"Second brother, come out, we are here together with Jia Yi to deliver our harvest!" Miaoyu shouted loudly in front of the general affairs hall at the end of their section of the fields.
The Jia territory was a valley, styled after the Evergreen Cloud Valley of the Azure Cloud Sect. Although it was called Azure, in fact, the main colour scheme of the sect was dark to light green.
The Valley was split into various sections, extremely large with a third-grade spiritual vein flowing through it. A green cloud hovered above the valley, with various openings for sunlight. Sometimes, a few drops of green rain would fall, giving the land vitality.
It was the Evergreen Cloud technique of the sect, a unique ability the Jia family had access to after the ancestor Genyu returned to the sect.
Following the structure of the sect, the outer part of the family was the mountain range around the valley, the inner part was the valley itself, and the cloud was the core. Mortals lived on the mountain range, cultivators lived in the valley, north and south given to qi refining cultivators, while the centre was used by foundation building cultivator.
The last cloud was where the protecting Origin Light elder resided.
In total, there were dozens of qi-refining cultivators and nine elderly foundation establishment elders.
The real force of the Jia family all lived in the sect, this territory being their outer territory, training ground for new members and retirement place for old members. Essentially it had become their foundation, but they themselves didn't live here.
Most young cultivators here were collateral or side branches, because they generally originated from the mortals in the mountains. The side branch members here were usually members of the collateral branch, who were "upgraded" to the side branch after a member of their branch became a foundation establishment cultivator.
Children that didn't have spiritual roots would be sent to the mountains regardless of their lineage. Mortal members there would take care of them.
At this moment, after hearing the shout, a middle-aged man came out from the hall. He was tall and had a kind face, looking similar to Miaoyu and Miaolu. He was Miaohu, the second brother of the five brothers.
"Jia Yi!" he called out when he saw him, smiling brightly.
"Elder brother, you can't be so biased towards him while you ignore your own brothers!" Miaolu grumbled, acting slightly different when he was in the presence of his older brother, not restrained like before.
"Hmph, if it wasn't for you guys being so useless, why would I ignore you?" Miaohu complained, not caring for their face.
So what if he said a bad thing about them? He was the oldest brother!
"Brother, we're not useless… this time, I've increased my harvest per acre to 210kg!" Miaoyu tried bragging, but Miaohu wasn't fooled.
"Jia Yi, what about you?" he asked, guessing it must be 250kg, 10kg more than last year.
"260kg!" Jia Yi said proudly. Among family, he could fully show his pride and brag about his skills as a farmer!
"What! 260?!" Miaohu exclaimed in shock, surprising a few members around. When they heard the number, they thought they were dreaming, but looking at Jia Yi, everyone had a feeling of "as expected" and "great genius of the new generation".
Jia Yi wasn't shy when he was looked at, seemingly even prouder.
Miaolu on the side laughed when he saw his stunned brother.
His laughter brought Miaohu back to reality, coughing and acting like nothing happened.
"Well, if it was anyone else, I wouldn't believe it. But Jia Yi has shown such talent over the years, so it's understandable." He tried explaining, his expression still surprised.
Unlike others, he knew the inner story even better. 250 wasn't a hard limit, but surpassing it required more resources, being rather inefficient. The limit was based on the situation of the land and concentration of spiritual power.
Now it seemed this young genius was somehow able to increase things efficiently!
Although he thought this, he didn't say anything more.
There was no secret technique to this, and the spells he learned came from the family.
So, it was likely his own talent.
Jia Yi's talent had been reported in the third year after he started farming, which was why most of his request were met immediately.
"Okay give me your harvest, let me give you the rewards."
All three complied and gave Miaohu all their harvest, not scared anything shady would happen. If basic trust couldn't be maintained, then there was no need to remain in the family.
Jia Yi took out his storage bag, which hung on the left of his belt, giving it to his second uncle.
It was a special bag that only stored rice, thereby able to store more than the usual 1 square metre lower grade storage bag.
Miaohu looked through it and used a special spell to weigh things directly, revealing it was a bit more than the 260kg per acre, but not completely a kilogram. This was usual and there would be no additional reward for this little extra.
He rewarded Jia Yi 660 spirit stones, before giving the others their own reward.
Jia Yi was delighted and put the spirit stones into his storage bag – this amount was the most he got at once!
Combined with his previous accumulation, which he had barely spent, he now had over 1.200 spirit stones!
Last year, he splurged a bit and bought two lower-grade spiritual weapon: a wooden needle and a shield.
He had used them to practice his spell and some fighting tactics for which he also had a few books.
Generally, his expenses were low. Food and water were freely distributed by the family, techniques and spells were exchanged for contribution points, while cultivation arts were given for free.
Every year, fulfilling the 150kg basic requirement, he got 100 contribution points per acre, which he had used to buy all his spells.
He didn't only have these six wood-type spells – he also has two earth, two water, one wind and one fire spell, as well as various higher and vaster knowledge booklets.
Jia Yi calculated quicky and understood how many he had. Every spell costs around 100 points, except for the first two spells you get for free, the rest was bought.
14 spells, 12 paid would reduce his contribution points from 1900 to 700, then four knowledge booklets, two for taking care of spiritual plants, one general knowledge and a final for fighting, a total of 400 points deducted.
Thinking that only 300 remained, he was a bit sad, but he couldn't do anything.
While he gained less total spirit stones, he didn't quite have a need for them just yet. At least he couldn't use them effectively in a safe and growth-aiding environment like the family.
Maybe when he went to the family, he would finally get the taste of pills!