Eternal Immortal Dynasty: Starting as a Petty Official

As the sun sets in the west and the moon rises in the east, more than ten days have passed in the blink of an eye.

As the weather grew colder, Zhao Xian could no longer keep out the chill with his thin outer garments, so he put on a cotton robe.

Father has also returned home to recuperate. Because Zhao Xian is consolidating his power base and Father needs to recover from his injuries, the family has been eating spirit rice for all three meals a day, just like those wealthy families.

As a result, the spiritual rice in the house was consumed very quickly, and several dozen kilograms of spiritual rice were soon gone.

Zhao Xian had no choice but to have his uncle Zhao Li take him to the town market to sell off all the dozen or so weapons in his house at a discounted price.

They exchanged the talisman for a thousand coins, and with the three hundred coins their father received as a reward, they bought several dozen kilograms of spirit rice, which allowed them to survive.

Uncle Zhao Li killed three bandits and obtained three thousand coins, but instead of buying some spirit rice, he led an ox back from the market.

He has two sons, who are about the same age as Zhao Xian, but they have no talent for cultivation and have not yet entered the Dao.

Now they all stay at home and farm with him. With this ox, they can cultivate more land.

Shanghuting has more than 400 households and more than 1,000 people. Although they are called Taoist people, only about 100 households have actually been allocated spiritual fields.

According to the laws of the Heavenly Court, only these hundred-odd households can be considered as Daoist citizens, while the rest can only be considered as ordinary citizens.

Although the laws of the Qian Dynasty are still in effect, the Qian Dynasty no longer exists. Now, the world is ruled by sects and aristocratic families, and the rules are no longer as strict.

According to the law, Taoists who cultivate spiritual fields are exempt from taxes on ten mu of land, and pay half of the land tax on the remaining land.

My elder brother Zhao Zheng has now joined the Tingbu (Pavilion Department). Of the four Tingbu soldiers, apart from my elder brother, the other three are still from the major clans of Shanghu Tingbu.

Uncle Zhao Ze, the twelfth, took office as the head of the pavilion to seek out thieves, while the original thief-seeking king, Jia, had been promoted to the head of the village pavilion to seek out thieves.

Xiangting was the seat of Wohu Township. The population of Xiangting was far greater than that of Shanghuting, and the rank of the chief of Xiangting was comparable to that of the other township chiefs.

As for the original head of the village pavilion, Qiu Dao, he failed to rush to the aid of Shanghu Pavilion in time because he obeyed the orders of the steward Zhu Ran, and was therefore dismissed from his post and reduced to commoner status by the clerk Liu Yuan.

Recommended by Liu Yuan, the official in charge of the school, and because he had studied at the county school, Liu Zhuo was promoted to the position of head of the township pavilion, a rank even higher than that of Wang Jia, the thief.

The bandits attacked the pavilion, which resulted in several officials from the Tiger Pavilion fighting for food.

......

Shanghu Pavilion.

As the sun set behind the western mountains, dozens of figures filed out of the pavilion.

With the bandit rebellion quelled, Chen Yuancheng continued to advance his own initiatives.

The villagers practiced every two days, and no one complained anymore.

The young men of Tingbu also flocked to the pavilion to study and listen to Chen Yuancheng explain the Daoist texts.

"Kuroro stop!"

Zhao Xian and his second brother Zhao Hong were about to leave the pavilion when they heard Chen Yuancheng's voice behind them and immediately stopped.

"Greetings, Mr. Ting!"

Turning around, the two brothers bowed with their hands clasped in greeting.

"Jiulang has been practicing the Dao for a month now. Today I observe that your aura is stable and your foundation is solid. You should be able to practice Qi cultivation techniques."

Chen Yuancheng looked at Zhao Xian, sized him up, and said with a smile.

"Jiulang's progress is largely thanks to Tingjun's guidance!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xian quickly bowed again to express his gratitude.

Chen Yuancheng gestured to stop Zhao Xian from bowing and continued with a smile, "Ninth Brother, do you have any family-inherited Qi cultivation techniques?"

"My grandfather, Zhao Mu, served in the army for several years and obtained two Qi cultivation methods from the battlefield, but neither of them was suitable for Zhao Xian's spiritual root."

The two Qi cultivation techniques that my grandfather obtained on the battlefield were of the lower grade of the Yellow Rank. One was suitable for cultivators with water spiritual roots, and the other was suitable for cultivators with wood spiritual roots.

Zhao Xian's spiritual root is only at the middle level of the Bing class, and it is a fire spiritual root, so those two cultivation techniques are naturally not suitable for him to cultivate.

"Jiulang, are you planning to go to the countryside to select a martial arts technique?"

The village has cultivation methods issued by the Yunlan Sect, which can be copied by Daoist practitioners who want to cultivate Qi and enter the Dao. This can be considered as support from the Yunlan Sect to the Daoist practitioners under its jurisdiction.

"That's exactly what I was thinking!"

Zhao Xian replied directly.

"The cultivation techniques within the township are all of the lower Yellow Rank, slow to develop, and without any extraordinary abilities."

"Nine-Lang's practice of such techniques is merely a waste of time."

Chen Yuancheng seemed to have anticipated Zhao Xian's response and immediately replied without hesitation.

"Thanks to Meng Jiulang's recommendation, I have already received commendation from the county magistrate, and I will be appointed as the magistrate of Wohu Township next spring."

"Yuan Cheng had no way to repay the kindness, so with the permission of the elders in the clan, he copied a copy of the Six Yang Manual for Jiu Lang in the clan's library."

"It is a mid-grade Yellow Rank technique, which is better than the techniques used in the local government."

After saying that, Chen Yuancheng took out two brand-new books from his sleeve. The covers were dark blue, and the pages inside were as white as snow, with the scent of ink still lingering.

"This~"

Zhao Xian looked at the two manuals, but dared not reach out to take them.

In this world, immortals and mortals are mixed together, and cultivation techniques are scattered among the mortals, but they are all incomplete.

There are quite a few Taoist practitioners who, after practicing this kind of technique, become neither human nor ghost, and go astray.

In order to support the cultivation of its followers, Yunlan Sect distributed complete cultivation techniques, but they were all low-grade Yellow Rank techniques.

Even the Taoist texts used to write cultivation methods have many entry requirements to screen ambitious Taoist practitioners.

It is easy to imagine how precious higher-level techniques are.

"These two cultivation manuals would probably cost dozens of low-grade spirit stones in the county market."

Zhao Xian pondered to himself.

Seeing that Zhao Xian did not accept them, Chen Yuancheng picked up the two manuals and waved them in front of Zhao Xian.

"One is the 'Three Yang Technique,' a low-grade Yellow Rank book; the other is the 'Six Yang Technique,' a mid-grade Yellow Rank book. Both can be cultivated to the ninth level of Qi Refining."

"The difference lies in the fact that the latter's condensed magical power is more abundant and refined, while the accompanying spells are not much different."

"Jiulang can practice the Six Yang Technique, but as for the Three Yang Technique, he can just take a look."

After explaining the two manuals to Zhao Xian, Chen Yuancheng placed them into Zhao Xian's hands.

"Ting-jun, why are you treating Jiu-lang so well?"

Zhao Xian gripped the book tightly, his face serious as he asked.

Hearing Zhao Xian's question, Chen Yuancheng chuckled softly, then seemed to sigh, and slowly said, "Ninth Brother, in that bandit's den, showed reluctance, which is very similar to my expression back then!"

After saying this, Chen Yuancheng walked slowly towards the backyard without waiting for Zhao Xian's response.

Zhao Xian looked up and sensed a sense of desolation and loneliness emanating from him.

At the tender age of twenty, with a bright future ahead, this anomaly should not exist on him.

Shaking his head, Zhao Xian carefully placed the two manuals close to his body, and then walked out of the pavilion with his second brother.

After greeting Liu Quan, the pavilion's father, who was sitting on the steps of the pavilion, the two brothers headed towards Yangpingli.

There had been a night raid by bandits, and now Uncle Zhao Ze, the twelfth, had just taken up the post of bandit hunter and was patrolling the outpost with his guards every day, so he had no time to rest and had not yet returned.

Although the second brother, Zhao Hong, has no spiritual roots, he is now studying Daoist texts in the pavilion and knows the value of these two volumes of cultivation methods.

They skipped and hopped all the way, quite in high spirits.

As for Zhao Xian, he couldn't understand why Tingjun was so lonely all of a sudden, but he stopped worrying about it.

He would occasionally touch the martial arts manual he kept close to his body, and he was very excited.

Tonight, we can begin practicing the techniques and embark on the path of Qi cultivation.