Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 136 Everyone has their own agenda
Song Xian had anticipated this. Zhong Wenyuan was an old-school conservative who would definitely not agree with this new management model. His purpose in coming here was first to persuade him to regain his confidence, and second to convince him to accept this.

"Brother Wenyuan, don't get excited. Let me explain it to you slowly."

"You are an elder of the Qingyun Sect. Your understanding of the Qingyun Sect is much deeper than mine."

"Although I have only been in the Qingyun Sect for two years, I have lived in the mountain gate for more than ten years. I have learned a lot from what I have seen and heard."

"Let's not talk about anything else, just take the second-level spiritual farm near Qingyun Sect as an example. Such a large second-level spiritual farm only generates a few thousand spiritual stones each year. Why is this? Senior Brother Wenyuan naturally knows it very well."

"The Qingyun Sect's leaders are corrupt and their followers are corrupt. Almost all of the sect's assets have been embezzled by the disciples who handled them. Everyone is corrupt and embezzled, causing the Qingyun Sect to be in financial distress. The spirit stones are all going into personal pockets instead of the treasury."

"If we manage our resource industry according to the Qingyun Sect's approach, we'll inevitably make the same mistakes."

Everything about the Qingyun Sect's past was vivid in his mind. Faced with this ironclad fact, Zhong Wenyuan didn't know how to start. However, the plan proposed by Song Xian seemed too absurd to him. Which force in the world would give away its own cultivation resources to outsiders for free? This was really hard for him to accept.

After a long silence, he finally said, "Hunyuan Sect is not Qingyun Sect. Our disciples are not so greedy. Besides, all sects in the world are like this. I have never seen any sect give away their own resources to others. The Qingyun Sect ended up like that because of poor supervision. As long as we keep a close eye on it, there will be no problem."

Song Xian said, "There are only a dozen or so people in the sect now, and everyone is working under our supervision. Supervision is of course easy, but the sect needs to develop. Apart from anything else, we will introduce ten independent cultivators this year. Add in the dozen or so young children with spiritual roots who haven't yet reached the mortal stage, and there will be thirty people in total."

"When there are too many people, their minds become more complex. We can't guarantee that everyone will be loyal to the sect. There will always be selfish people."

"Besides, spiritual fields, as external resources, are inherently independent. Qianyuan Valley is two hundred miles away from the sect, and requires specialized personnel for maintenance. Furthermore, the spiritual herbs planted there have a mortality rate. It's impossible to reconcile accounts for such inexplicable things."

"Even if you plant a thousand spiritual herbs and only harvest two hundred, the person in charge can find various reasons to shirk responsibility, such as pests in the spiritual fields causing large-scale deaths, or too much rain, extremely hot weather, etc."

"Even if we strictly supervise and the disciples who manage the spiritual fields are loyal and don't take advantage of the spiritual fields, there is no guarantee that they won't become lazy."

"After all, this is the sect's property, not his personal property. How many people would care so much about public property? And the cultivation of spiritual herbs requires careful care."

"There are at least three advantages to renting out our spiritual fields to outsiders. First, it can prevent the disciples who manage the spiritual fields from embezzling money. We only need to charge a fixed fee, and the renter will be responsible for all profits and losses."

"Secondly, it can save manpower. The management of spiritual fields definitely requires people. If you want to do it well, you need to hire professional spiritual planters. After the spiritual herbs are planted, in order to prevent the management from embezzling money, you have to send people to monitor from time to time. This also requires considering whether the supervisors are accepting bribes."

"Third, it can maximize the use of the spiritual fields. If the spiritual fields are rented out, the person who rents them will definitely take good care of them and won't be as lazy as the people who manage the spiritual fields in the sect."

"On the other hand, we can recruit talented people through leasing and have them work for us without having to pay the sect's disciples' salaries. After all, the spiritual fields are ours. If they want to continue operating them, they have to listen to us obediently. Otherwise, we can take the spiritual fields back at any time."

"Fourth, the situation in Bianxia Town is tense right now. The Loose Cultivator Alliance has just been established and could attack us at any time. If a conflict breaks out, the spiritual farm in Qianyuan Valley will undoubtedly bear the brunt. Sending anyone to manage that spiritual farm at this time would be extremely risky."

Zhong Wenyuan was completely silent. Faced with Song Xian's well-reasoned and lengthy arguments, he didn't know how to refute them. Also, because he was a rational and pragmatic person, he couldn't be so shameless as to go against his conscience and make sophistry based on his position.

Song Xian then went further and said, "The first-level spiritual field in Qianling Valley is not very valuable in itself, so it can be used for experiments. If this method works, we will do it. If not, we can take it back after a few years. What do you think, Senior Brother Wenyuan?"

Zhong Wenyuan finally nodded. Seeing that he was convinced, Song Xian felt relieved. If he wanted to reform the sect system, he had to get Zhong Wenyuan's support, otherwise it would be difficult to implement.

Just as Zhong Wenyuan said, this spiritual field was snatched from the Yunfeng Trading Company by the people of Hunyuan Sect at great risk to their lives, and even Zhong Yang's life was paid for it.

The spiritual field is the sect's asset, not Song Xian's private property. Even though he is the head of the sect, he cannot deal with it without authorization.

Leasing the sect's resources and territory to outsiders is an incomprehensible act in the eyes of many people and is bound to be opposed.

If everyone opposes, he cannot act arbitrarily, because things always need to be done by people below him. If no one supports a decision, how can it be accomplished if it is carried out in a hypocritical manner?

In the secular world, even a hereditary emperor who wants to implement new policies must listen to the opinions of his ministers and obtain their support, let alone the head of a sect.

In terms of power, although the sect leader is also the leader of a sect, his power is definitely not as great as that of a hereditary emperor.

Fortunately, Song Xian's previous series of decisions have achieved considerable results. For example, the sale of Yuxiang Dan and the recruitment of independent cultivators such as Qi Xiaobai and Feng Yan have all received positive feedback.

In addition, the image of fairness and selflessness he established on a daily basis gave him a very high prestige in the sect, earning him recognition and respect from everyone. That was why he was able to convince Zhong Wenyuan with just a few words. With Zhong Wenyuan's support, it would be much easier to convince others.

…………

With bright sunshine and intoxicating breeze, May is the most comfortable time of the year in Bianxia Town.

Looking out from the mountain gate of Qingyuan Sect, one can see clusters of flowers and fluttering colorful flags, creating an atmosphere of joy and happiness.

Two flying magic weapons came rushing from afar and landed not far from the mountain gate. The people who came were Song Xian and his party.

Besides him, there are also George Lam, Zhang Yi and Wang Huan.

The situation in Bianxia Town is not peaceful right now, so Song Xian brought a few more people to the banquet, fearing that something unexpected might happen along the way.

"Greetings, Sect Leader Song. Our sect has specially sent me here to welcome you all. The Sect Leader is waiting upstairs. Please follow me." An inner sect disciple of the Qingyuan Sect came up quickly and bowed to him.

Song Xian nodded slightly, and the disciple led the group into the mountain gate and came to a towering hall.

"Master Song from the Hunyuan Sect has arrived." Outside the hall, more than a dozen disciples from the Qingyuan Sect were lined up in two long rows. As Song Xian and others arrived, the disciple leading them shouted first.

Then the two disciples at the outside of the line echoed, and then the two disciples on the left and right of each row opened their voices and shouted one after another.

Several people walked through the ranks of Qingyuan Sect disciples and entered the main hall. In the inner room, Qingyuan Sect's headmaster Hu Yingquan and two elders had already stood up to greet them.

"Master Song, I'm sorry for not welcoming you in person. Please take a seat." Hu Yingquan smiled and bowed.

"Master Hu has given me such a gracious invitation, how dare I refuse it?" Song Xian returned the greeting and glanced at the seats. In addition to Hu Yingquan, there were two elders and Ding Wenxiang, the head of the Ding family, in the hall.

He nodded to Ding Wenxiang and sat down opposite him.

"How is Master Song?" Hu Yingquan smiled and started chatting about family matters.

The three of them chatted for a while, and soon, the voices of Qingyuan Sect disciples were heard outside. It turned out that Mao Jie from Xuri Sect had arrived.

"I've invited you all to our sect to attend a celebration today. First, to thank you for your strong support during our last attack on Fengyun Trading Company. Second, to discuss the current situation."

After the leaders of the three sects arrived, Hu Yingquan stopped chatting about irrelevant things and got straight to the point.

"You three fellow Daoists should have heard that the five remaining independent cultivator forces in Bianxia Town have formed an alliance and established an alliance headquarters. I wonder what your three fellow Daoists think of this?"

Mao Jie spoke first, "They're clearly targeting us. Since the independent cultivators have formed an alliance, we can't fall behind. I suggest we also form an alliance and announce our joint actions. This will deter those independent cultivators. Otherwise, there's no guarantee they won't attack us."

Ding Wenxiang followed suit, saying, "Master Mao is right. We just captured Lingyun Mountain and divided up the Yunfeng Trading Company's resource-rich territory, and several independent cultivators have already formed an alliance. I think their next move will be to seize the Yunfeng Trading Company's territory. If we don't unite, we'll be bullied by them."

The Xuri Sect and the Ding family have no property in Bianxia Town. In the past two years, the sect's finances have been in a loss-making state and have been living off their past capital. Naturally, they are afraid that the world will not be in chaos and hope that Bianxia Town will be as chaotic as possible so that they can profit from it.

However, Song Xian didn't want to make a big fuss. The Hunyuan Sect had been operating on the right track for the past two years, with income sufficient to cover expenses and a surplus every year.

The most important thing is that the sect is the weakest among these people. If it clashes head-on with the alliance of loose cultivators in Bianxia Town, he will definitely be the one who suffers.

Once a large-scale conflict breaks out between the two sides and a situation of endless fighting and irreconcilable conflict arises, let alone the ownership of the Qianyuan Valley spiritual field, even if he wants to sell the Yuxiang Pill properly, others may not let him do so.

For him, it would be best to stop here.

After the battle at Lingyun Mountain, not only did they lay a solid foundation for cooperation with Qingyuan Sect, eliminating the worry of being isolated among the many forces in Bianxia Town, but they also got a piece of spiritual farmland, and the offended Yunfeng Trading Company was also wiped out.

(End of this chapter)