The speed of a mid-Foundation Establishment stage flying spiritual beast is incredibly fast, covering about 1,500 li in an hour. If it pushes itself to the limit, it can reach up to 2,000 li in an hour.
Guo Feilong watched with envy. Even the fastest speed of a Ninth Rank flying spiritual beast, when fleeing for its life, is only seven or eight li per hour, and typically, it only travels about 500 li per hour.
Unfortunately, the Foundation Pill has no effect on spiritual beasts; otherwise, he would have long ago fed all the Foundation Pills he had at home to the Ninth Rank spiritual beasts, allowing them to advance to a level comparable to the Foundation Establishment stage.
The First Grade Small World that the Spirit Creek Sect was granting him as a fiefdom is located 3,000 li north of Green Sun County. It is a relatively unimportant Heavenly Abode of the Spirit Creek Sect, with over 13,700 mu of Blessed Field cultivated inside, growing a lot of spiritual grains and low-grade spirit herbs and medicines.
Although this First Grade Small World was granted to Guo Feilong, he still has to pay taxes to the Spirit Creek Sect every year. Those 13,700 mu of Blessed Field are not given to him for free.
Of course, the taxes aren't particularly high, regardless of what he plants on the Blessed Field.
The taxes are calculated based on the value of the yield of spiritual grains, approximately 40% of the income per mu.
Before leaving the Spirit Creek Sect, Guo Feilong's last task was to take care of the spiritual grains, so he knows that planting one mu of spiritual grains yields 800 jin of spiritual rice.
Paying 40% of the yield as tax to the Spirit Creek Sect means giving 320 jin of spiritual rice per mu.
The value of spiritual rice is 1 low-quality spirit stone for 100 jin of spiritual rice.
The cost of planting one mu of Blessed Field with spiritual grains is about 3 spirit stones, equivalent to 300 jin of spiritual rice.
With 620 jin of spiritual rice as tax and cost, from the 800 jin of spiritual rice, he can only get a profit of 180 jin of spiritual rice, which is a 22.5% profit margin.
Meanwhile, the Spirit Creek Sect does nothing and earns a clean 40% profit.
Although his profit is small, with over 13,700 mu of Blessed Field, the profit is still significant.
A profit of 1.8 low-quality spirit stones per mu.
The profit from over 13,700 mu of Blessed Field is about 24,660 low-quality spirit stones, which is quite substantial.
Moreover, any additional Blessed Field he cultivates in the Small World later on is not included in the 13,700 mu and is exempt from any taxes.
A regular Foundation Establishment stage Elder in the Spirit Creek Sect receives a fixed monthly benefit of 400 low-quality spirit stones, totaling 5,000 low-quality spirit stones a year.
If they undertake more tasks to earn contributions, a Foundation Establishment stage Elder in the sect can earn over 10,000 low-quality spirit stones a year.
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If this Elder specializes in a cultivation skill, such as alchemy, refinement, talisman crafting, or formation setting, their income can be even higher, earning 30,000 to 50,000 spirit stones, or even 100,000 spirit stones a year is normal.
Foundation Establishment stage cultivators have high incomes, but their expenses are equally large. Their income not only needs to purchase cultivation elixirs for themselves but also to support their descendants with spiritual roots.
If a descendant reaches the ninth-level Qi Refining stage, they must prepare a Foundation Pill for them. If they succeed in establishing a foundation, not only does the family's strength increase, but they can also inherit the family's fiefdom.
If a Foundation Establishment stage Elder in the sect dies and none of their direct descendants break through to the Foundation Establishment stage within ten years, the fiefdom will be reclaimed by the sect.
At that time, a large family will fall apart without a fiefdom, and the descendants will live separately, each on their own.
From a Foundation Establishment stage cultivation family, it will split into many Qi Refining stage cultivation families, which is something all Foundation Establishment stage cultivators hope to avoid. They will do their utmost to pave the way for their descendants.
Although Guo Feilong is also a Foundation Establishment stage Elder of the Spirit Creek Sect, he had previously left the sect, so his benefits are much lower than other Foundation Establishment stage Elders, receiving only 200 low-quality spirit stones a month, with no other benefits.
But he is a mid-level alchemist and has now agreed to refine a large number of elixirs for the Spirit Creek Sect.
His benefits are now the same as those of the mid-level alchemist Elders in the sect's Alchemy Hall.
He receives a fixed monthly salary of 1,000 low-quality spirit stones and other benefits.
His benefits far exceed those of a regular Foundation Establishment stage Elder, which is quite satisfactory.
The Spirit Creek Sect's Vice Sect Master, Ma Huayun, had a good impression of Guo Feilong and talked to him a lot along the way about the complex power dynamics among the sect's high-level members.
And about things in the vast cultivation world of the Extreme Continent that Guo Feilong was unaware of. There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world, and the reason the Spirit Creek Sect gave him a First Grade Small World as a fiefdom is that he is not yet 150 years old. As long as he isn't killed, he can live for another 350 years.
And the benefits generated by his alchemy for the Spirit Creek Sect over these 350 years are enormous.
Moreover, a mid-level alchemist at the Foundation Establishment stage can accumulate a staggering amount of wealth over 350 years, enough to nurture several Foundation Establishment stage cultivators within a family using various resources.
When the news of Guo Feilong breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage reached the Spirit Creek Sect, they conducted an investigation and analysis of him.
They found out that he suddenly had an epiphany in alchemy at the age of over 120 and managed to refine a Ninth Grade Foundation Pill, becoming a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator.
They directly asked Sun Yufeng and several other women who knew him, as they all succeeded in establishing their foundations after becoming Guo Feilong's wives and concubines.
The high-level members of the Spirit Creek Sect also knew that he had taken over a hundred wives and concubines, among whom over a hundred had spiritual roots, and he paid a high bride price to bring them back. Many of the children born also had spiritual roots, and some became disciples of the Spirit Creek Sect.
Among his children who joined the Spirit Creek Sect, several had high-quality spiritual roots, and if they used Foundation Pills in the future, they had a good chance of becoming Foundation Establishment stage cultivators.
Based on the above analysis, the Spirit Creek Sect concluded that with Guo Feilong's abilities as a mid-level alchemist at the Foundation Establishment stage, he could ensure his family's prosperity for at least a thousand years, meaning at least several generations could become Foundation Establishment stage cultivators.
Therefore, the Spirit Creek Sect decided to grant him a First Grade Small World as a fiefdom; otherwise, no Foundation Establishment stage cultivator could easily obtain a Small World.
On the way, the two chatted while traveling, mostly with Vice Sect Master Ma Huayun speaking and Guo Feilong listening.
After two hours, the flying spiritual beast, comparable to a mid-Foundation Establishment stage, landed at the entrance of the First Grade Small World.
The entrance was a circular misty vortex with a diameter of over a hundred meters, resembling a bronze mirror, guarded by several Outer Disciples of the Spirit Creek Sect.
Ma Huayun's clothing bore the embroidered patterns exclusive to the Vice Sect Master of the Spirit Creek Sect. After checking their identity tokens, the Outer Disciples respectfully made way.
Guo Feilong followed Vice Sect Master Ma Huayun into the entrance passage. After a distance of just over a hundred meters, they passed through the spatial passage and entered the interior of the First Grade Small World.
Here, the sky also showed the sun, moon, and stars, but at the edges of the Small World, there was a dense white mist, like a barrier. Even a Golden Elixir stage grand cultivator couldn't penetrate the mist.
Vice Sect Master Ma Huayun spoke, "The First Grade Small World isn't very large, with a diameter of 370 li. We can just use Soaring Cloud to take a look."
"All right, I'll follow Vice Sect Master Ma's arrangements," Guo Feilong nodded, forming a hand seal, and mystic power condensed beneath his feet into a white Soaring Cloud.
Then, the two of them each stepped onto a Soaring Cloud and flew into the air.
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