"Are you talking about the different courtyards?" right as Jia Yi continued asking about the courtyards, the door opened and a lady entered.
She was graceful and elegant, nearly floating in the room. Her taoist robe was blue with turquoise accents and some cyan jewellery. A youthful air was all around her, her skin glossy, eyes bright, brows upturned, but her elegance spoke of a mature woman.
Jia Yi and the others stood up, bowing "Greetings, aunt!"
Compared to others, when meeting a cultivator above you, you had to fulfil the basic courtesy.
As for her appearance, Jia Yi had to admit she was extremely beautiful, able to compete with models and idols of his past life.
Naturally he had seen her many times, so he wasn't influenced. He just felt she was a normal member of her family. Like when you see your aunt and think "damn, my cousin is so lucky to inherit these genes!" while you yourself are annoyed because you inherited your father's features…
Anyways, although the situation was different, it didn't matter.
Maybe it was because he had started to cultivate, or because his mental power was higher, but he wasn't stunned by beauty anymore.
Even seeing the passing beauties in the sect, he only thought they looked beautiful, having no secondary thoughts.
After all, compared to cultivation and an eternal life, everything else seemed a bit uninteresting.
He had already sworn to himself that he would only take a taoist companion if she was as talented and ambitious as he was, so they could support each other in their rise.
Back to the topic at hand, Miaoxue smiled at the three young ones that came from afar.
She saw down, next to her sister, asking with a smile "Jia Yi, you tell me, how is the sect?"
Jia Yi considered his words. This question was deeper than it seemed, especially when asked by his aunt.
"The sect is prosperous and blessed. Spiritual power abounds, various kinds of blessings fall from the thirteen clouds, all cultivators walk with smiles, and most importantly, the spiritual power here is extremely pure, clear from any element."
When the various elemental values are absorbed, what is left is a minimal part of spiritual power that's without any element. This power is the best to absorb by cultivators – every root could absorb it, and it would transform into the best spell.
To achieve this, the ecology of a place has to perfectly absorb every bit of spiritual power.
"Aunt, the calculations to achieve this are enormous. It would take hours every day, from inspecting the individual energy absorbing factors, to filtering and releasing the power.
Isn't the resource consumption for this huge?"
"Haha, Jia Yi is still so perceptive!" Miaoxue was happy for her eldest nephew to have seen this "Indeed, it takes a lot of time and resources.
Although there are various formations, artifacts and plants aiding, it still has to be regulated.
The Spirit Purity Hall is responsible for this. They are a branch of one of the seven higher skies, which is why they have enough resources and manpower to promote this.
Various halls originate from the ancestors of the sect, and these all help the sect in some way.
The spirit purity hall not only makes sure the spiritual power is pure, it also regulates the ecology partially, to ensure the highest efficiency of spirit power absorption.
It is because of this hall that the cultivation speed in the sect is higher than those sixth-grade sects outside.
The hall sends an elder to each of the mountains, valley regions and even the thirteen skies. The elder responsible for our Seven Steps Mountain resides on the sixth floor A-grade courtyard.
It's good you can feel the difference directly before even cultivating for a day. This means you are sensitive to spiritual power, which is good in most creation arts."
She praised him, then talked with the others about various matters.
Slowly, they had caught up, and it was time to become serious.
Jia Yi stood up and bowed, his cousins followed "Aunt, we have come to you this time to ask for help in the sect!"
Miaoxue nodded and told them to sit, before answering "Don't worry, I've already arranged a bit beforehand.
Let me first tell you – in the sect, every cultivator, regardless of their path, once they become a foundation building expert, they are assigned a spiritual hill with a hundred acres of farming field.
In the last years, I've mainly rented the field out, only keeping the core ten acres for myself. Last month, I've cancelled fifteen acres of field in preparation of you three.
I hope to assign you this task. Don't worry, everything is regulated through the sect, and even the contribution points are those of the sect.
This way, I'm basically renting this field to the sect, earning contribution points every year.
To us foundation building cultivators, there are various ways to earn spiritual stones, especially since I'm a water alchemist. But, earning contribution points is always difficult.
Not to mention anything else, the missions for water alchemists are too few for the amount, so I can only hope to earn extra points this way.
The batch I fired were mainly people who didn't know how to act, so there is no need to worry.
I wonder whether you're willing to accept this task?"
Jia Yi thought for a moment before accepting. Miaoxue didn't ask why he didn't ask about the details, especially the amount he would gain.
It wasn't that Jia Yi didn't think of this, but that this was a favour to his aunt, so it didn't matter if he lost a bit.
Miaoxue was satisfied and explained the situation the rewards "I can tell you the rewards and requirements now and we can finalize the mission later.
Generally, the family treats you better and gives you higher rewards and has higher requirements, which is why the sect fully accepts our evaluation.
For example, when you plant low-grade rice, in the family you have to deliver at least 150kg per acre, while in the sect, you only have to deliver 100kg per acre. But, compared to before, the contribution points fall from 100 to 50, halving, even though the requirement was lowered by only 33%.
This is why we say the family is generous.
In addition, it prices everything basically the same, even though some knowledge and some spells are more popular than others.
Usually we don't tell you young people because it makes no difference, and you'd understand it once you come this far anyways."