Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 410 First Disciple
"you sure?"

Li Xiangming looked at Xu Qingchi with surprise, not expecting him to make such a request. But quickly, he shook his head and said, "You're still young, it's too dangerous for you to come with me."

"Qingchi!"

The elderly man behind Xu Qingchi also quickly spoke up to dissuade him.

The young cultivator in green robes before him was of unknown origin. Although he had saved his life, the fact that he had forced him and his father to defect from Shenfeng Valley still bothered him.

Deep down, he didn't want his grandson to associate with such a dangerous person.

Now we can't just stand by and watch Xu Qingchi be taken away by him.

However, Xu Qingchi's attitude was firm. He said to the old man, "Grandpa, the senior is a capable person. I want to learn from him. I don't want to become mediocre in the future."

A life of mediocrity and inaction?

The old man paused for a moment, then his eyes filled with complex emotions.

After Xu Qingchi swiftly killed Fan Sheng in front of him, he should have known that his obedient and kind grandson could never go back to the way things were.

"Fine, whatever you say."

The old man sighed and fell silent.

Having convinced his grandfather, Xu Qingchi turned to Li Xiangming and said, "Please give me a chance, senior."

Li Xiangming frowned slightly. His main area of ​​activity was Danggui Mountain and Puyin Mountain.

Needless to say, his family would never allow Xu Qingchi, an outsider, to roam freely on the mountain. Moreover, Puyin Mountain is fraught with danger and far beyond the reach of a mere Qi Refining Level 1 cultivator.

It's fair to say that Xu Qingchi was completely useless to him.

However, since he abducted this kid from Shenfeng Valley, he should provide him with a place to stay.

After thinking for a moment, Li Xiangming looked at Zhang Min and asked, "Senior Sister, Green Cloud Cave hasn't started recruiting spiritual root seeds yet, has it?"

Zhang Min nodded: "The plan is to make further arrangements after spring."

"Do you think this kid is qualified to enter Green Cloud Cave?" Li Xiangming continued to ask.

Zhang Min seemed somewhat hesitant: "We still don't know the other party's spiritual root."

Li Xiangming immediately took out a talisman from his body and handed it to Xu Qingchi: "This is a spirit-testing talisman, try it out."

The cultivation world has developed to a point where it is quite advanced in exploring spiritual roots.

This spirit-testing talisman is one such method, and it is also the simplest and most common method in the cultivation world.

It is said to be simple because spirit-testing talismans are sometimes unreliable.

The principle behind this thing is the same as most spirit-testing artifacts: it uses the pure five elements of spiritual energy to stimulate the spiritual energy within the seed of a spiritual root, and judges the quality of the spiritual root by observing its changes.

The problem is that the spirit-testing talisman contains too little pure five-element spiritual energy. It can only test the spiritual root seeds of people aged five to ten. Below this age, the spirit-testing talisman will fail immediately, and above this age, the spirit-testing talisman is prone to producing chaotic phenomena.

The importance of spiritual roots is self-evident. Any sect or family with a certain foundation would not take the risk, but would instead choose to use professional spiritual testing tools.

However, spirit-testing talismans are still widely circulated in the cultivation world.

The reason is simple: compared to expensive spirit-testing artifacts, spirit-testing talismans are inexpensive to produce; ten can be bought for one spirit stone, and they are also extremely convenient to carry.

More importantly, the best age for spiritual roots to enter the Dao is precisely between five and ten years old.

Therefore, spirit-testing talismans have a wide range of applications. Even impoverished rogue cultivators will try their best to buy one or two to test the spirits of their younger relatives of the appropriate age.

According to Xu Qingchi, he was already twelve years old, so the spirit-testing talisman was no longer applicable to him.

Unfortunately, Li Xiangming was traveling and couldn't possibly carry such a precious spirit-testing artifact as the Li family's Clear Spirit Lamp, so he had to simply use a spirit-testing talisman to deal with it.

Xu Qingchi swallowed hard, took the spirit-testing talisman, squeezed it tightly with both hands, and then waited anxiously.

After a while, wisps of spiritual energy emanated from his body and hovered around the spirit-testing talisman in a regular pattern.

"Among the four spiritual roots of metal, water, wood, and fire, the primary spiritual root should be the mid-grade water spiritual root."

Li Xiangming was slightly disappointed. This person's talent was not only hopeless in the Daoist path, but also mediocre.

However, the spirit-testing talisman cannot reveal the specific quality of a spiritual root; it only makes a simple judgment based on the scale of the spiritual energy that is activated, and its accuracy is not guaranteed. Furthermore, given that Xu Qingchi is over the age limit, this result is open to debate.

However, Xu Qingchi looked dejected. He already knew the result, because Shenfeng Valley had tested his spirit and assigned him to the menial disciples.

"Senior Sister Zhang, what do you think?"

Li Xiangming asked softly.

Zhang Min glanced at Xu Qingchi, then turned to Li Xiangming, already having a guess in her mind. "Our Green Cloud Cave values ​​a disciple's character more than spiritual roots. If the sect leader takes a liking to this child, neither I nor the others have any objections."

"Ah."

Li Xiangming nodded, bent down and ruffled Xu Qingchi's hair, and asked, "Would you be willing to join the Green Cloud Cave and become my disciple?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Qingchi suddenly looked up, his face full of surprise.

When he saw the results of the spirit test, he had given up hope. Unexpectedly, things took a turn for the better, and the senior wanted to take him as a disciple.

Zhang Min was even more surprised, as she thought the sect leader simply wanted to find a home for the child in front of her.

Who would have thought he would personally take on apprentices?
So, Xu Qingchi will not only become the first disciple of Green Cloud Cave in Pu County, but also the sect leader's personal disciple?

Ignoring the opinions of others, Xu Qingchi knelt down excitedly and performed a deep bow: "Master, please accept my bow!"

Li Xiangming's expression remained calm: "Don't be too happy yet. I'm different from others. If you don't meet my requirements, even if you haven't violated the sect rules, I will still expel you from the sect."

"This disciple will definitely work twice as hard, no, ten times harder!"

Xu Qingchi puffed out his chest and loudly vouched for it.

Li Xiangming smiled and gently tapped his head: "It's good to have ambition, but it's best to keep it to yourself and not make promises lightly."

After saying that, he ignored Xu Qingchi and turned to fly towards Pushui Market.

Xu Qingchi continued to grin foolishly until Jiang Liang coughed, at which point he realized what was happening and quickly chased after his master.
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Pushui Market remains as bustling as ever.

Li Xiangming walked through the crowd, the cries of vendors rising and falling incessantly.

His location, "East Street"—now more commonly known as East Market—is home to over 70% of the permanent residents of Pushuifang Market.

This place not only has cultivators, but also many mortals who serve them.

This is not surprising. Even in a market like Yingyue Market, where the overall cultivation level is relatively high, there are still many ordinary people. After all, there are always some odd jobs that cultivators would not want.

"The Serpent Merchant Guild is right here."

Jiang Liang led the way, bringing everyone to a courtyard of moderate size, located in a slightly remote area, adjacent to the cave dwelling area.

Jiang Liang continued, "Unlike those cave dwellings, there are no spirit-gathering arrays set up around here, so the rent is relatively cheap. I rented it for two years, for a total of one hundred spirit stones."

Less than five spirit stones per month on average?

Li Xiangming was slightly surprised.

Although this place is far from the bustling commercial street, it is still not easy to find a storefront at this price in Pushui Market, which shows that Jiang Liang is indeed quite capable.

"The front yard currently serves as our chamber of commerce's headquarters, while the back yard is used as a warehouse."

Jiang Liang paused for a moment, then said in a low voice, "The spiritual herbs we bought from Hua Lun are mostly stored here."

Li Xiangming's expression gradually became serious. He had invested two thousand spirit stones in the Spirit Serpent Merchant Guild to allow Jiang Liang to come into contact with Hua Lun and Qianjun Grass. He then invested another fifteen hundred spirit stones to continue acquiring the spirit herbs from Hua Lun.

In total, he invested 3,500 spirit stones.

This amount of spirit stones is undoubtedly enormous.

Even with the savings from selling the Green Cloud Cave spiritual vein, he still felt considerable pressure.

If this massive amount of spiritual herbs cannot be converted into cash in time, the Spirit Serpent Merchant Guild will be on the verge of disbanding—after all, it has already lost a fortune and cannot continue to pour money into it without any limit.

So, after finding the Thousand-Jun Grass, he immediately came to Pushui Market to see for himself how the Spirit Serpent Merchant Guild was operating.

(End of this chapter)