Ignorant Second-Generation Rich Children

There was finally an explanation for why Dustfallen Sect's disciples progressed so fast. Sure, aptitude was one variable, but no aptitude could overcome an inherent lack of spiritual qi. On the other hand, an abundance of spiritual qi could drastically capitalise on innate aptitude to create skyrocketing progress.

"Elder Xun, can you see where else formations are set?"

Lan Ling'er and Mu Yu flew around Mount Dustfallen with Elder Xun to seek out other formation locations. They couldn't be sure if Elder Xun was telling the truth or not owing to their ignorance on the topic.

Elder Xu pointed out four places with spirit collection formations set up: one at Dustfallen Precipice. One at the vacant space they often refined their swordplay at Feng Haochen's behest. One was on a rock halfway up the mountain everyone gathered around to chat daily. The last one was at the waterfall located at the foot of the mountain, which was where they practiced Dustfallen Mental Cultivation.

Mu Yu and Lan Ling'er were mostly convinced at that point because they knew the significance of the four locations. There was no way there were four coincidences. Elder Xun couldn't have known beforehand to deceive them since he only just arrived. They never thought much about where they trained since they were just following instructions. If other sects found out, they'd be sure to take over Dustfallen Sect.

"So… Shifu set up spirit collection formations to provide us with an ideal environment for cultivating, yet never informed us. Please tell me what's going on."

"Why did Shifu never tell us?"

They suddenly felt as though they didn't know their shifu at all, while he knew them as well as the back of his hand.

"Shifu might not have been the one who set them. Who's to say he didn't just find this mountain and the formations by chance and, therefore, decided to set up Dustfallen Sect here?"

"That's impossible. You need to recast them at set intervals to maintain them. Generally speaking, you need to perform maintenance once every month. Those unfamiliar with formations wouldn't be able to complete the job. From what I can see, the formations haven't been maintained for two months. They're not collecting spiritual qi steadily." Elder Xun shifted a rock and found a deprived spirit stone in the mud.

Two months were the length of time Feng Haochen had been missing. There was no room for doubting Feng Haochen was behind the formations anymore. Still, questions remained.

"Can you repair them?" inquired Mu Yu.

"I'll try. I should be able to."

Elder Xun moved a few rocks and grass around the rock halfway up the mountain. He checked the sun's location. He took four steps to the left and eight steps back. Mu Yu and Lan Ling'er didn't have the foggiest clue what he was doing.

"Although this formation uses ordinary spirit stones, the technicality surpasses anything I've cast. Now I understand why you didn't notice the difference in spiritual qi. The formation only collects spiritual qi when you train and trigger the spiritual qi in the atmosphere around you."

Elder Xun dug up a few more spirit stones the size of a fist, then continued explaining, "Ordinary spirit stones aren't as effective as purple-gold spirit stones. That being said, the formation will double your harvest. A rough estimate for maintaining this formation would be five hundred spirit stones per month. The one at Dustfallen Precipice is bigger and would require roughly a thousand spirit stones. Four of them would require two thousand and five hundred spirit stones each month. That's… my goodness."

Given how impoverished and unpopulated Dustfallen Sect was, the sum was just outlandish. An ordinary sect would be lucky to have a thousand spirit stones each month. Each sect's disciples had to contribute to the sect for their monthly share if they didn't hunt or mine.

Mining was the hardest option since finding two thousand in a mine on an annual basis was a miracle. Plus, there were only so many mines. Green Pine Sect and Jiuhua Sect controlled the majority of the big quarries, leaving others with tiny ones. That was the reason hunting was favoured despite the higher risk to their lives.

There was no room for questioning spirit stones' benefits. Having said that, seldom did cultivators directly drain the spiritual qi from them as they could absorb it from the atmosphere. Instead, they traded them for more materials to forge magic items or for medical herbs.

Green Pine Sect was unlikely to use as many spirit stones as Dustfallen Sect. Mu Yu and Lan Ling'er were speechless. Mu Yu had three ordinary spirit stones in his sleeve. The others wouldn't have had more than ten. Feng Haochen often placed them in the hall and told them they could take them whenever they needed. However, they hunted for their own instead. They never realised they were second-generation rich kids. People always incorrectly assumed they were broke hillbillies.

Lan Ling'er: "Shifu is so rich, yet I was frugal. I brooded over every skincare product purchase for a long time before actually buying them."

"Shifu has spent enough on us. If we're spendthrifts on top of that, no amount of spirit stones will be enough to satisfy us. Perhaps Shifu didn't trust us with too much in case we didn't learn to budget. Of course, he might've wanted to avoid attracting attention. Imagine if the youth in red found out and came knocking."

Someone once asked, "What would your biggest wish be when you have no money?"

Answer: "It would be for my broke old man to find me and tell me he was actually wealthy. Only, he didn't give me any money all these years to make me learn to earn for myself."

Mu Yu was the broke one learning to earn his own keep.

Now, there was a new problem: where were they going to procure enough spirit stones to maintain the formations now that their shifu's whereabouts were unknown?