After confirming the woman in blue had truly left, Qi Ping began to ponder his future development. He was currently facing two problems.
First was the intensifying chaos in the Qingtian Domain—even a ninth-level inner disciple had been severely wounded, and a Foundation Establishment master of the Murong family had died from demon insect poison.
Second was the question of how much patience the woman in blue had left. The black-robed rogue cultivator must have had something important; if this continued, she might launch a massive search that would expose the Blood Ginseng.
Qi Ping had to be prepared for both.
'First, the Li-Fire Crow must be nurtured as quickly as possible!'
'The crow was originally at first-tier perfection. As long as there are enough fire-attribute spirit items, reaching that level again should be fast even if the second tier is uncertain. This will provide the most combat strength in the short term.'
The Li-Fire Crow possessed a trace of Golden Crow bloodline, and its life-fire, the Li-Fire Flame, was exceptionally intense. It was the natural nemesis of most insect-type spirit beasts and demon insects. Most insects relied on high physical defense, high physical damage, potent toxins, and massive numbers. Attacks involving high-intensity spiritual energy, lightning, or fire were their weaknesses. The Li-Fire Crow also had strong resistance to toxins because most venom couldn't withstand the heat of the Li-Fire Flame.
With the current plague of demon insects and the secrets beneath the Blood Ginseng being related to insects, nurturing the crow was both beneficial and necessary. As long as the crow reached perfection and he had the Golden Marrow Bee swarm, Qi Ping could essentially walk unchallenged in the Qi Refinement stage. If his bees were countered by another cultivator, he would still have the crow as his trump card.
'Aside from the crow, for the swarm, having one thousand High-speed Ring-cutter Bees is enough. For the Ink-Armor Bees, Toxic Bees, and Balanced Bees, five hundred each should be sufficient. They'll be ready in about a month.'
Qi Ping set these limits for the swarm's size because the nectar and spiritual resources on this peak couldn't support any more. Even with the mature bees eating ordinary Golden Marrow Honey, they were already competing for nectar with the little black bees. This was the limit for this location; to nurture more bees, Qi Ping would need a larger area and more spirit lands to plant more flowers and herbs.
Using Plant Growth to nurture high-quality herbs was already taxing enough just for himself and his animal companions. If he had to provide for the swarm's daily food through the skill as well, his own cultivation and the growth of his companions would be severely hindered. Therefore, obtaining a larger place and more spirit lands was imperative.
Currently, almost all spiritual lands in the Qingtian Domain were controlled by the Qingyuan Sect or various cultivation families; there was no such thing as an unclaimed spirit land. This was the case throughout the human territories. As the most core resource, unclaimed spirit lands had rarely existed throughout history. Even if one were found, once it was exposed, it would be carved up by the rulers immediately.
Thus, if Qi Ping wanted more spiritual land, he had to buy or rent it. The price of buying was over a hundred times the cost of rent, which was out of the question. Therefore, his best path was to pay a large sum to rent a bigger mountain in B-District of the Cloud-Mist Mountain Range, one with more spirit lands.
Among the four districts—A, B, C, and D—the spiritual energy density in small parts of D-District approached that of a low-grade spirit land, suitable for small-scale raising of beasts that barely qualified as spiritual beasts, such as the little black bees, Black-Spirit Ducks, or Golden-Feather Chickens. D-District had the most plots and was the choice for most rogue cultivators.
C-District had some designated first-tier spirit land zones, making it suitable for slightly larger-scale planting and raising; it was usually occupied by rogue cultivators with significant resources or collateral branch disciples of the three families.
B-District possessed mid-grade spirit lands in addition to low-grade ones, and the overall spiritual energy density was much higher. However, the rent in B-District was extremely expensive; only very wealthy rogue cultivators and elite family disciples could manage operations there.
This was why Qi Ping had clung to the Blood Ginseng patch; he was paying D-District rent for B-District mid-grade spiritual land treatment! The only drawbacks were the small area and low overall spiritual energy, which limited his swarm's numbers. In B-District, there would be enough space to plant herbs and flowers so that natural growth could sustain the bees while producing a large amount of honey for sale, earning him even more spirit stones.
This was one of the reasons Qi Ping was considering exploring the secrets beneath the Blood Ginseng; the current location was restricting the swarm's development. Instead of earning spirit stones, it could only maintain the swarm's consumption. To expand and profit, renting a better spirit land was a must.
A-District contained high-grade spirit lands and was directly governed by the Qingyuan Sect. The tenants were usually Qi Refinement perfectionists, Foundation Establishment rogue cultivators, or elders from the three families. The first ten plots even reached the level of second-tier spirit lands through spirit-gathering arrays. Without being a core figure in Bluestone County or a Qingyuan disciple, one might not be able to rent them even with enough spirit stones.
The inheritance dwelling Sister Nan told Qi Ping about was located on Peak No. 7 in A-District. The rent was exorbitant and the barrier to entry high, which was why Qi Ping was considering B-District instead.
'I hope the thing beneath the Blood Ginseng patch is something that can continue providing spiritual energy even after I move to B-District. If it is, I might be able to grow high-grade spirit herbs in B-District too!'
Of course, this was just a hope. He couldn't say for sure what was down there; it could even be something extremely dangerous that provided no benefit at all. If it weren't for necessity, Qi Ping would have preferred for this to be a simple, peaceful spirit land where he could grow in peace, rather than risking everything to dig up something out of curiosity.
But circumstances were forcing his hand. The woman in blue might not give him much time, and the swarm needed better land to grow.
'Let's stick to the plan for now! Restore the Li-Fire Crow to perfection, then dig up the secret. Move to a larger, more spiritually dense plot in B-District and start mass-cultivating rapid-growth flowers. Then, expand the swarm and brew honey to earn spirit stones.'
'Next, I'll focus on nurturing Fire Spirit Grass, and then try to research the honey version of the Fire Spirit Tempering Pill and the optimal combinations of herbs to maximize the fire-attribute medicinal effect.'
'The Li-Fire Crow can consume both to rapidly recover strength, while I'll use the former for body tempering and the latter for Qi refinement.'