Chapter 11: Red Dot on the Map
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Lu Chaoxi immediately ran to report the good news the moment the group of Water-Spirit Horses was captured.
In actuality, Lu Qing had already known about the result through the changes in his interface without Lu Chaoxi’s report.
After all, he was already dead and did not need to train. He had nothing else to do. All he could do was float freely around Yuyan Mountain and return to the chamber whenever he got tired. He then spent the rest of his time studying and researching the system. 1
The group of Water-Spirit Horses had already appeared in the “Resource” tab of the clan. 1
[Level One tamed beast-type resource, Group of Water-Spirit Horses (in the midst of taming)]
[Gross Income: -75 Spirit Stones/Year (Income: 0, Expenditure for defending the resource: 75 Spirit Stones/Year)]
[Horses will be tamed in an estimated two years and start to turn a profit.] 1
The herd of Spiritual Beasts that they captured cannot be used to generate an income immediately. Instead, they need to spend money first…
Of course, they would ultimately turn a profit, but it was just two years. That was not long for a cultivator. They would be able to regain their capital after they had tamed the herd of horses quickly. If they truly could not make it work, they could sell off a male horse. Not only would they recover the capital used for rearing the horses for two years, but also they might even generate a profit.
In actuality, Lu Chaoxi planned on doing that.
After they returned, Lu Xueting said that she could deal with the rest of the horses, but she was not confident that she could tame the Horse King.
It was a pity to kill it. They could only recover 10% of its value if they killed it and harvested its hide, bones, and flesh. They might as well sell the horse.
Even though its value would be slightly lowered as it had not been tamed, they should have no problems selling it for 200 Spirit Stones. To the wealthier cultivators, the thought of purchasing such a horse as their ride was quite alluring. As for the problem of taming it, they could spend a few dozen Spirit Stones to employ a Beast Tamer capable of taming the Horse King. That would solve the problem.
Lu Qing expressed his support for his son’s idea.
******
After Lu Chaoxi left, Lu Qing started to explore the system once again.
In the “Achievements” tab, there was an achievement that read, “Obtain a new Level One resource. Reward: 15 Karma.”
However, this achievement was not yet complete.
Lu Qing guessed that the resource, which was the group of Water-Spirit Horses, had not been officially put into production. He estimated that he would only officially obtain this resource point after the group of horses had been tamed two years later. He would only receive the rewards for the achievement then.
It felt quite uncomfortable.
Lu Qing had achieved good results with his previous wave of actions. The Lu Clan had gained a descendant with good potential in Lu Weiwen with her Metal-Earth Double Spiritual Roots. The Turtle Snake Grass had been planted in the medicine garden, and the formula for the Turtle Snake Pill had already been given to the clan’s alchemist. These two areas would bring in an annual income of 100 Spirit Stones to the clan. The capture of the Water-Spirit Horses had ended in great success with no casualties. The group of horses would give the clan a stable income of 200 to 300 Spirit Stones annually in two years…
After he had woken up, the clan’s development had finally taken a step in the right direction.
However, the greatest problem faced by the clan had not been solved.
Before the herd of horses was nurtured, the Lu Clan’s financial status was still in a deficit. Even if they sold off the Horse King, the clan would only have savings of just over 500 Spirit Stones…
The Lu Clan was a family with three Foundation Building cultivators. They were indeed down and out. However, within the five counties in Anling Prefecture, they merely lost in strength to the Zhao Clan. They were still ranked higher than the rest of the clans. Why were they so poor? 1
At the very least, shouldn’t he have provided a reward of Spirit Stones for getting the cultivators of the clan to do work?
Lu Qing had heard just now that his youngest daughter, Lu Mingchao, had exhausted a great amount of strength to capture the Horse King. She had used her spiritual strength throughout the journey to maintain control over the Horse King. She had limped for four hours before finally dragging the Horse King back to Yuyan Mountain.
Lu Mingchao had to restrain the Horse King without injuring it. She toppled in exhaustion after she arrived home. It would be a few days before she could recover.
Lu Qing felt a little pained.
Before he closed himself in to treat his wounds, Mingchao had only been just over 20 years old. As his youngest child, his youngest daughter, Lu Qing had regarded Mingchao as the apple of his eye.
Now that 50 years had passed, he did not expect his daughter to go through such hardship instead of just enjoying life… 3
She had used a great deal of strength but did not receive any reward.
She was not the only one. The 15 Qi Refining cultivators that the clan mobilized, as well as the two Foundation Building cultivators, Mingchao and Chaohe, would not obtain any rewards.
Everyone knew that the clan was facing difficult times and thus did not want to impose any additional pressure on the clan.
However, Lu Qing knew that this would not last long.
If the cultivators of the clan wanted to improve, he would have to inject a large number of resources to descendants with potential like Lu Weiwei. Only then could they develop offspring with potential. They also had to give Lu Wenen, who had been sent to the sect, sufficient support. They also could not fall back on the development of various areas for the clan’s future.
All of these things required the support of a large sum of Spirit Stones.
They could not afford to be this poor. 1
Currently, there were three other items that he had not gotten from within the “Exchange” tab. They were [Family Culture-type, Morale Boost, Level One], [Resource-type, Resource Upgrade, Level Two], and [Equipment-type, Self Defense Spirit, Level Two].
If he could, he would have gotten all of the things that he was presented with.
However, he only had nine Karma left. There was nothing he could get.
He could wait for the development of the clan and complete his achievements to get more Karma. However, at a glance, he saw that out of all the current achievements, there were no immediate rewards other than the 15 Karma that he could obtain two years from now after accomplishing the “new Level One resource” achievement.
What should he do? Did he have to get back into closed-door training to accumulate Karma after having woken up for two days?
He would have 100 Karma to spend if he closed himself in for ten years. He would be able to make another series of actions by that time. However, he felt that that would waste too much time. 3
In the clan’s current state, who knew what the clan would be reduced to if he stopped caring about its affairs for ten years?
That was his last resort. Before that, Lu Qing had to think of something else.
He opened the map interface and constantly observed the area between Yuyan Mountain and Pingyao County.
These were the only two areas that the clan controlled at the moment. The former was completely controlled by the Lu Clan and was thus fully lit up. The Lu Clan only controlled a quarter of the latter, which made it look a little gray and hazy on the map.
The land in the middle, which spanned a thousand miles, was once within the Lu Clan’s sphere of influence. However, that area had dwindled drastically. It was even duller on the map.
However, no matter how dull the area was, it was, at the very least, lit up. This was unlike the area outside of the Lu Clan’s sphere of influence. Those areas were pitch black.
However, on the map, in the areas that were dimly lit within the clan’s sphere of influence, there seemed to be several small areas that were marked red. Among those areas, the closest to them was in a spot 400 miles west of Pingyao County.
Where was that? Lu Qing did not have any memories of that place.
It was strange. Yuyan Mountain was Lu Qing’s base. He had explored the 10,000-mile area that was the Feiyun State. How could he not know about a place that was merely a few hundred or a few thousand miles away from Yuyan Mountain?
“Should I go have a look?” Lu Qing thought.
Anyway, at this moment, he was not even a spirit. He was just a stream of consciousness. He could float freely within the clan’s sphere of influence.
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