The Immortal Clan begins with deductive intelligence.

Those clansmen who are usually frugal are now able to eat their fill.

Xu Dayou was drunk; his old face was flushed red, one foot was on a stool, and he was holding a gnawed beef leg bone, spitting as he spoke.

"Back in the day! This old man was a tough guy who charged in and out of the swamp seven times! That Zhang Shichang... hic! That Zhang Shichang was nothing! If I had been born twenty years earlier, I would have given him a handicap!"

The group of teenagers below listened with shining eyes, while Xu Yanfeng chuckled foolishly. Taking advantage of the moment when everyone was listening to Xu Dayou's boasting, he quickly put the last piece of fatty meat into his own bowl.

Jiang Rou, leading several women, was quickly clearing the leftover scraps from the table into a basin.

Xu Changqing pushed open the door, wanting to go out for some fresh air. Just as he reached the corner of the corridor, he heard a slow, steady tapping sound behind him.

He stopped and looked back.

Xu Yanzhen leaned on a cane, his pale face expressionless.

"Chieftain."

Xu Yanzhen approached and bowed, his movements somewhat stiff.

"What's wrong? Don't you like the liveliness inside?"

Xu Changqing looked at this withdrawn boy.

"Too noisy, I don't like it."

Xu Yanzhen answered crisply, and then, without beating around the bush, reached into his pocket, pulled out a crumpled piece of yellow paper, and handed it to Xu Changqing.

"Chieftain, look at this."

Xu Changqing took the paper.

This is a piece of the lowest quality yellow paper, not a high-grade talisman paper. A winding rune is drawn on it using cinnabar mixed with water.

Although the paper was rough and even had some charred marks from the spiritual energy it couldn't withstand, the runes were extremely coherent and flowed smoothly in one go.

Xu Changqing channeled a wisp of spiritual energy into his fingertip.

"call."

The yellow paper spontaneously combusted without fire, turning into a faint wisp of light that swept away a speck of dust from Xu Changqing's sleeve, leaving it spotless.

Cleansing charm.

The most basic and lowest-grade talisman.

Xu Changqing raised an eyebrow, looking at Xu Yanzhen with some surprise.

"Did you draw this?"

"I practiced for ten days and this is the result."

Xu Yanzhen shook his head, a rare hint of unease appearing on his perpetually gloomy face.

He pursed his lips, seemingly having mentally prepared himself, before slowly speaking.

"I would like to borrow a spirit stone."

A hint of arrogance flashed in Xu Yanzhen's eyes.

"I can now draw this cleansing talisman consistently, but I don't have the money to buy spirit ink and talisman paper."

"With this tattered paper and pen, I can only manage to complete one out of ten. If I had proper tools, I'm confident I could increase the success rate to 30%."

%.

This is a frightening number for a complete beginner.

This kid is a real genius.

With no one to teach him and no resources, he practiced with scraps and managed to master it.

This isn't someone coming to borrow money; they're bringing a money tree to the Xu family.

Seeing that he remained silent, Xu Yanzhen assumed he thought the cleaning talisman was worthless. She gritted her teeth, leaned forward slightly, and spoke with increasing urgency:

"Clan leader, I know these cleansing talismans don't sell for much; one spirit stone can buy a dozen of them."

"But I just need to practice. Once I'm skilled enough, I'll be able to draw 'Lightness Talismans' and 'Golden Light Talismans'!"

"Consider these spirit stones a loan from the family. From now on, any profits from the talismans I draw, besides repaying the debt, will be 10% given to the family!"

He was eager to prove his worth.

In this family, he was a useless person for too long, eating nothing but rice for too long.

Now that he's finally grasped at this straw, he's determined not to let go.

Xu Changqing looked at the boy's face, which was slightly flushed with excitement, and suddenly smiled.

He's still a naive kid who's never seen the world; his business acumen is too green.

"Fifteen dollars?"

Xu Changqing shook his head.

Xu Yanzhen's heart skipped a beat, and her eyes instantly dimmed.

That's true, the family needs money right now; fifteen spirit stones can buy a lot of rice...

"That's too little."

With a flick of his wrist, Xu Changqing placed a heavy money bag into Xu Yanzhen's arms.

"Here are one hundred spirit stones."

Xu Yanzhen frantically clutched the money bag, completely dumbfounded.

"Clan...Clan Chief?"

Xu Yanzhen's throat felt a little dry.

He originally thought that he would be satisfied if he could borrow ten or eight yuan to buy some of the cheapest talisman paper.

This hundred yuan was a huge sum of money he had never seen before.

"Take it."

Xu Changqing stood with his hands behind his back, speaking casually.

"Although our Xu family is poor, we are not so poor that we have to rely on exploiting our own family members for a living."

"Consider this hundred spirit stones as my initial investment in you."

"Go buy some spirit ink and talisman paper. Don't waste your time on those junk."

"As for the future..."

Xu Changqing patted Xu Yanzhen's shoulder, straightening his slightly hunched back.

"Come talk to me about profit sharing when you can draw a mid-grade first-tier talisman."

"Now, your task is to draw. If you ruin it, it's on me; if you succeed, it's yours."

Xu Yanzhen held the bag of spirit stones, his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word for a long time.

He stared intently at Xu Changqing, seemingly trying to discern a hint of humor on the clan leader's face.

but no.

Xu Changqing simply nodded to him, turned and walked towards the backyard, leaving only one sentence drifting in the wind and snow.

"If you have the ability, then don't be so stingy."

Xu Yanzhen stood still, letting the cold wind tousle his hair.

for a long time.

He stared in the direction Xu Changqing had left, lost in thought for a long time.

……

The backyard of the ancestral hall.

It was much quieter here than in the front yard; not even a single lantern was hanging.

Only the accumulated snow reflected the faint moonlight.

Xu Changqing walked to the dry well.

The pit that had been dug earlier was now covered with snow, but the purple-veined golden peach tree was still very conspicuous.

In just a few days, it has grown quite a bit taller.

It has now reached Xu Changqing's knees.

Although the purplish-black tree trunk was only as thick as a thumb, the golden patterns on its surface were even clearer, exuding a faint ethereal charm in the night.

However, the soil under the tree had turned back to its usual grayish-brown color.

The "blood spirit mud" that was buried last time has already exhausted its fertility.

This thing grows fast and eats a lot.

Xu Changqing squatted down and reached out to touch the few unfolded leaves.

The purple-gold color around the edge of the leaf became even more intense, and a faint, pure wood spirit energy wafted from the fingertips.

"What a money-devouring beast."

Xu Changqing sighed, but without hesitation, he took out a pre-prepared ceramic jar from his storage bag.

In the past few days, he has added another batch of raw materials and made a new batch of blood mud.

"Eat up, you'll be better able to work."

At this rate, in another month or so, he'll probably grow to be as tall as a person.

Xu Changqing stood up and clapped his hands.

This tree is the Xu family's trump card and their future treasure trove.