Chapter 5: Mu Jiao Town

At the foot of Funiu Mountain lies a small town named Mujiao Town, the dwelling place of nearly ten thousand mortals of the Song family. Because Song family cultivators have been stationed there year-round, the town has remained peaceful for a hundred years, even attracting many mortals of other surnames from the vicinity to settle down. In the center of the town is a wide street, bustling with an endless stream of pedestrians. Both sides of the street are filled with various shops, and the sounds of hawking are constant, presenting a scene of prosperity and harmony.

In the world of cultivation, whether it is a high-and-mighty sect or a powerful family clan, the vast number of mortals is their foundation. They are the source that continuously injects new blood and wisdom into the various powers of the cultivation world.

Among mortals, roughly two or three out of every ten thousand will be born with spiritual roots and become cultivators. If they are descendants of existing cultivators, the probability of possessing spiritual roots is higher than that of ordinary mortals.

Ordinary mortals are too weak. In this world of cultivation where demonic beasts run rampant, it is difficult to survive and multiply without the protection of cultivators. It is precisely because of this that the importance placed on mortals in the cultivation world has grown, and places with large populations of mortals generally have at least some level of cultivator protection.

To strengthen themselves, the various sects of the cultivation world choose to send disciples with low talent to manage mortals in their governed territories, hoping to breed more disciples with spiritual root talent for the sect. Over time, this led to the birth of various cultivation families.

In Qinghe County, there are dozens of cultivation families like the Song family. They all rely on the Xiaoyao Sect, the hegemon of the Wei Kingdom. Each family has a large number of mortals. The mortals under the Song family's influence, including those in Mujiao Town and a dozen nearby villages, total over twenty thousand, with the majority living in Mujiao Town.

Among the Qi-refining families in Qinghe County, the Song family has a relatively small number of mortals. Several families with larger populations possess over one hundred thousand mortals. As for the hegemon of Qinghe County, the Foundation Establishment Huang family, they directly control nearly five hundred thousand mortals.

Those among these mortals who are born with spiritual roots continuously replenish the various cultivation families, while those with outstanding spiritual root talent are absorbed by the Xiaoyao Sect.

Most of the mortals in Mujiao Town are of the Song family bloodline, though some are refugees from other places who have gradually integrated into the Song family through intermarriage with local Song mortals.

The family generally does not care about the surnames of the mortals, but once someone with spiritual roots is discovered, they are taken to Funiu Mountain to cultivate and are renamed according to the seniority of the Song family cultivators.

Song Qingming was also discovered to have spiritual roots during a family inspection of mortals when he was ten years old. He was subsequently taken by family cultivators to Funiu Mountain to study and cultivate, where he has remained ever since. Although the place of cultivation is not far from home, Song Qingming has rarely returned to visit his family.

Having received a garrison mission from the family this time, he did not know when he would have the chance to return again. He came down the mountain early today specifically to find time to visit his home.

In a residential area for mortals on the west side of Mujiao Town, there is an ordinary house. Compared to the surrounding dwellings, it looks slightly newer. The house is surrounded by an earthen wall, forming a simple small courtyard, with a small gate in the center of the wall.

Song Qingming stood before the half-open wooden door, gazing at the familiar courtyard. On a large stone platform in the yard, a woman dressed in simple clothing sat with a green bamboo basket. She was slowly and orderly separating golden bamboo shoots from the basket and laying them out to dry on the stone platform.

Seeming to hear the sound at the gate, the woman paused and turned to look.

"You haven't been back in so long, what are you doing standing at the gate? Have you cultivated yourself into a fool?"

Song Qingming was stunned for a moment, then chuckled and walked into the courtyard.

"Mother, has everyone at home been well lately?"

"We built a new house, and your younger brother and father have moved to the new rooms in the back. I couldn't bear to leave this old stone platform. I dug up some fresh bamboo shoots in the mountains a few days ago, so I brought them here to dry. When you come back next time, you can take some up the mountain to taste. You all loved eating these when you were little."

Mother Song tidied up the bamboo shoots and came to Song Qingming's side, adding, "San'er, come home and visit when you have time. Although immortals don't eat mortal food, aren't the immortals on the mountain all born from mortals down here? How can there be such a big difference?"

Song Qingming's original name when he was a child was Song San. It was only after he was taken to Funiu Mountain to cultivate that it was changed to Song Qingming. However, now, apart from his mother, no one calls him by that name anymore.

The family has a rule that all cultivators under the age of twenty, except for the few days of home leave stipulated each year, are not allowed to return home at will. This is to gradually isolate these young people who have just arrived on the mountain from the mortals below, so they can get used to the boredom of cultivation as soon as possible and not neglect their training due to a longing for the warmth of worldly family life.

Since embarking on the path of cultivation, Song Qingming has rarely returned home. Now, most of his childhood playmates no longer recognize him, and even the attitude of his own family members toward him has changed significantly.

Every time he returns home, even when sitting at the same table for a meal, Song Qingming can feel that his father, older sister, and younger brother always maintain a slight distance between mortal and immortal.

His father no longer yells at him for sleeping in, his hot-tempered second sister no longer dares to call him "brat," and even his younger brother, who used to follow him around playing, now treats him with an extra layer of respect.

Father Song was originally an ordinary resident of Mujiao Town. There had been no one with spiritual roots in his family for three generations. Having lived in the town for so many years, life had always been plain and simple, except for the early death of his eldest daughter.

Later, when Song Qingming was found to have spiritual roots, the clan bestowed a sum of gold and silver, and his family's life gradually improved. Now, they are considered a wealthy household in Mujiao Town.

After the two chatted for a while, they returned to the newly built house. After the family of five had lunch together, under his mother's reluctant gaze, Song Qingming left some silver for the family and then quietly departed.

Now that Song Qingming was leaving home, he did not feel as attached as before. Among his family, only his mother still truly saw him as her child, not an immortal.

——

Fifty miles east of Mujiao Town, there is a hundred-zhang-high mountain. It was originally a nameless place, but a hundred years ago, the Song family cultivated a small spiritual vein there and renamed it Lingyuan Mountain.

Lingyuan Mountain is not too far from Funiu Mountain and is the second spiritual vein occupied by the Song family, aside from the high-grade spiritual vein of Funiu Mountain.

About a hundred years ago, when Song family senior cultivators were hunting demonic beasts there, they inadvertently discovered a black iron ore vein. After the second-generation clan leader learned of this, he led the clan's cultivators to kill the several mid-level demonic beasts entrenched on the mountain, occupied it, and relocated some of the family's mortals there to mine the black iron.

Black iron ore is a common low-grade ore in the cultivation world, used to make some low-grade magical artifacts. The black iron sword Song Qingming has used for nearly ten years was forged from this ore.

After nearly a hundred years of family management, Lingyuan Mountain now has hundreds of mortals living there. Every year, they can mine black iron ore worth nearly eighty spirit stones for the family, which is one of the family's important sources of income. Therefore, the family attaches great importance to this place; not only are there two formations set up to guard it, but two clan cultivators are also stationed there year-round.

Being stationed at Lingyuan Mountain for three years was the family mission Song Qingming received at the Treasury Pavilion yesterday.

According to Song family rules, once a family cultivator reaches the mid-stage of Qi-refining, they must complete certain family missions on time. Of course, these missions come with corresponding rewards.

For every year stationed at Lingyuan Mountain, the family grants an additional ten merit points. Although the spiritual vein at Lingyuan Mountain is inferior—only a mid-grade spiritual vein—it is sufficient to support the cultivation of two Qi-refining stage cultivators. For Song Qingming, who is currently in the mid-stage of Qi-refining, it will not have much impact on his cultivation.

Since it does not affect his cultivation and allows him to earn some spirit stones, this mission is currently the most suitable one for him. By taking this mission, plus the array formations and diagrams he draws in his spare time, he will be able to exchange for a mid-grade magical artifact in a year.

In the past, Song Qingming had been to Lingyuan Mountain to help transport black iron ore. Most cultivators in the clan are arranged to be stationed there for a few years just after breaking through to the mid-stage of Qi-refining. It is considered a way to look after these newly promoted cultivators, as it is relatively safe and does not delay their cultivation progress too much.

The main duty of this mission is to oversee and supervise the family mortals mining the ore, and as long as enough black iron ore is handed over to the family on time each year, that is all that is required.

(End of chapter)