Kun City was located in the southwest. Even during Winter, the plants in the forest would only turn into a slightly darker shade without dropping much leaves.
However, the air in the forest would become extremely cold, with less people willing to travel during such a time.
Of course, a cultivator would not care much about this cold air.
Qin Feng casually strolled along the fringes of Qifeng Mountain.
He never went deep into the forest, therefore would hardly encounter any dangerous situations. Even if he did encounter some beasts, it would be easy for him to handle these regular beasts with his cultivation at the third level of Qi Refinement Stage.
Furthermore, he had a Heaven Swallowing Toad by his side.
Croak, croak, croak…
A few frog croaks came out from the forest. With a flash, the toad jumped out from the deeper parts of the forest and landed on Qin Feng’s shoulder.
In the past few months, Qin Feng had sent it into the mountain to forage for food.
With the toad having strength equivalent to a late-stage Qi Refinement Stage cultivator, it was almost free from danger staying on the outer fringes of Qifeng Mountain. Qi Feng was also following behind the toad in search of some rare spiritual herbs in the forest. He would even occasionally run into some spiritual trees.
He had tried to transplant those spiritual trees into the Demon Refinement Kettle. However, the kettle had not a shred of spiritual energy and was unable to keep those trees alive. Instead, it would drain all the spiritual energy from the tree.
During those times, the toad had managed to hunt down several demon beasts. After they were refined by Qin Feng’s Demon Refinement Kettle, it helped him improve his cultivation a little more.
“We should head back.”
Qin Feng took a look at the sky, then held the toad’s cool body in his head. With a gentle laugh, he turned around and departed.
That was the day for the family to pick their child to fight for the spot. Although the patriarch had already reserved a spot for him after he showed his strength to be at the third level of Qi Refinement Stage which allowed him to skip the tournament, he had to return home to prepare his things.
After all, once the tournament ended, they would head towards the county city and follow the external elder from the Beastmaster Sect that was tasked to recruit disciples in Tieling County City back to the sect.
His father would have a lot of things to tell him.
Although he had said what was needed, he was the only son that he had painstakingly brought up. There would be a lot of reluctance when it was the time to part ways.
…
At the Qin family ancestral shrine, Patriarch Qin Guanpao was personally conducting the offering ceremony.
As the clansmen finished offering their respects to their ancestors, the patriarch finally looked at the crowd and announced, “It’s come to the year to send our children to join the Beastmaster Sect for training.
“Our Qin family is a small one and does not have many allocations for joining the sect. At the same time, we dare not to send too many of our people to the Beastmaster Sect as well. Leaving the inability to provide for them, it would leave a generation of gap in our family’s cultivators. That is why our ancestors made the rule to at most send two cultivators into the Beastmaster Sect for training for each generation.
“Of course, the world is unpredictable and fortune always comes along with misfortune. Entering the Beastmaster Sect can be their fortuitous encounter and at the same time be the source of their misfortune.
“Not only is the world of cultivators a cruel one, the outer circle of the Beastmaster Sect is also extremely competitive, making it potentially fatal with the slightest of mistakes.
“The two child we sent to the sect twenty years ago did not survive and died during a mission a few years after they joined. That’s also the real reason why our family does not dare to send too many disciples to join the sect.”
Qin Guanpao sighed, obviously pained by the death of those two juniors.
After that, he thought those words may demotivate the clansmen, especially when that was the day they were sending two juniors to the sect. In order not to scare them, he quickly added, “However, you guys don’t have to worry. As long as they are careful and not risk doing something beyond their ability, they would be mostly safe. Just like Qin Long and I, we encountered our chance to Foundation Establishment Stage within the sect.”
After salvaging the situation, he finally waved at Qin Feng and the other young girl around 15 years old.
Both of them dared not delay and quickly walked forward.
They were the exceptional disciples chosen by the Qin family for this term.
Qin Feng was a given. With his cultivation level at the third level of Qi Refinement Stage, no other youngsters could compete with him. With that, he was given the spot to join the Beastmaster Sect without needing to compete with others.
Meanwhile, that girl was Qin Xi. She was from the branch family with both her parents being average folks. However, her bone structure was extraordinary. Along with her hard work, she managed to open up her meridians at just 14 years old and achieved spiritual awakening, becoming a cultivator. Only then she was sent to the ancestral home and was taught her cultivation method by the elders of the family.
Following that, she managed to advance to the second level of Qi Refinement Stage, clearing all obstacles before her, taking the spot from another young man of the same generation by brute force.
Qin Guanpao looked at the two youngsters who carried a hint of naivety and nodded gratefully. “Thinking back, I joined the Beastmaster Sect when I was about your age. Time really flies. Over a century passed in the blink of an eye. I’m already one hundred and sixty seven this year and won’t be able to protect our family for much longer.
“The future of our family will depend on you youngsters. The family will provide you with some resources after joining the Beastmaster Sect to help ease your journey in the sect.
“However, you can’t depend solely on the resources provided by the family for your cultivation. You need to find your own fortuitous encounters within the sect. Otherwise, you might not go far in your cultivation path.
“Apart from that, you’re both cultivators from our Qin family. You must remember to support each other. Our Qin family’s foundation in the sect is not strong. If you don’t work together, it would only make your journey more difficult.”
Qin Feng replied, “Patriarch, please don’t worry. We’ll definitely cultivate diligently and help each other along. We won’t let the family down.”
Next to him, the girl Qin Xi nodded along with a determined expression.
However, she was an introvert and her background led to her being unfamiliar with the clansmen at their ancestral home, leading to her quietness.
Qin Guanpao took two storage bags from the tray a clansman was holding, passing one to each of them. “Within this are some resources from the family. From now on, we will have someone send you some resources every year. If you need anything, you can pass the message via the chamber of commerce under the Beastmaster Sect. Our family has connections with the chamber of commerce in the county city and would receive your letters from them.
Also, the resources from the family would not be limitless. In ten years, you should have adapted to the cultivation life within the Beastmaster Sect. By then, you will have to depend on yourselves.”
With that, Qin Guanpao shifted his gaze to Qin Feng and said, “Now, Qin Ying is the only member of our family that is still in the Beastmaster Sect. He’s of the same generation as your father, your clan uncle. At the moment, he’s working for the outer circle of the Beastmaster Sect at Spiritual Vulture Peak.
“Once you’re entered the sect, go pay him a visit. He’ll take care of you. He would also guide you on some of the things in the sect. This will help you avoid unnecessary mistakes.”
“Yes, Patriarch. We will remember this,” both of them answered together.
It was a good thing to have clansmen covering for them in the sect. In fact, that was one of the Qin family’s norms.
Under normal circumstances, unless an accident happened, the Qin family clansmen would stay a few extra years in the sect to take care of the next group of junior clansmen joining the sect even if they had no chance to achieve the Foundation Establishment Stage. Only after these juniors in the sect had settled in would they consider returning to the family.
Qin Ying was such a person. He had joined the sect along with Qin Long 40 years ago. However, his talent was lacking and had few fortuitous encounters. With him nearing 60 years old soon and had no hopes of reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage, he should have returned to the family long ago.
However, their next batch of junior clansmen that joined the sect ran into accidents repeatedly and died in their training, therefore he had to stay back in the sect to take care of the clansmen of Qin Feng’s generation.
“Alright, both of you should return home and settle your matters. Tomorrow morning, you’ll follow me to the county city.”
With a wave of his hand, Qin Guanpao signalled for the crowd to disperse.