From the family treasure tree to build an eternal family

Chapter 127 Kunxu Mountain

With the Xu family's reputation and influence, they could easily find Xu Zhongchao a good wife.

If it were an ordinary family, given Xu Zhongchao's unambitious nature, he would probably have a hard time finding a wife.

"I hope that once he gets married, he can settle down and do something worthwhile."

Xu Xiaoyun thought to himself.

Currently, Xu Xiaoyun still manages the finances of the Xu family.

He knew in his heart that the Xu family was not actually wealthy.

The Xu family's main assets are currently over 900 mu of farmland in Baihe Village and the Yun'an Tavern.

The Xu family cultivates raw materials for brewing wine, grows wolfberries, and also grows a lot of medicinal herbs on more than 900 mu of land in Baihe Village.

The Xu family's main source of income was selling wine at Yun'an Tavern.

Yun'an Tavern is doing quite well, but the liquor market in a county is limited in size. Once Yun'an Tavern expands to its limit, its annual income is basically fixed.

He went to do business outside Tonggu County, but the distance was far and the profits were not much.

Furthermore, the "Yanqi Fine Wine" from Yun'an Tavern is sold in several counties surrounding Tonggu County, so the market has already been expanded to its maximum extent. Going any further wouldn't work; it's simply beyond our reach.

The Xu family's income has no room for growth, while their expenses are very high.

The expenses include the long-term and short-term laborers hired for farming, the maids and nannies in each household, and their food, clothing, housing, and transportation.

The main problem is that there are too many members of the Xu family now!

Yun'an Tavern supports not only Xu Xiaoyun's family, but the entire Xu family.

The "Zhong" generation has ten members, excluding Xiaoxi.

It's not just about food, clothing, shelter, and transportation; it also includes the cost of martial arts training.

Xu Zhongche's large-scale procurement of medicinal materials for refining Qi and Blood Pills also incurred considerable expenses.

Fortunately, he was an alchemist, and the cost of refining Qi and Blood Pills was only the cost of the medicinal materials. If the Qi and Blood Pills were purchased from the pharmacy, the Xu family's income would not be able to support them at all.

With many members of the Xu family practicing martial arts, the income from Yun'an Tavern was barely enough to cover their expenses.

In previous years, the Xu family had a solid financial foundation thanks to the 100,000 taels of silver they obtained from Jie Xiu, which ensured they were never short of money.

They can manage now, but things will get tougher from here on out: Zhonghuai, Zhongchao, Zhongchuan, and Zhongyi are all of marriageable age.

Getting married and taking a wife are expenses.

With a wife in the household, there are more expenses for food, clothing, and other necessities.

Having children is an even bigger expense.

When the Xu family members of the "Li" generation are born and grow up, the number of people in the four generations of the Xu family will reach a considerable size.

A family that has always had smooth sailing and no major disasters can develop so rapidly.

Xu Xiaoyun couldn't help but feel a headache coming on. Once his nephews of the "Zhong" generation got married, he would have to find a way to increase the Xu family's income, otherwise they would have no money to live on.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

More than 500 li west of Tonggu County, there is a mountain called Kunxu Mountain.

This is a spiritual mountain with a second-order spiritual vein, and the Foundation Establishment family that occupies this mountain is surnamed "Ning".

The range of Kunxu Mountain is smaller than that of Qingqiu Mountain. Its main peak is called "Kunxu Peak", which is shrouded in a spirit-gathering formation to concentrate spiritual energy.

Beside Kunxu Peak is a low hill, on which buildings are constructed, which is the "Kunxu Market".

Because the Ning family has a good reputation and is more powerful than the Lan family of Qingqiu Mountain, Kunxu Market is more bustling than the Qingqiu Market used to be.

Since the incident involving the "Tong family, the alchemy family" in Qingqiu Market, Kunxu Market has become even more prosperous than before.

Xu Fugui, dressed in a black robe and carrying a bamboo basket, walked into Kunxu Market.

He spent three whole days traveling from Tonggu County, crossing mountains and valleys, to get here.

"There's not much change compared to a year ago."

He had visited Kunxu Mountain twice in the past three years; this was his third time.

He bypassed the street vendors and easily entered a shop that specialized in buying spiritual plants.

This is another advantage of Kunxu Market: it has shops that specialize in buying and selling various resources.

"Welcome, fellow Daoist, to our shop."

A cultivator with the aura of the late stage of Qi Refining warmly stepped forward to greet him.

Xu Fugui took off the bamboo basket on his back, lifted the weeds covering it, and took out three exquisite wooden boxes: "I'm selling three spiritual plants: a hundred-year-old withered leaf cress, a hundred-year-old iron root grass, and a hundred-year-old spiritual ginseng."

These three century-old spiritual plants were nurtured by him using the "Spiritual Farming Technique" over a great deal of time, and are the three most precious spiritual plants in his inner space.

"Let me take a look, please wait a moment."

The cultivator opened the wooden box to check the condition of the three century-old spiritual plants.

All three spiritual plants are over a hundred years old and in excellent condition.

For first-tier spiritual plants, a hundred years is the limit; further growth will not increase their medicinal properties.

High-quality, century-old spiritual plants are very valuable and are the raw materials for refining many top-grade elixirs.

"A hundred-year-old withered leaf crow costs thirty spirit stones. A hundred-year-old iron root grass costs twenty-five spirit stones. A hundred-year-old spirit ginseng costs thirty-two. That's a total of eighty-seven spirit stones. What do you think, fellow Daoist?"

This is a fair price, and we treat everyone fairly, young and old.

"it is good."

Xu Fugui nodded.

He had sold spirit plants twice before, but they were less old and in smaller quantities, earning a total of forty spirit stones in total.

With these eighty-seven spirit stones, he can do a lot of things.

"Please count them in person."

The cultivator handed over a bag of spirit stones.

Xu Fugui counted the items in person, and the number was correct.

"Fellow Daoist, please keep your spirit stones safe and be careful. Take your time."

The monk escorted Xu Fugui to the shop entrance.

As he left the shop, Xu Fugui pondered how to make use of the spirit stones.

He no longer had any more century-old spiritual plants in his body, so he had to make good use of these 127 spirit stones and not waste them.

"Buy two Golden Light Talismans for Da Niu and Liu Zi for protection."

The Golden Light Talisman is a specialty of the Lan family of Qingqiu Mountain, and the Golden Light Talismans in Kunxu Market are purchased in bulk from the Lan family.

The Golden Talismans here are more expensive than those in Qingqiu Market.

For example, a low-grade Golden Light Talisman sells for 1 spirit stone in Qingqiu Market, but here it sells for 11 spirit crystals, which is 1 spirit crystal more expensive.

A mid-grade Golden Light Talisman sells for 3 spirit stones in Qingqiu Market, but here it sells for 32 spirit crystals, a difference of 2 spirit crystals. Xu Fugui went to the talisman shop and bought two first-grade mid-grade Golden Light Talismans, spending 6 spirit stones and 4 spirit crystals.

"Let's go check on the flying sword again."

He went to a shop selling magical artifacts to choose a flying sword, and selected an ordinary low-grade magical artifact: a hidden flying sword, worth 35 spirit stones.

After some haggling, he finally bought it for 34 spirit stones.

"Tsk, the market has plenty of resources, but I'm just too poor to afford them."

He left Kunxu Market without buying anything else.

He hadn't heard of any bandits in the vicinity of Kunxu Market, but despite carrying a "huge sum of money," he remained cautious and discreetly left, concealing his identity.

"Now that we have spirit stones, let's go back and register our claim to Hundred Valleys Mountain."

This was his main purpose in coming here to sell spiritual plants.

For three years, he had been thinking about Baihe Mountain. The Xu family was growing larger and larger, and the "Zhong" generation was reaching the age of marriage and having children. With the current resources of the Xu family, they were almost unable to support so many people.

If they could take over Baihe Mountain, the Xu family could support itself for generations to come.

The Baihe Mountain, which is twenty miles long and ten miles wide, has abundant forest resources and can be used to cultivate terraced fields, making it an unimaginable wealth for ordinary families.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The Xu family mansion.

The training ground in the backyard.

Xu Xiaohou's fists and feet moved with a whooshing sound. He threw a punch, his fist covered in a layer of golden light.

Then it changed its fist into a claw, the claw tip sharp as a hook.

He was currently using the Five Elements Stance Technique, the Golden Body Technique, which his third brother had taught him.

"So that's it."

He stood still.

A few days ago, he broke through to the Martial Arts Grandmaster realm, and only then was he able to unleash the true power of this skill.

"Third Brother's physical skills seem to be still not perfected."

He is twenty-seven years old this year and has entered the realm of martial arts grandmaster. His talent in martial arts is even stronger than that of his third brother.

As for his Qi Refining realm, he remained at the second level of Qi Refining and had not improved.

With his five elemental roots and lack of spirit stones, his progress was slow even with diligent cultivation.

This is the inevitable situation; that's how cultivation of immortality works—a slow, gradual improvement over many years.

With five pseudo-spiritual roots, it's considered good if one can cultivate to the fifth or sixth level of Qi Refining in their entire life; it's almost impossible to reach the late stage of Qi Refining.

With four mixed spiritual roots, one can barely cultivate to the late stage of Qi Refining, with no hope of Foundation Establishment.

Only those with three true spiritual roots have the potential to establish a foundation.

Xu Xiaohou lacked resources for Qi cultivation and devoted most of his energy to martial arts. It was only with the Qi and Blood Pills provided by Zhong Che that he was able to reach the Grandmaster realm at such a young age.

Just then, his ears twitched as he heard footsteps outside the backyard gate.

"Zhonghuai?"

He slipped open the backyard gate and went outside.

"Grandpa isn't here?"

Xu Zhonghuai was taken aback when he saw Xu Xiaohou, and then asked in a slightly cold tone.

"He's been away for several days. Are you busy? Is your deadline the day after tomorrow?"

Xu Xiaohou looked Xu Zhonghuai up and down, sensing the limits of his acquired qi and blood.

“I asked my grandfather to teach me the innate part of the Five Elements Stance Exercise.”

This is the purpose of Xu Zhonghuai's visit.

"Let me teach you."

Logically speaking, Xu Xiaohou would be a better teacher, as his martial arts cultivation had reached the Grandmaster level.

Xu Fugui, after breaking through to the Innate Realm, no longer practiced the Five Elements Stance Technique.

"No need. If Grandpa isn't here, I'll ask my older brother."

Xu Zhonghuai shook his head and turned to find Zhongche.

He still harbors resentment over what happened three years ago and hasn't forgiven Xu Xiaohou. At first, he wouldn't speak to Xu Xiaohou, but now, although he's cold and sarcastic, he's at least willing to say a few words.

"..."

Xu Xiaohou was helpless.

Xu Zhonghuai waited for a moment at the entrance of the alchemy room. When he saw Xu Zhongche come out after making a pot of pills, he went up to him and explained his purpose.

"Let Uncle Liu teach you; his understanding of stance training is much better than mine."

Xu Zhongche pointed to Xu Xiaohou in the distance.

"Need not."

Xu Zhonghuai simply shook his head: "That's strange. After you broke through to the Innate Realm, you stopped practicing stance training? You've only been refining pills every day?"

He was unaware of the Xu family's secrets, and he was unaware that Xu Zhongche, after breaking through to the Innate Realm, stopped practicing stance training and instead began cultivating immortality.

"Still blaming Uncle Liu? Sigh."

"What, brother, aren't you resentful?"

"...Go to the backyard, I'll teach you stance training."

Xu Zhongche didn't know how to explain. Of course he resented Xu Xiaohou, but he resented the demonic cultivator even more.

After another half a day, Xu Xiaoniu arrived.

Xu Xiaoniu recently ran into some trouble, and after thinking it over, he decided to ask Xu Xiaohou for help.

He couldn't think of a better way.

"Sixth son, isn't your father here?"

Xu Xiaoniu did not find Xu Fugui at the Xu family mansion.

"Father has gone out on business."

"Then come with me, we need to discuss something."

The two arrived at a secret room.

Xu Xiaoniu hesitated for a moment before explaining the trouble he had encountered: "Recently, a rogue cultivator who had committed a crime, at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, killed about thirty or forty people."

(End of this chapter)