Translator: Cinder Translations
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In the small town, the streets were bustling with people, mostly ordinary folks without any cultivation.
It resembled a mundane marketplace, with crowds swarming through the streets, and the sounds of vendors calling out, conversations, and haggling merging together.
On the street corners, small vendors had blazing fires, and the aromas of various mundane foods filled the air.
There were people dressed in fine clothes, others in tattered garments, some traveling in palanquins without touching the ground, and others carrying farming tools, covered in mud.
If it weren't known in advance, it would be hard to imagine this was a place belonging to a Golden Core cultivation family.
Most of the common people here did not live well; they still struggled for their daily meals. However, compared to ordinary civilians, they lived somewhat better, as there was no war or harsh taxes like those in more turbulent regions.
Song Wen toured the town and discovered that not only were mundane goods for sale, but there were also many shops selling spiritual items mixed in.
Suddenly, Song Wen spotted a familiar figure—Su Shan, the guard he had seen at the Su family's mountain gate.
Song Wen walked over to Su Shan and said,
"Su Shan, I didn't expect to see you again."
Su Shan turned around at the sound and saw Song Wen, a smile appearing on his face.
"Senior, it's you. Have you successfully joined the alchemy room?"
Song Wen nodded in response, "I must thank you for guiding me that day."
As he spoke, Song Wen flipped his hand, and a jade bottle appeared in his grasp.
"Here are ten Qi Gathering Pills, as a token of gratitude for your help."
Su Shan waved his hand to decline, "I can't accept your gift, Senior. Guiding you is part of my duties, and your success in joining the alchemy room is due to your own alchemy skills."
After several rounds of refusal, Song Wen managed to press the jade bottle into Su Shan's hands.
When someone accepts a gift, they are bound by courtesy.
After receiving the Qi Gathering Pills, Su Shan's demeanor became much warmer.
Previously, he had been polite to Song Wen, but it was more out of habit than genuine familiarity.
The ten Qi Gathering Pills were worth thirty spiritual stones, equivalent to Su Shan's monthly salary.
Su Shan asked, "By the way, I still don't know how to address you, Senior."
"Call me Yuan Cheng."
"Pleased to meet you, Alchemist Yuan."
"Does Su Shan live in this town?"
"Yes, I grew up here."
"Then could you show me around?"
"Please, Alchemist Yuan, follow me."
Under Su Shan's guidance and explanation, Song Wen quickly gained a general understanding of the town.
In the town, ordinary people and cultivators lived together, and since everyone was part of the Su family, there was a certain degree of kinship, making their interactions relatively harmonious.
As they continued walking, they arrived at a small courtyard.
"Alchemist Yuan, this is my humble abode. Would you like to come in and sit?"
"Su Shan's invitation is too kind. I'd be honored to accept."
As they entered the courtyard, they saw a woman with a rounded belly, who was cleaning the yard.
Upon seeing Su Shan and Song Wen, the pregnant woman greeted them with a smile.
"Husband, you're back. Who is this?"
"Dear, let me introduce you. This is the new alchemist in the alchemy room, Alchemist Yuan."
"Alchemist Yuan, this is my humble wife, Chen Hong."
Chen Hong was an ordinary person without any cultivation.
"Pleased to meet you, Alchemist Yuan," Chen Hong said with a gentle bow.
"Greetings, Mrs. Su!" Song Wen said respectfully.
Perhaps unwilling to show herself in front of outsiders, Chen Hong, after greeting, retreated back into the house.
Su Shan brewed some tea and sat down with Song Wen in the courtyard.
"Your wife seems to be a virtuous and capable person, keeping the courtyard clean and tidy. You must be quite fortunate," Song Wen remarked.
Su Shan sighed and shook his head, saying, "My wife is indeed a good person, but unfortunately, she is just an ordinary person."
"What's wrong with being an ordinary person? Although we are cultivators, the lifespan of a Qi Refining cultivator is only a bit more than a hundred years, which is not much different from ordinary people," Song Wen asked in confusion.
Su Shan patiently explained.
"Alchemist Yuan may not be aware, but in our Su family, to make a name for oneself, one either needs to have excellent spiritual roots or have descendants with outstanding spiritual roots."
"I only have third-grade spiritual roots, so the highest I can achieve in this life is late-stage Qi Refining, with no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment."
"Therefore, I can only place my hopes on future generations, but unfortunately, my wife is an ordinary person, and the probability of producing a child with mid-grade spiritual roots is extremely low."
In the Su family, status is determined by spiritual root quality rather than by bloodline, which is common in cultivation families. This practice ensures the continuation and prosperity of the family to some extent.
The quality of the descendants' spiritual roots is related to the spiritual roots of their parents and may even be influenced by several generations of ancestors.
In simple terms, the better the spiritual roots of both partners, the higher the chance of producing descendants with high-quality spiritual roots.
For a pair of ordinary people whose ancestors were not cultivators, the chance of having descendants with spiritual roots is almost negligible, let alone those with excellent quality.
This also explains why, in a town like Su's where ordinary people and cultivators live together, young men and women with spiritual roots are highly sought after when looking for partners.
This is also why Su Shan could only marry an ordinary woman—his spiritual roots are too poor, and his strength is too weak to find a suitable female cultivator as a partner.
"By the way, I haven't seen your father and mother. Where do they live?" Song Wen changed the topic.
Su Shan forced a bitter smile, "My father is Su Anqing, the head of the Su family. It's impossible for him to live with me."
"Your father is the head of the Su family! How could this be?" Song Wen said, incredulously.
Su Shan remained calm and was not surprised by Song Wen's astonishment.
"Su Anqing has more than a hundred wives and concubines and hundreds of offspring. My mother was just a beautiful ordinary woman. After he took her as a concubine, he only favored her once."
"After that, my mother never saw him again before her death. After I left, I only saw him a few times from afar when he passed by the mountain gate. He probably doesn't even know he has a son like me."
"In the Su family, without powerful cultivation, outstanding spiritual roots, or special talents in alchemy or talismans, how could one possibly meet the revered head of the family, who is at the peak of Foundation Establishment?"
As Su Shan spoke, his face showed deep frustration and dissatisfaction with his current strength and cultivation.
The atmosphere became a bit oppressive. After a moment of silence, Song Wen said,
"Indeed, with poor spiritual roots, it's difficult to improve one's strength. Take me, for example—I'm over fifty and only at the Qi Refining seventh layer."
After expressing his feelings, Song Wen suddenly lowered his voice and changed the topic.
"In my youth, I heard in the Huafang market that some cultivators, eager to quickly increase their strength, resorted to risky methods and fell into demonic paths, practicing demonic secret techniques. Their strength could advance rapidly in a short time."
"'The higher the level of the cultivator, the higher the level of the demon.' It's said that demonic cultivation methods are unpredictable, and there are even demonic cultivators who can fight above their level and defeat righteous cultivators far stronger than themselves."
Su Shan's eyebrows lifted, a gleam of interest flashing in his eyes.
"Is demonic cultivation really that powerful?"
Song Wen shook his head, "I haven't seen it with my own eyes; it's just hearsay. However, demonic cultivation involves controlling corpses and ghosts, and if one can command a few powerful corpses and ghosts, their strength should increase rapidly."
"But practicing demonic cultivation is not tolerated by righteous factions."
"You have limited knowledge. Not far from the Huafang market, there is a mountain stream ghost market where various demonic cultivation methods and demonic spiritual treasures are openly sold. If it weren't for the approval of righteous sects like the Beastmaster Sect and the Lei family, this small ghost market would have been eradicated long ago."
"The Huafang market is tens of thousands of miles away; it's too far," Su Shan muttered to himself.
Then, he leaned closer to Song Wen and asked quietly,
"Alchemist Yuan, you've seen and heard much. Do you know where nearby I can find demonic cultivation methods for sale?"
Song Wen repeatedly shook his head, "I don't know about that. I'm almost sixty, so why would I be looking into such things?"
The two continued their conversation until noon, after which Song Wen stood up and took his leave.
After Song Wen left, Su Shan sat alone in the courtyard for a long time, not even hearing his wife calling him for lunch.
(End of the Chapter)
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