Purple Jade Mountain was considered a forbidden area for Qingfeng Villa. No one except Zhu Yuyan and the other three were allowed to ascend. It had not been developed much, containing only some common spiritual plants and simple formations.
Qingfeng Mountain, as the sect's main residence, developed the fastest. The area below a thousand zhang had been completely renovated and constructed, with spiritual herbs and spiritual plants everywhere.
"Husband, we now have four Nascent Soul disciples, all promoted to outer disciples, responsible for Dharma transmission, alchemy, artifact refining, and spiritual plants respectively."
"We have 187 Nascent Soul disciples, of whom 28 are outer disciples. We are very strict with our selection."
"Hmm, very good. Qingfeng Villa is not a place where any cat or dog can join. Those who join must undergo fierce competition to be promoted."
Hearing Zhu Yuyan's words about strict selection, Yang Hong nodded in satisfaction. He now had higher requirements for his disciples.
"Don't worry, husband, I know.
We have 153 Golden Core disciples, fewer than Nascent Soul disciples, and six outer disciples have been promoted."
"Below the Golden Core realm, there are 294 Integration realm cultivators, 84 Foundation Establishment cultivators, and 16,000 Qi Refining cultivators, with only 8 outer disciples."
"Good, good. Although the number of people is small, the scale is coming along.
By the way, what about the Golden Winged Thunder Eagles?"
Yang Hong then remembered the demonic birds on Zexia Mountain.
"It's going okay there. Many were consumed as cannon fodder during the previous invasion by the Blazing Fire Locusts. We still have over 3,000 un-transformed demonic birds below the fourth tier, and over 800 transformed demonic beasts above the fourth tier.
Oh, the Golden Winged Thunder Eagle tribe was very lucky; not a single one died."
"Hmm, this strength is acceptable. At least they cannot overpower the human race for now. I will instruct them again later, not to develop too quickly.
At the same time, let that fellow Zhang Zhenyan go out and recruit some people to live between the five mountains, filling up these spaces."
"This might be difficult."
Just as Yang Hong was about to recruit subordinate humans, Zhu Yuyan said with a troubled expression.
"What's wrong? Did the major sects block us?"
Hearing Zhu Yuyan's words, Yang Hong's face darkened, showing some displeasure.
"That's not it. In the past three years, the mortals in the Yu Rou Plains have all been snatched up by those major sects and families. They took in anyone with even a trace of spiritual roots.
We can't recruit anyone there now."
"I see.
That's right, so many cultivators died in the Yu Rou Plains before, so replenishment is indeed needed.
Then we won't recruit for now, but we can let Zhang Zhenyan find a way to migrate some mortals here and cultivate them ourselves."
"Understood. I'll go notify them later."
Afterward, the four of them visited Jiumei Mountain and Panshi Mountain. These two mountains were temporarily designated as Iron Thorn Grass planting bases.
According to Zhu Yuyan, in the past three years, Qingfeng Villa had only managed to comb through the insect eggs on the five spiritual mountains, and they were not even sure if they had been completely cleared.
Currently, the entire sect was working hard to plant Iron Thorn Grass, preparing for the next full-scale clearing.
As for the Yu Rou Plains, it was indeed as Yang Hong had worried. Blazing Fire Locusts appeared from time to time, and when they did, they left thousands of miles of scorched earth, killing all humans, animals, and plants.
Therefore, the sects in the Yu Rou Plains were also working hard to cultivate Iron Thorn Grass.
"It seems that for some time to come, we will have to focus on planting Iron Thorn Grass."
After listening to Zhu Yuyan's report, Yang Hong temporarily put aside some of his plans.
Then Yang Hong went to the foot of Qingfeng Mountain and found Zhang Zhenyan, who was coaching Qi Refining disciples.
Seeing the younger version of Yang Hong, Zhang Zhenyan was startled. If Zhu Yuyan and the other two hadn't been accompanying him, and if they also looked younger, he wouldn't have recognized him.
"Greetings, Sect Master. Upon your emergence from seclusion, your cultivation has advanced further. This is truly worth celebrating."
"Heh heh, you are quite good at flattery, but you are mistaken. My cultivation has slightly decreased this time."
Yang Hong interrupted Zhang Zhenyan's flattery with a smile. His cultivation had indeed decreased. He was merely at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm, but after the seal was lifted, his cultivation could be increased without limits.
Moreover, his cultivation was solid, not the superficial cultivation of tens of thousands of years.
"Sect Master, you have regained your youth. Your cultivation must be even stronger. Please don't joke."
Zhang Zhenyan didn't believe Yang Hong's nonsense. He quickly changed the subject.
"Sect Master, do you have any tasks for this humble servant?"
Yang Hong nodded and said, "Indeed, there is something. You will go to the Yu Rou Plains tomorrow and sell all the Iron Thorn Fruits we have to exchange for spirit stones."
"Sect Master, aren't we going to carry out the second insect egg clearing? The Blazing Fire Locusts are truly terrifying."
"Just do as you're told, and you'll understand later."
Yang Hong waved his hand, signaling Zhang Zhenyan to be quiet, and added, "Next year, I will promote another batch of outer disciples. In ten years, I will select the first batch of ten inner disciples."
Hearing this, Zhang Zhenyan's eyes lit up.
"Ah, this! Sect Master, please rest assured, this disciple will complete your task as quickly and perfectly as possible. Just watch!"
With motivation comes execution. Ten days later, Zhang Zhenyan returned with eight hundred million spirit stones.
Yang Hong was quite satisfied with this.
With the spirit stones and the seeds of Iron Thorn Grass, followed by a group of disciples, Yang Hong arrived in the desert outside Panshi Mountain.
This was a real desert.
From the foot of Panshi Mountain westward, there was only gray and yellow, with no other colors.
The desert had been depleted by the Blazing Fire Locust plague, and there were still sporadic outbreaks. Qingfeng Villa could only ensure that the Blazing Fire Locusts did not attack the five spiritual mountains; the desert areas could not be developed.
Yang Hong had come today to develop, to create an oasis directly in the desert.
"Watch carefully, I will now teach you the Three Spiritual Field Formations, starting with the Spirit Gathering Formation."
As he spoke, Yang Hong's spirit stones flew out one by one, first 9 to 18, then 81, 810, and finally 129,600.
The number of spirit stones increased, and the difficulty of the formation increased. Yang Hong's figure had already flown into the air, and his voice echoed throughout the desert.
"Nine is the extreme of numbers. When setting up the Spirit Gathering Formation, it must be based on nine. Next is the Living Soil Formation."
"The Living Soil Formation is based on the six harmonies, emphasizing the unification of the six harmonies."
"The Living Water Formation is based on the five elements, with the six harmonies as the external manifestation. It must be arranged in multiples of thirty."
Yang Hong's formation teaching seemed simple, but a formation master who could explain while teaching in a way that was easy to understand was rare in the cultivation world.
Although this teaching session would not allow everyone to learn formations, it would be no problem to set up the Three Spiritual Field Formations by imitating.
All eight hundred million spirit stones were used up. Even those not used for setting up formations were directly crushed and turned into the spiritual energy of this world.
The timing was perfect. As night fell, the moon had already appeared, which Yang Hong had calculated.
As Yang Hong, standing in the air, continuously formed hand seals and outputted his magic power, the silver moonlight was gathered.
"Moonlight Nectar Fluid!"
With a soft cry, he pointed his right hand to the ground. Drops of silver spiritual liquid fell gently like a fine drizzle.
The spiritual liquid landed on the desert, immediately moistening it. The dry desert quickly became as moist and fertile as good farmland.
This was a seventh-tier spiritual plant secret art, which could generally only be used in ninth-tier spiritual mountains with abundant spiritual energy, and required at least seventh-tier cultivation and mastery of multiple seventh-tier spiritual plant arts.
However, because Yang Hong had comprehended the Dao of Creation, a power far beyond the rules of the cultivation world, he could use his fifth-tier Nascent Soul cultivation to perform it in the desert.
But, as a price, the eight hundred million spirit stones were almost depleted.
The crescent moon, though not very bright, under the illumination of the "Moonlight Nectar Fluid" spell, the desert for a thousand li around was as bright as day.
Under the silver moonlight, patches of green sprouts emerged from the soil and grew at a visible speed.
They matured in an hour, blossomed in an hour, bore fruit in an hour, and after another hour, the Iron Thorn Grass, originally third-tier, all evolved to fourth-tier!
Only after the Iron Thorn Grass completed its evolution did the bright red Iron Thorn Fruits begin to fall.
The Iron Thorn Grass, originally an annual plant, transformed into a perennial plant after evolving to the fourth tier, capable of producing fruit nine times consecutively.
"Don't just stand there, quickly pick up the Iron Thorn Fruits. My spell is not over yet."
While the disciples of Qingfeng Villa were still stunned, Yang Hong reminded them loudly.
He brought these disciples out to teach them the Three Spiritual Field Formations, which was a secondary objective. The true purpose was for them to pick the ripe Iron Thorn Fruits.