Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 95 Purchasing a Spirit Pet
"There's nothing we can do about it."

Li Xiangming shook his head. There was no need to worry about the emotions of the cultivators from the Service Academy who were receiving rewards for their work.

The family's spiritual fields have lost a lot of help, and the farmers' quarters might have some complaints.

The predecessor of the Farm Building was the Spirit Plant Hall. Due to the establishment of the Service Institute, the Li family drew manpower from the Service Institute to develop spiritual fields and plant spiritual plants, so the scale of the Spirit Plant Hall itself was reduced and it was changed from a hall to a building.

Li Qianji has also been promoted from deputy hall master to head of the hall, which is a bit pitiful. Of course, his work is also much easier. At present, he is only responsible for planning the spirit fields and guiding the planting, without having to do it himself.

"Go and inform your family that Changtai Township has been attacked by locusts again. Be firm in your stance, and if appropriate, also express your grievances. Don't let the people from the Logistics Department take the farmhouses away."

Li Xiangming instructed that the Shangji Office currently relies heavily on the Qinwuyuan (Military Affairs Bureau), otherwise they would not be able to protect the two townships on their own.

"Yes!"

After seeing Li Qianbai off, Li Xiangming led several people to inspect the eastern part of the village, fearing that locusts might sneak in.

After several hours of inspection, everyone was relieved, believing that there would be no third attack in the near future.

Jiang Liang took the opportunity to say goodbye, and Li Xiangming offered a bottle of Qi Condensation Pills as a thank-you gift, but the other party resolutely refused to accept them.

Li Xiangming then left it at that, and asked him to convey his regards to Master Lingwu.

Afterwards, Li Xiangming assigned tasks to the staff of the Shangji Office, while he himself went to Xulong Township alone.

Once things have stabilized in the two townships, he will also check on the situation in Xulong Township.

Xulong Township is quite far, about the distance of three times that of Xixiang City to Changyang Valley.

The road is also difficult to travel.

It took Li Xiangming a long time to arrive at Xulong Township.

Xulong Township was also attacked by locusts, but fortunately the scale was not large. According to Li Xiangqian, they should be a branch that migrated from Daishan.

Moreover, Xulong Township was hit by locusts later than Changtai Township. Upon receiving this information, Li Xiangqian immediately organized the villagers to harvest the rice.

Thanks to timely harvesting, the locusts did not cause too much damage to Xulong Township.

Only a few individuals ignored the advice and remained outside, where they were injured by the locusts.

"Xiang Qian, you did a great job."

Li Xiangming was very satisfied. With this harvest of millet, Xulong Township could at least sustain itself until the year after next. If Puxian County were to suffer a famine in the future, Danggui Mountain would also be able to alleviate some of the pressure.

How many people live in Xulong Township?

Li Xiangming inquired about the situation in Xulong Township. He said that Xulong Township was like an orphan, not only because it was far away, but also because the accounting office did not devote enough attention to it.

"Currently, there are more than 8,000 permanent residents, in addition to 2,000 laborers transferred from Changtai Township on rotation."

Upon hearing this, Li Xiangming pondered to himself that more than 8,000 people were probably only about 1,000 households, which was far from enough.

In his vision, since Xulong Township was given the name of a township and bore the important task of supporting the mining of northern veins, it should at least resettle 10,000 households.

However, he was not in a hurry and would take it slowly. Xulong Township was harsh and cold, and no matter how favorable the policies were, not many people were willing to move there. Only time could improve this situation.

"How is the road to Yiyuan Peak coming along?"

Li Xiangming continued to ask.

"One-tenth of the work has been completed, but further progress may be slightly slower."

Once these two thousand laborers leave Xulong Township and venture into the barren lands, half of them may have to be reassigned to logistics.

Building houses, preparing food, transporting building materials, and so on all require manpower.

Two thousand people sounds like a lot, but it's actually not enough.

Li Xiangming was aware of this as well. After thinking for a moment, he decided to relax the standards and change the original 1.5 zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) road width to 1 zhang (approximately 3.3 meters). He then said, "The locust infestation is severe now, so let everyone rest for a while."

"clear."

With the manager's understanding, Li Xiangqian breathed a sigh of relief. There was already discontent among the laborers, as everyone was still afraid of the locusts flying around.

Next, Li Xiangming inspected the farmland in Xulong Township and asked Xulong Township to follow the methods of the two townships to kill locusts and their eggs.

Finally, Li Xiangming encouraged Li Xiangqian: "Do a good job. Xulong Township is in an important position, and you are starting from scratch again. Your task is very important. If you do well, it will be the greatest achievement of the Shangji Office in the past two years."

"The greatest credit?" Li Xiangqian was overjoyed and repeatedly thanked him, saying, "Thank you, Manager. I will do my best."

Every year, the family allocates a quota of merit to each branch, and the steward then distributes the quota to the cultivators under his command according to their contributions.

If he deserves the most credit, he will naturally receive a great deal of recognition.

After giving a few instructions, Li Xiangming left.

Li Xiangqian is experienced and skilled in both interpersonal relationships and business acumen, making it no problem for him to govern the small Xulong Township.

Li Xiangqi, on the other hand, is too young. Judging from Li Qiu's performance, it's clear that Li Xiangqi's vision and methods are quite mediocre.

However, youth is also an advantage for Li Xiangqi, and he still has a lot of room for improvement.
-
Animal Breeding Peak.

The task of reporting on his duties had been handed over to Li Qianbai. This time, Li Xiangming did not return to Tailai Peak, but instead went directly to the animal breeding house.

When Li Qianyuan, the person in charge, met Li Xiangming, he was very enthusiastic. There were rumors that Li Xiangming had recommended him for the position of person in charge.

Although he didn't know if it was true or not, it didn't stop his goodwill towards her from increasing.

"I heard there's a locust outbreak in Changtai Township. Is it serious?"

"It's very serious. I came here specifically to ask for help."

"Ask for help?"

Li Qianyuan scratched his head, puzzled: "What can my Beast Breeding Center do to help? Send spirit pets to catch locusts?"

"Don't."

Li Xiangming quickly stopped him. Although there were many more beast tamers in the animal breeding room now, they had only been practicing for a few months and naturally hadn't achieved much.

Most of the monsters in the beast arena are still untamed, so he wouldn't dare use these things on them.

"I'm here to give feedback to the animal breeding facility. I hope they will prioritize taming riding and flying spirit pets."

"Rideable spirit pets and flying spirit pets?"

Li Qianyuan hesitated for a moment, knowing that Li Xiangming wanted to enhance the reaction speed of the cultivators in the Upper Accounting Room.

With the help of spirit pets, travel is naturally faster, and even if locusts come, they can be resisted in time.

"These two types of spirit pets are difficult to tame, and we don't have that many suitable candidates."

Shaking his head, Li Qianyuan explained his difficulties.

For ordinary combat-type spirit pets, it is only necessary to suppress 50% or 60% of their beastly nature, while the remaining pets can still maintain a certain level of combat power.

Therefore, to ensure stability, riding and flying spirit pets must suppress at least 80% or even 90% of their animalistic nature.

Don't underestimate this seemingly small 30% difference; the more you continue down this path of defying the laws of nature, the more difficult it becomes.

The animal breeding center currently has only one case of taming a flying spirit pet, which was a short-tailed golden-winged eagle tamed by Li Xianghong himself.

Unfortunately, Li Xianghong used a special method recorded in the Myriad Spirits Manual, which is of no reference value to other beast tamers who have not cultivated the Myriad Spirits Manual.

The concept of breeding riding and flying spirit pets is still quite unfamiliar to most people.

We can't just dump everything on Li Xianghong alone, can we?
This is not realistic.

It would take at least five or six years for other beast tamers to make progress in this area.

Instead of wasting time, why not tame combat-type spirit pets? You won't have to worry about selling them.

Furthermore, and very importantly, riding and flying spirit pets have very high requirements regarding the race and personality of the monsters.

You can't just find some spirit pets with bad tempers and force yourself to tame them, can you?
What if these spirit pets give up halfway through their journey, or fly away?

Although there are many monsters in the Beast Breeding Peak, very few are suitable for taming into riding pets or flying pets.

Upon hearing Li Qianyuan's explanation, Li Xiangming rubbed his temples.

The animal breeding center is not yet ready to unleash its full potential, so expecting them to tame riding and flying pets in a short period of time is indeed asking too much.

"Would it be better if we bought a batch from the market?"

(End of this chapter)