1: Chapter 1 Wedding Invitation and the Black Gourd

"Old Man Qi, the Sect is giving you a wife!"

Outer Sect Deacon Wang Hu kicked open the withered wooden door of the Outer Sect Herb Garden, and with a mocking expression, slapped a bright red wedding invitation onto the stone table.

"The daughter of the Luoxia Sect Master, eighteen years of age, is crossing the threshold tomorrow."

Qi Yang was weeding a stalk of spirit rice. Hearing this, he straightened his stooped back, his full head of white hair fluttering in the wind.

"Deacon Wang, please do not make fun of this old man."

Qi Yang wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his mud-stained hand and coughed violently twice.

"This old man is one hundred years old this year, at the Qi Condensation Third Layer, with half my body already in the grave. How could I have the blessing to marry any Sect Master's daughter?"

Wang Hu sneered: "Who is joking with you?"

He stepped closer and lowered his voice.

"The Luoxia Sect wants to cling to our Xuantian Sect's coattails and sent that precious darling over for a political marriage, but how could the higher-ups ever look favorably upon such a bumpkin School?"

"Directly sending them away would make us seem heartless."

Wang Hu pointed at Qi Yang's shriveled chest.

"Look, after the Elders put their heads together, they decided that throughout the entire Sect, you with your Mixed Spiritual Roots are the most useless. Matching you with her will completely cut off the Luoxia Sect's illusions!"

Qi Yang lowered his eyelids, a flash of mockery passing through the depths of his eyes, but on the surface, he hunched over with fearful trepidation.

"This... How can this be! This old man's old bones only have twenty years of Lifespan left, isn't this ruining the girl?"

His withered hands trembled slightly, as if he had truly been frightened out of his wits.

"Ruining? She brought this upon herself!"

Wang Hu waved his hand impatiently.

"Alright, the notification has been delivered."

His eyes rolled, and his gaze fell upon the Storage Pouch at Qi Yang's waist.

"However, since the Sect has issued you such a great benefit, this Deacon will collect your Spirit Stones and rain Talismans for this month on your behalf as a wedding gift."

Qi Yang's Adam's apple bobbed, his shriveled lips moved a few times, and in the end, he said nothing.

He slowly untied the Storage Pouch and poured out three Low-Grade Spirit Stones and two crumpled Talismans.

"Deacon Wang has gone to the trouble, please take this meager gift as treating Deacon to tea."

Wang Hu snatched the Spirit Stones and weighed them twice in his hand.

"Consider yourself a sensible old thing."

He let out a scoff, turned around, and swaggered out of the Outer Sect Herb Garden.

"Clean up properly tomorrow, and don't disgrace the Xuantian Sect!"

The withered wooden door creaked in the wind.

Qi Yang stood quietly in place, and until Wang Hu's figure completely disappeared at the end of the mountain path, his originally stooped spine straightened bit by bit.

"The daughter of the Luoxia Sect Master?"

Qi Yang picked up the bright red wedding invitation on the table, rubbed his fingertips lightly, and the invitation turned into a puff of powder, scattering with the wind into the spirit field.

He had been in this Cultivation World for a full hundred years since his Transmigration.

In his past life as a corporate slave on Blue Star, he died suddenly at his workstation after working thirty-six hours of continuous overtime. He originally thought that living another life would allow him to ride the wind on swords and attain eternal life like in novels, only to test into the most trashy Mixed Spiritual Roots.

With all five elemental Spiritual Roots complete, his speed of absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was slower than a snail.

Without a heaven-defying Opportunity, his life would stop forever at the Qi Refining Stage, and his Lifespan would not exceed two hundred years.

Qi Yang did not want to die; he yearned to live far too much.

In this Outer Sect Herb Garden of the Xuantian Sect, he had survived like an invisible person for ninety years, farming, weeding, and watering every day.

Facing difficulties from anyone, he always greeted them with a smile and humbled himself.

"Soon."

Qi Yang turned and walked into the dilapidated thatched cottage, locking the wooden door behind him.

"As long as I survive for another ten years and gather enough resources, I might not be unable to reach Foundation Establishment."

Qi Yang walked over to the bed, lifted the tattered futon, and pressed a loose cyan brick.

The ground slid open silently, revealing a narrow stone staircase leading underground.

Qi Yang walked down the stone steps into the underground depths of ten zhang.

This place was a world of its own, shockingly a secret chamber arranged with a strictly isolating Formation.

In the center of the secret chamber, a bronze stone table was placed.

Qi Yang sat down cross-legged, flipped his hand, and a pitch-black black gourd whose surface was covered with profound spiritual patterns appeared in his palm.

This black gourd was accidentally discovered by Qi Yang a month ago while weeding the spirit field.

Within a month, Qi Yang figured out its uses.

It could automatically absorb the starlight of the sun and moon. Every three days, a drop of emerald-green mysterious liquid would condense at the bottom of the gourd.

Qi Yang carefully pulled out the gourd stopper, and a wisp of pure, fresh vegetation fragrance permeated the air.

Afterwards, he took out a small purple grass with only two leaves from the depths of his Storage Pouch.

Ten-year-old purple grass, the cheapest low-grade Spirit Medicine in the Cultivation World, used to refine Qi Gathering Pills for the Qi Refining Stage.

Drip.

A drop of green liquid slid from the mouth of the gourd, precisely dripping onto the roots of the small purple grass.

A miracle happened.

The stem of the small purple grass grew taller at a speed visible to the naked eye, its leaves rapidly splitting from two.

Four leaves, eight leaves, sixteen leaves!

The originally dim purple transformed into a deep purple flowing with a crystalline luster, and golden threads even faintly swam within the leaf veins.

In a mere ten breaths, an ordinary ten-year-old small purple grass was forcibly ripened into a hundred-year-old Top-Grade Purple Gold Grass!

If taken to the market to be auctioned, it could sell for at least over a hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones, equivalent to Qi Yang's fixed salary of three years.

"So what about having Mixed Spiritual Roots?"

Qi Yang packed the Top-Grade Purple Gold Grass into a jade box, his eyes flashing.

"If talent is not enough, resources will make up for it. As long as no one discovers my secret, I can forcibly pile up a Foundation Establishment Stage using Top-Grade Spirit Medicine!"

He kept the black gourd close to his body and returned to the ground once again.

Night fell, and outside the Outer Sect Herb Garden was a dead silence. Qi Yang lay on the hard wooden bed, closing his eyes to rest and recuperate.

The next morning, before the thin mist had dispersed, a harsh sound of suona horns broke the tranquility of the Outer Sect Herb Garden.

"Welcoming the bride..."

Qi Yang pushed open the door and saw a team of Cultivators dressed in red carrying a bridal sedan chair stopping outside the fence.

There were no guests, no red carpets, and not even an Elder to preside over the wedding.

The curtain of the bridal sedan chair was abruptly yanked open by a hand as white as jade, and a young girl dressed in bright red wedding attire walked out.

She had bright eyes and white teeth, and her skin surpassed snow.

But at this moment, her beautiful phoenix-like eyes were filled with bloodshot veins and bone-chilling coldness.

Su Qinghan stared fixedly at Qi Yang, who was standing on the threshold.

Looking at the wrinkles all over his face.

Looking at his sparse white hair.

Looking at his stooped body that seemed as though it would collapse with a single gust of wind.

Clang!

A crisp sword chime rang out.

Su Qinghan drew the long sword at her waist, the tip of the sword pointing directly at Qi Yang's throat, the Sword Qi tearing through the morning mist.

"You are that old good-for-nothing who wants to marry me?"

The sword light was bone-chilling, pressing straight toward his throat.

Qi Yang's pupils shrank abruptly, and then he immediately hunched his back further, coughing violently.

"Cough, cough, cough... This Fairy, this old man... this old man also had no choice in the matter!"

He hugged his head with both hands, retreating repeatedly in fright.

"Qinghan, stop!"

An old man in gray robes walked out from behind the bridal sedan chair.

The Grand Elder of the Luoxia Sect, Li Changgeng.

He pressed down on Su Qinghan's wrist holding the sword, his face ashen.

"This is the territory of the Xuantian Sect, do you want to get the entire Luoxia Sect killed!"

Su Qinghan's fingernails dug into her palms, and fresh blood dripped down the gaps between her fingers.

"Elder Li, their Xuantian Sect is going too far!"

She bit down hard on her back molars, her voice trembling: "I, Su Qinghan, reached the Qi Condensation 5th Layer at eighteen years old, and who in the Sect does not praise me as a Genius? Yet they actually made me marry a hundred-year-old with Mixed Spiritual Roots!"

"That is the Sect Master's decision."

Li Changgeng's gaze was gloomy and fierce.

He turned his head to look at Qi Yang, who had collapsed onto the ground, as if looking at a puddle of nauseating mud.

"Old thing, consider yourself lucky."

Li Changgeng took a shriveled Storage Pouch from his sleeve and threw it at Qi Yang's feet like throwing trash.

"There are fifty Low-Grade Spirit Stones inside here, considered as the settlement fee given to you by the Luoxia Sect."

Qi Yang picked up the Storage Pouch with trembling hands.

"Many thanks for the Elder's reward! Many thanks for the Elder's reward!"

He smiled so hard that the wrinkles on his face bunched together, looking precisely like a money-grubbing market-town old farmer.

"Don't be happy too soon."

Li Changgeng looked down at him condescendingly.

"Marrying my Young Miss is the blessing of you old good-for-nothing, but if you dare to have any inappropriate thoughts about her, even if this old man risks punishment from the Xuantian Sect, I will pull out your soul and refine your bones!"

He released a trace of pressure from the Qi Refining Ninth Layer.

Qi Yang's body trembled slightly, his head lowered.

"I wouldn't dare! This old man absolutely wouldn't dare!"

However, no one saw that those eyes held no fear at all, only a patch of tranquility.

Fifty Low-Grade Spirit Stones?

Any hundred-year Spirit Medicine casually taken from his underground secret chamber was ten times more valuable than this. Did this old fellow really think he could manipulate him?

Li Changgeng let out a cold snort and turned to leave. The wedding-escort team also quickly retreated as if avoiding a plague god.

At the entrance of the massive Outer Sect Herb Garden, only Su Qinghan, wearing wedding attire, and Qi Yang, covered in mud, were left.

Su Qinghan put away her long sword, without even glancing at Qi Yang, her voice as cold as frost.

"That annex room on the west side belongs to me. From now on, you farm your land, and I cultivate my Dao; if you dare to step half a step into the west room, I will definitely kill you."

"Understood."

Qi Yang patted the dust off his body and obediently cleared the way.

Watching Su Qinghan straighten her spine as she walked into the annex room and slammed the door shut with a bang, Qi Yang revealed a faint smile.

Non-interference?

That couldn't be better.

Qi Yang hoisted his hoe onto his shoulder and leisurely walked toward the spirit field in the backyard.