Immortal Kingdom, the path of earth-attribute cultivators was broader than that of cultivators of the other four elements.

In Yi Mo's opinion, he was just too sentimental. If he could be as carefree as Yi Jun and the others, he wouldn't be in this situation.
Yi Jun and Yi Feng also have many descendants, but they continue the management style of the Yi family in Qingzhou. They will not make unpaid contributions to their descendants. Almost everything they have to do is something they have to strive for and fight for themselves.

Yi Mo also plans to conduct a survival-of-the-fittest trial within the family.

This time, those who survive will bring a new lease on life to the Yi family of Yangzhou.

Shenmu Forest.

Yi Qing and Yi Ling have been waiting for a month.

At this moment, they are watching Yi Ze display his supernatural powers.

After a long while, Yi Ze withdrew his supernatural powers.
"We still haven't been able to contact Yi Yan, and the same goes for my mother."

Something must have happened in the Vast Sea Spirit Realm that has kept them all occupied.

Yi Ze primarily contacts Yi Yan through the golden unicorn, Jin Kong.

Unfortunately, although Jin Kong can teleport through Yi Yan's starlight pillar, it has no contractual relationship with Yi Yan and can only passively wait for Yi Yan to contact it through the black unicorn.

Furthermore, communication with Mu Mu is only possible through Mu Mu opening the Starlight Channel.

Upon hearing this, Yi Qing remained unhurried.

On the contrary, Yi Ling was somewhat anxious.

She needs Mu Mu to open the Starlight Vortex to go to the Vast Ocean Spirit Realm to receive memories of a hundred lifetimes, and then participate in the war to eradicate the White Lotus Sect.

The White Lotus Sect can only summon a limited number of Immortal Mothers. If Cheng Ziyan and the White Lotus Sect obtain or even refine those Immortal Mothers, then the Great Dao Golden Core she designed will be missing a crucial element.

Without the Holy Mother of No Life, it would be extremely troublesome for her to cultivate using the power of faith.

However, there was no use in Yi Ling being anxious.

at this time.

The three of them simultaneously sensed a warship hurtling through the air.

(End of this chapter)