Born with immortal seed

Chapter 30 Family Mission
"You've come to the right place. All the magical artifacts are displayed in the weapon-refining hall, except for the flying swords, which are kept in the storeroom."

"With only a few weapon refiners in the clan, how could the patriarch dare to entrust the refinement of spirit bamboo to them? Every time, he finds a trusted second-tier weapon refiner to handle it."

The old man reached out and summoned three dark green flying swords, which suddenly flew over and spun around in a three-element formation.

Although it was made from spiritual plants, it looked extremely sharp and exuded a murderous aura, making people feel a chill just standing next to it.

As expected of the most lethal flying sword, it stands out among its peers.

"To exchange for a Bamboo Sword, you need 500 clan contribution points. However, with your talent, the clan will surely bestow it upon you within a few years, so there's no need to spend contribution points to exchange for it now."

"Thank you for your suggestion, old man. I was just asking casually."

Bai Zichen glanced deeply at the Ink Bamboo Sword. For a moment, he really wanted to return two bottles of pills and exchange them for the flying sword.

But reason prevailed, and she persuaded him to stay.

"The Ink Bamboo Sword is good, but the Purple Ginseng Pills are not only useful for me in the future, but also for my uncle. We cannot give them up."

Uncle Bai Jiu'an was limited by his spiritual root, and even though he was a well-known ascetic in the clan, he only managed to reach the eighth level of Qi Refining.

The key point is that Bai Jiu'an is already forty-eight years old, and he will be turning fifty in just two years.

With the help of the Purple Ginseng Pill, there is still a chance to further improve one's cultivation level.

"I'll send two bottles of purple ginseng pills to my uncle first... As for the qi-tonifying pills, I'll just take one a month from now on, and speed up the refining process once he gets used to it."

Bai Zichen estimated that he should be able to reach the peak of the fifth level of Qi Refining by the end of the year.

"The Bai Ling family's contribution is less than half of mine... I suppose they've already used up all their pills. Something's not right. My goal is to establish my foundation. Why am I competing with a little girl?"

After leaving the warehouse, Bai Zichen hummed a little tune and went to find Bai Jiu'an.

If I remember correctly, my uncle Bai Jiu'an took on the role of the clan's mine guardian last year in order to accumulate cultivation resources.

Besides producing spiritual plants, this cold iron vein is the Bai family's main source of spiritual stones.

Cold iron, as a first-grade medium-quality ore, can be used to refine medium-quality magic weapons, or as an auxiliary material in high-quality and top-quality magic weapons.

Its value isn't too high, but its advantage lies in the fact that this first-order ore vein stretches for dozens of miles, and there is a large amount of cold iron exposed on the surface, making it relatively easy to mine.

The monthly output of cold iron exceeds two hundred catties.

There are about five or six hundred ordinary miners and seven or eight clansmen who stay on the mine year-round. The former dig out the ore and transport it to the warehouse, while the latter are responsible for simple refining of the ore to remove impurities from ordinary iron ore and obtain cold iron that can be sold in the cultivation world.

As one of the few late-stage Qi Refining cultivators in the Bai family, Bai Jiu'an is stationed here to guard against demonic beasts and deter wandering cultivators.

……

"Sister, don't share any of the pills Master gives you with me next time. If I hadn't used two of your Qi-replenishing pills, you might already be at the sixth level of Qi Refining!"

The once chubby-faced Bai Wei has grown into a robust young man, and his cultivation has reached the fourth level of Qi Refining.

"The sixth level of Qi Refining is not that simple."

Over the years, Bai Ling has grown into an even more beautiful young woman, with skin as smooth as jade and a head of shiny black hair.

"The cultivation speed of the Taiyin Suyun Xuanshui True Technique is much faster than the previous technique. It's a pity that your spiritual root is not compatible, so you can't switch to this technique. Otherwise, I would have begged the clan leader to teach you this technique as well."

A hint of sadness flashed across Bai Wei's face, then disappeared in an instant: "Sister, I took on several family missions in your name over the past two months. With Master's guidance and the help of the clansmen, I completed them quickly. They added up to sixty contribution points, which, combined with the ones you left behind, are enough to buy another bottle of Qi-replenishing pills!"

Family missions will inevitably have varying degrees of difficulty.

As long as it is issued by a person, there is naturally room for manipulation. As a family elder, Hong Gu's disciple Bai Ling is a foundation-building seed of the Bai family, so she often gives her some preferential treatment in terms of task content.

Even if others have some opinions, they might complain a bit in private, but it won't cause any big fuss.

The nectar-gathering quest that Bai Chongwu accepted was a predictably low-value family quest. It required him to travel to five different locations in Black Mountain County to collect five different types of nectar in order to refine a type of sandalwood.

The travel time alone will take more than a month.

The reward is only ten contribution points.

The family tasks assigned to Bai Ling are usually located near the clan's territory. With the help of Hong Gu's subordinates, they can be completed within a month, and the reward will not be less than twenty points.

"Alright, we've been out of Qi-boosting pills for months, so we'll go get a new bottle today."

The siblings went to the storeroom side by side and asked to exchange for a bottle of Qi-boosting pills, but were refused.

"Grandpa Mo, why is that? I remember the clan leader saying that I could freely exchange any item in the storeroom without any limit on the number of times!"

A hint of coldness crept into Bai Ling's clear, spring-like eyes. Perhaps due to her cultivation of the Taiyin Suyun Xuanshui True Technique, she already possessed a cool and aloof demeanor at a young age.

However, she often visited the storeroom and knew that the old man was a cultivator of the same generation as the clan leader, so she remained restrained in her speech.

The old man once had the potential to reach the Foundation Establishment stage, but during a hunt for demonic beasts deep in the Black Mountain, he encountered a second-tier demonic beast. Most of his companions perished, and the old man barely escaped, but his meridians were ruptured, preventing him from making any further progress in his cultivation for the rest of his life.

He then guarded the mines for Baijia Town, making great contributions. Last year, due to old age, he returned to his ancestral home.

"It's not that I don't want to change it for you, it's just that you're too late!"

The old man shook his head, a glint of light appearing in his cloudy eyes.

"Someone traded away ten bottles of Qi-boosting pills in one go, leaving only two loose pills in the warehouse. Any more will have to wait until the caravan restocks from the market next month."

"Old man, are you kidding me?! Who exchanges ten bottles at once? Even if I could accumulate that many family contribution points, I wouldn't need Qi-replenishing pills!"

Bai Wei couldn't hold back any longer and started shouting.

"Young man, don't be rude. Ten bottles of Qi-replenishing pills... Grandpa Mo, is the person exchanging them Bai Zichen?"

Bai Ling first rebuked Bai Wei, then pondered for a moment, thinking of someone she hadn't heard from in a long time.

It seems that he is the only cultivator in the clan who has made enough contributions and has a great need for Qi-replenishing pills.

The old man ignored him, unfolded the bamboo chair, lay down on it, and covered his face with the book.

"Sister, Bai Zichen has suddenly switched to so many Qi-replenishing pills. Is he trying to catch up? But judging from his cultivation speed these past few years, he's clearly overdrawn his potential. Maybe in another two years, I'll catch up to him!"

Bai Wei had never had a good impression of Bai Zichen, and now that Bai Zichen had exchanged the Qi-replenishing pills for him first, his resentment intensified.

Only Bai Wei himself knows how much of this hatred stems from Bai Ling and how much from the resentment caused by Bai Zichen stealing his opportunity back then.

A spirit pigeon fluttered its wings and landed on Bai Ling's shoulder. After feeding it a few grains of spirit rice, she took a note from the pigeon's feet.

"Sister, what's wrong?"

“Master said in the letter that the clan leader sent a message by flying sword, and Bai Zichen and I will serve as the clan’s spirit guides this year.”

The two events collided, and both were related to Bai Zichen, causing a ripple to stir in Bai Ling's usually calm heart.

The somewhat blurry figure of the young man who overpowered the young disciples of the sects and major families at the Five Mountains Temple seemed to become lively and clear again.

(End of this chapter)