168: Chapter 168 Marriage

Zhao Chengfang stood on the stage, her gaze sweeping meaningfully over you female Cultivators.

"If any female Guest Elders are interested, you may form a Dao Companion bond with an eligible male Disciple of the Zhao Family. There are many male Disciples in the Zhao Family, and among them are many with outstanding talent. After the marriage, you will be entitled to thirty percent of the resources enjoyed by direct descendants. This is a shortcut; there is no need to mince words."

A commotion rippled through the crowd below. Many female Cultivators lowered their heads to whisper to one another, and some wore expressions of temptation.

Jiang Xuechan whispered beside you, "Thirty percent of the direct descendant resources... doesn't that mean you wouldn't have to do anything at all, just Cultivate?"

You turned your head to look at her.

She immediately waved her hands. "I was just saying! Just saying!"

You listened, smiling on the surface, while your mind was on other matters.

It was also during this period that the frequency of Zhao Family members visiting the Guest Elder area increased sharply.

Nominally, they were here for "inspections" or "assessments," but in reality, you noticed they were almost exclusively young male Disciples. Upon arriving, they would first stroll around the plaza, their gazes roaming over the female Guest Elders. The bolder ones would even walk up to strike up a conversation directly.

Soon, half a month passed, and the atmosphere in the courtyard underwent a subtle change.

Jiang Xuechan became increasingly fond of dressing up, lingering in the plaza for a long time after class every day. A few days ago, she excitedly told you and Liu Ya that she had hooked up with a collateral Zhao Family Disciple named "Zhao Qi," who had a cultivation base at the sixth layer of Qi Refining.

"Brother Qi said that once this period is over, he will go to the External Affairs Hall to apply to have me transferred to work under him," Jiang Xuechan said, her chin slightly raised, her eyes filled with boastfulness.

Liu Ya, on the other hand, became increasingly silent. Every day, besides attending classes, she would lock herself in her room to stubbornly grind away at that middle-grade wood-element Cultivation Technique, but limited by her inferior Spiritual Root, her progress was negligible.

As for you, over the past half month, you had a constant stream of Zhao Family Disciples who fancied themselves dashing coming to strike up conversations with you.

You politely declined them all with a smile. Your attitude was impeccable, yet you kept everyone at arm's length.

You had lost count of how many male Zhao Family members you had turned down. After all, you only came here to leech off the Zhao Family's Spiritual Vein; they actually wanted you to bear their children—what a joke!

Fortunately, nothing coercive happened. When the Zhao Family members were rejected by you, they just awkwardly walked away.

Clearly, when it came to upbringing, the Zhao Family was superior to that certain person surnamed Meng.

Over the next few days, Zhao Chengfang not only taught theory but also invited two "success stories" to provide real-life examples.

One was a Loose Cultivator who had married into the Zhao Family eight years ago. He was now at the seventh layer of Qi Refining and was responsible for managing a spirit mine, speaking of the Zhao Family with deep gratitude. The other was a female Cultivator who had married a collateral Zhao Family Disciple. She was at the fifth layer of Qi Refining, wearing robes that were clearly of magical garment quality, and on her wrist was a high-quality spirit accessory. She looked absolutely radiant.

The two took turns on stage sharing their "experience," which was nothing more than how generous and fair the Zhao Family was, and how much better life became after marrying into the Zhao Family.

A month passed very quickly.

On the day the training ended, Zhao Chengfang announced in the final class, "From tomorrow on, you are official Guest Elders. The Mission Hall is on the second floor of the Contribution Pavilion. It is open all day; you may pick up tasks yourself, but act according to your own abilities."

"Also, don't die out there. The Zhao Family spent a month training you to create value for the Family, not for you to go out and throw your lives away."

This statement sounded somewhat cruel, but it was the truth.

She swept a blank gaze over the crowd and then turned and left.

Early the morning after the training ended, you, Jiang Xuechan, and Liu Ya headed to the second floor of the Contribution Pavilion together.

The Mission Hall was much more spacious than the first floor. A huge wooden mission board was embedded in the front wall, its surface covered with a thin layer of pale blue Spiritual Qi, and it was densely packed with various mission cards.

At this time, many Guest Elders were already picking out various tasks.

The three of you approached and began to browse one by one.

The mission cards were divided into four Ranks by color: white was the lowest, followed by green, blue, and purple. The darker the color, the higher the difficulty, and the more generous the corresponding contribution points.

White tasks were the most numerous, taking up more than half of the wall.

"Spirit Field Care: Responsible for the daily maintenance, watering, pest control, and recording of growth cycles for the No. 3 spirit field in the East District. Duration: One month. Contribution: 2 points."

"Miscellaneous Duty Rotation: Assist the Internal Affairs Hall in organizing the warehouse and transporting supplies. Duration: Half a month. Contribution: 1.5 points."

"Patrol Duty: Night patrol of the perimeter of the Guest Elder area, in groups of two. Duration: One month (rotating every three days). Contribution: 2 points."

Green tasks were fewer, and the difficulty was clearly a step up.

"Spirit Beast Feeding: Responsible for the daily feeding and cleaning of low-Rank Spirit Beasts in the Zhao Family's beast sheds. Duration: One month. Contribution: 5 points. Requirement: Qi Refining Layer 1 or above."

"Perimeter Herb Gathering: Head to the mountains and forests around Qingyang Lake to collect designated Spiritual Plants. Must complete at least ten. Duration: Half a month. Contribution: 3 points. Risk Warning: Low-Rank Yao Beasts occasionally appear in the perimeter."

You only caught sight of two or three blue tasks. One was labeled "Herb Gathering in the Inner Ten Thousand Mountains," with a contribution mark of 50 points, but the risk level was marked as "High Risk," requiring at least the Late Stage of Qi Refining and a team of at least five people.

There was only one purple task hanging, which read: "Bounty: Hunt the Rank 1 Perfection Yao Beast, Red-Scaled Python. Contribution: 500 points," but it was crossed out with a red line and marked "Temporarily Suspended."

After looking for a long time, Jiang Xuechan turned back to you and said, "I think Spirit Field Care is best for us. It's safe and we don't have to go out. Two points a month is a bit low, but Brother Qi said that the Spiritual Qi near the spirit fields is quite dense, so we can Cultivate while working."

You noticed a flash of red on her face.

Liu Ya nodded and said softly, "I also think the spirit fields are... safer."

Both of them looked at you, waiting for your response.

Your gaze did not linger on the Spirit Field Care task.

You were looking at the green "Spirit Beast Feeding" task.

Five contribution points a month; this number was two and a half times that of the spirit fields. What did five contribution points mean in the exchange list? Fifty sheets of Talisman paper plus a bottle of spirit ink, or two and a half bottles of spirit gathering pill. With the support of these resources, if your Talisman-making success rate improved a bit more, the Materials converted from five contribution points would be enough for you to craft ten to fifteen finished Fireball Talismans. Selling them would in turn allow you to exchange for five to eight Spirit Stones.

This was a visible positive cycle; at the very least, you wouldn't be losing money. As long as you weren't losing money, you could mass-produce Talismans. Once your skills became even higher, you could earn Spirit Stones through the Talisman Dao.

And five contribution points was a relatively high reward for a green task.

You knew very well why the reward was so high.

Yao Beasts were, after all, Yao Beasts. Even if kept in captivity, the ferocity in their bones remained. Moreover, some Yao Beasts had terrible tempers; when they went berserk, they often injured the Guest Elders cleaning the beast sheds. For a Cultivator at the Aperture Opening stage, this task posed a real threat to life, and even for those at the Qi Refining stage, there was significant risk.

"Sister Emperor Shuang Wan, you aren't looking at that Spirit Beast Garden task, are you?" Jiang Xuechan followed your gaze and was startled. "Brother Qi said that task must never be accepted. Last month, a Guest Elder at the first layer of Qi Refining went to clean the beast shed and had three ribs broken by a single swipe of a Red-Armored Beast's claw. They almost lost their life!"

Liu Ya's face also paled, and she whispered, "That's right, Sister Emperor Shuang Wan, let's just farm instead."