Born with immortal seed

Chapter 78 Hidden Dangers in Black Mountain
The courtyard is deep and secluded, with red willows shrouded in mist.

A young man with a cool and aloof demeanor and a handsome face drew mysterious runes on a willow leaf with his fingers.

It was completed in one go from beginning to end.

The finger strength flows onto the surface of the willow leaf, outlining the leaf's texture without spilling out at all, penetrating to the back of the leaf and maintaining its integrity.

In a flash of inspiration, several runes on the willow leaf flickered and echoed each other, making the leaf look heavy and unlike any ordinary thing.

The young man flicked a willow leaf, which spun twice in the air and transformed into several vines that tightly bound a stone table in the courtyard.

"A mid-grade first-tier talisman, an entangling talisman... Senior Brother Su, your methods of creating talismans from the void are getting more and more ingenious. I guess you'll be able to advance to a second-tier talisman master soon."

Chen Wei was full of admiration.

"There are still a few key points I haven't figured out. Without divine sense, drawing second-order talismans is too difficult. I can only try based on intuition."

After Su Li received the fourth-tier talisman master inheritance from the stone tablet of the Five Sacred Mountains Temple, his talisman skills improved significantly, and he even learned the talisman-making technique of creating talismans from the void from the inheritance.

Without the need for talisman brushes or cinnabar, or specific talisman paper, talismans can be drawn directly using locally available materials.

Su Li, a near-second-tier talisman master, can only draw mid-grade first-tier talismans using the Void Creation technique, but learning this method can greatly enhance a talisman master's ability to cope with different environments.

Moreover, each time a talisman is created from the void, it is a summary and explanation of the talisman master's own talismanic path, which is of great benefit for exploring the next step of the talismanic path.

Without this talisman-making technique, Su Li wouldn't have reached the threshold of a second-tier talisman master so quickly.

"Senior Brother Long went into seclusion last month to attempt the Foundation Establishment stage, but three days ago we received news that he failed. Although he survived, his sea of ​​consciousness was severely damaged and it will take at least five or six years to recover."

Su Li, with a solemn expression, recounted the news she had just received.

"Senior Brother Long is only thirty-five or thirty-six, why is he in such a hurry... Wouldn't it be more reliable to wait a few more years and refine his magic power?"

Chen Wei's face turned pale. The Foundation Establishment stage is a great test even for a true disciple.

In particular, her actual aptitude is not outstanding, and even with the guidance of the Core Formation Ancestor and the assistance of the Foundation Establishment Pill, her chances are still not very high.

"Junior Sister Chen, do you know how many cultivators there are in Black Mountain Prefecture, and how many ordinary people there are?"

Instead of answering directly, Su Li threw out a completely unrelated question.

"This... I haven't heard of it before, but there must be a lot of information about it."

"In the Black Mountain Range, apart from my Qingfeng Sect, there are more than 8,000 people in total, including cultivation families and various independent cultivators. Due to the inconvenience of mortal life in the Black Mountain, many descendants of independent cultivators have moved out, but the mortal population is still close to one million."

"Outside Black Mountain, spiritual veins are not visible, and the number of cultivators is estimated to be at most a thousand. However, without the invasion of demonic beasts and with favorable weather, the mortal population has multiplied extremely rapidly, already exceeding twenty million."

"So many?"

Chen Wei realized the importance of this topic after hearing Su Li's serious tone.

Su Li nodded, a hint of pride mixed with helplessness in her voice: "My Qingfeng Sect is different from demonic sects like the Ghost Spirit Sect. Our territory is peaceful. We strictly prohibit open warfare between different cultivation families and severely crack down on treacherous cultivators. Our living environment is far superior to that of the surrounding counties. So even though spiritual veins are scarce, every year there are rogue cultivators coming to Black Mountain County, just seeking a stable environment."

"But the total amount of cultivation resources is limited. If there are too many cultivators, there won't be enough to go around. According to the statistics of the Law Enforcement Hall, the frequency of Tribulation Cultivators has been increasing every year for the past twenty years."

"The mortal population is constantly expanding, and the number of immortal seedlings being born is increasing proportionally, which is a good thing. However, even with the strength of the sect, it is impossible to support so many disciples. We can only raise the requirements for recruiting disciples on the one hand, and try to reduce the number of true disciples and inner disciples on the other. A hundred years ago, the requirement for true disciples was that they were in the late stage of Qi Refining before the age of thirty. Now it has been changed to twenty-five years old, keeping many talented disciples who are late bloomers out of the door."

"The frequent occurrence of cultivators undergoing tribulations is an extremely dangerous sign, indicating that life is already quite difficult for low-level rogue cultivators. Even without the impact of this great war between the righteous and demonic paths, there are already too many cultivators in Black Mountain County!"

Su Li let out a long sigh, calming her somewhat excited emotions.

As the closed-door disciple of the Palace Master of the Talisman Hall, his sources of information were far more detailed than those of ordinary true disciples.

"Even without the more than three thousand cultivators who moved in from the other counties, the sect must issue a reclamation order within twenty years and launch a reclamation war!"

"This group of foreign cultivators has only brought this matter forward by ten years."

Su Li turned to Chen Wei and said solemnly, "Junior Sister Chen, I know you are not good at combat, so you need to work harder on your cultivation. Master has already told me that the pioneering war may be brought forward, with thousands of cultivators flooding in at once, and their composition is complex. If we don't use the pioneering war to unite them, eliminate a group of them, and seize a few spiritual veins for cultivators to cultivate in, the entire Black Mountain will not be able to stabilize!"

"Now do you understand why Senior Brother Long is in such a hurry... Last time during the pioneering war, five Foundation Establishment elders of the sect perished, and countless disciples were lost. Even though we true disciples are given preferential treatment and will not be sent to dangerous places, do you dare to entrust your life to luck?"

"My mind is made up. I will put aside the talisman path for now and focus on cultivation. Once I have completed the Qi Refining stage, I will make a final push to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage."

With the protection of the Palace Master of the Talisman Hall, Su Li and his group of cultivators had no shortage of cultivation resources and had already reached the ninth level of Qi Refining.

He was just one step away from reaching the Great Perfection of Qi Refining.

"I understand. However, my aptitude is far inferior to my senior brother's, and I'm afraid I won't achieve much in just a few years. Why don't I learn some spells instead?"

Before the Five Sacred Mountains Temple's lineage stele, Chen Wei was just an ordinary disciple with a promising future in the inner sect.

Even today, I maintain a contented and happy attitude and don't feel that I can compare with other true masters.

"Foolish! What kind of magic could allow you to survive against second-tier demonic beasts or even third-tier demon kings? What you need to do is improve your cultivation as much as possible, so that the sect leader can see that you have a good chance of reaching the Foundation Establishment stage. As long as the sect leader and the two patriarchs believe that you can reach the Foundation Establishment stage, you can safely get through the pioneering war for the sake of the Day After Tomorrow Thunder God Pearl!"

Su Li was so angry that she couldn't maintain her cool demeanor and pointed her finger at her, roaring.

"Thank you for reminding me, senior brother."

Chen Wei suddenly realized and nodded obediently. She had always trusted her senior brother.

"There's something else. Before I came, I heard that two people from the inner sect signed up for the True Inheritance Trial this year. One is Junior Brother Xiong Baishan, and the other is Junior Brother Bai Zichen. Senior Brother, do you still remember Junior Brother Bai? Back in the Five Mountains Temple, he and you were in the same batch studying the stone tablet, which also triggered the strange phenomenon of the inheritance stone tablet."

"So it was this person."

The trip to the Five Sacred Mountains Temple back then can be said to have changed the fate of the three of them. Although Su Li soon fell into a coma afterward, she must have been deeply impressed by the boy who also caused the strange phenomenon.

"I didn't expect that in just a few years, Junior Brother Bai would have reached the cultivation level to challenge a true disciple. However, although I don't like Xiong Baishan, his companion bear beast is extremely annoying. I'm afraid no one in the inner sect can match him. What a pity."

(End of this chapter)