Innate Immortal Seed

Chapter 1: The Bai Family's Child

Mi Prefecture, Heishan County.

The Heishan Mountain Range stretches across the entire county from east to west like a demonic dragon.

Deep within the range, it is said that even third-rank demon beasts, comparable to powerful Core Formation cultivators, dwell in hiding. Few people venture there, yet countless spiritual herbs grow abundantly.

The eastern side of the range has already been fully developed, this is where the headquarters of Heishan County’s most powerful sect, Azure Maple Sect, is located.

Along the mountain foothills, over fifty cultivation clans of various sizes are scattered across the peaks. This region alone holds over 80% of all cultivators in the entire county.

Why? Because spiritual veins, essential for cultivation are nearly impossible to find outside the Heishan Mountains. And since the area teems with vegetation and demon beasts, it's ideal for harvesting cultivation resources. Over time, it naturally became a sacred land for cultivators.

Despite the concentration of so many cultivation families and even a behemoth like Azure Maple Sect, the mountain range is so vast that they aren’t crowded. If one isn’t particular about the rank of a spiritual vein, even a small clan of a few dozen people could occupy a hundred-li territory without protest.

Among these many cultivation families, one known for their expertise in spiritual planting is the Bai family. Their ancestor was once an inner disciple of the Dragonfish Sect thousands of li away. Born in poverty, he had the fortune of possessing spiritual roots and embarked on the path of cultivation, but after decades of bitter cultivation, he still couldn’t reach Foundation Establishment.

Seeking an opportunity, he journeyed westward and by a stroke of divine luck, stumbled upon the ruins of a cave dwelling in the Heishan Mountains using a tattered treasure map. There, he received a legacy from a deceased loose cultivator. Most importantly, within the cave he found a Foundation Establishment Pill, regarded as a priceless treasure by all Qi Refining cultivators.

With the help of that pill, the Bai family’s ancestor successfully established his foundation and settled in Heishan County. There, he took root, established a lineage and founded a cultivation family.

Today, the Bai family has passed down for several centuries, with over ten thousand clan members and a solid foothold in Heishan.

However, out of these ten thousand, fewer than two hundred possess spiritual roots and are registered in the clan records as legitimate Bai family cultivators. Among mortals, only about one in a thousand is born with spiritual roots. In cultivation families, the ratio is slightly better but most are of low quality: five-root or four-root spiritual constitutions.

Only small families like the Bai clan treasure every member with spiritual roots. In a place like Azure Maple Sect, five-root cultivators are outright labeled as “waste roots,” unworthy of cultivation.

In terms of the five elements, if someone possesses all five spiritual roots, their efficiency at refining spiritual energy is abysmally low. Even after a lifetime of hardship, they might only reach the late stage of Qi Refining.

Conversely, someone with only one root is called a “Heavenly Spiritual Root.” Before the Core Formation stage, their cultivation path is as smooth as flowing water, and reaching Foundation Establishment is practically guaranteed.

Yet even in a county with tens of millions of people like Heishan, Azure Maple Sect struggles to find a single proud son with Heavenly Spiritual Root during their recruitment held once every ten years. The last such prodigy appeared nearly a hundred years ago.

After completing one full cycle of the Everlasting Spring Art, Bai Zichen felt a strand of spiritual power settle securely within his dantian. No longer did his cultivation efforts feel like pouring water into a punctured raft, it stayed.

“One hundred days exactly, not a day more or less. I've finally drawn Qi into my body. Starting today, I am officially a cultivator, first layer of Qi Refining!”

Even though he had lived two lives and possessed the mindset of an adult, Bai Zichen was only nine years old in this life. The Immortal Dao is elusive. Despite growing up surrounded by it, his materialist upbringing in his past life meant he only truly believed in this xianxia world once he began cultivating himself. Seeking immortality was no longer a myth.

In his previous life, societal productivity was in surplus. After graduating from school, Bai Zichen became a hermit of sorts, immersed in various virtual games, his favorite being xianxia-themed ones.

Who would’ve thought that after one all-nighter farming mobs, he would inexplicably arrive in this new world, reborn into a branch of the Bai clan?

His parents were ordinary Bai clan members with no spiritual roots, living at the foot of the mountain in Ink Bamboo Town. Under the Bai clan’s protection, although they had no hope for the Immortal Path, their lives were peaceful, free from taxes, natural disasters, or human misfortune.

For every Bai family mortal, the greatest dream was for their child to become a cultivator. Not only would it bring glory to their ancestors, but also one person ascending would lift the entire family up with them.

All of the Bai family’s town mayors had close kin who became cultivators, that’s how they earned those positions.

Tracing Bai Zichen’s lineage back three generations, not a single cultivator had emerged. They lived humbly in the upper bai town, surviving on manual labor. Then came his father’s generation: the eldest son, Bai Jiu’an, was discovered to have spiritual roots and was taken to the family stronghold in the mountains.

He spent thirty years diligently cultivating. Though his four-root aptitude held him back, he still reached the sixth layer of Qi Refining. In Ink Bamboo Town, that was considered a remarkable figure.

Bai Jiu’an cared deeply for his family. Every few years, he would return and look after his kin. A year ago, during a visit, he casually tested Bai Zichen’s spiritual roots and discovered his nephew possessed three-root aptitude: wood, fire, and earth. The whole family was overjoyed.

A heavy burden lifted from Bai Zichen's heart. Ever since arriving in this world, he’d constantly worried he had no spiritual roots and would spend his life farming fields.

By Bai family rules, spiritual root testing was done at age ten. But direct descendants of cultivators were often tested earlier at around six or seven, so they can begin preparing for cultivation as soon as possible, well before their bodies or minds begin to settle and limit their potential.

Now that Bai Zichen’s three-root aptitude had been confirmed, he naturally followed his uncle Bai Jiu’an back to the family’s main residence.

In ancient sects with a thousand-year legacy, a three-root cultivator would be considered mediocre, indistinguishable among the masses, left to fend for themselves. But in a small family like the Bai clan where they had barely over a hundred cultivators, he was already above average.

What’s more, Bai Zichen’s three roots formed a mutually reinforcing cycle, making him an upper-tier three-root cultivator, a rare treasure.

Bai Jiu’an cared deeply for his nephew. After bringing him home, he took time daily to teach him cultivation theory and knowledge, spent spirit stones to buy medicinal baths and spirit food to slowly improve his body.

Only after half a year of careful nurturing did he finally hand over the Everlasting Spring Art for Bai Zichen to begin Qi Refining.

Though all of the Bai clan’s hundred cultivators descended from a common ancestor, many had already drifted beyond the fifth degree of relation. Blood ties had grown distant over generations.

Having a close-blooded kin on the path of cultivation meant mutual support, which was far more dependable than general clan bonds.

Drawing Qi into the body is every cultivator’s first hurdle. The first page of the Everlasting Spring Art mentioned: “In a hundred days, draw Qi and set foot on the Immortal Path.”

Of course, this “hundred days” was a general estimate. Geniuses might manage in a month or two. Those with poor aptitude like waste roots might need a year or more.

At the very first step of the Immortal Path, the gap in spiritual root quality already shows itself.

Bai Zichen had taken exactly a hundred days, not fast, not slow. It made him realize his aptitude wasn’t bad, but he was no prodigy either.

Now that he was a real cultivator, Bai Zichen felt completely transformed. He leapt lightly off the bed, stretched lazily, and began planning his cultivation path.

The Everlasting Spring Art wasn’t great for combat, but its strength lay in stable true essence and long, steady breath. Cultivators who practiced it rarely went astray. Before the Foundation Establishment stage, he didn’t need to worry about his cultivation method.

The biggest question was, where would he get cultivation resources? And what was his unique strength for survival?

On Bai Zichen’s childish face was a mature expression far beyond his age.

Thanks to his uncle’s teachings, he understood that aside from innate talent, resources were the next most vital thing. With enough pills and elixirs, even a waste-root cultivator could be piled up into a Foundation Establishment expert.

The Bai family patriarch was an early Foundation Establishment cultivator. Along with seven or eight late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, they maintained the clan’s current position but had no strength to expand further.

After dividing the earnings with the top cultivators, the rest of the clan barely received a few spirit stones per year. Most had to fend for themselves.

“Fail to reach Foundation Establishment by fifty, your cultivation path is over!”

This saying was famous in the Heishan Mountains. It meant that if a cultivator failed to reach the peak of Qi Refining and attempt Foundation Establishment by age fifty, they had basically lost their chance.

Qi Refining cultivators were far stronger than mortals, free from illness and pain but even so, their lifespan capped at about 120 years.

After fifty, vitality declined each year. The chances of withstanding the surge of spiritual energy during Foundation Establishment became slimmer.

In Bai Jiu’an’s stories, many cultivators who reached great perfection Qi Refining in their 70s or 80s with bodies already weakened by age were unwilling to wither into dust after decades of toiling, they risked everything for one last breakthrough. But none survived the violent spiritual energy backlash of attempting Foundation Establishment. In the end, not even their bones remained.

“The immortal strokes my crown, and with a single vow grants me longevity.”

Bai Zichen opened the Records of Heishan County, his eyes firm.

“If no immortal lights the way, then I’ll rely on myself.”

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