Immortality begins with inheriting the myriad arts of cultivation.

The Gaojishan area spans hundreds of miles, and besides its steep cliffs, it also contains many fertile basins.

The Bai family then settled their mortal members in these fertile basins, where they multiplied and thrived.

The Cloud Mist Mountains are teeming with monsters and poisonous insects, and the natural environment is far harsher than that of the Western Wilderness Kingdoms. Mortals can hardly move an inch here, and without the protection of cultivators, they will soon be devoured by poisonous insects and monsters.

The mortals of the Bai family are the same; they can only reproduce and thrive within the array set up by the cultivators.

With the protection of the formation and the presence of cultivators, poisonous insects and demonic beasts naturally cannot harm them.

Of course, while the formation protected them, it also limited their range of movement.

Their entire lives could only be spent in that tiny space.

Unless they turn twelve and are found to have spiritual roots, they will not be able to leave this cage and see a wider world.

In the Gaojishan Mountains, once ordinary people reach adulthood, they are arranged by cultivators to marry and have children with ordinary people from other regions.

For these mortals, if a cultivator with spiritual roots is born into their family, and is cared for by that cultivator, the entire family's status among mortals will be greatly enhanced.

Whether one can possess spiritual roots is like winning the lottery; to increase their chances of winning, mortals often have many children.

Anyway, with cultivation families around, no matter how many children mortals have, they will only suffer a little, but they won't starve to death.

On the first day of each new year.

The cultivators of the Bai family would descend upon the mortal settlements throughout the High Ridge Mountain to conduct spiritual root tests on children in the family who were twelve years of age or older.

This is also known as the "Ascension to Immortality Ceremony".

It was at the Ascension Ceremony seven years ago that Bai Lin was discovered to possess four spiritual roots, thus becoming a cultivator.

Her parents, siblings, and relatives also benefited from the various welfare and preferential treatments that the family prepared for relatives of cultivators, and from then on lived a wealthy life.

Having recently ascended to immortality, and with both parents still alive, his ties to the mortal world remained unbroken.

Every year during the Lunar New Year, Bailin chooses to go home for the holiday.

The day she returned home was also the happiest day for her parents, siblings, and everyone, not just because of the family reunion.

As the eldest daughter and eldest sister in the family, Bai Lin always brings back many precious gifts for her family whenever she returns home.

Especially this year, after moving to the city to work, Bai Lin's income has increased significantly.

She brought gifts for the elders and friends who had taught her, and her family naturally couldn't forget them.

In front of her family, she proudly took out the gifts she had brought for them from her storage bag.

The tonics and elixirs given to parents can prolong their lives.

These are the hard-forged weapons I gave to my younger siblings; they can be used for self-defense.

Each person also receives a piece of spirit jade jewelry, which possesses the miraculous effects of keeping warm in winter and cool in summer, and being immune to all poisons.

……

Ordinary people will learn a martial art for self-defense.

Martial artists may not be able to deal with demonic beasts, but they can certainly handle wild beasts. If they had a divine weapon specially crafted for mortals by cultivators, they could even deal with some low-level demonic beasts.

Holding the magical weapons their eldest sister had brought back for them, the younger siblings happily rushed out of the yard to play.

Only Bailin and her parents remained in the house.

Bai Lin's parents looked at her with eyes full of relief, but at the same time, they didn't even notice it themselves.

When facing a cultivator, even if that cultivator is their daughter, and even if their daughter respects them greatly, their expressions unconsciously become ingratiating.

I chatted with my parents.

Soon, Bailin's mother cautiously inquired about the matter she cared about most: "Lin'er, while you were cultivating on the mountain, did you find someone you liked?"

For ordinary people, reaching the age of 16 is generally considered adulthood.

Like Bailin's second brother, who is only 17 years old, he had already arranged his marriage last year and will get married and have children after the new year.

Bailin's mother couldn't help but worry about her promising eldest daughter, who was 19 years old and still unmarried.

"Someone I like." Bai Lin shook her head: "Mother, I'm so busy with my cultivation, how could I have time?"

But as she spoke, the image of her "senior" involuntarily appeared in Bai Lin's mind, and a blush instantly rose on her face when she thought of him.

Like intoxicating spring peach blossoms.

Seeing their daughter like this, Bai Lin's parents exchanged a glance and smiled knowingly.

……

On the day before New Year's Eve, in Li Ping's cave.

The annual gathering of the Tongzhou Society was held on time, and all six siblings except Li Ping arrived early.

Prior to this, Li Ping had already informed the manager of Xiantao Mountain to allow the six people to enter the mountain.

Although the manager of Xiantao Mountain was curious that Master Li would invite six Qi Refining cultivators to the New Year's gathering, since Li Ping had given the order, he still allowed the six of them to pass.

The Meng family doesn't care who the second-tier craftsmen on the mountain meet or what they do, as long as they can bring profits to the Meng family.

At the start of the gathering, apart from Li Ping, the other six people shared their gains and feelings from the past year.

Li Ping needs no mention.

Zhang Tie is close to breaking through to the ninth level of Qi Refining; he might break through next year.

After giving up on cutting in line, Gu Musheng's urgency to catch up with Zhang Tiexiu's cultivation level dropped significantly, and he remained at the seventh level of Qi Refining.

Cheng Yao has reached the bottleneck of the sixth level of Qi Refining, and she will try to break through to the late stage of Qi Refining next year.

Qi Hanmo's earnings of spirit stones increased significantly due to his breakthrough in musician skills. In addition, Li Ping gave him two bottles of "Qi Gathering Pills" at the gathering at the beginning of the year, allowing him to advance further and reach the fifth level of Qi Refining.

Teng Feng, also relying on the pills given to him by Li Ping, has reached the bottleneck of the fourth level of Qi Refining and is not far from breaking through. He estimates that he will reach the fifth level of Qi Refining next year.

Bai Qing, with the help of the pills given to him by Li Ping and his own good spiritual root aptitude, successfully broke through to the fourth level of Qi Refining and became a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator.

In addition, the sixth brother, Teng Feng, has made a breakthrough in beast taming skills. He has now passed the apprentice stage and become a first-level low-grade beast tamer.

……

Everyone is making progress, and Li Ping is very satisfied with that.

Bai Qing, who had the lowest cultivation level among the seven, has now broken through.

This means that all the cultivators in the Fellowship now have reached the mid-stage of Qi Refining.

Moreover, according to Cheng Yao's own account, she will try to break through to the late stage of Qi Refining next year. She has three spiritual roots, so the probability of success is not low.

Besides, Teng Feng becoming a first-tier low-grade beast tamer was also within his expectations.

Unlike professions like alchemy, artifact crafting, and talisman arrays, which are difficult to enter and require a huge amount of resources, this is a different field.

For a beast tamer with a certain talent, it's quite normal to reach a higher level of skill at his age.

However, it is only natural that the income of an entry-level Beastmaster is also not as high as that of these four top-tier professions.

The advantage of a beast tamer lies mainly in combat. If Teng Feng can train a few high-level demonic beasts, he can completely dominate among low-level cultivators.

……

Li Ping glanced at the six people and nodded with satisfaction.

A vibrant, thriving world of life is right before our eyes.