The Cold and Aloof Palace Master's Daily Demon-Slaying Life

Chapter 96 If you won't do it, and I won't do it, who will? (Third Update)

"Don't be impatient, haste makes waste," Zuo Qingqiu said gently. "The path of cultivation is long and lonely. Only by proceeding step by step can one achieve success naturally. You can't rush it, nor can you be lazy."

"But—" Xiaobai wanted to say something more.

"There are no 'buts'." Zuo Qingqiu's tone became more serious. "If you want to catch up with me, then cultivate diligently and stop thinking about slacking off. Starting tomorrow, your daily cultivation time will be increased by two hours."

"Ah?!" Little White wailed, "Sister, you're too cruel!"

Zuo Qingqiu remained unmoved. "Go to sleep. We have to get up early tomorrow."

Little White whimpered and rubbed against him again, finally stopping talking.

Her breathing gradually became steady and long, and she fell asleep.

Zuo Qingqiu, however, kept her eyes open, staring at the white gauze on the top of the tent.

Moonlight streamed through the window paper, casting pale blue patches of light on the ground.

The sound of wind and snow seemed to have subsided.

She gently raised her hand, and a wisp of extremely thin lightning condensed at her fingertips.

Dark purple electric snakes danced between her fingers, illuminating her clear, cold eyes, and also revealing a hint of longing or melancholy deep within them.

Oh, the little girl with the scorpion braid—

It turns out that this happened two hundred years ago.

She closed her eyes, and the lightning dissipated.

The room fell silent again, with only the sound of their breathing mingling in the quiet snowy night.

Silent all night.

The snow stopped the following morning.

Sunlight streamed through the paper windows, bathing the room in a warm, pale gold hue.

Zuo Qingqiu woke up first, got up quietly, changed into her usual padded jacket and skirt, tucked the blanket around the still sleeping Xiaobai, and then pushed open the door to go out.

The villa was quiet.

The beauties had not yet emerged from the painting of a hundred beauties; only two humanoid puppets were clearing the snow from under the eaves.

Upon seeing Zuo Qingqiu emerge, the two puppets simultaneously stopped moving and mechanically bowed to her.

Zuo Qingqiu waved his hand, signaling them to continue.

She stood under the eaves, gazing at the scene in the distance after the snow had cleared.

The sea of ​​clouds surged, and golden light broke through the dawn. The entire Zixu Peak looked as if it had been washed clean, so clean that it was refreshing and invigorating.

After taking out the Demon-Slaying Spear, Xiao Bai practiced a set of spear techniques in the courtyard, then meditated and regulated his breathing for half an hour before rubbing his eyes and coming out of the room.

Good morning, sister!

She groggily approached, her tail dragging on the ground, looking like she hadn't woken up yet.

"Go wash up and have breakfast." Zuo Qingqiu poked her forehead. "After you eat, go back to your cave."

"Oh—" Little White staggered away.

Breakfast was simple: rice porridge, a few side dishes, and a plate of plum blossom-shaped pastries.

The pastries were made by the villa's cook, Kui Lei. Although the taste was ordinary, their unique shapes made them stand out.

Xiao Bai drank three bowls of porridge and ate half a plate of snacks before he was completely awake.

After the meal, the two packed their things, left Plum Blossom Villa, and walked towards the summit along the bluestone path they had come from.

The mountain road was even more difficult to travel after the snow, but neither of them cared.

Little White even deliberately stepped into the deep snow to listen to the "crunch crunch" sound, having a great time.

Zuo Qingqiu followed behind her, watching her red cotton-padded coat dance like a flame in the snow, and the corners of her lips unconsciously turned up.

As they approached the summit, Xiaobai suddenly exclaimed "Eek!"

"What's wrong?" Zuo Qingqiu asked.

"There—" Little White pointed to the platform in front of the cave entrance, "There seems to be someone there?"

Zuo Qingqiu looked in the direction she pointed.

Sure enough, a person was sitting in the snow at the edge of the platform.

He was a middle-aged monk.

He sat cross-legged in the snow, eyes closed in meditation, covered in a thick layer of snow, even his eyebrows and hair were white. At first glance, he really looked like a snowman.

If it weren't for the faint fluctuations of energy unique to cultivators at the Purple Mansion level, they would probably have been overlooked by ordinary people.

Zuo Qingqiu paused slightly, then resumed her normal pace and walked over slowly.

Little White followed behind her, curiously examining the "snowman".

As they approached, the person opened their eyes.

Those were very calm eyes, like a still pond in late autumn, without any ripples.

He looked to be in his forties, with a thin face and three long strands of beard hanging down to his chest, which were now covered with snow.

Seeing Zuo Qingqiu approach, he slowly stood up, the snow on his body falling in a soft rustling sound.

Let's rewind to a few days ago.

Recently, Jiang Shaoling, the master of Taihua Sect, has been extremely busy.

This kind of "busyness" is not the desolate "busyness" of a cultivator in seclusion, communicating with the spirit of heaven and earth, but rather the "busyness of mundane affairs" filled with the hustle and bustle of everyday life, the sounds of calculation, the exchange of interests, and countless specific and trivial human matters.

When the Supreme Elder Zuo Qingqiu cast his cold, clear light upon the demonic sect Di Luo Sect, which had a long-standing feud with Taihua Sect.

A once-renowned and powerful figure in the demonic path vanished into thin air.

The Supreme Elder achieved his goal of establishing authority, and even exceeded it.

The name "Nine Heavens Supreme Flower Purple Void Responding Origin Thunder Ancestor True Lord" now carries a strong sense of intimidation among the top-tier forces in the Central Plains.

But what followed was the enormous problem of digesting the "spoils of war," a problem so vast that even Jiang Shaoling, the sect leader, felt his scalp tingle.

With the destruction of the Diluo Sect, the vast territory, mineral resources, and even the hundreds of billions of people who depended on it for survival, which it originally controlled, instantly became ownerless.

According to the ironclad law of the cultivation world—survival of the fittest—the Taihua Sect would naturally have to swallow up these resources and people.

However, the process of "swallowing" is far more complex than a simple decree.

The territory needs to be divided, with some areas directly under the sect's jurisdiction and others granted to disciples or affiliated cultivation families who have previously rendered meritorious service to the sect.

A large number of spiritual veins rich in spiritual energy need to be re-identified, sorted out, and redistributed;

The mineral deposits need to be taken over and manpower arranged for mining;

The most challenging issue is the hundreds of billions of talents.

They are not cold numbers, but living, breathing entities that need to eat, produce, and pay taxes.

In the world of cultivation, population is the foundation and the most fundamental form of productivity.

Cultivators absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and also need to "nourish the energy".

This "qi" mostly does not come from nowhere.

Refining elixirs requires medicinal herbs, raising spirit beasts requires feed, forging magical treasures requires spiritual mineral resources, and even maintaining the cave's formations and driving flying boats and puppets all require various resources containing spiritual energy.

The vast majority of these resources rely on ordinary people or low-level cultivators to plant, harvest, raise, and process them.

A simple example: the "spiritual rice" refined by cultivators in their daily practice needs to be planted in spiritual fields, carefully tended, and harvested once a year.

Sowing, weeding, irrigating, pest control, harvesting, threshing, and storing—this series of tedious and arduous tasks is something that even a Foundation Establishment cultivator, high above in the world, would not do personally. Even a Qi Refining cultivator would feel that it would delay their cultivation.

So, here's the question.

If you don't do it, and I don't do it, who will?

The answer is naturally the ordinary farmers who are strong, healthy, numerous, and hold the "immortal master" in awe.

Similarly, mining ore requires miners, planting medicinal herbs requires herbalists, weaving spiritual silk requires weavers, and processing materials from demonic beasts requires artisans—each link requires a massive amount of manpower.

The larger the population, the more spiritual fields, mines, and workshops can be developed, and the more abundant the "cultivation resources" will be.

Abundant resources can support more cultivators; the more numerous and powerful the cultivators, the greater the sect's power, and the more population and resources it can control.

This is a cycle that, though not precise, has stubbornly operated for hundreds of millions of years.

Today, the hundreds of billions of people left behind by the Diluo Sect are nothing short of a heavenly blessing for the Taihua Sect and its numerous large and small cultivation families—an unprecedentedly large cake.

The sect was delighted because the surge in the population and resources under its direct control meant that future resource taxes would increase significantly, the sect's treasury would be more abundant, and the number of disciples it could cultivate and the power it could maintain would also rise accordingly.

The affiliated cultivation families were even more envious and eager, rubbing their hands together in anticipation of gaining an extra city or a mining area.

A population of hundreds of thousands could mean a solid foundation for the family's development over the next few centuries, enabling them to support more Foundation Establishment cultivators and even greatly increasing the chances of a Grandmaster cultivator emerging. This is a truly significant plan concerning the family's rise and fall over a thousand years!

Thus, ever since the news of the destruction of the Diluo Sect was confirmed, the Taihua Palace on the main peak of Taihua Gate, "Taihua Peak," has never had a moment of peace.