During this period of consolidating resources and clearing the area, Lin Lin finally had time to audit the sect's accounts and storehouses.

  Qingfeng Sect's assets were recorded in two categories.

  The first category was cultivation resources, with spirit stones as the monetary basis.

  Spirit stones could be understood as a hard currency commodity.

  In simple terms, they were equivalent to oil in modern society.

  This was because spirit stones themselves were consumables.

  Flying tools, artifacts, formations, and talismans all required consuming spirit stones to function.

  In other words, without spirit stones, cultivators could only rely on their own physical strength to fight.

  However, due to large-scale mining over many years, spirit stone resources had become very scarce.

  This had caused the value of spirit stones to continuously rise, which, from an economic perspective, reduced cultivators' consumption of them.

  So Lin Lin discovered that few people in a small sect like Qingfeng Sect seemed to possess artifacts or talismans.

  Because even if they had them, they might not be able to afford to use them...

  Even flying artifacts were used sparingly whenever possible.

  There were no spirit stone mines within Qingfeng Sect's territory, so to obtain spirit stones, they had to trade resources for them.

  The specialty resource of Qingfeng Valley was spiritual flowers and herbs used for cultivation.

  These spiritual flowers and herbs could be sold directly or refined into pills.

  But their medicinal effects and value were average, after all, any high-value herbs would have been picked long ago and sold for money.

  From these details, one could see that throughout the long history of cultivation, cultivators had been extremely greedy takers.

  They had sucked the cultivation resources of this world dry, leaving later generations to fight tooth and nail over the scraps.

  Whenever Lin Lin read the history of cultivation, woven from ugliness and greed,

  he always wondered why cultivators today were so hopeful about the future.

  After all, anyone with a bit of insight could see that the cultivation resources of this world were withering away.

  The original system of the cultivation world was facing a collapse of order.

  Ah, this cannibalistic cultivation society.

  Currently, the liquid spirit stones the sect could produce,加上 the private hoards of Liu Fenghai and the three elders in Qingfeng Sect, totaled less than three thousand.

  This was even money Liu Fenghai had extorted but not yet had time to spend.

  As for other artifacts and pills, whether they could be converted into spirit stones, and at what price, remained to be seen.

  Overall, although spirit stones were the preferred currency for transactions between cultivators,

  spirit stones themselves were really only suitable for large transactions involving cultivation resources.

  The second category was mortal assets, which still used simple gold and silver as currency.

  The mortal world did issue currency. For example, the Baiyue copper coins issued by Baiyue City were widely used by common people.

  These copper coins formed the basis of consumption for the底层 commoners and the fundamental economic structure.

  Actually, although the territory occupied by Qingfeng Sect lacked cultivation resources, it had plenty of mortal resources.

  Copper mines, iron mines, coal mines, everything was available.

  Fertile fields and orchards were too numerous to count.

  Established cities included Jiangrong City, where Liu Yueyan often stayed, as well as Yunshan City and Linfeng City.

  There were over a dozen towns, and hundreds of villages and settlements.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  These places were managed and taxed by the local prominent families.

  After collecting taxes, these local families then offered "incense money" to Qingfeng Sect.

  In the cultivation world, immortals could conjure clouds with a wave of their hand and rain with a turn of their palm.

  Although the prominent families were insatiably greedy, they were willing to part with gold, silver, and jewels to gain the protection of cultivators.

  So Qingfeng Sect's storehouse was piled high with wealth offered by these families.

  A rough estimate put it at over fifty thousand taels.

  Unfortunately, Liu Fenghai was a cultivation addict who could not be bothered to even look at it.

  While sorting through these assets, Lin Lin noticed that the seals on the boxes were the original ones from when they were delivered; they had never been broken.

  This led Lin Lin to a hypothesis.

  Could he obtain large amounts of gold and silver through heavy taxation,

  and then exchange that gold and silver for spirit stones?

  To test this hypothesis, Lin Lin specifically sought out Yan Siwen, who was from Baiyue City.

  Yan Siwen was also one of the eleven people Lin Lin had recruited a few days earlier.

  The Yan family was a well-known cultivation clan in Baiyue City.

  But in these cultivation clans, there was always a distinction between favored and neglected members.

  The favored ones stayed in Baiyue City, following the big-shot cultivators and enjoying the best of everything.

  The neglected ones ended up in small sects like Qingfeng Sect, following someone like Liu Fenghai and unable to even get a single foundational pill.

  Yan Siwen wore white robes, with a long sword on his back. Although his features were plain, he had the air of a cultivator hero.

  Baiyue City truly was a major cultivation city; their fashion sense was also on point.

  Unlike Zuo Yong, who dressed like a landlord or a coal boss, his whole appearance screaming vulgarity and nouveau riche.

  After chatting with this junior disciple from the big city, Lin Lin confirmed that his idea of exchanging gold and silver for spirit stones was completely useless.

  Cultivators simply were not willing to exchange spirit stones for gold and silver.

  Most people who could embark on the path of cultivation were wealthy.

  Even those without money could monetize their cultivation skills.

  The worst-off cultivators could still make a living by hunting beasts like Fifth Master Jin.

  Spirit stones were different. Spirit stones could buy any artifact, pill, or talisman used in cultivation.

  The supply of spirit stones on the market decreased every year. Even just holding onto them meant their value increased.

  Many mortals in Baiyue City even thought investing in spirit stones was more reliable than buying a house.

  For various reasons, it was very difficult to exchange mortal resources for the cultivation currency of spirit stones.

  At this point, Yan Siwen added, "I think there is something even more precious than spirit stones, and that is the pills used for breakthroughs."

  "Rather than saying they are precious, it's more accurate to say they are the foundation of this world." As Lin Lin said this, he looked again at the sect's correspondence with Baiyue City.

  When he first crossed into this world and was being abused by Liu Fenghai, Lin Lin had been very puzzled by Baiyue City's attitude.

  Logically, Liu Fenghai, who had killed the previous sect leader and many disciples, was an out-and-out usurper.

  And Baiyue City? Those Core Formation, even Nascent Soul big shots, did nothing. Did they just watch the show?

  If Baiyue City could not control these small sects under them, what was the point of having affiliated sects?

  In fact, Lin Lin only figured this out when he himself was trying to break through to Foundation Establishment.

  The reason Baiyue City could control the various分支 sects was precisely because of the Foundation Establishment Pills and Dustfall Pills.

  No matter how powerful you were, without these two pills at the breakthrough point, you would remain at Qi Refining for life.

  And these two pills were only available at the main sect in Baiyue City.

  Baiyue City distributed Foundation Establishment Pills based on the performance of the branch sects.

  Any branch sect that contributed significantly to Baiyue City could receive Foundation Establishment Pills as a reward.

  Therefore, to obtain Foundation Establishment Pills, the branch sects naturally followed Baiyue City's lead.

  Every time Baiyue City launched an external campaign, these branch sects were the first to charge into battle.

  Dustfall Pills were even more valuable.

  To obtain a Dustfall Pill, one had to leave their family and branch sect and pledge allegiance to a Nascent Soul elder.

  In the future, whether or not they successfully advanced to Core Formation, they had to obey all commands of that Nascent Soul elder.

  With these two pills, Baiyue City established a strictly hierarchical class system.

  Until Long Mingyu appeared and shattered it all.

  Yan Siwen, with his family connections, naturally had inside information. "Now, although Baiyue City publicly claims they can still supply the two pills, in reality, the materials for them were probably really all destroyed by Long Mingyu."

  "Junior Brother Yan, you mean Baiyue City can no longer produce Foundation Establishment Pills and Dustfall Pills?"

  "It's not that they can't produce any at all; there are still some left in the storehouses from before. But in the future, the supply of materials for these two pills will probably be cut off."

  The reason the Blood Servant Sect, founded by a lolicon like Long Mingyu, could have such a huge impact

  was that he destroyed the materials for these two pills in Baiyue City and created his own Blood Servant Sect techniques that did not require breakthrough pills.

  Seeing this, the profit-driven cultivators would naturally flock to join the Blood Servant Sect.

  And Baiyue City naturally could not sit idly by.

  This led to all five Nascent Soul elders of Baiyue City mobilizing at the time, fighting Long Mingyu until the sky went dark.

  Now, although the Blood Servant Sect was destroyed, Baiyue City's prestige had also been greatly diminished.

  Lin Lin laid out the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and with swift strokes, wrote a letter in front of Yan Siwen.

  After finishing the letter, Lin Lin carefully sealed it.

  He then handed this letter, along with several prepared gift boxes, to Yan Siwen. "I'll trouble you to make this trip, Junior Brother Yan."

  Sensing the spiritual energy continuously seeping out of the gift boxes, Yan Siwen knew Lin Lin had spent a fair amount. "These are... gifts for the elders of Baiyue City?"

  "Yes. Just say that Qingfeng Sect has cleaned out demon cult henchmen like Liu Fenghai and wishes to重新 submit to Baiyue City's authority. From now on, Qingfeng Sect will follow their lead."

  Lin Lin noticed Yan Siwen's face showed difficulty and was puzzled. "What? Is there some hidden problem with this?"

  Yan Siwen hesitated for a long time, then decided to tell the truth. "It's like this, Sect Leader. Can my travel expenses be reimbursed? Spirit stone prices are rising every day. I can barely afford to fly my artifact anymore."

  "..."