Yunmeng Immortal Clan

The Great Li Dynasty, Qinglian Islands of Yunmeng Prefecture.

The vast Yunmeng Marsh is like a mirror, shimmering under the morning glow.

The Qinglian Islands are one of the seven Foundation Establishment cultivation families under the jurisdiction of the Zhuxi Sect, one of the five major cultivation sects of the Great Li Dynasty, and one of the residences of the Song Clan.

After the rain, the mountains are verdant, clouds swirl around, and cranes circle overhead. The Qinglian Islands are arranged like a dazzling lotus in full bloom, a picturesque scene.

It was just as dawn was breaking.

At this moment, on the mountainside of Qing Sui Peak, a first-tier spiritual mountain on the island, outside a cultivation cave, after ensuring that no one was around, a twenty-year-old man in a blue Daoist robe, with eyebrows like mountains, eyes like black lacquer, and a face like jade, carefully set up a Leaf-Blinding Array.

As I entered a meditative state, an inconspicuous little gourd suddenly appeared from the top of my head, and the rosy clouds from all directions gathered and poured into the little gourd.

Immediately, a faint purple aura appeared from the small gourd.

A moment later, the sunlight faded, and Song Daoxuan revealed a look of pure joy.

He, Song Daoxuan, was reborn as a cultivator in the Song family of Qinglian Island.

In his previous life, he was a factory worker who worked 996 hours a day. He died suddenly from overworking on the assembly line. Because he loved reading cultivation novels, he was reborn into the cultivation world in front of him.

He had wanted to live an ordinary life within his family, but just a year ago, while he was meditating in his cave, things took a turn for the worse.

A strange phenomenon occurred in the sky: a bolt of purple lightning struck the top of his head, and from then on, a small gourd appeared in his sea of ​​consciousness.

A torrent of information directly stimulated his coccyx, and he immediately learned the full name of the little gourd and how to use it.

This item is called the Qi-Gathering Gourd.

Its specific functions are very simple: first, it can absorb the morning sun's energy and transform it into purple nectar; second, it can absorb the moon's essence and condense it into yin nectar.

The effect of Purple Dew is to accelerate the growth of various spiritual herbs, while the effect of Lunar Dew is even more incredible: it can cleanse the roots and bones and improve their quality.

However, it takes three months for the Qi-Gathering Immortal Gourd to barely condense a single drop of Purple Cloud Dew, and even longer to condense Taiyin Dew, requiring ten years to barely condense a single drop.

Currently, four drops of Purple Dew have condensed inside Song Daoxuan's Qi-Gathering Gourd, but Song Daoxuan is unsure to what extent this dew can accelerate the ripening of the herbs.

The Qi-Gathering Gourd is the greatest secret of my life, and it must never be revealed, not even to my closest relatives in this cultivation family...."

Song Daoxuan's parents were both cultivators in their respective families. His father was named Song Honghu, and his mother was named Jiang Ruyi. One was an elder of the Song family at the ninth level of Qi Refining, and the other was a junior cultivator at the middle stage of Qi Refining from the Jiang family in a neighboring county.

To be on the safe side and to operate the Qi-gathering gourd without attracting attention, Song Daoxuan volunteered to his family to guard the spiritual fields within Qing Sui Peak.

The Song family's sacred fields cover a hundred acres, while only ten acres are on Qingsui Peak, making their supervision relatively light.

Most of the plants are planted with a type of white jade rice, while the rest are planted with some spiritual herbs that do not have a long growth period, resulting in a relatively stable yield.

Therefore, all that is needed is to hand over a certain amount at the time. Qing Sui Peak is peaceful and secluded, and can keep its secret hidden.

After all, the world of cultivation is vast and boundless. Cultivators work hard not to show off in front of others, but ultimately to seek immortality and live as long as heaven and earth.

There may be many treasures like the Qi Gathering Immortal Gourd in the cultivation world, but if even the slightest hint of this treasure within me were to leak out, it would likely cause endless trouble not only for myself but also for the Song family.

On Qingsui Peak, countless spirit rice plants and herbs exude an alluring fragrance.

With a flick of his sleeve, Song Daoxuan cast several spells, and in no time, the weeds and pests were cleared away.

Even if you're not a professional spirit farmer, you still need to learn rain control, earth covering, insect repelling, and other minor farming spells.

Then, Song Daoxuan found an open space far from the spirit field, took a cloth bag tied with a red rope from his waist, and poured out a few spirit plant seeds.

Then I dug a hole with a shovel and planted it.

He communicated with the Qi-gathering gourd, held his breath and concentrated, and conjured up a gourd from which he poured out a drop of precious Purple Dew.

In an instant, a tender green shoot sprouted from the soil, and then, with lightning speed, it became a mature plant.

Through his experiments, he discovered that the ripening ability of the Purple Dew can accelerate the growth of first-tier spiritual plants. A single drop is enough for these spiritual plants and herbs that are less than fifty years old.

As for second-tier spiritual plants (fifty to one hundred years old), ten drops are needed. If higher-tier spiritual plants are to be accelerated to maturity, even more Purple Dew is required...

First-tier spiritual herbs can only be used to refine first-tier pills for Qi Refining stage cultivators. However, the main ingredients required for pill refining are generally more expensive, while the auxiliary ingredients are cheaper.

"Possessing such a treasure as the Qi-Gathering Gourd is something one must not reveal even a fraction of, let alone one's own clansmen. As for its ability to accelerate the ripening of medicinal herbs, that's one thing; but its power to cleanse one's very foundation is even more extraordinary. If even a fraction of it were to leak into this cultivation world, the consequences would be endless!"

In the world of cultivation, spiritual roots are the foundation for entering the path of cultivation. Without spiritual roots, one cannot sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Spiritual roots are divided into five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, which are the five basic attributes, as well as some other variant attributes, such as ice, lightning, and wind.

Spiritual roots also vary in quality. The fewer spiritual roots one has, the fewer bottlenecks one can break through. Therefore, based on the number of spiritual roots, they are divided into Heavenly Spiritual Roots, Earthly Spiritual Roots, True Spiritual Roots, Pseudo-Spiritual Roots, and Five Spiritual Roots.

Cultivation realms are divided into several stages, such as Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, and Deity Transformation.

Aside from the ten levels of Qi cultivation, the other realms are only divided into four stages: early, middle, late, and perfect.

Song Daoxuan currently possesses only the aptitude of five spiritual roots. At the age of sixteen, he has only just reached the second level of Qi Refining. He lives a very frugal life, with all of his family's stipend spent on purchasing Qi Gathering Pills for breakthroughs.

A single Gathering Breath Pill costs at least fifty low-grade spirit stones, which is undoubtedly a heavy burden for a junior cultivator in a family.

However, spiritual energy is depleted in this world, and among mortals, those with spiritual roots are already one in ten thousand. Even the worst cultivators are revered as superior beings in the secular world of the Great Li Dynasty.

Song Daoxuan was extremely eager for the so-called path to immortality. Qi Refining cultivators could live up to 120 years, while Foundation Establishment cultivators could live up to 200 years, enough to witness the rise and fall of a dynasty.

The higher the cultivation level, the more unimaginable the cultivator's methods become, and the longer their lifespan increases exponentially, until they live as long as heaven and earth.

In the past, Song Daoxuan would have given up on cultivation, but now that he possesses the Qi Gathering Immortal Gourd, as long as he uses it properly, his goal is not just to reach Qi Refining, but even to reach a higher level.

"The more precious the treasures I possess, the more cautious I must be. I cannot continuously sell the rare herbs grown from the Qi-Gathering Immortal Gourd in the cultivation world's markets, for fear that the cultivators in the markets will find out the slightest clue. It would be best to learn alchemy and refine pills that can break through the bottleneck of the Qi Refining stage to improve my cultivation. That is my most urgent task right now!"

A few days later, Song Daoxuan used an ancestral escape technique to descend from Qing Sui Peak, called the Dang Qiu Jue. It was an escape technique that everyone in the Song family's library could learn. There were also some basic attribute spells, such as fireball, water arrow, wood binding, and wind blade. As long as there was time to study them, everyone could learn them.

Soon, a mountain peak even higher than Qing Sui Peak came into view; this peak was called Yu Que.

Tian Shu, Yu Que, Luo Xia, Xuan Ji, Han Hai, Chong Yun, Qing Sui, Hao Yue.

This is one of the eight famous peaks of the Song family. These eight peaks are connected by a second-order spiritual vein, so the spiritual energy is rich. However, the peak with the richest spiritual energy is Tian Shu Yu Que, because these two peaks are exclusively owned by Song Zhi Chu, the head of the Song family, and Song Chuan Yuan, the Supreme Elder.

The Song family numbered over a million, residing outside the Eight Famous Peaks.

There are over three hundred Qi Refining cultivators, and six Foundation Establishment cultivators within the clan, including the clan head and the Supreme Elder. All of them are cultivators with blood ties to Song Daoxuan, and they have all opened their own cave dwellings on the Eight Peaks.

The Supreme Elder Song Chuanyuan, possessing three spiritual roots and a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation level, is 189 years old. He is the only first-tier high-grade alchemist in the family, capable of refining most pills for Qi Refining cultivators, except for the Foundation Establishment Pill, a top-tier first-tier pill.

Song Chuanyuan did not keep anything to himself. Foundation Establishment cultivators only live to be two hundred years old, and knowing that their cultivation would be difficult to improve, he was determined to pass on his alchemy skills to the next generation.

Every day at a fixed time, they would teach alchemy techniques and herb identification skills in the preaching hall on Jade Palace Island.

However, those in the hall who were truly willing to learn alchemy, apart from a few beginners who were initially enthusiastic, almost all gave up on this path over time.

Nowadays, apart from a few people persisting in Song Chuanyuan's alchemy class, the Preaching Hall is often deserted.

"Dao Xuan, have you come to learn alchemy again...?" In the main hall, an old man with a full head of white hair and a kind face squinted at the young man in green robes in front of him, his hands behind his back.

"Yes, my great-uncle's alchemy lessons were excellent!"

Song Chuanyuan did not think Song Daoxuan could become an alchemist. Although alchemy was the most profitable profession among the various arts of cultivation in the world of immortality, it was extremely arduous and costly in the early stages, and it also required a lot of talent.

If things go wrong, it's not uncommon to invest all your spirit stones and end up with some useless pills.

"To get started with alchemy, one must at least reach the fifth level of the Qi Refining Realm, and only then can their mana sustain them for a long period of condensing flames. He has five spiritual roots and is only at the second level of Qi Refining, so for now he can only learn some alchemy techniques in advance!"

As Song Chuanyuan explained the principles of alchemy and medicine, he silently sighed at Song Daoxuan, who was studying earnestly. Over the years, he had tried to persuade Song Daoxuan to give up alchemy, but Song Daoxuan had never listened to him.

"I must become an alchemist. If it weren't for the Qi-Gathering Gourd, I might have really given up on learning the art of alchemy. But with the Qi-Gathering Gourd, I can accelerate the growth of herbs and afford the cost of trial and error in alchemy. I absolutely must master the art of alchemy!"

With this in mind, Song Daoxuan listened attentively to Song Chuanyuan's alchemy lesson, noting down all the parts he didn't understand on a scroll, preparing to consult some relevant classics after class.