Longevity: Comprehending the Heart Method

News of Song Changsheng’s deeds in the Yang and Xiang Provinces had long since reached Ling Province. Destroying the Lieyang Sect, overwhelming the Rong Clan—how utterly awe-inspiring was that?

Therefore, when Song Changsheng led his forces back in triumph, all of Ling Province was in an uproar. Every Cultivator in Ling Province felt a sense of vindication.

After all, Ling Province had suffered greatly under the oppression of Yang Province for years. Now, they had finally vented their long-held frustrations.

For a time, the Song Clan’s prestige in Ling Province grew even deeper.

The bedridden Song Xianyun, upon hearing the news, managed to cling to life and let out hearty peals of laughter. Afterward, he held his great-grandson Song Qingyang’s hand and said with a smile, ”My long-cherished wish has finally been realized today. Even if my soul returns to the heavens now, I have no regrets.”

With tears in his eyes, Song Qingyang choked out, ”Great-grandfather, what nonsense are you speaking? Qianqian’s due date is soon, and the Clan Leader hasn’t even held his Purple Mansion Grand Ceremony yet. There’s so much still to happen. You have to hold on.”

”Yes, so much more... I wish the heavens would grant me another ten years of life...” Song Xianyun murmured, staring blankly at the ceiling as his voice grew faint.

Startled, Song Qingyang, who was at the bedside, hurriedly checked with a trembling hand. He let out a long sigh of relief only after discovering that Song Xianyun had merely fallen asleep, then collapsed onto the floor. An endless sorrow welled up in his heart. He knew that day was not far off...

After returning to the clan, Song Changsheng first went to the Soul Lamp Hall to pay his respects to the clansmen who had died in the great war. Afterward, he convened a meeting with the clan’s upper echelon for a post-war summary and to plan for the future.

The meeting began, as was customary, with a report on the casualties from the campaign against the Lieyang Sect.

Due to their absolute advantage, the casualties from this battle were not high and were still within an acceptable range. However, it still exacerbated the Song Clan’s already dire manpower shortage.

”Clan Leader, after this series of great battles, the clan is left with only 624 Cultivators. Even including the Yulong branch, we have just 702.”

”I believe that the clan’s focus from now on should be on increasing our population and recuperating. We absolutely cannot afford to go to war again,” Song Luzhou said gravely in the council hall.

Upon hearing this, all the other Elders showed expressions of agreement.

This wasn’t just Song Luzhou’s idea; it was a sentiment shared by everyone in the Song Clan, from the top down.

After all, across the entire Human Race Cultivation World, a Purple Mansion Family as ”meager” as the Song Clan was indeed a rare sight.

This ”meagerness” didn’t refer to the clan’s financial strength or its underlying foundation, but rather to its population and the number of its Cultivators.

Without even mentioning more distant examples, just look at the Rong Clan and the Lieyang Sect, both of whom were slightly weaker than the Song Clan in overall strength.

Didn’t each of them preside over populations of millions, with disciples numbering in the thousands?

As for powers stronger than the Song Clan, it went without saying. Take the current number one Purple Mansion Influence, the Celestial Sword Sect, for example. The population they protected exceeded ten million, and they had several thousand disciples.

And that was only because the Celestial Sword Sect followed an elite path, with all their disciples being exclusively Sword Dao Cultivators. Otherwise, their numbers would be even greater.

For example, before the Beast Tide, the former Luoxia City had nearly thirty thousand disciples. The Song Clan couldn’t even compare to a fraction of that number.

They were both considered a Purple Mansion Influence, but the difference between them was truly more obvious than that between a man and a monkey.

Some might say that no matter how many Low-Tier Cultivators you have, they are no match for a single High-Tier Cultivator. It would be better to follow an elite path and only cultivate talented clansmen rather than nurture so many mediocrities.

This wasn’t necessarily wrong. In a world where the strong reigned supreme, one Purple Mansion Cultivator was far more important than ten Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Therefore, geniuses were the key to a faction’s rise.

But to say that Low-Tier Cultivators were useless because of this would be completely and utterly wrong.

In this world, the birth of a genius was ultimately a low-probability event. Only with a large enough population could this probability be magnified.

For example, between one thousand people and ten million people, which group has a higher chance of producing someone with a Celestial Spirit Root?

The answer is obvious.

Thus, the development of any power depends on the support of a large population.

A larger population naturally leads to more Cultivators. More Cultivators allow for control over a larger territory. With more territory comes access to more resources. A stable supply of resources, in turn, naturally increases the speed of cultivation. This is the value of Low-Tier Cultivators.

You could think of them as tools to support the strong and the talented.

As cruel as it sounds, that is the reality.

To survive in this cruel world, you must have your own value. Being a tool at least ensures survival and offers protection.

The problem the Song Clan currently faced was that its territory was large enough, and its resources were plentiful, but it lacked enough ”tools” to exploit and manage them.

That was why Song Luzhou listed it as the Song Clan’s most pressing problem.

After listening, Song Changsheng pondered for a moment before looking at Song Luzhou. ”Where is the clan most short-staffed right now?”

”The clan’s main holdings and the Moon Viewing Marketplace are barely getting by. The main shortages are in Zhangye County and Yang Province.”

”Especially in Yang Province. When those bastards from the Lieyang Sect recalled their people, they carried out large-scale destruction of important assets.”

”Mines were collapsed, Spiritual Veins were damaged, Spiritual Springs were polluted, and even the slightly larger Gathering Spirit Lands suffered varying degrees of destruction. Restoring them will require a massive investment of both manpower and resources.”

Every time this matter was brought up, Song Luzhou would grit his teeth in frustration. Wang Yuesong had been too ruthless, leaving himself no way out and destroying absolutely everything he could.