Cultivation Begins From The Desert

"Clan Leader, with your insight, our Zhou Family currently has one hundred fifty-seven cultivators, among which there are six Foundation Establishment Cultivators, twenty-nine Late-Stage Qi Cultivation Cultivators, sixty-three Mid-Stage Qi Cultivation Cultivators, and forty-five Early-Stage Qi Cultivation Cultivators..."

"Among the clan cultivators, there are two Upper-Grade Spiritual Root Cultivators, twenty-four Middle-Grade Spiritual Root Cultivators, and the rest are Lower-Grade Spiritual Root Cultivators."

"Among these clan cultivators, there is one Tier Three High-grade Refiner, one Tier Three Middle-grade Refiner, two Tier Three Lower-grade Alchemists, two Tier Two High-grade Alchemists, one Tier Two High-grade Array Master, two Tier Two High-grade Talisman Makers, two Tier Two High-grade Beast Tamers, four Tier Two High-grade Spirit Plant Cultivators, and one Tier Two Brewmaster... In total, there are twenty-two individuals who have reached Tier Two in various Skills of Cultivation!"

"Additionally, our Zhou Family currently has twenty-three foreign relative cultivators, among which there is one Foundation Establishment Cultivator, five Late-Stage Qi Cultivation Cultivators, thirteen Mid-Stage Qi Cultivation Cultivators, and the rest are Early-Stage Qi Cultivation Cultivators."

...

On Jade Spring Peak, within the Zhou Family Council Hall, a small-scale family meeting is being held.

The meeting was proposed by Zhouyang, and the attendees were not just the Zhou Family Supreme Elders and various Elders, and Stewards, while ordinary Zhou Clan Members were not invited to attend the meeting.

The purpose of Zhouyang in convening this meeting was also to have a direct understanding of the current basic situation of the clan while also enhancing his own presence and drawing closer bonds with other clan members.

After all, at his level, it was no longer possible to visit each clan member's residence for casual chats one by one.

So he could only use this form of meeting to let clan members know that he, as the Clan Leader, is still very concerned about the family and its development situation.

At this moment, after listening to the words of the current Grand Elder Zhou Yuan Yu of the Zhou Family, he nodded in satisfaction and said:

"Very good. The number of cultivators is an important indicator of a family's strength. Only when the number of cultivators in the family is large enough can more talents emerge, and can the family's various industries operate normally."

"Therefore, the Zhou Family's policy of encouraging cultivators to have children must be continued, and the fertility subsidy fund must continue to be maintained!"

Generally, for a Purple Mansion Clan, it is only considered qualified if the population of cultivators is in the three to five hundred range, like the Chen Family, which has been around for over eight hundred years, with thousands of cultivators being quite normal.

The Zhou Family will soon be promoted to a Purple Mansion Clan and will also obtain a large Oasis.

By that time, not to mention one hundred plus cultivators, even over a thousand cultivators can be supported by the Zhou Family.

"How about the family finances? Seventh Sister, who is currently in charge of the family finances, could you please talk about what sources of income the family currently has and what are the expenses?"

Zhouyang turned his gaze to his Seventh Sister, Zhou Yuanchun, and asked.

Zhou Yuanchun, older by a few years, is now close to a hundred years old; the once beautiful woman now a mother of three.

Her luck was much better than his mother Zhou Xuan Yu, out of her three children, two of them have spiritual roots, although they are both lower-grade spiritual roots.

At this moment, hearing Zhouyang inquire about the family's financial situation, she, who had succeeded the previous generation of Zhou Family elders in managing the Zhou family's finances for seven or eight years, answered promptly and fluently: "The family currently has three Tier Three Spirit Mountains, namely Jade Spring Peak, Haoyang Mountain, and Red Fox Ridge, along with three Tier Two Spirit Mountains, Cyan Ping Mountain, Cyan Ox Mountain, and Black Wood Peak. Just the annual output of Spirit Grain, Spirit Elixirs, Spirit Fruits, and Spirit Wood from these spirit mountains is valued at four thousand two hundred Spirit Stones."

"Additionally, the family now has one Red Flame Iron Ore, one Refined Iron Ore, and one Light Jade Ore, with the total annual output value of spiritual objects from these mines being over three thousand Spirit Stones."

"Moreover, the family's two marketplace stores used to have annual net revenues of over four thousand Spirit Stones before they were closed."

"The family's current biggest financial expense is the procurement of various alchemy materials; each year, the expenses in this area alone exceed two thousand Spirit Stones."

"Other expenses such as Fengyue Tower, the distribution of the fertility subsidy fund, and the procurement of other spiritual objects, amount to about one thousand five hundred to two thousand Spirit Stones."

Ever since the Zhou Family obtained the two Tier Three Alchemists, Xiao Ying and Zhou Xuanhao, they have been extensively producing elixirs, and most of the Tier Two Spirit Pills they have refined are supplied for the use of the family's cultivators.

Currently, those Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators in the Zhou Family, Middle-grade Spiritual Root Cultivators still hoping for Foundation Establishment, are prudent when using spirit pills to enhance their cultivation, waiting for the "Erysipelas" to clear before consuming new ones.

However, those Lower-Grade Spiritual Root Cultivators, losing hope for Foundation Establishment, are less concerned about the presence of "Erysipelas" when consuming spirit pills for cultivation enhancement.

These individuals generally aim to quickly advance to Mid-Stage Qi Cultivation or Late-Stage Qi Cultivation, not only increasing their annual family welfare stipend but also enabling them to go out for training to earn Spirit Stones and clan contribution points sooner.

Zhouyang and Xiao Ying, as Dao Companions, are also very familiar with these matters, so when he heard Zhou Yuanchun mention that the purchase of spirit elixirs has become the family's largest expenditure, he was not surprised.

In fact, if there were not fewer cultivators in the Zhou Family now and they had not obtained a large number of artifact refining and talisman making materials by developing a new Oasis, the purchasing costs for artifact refining materials and talisman materials would not have been small.

If those materials did not need to be purchased, those Refined Iron and Red Flame Iron from the Zhou Family would not have been so easy to sell.

In the Cultivation Realm, various sects and family factions can nurture alchemists, artifact refiners, talisman makers, array masters, and others skilled in the Hundred Skills of Cultivation through resource investment, achieving self-sufficiency in the production of end products.

However, no sect or family can fully achieve self-sufficiency in raw materials.

Low-tier raw materials are not much of a problem, as major sects have extensive territories, making it easy to gather them, but for some middle-to-high tier raw materials, no sect can fully gather all of them.

If even the major sects cannot manage this, then it's certain the Zhou Family also cannot, hence the expenditure on purchasing materials cannot be cut.

Currently, the Zhou Family's annual financial income, after expenses, still results in a revenue of six to seven thousand Spirit Stones, which is already quite impressive for a Foundation Establishment Clan.

"So, what is the current balance of Spirit Stones in the family accounts?"

When Zhouyang asked this, he directed his gaze towards the old Clan Leader, Zhou Minghan.

Since the last family meeting held by the Zhou Family, due to an excessive number of Spirit Stones in the family accounts, the old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan, fearing that the clan elders managing the finances might be tempted to embezzle and betray the family, suggested storing ninety percent of the Spirit Stones under his care, leaving ten percent for daily family expenses, and for any large project expenditures, the clan elders could apply to him for special allocations.

Thus, the true coffers of the Zhou Family are actually in this old man's hands.

"The number of Spirit Stones currently in the family inventory totals 144,367!"

Zhou Minghan cast a glance at everyone in the hall and solemnly announced this number that made everyone's heart race.

One hundred and forty-four thousand Spirit Stones!

Even someone like Zhouyang, carrying tens of thousands of Spirit Stones, twitched at the eye when hearing this number.

This is not a small figure.

If it were in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, a Zhou Family with this many Spirit Stones in inventory could already purchase "Purple Heart Jade Marrow" for the family Foundation Establishment Cultivators to open their Purple Mansion!

However, everything has its advantages and disadvantages. If it were indeed in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, the contribution point system of the Zhou Family might not be as effective as it is now.

One must know that the family contribution points accumulated in the records of each clan member, even if not counting the contribution points of Zhouyang and the other Foundation Establishment Cultivators, and not counting the points written off after clan cultivators redeem treasures from the family treasure vault, still total over eighty thousand!

Were it not for these contribution points being dispersed among hundreds of Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators, the contribution point system of the Zhou Family could have collapsed due to the incapacity to exchange for enough Foundation Establishment Pills.

If the contribution point system collapsed, to appease the clan members' resentment, Zhouyang would have to offset these clan members with Spirit Stones on a one-to-one basis, and then these 144,000 Spirit Stones wouldn't last much longer.

"Good, very good, these Spirit Stones can be reserved for a significant future use. The future source of our Zhou Family's Foundation Establishment Pills may very well depend on these Spirit Stones!"

Zhouyang was silent for a moment, then repeatedly praised aloud.

Upon hearing this, aside from Zhou Minghan who was already aware of the inside story, all the other cultivators in the hall had their eyes brighten with joy as they glanced at him.

In terms of who among the Zhou Family cultivators below the Foundation Establishment Stage has the most contribution points, those present in the hall would certainly be among them.

As high-ranking members of the Zhou Family, they all knew that the family currently had only one Foundation Establishment Pill left, so over the years, they have been secretly trying their best to acquire more family contribution points, aiming to accumulate 20,000 points as soon as possible to get this Foundation Establishment Pill.

Because none of them would relent to the others, it's led to none of the Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators being the first to secure 20,000 contribution points.

Even though they were brethren and sisters of the same clan, no one was willing to let others have the Foundation Establishment Pill, hence they could only compete through their abilities.

However, this resulted in a pessimistic view of the future among all of them, fearing that the Zhou Family would completely cut off the source of Foundation Establishment Pills in the future, turning all their efforts to naught.

Now, Zhouyang suddenly mentioned that Foundation Establishment Pills could be bought with Spirit Stones in the future, regardless of where he buys them from, it was akin to giving these Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators a reassurance pill, easing their minds and allowing them to secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

Zhouyang observed the changes in their expressions, his face beaming as he stood up and addressed everyone:

"Alright, I roughly understand the family's situation. Here, on behalf of the other clan members, I thank all the uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters for their contributions."

"Please rest assured, as long as I, Zhouyang, am in charge of the Zhou Family, I will not shortchange any clan member who contributes to the family."

"Let's work hard together for the family. Once the family becomes stronger, not only will there be Foundation Establishment Pills, but even such Spiritual Objects as [Purple Heart Jade Marrow] will also be available!"