The Five Great Families of Jinxiu City

As Luo Mu piloted the flying artifact, Qu Yi did all the talking while Luo Mu listened, occasionally interjecting with questions. Qu Yi answered everything without hesitation, allowing Luo Mu to gain a solid understanding of Jinxiu Academy in a short amount of time.

Jinxiu Academy consisted of eight departments: the Five Elements Arts Department, which comprised the Metal Element Arts, Wood Element Arts, Water Element Arts, Fire Element Arts, and Earth Element Arts. Beyond those were the Artifact Refining Department that Qu Yi studied, the Alchemy Department that Luo Mu had some knowledge of, and finally, the most money-burning discipline of all: the Talisman Making Department.

The Wanfa Sect was, as the name implied, a sect primarily focused on arts and spells. Since Jinxiu Academy was an institution under the Wanfa Sect, its flagship curriculum was naturally the Five Elements Arts.

The Five Elements Arts boasted high attack power and destructive potential. As the primary cultivation path of the Wanfa Sect, it offered an endless array of techniques for every attribute, leading most cultivators who enrolled in Jinxiu Academy to choose the Arts Department.

In contrast, the Artifact Refining, Alchemy, and Talisman Making departments were relatively niche. Under normal circumstances, those who majored in these three professions were no match for students of the Arts Department; their combat power simply wasn't in the same league. Consequently, cultivators who chose these paths were usually not the competitive or aggressive type; their minds were set firmly on spirit stones.

While practitioners of these three professions consumed a significant amount of spirit stones during their early stages, once they achieved mastery, the returns on their investment would multiply exponentially.

Take Qu Yi, for example. Despite his current state of poverty—where he couldn't even afford materials for artifact refining—once he weathered these difficult early days, his genuine talent for the craft would ensure a comfortable future. He would undoubtedly become a target for recruitment by major cultivation families.

When that time came, wouldn't spirit stones come rolling in?

The same logic applied to alchemy and talisman making. Once the initial hurdle was cleared, these practitioners became highly sought after—far more so than those from the Arts Department. Within Jinxiu Academy, the institution placed a much higher value on students who showed talent in these three professions than on those in the Arts Department.

After all, the Wanfa Sect required talent in these three fields as well.

However, making a name for oneself in these professions was no easy feat. Talent was crucial, followed by personal effort; one could not succeed without both.

As for arrays, puppets, and soul-attachment, Jinxiu Academy did not delve into these areas. After all, the Wanfa Sect was founded upon the mastery of arts; establishing the Artifact Refining, Alchemy, and Talisman Making departments in the academy was already a stretch, as finding qualified instructors for these three fields was incredibly difficult.

Anyone capable of being called an instructor in these professions would have already achieved significant success. Would such a person have any shortage of spirit stones? Who would bother coming to an academy to serve as an instructor? Thus, it was truly difficult for the academy to recruit them.

From the information Qu Yi provided, Luo Mu deduced a principle: the more niche a profession, the more considerable the rewards once one reached a certain level of mastery.

Luo Mu possessed the Insect Control Technique, so he would certainly walk the path of an insect master, which necessitated the large-scale raising of spirit insects. However, the number of spirit stones required to raise insects in such quantities was terrifying. Where would Luo Mu get so many stones? Without them, even if his Insect Control Technique was miraculous and he didn't have to worry about the hatching or bonding of the insects, what would they eat?

Although the spirit insects currently in Luo Mu's possession could forage for themselves, their growth rate was far too slow. At this pace, he had no idea when they would ever be of any real use.

But with spirit stones, everything would change. With them, Luo Mu could discover numerous ways to accelerate the cultivation of his insects, purchasing large quantities of beneficial food to make them grow at double the speed.

Therefore, earning a massive amount of spirit stones had become Luo Mu's primary goal.

Having studied medicine since childhood, Luo Mu had a deep understanding of herbs and was well-versed in concocting his own medicines; he possessed considerable talent in this area. Aside from his main cultivation technique, Luo Mu had another objective for heading to Jinxiu Academy: he was coming for the art of alchemy.

If he could achieve even a modest level of success in alchemy, he could temporarily alleviate his spirit stone problem. He had previously obtained a copy of Basic Alchemy from Bai Shu, but he had been unable to fully grasp its contents.

Although Luo Mu's talent for medicine was astonishing, alchemy was not ordinary medicine; the two could not be mentioned in the same breath. Without guidance, there were many bottlenecks and doubts in alchemy that Luo Mu could not overcome, but with an instructor's explanation, it would be a different story.

A master leads you to the door, but the cultivation depends on the individual. Luo Mu believed that as long as someone could lead him through the door of alchemy, he would surely be able to achieve something great in the field.

Furthermore, Luo Mu was different from ordinary cultivators; his dantian did not contain ordinary spirit power, but rather Poison Spirit Power. For him, the academy's Five Elements Arts Department was as useless as a chicken rib. Since he lacked the Five Elements constitution, he would never make anything of himself by practicing those arts.

Therefore, Luo Mu would not choose the Five Elements Arts Department. As for his own cultivation technique, he would spend time searching for one later; the academy was vast, and he didn't believe he couldn't find a technique suited to him.

Perhaps a technique that other students considered a "chicken rib" would be a top-tier, once-in-a-lifetime treasure for Luo Mu.

Having learned almost everything he needed to know about Jinxiu Academy from Qu Yi, Luo Mu made a secret decision.

Upon arriving at Jinxiu Academy, he would enroll in the niche Alchemy Department. He could use the spirit pills he refined to trade for spirit stones to feed his insects, while the poisons he concocted could be used to enhance his own cultivation.

For Luo Mu, this was a win-win situation.

Throughout the journey, Luo Mu not only learned a great deal about the academy but also inquired about the powers within Jinxiu City. In particular, he asked Qu Yi specifically about the Bai Family.

He learned that Qu Yi had been studying at the academy for a year and knew the city well, which was why Luo Mu had brought it up.

The result did not disappoint him. Qu Yi was not only knowledgeable about the various factions in Jinxiu City, but he also knew quite a bit about the Bai Family.

There were five major powers in Jinxiu City, and to the residents living there, these names were like thunder in their ears. The Bai Family was, quite prominently, one of them.

Besides the Bai Family, the other major cultivation families were the Li Family, the Lu Family, the Hai Family, and the Yang Family. These five families had carved up the vast Jinxiu City among themselves.

Jinxiu City was divided into four districts—East, West, South, and North. The Bai Family controlled the East, the Li Family controlled the West, the Lu Family controlled the South, and the Hai Family controlled the North. As for the Yang Family, they controlled the entire city.

The current head of the Yang Family was the City Lord of Jinxiu City. It was rumored that his cultivation had reached the terrifying Foundation Establishment Realm. As for the specific level within that realm, no one knew for sure, though there were many guesses.

The Yang Family was the official power appointed by the Wanfa Sect in Jinxiu City. While the other four families were powerful, they dared not touch the Yang Family, as doing so would mean opposing the entire Wanfa Sect—a mistake that could lead to the total annihilation of their clans. None of the four families dared to challenge the Yang Family's authority in the city.

Furthermore, every year, the four families paid tribute to the Yang Family, which in turn was meant to be offered to the Wanfa Sect. Whether the Yang Family actually handed over the full amount of these precious tributes to the sect, however, remained a mystery.

The Yang Family was located in the center of Jinxiu City, not far from Jinxiu Academy. The family had served the Wanfa Sect for generations, their primary duty being to protect the academy from any threats and ensure its enduring prosperity.

Because Jinxiu Academy was one of the institutions that injected "fresh blood" into the Wanfa Sect, it could not afford any mishaps. By comparison, in the eyes of the Wanfa Sect's high-level officials, the academy was far more important than the Yang Family.

The four major families existed to assist the Yang Family; otherwise, they would have been wiped out by the Wanfa Sect long ago, never having had the chance to grow so powerful.

In Jinxiu City, the Yang Family and Jinxiu Academy were untouchable. However, aside from these two powers, the disciples of the four major families could walk sideways through the city, and no one dared to provoke them.

Especially in the districts they controlled, they were the absolute local tyrants.

There had been many cultivators who, relying on their own decent cultivation, offended the four families. Within days, these cultivators would become ghosts under the families' hands. The families would then pin various crimes on them, labeling them as unforgivable villains who deserved their deaths. Although many knew the truth, they dared not speak out due to the families' overwhelming power. This showed just how tyrannical the four families were in Jinxiu City.

But this was nothing; the cultivation world was a place where the strong preyed on the weak. If they had the strength, they had the capital to be arrogant. If you weren't convinced, you were free to challenge them. As for who would emerge victorious, that depended on one's own ability.

Yet, the four families had existed in Jinxiu City for so many years, and no cultivator or faction had ever managed to topple them, which spoke volumes about their terrifying strength.

Hearing this, Luo Mu's brow furrowed into a "chuan" shape. If his guess was correct, the Bai Shu he had killed that day must have been a member of the Bai Family. Otherwise, he couldn't imagine any other Bai disciple in Jinxiu City who could be as wealthy as Bai Shu, possessing so many mid-grade artifacts.

Though his inner doubts were resolved, Luo Mu was now worried. The Bai Family was so powerful that this was certainly not good news for him. If they ever discovered that he was the murderer of Bai Shu, he would be in deep trouble.

There were no airtight walls in this world. Luo Mu felt he needed to be cautious to avoid ending up without even a corpse left behind.

In truth, what Luo Mu did not know was that Bai Lin, who had been hell-bent on killing him, was also a member of the Bai Family in Jinxiu City, and Bai Lin's status in the family was even higher than Bai Shu's. Since Luo Mu didn't know Bai Lin's name, he naturally hadn't factored him into the equation.

Since Luo Mu was going to enroll in Jinxiu Academy, it was only a matter of time before the two met. Luo Mu even planned to inquire about this person as soon as he arrived at the academy. It was just unclear what his mood would be, or what he would do, once he discovered Bai Lin's identity.