Chapter 3: Ancestor's Cave

"Besides the enormous initial investment in refining artifacts and alchemy as Uncle mentioned, guidance from a master is essential. It might take five to six years of self-exploration to barely get started, let alone sustain a living from it. However, the path of a spirit plant cultivator seems promising after today’s observation. I’ll start with this!"

Due to the Xuan Mo Bamboo, the Bai family placed particular emphasis on spirit plants, with no less than a hundred volumes of related books within the clan.

Especially for various types of spirit bamboos, there were comprehensive cultivation methods, including multiple techniques for stimulating the bamboo to advance in rank.

Once ordinary black bamboo becomes a first-tier low-grade Xuan Mo Bamboo, a complete plant can be sold for thirty-five spirit stones. Cultivating for over ten years has a very small chance of advancing the Xuan Mo Bamboo to a first-tier mid-grade spirit plant, which can fetch one hundred and fifty spirit stones per plant.

The reason is that first-tier mid-grade Xuan Mo Bamboo can be used to refine the lowest-grade flying swords, naturally inflating its value.

Even though the black bamboo swords refined from it are of low quality among first-tier flying swords and are relatively fragile compared to metal flying swords, they remain the best-selling specialty of the Bai family, with many Bai family cultivators using black bamboo flying swords themselves.

After all, the most ordinary flying sword in the Qingfeng Sect’s market can cost around five hundred spirit stones.

For ordinary scattered cultivators, many who have struggled to reach the late Qi Condensation stage are reluctant to purchase a flying sword.

Above the first-tier mid-grade Xuan Mo Bamboo, there is a one in a million chance of mutation. However, in the hundreds of years of cultivation by the Bai family, this has only happened a few times. Some became first-tier high-grade Guijia Bamboo, and a couple became second-tier mid-grade Shengyin Bamboo.

With so many cultivators in the Bai family, generation after generation cultivating and planting, and with the assistance of the Yiwood Green God Technique, there have only been a few recorded mutations.

First-tier high-grade Guijia Bamboo aside, second-tier spirit plants are a different concept from first-tier spirit plants. The value difference is vast, even with just a minor rank difference.

Moreover, Shengyin Bamboo is a rather rare type of spirit bamboo, suitable as the main material for refining flying swords and spirit artifacts.

One of the two mutated Shengyin Bamboos in the Bai family’s history was auctioned off at a market for four thousand spirit stones, a sky-high price.

The other was kept as a family treasure, planted in the most spirit-rich area of the clan’s territory.

"Two per year, it would take two thousand years to earn four thousand spirit stones on a low income. Hmm, the job of a spirit plant cultivator seems quite promising!"

In front of Bai Zichen lay a scroll, the cultivation secret manual for the Yiwood Green God Technique. Originally, it was just a few hundred words with a few illustrations, but the margins were filled with dense annotations added by later generations, all cultivation insights from Bai family elders who had read the manual. The tiny annotations added up to no less than ten thousand words, almost covering all the margins.

Strangely, despite the unique and magical nature of the Yiwood Green God Technique, which offered no benefits for cultivation or combat, its assistance in spirit plant cultivation was evident. Over time, many surrounding families coveted it and used various means, both overt and covert, to obtain the secret manual.

As the saying goes, there are no walls without leaks. Soft methods included marriage alliances, while hard methods included kidnapping and assassination. Despite these efforts, the secret manual of the Yiwood Green God Technique inevitably leaked out.

However, it was rumored that no matter how many people from the families who obtained the Yiwood Green God Technique tried to cultivate it, they could not make sense of it.

Some could not even get started, while others spent a lot of time with the technique’s effects far below expectations, unable to achieve the magical results seen in the hands of the Bai family. After much consideration, it was concluded that this unique technique could only be successfully cultivated by the Bai family.

Although rare, this situation was not unheard of. It was rumored that there was a bloodline technique that could only be cultivated by the descendants of its creator.

After this incident, these families began to use softer methods, viewing Bai family women as precious treasures, and frequently proposing marriage or recruiting Bai family children as sons-in-law.

Since the Yiwood Green God Technique was considered a remarkable technique by many cultivation families, Bai Zichen naturally did not want to return empty-handed from such a treasure trove. He decided to make this technique the foundation of his path, planning to spend the next few years before his coming-of-age ceremony to thoroughly study it.

This technique does not have a rank. According to Bai Jiuan, even a cultivator at the early Qi Condensation stage could use it three to five times a day after mastering it, with the effects depending on the depth of their cultivation and their mastery of the technique.

Bai Zichen studied the thick manual for three to five days, gradually understanding it from initial confusion. Following the annotations in the manual, he began to grasp the flow of his spiritual energy, with a faint green light flickering at his fingertips, though it quickly disappeared.

"Could I have a natural talent for spell cultivation?"

Bai Zichen was greatly encouraged. If he could master the Yiwood Green God Technique within seven days, he would rank among the top three in the history of the Bai family, significantly increasing his chances of cultivating advanced spirit plants.

Unfortunately, his joy did not last long. The faint green light persisted for over ten days without any progress, and he could not take the final step to truly master the Yiwood Green God Technique, leading to a growing sense of disappointment.

By the twenty-seventh day, he began to doubt whether his soul, due to his reincarnation, was not a descendant of the Bai family’s ancestor, making it impossible for him to learn this spirit plant cultivation technique.

"Brother Chen, come quickly! There’s a big event in the clan, don’t stay cooped up at home!"

A chubby boy rushed to the house, shouting loudly.

"Bai Ying, what’s all the noise about?"

Bai Zichen frowned as he stepped out of the house. He had been unable to master the Yiwood Green God Technique for over a month, which left him in a bad mood. The excitement of his successful Qi Condensation had long faded.

In his previous life, cultivation meant riding flying swords and plucking stars from the sky, not being stuck on a frustrating auxiliary technique.

If not for the adult soul in his body, he would have long joined the chubby boy in catching fish and chasing dogs, rather than patiently studying.

Bai Ying, the chubby boy, was about the same age as Bai Zichen. His parents were both mid-Qi Condensation cultivators, so he had also been living in the clan since his spiritual roots were detected.

The large-scale spirit root detection ceremony for ordinary people had not yet begun, so there were few boys of the same age in the clan. Bai Ying, who enjoyed lively activities, often visited Fufeng Ridge, quickly becoming familiar with everyone.

"Brother Chen, this is a real big event. Come with me to the main peak to see the excitement. My father said yesterday that the clan leader will convene a clan-wide assembly in the next few days!"

Bai Ying’s father was in charge of a trade caravan in the clan, mainly responsible for purchasing large quantities of mundane items and some of the Bai family’s products for trade with other cultivation families, as well as frequent trips to the Qingfeng Sect’s market. Therefore, it was not surprising that he could obtain important information in advance.

"Clan-wide assembly? Could it be that an elder is attempting to advance to the Foundation Establishment stage, or that a new Guijia Bamboo has been born in the clan?"

Upon hearing about the clan-wide assembly, Bai Zichen’s expression turned serious. Even for Qi Condensation cultivators, a few months or years of seclusion was normal, so a clan-wide assembly requiring over eighty percent of the clan’s cultivators to attend was a rare event.

According to the records he found in the library, such assemblies were only convened for major events that would affect the Bai family’s direction for the next few decades.

The two possibilities he mentioned were positive, but it could also mean the clan was facing a significant problem.

"Neither. My father said that last month, a few scattered cultivators discovered an ancestor’s cave in the mountains. From the array formations, it is at least a remnant of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, possibly even a Golden Core cultivator. Currently, all the cultivators in Heishan County are rushing there, and it will be a great opportunity!"

"An ancestor’s cave!"

Bai Zichen’s eyes lit up. The founding ancestor of the Bai family had reached the Foundation Establishment stage thanks to resources left by a deceased scattered cultivator from hundreds of years ago. Such stories were common in the Heishan Mountains, though mostly nine parts fiction and one part truth. However, the fact that a clan-wide assembly was being convened indicated that the clan had verified the authenticity of this event.

Cultivation techniques!

Treasures!

Elixirs!

Every time such an event occurred, it would stir up the waters of Heishan County, with countless cultivators fighting and competing, ultimately giving rise to a few lucky ones.

Moreover, this suspected Golden Core cultivator’s cave was only a five to six-day journey from the Bai family’s territory. Regardless of the Bai family’s intentions, they could not remain uninvolved in this matter.

(End of Chapter)