The next morning, Master Chen, who had been busy all night, decided to get up and get down to business.
Although the spiritual energy in Zilong Mountain was barren, it was still a mountain range, and countless people survived by relying on it. Walking over from Yixin Village, although the destination was very close, suitable locations were extremely scarce; after all, the one thing the immortal cultivation world was never short of was low-level cultivators.
Chen Fan wandered around Zilong Mountain for half a day before finally choosing a spot to his liking. This place was divided into two levels: halfway up the mountain, there was a large expanse of flat ground, looking down at an endless plain.
The geographical location was exceptionally good. If it weren't for the fact that this area was considered barren even within the Zilong Mountain Range, it certainly wouldn't have fallen to Chen Fan to occupy it.
After observing for a while, Chen Fan decided this was the place. If he didn't possess a cheat, he wouldn't dare establish a family base here, because it was simply too barren.
"Alas! No choice, I'm still too weak, I can only keep a low profile."
Chen Fan found a piece of wasteland at the foot of the mountain and began to clear and cultivate it.
Reclaiming wasteland was extremely hard physical labor. Fortunately, Chen Fan had his cultivation to rely on; otherwise, the mountain soil was so hard that clearing it could work a person to death.
It took a full day, and his Level 5 Qi Condensation cultivation was nearly exhausted, before he finally managed to clear a path leading to the top of the mountain. Even this was just temporary; later on, he would have to hire specialists to build a proper road.
Upon reaching the top of the mountain, although everything looked desolate, the thought of the future suddenly filled him with towering ambition—after all, what man did not yearn to carve out his own territory?
*Ding! You have selected your family base (dilapidated). Your family has taken a step towards prosperity.*
*Reward: 100 skill points.*
Seeing the golden characters appear on the virtual panel, Chen Fan's face revealed excitement.
Sure enough, he had guessed right. A family is a family; how could it be called a family without even a family base?
*Ding! You have reclaimed farmland. Rewarded with 1 skill point.*
*Ding! ......*
Feeling slightly annoyed by the sound, Chen Fan searched the system for a long time until he finally found the button to turn off the prompt sounds, and decisively chose to disable them.
"There, that's better. Now it won't go ding-ding all the time. System, you just quietly wait for me to check on you from time to time!"
By evening, he returned to his home in the village, where his wife had already cooked dinner and was waiting for him.
Lately, however, affected by the situation in the town, even the people in the village felt somewhat restless.
For the past few months, Chen Fan had been busy establishing his family base, successively hiring quite a few skilled mortal craftsmen. Although it currently looked like there were very few houses, the sparrow was small but possessed all vital organs, including a scripture pavilion and everything else.
Moreover, before construction even began, he had already had people dig a well right in the middle, matching it with items he had picked up as bargains at a street stall. Because he was busy back then, he had used Spirit Stones to nurture it for several days straight, which had nearly broken Li Lingyu's heart.
Chen Fan had also used his points long ago to break through as a Spiritual Planter and a Formation Master. Beside this spring, he had set up a Minor Spirit Gathering Formation to nurture a Spirit Spring.
After three months of nurturing, under the effect of the Spirit Gathering Formation and the spirit herbs, the spiritual energy in the well water grew increasingly abundant. Furthermore, Chen Fan had roped in the three brothers to serve as guest retainers; after they spent day and night mixing spiritual liquid and pouring it into the well, a Spirit Spring had now formed.
According to Chen Fan's estimate, in another ten years, as long as he continuously poured spiritual liquid into the well, this Spirit Spring could take another step forward and form a pseudo-Spiritual Vein.
It was just that the cost was a bit high; only someone like Chen Fan, an Alchemist, had the leisure to spend such a massive price on cultivation.
Even though a Spirit Spring already existed, it had only just formed. At this time, Chen Fan's cultivation had also reached the Level 5 Qi Condensation Peak, coupled with Li Lingyu breaking through to the second level a few days ago, along with the three brothers who were at Level 3 Qi Condensation. Once everyone started refining spiritual energy together, the spiritual energy here would likely immediately fall into a deficit.
Long-term, overloaded breathing and absorbing of spiritual energy would also cause immense damage to the Spirit Spring. Chen Fan had invested so many resources to cultivate this Spirit Spring, so naturally he wouldn't be foolish enough to drain the pond to catch the fish.
During this period, Chen Fan had constantly been setting up Minor Spirit Gathering Formations, and now there were 10 Spirit Gathering Formations echoing each other from afar. Moreover, Chen Fan once again drew upon his skills as a Spiritual Planter and a Formation Master, orderly planting spirit herbs harvested from elsewhere within the family territory.
According to Chen Fan's arrangement within the family, the spiritual energy was now growing increasingly rich, and the grade of the Spirit Spring was rising higher and higher, soon rivaling the Spirit Spring at the stall-gathering area at the foot of Zilong Mountain.
Now the family territory also had a Spirit Spring. Although its grade was still low, this one belonged entirely to him. Coupled with the news of his wife's pregnancy a month ago, the feeling of everything thriving made Chen Fan increasingly infatuated.
"This is something I built!"
In the blink of an eye, a few months passed, and Li Lingyu's belly grew larger and larger. Her movements were now increasingly inconvenient, though fortunately they were both cultivators.
After several months of fermentation, the atmosphere in the town had grown increasingly eerie. Fortunately, Chen Fan had run away early to establish his family territory here; otherwise, as an Alchemist, he inevitably would have been dragged into some minor troubles.
Chen Fan put on a disguise and said goodbye to his wife. Because he had repaired the Soul-Bewitching Formation early on and deployed it within the Spirit Spring, Li Lingyu could rely on this formation to fend off the attacks of Level 6 Qi Condensation cultivators, so Chen Fan left with peace of mind.
Over the past year or so, Chen Fan had refined quite a few pills. To cultivate that Spirit Spring, the family did not have much spare wealth. Even though Chen Fan was an Alchemist, others would not give him Spirit Stones for nothing; he still had to go to the market shops to refine pills in order to earn Spirit Stones.
Since he had already made up his mind to bide his time and develop in secret, Chen Fan did not dare to expose the news that he was a Tier 1 Formation Master. If he waited another year or two, until his cultivation was somewhat higher, it wouldn't be too late to reveal his Tier 1 Formation Master abilities to earn Spirit Stones.
Because the pills refined by Chen Fan's disguise master persona were of extremely high quality, the nearby shops vied with one another to buy them. Seeing everyone's enthusiasm towards him, Chen Fan had long since made preparations, pulling out some pills he usually refined and agreeing to the pill-refinement requests of several cultivators around him.
The pills were snapped up by everyone the moment they were brought out, and Chen Fan followed closely behind those who needed pills refined. Renting a Pill Cauldron from a shop, Chen Fan hurried to refine the pills.
Although a Qi Condensation stage cultivator possessed superb skills, their cultivation was limited. Continuously refining pills was extremely grueling work; Chen Fan was worked half to death before finally finishing the commissions for those people by the afternoon of the next day.
However, seeing the rewards handed over to him by others, Chen Fan instantly stopped feeling tired.
Then, he came to a street with dozens of houses on either side. When Chen Fan arrived, the shop was desolate and quiet, with almost no one around. Chen Fan often came to this shop to purchase some items he needed.
Long before coming, he had heard that this shop had a few low-grade pill recipes, but unfortunately the shopkeeper refused to sell them no matter what. This time, for some reason, someone caught wind that the shopkeeper was showing signs of loosening his stance, and Chen Fan was determined to give it a try.