Crossing into Immortal Cultivation

  The young man with a yellow face secretly sighed in his heart, but his mouth replied: "It doesn't matter, I have a name tag here, written on it are the names of all the young masters who need servants. You can take them yourself."

  Those two young men were overjoyed and hastily took a wooden tube handed to them by the yellow-faced youth, and went aside to carefully select their lots.

  The young man with a yellow face looked at Xu Ziqing again: "This young man didn't speak just now, I think he has other options."

  Xu Ziqing lowered his head and said with a sincere and fearful tone: "Xu Ziqing is incompetent, willing to do some miscellaneous tasks, to share the worries of the clan..."

  Alas, this is even more lacking in initiative. The young man with a yellow face could only hand over a yellow leather book and said: "What's recorded inside is exactly where my family needs someone to do chores, you can choose one yourself."

  Xu Ziqing thanked him and took it to carefully examine it.

  Why is Huang Lian's young face so regretful? It's actually because the clan leader gave the three inferior sons of the noble family three choices, all of which are thoughtful.

  One aspect is that the inner courtyard needs to be managed by reliable family members, and on the other hand, it's also about whether these people with lower qualifications can make up for their deficiencies from other aspects.

  The first option is the most challenging, where one takes on tasks independently. Although it seems difficult, each task actually polishes and refines a person from many aspects. Once they persevere through this period with their own efforts, even if their innate talent is lacking, many can still break through to the third layer of Qi Refining before the age of 50 due to their unyielding determination. At that time, they will be directly sent to Fei Xue Mountain, where they will receive guidance from the elders and have their body and mind cleansed by spiritual medicine. Afterwards, their path to immortality may become much smoother.

  The second is to serve people, but serving people's livelihoods is not easy. What if it falls into the hands of someone with a bad temper? The days will be even harder to pass. Those who choose this task are half ambitious and half greedy. If it's the former, they can endure humiliation and hardship until later, and those who can't bear it will be eliminated quickly. The patriarchal family will not ask for fairness from those with poor qualifications to those with good qualifications. The latter mostly live well, but these people put their minds on how to please others, so how can they cultivate seriously?

  Moreover, those who have succeeded in enduring humiliation and hardship cannot help but harbor resentment when thinking of the past, and their loyalty to the clan is also low. Those who are greedy for profit are themselves wallhead grass and will not be liked by others.

  Those who made this second choice are actually the people that the clan dislikes the most.

  The third type is the miscellaneous, those who choose it are mostly timid, content with their current situation and lack ambition. Although people of this kind have very limited achievements, they are often the most reliable ones in the clan because they dare not deviate from the status quo, are honest and can make more contributions to the clan. Therefore, although the clan is sorry that they "wasted" the already meager celestial fate, they cannot do without the existence of these people.

  The young man with a yellow face didn't think for long, and the two people who were chosen first had already made their choice. The young man with a yellow face asked them about their choices and then told the two of them the route to the specific addresses where those sons lived. The two thanked him and quickly left the place.

  On the other side, Xu Ziqing flipped through the yellow booklet, selecting very carefully.

  Indeed, Xu Ziqing is a carefree person, but he is not timid or weak. He simply had no intention of getting involved in the affairs of the immortal realm from the start, and after arriving at the sect, he found it to be full of intrigue, so with his nature, he naturally did not want to get entangled in this muddy water.

  When Xu Ziqing entered the inner hall, he had already seen that there were good fields and gardens with flowers, fruits, and herbs, and the scenery was very beautiful. If he chose a miscellaneous task, he would probably have something related to it, so he chose one of them and went far away to spend his days, which should not be much different from when he was in Xujiacun.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, after flipping through the yellow booklet, Xu Ziqing found what he was thinking of. There were three things that were quite to his liking.

  One of them is to serve in the orchard, where fruit trees need to be watered and fertilized every day, weeded and pest-controlled, pruned and cut... However, there are dozens of people doing the same thing, all managed by a single person named Hong.

  Secondly, in the spiritual field, we need to plow the land, sow seeds, transplant seedlings, and manage them. It's not much different from what Xu Ziqing saw in the countryside when he was young. There are many people working together under the management of a person named Zhao.

  The third is to work in the Hundred Grass Garden, where you need to carefully manage and take care of flowers and grasses. Moreover, there is only one person doing miscellaneous tasks, who reports to a single manager named He.

  Xu Ziqing carefully compared the three miscellaneous tasks and finally chose the third one. In his previous life, he was confined to his house, except for relatives taking turns to accompany him, there were only some 'flowers' and grass that never left his side, which could be taken care of by him. Now thinking about it, it feels quite intimate, and the location of Bai Cao Garden is remote, which is really suitable.

  Then he turned the booklet to page eighty-seven and handed it over to the yellow-faced young man, saying: "Xu Ziqing is willing to go to Bai Cao Garden to do miscellaneous tasks."

  The young man with a yellow face also didn't say much, and directly told the location of Bai Cao Garden. After thanking Xu Zi Qing and leaving, his face finally showed some complex expressions.

  This Hundred Herb Garden seems like a good place, but it's actually Old Man He's territory. That old man has an extremely eccentric personality, and previously many young men had chosen this seemingly decent job, only to be driven out by the old man one after another. It's unknown how long this one will last either.

  The young man with a yellow face didn't look good, and Xu Ziqing knew nothing about it. He just followed the youth's directions and walked for half an hour before finally arriving at the entrance of a garden.

  The door wasn't locked, but as Xu Ziqing walked forward, he was blocked by an invisible barrier outside. Then a person came out from inside, shouting and scolding, "Which idiot is moving my seal here? Can't you use a spirit tablet?"

  Xu Ziqing was taken aback, realizing that he was the one who was wrong. He had grown accustomed to living in the mundane world and hadn't yet developed the self-awareness of being in a cultivator's world, so he had forgotten that this seemingly unlocked "gate" was actually guarded with extreme vigilance.

  He then took out the wooden sign that the yellow-faced youth had given him earlier and carefully sent it forward into the empty space in front of him. A white light flashed by, and he tried to walk forward again, without any obstruction.

  He had only taken three or five steps when he saw an old man coming towards him. The old man was puffing on a dry tobacco pipe, wearing grass shoes on his feet, and the clothes on his body were also very tattered. Since Xu Ziqing entered the Zong family, he had never seen such a disheveled person. Was this He Guan Shi?

  The old man saw Xu Ziqing, "puff puff" took a drag on his cigarette and spat it out: "Newly arrived odd jobber?"

  He is a newcomer, doing miscellaneous chores, and this title is not wrong. Xu Ziqing saw that He Lao was older, so he was even more respectful and courteous, slightly bowing his head to greet him, saying: "Xu Ziqing has seen the manager."

  He Lao's eyes flashed with a hint of unusual color, and he scanned Xu Ziqing from head to toe before saying: "Working for me isn't easy, if you can't take the hardship, don't blame me for kicking you out."

  He didn't deny the title, and it seemed that he was indeed the one in charge. Xu Ziqing followed closely behind him, and since he wanted to do things here, he should do his best. Moreover, if he could be with 'Hua' Cao, even if it was hard work, it would still be a sweet experience.

  The further he walked into the garden, the more he could feel the air becoming extremely clear. Xuzi Qing couldn't help but take a deep breath, and suddenly felt a fragrance hitting his nose, and his entire lungs became comfortable.

  He could not have known that in this world where he was reborn, the space between heaven and earth was filled with a thing called "spirit energy" which was even lighter than the oxygen he used to breathe and could even cleanse his body and mind. The reason cultivators were able to cultivate was entirely because of it.

  This Hundred Herb Garden is actually a 'medicine' garden, specially for cultivating spiritual herbs for the Xu family, so the spiritual energy inside is exceptionally abundant. He suddenly came in from outside and was enjoying it immensely.

  The arrangement in the garden is not as grand and atmospheric as outside, but rather very natural. Every flower, every blade of grass, every soil and stone, all without any traces of carving or cutting.

  Only after walking through a patch of earthen road, I saw a clear stream leading to the distance. On both sides of the stream, there were many small blocks of spiritual fields surrounded by low stone railings, each with vague green shadows and lush grasses.

  Along this road, you can see a row of thatched cottages. The front few rooms either hang with farm tools or display tools, or have large bamboo baskets for drying herbs on the medicine racks, all showing signs of people living there. However, there is only one smaller room at the outermost side, and outside it, there is nothing.

  As he walked up to the row of thatched cottages, Old He gestured with his pipe and pointed to the smallest one, saying: "You'll be staying in there; there's a bed and bedding."

  Xu Ziqing nodded: "Yes."

  He Lao saw that he was obedient, turned around and said: "The spiritual grass grown here is not something that a 'hairy' kid like you can casually move." He said, swaying back to the house, and when he came out, his hands were already holding several thick books, which he threw at Xu Ziqing who was waiting honestly, "Take them down and memorize them first."

  Xu Ziqing took it with some effort, his body was much better than in his previous life, and his strength wasn't bad either. But when he took over these books, he found that they were unexpectedly heavy. He still nodded: "I know, Manager He."

  He slightly lowered his head to take a look at the page, and saw that the top one was "Spirit Grass Identification", it must be teaching him how to identify spirit grass. In this Hundred Herb Garden, he really couldn't do without it. Although Old Man He's requirements were strict, in the end, it was all for his own good, Xu Ziqing naturally felt grateful.

  Seeing him so obedient, Old He was more appreciative of Xu Ziqing. Although he is known to be a bit eccentric, he is not an unreasonable person. The young masters who came before, in their respective branches, were also looking down on him, seeing that he was wearing tattered clothes and showing disdain for him as soon as they met. This is already a bad temper. Later, when he ordered them to memorize the types of spiritual grass, they were all unwilling, only wanting him to teach them the magic formula first, such a lazy and unpractical person, how could he not be angry!

  This new kid looks thin and weak, can't even hold a few "medicine" books steadily, but he's not arrogant or impatient, and is willing to do things seriously. In Old He's eyes, that's basically qualified. If in the future he observes him doing everything with sincerity, he will naturally pass on the skills, and at that time, the new kid can truly become a long-term "杂役" of Baicao Garden.