Family Cultivation: Evergreen of the Song Family

Chapter 469: It turns out that I have always been eating free rice

Song Qingxing was one of the few people who knew the inside story of the Wutong Secret Realm, so he knew that meteorites often fell in this small world. These meteorites from outside the realm would more or less carry some precious spiritual materials, and there might be one or two of them that Wu Jie could use.

He began to spread his spiritual sense and searched carefully around.

The sensing range of the [Spiritual Soul-Captivating Mirror] is limited, so that thing must be nearby.

Soon, a small stone stuck in the mud caught his attention.

I bent down to pick it up and felt the weight was wrong as soon as I touched it. This stone was only the size of a thumb, but it weighed no less than 100 kilograms. Its density was amazing.

Looking carefully at the stone in his hand, Song Qingxing could not recognize it for a moment without the knowledgeable Wu Jie by his side, so he casually put it together with the [Spiritual Soul-Captivating Mirror].

The magic mirror suddenly released a fluorescent light, like a shark that smelled blood, which wrapped around the stone and began to slowly devour it.

Song Qingxing was already used to it. He didn't care what the stone was, as long as it could help restore the magic mirror.

When he finished all this and returned to the platform, Song Qingxing suddenly remembered that the family had sealed up the Wutong Secret Realm, which meant that this was equivalent to another treasure house of the family. The stone must be very valuable, and it seemed a little inappropriate for him to take it without saying a word.

After realizing this, he immediately began to feel embarrassed again. The things had already been used, and he had no choice but to compensate the family.

Thinking about the few spirit stones he had on him, it was definitely not enough to pay the compensation. For a moment, he felt a little worried.

After a long while, he finally realized and said, "I think... I have a salary?"

Ever since he was diagnosed with spiritual roots, he has been the family's Purple Mansion Seed. Later, he broke through the foundation-building stage and became a punishment elder. With the two combined, his salary has always been high.

In addition to the contributions of all sizes, the family also rewards contribution points.

As a sword cultivator, he only has one sword and does not often need to exchange for cultivation resources. He should still have quite a few contribution points in his name, but he does not know exactly how many he has. He has been collecting them from Song Qingxi since he was a child, and he has never cared about these issues.

He estimated that it should be enough to compensate the family for its losses.

Should that be enough?

For the first time, Song Qingxing felt guilty.

With something on his mind, he found it difficult to concentrate on his cultivation, so he hurried back with the [Traceless Sword].

Song Qingxi, who was tending to the spiritual field, saw him return home and couldn't help but asked in surprise: "Didn't you go to the Wutong Mountains? How come you're back so soon?"

Facing her inquiry, Song Qingxing did not answer the question as usual, but asked seriously: "Madam, how many contribution points do I have left?"

Hearing his words, Song Qingxi was even more surprised. They had been together for decades, and this was the first time she heard Song Qingxing ask this.

Seeing him so serious, Song Qingxi couldn't help but feel more serious, and asked quickly: "What happened?"

Song Qingxing immediately recounted what had happened and handed the stone that had been almost absorbed to Song Qingxi.

After a slight hesitation, he said, "If it's not enough, I'll ask my uncle for an advance."

The contrast between his stern face and these words was so great that Song Qingxi was immediately amused by him and laughed so hard that she fell backwards.

"What are you laughing at?" Song Qingxing looked puzzled.

"Nothing, I just think you look so cute now." Song Qingxi covered her red lips, her eyes curved into crescent shapes.

Song Qingxing felt a little embarrassed by her laughter, and at the same time felt a little puzzled. He was clearly talking about a very serious matter, so why was the other party laughing?

After a long while, Song Qingxi finally stopped smiling. He took the stone and looked at it, saying, "You have a good eye. This is a [Starlight Stone]. A piece this big must cost at least tens of thousands of low-grade spirit stones."

Among the younger generations who were close to Song Changsheng, only Song Qingxi had developed the good habit of reading like him. Therefore, she recognized the origin of the stone as soon as she touched it. Compared with Song Qingxing, who was uneducated, the difference was obvious.

When he heard that it would cost tens of thousands, Song Qingxing suddenly felt unsure. In his impression, the [Traceless Sword] only cost 20,000 low-grade spirit stones.

"Fortunately, I saved all my salary for you over the years, otherwise I would have to sell you out to pay you back."

Seeing the expression on his face, Song Qingxi was so happy that she made a joke, then turned and went into the house, took out a jade token and handed it to Song Qingxing, saying, "Here, a total of 175,000 points. Go to the inner treasury and give it to Aunt Yu Shi."

"So much?" Song Qingxing took it with a little surprise. He thought he had only 10,000 or 20,000 at most, after all, he had spent a lot over the years.

"We have been saving it for you all these years. Your annual salary is several thousand. The family also rewarded you with tens of thousands of contribution points for your previous meritorious services." Song Qingxi replied while observing the growth of the spiritual plants in the spiritual field.

Song Qingxing nodded slightly and was about to turn around to pay the "fine", but then he suddenly realized something and turned back and said, "Then what are the expenses over the years..."

Hearing this, Song Qingxi immediately raised her head, rolled her eyes coquettishly and said, "From childhood to adulthood, there have been a few days when you didn't use me."

It turns out that he has always been a freeloader. Song Qingxing couldn't hold it in any longer and said quickly, "No wonder there are so many left. Use mine later and I will support you."

Hearing him say this, Song Qingxi felt sweet in her heart, but on the surface she pretended to be disgusted and said, "Half of my decades of savings will be spent today. How will you support me?"

"Going to the Blood Ruins Realm this time is a big mission. My uncle said there will be rewards, which should be given out after a while." Song Qingxing replied seriously.

"That can only be used for a while. You see, you have to prepare to break through the Purple Mansion, and you have to repair the mirror. Wu Jie also has to be awakened. Everything requires spirit stones and contribution points." Song Qingxi counted them one by one on his fingers.

When Song Qingxing heard this, it seemed to be true, and a sense of urgency suddenly arose in his heart.

"I'll figure it out."

After saying this, he hurried out of the room, with the seed of "making money" already planted in his heart.

He took the jade token to the inner treasury to find Song Yushi to pay the "fine". Song Yushi severely criticized his behavior of acting first and reporting later, and said that it would not happen again. Then he ruthlessly deducted 90,000 contribution points from the jade token.

Song Qingxing, who originally had no feelings about this string of numbers, actually felt a little distressed at this moment.

He suddenly envied Song Changsheng and Song Xianming.

Because of their status and significant contributions to the family, the family granted them a privilege with the consent of all adult monks in the family, allowing them to use anything the family had at will.

Song Qingxing didn’t think this privilege was anything special before, but now he thinks it’s too lucky.

"I want to make a contribution too." Song Qingxing clenched his fists and thought to himself. Song Qingxi probably didn't expect that her casual words would actually arouse the simplest idea in a man's heart - to make money...

In the blink of an eye, it was May, and Song Changsheng finally completely refined the [Bai Sha Qiongqi Cauldron] with the help of the artifact spirit Qiongqi. He calculated with his fingers and found that it was almost time to hold the Ascension Conference, and fresh blood would soon be injected into the family.

Song Changsheng couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation in his heart. It had been seven or eight years since Song Youlin was diagnosed with spiritual roots, and during this period, no amazing genius had appeared.

But when I think of Song Youxiang, who I discovered accidentally before, it doesn’t make sense. Whether a person is a genius or not is not just determined by spiritual roots.

Thinking of this, Song Changsheng couldn't help but feel a little more excited.

"Now that the family has more members, I don't know them as well as before. I think it's time to hold another family competition. We can't let the talent go to waste."

The Song family's consistent rule is to hold a small test every year, a small competition every three years, and a large competition every ten years.

But the main group of people taking the test are the monks who have just reached adulthood in the family.

The group of people that the small competition is aimed at are young monks in the family who are over 18 years old and under 30 years old.

The competition covers a wider range, and all family monks over the age of eight and under the age of sixty can participate.

Since the original intention of the competition was to select foundation-building seeds for the family, it placed greater emphasis on strength, aptitude, and age. This was somewhat unfair to the clan members who had painstakingly delved into the hundreds of arts of cultivation.

Although remedial measures were added later to select talents in the various arts of cultivation, it was still easy to bury geniuses. Song Youxiang was a living example.

Even though Song Qingqing and she were together day and night, there were too many students and it was difficult for her to know everyone's background. If the other party did not take the initiative to step forward, the talent would most likely be buried.

Perhaps thinking more darkly, the right to judge whether a person can be trained as a priority lies in the hands of the elders of the relevant professions. They provide concentrated instruction and then select outstanding members of the clan to recommend to the family elders council to be included in the priority training list.

It seems to be a very reasonable mechanism, but in fact, there is a lot of room for manipulation.

There may not be any cases of favoritism or corruption at the moment, but what about in the future?
Hard to say.

Moreover, everyone has a different definition of talent, which may cause some talents to be buried.

For example, Song Qingqing's definition of talent is that the talismans they draw are accurate enough, fast enough, and have a low error rate.

If you look at it this way, Song Youxiang clearly does not meet the standards, and her performance in these aspects can only be described as mediocre.

But can you say Song Youxiang is not a genius?

The Song family used the animal skin book containing the basic talismans for three hundred years. During these three hundred years, the Song family also produced several second-level talisman masters. The third-generation clan leader Song Yungui was even a third-level talisman master.

These people have all studied that book, but none of them noticed that there was a deviation in the way the [Rain Summoning Talisman] was drawn, but Song Youxiang discovered it.

Not only does she discover it, she can also correct it.

Which one of these people's attainments in talismans are not higher than hers, a mere first-grade, low-grade talisman master?

This is very telling.

Therefore, Song Changsheng believes that everyone should be given an opportunity and platform to showcase themselves in front of the family's top leaders so that some hidden talents will not be buried.

There is no better platform than Family Bi.

Not only will the clan leader and the supreme elder show up, but also the major elders in charge and the practical elders will participate, so the clan members can fully display their shining points.

If they are treated unfairly, they will have the opportunity to report it directly to the powerful people, which is equivalent to further narrowing the distance between the top leaders and ordinary people.

Of course, this competition is not the kind that is held once every ten years to showcase individual martial arts skills, and ten years is a bit too long.

After thinking about it, Song Changsheng felt that ten years was too long, three years was too busy, and five years would be more appropriate.

The more Song Changsheng thought about it, the more feasible it seemed to him. After walking out of the secret room, he headed straight for the General Affairs Hall. After telling Song Luzhou about his idea, Song Luzhou also thought it made sense, so he quickly convened a meeting of elders.

After the elders understood the situation, most of them expressed their support for this plan. The management of the Song family is still relatively pure and rarely considers personal gains and losses. As long as the measures are beneficial to the family, they will get their full support.

But support is support, but we still need to come up with a practical and feasible plan.

Xia Yunxue, as the elder of Baiyi, was the first to stand up and speak: "I think the most important point is that there can't be too many restrictions. Most of the previous competitions have had thresholds of one kind or another. I personally think that this method is unreasonable.

We cannot exclude a considerable number of people based on factors such as strength, qualifications, and age. This is unfair.

I think there should be no threshold, so that all family monks can sign up freely, this is what can be called a family competition."

As soon as the words fell, someone immediately refuted: "But how can fairness be guaranteed in this way? Since it is a competition, the person who is finally selected must be convincing.

A ninety-year-old first-level alchemist is not the same as a twenty-year-old first-level alchemist."

"I think what my aunt said is right. Not allowing a certain group of people to participate is unfair in itself. As for the problem raised by my uncle, I think it can be solved this way.

After all the tribesmen who are willing to participate have registered, they will be divided into groups according to the direction and category they want to compete in, their age, realm, etc.

Each group will compete separately. The one with more people will decide the top three, and the one with less people will only decide one.

If the total number of participants is less than two, they can be directly judged as the first and the rewards will be issued as usual. This can also stimulate other tribesmen to stand up and show their strengths. "Song Changan stood up and expressed his point of view.

"Although this is fairer, isn't it too complicated?" an elder said with a frown.

Song Changan smiled and said, "Once a year does seem a bit cumbersome, but once every five years is just right."

As he spoke, he turned his gaze towards where Song Yushi was and said, "Of course, with more people participating and more groups, the family will have to give out more rewards than usual, so the pressure on the inner treasury will be greater."

Song Yushi responded confidently: "Money should be spent wisely. My brother has considered everything carefully. The inner treasury has no objection."

……

(End of this chapter)