Longevity Begins With The Birth Of A Daughter At An Old Age

Chapter 1: Moving

Qinghe Sword Sect

Baihe Fang Market

Muqiao Street

The sky was gloomy, with a drizzle falling. On the muddy streets, a group of low-level Qi Refining cultivators wearing old Dao robes were craning their necks to watch the commotion.

"Xu Mu, why haven't you moved yet? Do I have to do it myself?"

Followed by a few subordinates, Liu, the steward with a sinister gaze, stared at a middle-aged man with slightly graying hair in the courtyard and coldly said.

"Steward Liu, could you please give me some more time? My wife is about to give birth!" Xu Mu accompanied with a smile.

"It's none of our business if your wife is giving birth. It's not like we're the ones responsible for it!"

A short and fat man behind Liu, with slanted triangular eyes, said mockingly.

The others burst into laughter.

Xu Mu's blood rushed to his face in an instant.

He clenched his fists slightly and almost rushed up to fight the other party.

"I beg the steward to help me. Once I have spirit stones, I will definitely make up for all the arrears!"

After a moment of anger, Xu Mu took a deep breath, calmed down, and gently loosened his fists, his tone turning calm.

He could die himself.

But what about his wife who was about to give birth?

At his age, having a family and mouths to feed, even death was a luxury.

"Help? How can I help? If everyone is like you, do I still want to be the steward? If you don't have spirit stones, get out immediately! If I see you after an hour, don't blame me for being impolite!"

Liu snorted coldly, flicked his sleeve, and left with his men.

Xu Mu gritted his teeth but didn't dare to say a harsh word.

As for the saying "the river east of the thirty years, the river west of the thirty years"?

Let's forget about it!

He was already in his sixties this year. In another thirty years, the grass on his grave would probably be three feet high.

Xu Mu returned to the house in despair and began to pack his things.

His wife, Ye Yingying, walked out of the bedroom with a big belly.

Her fair and pretty face was filled with guilt.

"It's all my fault. If I hadn't caught a cold recently and spent all our savings, we wouldn't be unable to pay the rent!"

Xu Mu smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"It's not your fault. The rent keeps increasing by three times a day. Even if we can get through this time, sooner or later, we will be evicted!"

Recently, Qinghe Sword Sect and Soul Refining Demon Sect went to war. In order to collect war resources, the families responsible for managing the market constantly squeezed the people below them.

He remembered when he first moved to Muqiao Lane, the monthly rent was only two low-grade spirit stones. Now, it had risen to ten, a five-fold increase.

It might increase again this month.

Although he was an alchemist, his income was not high. He only earned a little over ten low-grade spirit stones a month. After deducting living expenses and the consumption of his own cultivation, he couldn't afford the high rent at all.

Recently, I have been barely getting by with my previous savings.

As for Ye Yingying falling ill last time, it can only be considered adding insult to injury, bringing forward our departure by a few months.

After comforting his wife, Xu Mu continued packing his things, but couldn't help but mock himself.

"I never expected that I, a mighty transmigrator, would end up in a situation where I can barely support my own wife. I'm probably the most useless one among all the transmigrators!"

That's right!

Xu Mu is not from this world.

His soul is that of a college student from the 20th century.

It's just that because he made an appointment with a goddess to go to a hotel, he was too excited during the act and accidentally transmigrated to this mysterious and supernatural cultivation world, possessing the body of a middle-aged cultivator.

Originally, he wanted to struggle a bit and take control of his own fate.

But he was quickly pressed down by reality.

In this world, everyone can cultivate, but there is a huge gap in talent between cultivators. Xu Mu is the kind of person with the worst talent, belonging to the 99.9% of people in this world.

He only reached the third level of Qi Refining when he was over sixty years old.

If he were born in a secular world full of impurities, he might never have developed any spiritual sense even if he cultivated for a lifetime.

But he actually hoped to transmigrate to the secular world.

Perhaps with his knowledge from his previous life, he could still make something of himself, unlike now, where he is worse off than a dog as a cultivator.

Feeling disappointed with his mediocre aptitude, Xu Mu simply gave up on the idea of immortality. Through a matchmaker, he met Ye Yingying, who had recently lost her father and also had mediocre talent and no one to rely on.

The two of them became husband and wife, ready to live a simple life, have children, and raise descendants. If they could live out their lives peacefully, they would be grateful.

But they didn't expect to encounter the great battle between the Qinghe Sword Sect and the Soul Refining Demon Sect shortly after getting married, to the point where they couldn't even sustain their livelihood.

Speaking of it, since Ye Yingying followed him, they haven't had a single good day. Thinking about it, Xu Mu felt guilty in his heart.

The two of them packed their things, and Xu Mu supported Ye Yingying as they left the courtyard.

"Master Xu Dan, remember to come back often when you have time!"

"We don't have much to give you, so take some newly bought fruits. Let your wife eat more!"

"Take care, maybe in a while, we'll come and keep you company!"

Some familiar neighbors came out to see them off.

Xu Mu politely returned each gesture.

"Ah! I don't know when this conflict will end!"

Watching Xu Mu's figure gradually disappear in the drizzle, the onlookers couldn't help but sigh.

Mujiao Lane itself is already on the outskirts of Baishi Fang City. If they can't afford to live here, they can only go to the outskirts' slums.

There, sewage flows and the stench is everywhere. It is said that there are also evil spirits causing trouble, and people often die inexplicably.

Xu Mu is not good at fighting, and with his wife about to give birth, it's unlikely they will see each other again after this parting.

Everyone couldn't help but sigh in their hearts.

...

Baishi Fang City

Slums

On the dilapidated streets, in the air that had just experienced a light rain, there was a scent of soil and a faint stench.

Xu Mu held an oiled paper umbrella and supported Ye Yingying as they followed a shifty-looking man in a green robe, stepping into an alley.

"That's it! One spiritual stone per month. If you're willing, just sign your name!"

The man pinched his nose and pointed to a dilapidated house nearby.

"This is a shantytown, responsible for renting houses to tooth people."

Xu Mu asked Ye Yingying to wait outside the door and walked in himself.

Inside the house, there were a total of four rooms: a bedroom, a kitchen, a living room, and a storage room.

The walls of the house were all built with bluestone, looking quite sturdy, should be able to withstand two magical attacks.

The roof was made of poplar wood and clay tiles, with thick spider webs in the corners, and the only piece of furniture in the room was a wooden bed covered in thick dust.

The air was filled with a rotten and moldy smell, indicating that no one had lived here for a long time.

After Xu Mu looked around, he could only nod reluctantly.

He had already looked at several houses nearby, and they were all more or less the same. At least this one had a decent location.

After signing the contract and paying the spirit stones, this became the new residence for the couple.

"Since you are so generous with the spirit stones, let me remind you one last time, try not to go out at night. I don't want to come back next time to help you collect your bodies!"

After saying that, the tooth man turned and quickly left along the wall, as if he didn't want to stay here for even a second.

The tooth man's words made Xu Mu inexplicably anxious, but he had no other choice but to live here.

After a simple cleanup, Xu Mu asked Ye Yingying to stay in the house while he brought some small gifts to visit the neighbors in the nearby streets.

The main purpose was to inquire about the situation here, so as not to commit any taboos.

As he expected, the people living nearby were all poor cultivators like him, but there were also some formidable individuals.

For example, a pair of twin brothers who lived nearby, their faces pale as paper, with cold eyes and a strong smell of blood.

When Xu Mu knocked on their door to visit, they only opened it slightly, gave him a cold glance, and then closed the door.

But that one glance made Xu Mu's scalp tingle and his whole body shiver.

"These two are likely cultivators who make a living through battles. It's better not to provoke them if possible," Xu Mu reminded himself.

But there were also some easy-going neighbors, like a young couple living next door to him, and an old alchemist living at the entrance of the alley.

After visiting, Xu Mu returned home and told Ye Yingying about the situation in the alley before letting her rest.

He himself left the bedroom and came to the clean storage room, ready to start refining pills.

He was an alchemist, and all his livelihood came from pills.

Alchemists could be said to be the most profitable among all professions, but also the most money-consuming.

Although Xu Mu had passed the initial stage of burning money, he was still far from making big money.

Currently, he could only refine two types of pills: Fasting Pills and Qi Gathering Pills.

Fasting Pills were the most common type of pill, and taking one could keep a person from feeling hungry for three days.

Of course, it varied from person to person!

For someone like Xu Mu, one Fasting Pill could only last for a day at most!

Usually, cultivators would prepare some when they went out hunting or closed-door cultivation for convenience.

If a cultivator was relatively wealthy, they would treat Fasting Pills as regular food.

Although cultivators could eat ordinary food, ordinary food often contained heavy impurities, which, if consumed for a long time, would seriously affect cultivation.

Qi Gathering Pills, on the other hand, were pills that assisted in cultivation. After taking them, they could increase the speed at which a cultivator condensed their spiritual energy in a short period of time.

Although Qi Gathering Pills were much more expensive than Fasting Pills, they were very popular among cultivators because they could assist in cultivation.

Xu Mu was currently refining Fasting Pills. As for Qi Gathering Pills, although he could refine them, the failure rate was terrifyingly high, so he was still in the stage of burning money for now.

He first took out the medicinal materials from the storage bag, carefully inspected them, and then took out the most precious alchemy furnace from all his belongings.

The alchemy furnace was about three feet tall, with three legs and two ears. It was brass-colored overall, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, resembling a chubby little person. There were many mysterious symbols engraved on the furnace body, resembling tadpoles.

When he couldn't afford the rent, he had considered selling the alchemy furnace.

But in the end, reason triumphed over impulse.

Because that would be a desperate move.

He was only at the third level of Qi Refining and not good at fighting. If he lost his source of livelihood in alchemy, he would have no way out.

After arranging the alchemy furnace, Xu Mu took out several green spirit woods that looked like uncut jade from the storage bag and placed them under the furnace.

He formed a hand seal with both hands, and spiritual energy surged within him. "Puff!" A fist-sized orange-red fireball appeared in front of him.

"Go!"

Xu Mu changed his hand seal, and the fireball fell onto the spirit wood, quickly igniting it.

Then, he crossed his fingers and quickly formed several hand seals, displaying a new spell.

Boom!

The flames on the spirit wood surged, turning into several fire snakes that resembled living creatures, enveloping the alchemy furnace and simultaneously preheating the inside and outside of the furnace.

The spell he used to control the flames was called Fire Control Technique, a first-level fire-based spell that all alchemists must learn.

The power of Fire Control Technique had a great impact on the success of alchemy.

Xu Mu had practiced it for many years and had already mastered it. It would probably take a few more years to reach perfection. As for the later stages of being a master, grandmaster, or even transcendent realm, it couldn't be achieved simply through cultivation.

Fire Control Technique was not only Xu Mu's means of alchemy but also his strongest combat technique. After using it, he could control the flames and form fire snakes and firebirds to launch attacks on enemies.

As for the attack artifacts that most cultivators used, Xu Mu had them before, but he sold them a while ago to help Ye Yingying with her medical expenses.

After the preheating of the alchemy furnace was completed, Xu Mu began to put the medicinal materials into it one by one, while also activating the array runes on the furnace, sensing and controlling the changes in the medicinal materials inside.

When the medicinal materials completely melted, he began to use Fire Control Technique to increase the temperature of the flames.

Although the Foundation Establishment Pill was the most common pill in the cultivation world, its refinement process was still very complicated and troublesome.

But it was precisely because of the trouble that alchemists were extremely rare, which allowed him to profit from it.

The busy refining process lasted the whole night.

Feeling that the medicinal properties in the alchemy furnace had stabilized and started to settle, Xu Mu's hands moved as fast as an illusion as he quickly formed the sealing hand seal for collecting the pills.

Clang!

The furnace lid opened, and the fragrance of the medicine filled the air. Round and golden pills flew out from inside and landed in his palm.

"Unfortunately, they are all of mediocre quality!"

Xu Mu checked them and a hint of disappointment appeared on his face.

He had already lost count of how many times he had refined the Foundation Establishment Pill. The chances of failure were not high, but the quality had always been unable to improve.

Alchemists classified the same kind of pill into low-grade, medium-grade, high-grade, and top-grade based on their quality. The low-grade was the worst, and the top-grade was the best.

In general, it took fifteen low-grade Foundation Establishment Pills to exchange for one low-grade spirit stone, twelve or thirteen medium-grade pills, and only ten high-grade pills. As for top-grade pills, five were enough.

Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills were not only expensive and highly profitable but also sold very well.

Cultivators consumed Foundation Establishment Pills to replenish their body's consumption and to avoid the accumulation of impurities in their bodies.

All grades of pills contained impurities, but it was only a matter of quantity. Only top-grade pills wouldn't have any impurities and could be consumed in large quantities for a long time.

"I dare not even think about top-grade pills. I would be satisfied if I could refine some high-grade ones!"

Just as Xu Mu was about to meditate and restore his spiritual energy, his wife's exclamation suddenly came from the bedroom.

New book release, seeking support!

(End of this chapter)