High Ridge Mountain spanned several hundred miles, with many fertile basins nestled among its steep cliffs.
The Bai Family settled all the mortals of its lineage in these fertile basins, where they lived and raised their families.
Demon beasts and venomous insects ran rampant in the Cloudmist Mountains. The natural environment was far harsher than in the nations of the Western Wasteland, and mortals could hardly take a single step here. Without cultivators to protect them, venomous insects and demon beasts would soon devour them completely.
The Bai Family's mortals were no exception. They could only live and raise their families within the formations laid down by cultivators.
With formations protecting them and cultivators standing guard, venomous insects and demon beasts naturally could not harm them.
Of course, while the formations protected them, they also limited where they could go.
They could only spend their entire lives within those palm-sized patches of land.
Only if they were found to possess a spirit root after turning twelve could they leave this cage and see the wider world beyond.
Once the mortals of High Ridge Mountain reached adulthood, cultivators arranged for them to marry mortals from other regions and have children.
For these mortals, if their lineage produced a cultivator with a spirit root, that cultivator's support would greatly elevate the entire lineage's standing among the mortal population.
Whether someone possessed a spirit root was like drawing a winning lottery ticket. To increase their chances of winning, mortals had many children.
After all, with a cultivation family supporting them, no matter how many children they had, they would at worst have a harder life. They would not starve to death.
On the first day of every new year.
The Bai Family's cultivators would descend upon the mortal settlements throughout High Ridge Mountain