Chapter 230

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Chapter 230: Pandora’s Magic Box

Qing State

"My elixir, don’t eat it, please don’t eat it, I beg you."

In a certain place, an elderly cultivator in the spiritual land desperately pleads, but his pleas are only heard by a group of insects. How could they listen to his pleas? In the blink of an eye, the lush elixirs are reduced to just bare stalks.

"Kill, die, all of you die…"

There was a cultivator who went crazy, using their spiritual power to madly kill the demonic locusts with their flying sword. They turned large swaths of demonic locusts into powder, but these locusts were just a drop in the ocean compared to the demonic locust army. The demonic locusts continued to swarm, seemingly endless.

"Hurry, let’s go! We can’t kill them all!"

"No, half of our clan’s harvest for the year is here."

"Our lives are at stake. Without the demonic locusts eating the spiritual plants, they will start to eat people."

Someone desperately tried to stop him, dragging the exhausted cultivator into the family’s mountain gate, witnessing their hard work and mature spiritual medicine soon to be devoured by the endless demonic locusts.

"Add spirit stones quickly! Strengthen the array formation! The spiritual paddy has already been depleted, we can’t afford any trouble with the last Spiritual Herb Garden of the clan."

In another place, all the cultivators from a small clan mobilized to protect a higher-level Spiritual Herb Garden. A Formation Master managed the array formation inside while cultivators exterminated the demonic locusts outside, striving to preserve the last Spiritual Herb Garden.

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Taixu City

The clerk at the grain shop came out of the door and took down the price sign, replacing it with a new one. The independent farmer in line saw the price and immediately started cursing. This was the third price increase today.

But inside the store, the powerful mental presence of a skilled cultivator made the restless crowd quiet down. Those who couldn’t accept it had no choice but to leave the line and go elsewhere.

Inside the City Lord’s mansion, all the shopkeepers from the grain shops received an invitation from the Chen family cultivator. The Chen family sent a Nascent Soul cultivator to request control over the grain prices, but their request was unanimously rejected.

"Sir, it’s not that I want to raise the prices, but if I don’t, I will lose money. I don’t grow the food myself; I have to buy it. The buying price increases six times a day. What can I do?"

"Sir, I do grow the food, but do you know the current situation? Just in the past three days, I had to buy thirty sets of formations to protect the spiritual land. The price of formations has also doubled. I need spiritual stones to activate the formations. I also need to hire a Formation Master to manage the formations. If I don’t raise the prices, I will be operating at a loss. If I’m going to lose money, I’d rather close the shop and feed the grain to the pigs."

"Sir, if we can’t afford the spiritual paddy, maybe we can buy Inedia Pills instead. Or we can just go hungry for a while. Qi Refining cultivators can survive for ten to fifteen days without eating. They will just lose some spiritual energy absorption."

"Sir…"

All the shopkeepers had their own reasons. With the locust plague, this year’s spiritual paddy harvest in the Qing State had plummeted, with the possibility of no harvest at all. It was impossible for them not to increase the prices. This was a celebration for merchants.

The Nascent Soul cultivator from the Chen family had a dark expression. The price of spiritual paddy in the cultivation world had always been stable, around 500-600 jin per spiritual stone. But now, it had skyrocketed three times, and this was just the beginning.

If the Chen family can’t control the basic price of spiritual paddy, let alone other prices, the whole Taixu City will be in chaos.

He has restrained the urge to lower the price many times, and still advised them politely. The Chen family cannot use force against them now. The Chen family is still new, and if force is used, it will be a big problem.

"Sir, I have a suggestion for you. The simplest way to stabilize the price of grain is to increase the supply of spiritual paddy. The Chen family has at least millions of acres of spiritual land. If the Chen family is willing to release the spiritual paddy, the price of grain might go down."

Someone gave advice to the Chen family’s Nascent Soul cultivator, which made him hold his breath and almost spit blood. The Chen family occupies the Taixu Sect and has a lot of spiritual land, but not much spiritual paddy. Usually, this stuff is dirt cheap, just enough to eat. There is no extra food to release, and even if it is released, it would be just a drop in the bucket because the locust plague is not only happening to the Chen family but throughout the Qing State. They can’t let their own disciples starve and give the cheap food to others.

Helplessly, the Chen family’s Nascent Soul cultivator could only report truthfully. This matter has exceeded his ability to handle. He hopes that the Chen family’s ancestor will come forward.

At the same time, at the entrance of the original Infinite Palace, now the entrance of the Lu family, the leaders of the four major families have gathered and are discussing countermeasures.

"The grain price in various parts of the Qing State has skyrocketed three to ten times, and the prices of large and small businesses have all increased. We can’t intervene. If we forcibly intervene, it will be against all the businesses."

"It’s not just the grain price, but the price of elixirs is even more terrifying. In some places, it has increased by more than twenty times. Spiritual paddy can be skipped for a few days without people dying, but elixirs are related to a cultivator’s cultivation. If they can’t enhance their cultivation, it’s worse than killing them."

"All prices are skyrocketing, and the security situation in various places has begun to deteriorate. Impoverished independent cultivators are desperate to make money. The guards in cities, towns, and markets are exhausted, and some smaller territories have already started to panic."

"What’s even scarier is that independent cultivators are running away. Disciples stationed at the border of Qing State have reported that a large number of independent cultivators have fled to other states. Once all the independent cultivators in Qing State are gone, the businesses will lose their profits and the cities will lose their tax revenue."

"Now, how do we solve this? We must seek the advice of the esteemed ancestors. If we can’t solve this, our four major families will lose face. We have only been around for less than three years, and already we have been so humiliated. How can we face our families?"

The leaders of the four major families are all reporting the current situation. It’s certain that they have suffered losses. What we need to do now is to cut our losses in time. If we don’t stop the situation from getting worse, we may collapse.

"Have you caught the person who poisoned?"

"We caught a few people, all of them independent cultivators from Qing State. They were desperate individuals. Someone paid them ten thousand spirit stones to do it. Even after soul searching, we couldn’t find the mastermind."

"I used a secret method to trace it, and I only know the direction is Bing State, but I couldn’t find specifics."

They all reported that demonic locusts were spreading everywhere in Qing State, and they started in over a dozen places simultaneously. It’s not a natural locust disaster; someone poisoned them. They have caught the poisoners, but they are all independent cultivators. The true mastermind is completely untraceable.

"I have already reported this to the esteemed ancestors, but they currently have no way to handle it. We can only rely on ourselves."

The ancestor of the Lu family said. Even Tao Achieving Ancestor is not all-powerful. Even if he takes action, he cannot kill all the demonic locusts in a short period of time. We still have to rely on ourselves to handle it.

"What should we do?"

Now I have thought of a few emergency measures. First, we will stabilize the prices for local businesses in the Qing State. We will not allow them to hoard goods and exploit the situation. We will provide subsidies in terms of tax reductions for their suppliers. As for the businesses in other states, we will also inform them to cooperate with us, providing tax incentives.

The second point is that the four families will take action to obtain grain and low-level spiritual medicine from other states, increasing the supply and bringing down prices. The third point is to command the Alchemists to urgently develop a poison to exterminate the demonic locusts. There are too many demonic locusts, and it is impossible to kill them all with manpower. We can only rely on elixirs. The fourth point…

The ancestor of the Lu family said that they didn’t have a better solution at the moment, so they could only temporarily suppress the situation with these methods.

"Brother Lu, I have an idea. I’m not sure if it’s feasible."

"Please, Brother Chen, go ahead and share."

"The four major families should go and plunder the states of Yun, Liu, and He. These three regions are rural and backward, with the highest cultivation level being Soul Changing. We can directly go and plunder there."

The ancestor of the Chen family said coldly that while others hoard food, he would hoard spears. He would become the warehouse while others became dependent on him. There is still food in the world, so all they need to do is snatch it.

"If the Chen family wants to go and snatch, then go ahead."

"Brother Lu, you…"

"Brother Chen, have you forgotten why the four major families disappeared back then?"

The ancestor of the Lu family said coldly. In the past, the four major families dominated the Qing State and were invincible. They had been powerful and oppressive for thousands of years.

So, the resentment towards the four major families accumulated over generations and eventually erupted. Although the four major families suppressed those people, they suffered heavy losses themselves and had to go into hiding. Do we really want to return to the old path?

"Brother Lu, that’s not what I meant, I…"

"Anyway, my Lu family refuses to go along with it. When the Lu family appears, we must follow the path of a prestigious sect. We can do anything in secret, but publicly, the Lu family must be respected by others."

"My Yu family also refuses to go along with it. At most, the independent cultivators under the jurisdiction of my Yu family will leave. It may take a few hundred or thousand years to recover, but my Yu family cannot face the whole world as enemies."

The ancestor of the Yu family immediately said. The ancestral teachings of the Yu family clearly state how terrifying it is to be enemies with the whole world. It’s fine to occasionally do something wrong, but we can’t do it frequently.

After hearing the two ancestral ancestors’ words, the ancestors of the Chen family and Lin family could only remain silent and not say anything more. However, they still felt dissatisfied, thinking that this method was unnecessary and a waste of effort.

After the discussion, everyone left and the ancestor of the Lu family returned to the back hall where the Tao Achieving Ancestor of the Lu family was waiting.

"I heard everything the Chen family said, and it made sense, but it’s not the right time yet."

"Yes, Ancestor."

"Go and do your work. Use all the ways that can solve the problem openly. If those ways don’t work, then take a risk."

Lu Family’s Tao Achieving Ancestor said, in fact, he was really interested in the Chen Family’s method. But it’s not something to be used right now. When there’s no other choice, then it doesn’t matter about manners, ethics, or morals.

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