Sanlidun Market, the Wang Household

Yuan Kingdom is one of the many small kingdoms under the rule of the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect.

Within a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers around the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect, there are numerous small kingdoms scattered like stars in the sky.

Within the Yuan Kingdom, besides tens of millions of ordinary people, there are also many cultivators scattered throughout.

Rogue Cultivators, small Aristocratic Clan, and minor sects each have their own way of life and their own territory, shining sporadically like fireflies in the night.

Sanlidun Market is one of them.

This market town is hidden deep within a small mountain range in the Sanli Mound area, surrounded by green mountains on all sides, and shrouded in a misty array all year round.

From the outside, the mist looked no different from ordinary mountain mists; it was white and slightly damp, and even if ordinary people got close, they wouldn't notice anything unusual.

The market is jointly controlled by the Wang Household, Mi Household, and Lan Household. Each of the three Lineage has Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator in charge. Over the generations, they have intermarried and become deeply intertwined, making them staunch allies who share both prosperity and adversity.

In the center of the market is the territory of the three Lineage where the Spirit Vein is located. The houses with blue bricks and gray cave abode are lined up one after another. Radiating outward from the Spirit Vein, there are bustling streets lined with shops, scattered stalls with constant shouts, and the outermost area, which is rented to Rogue Cultivators, as well as the spiritual fields.

Wang Ming and He Xiaoyue were a pair of independent Daoist practitioners who lived off the land of Sanlidun Market.

Wang Ming is in the Late Qi Refining and has mastered a light-body escape technique. With this skill, he usually hunts demons in the mountains and forests and takes on bounty missions in the market, risking his life for Spirit Stones.

He Xiaoyue is in the Mid-stage Qi Refining. She rented an acre of spirit field on the outskirts of the market and spent the whole year tending to the spirit rice.

The two of them didn't earn much, but they could at least make a living in Sanlidun Market.

They even had a son and a daughter.

His son, Wang Siyuan, lived up to his expectations, was found to have Mid-Grade Spirit Root, and entered the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect.

When the news spread, the Sanlidun Market was bustling for several days, with everyone in the teahouses and taverns talking about it.

For a Rogue Cultivator's family to produce a promising talent for the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect is like a phoenix hatching from a chicken coop in a small place.

During that time, Wang Ming walked the streets with his back straight, and his greetings were louder than before; He Xiaoyue went to the vegetable market to buy vegetables, and her steps were light and brisk.

Even when members of the three major Lineage meet, they will show each other more smiles and no longer try to find excuses to deduct their Spirit Stones as they used to.

However, this peace was shattered by a single claw two months ago.

When Wang Ming went into the mountains to hunt demons, he had bad luck and ran into a ferocious Azure Wind Wolf.

He risked his life to escape using talismans and that light-body escape technique. He returned alive, but his internal organs were severely injured, his face was deathly pale, and he could barely turn over on the stone bed.

This level of injury cannot be treated with ordinary Blood Coagulation Powder or Jade Muscle Powder.

To truly recover, you need at least one bottle of Jade Dew Pills.

Jade Dew Pills are considered top-grade among first-tier healing pills, and one bottle costs two hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

Even after the couple pooled all their savings from many years, they still couldn't raise that amount.

In the end, he could only buy two more to barely save his life; the rest he had to rely on to Wang Ming on his own.

Wang Ming's recovery will take a considerable amount of time, during which time he will be unable to hunt demons or accept commissions, and he will have to rely solely on He Xiaoyue's income to support himself.

Their income plummeted, and their savings were all used to buy elixirs, leaving them in dire financial straits.

The cave abode was dimly lit, with a cheap lamp in the corner emitting a faint yellow light that made the rough chisel marks on the stone wall stand out.

The cave was simply furnished with a few polished stone benches, a stone table with chipped edges, and some odds and ends piled up in the corner.

A thin layer of coarse cloth was laid on the stone bed. Wang Ming leaned against the pillow, his face pale with a sickly sallow hue, and his cheeks slightly sunken.

His eyes were closed, his breathing shallow and slow, and his brows furrowed occasionally, probably because his wound was throbbing again.

On the other side of the cave abode, a petite girl was squatting in front of a stove boiling water.

The fire in the stove was burning brightly, the orange-red flames licking the bottom of the pot, and steam rising from the spout, making the girl's face flushed.

The young girl, Wang Siyue, was only twelve years old, and her features still retained a childlike innocence.

She squatted there, hugging her knees, her eyes fixed on the white steam coming out of the kettle spout, occasionally glancing at the stone bed.

Wang Ming, lying on the stone bed, suddenly began to cough repeatedly, his voice muffled, as if squeezed from deep within his chest.

Wang Siyue immediately got up, skillfully picked up a rough pottery cup from the stove, added warm water, quickly walked to the stone bed, and carefully brought the rim of the cup to Wang Ming's lips.

"Dad, have some water."

Wang Ming coughed for a while before stopping, his sallow face flushing an unnatural red.

He lowered his head and drank a few sips of water, and his complexion improved slightly.

He then looked at his daughter, whose face was flushed red from the hot steam, paused for a moment, and sighed softly, "Siyue, you've had a hard time."

Wang Siyue sat down on the edge of the bed, holding a cup, and shook her head. Her still-childish face held a calmness that seemed out of place for her age. "Father, I'm not suffering. It's you who are suffering because you're injured. Mother stands in the spirit field all day long, and when she comes back, her Spiritual Qi is exhausted, so she's even more exhausted."

Looking at his daughter, Wang Ming felt a pang of guilt.

After a pause, he said softly, "The Golden Rainbow Sword Sect will be recruiting new disciples again in a few days. You should also have your Spirit Root tested then. Maybe you can join the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect like your brother. If that happens, our Wang Household will be incredibly fortunate."

Wang Siyue's long eyelashes trembled slightly, and she lowered her head without saying a word.

After a long while, she finally said in a muffled voice, "Father, I don't want to have my Spirit Root tested."

Wang Ming was taken aback, looking at her with some surprise. "Why?"

Wang Siyue lowered her eyes, her fingers unconsciously picking at the small chip on the rim of the rough pottery cup. Her voice was soft, yet earnest. "If my brother isn't here, and if I'm not here either, then if something like this happens to Father and Mother again, there will be no one to take care of them."

Wang Ming stood there, stunned. He opened his mouth, looking at his thin, small daughter in front of him, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.

His feelings were quite complicated at that moment.

A mix of bitterness and guilt lingered in my chest, stuck there, unable to go up or down.

Perhaps because the couple was not very capable and their family had lived in poverty for so many years, their daughter had become sensible far too early.

Thinking of this, his guilt intensified.

Just then, footsteps sounded at the door.

He Xiaoyue hurriedly walked in.

She wore a faded cloth robe with a few specks of mud on the cuffs, and her hair was loosely tied in a bun with a few stray strands falling across her tired face.

Her Spiritual Qi fluctuations were weak, and her face showed visible signs of fatigue.

The work in the spirit field wasn't dangerous, but spirit rice was very delicate, requiring the frequent use of basic Law Technique like Spirit Rain Technique and Illumination Technique.

Although these basic Law Technique are not used in combat, they are a huge burden for a cultivator in the Mid-stage Qi Refining to use them all the time.

She looked like this every day when she returned from the spirit field, her Spiritual Qi almost completely depleted, and even speaking seemed like she was squeezing out all her strength.

After entering, she glanced at the stone bed first, her voice filled with concern. "Ming-ge, are you feeling better?"

Wang Ming gave a wry smile, "It's healing too slowly."

He Xiaoyue pursed her lips, said nothing more, lowered her head and walked to the stove, bent down and scooped out two bowls of ordinary rice from the rice jar, and began to prepare dinner.

Since Wang Ming was injured, his family has been unable to afford spirit rice and has had to make do with ordinary rice that mortals eat.

As she rinsed the rice, she spoke with her head down, her voice low and tinged with an indescribable weariness. "Today I ran into Fellow Daoist Li next door. I wanted to ask her for some Spirit Stones to see if I could buy you another Jade Dew Pill... but unfortunately she said she was also short of money."

The cave abode fell silent.

Wang Ming didn't respond, and Wang Siyue remained silent.

After a moment, Wang Siyue suddenly raised her head, a youthful anger appearing on her still-childish face. "When you first joined the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect two years ago, they were all eager to curry favor with us! Now they make excuses for everything!"

Wang Ming reached out and gently patted his daughter's head. He paused, then said softly, "Yuan'er, it's been over four years since you started your training, hasn't it?"

Wang Siyue bit her lower lip, the anger in her eyes seemed to be extinguished by something, and slowly dimmed.

She lowered her head and didn't say anything more.

He Xiaoyue paused for a moment before nodding slightly, "Yes, that's right."

Wang Ming leaned against the stone pillow, his gaze fixed on the dim spirit lamp, as if talking to himself. "He hasn't returned in over four years. I'm afraid he failed to enter the outer sect... We've dragged him down. With Yuan'er's Mid-Grade Spirit Root, if he had a few more resources, he should have been able to pass the assessment."

Wang Siyue's eyes grew increasingly dim.

She still remembered that she was only seven years old when her brother left. He squatted down and pinched her cheek, saying that once he had established himself in the sect, he would take her and their parents to enjoy a life of luxury.

At that time, she idolized her brother immensely, believing that there was nothing he couldn't do.

But as she grew older, she gradually realized that although her brother was indeed better than his peers in the market, he was still just an ordinary person at heart.

An ordinary person with no connections or background.

Silence fell over the cave abode for a moment.

He Xiaoyue poured the rinsed rice into the pot, added water, and covered the pot with the lid.

The flames at the bottom of the pot licked the iron pot, making a soft sizzling sound.

She straightened up, wiped the water droplets from her hands, and said, "Even if Yuan'er doesn't pass the test, being a menial disciple isn't bad. At least his life will be better than ours."

As she spoke, her gaze unconsciously drifted towards Wang Siyue, but she didn't finish her sentence.

What she was thinking was: even if he's just a menial disciple, Yuan'er might be able to find a way out for Siyue in the future, which is better than his two incompetent parents.

Wang Ming nodded slightly, without responding.

Just then, a commotion suddenly erupted outside the door.

Exclamations, shouts, and chaotic footsteps mingled together, coming through the wooden door, buzzing and shaking the ears.

"Oh my god!!"

"What is that?! It's a huge flying boat! Is it really a flying boat?!"

"It's huge! How big is this flying boat? What kind of important person could ride in such a flying boat?"

"It seems that the patriarchs of our three major Lineage only possess flying magical Law Artifacts the size of a dugout canoe! Could it be that Golden Core True Person has descended upon us??"

Wang Siyue raised her head, and Wang Ming also propped himself up slightly from the pillow. The two of them looked towards the door at the same time, their faces blank.

He Xiaoyue glanced at Wang Ming, her expression becoming more serious. "I'll go out and take a look."

She walked quickly to the door, pushed open the creaking old wooden door, and her figure blended into the noisy crowd outside.