Junior sister, I really need to control you

"May I ask if this practice of cleansing the soul and enhancing consciousness is effective for True Immortal cultivators?" Li Yinsheng asked casually.

Qi Jiushan looked somewhat embarrassed: "Ha... Fellow Daoist Li is joking. True cultivators are already beyond the mundane world, and I'm afraid only rare and precious treasures can catch their eye."

"I apologize for my presumption, Fellow Daoist Qi, please continue." Li Yinsheng cupped his hands in greeting.

"Although it is of little use to True Immortal cultivators, for ordinary cultivators, divine sense can only be improved by increasing mana. This refining material can help increase divine sense, so it is naturally very valuable. One piece can be sold for hundreds of talisman coins."

Li Yinsheng was genuinely surprised when Qi Jiushan said this.

One hundred talismans isn't much, but if you have to consume hundreds to be effective... wouldn't that cost tens of thousands of talismans?

"However, although these fruits are precious, they are also very rare. A single Suyun Bamboo will only flower and bear fruit after twenty or thirty years of cultivation, and at one time it will only produce a mere twenty or thirty fruits."

As Qi Jiushan spoke, a hint of reverence for his ancestor appeared on his face.

"But a patriarch from several generations ago created a method to help the growth of the Plain Cloud Bamboo with spiritual energy!"

Upon hearing this, Li Yinsheng realized what was happening.

"So, that mountain peak with the broken spiritual veins is perfect for planting Autumn Cloud Bamboo and producing Refined Fruit?"

“Fellow Daoist Li is clever; to be precise, he has been planting it for a long time,” Qi Jiushan nodded.

"That mountain peak is densely covered with tens of thousands of spiritual eyes. Although they are too scattered to be used by the spirit-gathering array, they are not a problem for Su Yunzhu."

"Simply plant a Plain Cloud Bamboo in each of the small spiritual eyes, and the spiritual energy overflowing from them will be perfectly absorbed by the Plain Cloud Bamboo."

"With the blessing of spiritual energy, the flowering and fruiting time of the Suyun Bamboo was immediately shortened to ten years, and the number of fruits produced by each plant more than doubled."

After Qi Jiushan finished speaking, he paused, seemingly giving Li Yinsheng time to process what he had said.

"Ten years, tens of thousands of Plain Cloud Bamboo trees, each tree can produce dozens of Refinement Fruits, and each Refinement Fruit is worth hundreds of talisman coins, wouldn't that be..."

When Li Yinsheng calculated this, he couldn't help but gasp in astonishment.

“That’s right. The Refined Fruits harvested by Huangzhu Temple every ten years are worth tens of millions of talisman coins,” Qi Jiushan readily admitted.

Li Yinsheng felt that as a real person, he should not lose his composure because of the talisman money.

But when he heard the figure of "tens of millions of talisman coins" come out of Qi Jiushan's mouth, he couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

Let alone tens of millions of talisman coins, he had never even seen tens of millions of cash in his previous life.

"Of course, this is only the total price of the talisman coins produced. In order to obtain these talismans, Huangzhu Temple has to rent a mountain from the Dharma lineage, or rather, the spiritual veins within the mountain."

Qi Jiushan said, "The value of the training materials at Huangzhu Temple is not a secret, but I cannot disclose the cost of renting spiritual veins from the lineage."

"I understand, I understand," Li Yinsheng nodded.

This is something that's hard to talk about with outsiders, but he figured that since the lineage was renting out spiritual veins, not doing charity, the rent would definitely not make him lose money.

"Moreover, aside from the cost of renting the spiritual vein, the Suyun Bamboo takes ten years to flower and bear fruit. The expenses during this period are not small either. Money is needed in every aspect and every step."

At this point, Qi Jiushan finally revealed his purpose.

"For example, right now, the Refinement Realm is about to mature. Not only is the Refinement Realm highly beneficial to cultivators, it is also extremely attractive to demons, drawing in demons from dozens of mountain peaks within a radius of hundreds of miles."

"If we fail to guard against the demons that are attracted when the alchemy fruits are ripe, the amount of alchemy fruits we harvest will naturally be greatly reduced."

"At that time, we might not even be able to recover our costs."

Qi Jiushan shook his head and sighed.

"Why not eliminate the surrounding monsters beforehand?" Li Yinsheng asked.

“That mountain is already on the edge of the Zhengyang lineage’s influence, far away from all Taoist temples, including my Huangzhu Temple. Every year, a group of disciples take turns to take care of those Suyun bamboos.”

Qi Jiushan said with a wry smile, "Under these circumstances, it's already quite difficult to take care of all those bamboos. How can we possibly have the energy to thoroughly clean up dozens of mountains one by one?"

"Moreover, far from the Zhengyang Dharma lineage, the number of demons will be much greater than within the lineage's range, making them impossible to eradicate."

"Therefore, every harvest season, we can only try to allocate as many people as possible from the temple to set up magic arrays on the mountain, so as to wait for the enemy to come and steal our food."

"However, there aren't many disciples in my Huangzhu Temple, and most of them have other responsibilities. It's impossible for them all to take care of Lian Shi all at once, otherwise no one will do other things."

"So at this time of year, we hire disciples from other Taoist temples at great expense to help us guard against demons."

“Ordinary disciples are easy to hire, as long as you are willing to spend money on talismans. But among the attacking demons, there will inevitably be some with great strength, so we can’t let ordinary disciples deal with them.”

Qi Jiushan looked at Li Yinsheng: "Therefore, in order to guard against those demons, the temple needs to find some fellow Daoists with profound cultivation to guard the mountain."

"It's a pity that those with high cultivation levels are either engrossed in cultivation or hold important positions in their own temples and cannot leave their posts. Even though my Huangzhu Temple is generous with its talisman money, it is still very difficult to invite them."

"I'm still short one fellow Daoist to oversee things this year, but the results of my training are just around the corner. I'm so anxious that I can't eat or sleep, and I'm restless."

At this point, Li Yinsheng had completely figured it out.

"So, Fellow Daoist Qi was in dire need of manpower, and since you happen to know Fellow Daoist Meng, she recommended me?"

“Not bad!” Qi Jiushan nodded. “However, Fellow Daoist Li is not quite right about two things.”

"The reason why Fellow Daoist Meng recommended you is not because she knows me, but because she is the expert that my Huangzhu Temple invited from Yutan Temple to set up and preside over the formation."

"Secondly, we have already hired enough disciples from other Taoist temples, so we are not short of manpower. What we really lack are experts like Fellow Daoist Li!"

Li Yinsheng was taken aback, then teased, "Fellow Daoist Qi has such an upright and righteous face, I didn't expect you to be able to use flattery."

"Hey... I was just in a hurry," Qi Jiushan said somewhat embarrassedly, "I was really in a hurry."

"If Fellow Daoist Li is willing to lend a helping hand, my Huangzhu Temple will absolutely not hesitate to offer my gratitude."

Qi Jiushan said solemnly, "Fellow Daoist, you only need to stay and oversee things for about half a month. Afterwards, Huangzhu Temple will offer you 100,000 talisman coins plus 1,000 refining fruits."

"So generous?" Li Yinsheng was somewhat surprised.

In half a month, the actual harvest was equivalent to 200,000 talismans.

After a moment's thought, Li Yinsheng's gaze fell on Mu Xiaoyu, who was still practicing her sword.

Two months ago, after a fierce battle with a demon, my junior sister's mindset has changed.

However, in terms of practical combat experience, a single battle can certainly offer limited help.

But whether it's the nearby Shifeng Gathering or the more distant Shaoyang Dao Examination, you have to compete with others, so practical experience is still very important.

Thinking of this, Li Yinsheng asked Qi Jiushan.

"Fellow Daoist, I wonder how many demons come up the mountain to steal food during the mature stage of the cultivation process?"

“Uh… there are quite a few,” Qi Jiushan quickly said, “but Fellow Daoist Li need not worry about this. Ordinary demons are dealt with by ordinary disciples.”

“Our temple has already hired disciples from many other Taoist temples, in groups of several, to patrol the mountain day and night. Most of them have less than twenty years of cultivation.”

"Most minor demons and monsters are dealt with by the patrolling disciples."

"For slightly more powerful demons, there are also those of a higher level, which are dealt with by carefully selected demon-slaying disciples. When patrolling disciples discover powerful demons, they inform the demon-slaying disciples to go and capture them."

"Only when encountering extremely powerful demons is it necessary for a master to take action. But demons of this level are extremely rare."

Qi Jiushan seemed afraid that Li Yinsheng might have reservations and refuse, so he kept saying, "Including myself, there are four of us here. If Fellow Daoist Li also comes, then there will be five."

"Moreover, our Huangzhu Temple also has a deputy abbot who personally oversees the overall situation and sits at the core."

"If a truly powerful demon comes, we don't need to talk about morality with it. We should just swarm it and attack. No matter how powerful it is, it won't be able to withstand us."

"Even if some unexpected monster appears and threatens everyone, you can all leave on your own. There's no need to risk your lives for this little bit of talisman money..."

"Hey, that's not important." Li Yinsheng waved his hand to interrupt, "I'm asking, how often do ordinary patrolling disciples encounter demons?"

"That's quite a lot, I encounter them almost every day, but these would never trouble you, fellow Daoist," Qi Jiushan said.

“Well, I can go then,” Li Yinsheng nodded slightly, “but there’s one condition.”

"Fellow Daoist, please speak. As long as it's not too difficult, I can agree immediately!" Qi Jiushan's eyes lit up, and he said immediately.

In order to have a highly skilled expert like Li Yinsheng before we can fully master the technique, it's worth paying a higher price!

Li Yinsheng pointed to his junior sister who was diligently cultivating and smiled.

"I wonder if Fellow Daoist Qi could also hire my junior sister?"

Qi Jiushan: ? ? ?

Mu Xiaoyu, who was engrossed in practicing her martial arts not far away, suddenly shivered for some reason.

Chapter 51 White Rainbow Sword Intent, Martial Uncle's Sea of ​​Consciousness

Night fell in Xuanzhen Temple, in Uncle Jiang's bedroom.

Li Yinsheng sat on Uncle Jiang's couch.

Qi Jiushan readily agreed to Li Yinsheng's request to bring his junior sister along. After the agreement was reached, he hurriedly returned to report to his deputy abbot.

Li Yinsheng wanted to tell his uncle before setting off.

"That's about it. The training at Huangzhu Temple will be ready soon. I'll take my junior sister there tomorrow," Li Yinsheng said.

"According to what Huangzhu Temple says, my junior sister encounters demons almost every day while patrolling, often several at a time. After half a month of this, she must have gained a lot of experience in combat."

“Yes,” Uncle Jiang nodded. “I wanted to tell you before that if you want her to participate in the Shaoyang Dao Examination, combat experience is also indispensable.”

“I also know a bit about the Huangzhu Temple. Your junior sister should gain a lot of experience in combat if she goes on patrol for half a month.”

She paused for a moment, then added, "However, you'll need to find more opportunities in the future to let her spar with cultivators."

Li Yinsheng nodded, indicating that he understood: "I know, after all, fighting against demons is quite different from fighting against cultivators."

“Well, I believe you wouldn’t overlook that,” Uncle Jiang said in a slightly strange tone. “After all, you’ve always been very attentive to your junior sister.”

“Of course,” Li Yinsheng nodded and smiled.

After all, my junior sister is related to my cultivation level.

"You really like that little girl, don't you?" Uncle Jiang pursed his lips, his tone becoming even more strange.

Li Yinsheng didn't deny it, but gave a wry smile: "Junior sister is a good girl, but... sometimes she can be a headache."

For example, the biggest difference between entering the cave for cultivation and being sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment is that fixed-term imprisonment includes rest periods.

Uncle Jiang assumed that Li Yinsheng was just having trouble with the girl's potential.

"With your Pure Profound Divine Light cleansing her marrow and strengthening her body, plus the fortuitous encounter she had two months ago, she is now stronger than many disciples who entered the temple at a young age but have ordinary aptitude."

"Once you use the Pure Profound Divine Light to refine her for a while longer, her talent for cultivation won't be much worse than that of a cultivator with inferior roots," she comforted her.

Li Yinsheng shook his head: "It's a pity that the Qingxuan Divine Light is mainly for breaking demons and evil spirits, clearing the mind and spirit, and also has the effect of aiding magic. Cleansing the tendons and marrow is just a side effect, and its upper limit is not high."