Immortality and Cultivation: Starting with Harvesting the Talents of Demonic Beasts

Chapter 1 Thirty is Difficult to Establish
It was a rainy night.

Dark clouds loomed over the city, and torrential rain poured down. The dimly lit streets and alleys of the neighborhood were deserted.

"Squeak!"

The back door of a building opened, and Lin Changheng, with his blackened hair and beard and a bewildered expression, carrying an old cloth bag in his arms, stumbled into the rain and walked alone. From a distance, he looked like a withered walking corpse.

Lin Changheng didn't know how long he had walked the mile-long journey. It wasn't until he felt some warmth on his soaked body that he slowly came back to his senses.

The simple room, with its empty furnishings, came into view so abruptly.

Memories began to unlock in his mind, and the massive flow of information felt like a shovel constantly stirring his brain, causing him a splitting headache.

He clearly remembered that just moments before, the sun was shining brightly, and he and his senior, who were pursuing a master's degree in agronomy, were working diligently in the sorghum field, researching high-yield techniques. He never expected that his vision would suddenly go black and he would die suddenly.

As a certain immortal reader, time travel and rebirth are not scary. In the dead of night, I inevitably dream of myself flying through the void and questioning the heavens with my sword.

But when it actually happened, he couldn't help but feel a little panicked. He gritted his teeth and slapped himself. The crisp sound and burning pain made him sigh immediately.

"I really did time travel, or more accurately, I unraveled the mystery of my birth..."

As Lin Changheng quickly sorted through his memories of the nearly thirty years before he awakened, his brows, which had just calmed down, furrowed again.

More than ten years ago, after losing both his parents, he was struggling to make a living in a mortal town.

Just then, a divine master appeared, and the whole city was in an uproar. Everyone flocked to the temple to have their children tested for spiritual guidance, hoping for a connection with the immortals.

According to the immortal master, children and teenagers aged seven to eighteen can come forward to test their spiritual roots.

Regardless of wealth or poverty, or social status!

As a result, out of thousands of people, only three had spiritual roots.

Fortunately, he was one of them.

Amidst the earnest pleas of countless common people and the astonished envy of high-ranking officials, the three, guided by the immortal master, rode on a crane. With a slight flap of its wings, they vanished into the horizon like a ray of light.

It also left behind a legendary tale that has been passed down through the city for centuries.

He was full of vigor, believing that his suffering was over and he would achieve great success. However, in just three days, cruel reality knocked him down from the sky and plunged him into the dust.

"Lin Changheng, mixed spiritual root!"

This is a spirit-testing conference where the immortal seedlings of the eight prefectures gather, and also a grand event for various forces to divide up the immortal seedlings.

Once the announcement was made, it was clear that Lin Changheng, with his spiritual root and bone age approaching eighteen, would not only be unable to join a sect, but also that the thresholds for joining slightly less prestigious cultivation families were extremely high, and even Foundation Establishment families would shake their heads and refuse.

Only one Qi-cultivating family, known as the "Xu Family of Blackwater River," extended an olive branch to them.

Although he hesitated, he still understood that if he did not accept, he would either become a rootless rogue cultivator, wandering aimlessly, or return to the mortal world and enjoy sixty years of worldly glory.

Having ascended the path to immortality, how could I remain content with the mortal realm?
We have to give it our all, no matter what!
And so, he resolutely made the decision to join the Xu family.

Instead of participating in the subsequent banquet and revelry, the Xu family elders immediately led the group of immortal seedlings down the mountain and back to their family home to begin distributing the seedlings.

Two paths were presented at the time.

One option is to marry into the Xu family, betroth to a daughter of the Xu family, and have a son of the Xu family.

The more offspring one has, the greater the rewards and the higher one's status. The fundamental logic is "more children, more blessings," just like a boar desperately sowing seeds.

The other path is that of a guest retainer. Over a period of twelve years, the Xu family provides financial assistance according to certain standards, such as providing spirit stones, spirit rice, and spirit tea.

They are allowed to choose one of the several cultivation arts mastered by the Xu family to become their apprentice. If they can advance to the next level, they will be considered successful, their status will be elevated, and their stipends will be increased!
However, if the mission fails, one will be required to assume the responsibility of being conscripted to reclaim the wilderness as a member of the Xu family, which is extremely dangerous.

Upon hearing this, Lin Changheng couldn't help but sigh. They were truly a righteous family, with clear advantages and disadvantages laid out before them for choice, without resorting to coercion or deception.

Eighty percent of the immortal seedlings, after much deliberation, chose to "marry into the family," while only twenty percent chose to become "apprentices," and his predecessor was among them. He was unwilling to accept this and wanted to try again.

Because his fire elemental root [spiritual essence] was the highest, at eight strands, he was advised to learn alchemy.

And so he became an alchemy apprentice, tending the furnace and tending the fire at the "Xu Family Alchemy Shop" opened by the Xu family in Zichuanfang, where he stayed for eleven years.

He first embarked on the path of immortality at the age of eighteen, and eleven years have passed in the blink of an eye; he is now approaching thirty.

He never advanced to the next level and became an alchemist.

His cultivation level is currently stuck at the second level of Qi Refining, and he doesn't know why he can't advance any further.

The Xu family's twelve-year agreement is fast approaching, and a year later, the once-every-twenty-year "Great Reclamation" of the Endless Wilderness will be mobilized again...

If he fails to become an advanced alchemist, he will be sent to the front lines of wilderness exploration to fight day and night against ferocious, man-eating monsters and risk his life traversing poisonous insects and miasma. He is not skilled in combat and will surely die.

Furthermore, with the area nearing the start of development and various forces retreating in response, the area outside the market has become even more chaotic and dangerous, with nowhere else to go if one wanted to escape. This has made it a highly sought-after location in the eyes of the cultivators.

All of this caused him immense anxiety, and during his forced attempt to open the furnace to refine pills, the furnace exploded, leaving him utterly exhausted and unconscious.

As the saying goes, "No destruction, no construction," and thus, I was awakened overnight!
……

After sorting through his memories before awakening, Lin Changheng took a deep breath.

This is really bad!

This is a situation where failing to become a qualified alchemist almost guarantees death.

But he quickly forced himself to calm down and began to ponder the key points and seek a solution.

Soon, his eyes lit up as he noticed something amiss, and he began to ponder deeply:
"Generally speaking, there are few bottlenecks at the second level of Qi Refining. Bottlenecks only exist in the middle and late stages of Qi Refining. Why would someone's cultivation be stuck at the second level of Qi Refining...?"

"Could it be... related to the loss of vital essence over the years?"

"And this also leads to my weak control over alchemy and insufficient sustained mana?"

Lin Changheng thought of a possibility: that he had been suffering from a deficiency of qi and blood since birth, but it was very mild and did not affect his life, so he did not care about it.

After they started practicing, it became even more frequent and severe!
Every month, without fail, there is a depletion of his vital essence, as if some ghost or monster has secretly sucked it away, leaving him listless and powerless for a period of time.

He tried taking blood-nourishing tonics and applying protective talismans, but to no avail.

"Most likely!"

Lin Changheng slammed his hand on the table, increasingly convinced of its possibility. Just as he was about to continue pondering it, a sudden, inexplicable sense of weakness washed over him again. "Damn it, it's happening again!"

The familiar sensation of his essence being extracted caused Lin Changheng's expression to change drastically, but he was powerless to stop it.

We can only helplessly let them do as they please.

After an unknown amount of time, Lin Changheng leaned against the table, exhausted, his eyes filled with coldness and deep helplessness.

Just then, a mysterious and powerful aura emerged from the void and entered Lin Changheng's mind, relieving his fatigue and eliminating his anxiety.

"This is?"

Lin Changheng waited until the strange feeling disappeared, closed his eyes, shook his head and swayed. When he opened his eyes again, he saw the world change color in an instant.

One's own perspective, piercing through illusion, falls into the sea of ​​consciousness.

Right in front of you, a strangely shaped, mysterious bronze cauldron suddenly appears.

(End of this chapter)