The Golden Character Workshop's Olive Branch

The door opened, and standing outside was a beauty with a face like a hibiscus and brows like slender willows. A pair of eyes pulled at the heartstrings, and her snow-white skin possessed a slightly pale, morbid cast that only made her appear all the more touching.

Chen Dengming looked in surprise at this rather enthusiastic next-door neighbor, saying, "Sister Xu. What is it?"

The charming woman was also an Innate Martial Artist named Xu Wei, and she counted as the person he had interacted with the most over this past month or so.

When he first arrived at the Gathering Place, that very first night when he had nowhere to sleep and had to spend it out in the open, it was this woman who had gifted him a meal.

Afterward he had not forgotten her kindness in gifting him food, frequently returning the favor by gifting her some fish, only the two of them had never actually laid eyes on each other back then.

It was not until Chen Dengming officially received the right of residence for a shack, and the house he happened to be assigned turned out to make him neighbors with this woman, that the two of them gradually grew familiar through interacting back and forth.

Only, Chen Dengming had constantly engaged in arduous cultivation, leading a secluded life, and their numerous interactions had all consisted of this woman actively seeking him out to warmly cozy up to him.

Chen Dengming had originally assumed that this woman's purpose was to get him to send more business her way.

After all, the other party could also be considered someone who engaged in that sort of nocturnal work around the nearby Golden Character Workshop, and with new customer sources present in the vicinity, it was entirely normal for this woman to actively call upon him to develop her business.

Yet after interacting multiple times, this Xu Wei mostly beat around the bush and chattered about household trivia, speaking of how difficult it was for a woman to scrape by at the bottom of the Cultivation World, and other such words of complaint, never once getting down to any sort of direct, material point.

Chen Dengming had also been a man with a houseful of wives and concubines in the mortal realm, and he was no novice at romance.

The looks she occasionally flashed him inadvertently and her words of grievance naturally caused him to gradually catch on, vaguely sensing that this woman was probably looking for a partner to settle down and keep house with rather than looking for a customer.

"Young Master Chen, sorry for the trouble, but I truly have happy news to report. An Immortal Master from the Golden Character Workshop wishes to recruit you, and has entrusted me to come tell you. Congratulations, Young Master Chen."

Xu Wei's attitude was respectful, her cherry lips parted slightly, and her eyes were filled with eager warmth.

"Oh?"

Chen Dengming's eyes revealed astonishment as his aetheric sensation abruptly picked up on something, and his expression suddenly turned solemn as he looked toward the street directly opposite the woman's back.

A solidly built male figure stood quietly at the street corner over there, and upon seeing Chen Dengming's gaze shift over, he smiled, cupped his fists, and transmitted his voice with piercingly bright eyes.

"Fellow Daoist Chen, I am Wu Chen of the Golden Character Workshop. You have been here for over a month, Daoist, and you must have heard of our Golden Character Workshop's reputation. I wonder if you would be willing to join our Golden Character Workshop?"

"Join the Golden Character Workshop?"

For a moment Chen Dengming's expression carried a hint of astonishment, his thoughts spinning like lightning in his mind, though inside he was actually very calm, knowing that the Golden Character Workshop had likely already investigated the origin of his waist token.

It was just that over a month had passed since this matter, and he had originally thought it would not be dug up again.

The slight thought of borrowing momentum that he had harbored initially was also meant to defuse some trouble and prevent people from disturbing his peaceful cultivation life.

Unexpectedly, now a cultivator from the Golden Character Workshop had actually taken the initiative to come and recruit him.

Within this rogue cultivator gathering place, there were over a dozen factions of varying sizes, and the Golden Character Workshop could be considered a quite large power among them.

Many art houses, teahouses, spirit rice shops, and even a great deal of housing within the Gathering Place were properties of the Golden Character Workshop.

By now, he had also inquired clearly: the Golden Character Workshop was composed of several dozen cultivators, with over three hundred supporters at the Innate Martial Artist level.

The workshop master was a cultivator of the Qi Cultivation Sixth Heaven, maintaining some ties with the Luo Family, and no small amount of the profits earned from their numerous yearly businesses was paid as tribute to the Luo Family.

For such a faction, knowing that he possessed a waist token from the Luo Family, recruiting him was entirely a matter of course.

Only, for the other party to actually dispatch a cultivator to personally invite him and even address him as a fellow daoist—this seemed far too ingratiating and respectful.

This was not necessarily Chen Dengming belittling himself; rather, after experiencing a whole series of contacts with Qi Cultivation cultivators, both large and small, the cultivators' attitude toward mortals was truly wretched.

Even with Fairy Lüo, who treated him quite well, that sort of alienation was plain to see.

"Fellow Daoist Chen? Could it be that you are unwilling?"

At this moment, the solidly built male cultivator transmitted his voice once more, his piercingly bright gaze looking straight at Chen Dengming.

Chen Dengming collected himself, a smile immediately blooming on his face as he cupped his fists and said, "Since an Immortal Master has come personally to invite me, naturally this junior would not be unwilling; it is just that I am somewhat flattered for the moment."

Upon hearing this, the solidly built male cultivator laughed heartily and nodded with satisfaction. "So long as you are willing! To tell you the truth, this time it was our workshop master who ordered me to come and invite you personally. After you join our Golden Character Workshop, you need only perform well, and you might even receive a personal summons from the workshop master. Your future prospects will be boundless."

As soon as these words left his mouth, Xu Wei and several surrounding neighbors who had been alarmed all looked toward Chen Dengming with expressions of shock and envy.

To be valued by the workshop master, and even have a cultivator come personally to invite him—in their eyes, this was already stepping straight up to the heavens in a single bound.

Chen Dengming smiled politely, naturally knowing that this sort of empty-check-style polite talk was just something to listen to and let go.

Originally he was merely going with the flow, because since a cultivator had come to invite him personally, he could not flatly refuse.

Besides, there was nothing to lose in this sort of matter; on the contrary, joining one of these factions could also grant some corresponding protection. It was just that upon hearing now that he had actually attracted the attention of the workshop master, he inevitably harbored doubts and muttered inwardly, probing cautiously to test the waters.

"Many thanks to the workshop master and Immortal Master for your favor, but this junior is merely an Innate martial artist and has just arrived in these parts without understanding the rules. I wonder if there are any areas where this junior needs to render service after joining the Golden Character Workshop?"

The solidly built cultivator shook his head with a smile. "I am only responsible for inviting you; as for your specific duties and benefits after joining our Golden Character Workshop, someone else will naturally come to discuss them with you.

Rest assured, however: since you have won the workshop master's favor, your duties and benefits will definitely be good."

Chen Dengming heaved a sigh of relief. "So that's how it is. Many thanks, Immortal Master."

A short while later, watching the solidly built cultivator depart, Chen Dengming looked at the single low-grade spirit stone handed over by Xu Wei, a myriad of thoughts churning through his mind.

This cultivator coming to invite him personally truly showed him a great deal of sincerity and face.

Yet that sense of high-and-mighty superiority that cultivators held toward mortals was still clearly displayed.

From start to finish, the other party conversed with him across a street—seemingly polite, but in truth merely carrying out the task assigned by the workshop master. Even the spirit stone given to him as a welcoming gift was delivered into his hands by Xu Wei on their behalf.

It was as if delivering it personally would soil their own hands or lower their own status.

"Congratulations, Young Master Chen. Today you have won the workshop master's favor, and in the future you will also have prospects on the immortal path."

At this moment, Xu Wei once again smiled in congratulations, her beautiful eyes looking eagerly at Chen Dengming as she approached with lotus steps, fragrant and alluring.

Chen Dengming stepped back into the room and shook his head, saying, "Sister Xu, you and I are both rogue cultivators with no background to speak of. You also know how difficult it will be for people with our spiritual root potential to step onto the immortal path."

Xu Wei was startled. After coming to a halt, she managed a strained smile, her morbid facial expression appearing even paler as she spoke, "Difficult though it may be, this is nevertheless our only chance to change our fate. At least we both still possess spiritual roots, do we not? So many people within this Gathering Place are still holding on."

"What you say is correct." Chen Dengming nodded.

Indeed, everyone within the Gathering Place—except for mortals who utterly lacked spiritual roots—who among them had not wanted to step onto the immortal path through cultivation, thereby altering a mortal's destiny and becoming a high-and-mighty cultivator?

Perhaps it was precisely that condescending posture with which cultivators treated mortals that stimulated so many people with inferior spiritual roots to charge blindly onto the path of cultivation even while knowing full well how difficult it was.

Just like impoverished scholars, even with a humble and meager background, they never relinquished the ambition to change their station through study.

Chen Dengming glanced at the other neighbors in the distance who were wearing smiles toward his direction, then took one deep look at Xu Wei's somewhat sickly, pale, and bloodless pretty face before nodding in acknowledgment and closing the door.

Xu Wei looked with a desolate expression at the closed door, letting out a low sigh as if pitying herself, and turned to enter her own dwelling.

The world of cultivation was very cruel, something she had long since witnessed. It was precisely because she had witnessed it that she felt all the more exhausted, and she had long since harbored the thought of finding a sturdy shoulder to lean on and settling down to keep house together.

Over a month ago, when Chen Dengming moved in as her neighbor, both his background and his various conditions had left her feeling satisfied and moved, prompting her to initiate contact multiple times and even subtly reveal her feelings.

Pity that the distance between her and Chen Dengming was like being cut off by this closed door—clearly very close, yet at the same time very far away.

Now this distance appeared even more distant as the other party gained the workshop master's favor, making her feel unworthy by comparison.

At this moment, Chen Dengming paced about his room, studying the single low-grade spirit stone in his hand with a look of doubt and contemplation, a trace of caution flashing in his gaze.

A spirit stone—he was not yet a cultivator at present and fundamentally could not use it.

Innate True Qi also found it difficult to draw out the spiritual qi within a spirit stone.

Therefore, for the time being, this item was to him merely a monetary currency or something to be refined into an alternative, backstabbing stone gu.

For the Golden Character Workshop's workshop master to give an Innate martial artist a low-grade spirit stone—this could already be considered a lavish hand. What he was after was definitely not something as simple as the waist token in his possession.

The waist token in his hands was merely an ordinary one issued by the Luo Family.

Such waist tokens were held by over a hundred cultivators and other Innate martial artists within the marketplace; all of them were individuals who had once rendered service and accomplished feats for the Luo Family.

If there was anything uniquely special about it, it was that his waist token had been bestowed upon him by Fairy Lüo.

Only this layer of connection could possibly have startled a cultivator of the Qi Cultivation Sixth Heaven.

Yet regarding this, he instead felt a wave of headache and vigilance.

He who approaches a tiger is in peril!

A cultivator of the Qi Cultivation Sixth Heaven was still far too powerful for him at present.

Even though he had once taken down a cultivator of the Qi Cultivation Second Heaven, Chen Dengming possessed self-awareness: right now, he was utterly unequipped to deal with a Qi Cultivation Sixth Heaven cultivator.

Regardless of whether the other party's recruitment was out of good intentions or ill, for the time being he had no desire to walk too closely with such people, wishing only to quietly turtle up and cultivate.

Originally I thought I could borrow momentum to fend off some minor troubles, but I never expected it to draw in a crocodile. It seems that whenever I want to borrow momentum in the future, I must be even more cautious... When all is said and forth, all unease stems from insufficient strength and foundation; I must immediately cultivate to the Qi Refining Stage.

In addition, I must also carve out time to search for the materials to refine the Golden Silkworm Gu.

Once the Golden Silkworm Gu is successfully refined, my life-saving trump card will become even stronger.

Though Chen Dengming felt a quiet sigh, he did not regret his actions.

For now, the workshop master of the Golden Character Workshop was extending goodwill, which indicated that the other party still held great misgivings regarding Fairy Lüo. His use of borrowed momentum could be considered a success.

Moreover, the elderly cultivator he had dispatched was also a man of the Golden Character Workshop. Now that the Golden Character Workshop's workshop master was recruiting him, it seemed that the hidden trouble of that incident had passed.

Right now, however, he felt all the more pressed for time.

Placing the spirit stone on the table, a trace of resolve welled up in Chen Dengming's eyes.

He had already decided to cultivate the Life-Damaging Seedling Pulling Technique and immediately elevate his spiritual root potential.

Once his spiritual root potential was elevated from an inferior grade to a medium-grade spiritual root, his cultivation speed would become ten times faster.

The over nine hundred days originally required to cultivate to the Qi Refining First Layer would be shortened to a mere ninety-odd days once his spiritual root potential was upgraded.