Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 29 Attacked
In the end, Qingyang Daoist agreed to Li Xiangming's proposal and accepted the Li family's child as his disciple.

They also decided to take in four other children from other families.

The reason he was able to take in five people at the same time was because Qingyang Daoist had considered the enormous benefits of associating with the Li family.

Originally, Qingyang Temple was poor—even though Qingyang Daoist was an alchemist, because manpower limited the production of spiritual materials, and spiritual materials in turn limited the production of pills.

Since Qingyang Daoist was only one person, the spiritual materials he could gather were limited, and he had to purchase them most of the time from Pushui Market.

If these purchased spiritual materials are refined into pills and sold, a profit is guaranteed. However, if they are given to disciples, each batch will result in a loss.

This is also why Qingyang Daoist didn't dare to take on too many disciples at first.

He had already spent most of his fortune on foundation building.

But if you take a member of the Li family as your apprentice, everything will be different.

He was able to use his apprentices to purchase spiritual materials from the Li family at affordable or even low prices.

In this way, it would no longer be difficult for him to sell some of the pills he refined and keep some to raise a few children.

Moreover, the Li family's earth fire is also a factor that must be considered. If he can use the earth fire frequently, his efficiency in refining pills will be greatly improved, and he may even have the opportunity to refine the Herb God Pill.

The Grass God Pill is different from the Clear Spirit Pill that he is good at. The Clear Spirit Pill can make the mind clear and help with cultivation. However, many items such as Concentrating Spirit Pill, Hundred Refined Incense, and Frost Heart Talisman can replace the Clear Spirit Pill. As a result, the price of the Clear Spirit Pill in the market is not ideal, and a bottle costs only about 5 spirit stones.

The Herbal God Pill can heal the soul and is a rare medicine. Its price has remained high year after year, with one pill being equivalent to several bottles of Spirit Cleansing Pill.

Once a few batches of Herbal God Pills are refined, the storage bag will be instantly full.

With more wealth, you can buy all sorts of rare and precious materials. You might not be able to buy Foundation Establishment Pills, but you might have a chance to buy Thousand-Pound Grass, which represents the hope of Foundation Establishment.

The thought of Foundation Establishment reignited the passion in Qingyang Daoist's heart.

Instead of aimlessly searching for the Thousand-Jun Grass, it's better to rely on the market, as long as he has enough spirit stones.

The herbal elixir is a spirit stone.

Of course, these words could not be spoken aloud, so the Taoist Qingyang gave a different explanation.

"As I grow old, I fear my energy will wane. I have long harbored the desire to pass on my teachings. Rather than waiting for the right opportunity, I would rather cultivate a suitable successor from among my five children to inherit my mantle."

Here he specifically mentioned "five," and Li Xiangming smiled without saying a word, no longer making excuses as before, and agreed.

Li Xiangming understood Qingyang Daoist's intentions.

By leveraging the Li family's influence, one can benefit oneself while ensuring the continuation of the Taoist temple's legacy. Why not do it?

The only concern is that accepting the Li family's child would lead to too close a connection with the Li family and indirectly tie us to their cause.

But if the child is a disciple under a formal name, then most of the concerns are reduced.

In the cultivation world, it is generally accepted that disciples who are registered in name are not considered successors, so if something happens to the Li family, it will not be attributed to Qingyang Temple.

Li Xiangming asked himself, if he were Qingyang Daoist, he would also be unable to resist this kindness and temptation.

Of course, the Li family, who launched this sugar-coated bullet, will certainly not lose out.

What's wrong with being a registered disciple?
Does being a nominal disciple mean you're not the senior disciple?
Pick a smart one, take care of the junior disciples on a regular basis, and occasionally give them some Li family specialties. Many years later, this Qingyang Temple might very well be surnamed Li.

Understanding people takes time, and the Li family never seeks immediate gain.
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After finalizing the details, Li Xiangming was in a hurry to return and report back, and also tried to persuade Li Qianxiong to win over Qingyang Temple, so he did not linger.

Before his departure, the Taoist Qingyang gave him two more bottles of Qingling Pills.

Originally, Qingyang Daoist wanted to give him the more valuable Huangya Dan, but Li Xiangming refused. He had no shortage of Huangya Dan anyway, and he needed Qingling Dan more because he was suffering from a bottleneck.

The journey back was exceptionally smooth until, after traveling several dozen miles, a wounded and squealing wild boar collapsed on Li Xiangming's usual route, catching his attention.

Having learned animal taming techniques and recently raised wild boars, Li Xiangming immediately recognized that the wild boar's injuries were man-made.

"Besides Qingyang Temple, are there any other living people around Puyin Mountain?"

Li Xiangming was secretly surprised, and at the same time, a bad feeling arose in his heart.

He didn't dare to investigate the wild boar and turned to go in another direction.

However, at this moment, the earth shook violently, and smoke and dust filled the air.

Li Xiangming glanced into the distance and saw a large group of wild boars charging towards him like madmen. His heart sank; he was being targeted. But who would want to get to him?
The image of Qingyang Daoist flashed through Li Xiangming's mind, but he immediately hesitated, unable to find any reason why Qingyang Daoist would attack him.

Before he could think, the herd of wild boars arrived in an instant, and Li Xiangming quickly dodged to avoid them.

Unexpectedly, a demonic boar leaped high into the air, its sharp tusks pointing upwards, and landed squarely on Li Xiangming's thigh.

"what!"

With a cry of pain, Li Xiangming lost his balance and fell into the herd of wild boars, where he was trampled on.

The Smiling Tiger and the Bald Tiger, watching from a distance, looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Second brother, is this all the Li family can do?"

"Don't talk nonsense. The Li family is the Li family, and this kid is this kid. I reckon he's a rich young master who's busy eating, drinking, and having fun."

After saying this, the smiling tiger began to curse.

It's truly unfair that such low-quality goods can enjoy the spiritual energy of Danggui Mountain.

"Why don't we stop? If this kid dies, we won't be able to get anything out of him."

Bald Tiger touched his smooth head and said.

"Okay, go take a look, I'll bring the pigs under control."

After saying that, Smiling Tiger leaped out, waving a white banner and whistling continuously.

Upon hearing the sound and seeing the white banner, the wild boars' eyes immediately turned red, and they charged towards the smiling tiger.

Before long, Smiling Tiger put away the white banner and used only his whistle to slowly restore the eyesight of the wild boar herd. However, they were also habitually controlled by the whistle and followed behind Smiling Tiger.

On the other side, Bald Tiger saw blood flowing on the ground, with tattered clothes mixed in with the bodies of several wild boars that had been trampled to death, and he knew something was wrong.

Is this kid going to die like this?
Hurriedly stepping forward, Bald Tiger intended to lift the boar carcass to investigate.

At that moment, he felt a strange tremor in his heart, and his steps froze.

"hidden weapon?"

The bald tiger was shocked and enraged. A flash of light shot out from the ground and instantly reached his forehead.

There was no way to dodge at such a short distance, but his advance warning gave him time to concentrate his magic power on his forehead.

With a crisp "thud," a small iron arrow was flung away and landed on the ground.

"So brave."

The bald tiger was furious and punched the wild boar carcass. The force of the punch carried a lot of magical power, and the ground was smashed into a big crater.

Amidst the smoke and dust, Li Xiangming emerged, his brows furrowed.

His Frostbite Iron Arrows failed.

He knew that even if he erected a magical shield, he wouldn't be able to withstand the attack from that distance.

The other party, however, was completely unharmed.

Could he be a body-refining cultivator?
Li Xiangming recalled the secrets he had seen in the library.

It is said that the art of body refinement has a long history, dating back to ancient times.

At that time, there was no concept of the cultivation world; the mainstream cultivators were called Qi Refiners.

Some predecessors referenced Qi cultivation and developed the path of body refinement, which focuses on tempering the physical body. When trained to the extreme, one can even fight demonic beasts hand-to-hand and capture or kill Qi cultivators.

However, the human body has limited potential. No matter how powerful a body cultivator is, they can only rival a demon beast. At that time, demon beasts gave birth to fully intelligent monsters, which ravaged human territory and had no rivals.

In order to fight against the monsters and to find a way forward, both body cultivators and qi cultivators have made countless attempts.

Ultimately, Qi cultivators found a way out and went further and further down the path of developing "magic power," while body cultivators began to decline due to the limitations of their physical bodies.

However, the path of body cultivation has not been completely severed to this day, because some people firmly believe in "dual cultivation of body and mind," thus preserving the tradition of body cultivation.

(End of this chapter)