Big Data Cultivation
Chapter 836 - Chapter 836 Chapter 836 In a dilemma

Chapter 836: Chapter 836: In a dilemma Chapter 836: Chapter 836: In a dilemma The azure lotus, which Feng Jun had acquired from Xue Hongsheng’s Storage Bag, could only carry a limited number of people. It was not as good as the Time Shuttle, but Xuande Cave Heaven was also a part of the Daoist Lineage, and he didn’t want to bring out anything from Kunlun.

Upon seeing it, Feng Tianyang’s eyes lit up, “What a fine flying treasure, Mountain Master Feng truly has profound resources.”

In fact, it wasn’t far from the waist of the mountain to the peak, just over three hundred meters. Stepping on the azure lotus, they reached the top in the blink of an eye.

The mountain peak looked steep, but the area at the top was quite large, roughly… about a hundred acres in size, which is more than sixty thousand square meters.

Of course, this was just a rough estimate, the peak was not even, with ups and downs, covered with shrubs and trees, but the most abundant were the tea trees, amounting to four or five hundred.

After a quick glance, Feng Jun discerned the distribution of the tea trees. It was obvious that the three trees surrounded by many others were the legendary thousand-year-old tea trees.

The other tea trees were quite a distance from these three, with the closest being forty to fifty meters away.

In fact, there weren’t many of these forty to fifty meters distant tea trees, only about a dozen or so, and they also seemed old–although not a thousand years old, several centuries was certain, with a few clearly several hundred years old.

These tea trees extended outwards to the younger ones, among which there were also several nearly a hundred years old.

How could a Daoist Lineage with a thousand years of inheritance lack substantial accumulation?

As the two descended from the sky, they saw a white-haired Taoist walking out from a grass hut, “Greetings to junior brother Feng.”

This person was in charge of the tea trees. Because the terrain here was treacherous and difficult to navigate, supplies were usually transported using cable systems.

The Taibai Lineage had been operating in this area for thousands of years and had once carved out a steep stone staircase, but afterward they found that the secret of the mountaintop could not be kept. Later, they spent a huge amount of manpower to destroy the staircase.

Feng Tianyang’s senior Brother Zhang led Feng Jun to a spot about seven or eight meters away from the three tea trees, “We can’t get any closer, any nearer would damage the tea trees.”

Feng Jun glanced at him dissatisfied. You’re the ones asking for help, and you still have so many issues?

Feng Tianyang knew what he was thinking and snorted coldly, “Brother Zhang, even the tea harvest requires closeness. Mountain Master Feng is the expert I invited to address our problems, do not neglect our distinguished guest.”

Feng Jun casually walked between the three tea trees, looked around, furrowed his brow, and kept sniffing. Finally, he even closed his eyes.

With his eyes closed, he gave Feng Tianyang an odd sensation; it was as if his entire being had merged with nature.

Brother Zhang took a deep breath and gently nudged him, pointing at the ground before him–look at where he was standing.

Feng Jun’s feet were actually off the ground, not by much, just about ten centimeters, barely noticeable if you didn’t look carefully.

“Brother Zhang, don’t speak of this,” Feng Tianyang spoke softly, “This is the realm of ‘Levitation,’ but you may just call him Mountain Master.”

The realm of Physical Levitation implies two possibilities, one is Innate, and the other is the Detachment Phase. Feng Zhizhang initially wanted to address his kinsman as a venerable one, but later Feng Jun changed his mind, telling him to call him “Mountain Master.”

Brother Zhang nodded excitedly, “Then there’s real hope for our Questioning Dao Tea.”

After sensing for three or four minutes with his eyes closed, Feng Jun opened his eyes and couldn’t help but exclaim, “What a place, a natural Spirit Formation… Which ancestor of yours discovered this?”

The mountain peak was a natural Spirit Gathering Array, and it could circulate on its own without the need for Spirit Stones. Although the effect was very ordinary, the convergence of the Earth Vein, fate, geomancy, and the choice of location was truly astonishing.

To put it another way, if Feng Jun wanted to set up a Spirit Gathering Array with such poor effectiveness, it wouldn’t be easy. Just finding a location where the terrain, rivers, and streams all matched would consume too much of his time.

That’s why people say nature’s craftsmanship is marvelous, sometimes it’s irresistible.

Feng Tianyang hesitated before replying, “It is said that we invited a Golden Core Master who altered it according to the terrain.”

“A Golden Core…” Feng Jun nodded slightly, thinking that only this explanation made sense, “True to a master’s work, even Xuande Cave Heaven pales in comparison to this place.”

Feng Tianyang replied with an embarrassed smile, “Xuande Cave Heaven was originally a place for discussing Dao, of course, there are also places for quiet cultivation, but now most have declined. I wonder if Mountain Master could help us build a Spirit Gathering Array?”

Feng Jun did not answer, but instead took out his mobile phone and started swiping on it.

Feng Tianyang and he exchanged a look, not daring to say more. They didn’t think Feng Jun would be so idle as to scroll through social media or microblog on top of this mountain. Probably… he was using a calculator for something.

After a while, Feng Jun looked up, “The Spiritual Energy at the peak has been declining, hasn’t it?”

Isn’t that obvious? Brother Zhang scoffed inwardly, in this era of the Dharma’s decline, surely the Spiritual Energy would decrease with each passing year; could it possibly increase?

Yet Feng Tianyang nodded, “Mountain Master Feng is correct, a hundred years ago, this place could still produce a jin and a half of Questioning Dao Tea a year, now it’s barely one jin. The reduction has been particularly severe these past two years.”

“The decrease in production is related to the depletion of the Earth Vein,” Feng Jun spoke indifferently, “But these last two years, there must have been pests.”

“Impressive!” Feng Tianyang gave a big thumbs-up. He knew the situation of these three tea trees all too well, and his previous ambiguity was also to weigh up this Mountain Master Feng, who was suspected to be in the ‘Innate’ phase, to see just how capable he really was.

At this moment, he was truly convinced, “But this insect is very strange, I don’t know where it comes from…”

Strictly speaking, it’s normal for trees to have insects, and tea trees are no exception.

However, the top-grade Questioning Dao Tea comes not just from any trees, but specifically from these three ancient tea trees, and it’s always the first pick of the first harvest each spring.

These three trees together can only produce about a pound of tea, which shows just how high the standards for the tea buds are.

Generally speaking, even for non-Questioning Dao tea, the best tea is also the first pick before Qingming, which is the first plucking before the Qingming Festival. After holding back for an entire winter, the first tender buds that the tea trees bring forth are truly the essence of the essence.

It’s like Chinese toon, where the first shoots in spring are the most fragrant. By summer… who still eats Chinese toon?

But the reason that green tea from the first pick before Qingming is expensive is not only because of its tenderness but also because of another important factor–there’s no pesticide.

Tea trees do get infested with insects, and before Qingming, the bugs, having gone through winter, haven’t yet developed, so there’s no need to spray pesticides.

Of course, this ‘before Qingming’ is just a general term. In places further south, the first plucking might happen before the Awakening of Insects, while in the north, they might not have a first pluck before Qingming.

Mount Taibai isn’t particularly northern, but the Questioning Dao Tea grows on the high mountain peaks, so there’s no first pluck before Qingming; it’s good enough to have one before the Rainy Season.

Similarly, on the mountain peaks before Guyu, there are basically no insects, and even if the bugs have revived at the foot of the mountain, they can’t fly that high.

The Questioning Dao Tea of Mount Taibai, with over 400 plants from the highest grade to the most common, has never been treated with pesticides; it’s absolutely a green food, pure and untainted by pollution.

The purpose of Questioning Dao Tea is to aid in Daoist cultivation. If pesticides were used, what would that be?

If no pesticides are used, what do you do when insects appear? Introduce natural predators, or… simply pick them off by hand.

Especially those three ancient tea trees, they’re treated purely by hand for pest removal, unless in the autumn when pesticides might be occasionally sprayed, in the hopes of killing the insects so they don’t survive the winter.

In the past two years, traces of insects had already been found on the new buds of Questioning Dao Tea even before they emerged, especially concentrated in the areas where the tender buds were about to burst forth, the small black bugs were extremely dense.

Brother Zhang could remove insects by hand, but if the tender buds hadn’t yet grown, a few strokes might be fine, but too much, and would the tender buds still be able to grow?

What’s more deadly is that he, who had watched over tea trees for most of his life, couldn’t recognize what kind of insect it was.

He felt powerless, “I feel this is because of global climate change.”

He captured a few of the black insects to show Feng Jun, “Look at these insects, I’ve never seen them before. The key is they have a strange smell too, and if you wash them off with water, you still can’t drink the tea leaves.”

Feng Jun had never cultivated tea trees and didn’t recognize what kind of insects these were, although he felt it was unlikely to identify them with an image search–after all, the seasoned tea masters didn’t recognize them, but he searched anyway.

As expected, the search turned up nothing.

But he knew the presence of these insects… was mostly due to certain reasons, “Mountain Master Feng, this is not a matter I can resolve alone. I can resolve it, but at the very least, one ancient tea tree would need to be destroyed. Can you accept that?”

“No, I can’t,” Brother Zhang was the first to jump up, “Three trees, we have only three left… and you still want to destroy one?”

“I said ‘at least one tree,'” Feng Jun said indifferently, “Maybe even two. But… the old does not go, the new does not come.”

Feng Tianyang hesitated for a long time before finally giving a bitter smile, “You really put me in a tough spot here. These are trees left by our ancestors.”

“What’s so difficult about this?” Feng Jun scoffed at this remark, “Does any person not die? Does any tree not die? I think at the very least you should ask me one question… why must a tree die.”

“Alright,” Feng Tianyang sighed, “Why must an ancient tea tree die?”

Feng Jun chuckled lightly, “I think your attitude in asking the question is too casual, not solemn enough.”

“Alright,” Feng Tianyang nodded, “Let’s go down the mountain first. At the mountainside, I’ll provide a reception to cleanse the dust for you as Mountain Master… Consulting someone naturally requires an attitude of enquiry.”

Feng Jun, without another word, brought out the Blue Lotus again, “Alright, don’t be under so much pressure. This issue you’re worried about is no issue at all to me. I have several methods to deal with it. If you don’t believe me, you can ask Tang Wangsun or Guan Shanyue to bear witness.”

Magu Mountain under Guan Shanyue’s leadership is now rather mediocre, but Tang Wangsun’s Maoshan has gained significant fame within the Daoist Sects this year.

Feng Tianyang pondered for a bit before asking, “Must the ancient tea tree die for certain?”

“Birth, aging, sickness, and death, who can avoid it?” Feng Jun sighed, then raised his voice a bit, “I’m asking, are you coming down the mountain or not? If you’re coming, hurry up and get on the Blue Lotus!”