A Growing Family Needs No Mediocrity, Given a Chance? Evolution Time Shortened

Black Cloud County.

Tooth City.

Inside the Qiu Mansion, Qiu Tongdan was busy handling matters regarding the family's industries.

Between coordinating businesses across various regions, reassigning family personnel, and auditing accounts for every enterprise, she was overwhelmed and exhausted.

"Miss, this is the list of martial artists in Black Cloud County who have broken through to the Blood-Tempering Realm during this period. They come from the Flying Cloud Pavilion and the five martial arts academies, totaling seven new martial artists."

A stout, broad-shouldered woman handed her a small stack of documents and said, "Besides those from Black Cloud County, many martial artists from outside have also arrived. They wish to become retainers or guards for the Qiu Family. Please take a look at their profiles, Miss."

"Mm."

Qiu Tongdan took the documents and first scanned through the information from Black Cloud County.

Her goal was twofold: first, to identify any local talents worth recruiting and cultivating; second, to analyze the factions these individuals represented.

Unfortunately, after a cursory glance, she was quite dissatisfied.

There were indeed two talents on the list: one was Qin Heng from Li's Fist Academy, who possessed an eighth-grade bone structure and had officially become a Blood-Tempering Realm martial artist within half a month.

The other was Li Jingyang, the genius from Flying Cloud Pavilion with a tenth-grade bone structure. According to reports, he had also tempered his blood-qi today, making his advancement to the martial artist rank a certainty.

Beyond these two, there was no one else worth recruiting.

The rest had mostly taken two to three months to temper their blood-qi during the assessment period, or had practiced martial arts for about half a year before forcibly pushing themselves into the Blood-Tempering Realm.

They were not worth the investment.

"Send an invitation to Li Jingyang of the Flying Cloud Pavilion. Invite him to Yuejiang Tower tomorrow at noon for a talk."

Qiu Tongdan placed a checkmark next to Li Jingyang's name.

As for the next person, Qin Huan, she fell into deep thought. "If I recall correctly, that brat from the Yan Family is trying to recruit Qin Huan, isn't he?"

"Yes, Miss. Yan Kai and Qin Huan are very close; they may have already signed some kind of agreement."

The maid responded quickly.

"Never mind that. Let's aim for tomorrow night. Arrange a meeting with Qin Huan for me. I'll offer him better terms; even if he doesn't come, it will be enough to annoy that brat from the Yan Family!"

A strange glint flashed in Qiu Tongdan's eyes.

The Yan Family and her own family had many clashes in their business dealings.

Especially in recent years, the Yan Family had cozied up to the County Magistrate, expanding their businesses in Black Cloud County, which led to overlaps with the Qiu Family's interests.

With neither side willing to yield, conflict was inevitable.

Furthermore, their connection was the County Lieutenant, who had always been at odds with the County Magistrate.

If she had the chance to snatch that talent away from the Yan Family, it would be a perfect opportunity to deal a heavy blow to their pride!

"As for the others, send them a letter offering them a chance to register as affiliates. See if they are interested."

Qiu Tongdan continued flipping through the remaining documents.

She began marking the list with her pen. "For these martial artists from outside, uniformly reduce the fees for affiliation and retainers by twenty percent. If they are willing to come, then let them; if not, coordinate with other chambers of commerce in the city to suppress them. We cannot let these outsiders become too arrogant."

"Understood!"

The maid nodded quickly.

"Also, go and inform the martial artists currently in our mansion that their affiliation fees will be reduced by twenty percent, and their retainer fees by ten percent."

As soon as Qiu Tongdan spoke, the maid hesitated before asking, "Miss, won't reducing their pay cause some controversy?"

"What controversy could it cause? The current environment is so poor; if they won't do it, there are plenty of others who will!" Qiu Tongdan sneered. "So many outside martial artists are waiting for work."

"However, we shouldn't be the only ones cutting wages. I will communicate with the other chambers of commerce to finalize this."

"Alright, that will be all."

Qiu Tongdan waved her hand, and the maid left with the documents.

But only a moment later, she returned and handed a letter to Qiu Tongdan. "Miss, a letter just arrived from Li's Fist Academy."

"Is it from Qianqian?"

Qiu Tongdan opened the letter and scanned it, finally understanding. "So, someone from Li's Fist Academy also broke through today—Shi Wen. He reached the Blood-Tempering Realm in half a month. Qianqian is asking if I want to invest in him."

"Strange, can someone with a fifth-grade bone structure break through to the Blood-Tempering Realm in half a month?"

"Could it be that this person is extremely compatible with the Baji Fist?"

"Shi Wen... I feel like I've heard this name somewhere before."

Seeing her mistress lost in thought, the maid whispered from the side, "Miss, he is the blind date candidate that Miss Qianqian introduced to you last time."

"So it's that bumpkin..."

Qiu Tongdan finally remembered the man, but she felt an inexplicable sense of awkwardness.

Last time she had rejected Li Qianqian, she had mentioned looking for a vacancy in the family business to let the man earn some benefits.

However, once she got busy, she had forgotten all about this matter.

She never expected that this kid would actually become a Blood-Tempering Realm martial artist.

Right now, apart from feeling a bit awkward, Qiu Tongdan had no other thoughts on the matter.

She crumpled the letter into a ball, but then opened her palm again. "Forget it, I'll write a reply later. I'll just give this kid a chance to affiliate with us; whether he comes or not is up to him. It can be considered a favor to Qianqian."

"True geniuses, like Li Jingyang and Qin Huan, those young talents with high aptitude, are the only ones worth recruiting."

"If my Qiu Family wants to grow and prosper, we need these geniuses, not mediocrities..."

"A breathing technique?"

"I never expected that instead of obtaining a breathing technique from the Extreme Seal, I would get one from an outsider first—and from this group of Taoists in the Prosperity Society, no less..."

Shi Wen stared intently at the small booklet.

He reached out to open and browse through it, but he did not expect a block of text to suddenly appear from the Extreme Seal.

[Extremely faint traces of disaster intent detected on the incomplete breathing technique. Evolution Branch 2 is available.]

[Evolution Branch 1: Extremely Incomplete Gen Meridian Breathing Technique: A breathing technique evolved and improved from this manual. It can be used to trigger Blood Explosion and Seal Essence, enhance the density of skin and flesh, increase strength, and simultaneously boost digestive capabilities, granting immunity to all poisons. Every month, you can steal a wisp of extremely weak earth energy from the ground to nourish your physical body! (1 year)]

[Evolution Branch 2: Incomplete Gen Meridian Food-Refining Origin Method: An incomplete origin method that allows the physical body to achieve rebirth and become indestructible through consumption. Everything in the world can be devoured as nourishment. Upon reaching a certain level of consumption, physical mutations will occur. While standing on the ground, you will receive a boost from the earth when your strength is exhausted, but you will also be watched by the Earth Disaster! (700 years)]

[Evolution Branch 3: Incomplete Earth Demon Gen Meridian Delusional Spirit-Infusing Origin Method: An incomplete origin method that can be used to temper the entire body to an immortal and indestructible state. Gluttony, Devouring, Vajra, Heteromorphism, Absolute Hardness, Absolute Digestion. Can trigger volcanic eruptions from the earth's crust and accommodate a tiny portion of the Earth Disaster's origin! (8000 years)]

The evolution time has been shortened!!