Born with immortal seed

Chapter 14 Bai Jiu'an Advances (Seeking Recommendations)
Three months later.

The chaos in the Black Mountain Range finally subsided. With the strong suppression of the Azure Maple Sect, the troublemakers who had taken advantage of the situation were also wiped out, and peace was restored.

But it would probably take at least twenty or thirty years to truly repair the damage.

The sudden drop in foot traffic at the market run by Qingfengmen itself is a testament to this.

According to unofficial statistics, there are now only about twenty cultivation families in the Black Mountain Range that can truly be considered to have a well-established lineage.

Those who were missing included those whose families were completely wiped out by the Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators; some whose families suffered heavy casualties upon the return of their clan leaders, leaving only a few survivors; and some whose most important cultivators died in battle, leaving them unable to maintain their spiritual lands. For various reasons, some became rogue cultivators, while others simply joined the Five Great Families as guest elders, resulting in the loss of many family halls.

In the Black Mountain Range, many unclaimed spiritual veins suddenly appeared, and many rogue cultivators took advantage of the situation to enter, forming groups of three or five to occupy a peak.

The Bai family's revenue mainly relies on spiritual plants and spiritual rice. Losing a few mountains has little impact, but many bamboo forests and spiritual fields are now empty and lack people to take care of them. It is foreseeable that the family's income will drop significantly next year.

In these overcast days, the only good news was that the clan leader announced three months ago that he would give away nine Breakthrough Pills as a reward to the clansmen who returned from the Five Sacred Mountains Temple.

They also announced that they are researching a new family system, which will provide certain resources to the younger generation of cultivators to help them grow up as quickly as possible.

The Breakthrough Pill is considered a divine pill for those in the Qi Refining stage, possessing the miraculous effect of surging magical power and loosening bottlenecks at both the mid and late stages. Naturally, its price is equally astonishingly high, costing one hundred and fifty spirit stones per pill.

Over the past three months, the clansmen who obtained the Breakthrough Pills have taken the pills one after another after simple recuperation and have begun to break through to the late stage of Qi Refining.

Yesterday, the results showed that two people succeeded and six people failed.

Bai Zichen looked at the unmoving master bedroom, sighed, grabbed his backpack, and headed towards the study.

The last person remaining was Bai Jiu'an.

Having obtained the Breakthrough Pill, he was in no hurry to take it. He continued as before, honing his magical power.

When others ask, I say that I feel there is still a strand of magic power that I haven't fully cultivated. It wasn't until three days ago that I suddenly said I was going into seclusion to break through to the late stage of Qi Refining, and that's how it is now.

Bai Zichen walked out of his own courtyard. The small courtyard had everything: a master bedroom, a side room, a quiet room, a living room, and a storage room. In the middle of the courtyard was a peach tree that had just been transplanted.

He disliked the cold and dark mountain caves, so he finally chose a row of courtyards built near the study hall and moved in.

Bai Jiu'an had no objection to this and proceeded according to his idea.

Living near the academy made it convenient for Bai Zichen to have plenty of time to read every day. Of course, magic techniques and cultivation methods wouldn't be placed here. The bookshelves were filled with miscellaneous books about local customs and biographies, but they contained many strange and unusual stories from the surrounding prefectures and counties, which he found very interesting.

Just read it like a fantasy novel; it can broaden your horizons.

"Yesterday I looked at the landscape atlas of Mizhou, today I'll look at other aspects."

"At the heart of Liang Kingdom, atop Qishan Mountain, lies the Sacred Lotus Sect, a Nascent Soul sect..."

“A Nascent Soul cultivator can live for a thousand years, witnessing the rise and fall of several dynasties. The history of many sects is not as long as that of a single Nascent Soul True Monarch. From its founding ancestor to the present, the Holy Lotus Sect has produced a total of five Nascent Soul True Monarchs, making it the undisputed number one sect in the Liang Kingdom.”

"In ancient times, there was no such divine pill as the Foundation Establishment Pill. All cultivators relied on their own accumulated magical power to force their way through the Foundation Establishment stage. Not only was the success rate low, but failure would also destroy all their meridians, leaving them crippled. The Foundation Establishment Pill can not only increase the success rate of Foundation Establishment by 30%, but it can also protect the user's meridians, ensuring that the user's realm is stabilized after failure. No wonder it is called the number one pill formula in ten thousand years!"

Bai Zichen stretched and realized it was noon. He put the books back on the shelf and started to feel hungry.

"The best thing about Hanxiu Peak is that they hired several cooks who prepare three meals a day, so you can eat whenever you need them. Moreover, the dishes are plentiful, and we haven't had a single dish twice in over a month. We've finally enjoyed the treatment of cultivators."

Bai Zichen took the food box and returned to the courtyard. Just as he was about to put it down and start eating, he sensed the surrounding spiritual energy surging and rapidly flowing into the master bedroom.

"It's because my uncle is about to emerge from seclusion..."

He looked expectant. This step would give Bai Jiu'an a glimmer of hope to pursue the Foundation Establishment stage. If he failed, there wouldn't be enough time.

Eight years is simply not enough time to cultivate from the sixth level of Qi Refining to the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, and the family will not invest more resources in a loser.

With a creak, the door was pushed open, and Bai Jiu'an strode out, an uncontrollable smile spreading across his usually composed face.

Bai Zichen understood immediately and bowed respectfully, saying, "Congratulations, Uncle, on advancing to the late stage of Qi Refining. You have a promising path to Foundation Establishment."

Bai Jiu'an had just broken through, and his imposing aura and powerful stride made him say: "I dare not dream of reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, but my nephew and I will finally have an easier time from now on."

"Chen'er, your talent far surpasses mine. Your uncle should accumulate more family contributions in the future, and with the combined efforts of the two of us, we can exchange for a Foundation Establishment spiritual item. Who knows, you might be able to successfully establish your foundation in one fell swoop!"

Foundation Establishment Pills are the ultimate dream of all Qi Refining stage cultivators, but only the Qingfeng Sect in the entire Black Mountain County has the capability to refine them. They are scarce and their price is astronomical.

The next best option is those few Foundation Establishment spiritual items, which can increase the probability of Foundation Establishment by about 10% to 15%, and are worth several thousand spirit stones.

This number is not unattainable for two late-stage Qi Refining cultivators if they accumulate it over several decades.

Bai Jiu'an had this plan in mind: to sacrifice the rest of his life to work for Bai Zichen in exchange for a chance to establish his foundation.

This is also the current situation of many Qi Refining families, where generations work for a single, exceptionally talented descendant, while white-haired old men are still painstakingly accumulating cultivation resources.

Success means leaping over the dragon gate and becoming a foundation-building family; failure means being reduced to nothing and wasting decades of the family's accumulation.

Bai Zichen was deeply moved, never expecting his uncle to have such thoughts.

Bai Jiu'an reported his advancement to the late stage of Qi Refining that very day. Upon hearing the news, the clan patriarch, Bai Xianzong, personally received him the next day and distributed the benefits for clan members at the late stage of Qi Refining.

A low-level storage bag, an annual allowance of twenty spirit stones—although this year is already halfway through, it was still paid out in full—and you can also go to the weapon refining hall to choose a mid-grade magic weapon for free.

In addition, the sect's newly updated policy states that anyone who breaks through to the late stage of Qi Refining before the age of fifty will receive an extra Purple Ginseng Pill as a reward from the family.

The Purple Ginseng Pill is already a top-grade first-tier elixir, one of the few pills that can promote cultivation in the late Qi Refining stage. This move is naturally intended to inspire all clansmen who have not yet reached their Qi and Blood Limit not to give up hope, but to continue improving their cultivation and charge towards Foundation Establishment.

After all, if the Bai family wants to truly pass on its legacy, a major overhaul at the Foundation Establishment stage is fundamental.

(End of this chapter)