Chapter 54: The Pirates' Path

Hearing Fang Yun say this, Fang Lin and Fang Zhou knew his mind was made up and that their attempts to persuade him would be futile.

In truth, they were somewhat psychologically prepared for Fang Yun's departure.

They just hadn't expected it to be so soon.

In the past, due to talent issues, cultivators typically spent over a decade moving from the first layer of Qi Refinement to breaking through to the second.

Such a long time meant that even if someone planned to leave the island, the other elders had long since prepared for it.

They had even resigned themselves to the possibility of never returning.

But Fang Yun was different; thanks to his golden finger, his cultivation speed was far faster than that of previous practitioners.

This led to the situation where a few years after the previous generation of cultivators had departed, Fang Yun also wished to leave.

This was indeed difficult for the clan elders to accept.

However, no matter how hard it was to accept, they couldn't oppose Fang Yun's decision.

After all, this was a world led by cultivators; as mere mortals, they could only offer their advice and ultimately couldn't dictate the actions of a cultivator.

"Alright, clan leader, since you've made up your mind, we won't be able to change it.

We'll gather all the clan elders for a meeting and quickly search for new people with spiritual roots."

Seeing the dejected expressions on Fang Lin and Fang Zhou's faces, Fang Yun felt a pang of guilt.

But after considering it, he ultimately couldn't stay on this island for another ten or twenty years as they wished.

That would be too much of a setback for his cultivation journey.

Thus, Fang Yun let Fang Lin and Fang Zhou go to gather the other elders for a meeting.

He had already communicated his decision to them and didn't plan to continue facing the other elders.

After all, facing the other elders would only lead to endless persuasion.

Just thinking about it made Fang Yun feel a headache.

It was better to let Fang Lin and the others deal with it.

After Fang Lin and the others left, Fang Yun returned to the fields where he had planted the soybeans.

He watched as the pirates harvested the soybeans and weeds, feeling a cool breeze gathering around him.

Feeling the cool breeze, Fang Yun revealed a faint smile. It wasn't that he was satisfied with the life essence he had harvested; he simply enjoyed the gentle coolness and the sense of harvest it brought.

At that moment, five pirate leaders approached hesitantly.

Seeing them, Fang Yun's smile faded.

He recalled the innate martial artists he had been uncertain about how to handle.

Just then, the Black Widow stepped forward and said, "Master, these soybeans and weeds will be harvested soon. What's our next task?"

Fang Yun glanced at her and then at the busy pirates ahead.

From the life essence harvested earlier, it was evident that it was significantly less than that obtained from the crops in the canyon—about one-tenth.

This meant that roughly 1,000 acres of crops would yield only a single point of life essence.

And that was for the soybeans; the life essence harvested from the weeds was even lower.

Calculating it out, the tens of thousands of acres before him would yield only a few dozen points of life essence.

To be honest, compared to the seeds he had invested, the harvest was still acceptable.

However, the time required was far too long; he could collect nearly 300 points of life essence from spirit rice in just about three months.

These ordinary crops felt like a waste of time to him.

Moreover, after this harvest, he could no longer sense the information about their seeds, which meant that even if they were replanted, they would be of no use to him.

Unless he were to stimulate several batches of crops again to collect those seeds.

But considering the time and energy involved, Fang Yun really didn't want to continue.

If he didn't want to carry on, how should he deal with these pirates?

He had insisted on keeping them to help expand the crop cultivation area.

But now, the results of the crop cultivation hadn't met his expectations.

The project had failed, and now he had difficulty managing the pirates he initially decided to keep.

It was obvious that the Fang family didn't need these pirates besides himself.

And the number of pirates was too great; he couldn't consider killing them all, as that wouldn't be realistic.

But if he didn't kill them, what should he do?

Should he sell them as slaves in the black market outside the island, as Fang Lin had suggested before?

Just the thought of that was troublesome, and the gold and silver gained wouldn't be what he desired.

After pondering this, he glanced at the few pirate leaders standing beside him.

Considering that he would likely leave this island in a few years and that he knew nothing about the world outside, perhaps he could let these pirates go and use them to gather information.

That way, when he left Ling Shui Island, he wouldn't be entirely clueless about the situation outside.

Fang Yun thought about this plan and felt it could be realized.

He then turned to the anxious group and asked, "Do you want to leave this island?"

As soon as Fang Yun said this, the five innate martial artists were instantly terrified and knelt down.

"Master, we've been living well on the island and never thought about leaving!"

They assumed Fang Yun's earlier murderous intent was because he suspected them of wanting to betray him.

This felt extremely unfair to them.

After all, with Fang Yun, a cultivator, present, how could they dare to escape?

Moreover, in the world outside the island, without their master, innate martial artists were utterly insignificant.

Even if they managed to escape, any pirate force could easily annihilate them without their master.

This left them with no thoughts of running away.

Fang Yun shook his head, "What if I let you leave?"

The Black Widow and the others looked up in shock, not understanding his meaning.

Fang Yun continued, "To be honest, I plan to leave this island in a few years as well, but I know too little about the outside world.

I want you to take these pirates out, reorganize them into a pirate force, and gather all the information about the cultivation world for me."