Rejection (Bonus Update)

At the banquet, the atmosphere was somewhat grave.

Fairy Qingxue was poaching talent, yet her arguments were sound and left no room for refusal.

But it also seemed improper to block someone else from climbing higher.

"Brother, do you think it would be good or bad for me to join the Danyang Sect?" Ye Feixue asked again.

"Whether you join or not will have little effect on our Lu Clan."

Lu Xuanji chose his words carefully. "With me supporting the Lu Clan, it will not collapse."

Ye Feixue nodded. "Brother, I understand."

She looked at Fairy Qingxue apologetically. "Aunt, I'm sorry. I will not join the Danyang Sect. I will remain with the Lu Clan."

"Do you know what you will miss out on by doing this? If you join the Danyang Sect, you have at least a fifty percent chance of becoming Purple Mansion; but in the Lu Clan, your chance of becoming Purple Mansion is less than ten percent."

Fairy Qingxue spoke with a pained expression.

Ye Feixue nodded. "The best possible outcome of joining the Danyang Sect is becoming a Purple Mansion cultivator, but so what? Purple Mansion cultivators are merely middle management in the Danyang Sect. Above them are veteran Purple Mansion elders, as well as Golden Core Ancestors pressing down upon them. But the Lu Clan has only five Foundation Establishment Cultivators. I am already part of the upper ranks here, with great authority in my hands. Once several elders Pass Away decades from now, I will become the Grand Elder—below one person and above ten thousand. Better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix."

Fairy Qingxue said, "Foundation Establishment cultivators live only two hundred and forty years, while Purple Mansion cultivators live four hundred and eighty. Staying in the Lu Clan may make you the head of a chicken, but it will also cost you the possibility of advancing further."

Ye Feixue said calmly, "Back then, I was merely a village girl who could barely fill her stomach with three meals a day, often eating wild vegetables and coarse corn buns. At most, I would have lived sixty years. But after joining the Lu Clan, I ate Spirit Rice every day and gained a lifespan of over two hundred years. Here, every day I live is a day earned."

"If Brother can enter Purple Mansion, we can stay together for four hundred years. If Brother fails his attempt at Purple Mansion and ultimately falls, what meaning would there be in my becoming Purple Mansion? Living would be dull as well. I might as well accompany Brother on his journey, so neither of us would be alone."

As she spoke, a trace of tenderness flickered in her eyes, her affection deep and lingering.

In her eyes, there was only Lu Xuanji.

With him, there was a world.

Without him, what meaning was there in the world's existence?

"You do not possess the heart of a powerhouse. Your horizons are too narrow. When you reach a hundred years of age, you will realize that so-called love is nothing but the idle moaning of mortals. We cultivators have only Dao companions, not husbands and wives. How can the love between men and women or the pleasures of the bed compare with immortality?"

Fairy Qingxue smiled. She was deeply disappointed in Ye Feixue and gave up on recruiting her.

Because Ye Feixue lacked the heart of a powerhouse.

On the path of cultivation, spirit root aptitude was important, but in the later stages, an unwavering heart that sought the Dao was especially important.

Many with Triple Spirit Roots or Quadruple Spirit Roots achieved Purple Mansion, or even Golden Core, through the steadfastness of their Dao hearts.

Yet some with Dual Spirit Roots or Variant Spirit Roots fell at the threshold of Purple Mansion because their states of mind were unsteady and they lacked the heart of a powerhouse.

Ye Feixue's aptitude was excellent—she possessed a Fire-Wood Dual Spirit Root—but she obsessed over the difference between being a chicken's head and a phoenix's tail, and was mired in love. She had little ambition, and her future prospects were limited.

There had once been a cultivator with poor aptitude, merely a Quadruple Spirit Root. Yet for Foundation Establishment, he willingly became the furnace cauldron of a Female cultivator; for Purple Mansion, he used an evil secret art to refine himself into a living corpse; for the sake of achieving Golden Core, he directly called his enemy father.

Many cultivators despised him, saying he had no moral bottom line, was vile in conduct, and had no dignity.

Yet those cultivators who despised him had already turned to yellow earth.

That cultivator, however, still lived freely and unrestrained.

After chatting for a while, Fairy Qingxue departed.

The other guests also left one after another.

Before long, Changyuan Mountain became quiet.

Inside the study, the Grand Elder took out the account books and began explaining the clan's assets.

"The Lu Clan currently has two hundred and thirty-five cultivators: one hundred and fifty with Five Spirit Roots, eighty with Quadruple Spirit Roots, and only five with Triple Spirit Roots. There are one hundred and three Qi Refining stage cultivators in the early stage, ninety in the middle stage, and forty-two in the late stage."

"Qi Refining stage cultivators receive annual stipends of ten, twenty, or thirty spirit stones based on the strength of their cultivation. The family canteen, medicinal pill subsidies, and other expenses cost seven thousand spirit stones each year. Foundation Establishment Cultivators receive between three hundred and seven hundred spirit stones, and with subsidies for medicinal pills, Spirit Rice, and so on, they cost four thousand spirit stones a year. The clan spends eleven thousand spirit stones annually."

"The clan has a Red Iron Ore mine with an annual income of fifteen hundred spirit stones. Its Spirit Fields, spirit herbs, spirit beasts, and so on bring in roughly nine thousand spirit stones. Various side businesses bring in about three thousand more. The annual income is approximately thirteen thousand five hundred spirit stones."

"At present, the clan has thirty thousand spirit stones in reserve, as well as five thousand jin of Red Iron Ore, three thousand jin of spirit iron, roughly one million jin of White Yang Rice, one hundred bottles of White Danyang..."

"After income is deducted from expenditure, we can save two thousand five hundred spirit stones a year."

Speaking of expenses, the Grand Elder said, "An annual surplus of two thousand five hundred spirit stones may seem like a lot, but it is actually very little. A Rank 2 Spirit Artifact costs anywhere from one thousand to ten thousand spirit stones. Buying a Foundation Establishment Pill outside costs fifteen thousand spirit stones. Purple Sun Jade costs two hundred thousand spirit stones, while a Purple Mansion Pill is somewhat cheaper at one hundred and fifty thousand spirit stones... If anything goes wrong along the way, even more money must be spent. That is the Lu Clan's foundation. When the time comes to spend money, it never feels like enough."

He tossed down the account book, looking utterly helpless.

"But the problem is not merely that. The Danyang Sect sells limited quantities of Purple Sun Jade and Purple Mansion Pills. Often, even if you have money, you cannot buy them. But if you travel elsewhere to purchase them, you may expose your wealth. Before you can even buy the items, you may be killed and robbed of your treasures."

"The Lu Clan will get better."

Lu Xuanji comforted him.

"Xiao Xue, you should join the Danyang Sect. There are many resources there. But in the Lu Clan, you are like a dragon trapped in shallow waters." The Grand Elder sighed.

"Grand Elder, you have a Triple Spirit Root. Why did you remain in the clan? Going to the Danyang Sect would seemingly have offered a brighter future."

Ye Feixue asked in return.

The Grand Elder fell silent. If he had joined the Danyang Sect back then, he would now be Half-Step Purple Mansion, or perhaps have entered the Purple Mansion Realm.

By then, he might have become Dao companions with Fairy Qingxue, loving each other and enjoying a beautiful life.

Instead of this: Fairy Qingxue was already Half-Step Purple Mansion, with hopes of Purple Mansion in the future, while he was merely Foundation Establishment Layer 8, still far from Purple Mansion. The distance between them had grown ever greater, making them increasingly impossible.

"I could not bear to leave my mother."

The Grand Elder spoke, as though reminiscing, as though recalling beautiful memories. He could not help but smile. "My father had poor aptitude and only a Five Spirit Root. Even at sixty, he was merely Qi Refining Layer 3. Father felt that his life would amount to nothing more than this, so he went to guard a county town in the mortal world. There, he took eighteen wives and concubines, hoping to produce outstanding children who could someday bring glory to the ancestors. Most of Father's children had no spirit roots, or their spirit roots were poor. Only I was tested at the age of six and found to possess a Triple Spirit Root."

"At the time, Father was so delighted that he drank himself senseless."

"When I was thirteen, I faced two choices: joining the Danyang Sect or remaining at home. In the end, I stayed at home because I could not bear to leave Father or Mother."

Ye Feixue asked, "Do you regret it?"

"I regret it. Of course I regret it. If I had joined the Danyang Sect back then, I might already be a Purple Mansion cultivator now, and I might even have married Fairy Qingxue." The Grand Elder smiled, his smile free and easy. "I regret it, but if I were given the choice again, my answer would still be the same."

Should updates be released together in the morning, or one in the morning and one at night? It feels as though the number of people adding this to their collections has decreased recently.