That Works

So, for the three of them, the most necessary thing to do right now was to polish their states of mind and temper their flesh and blood so as to match their soaring cultivation levels.

Originally, Wen Xu even felt that it was difficult to reach the Foundation Establishment stage at twenty-five in the Cultivation Realm? According to his current progress, he would be able to reach Foundation Establishment by next year. But now, he no longer thought that way.

The Seventh Layer of Qi Refining was simply because of his epiphany; the Qi Seas in his body that could hold spiritual Qi had become more numerous, not because his state of mind and body had also reached this level.

"Perhaps we should go to Founding Peak and take on a few tasks to do."

Bian Chunchou spoke first. "Yonglu Mountain does indeed have a rule that disciples below Foundation Establishment are not allowed to travel far for training, but small tasks in the surrounding cities can be taken. Many Outer Sect disciples are in the Qi Refining Stage, and their monthly stipends are not large, so they will do tasks in exchange for cultivation resources."

Although Inner Sect disciples had the support of their teachers and elders, many of them also chose to go down the mountain to do short-term tasks to consolidate their cultivation.

Wen Xu thought for a moment. "I think that's feasible. What about you, Chen Zui?"

"I'm fine with it." Chen Zui nodded. "But I prefer tasks where I can get my hands dirty directly." As for using his brain, forget it, it was very annoying.

The three of them quickly reached a consensus. Because Wen Xu's identity was too high-profile, Bian Chunchou and Chen Zui went to Founding Peak to accept the tasks. To be honest, there were very many tasks aimed at the Qi Refining Stage, and most of them were extremely trivial. The majority were tasks that required time to complete, such as feeding Spirit Beasts, opening up spiritual fields, or harvesting low-grade spiritual plants, or simply running errands.

There was no difficulty to them, so the sect contribution points given were also very low.

Bian Chunchou picked for a long time and selected three tasks. One was to go to Yueyu Forest in the east to dig second-grade Moonlight Grass. Moonlight Grass was not difficult to dig, but it only matured at midnight, so they had to race against time to dig the grass. The requirement of the task was to dig a full ten catties, so the three of them together could barely manage to complete the task.

The second task was to help an elder of Pill Peak deliver pills to Listening Crane Manor. Listening Crane Manor was located in the southeast of Langyuan City. Delivering the pills and then going to dig grass was extremely convenient on the way.

As for the last task, it was said that someone in a certain village had become pregnant unexpectedly one after another, and it required Qi Refining Stage disciples to go over first to investigate the situation. If the situation was special, they needed to report back to the sect immediately.

None of the tasks were difficult, so Bian Chunchou accepted them in the name of the three of them.

That Works

"Look at this task. People getting pregnant one after another—what's so strange about that?" Ancient people attached great importance to descendants, and men and women would not deliberately practice contraception, so pregnancy shouldn't be strange either, right? Bian Chunchou had to admit that it was just because he had this damned curiosity that he accepted this task.

Moreover, the time limit for this scouting task was very generous. They could do this task after completing the other two tasks, and if they hadn't finished it, they could also hang the task back on the task wall of Founding Peak.

"Speaking of which, are there any pills like Birth Pills in the Cultivation Realm?"

This question obviously poked at Wen Xu's blind spot in knowledge. During this period, he had touched slightly upon artifact refining and formations, but as for pills—except for Pill Peak sending him some basic pills because he had plucked the Fragrant Elixir King Grass—he basically had no intersections with them, and he was temporarily not interested in alchemy.

"There are." Chen Zui spoke up suddenly.

Bian Chunchou: ...How come when the answer came out of this big silly dog's mouth, it tasted so wrong?

Yet Chen Zui didn't notice his friend's emotional shift at all. "My mother said she only gave birth to me after eating a Birth Pill."

Good grief! Really or fake?

"Your mother was definitely playing you for a fool! If cultivators could get pregnant by eating Birth Pills, then what the hell would be difficult about having descendants!"

Speaking of which, it was no secret that cultivators had a difficult time having descendants. As for the reason, well, it was also very simple. For one thing, cultivators fought against the Heavenly Dao for their lives, seizing the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth to cultivate. They focused on the individual path, and very rarely would anyone form a Dao companion. After all, mortals forming a couple lasted at most a hundred years, and even then there were many couples who couldn't make it work, but in the Cultivation Realm, it was casually a hundred or a thousand years. Once something went wrong with the emotions, a separation of ways was a minor matter, but affecting one's state of mind was the most troublesome thing. Therefore, whether male cultivators or female cultivators, unless they had reproductive cancer and a brain full of romance, they would all choose to remain single.

Even if there were cultivators who enjoyed passion and lust, most of them went for the physical sensation rather than the heart.

Secondly, there was the Heavenly Dao's restriction on cultivators. When a cultivator combined with another cultivator, it was simply very difficult to have children, but once they reproduced, there was a high probability that they would give birth to children with Spiritual Roots. That was why certain cultivation aristocratic clans came about. Talented descendants focused on individual cultivation, growing up to protect the lineage, while descendants without much talent but with Spiritual Roots arranged extensive marriage alliances; as long as the base was large enough, they would always produce offspring.

"Speaking of which, you always mention your mother. Is your mother also a cultivator?"

Chen Zui nodded. "Mn, my mother is very formidable. She can catch my saber with a single finger." It was a pity that his mother was unwilling to teach him cultivation and even drove him out of the household. Chen Zui felt a little sad; he hadn't seen his mother for a long time.

"Wow, that formidable? Then she was definitely playing you for a fool."

"I knew it!" Chen Zui voiced his indignation. "I'm going to cultivate hard. When I achieve success in my studies, I'll be able to beat my mother."

Bian Chunchou encouraged him, "Good ambition! I'm optimistic about you, Chen Zui-Zui. Speaking of which, you're the only one among the three of us who has living relatives and elders, eh."

Chen Zui looked at his two friends. "You guys don't have mothers?"

"Nope. In my memories there's only my birth father; I've never even seen what my mother looks like." Bian Chunchou searched his own memories, confirming the non-existence of a person called a mother. He hadn't even seen a grave, and perhaps when he reached the Golden Core Stage and could travel around for training, he could make a detour to the Rogue Cultivator Alliance side to inquire about things, by the way sweeping the grave for his cheap old man.

Chen Zui looked at Wen Xu, but Wen Xu hesitated for a moment before speaking, "My adoptive father passed away three years ago. I was adopted." But his master told him last time that his blood relatives should still be in this world.

Hearing this, Chen Zui immediately spoke up with great magnanimity, "If you guys want a mother, I can introduce my mother to you."

...You brat, I really admire you. How could a mother be given away just like that? No wonder your mother wanted to beat you up without provocation.