Gu An put the Black-Scale Horse into the spirit beast bag and slowly ascended the mountain with Lin Changfeng and the others.

The noon sunlight scattered specks of gold, and the maple leaves lost their subdued hue beneath the strong light, becoming leaping tongues of flame, reflecting Red Maple Mountain into a red mountain of flame. When the mountain wind swept through the treetops, tens of thousands of maple leaves danced in unison, bright and fervent.

The mountains are red throughout, the layered forests fully dyed.

These Red Origin Maples were first-grade lower-tier spirit trees, and the Lin Clan only had thirteen of them. They produced some Red Maple Spirit Sap, used for body tempering, and were quite popular. Of course, the ones before them were just ordinary maple trees; the real Red Origin Maples were planted by the Lin Clan at the mountaintop.

Arriving at the mountainside, they saw a stretch of houses built along the mountain, continuous and unbroken. But the Lin Clan only had nine people-why had they built so many-

Lin Qingsong seemed to see Gu An's confusion and explained, "Fellow Daoist Gu, don't be fooled by all these houses. They are all for the mortal clan members. Our Lin Clan's population is not thriving; we have lived together since the founding."

Gu An understood. He hadn't seen any mortals in the Qingyuan Sect and subconsciously hadn't thought in that direction.

Seeing Lin Qingsong somewhat dejected, Gu An comforted him, "I see that many of the younger generation of the Lin Clan have Spirit Roots. I believe they will be able to expand the Lin Clan in the future."

This wasn't Gu An speaking idly. The Lin Clan had one old patriarch of the Lu generation, at the late Qi Condensation stage; two cultivators of the Chang generation, one at mid Qi Condensation and one at early Qi Condensation; and a full six people of the Qing generation, one of whom had even stepped into mid Qi Condensation at what seemed to be only twenty years old. For such a small clan, this was already quite good.

Lin Qingsong gave a bitter smile. "Thank you for your kind words, Fellow Daoist Gu."

Lin Changfeng also sighed. "Qingsong, don't think too much. Qingfeng has Three Spirit Roots. When his cultivation is higher, the Lin Clan will be better, and we will all be blessed."

Gu An had some guesses upon hearing this, but it was their family matter, not his place to comment.

Before they knew it, they arrived at the mountaintop. Seeing several courtyards standing there, Gu An was led to the highest one.

Lin Changfeng stepped forward and knocked on the door. "Patriarch, the Qingyuan Sect's Immortal Master Gu An has come to visit."

The wooden door opened to both sides without any wind. Gu An only felt a faint surge of spiritual Qi, showing the person's meticulous control over spiritual power.

"Haha! Fellow Daoist Gu gracing my humble abode truly honors it!"

A hearty laugh came, and an old man in brocade robes strode up to them.

"Junior greets Patriarch Lin. Since our parting last time, Patriarch Lin's bearing remains as impressive as ever." The person who arrived was the Lin Clan patriarch, Lin Luping. Gu An cupped his hands and said.

"Fellow Daoist Gu flatters me. Come, please enter." Lin Luping led Gu An into the main hall.

In the main hall, a long wooden table was placed in the center. At the head was a grand armchair, with four chairs on each side. It looked like a place for discussions.

Gu An sat down in the first chair on the right. Lin Luping sat at the head. After tea was served, Lin Luping dismissed Lin Changfeng and Lin Qingsong, leaving only the two of them in the hall.

Lin Luping used the tea lid to skim the tea and spoke, "Has Fellow Daoist Gu come this time to collect the Spirit Tax-"

Gu An nodded. He wasn't surprised that Lin Luping knew about this. He wouldn't have come to visit Red Maple Mountain for no reason, and it was already the seventh month, so it wasn't strange.

"I remember that at this time last year, Fellow Daoist Chu also came. We were considered friends. I wonder how Fellow Daoist Chu is doing lately."

Gu An hesitated slightly and said, "I am not very familiar with Senior Brother Chu, so I don't know his recent situation."

Lin Luping seemed to have just asked casually, not too concerned. Instead, he began to introduce the Lin Clan's output. "Let me tell you, Fellow Daoist Gu. This year, the Lin Clan produced a little over fifteen jin of Red Maple tree sap, and harvested four thousand two hundred jin of Golden Cloud Rice."

"Lin Qingping, the fifth of the Qing generation, broke through to the second layer of Qi Condensation. The cultivation of the others hasn't changed."

Saying this, he took out thirteen bags of spirit rice and one jade jar from his storage bag and pushed them towards Gu An. Gu An mentally estimated the amount and said, "Fellow Daoist Lin, doesn't the amount of spirit rice seem a bit low- I heard the Lin Clan has a full eighty mu of Spirit Fields."

Lin Luping gave a bitter smile. "Fellow Daoist Gu, I think you misunderstand. Although our Lin Clan claims to have eighty mu of Spirit Fields, more than half are just farmlands containing spiritual Qi, not of any grade."

"Red Maple Mountain is only a first-grade middle-tier spirit vein. It's already a struggle to support the cultivation of our nine Lin Clan members. Where would there be extra spiritual Qi to open up so many Spirit Fields-"

Gu An finally understood. White Mirror Lake and Red Maple Mountain were both first-grade middle-tier spirit veins. He alone found the spiritual Qi thin for his cultivation, yet Red Maple Mountain had nine people cultivating. Where would there be any surplus spiritual Qi-

Of course, when Gu An said it was thin, he meant the concentration. He himself couldn't absorb that much spiritual Qi; more of it was absorbed by the spirit fish or dissipated.

As for Red Maple Mountain, it was likely that every wisp of spiritual Qi was sucked clean, leaving no spiritual Qi to improve the grade of the Spirit Fields.

Gu An put the rice bags and the jade jar into his storage bag, estimating that each bag was about a hundred jin, and the Red Maple Spirit Sap in the jade jar was also over five jin.

That meant forty jin of Golden Cloud Rice was his. Ordinary spirit rice was about one spirit stone for ten jin. Golden Cloud Rice was of good quality, one spirit stone for eight jin. That made five spirit stones. And half a jin of Red Maple Spirit Sap was also worth about five spirit stones.

With ten spirit stones coming in, a smile appeared on Gu An's face. He didn't bother to check the output or everyone's cultivation. After all, if these families intended to hide things, he, as a garrison cultivator, couldn't find out anyway. The Sect also knew this well and had a general idea of each family's spirit item output. As long as the difference wasn't too great, it was fine.

Having taken the benefits and not making things convenient for others-would that even be human-

With the Spirit Tax handover complete, the atmosphere in the hall became relaxed.

Gu An also picked up the tea lid to skim his tea and asked with some curiosity, "Fellow Daoist Lin, do you know about the recent robber cultivator incidents- To be honest with you, I've been in Secluded Cultivation for the past year and am not very familiar with the news from outside."

Lin Luping took a sip of tea and sighed. "It's the Tu family of Yellow Wind Commandery. A small clan, with only four cultivators: two at the mid stage and two at the early stage."

"I don't know who they offended, but they were all slaughtered. Even several hundred mortals were not spared."

"They also destroyed the spirit vein of Cunyun Mountain. An Elder of your Sect was furious and offered a reward of two hundred spirit stones."

Gu An was greatly shocked. Killing all the mortals, destroying a spirit vein-this was truly jumping on the tiger's head. He asked again, "Killing mortals.. is this a robber cultivator- Could it be a Demonic Cultivator-"

Lin Luping shook his head. "It shouldn't be. The flesh and bones of those mortals are intact, their souls undamaged. Demonic Cultivators wouldn't let those go."

"Instead, the four Tu family cultivators died miserably, as if from a vendetta."

Gu An let out a long breath. As long as it wasn't a Demonic Cultivator, it was fine. Four hundred years ago, the Qingyuan Sect had experienced a Demonic Upheaval. The records stated that Foundation Establishment cultivators died by the handful, and even True Person Qingding died because of it. It was truly terrifying.

He only needed to quietly raise his spirit fish and cultivate. That was the path to the Great Way. He naturally didn't want any Demonic Upheaval to occur.

Gu An picked up his teacup again, skimmed it, and sighed. "Destroying a spirit vein.. I'm afraid a Foundation Establishment Elder will pay attention to this matter."

"I hope so. With such a fierce person appearing, our Lin Clan is also very uneasy!"

After chatting with Lin Luping for a while, Gu An felt uneasy. Although Yellow Wind Commandery did not border Blackrock Commandery, delays could lead to changes. It was better to head to Cloud City early. So he took his leave.

Lin Luping saw Gu An out of the courtyard gate. Returning to the main hall, he saw that the spirit tea in front of Gu An's chair hadn't been touched at all. He couldn't help but wail in regret.

"My Peak Cloud Leaf!"

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