40: Chapter 40 First Encounter with Spiritual Veins

Fang Yuan said, "I have a plan for the Yao Beasts, but for the Cultivators, you tell me more."

Li Xinyi was stunned; she did not expect the Mountain Master to solve half the problem right after speaking.

She hurriedly said, "The area of Cloud Mist Mountain is vast. After the Spiritual Qi rises, it will inevitably attract Loose Cultivators. The entire Cloud Mist Mountain area is too large for us to manage properly; if they settle down permanently, it will definitely lead to trouble."

"Furthermore, there is the covetousness of other Sects and even the Dynasty. Cloud Mist Villa is a force belonging to the Luoyun Sect, and other factions also have backgrounds in major Sects. At this time, competing for industries depends on us at our own level. I suggest requesting reinforcements from the branch to send more Late Stage Qi Refining Cultivators to garrison here."

Fang Yuan nodded and began to ponder.

He looked down at the ground, seeing the direction of the Spiritual Vein, and even seeing the nodes of the Spiritual Vein.

He could even see where the Spiritual Qi was emitted, which is where the Spiritual Eye is located.

Li Xinyi waited on the side; she also felt it was extremely tricky. If they requested reinforcements from the Sect, there would inevitably be power struggles, which would be another difficult matter.

Fang Yuan suddenly looked up.

Li Xinyi immediately listened solemnly to Fang Yuan's words.

"Blocking is not as good as guiding!" Fang Yuan said in a deep voice, "Loose Cultivators coming to Cloud Mist Mountain can actually be turned into a good thing!"

He pointed his finger, releasing Spiritual Power that transformed into threads, outlining the general appearance of the entire Cloud Mist Mountain.

Fang Yuan pointed his finger at the area near the summit: "From here to here are the main nodes of the Spiritual Vein. We can establish a market from this. Using these Spiritual Vein nodes as the source, we can build Immortal Caves and lease them to Loose Cultivators, thereby generating income!"

"At the same time, we can lease shops in the market to sell specialty products, thereby obtaining more Spirit Stone revenue."

"As for the covetousness of other factions..." A sharp glint flashed in Fang Yuan's eyes, "Cloud Mist Mountain is the property of the Luoyun Sect. They cannot send Cultivators above Foundation Establishment to seize it. Since that is the case, it will at most be the clamor of the Qi Refining stage, which I can handle."

Li Xinyi was secretly shocked, but she still couldn't help asking, "For the market, we need to establish a Formation, construct defensive and Spirit Gathering Formations, and find the Spiritual Eye. All of these require hiring a Formation Master. Does the Mountain Master intend to invite people from the Sect to set them up?"

"No need, I will handle these later." Fang Yuan waved his hand, "Wait, I will give you a map marking the scope of the market. When the time comes, you can first send Disciples to build Immortal Caves, cultivate Spiritual Fields, and establish shops to do some preparatory work."

"This Disciple obeys." Li Xinyi breathed a sigh of relief.

After Li Xinyi left, Fang Yuan activated his innate ability [Earth Escape].

He was very curious about what the Spiritual Vein was actually like.

A yellow radiance emerged from his body, and his figure, like flowing water, submerged beneath the ground.

The twelve Spirit Beasts watched in a daze. They all ran to the place where Fang Yuan had just disappeared, curiously clawing at the ground, but were completely unable to burrow underground.

Fang Yuan submerged underground and released his Spiritual Sense, which could see things three hundred and fifty meters away.

This surprised Fang Yuan very much. Normally, the Spiritual Sense of a Level 7 Qi Refining Cultivator would be severely weakened when probing underground; being able to detect thirty meters deep would be considered good, and it would consume a great deal of energy.

But now, he could detect over three hundred meters away, and the consumption was about the same as it was on the surface.

"This must be the extra effect of the [Earth Escape] innate ability."

Fang Yuan marveled at how practical this innate ability was.

He kept diving downwards; the further down he went, the greater the pressure the earth exerted on him, and the slower his Earth Escape speed became.

After a while, he finally saw a stream-like Spiritual Vein emitting a white radiance.

The [Spiritual Vein Perception] innate ability allowed him to clearly see the form of the Spiritual Vein.

The main body of the Spiritual Vein was like a river, with tributaries extending from the river and connecting to various places on the ground, forming Spiritual Eyes that released wisps of Spiritual Qi. There were also some tributaries that could not reach the surface and released Spiritual Qi directly into the soil, passing through layers of earth and slowly diffusing onto the surface of the land.

"Is this the main body of the Spiritual Vein? It looks like a river and also like tree roots."

Fang Yuan observed carefully, marveling at it. He moved along the Spiritual Vein constantly. As it extended downwards, the width of the Spiritual Vein gradually decreased.

When he Earth Escaped to the foot of Cloud Mist Mountain, the Spiritual Vein had shrunk to an extremely small degree, and the Spiritual Qi concentration had only just reached the level of First Tier Low Grade.

None of the tributaries extending from the Spiritual Vein could reach the surface to form a Spiritual Eye; instead, they all broke off underground. The Spiritual Qi slowly mixed with the various forces of the earth and rose slowly. By the time it reached the surface, the Spiritual Qi had become turbid and thin.

Through slow observation, a realization arose in Fang Yuan's heart. He understood why only on mountains could considerable Spiritual Veins be formed!

Simply put, the Spiritual Vein was initially like a river of uniform thickness with a diameter of 1, buried beneath the flat earth.

One day, a point bulged, and a mountain rose. The Spiritual Vein underground also bulged along with it, forming an "Ω" shape.

The curved part in the middle of the Spiritual Vein, like a bend in a river, would become much wider, with the diameter changing from 1 to 3, 5, or 10, or even more.

In this way, the grade of the Spiritual Vein naturally rose. The closer to the summit, the higher the grade of the Spiritual Vein; this is the principle.

Not only that.

The best way for the tributaries extending from the Spiritual Vein beneath flat ground to extend is directly upwards, but this way, they have to push upwards against the heavy pressure of the earth, which is naturally very difficult.

And when the Spiritual Vein is squeezed to the summit, the land at the summit is constantly leveled by wind and rain, or treated by Cultivators, so the distance between the surface and the Spiritual Vein becomes extremely close, making it easy to release Spiritual Qi.

At the same time, the Spiritual Vein can not only extend upwards but also horizontally. In this direction, the gravitational pressure decreases significantly, and it can also release Spiritual Qi from the sides. This is also the reason why the Spiritual Qi on the mountainside is quite good.

There are also some tributaries that can extend obliquely downwards; not only will they not be oppressed by gravity, but they can also use gravity to accelerate the flow. Although the distance is a bit further, they can still successfully reach the surface. In this way, the foot of the mountain can also have Spiritual Qi released.

"So this is the principle of Spiritual Qi release from the Spiritual Vein." Fang Yuan felt a sense of sudden enlightenment.

Spirit Mountain! Spirit Mountain!

No wonder Spiritual Veins mostly appear on mountains, while plains have thin Spiritual Qi, making them suitable for Mortals to live in.

"But how is the Spiritual Qi of the Spiritual Vein transformed?"

Fang Yuan saw below the Spiritual Vein, vaguely seeing a thicker, earth-yellow "river".

The Spiritual Vein was coiled above this earth-yellow river, absorbing and transforming the power contained in this "river".

Fang Yuan Earth Escaped closer and reached out to grab a wisp of the earth-yellow river.

[Item]: Cloud Mist Mountain Earth Vein (One wisp)

[Grade]: Second Tier Low Grade

[Effect]: The pulse that flows with Earth Qi.

Fang Yuan exclaimed: "So this is an Earth Vein!"