Yunling Town.
Marriage Pavilion.
"Fellow Daoist Qin, why did you leave Zhenyang City? It is a big city under the gate of Zhenyang Zongshan, and the cultivation resources are far beyond what our small town can match."
Qin Gengyun sat upright, slightly uneasy, and answered to his blind date sitting across the table:
"Young Daoist Li doesn't know that although Zhenyang City is a big city with more resources and opportunities, it also means that the rent and daily expenses are more expensive. It is better to go back to Yunling Town and stay away from the hustle and bustle so that you can practice with peace of mind."
"Why should Fellow Daoist Qin cover up? Isn't it because he can't survive in the big city and can only return to the small town?"
The female monk laughed, ignored Qin Gengyun's embarrassment, and then asked:
"I heard that you can earn a lot of spiritual stones by working at that alchemy shop in town?"
Qin Gengyun quickly replied: "There can be three spiritual stones in one month."
The female monk's eyes flashed and she smiled like a flower:
"Fellow Daoist Qin's appearance and character are acceptable. I'm barely satisfied. Let's talk about the betrothal gift."
"Bowry gift?" Qin Gengyun was startled. Does the world of cultivating immortals also require a bride price when marrying a wife?
The female monk opposite stretched out three green-white fingers: "Three hundred spiritual stones, a spiritual mansion, and my name can only be written on the house deed."
"What?!" Qin Gengyun's eyes widened in an instant.
He can only earn three spirit stones a month. In order to get rid of the erysipelas in his body, all his savings have been exhausted over the years. Where can he get three hundred spirit stones?
As for the Spirit Vein Immortal Mansion, the cheapest one costs thousands of spirit stones, which is not something he, a low-level casual cultivator, can dream of.
How come the betrothal gifts in this world of cultivating immortals are even more outrageous than the world before the time travel!
Qin Gengyun couldn't help but ask the female monk: "Fellow Daoist Li, may I ask how much your monthly income is?"
The female monk replied: "I work as a maid in Rouge Pavilion, and I can get two spiritual stones a month."
Qin Gengyun was surprised: "Fellow Daoist Li, you only have two spiritual stones in a month, why do you want such a high gift?"
The female monk glanced at him disdainfully: "Based on my appearance, I can't even look down on a male cultivator who earns ten spiritual stones a month. I just see you as an honest person and someone who can be trusted. I didn't expect you to even take this small gift." If you don’t come out, you can leave.”
Qin Gengyun stopped talking, stood up and walked out of the room. Matchmaker Wang who was waiting outside came forward and asked:
"Fellow Daoist Qin, how was the conversation?"
Qin Gengyun shook his head helplessly: "She doesn't like me."
"Don't worry, fellow Taoist, there is something suitable for you if you go this way."
With a smile on her face, Matchmaker Wang led Qin Gengyun to another room.
The Marriage Pavilion is the largest monk matchmaking shop in Yunling Town. It is specially designed for those monks whose cultivation has stagnated and want to find another way to build their foundation by relying on the method of dual cultivation to meet Taoist couples.
Every step a monk takes requires a large amount of resource support, but almost all of the cultivation resources are in the hands of the major sects and are only available to inner disciples with talent and background.
If ordinary casual cultivators only rely on hard training, it will be difficult for them to reach the sky, let alone immortality, even building a foundation.
Therefore, dual cultivation has become a last-ditch opportunity for many ordinary casual cultivators.
If dual cultivation can be achieved, it will be like a carp leaping over the dragon's gate.
If you fail to achieve dual cultivation, you will give up your Taoist mind and end up living as an ordinary couple with only food, rice, oil and salt.
For ordinary casual cultivators, dual cultivation is a shortcut to seek immortality.
But for Qin Gengyun, dual cultivation is his only hope for survival.
Qin Gengyun traveled through time two years ago. This body with the same name is the same as in his previous life. He has ordinary talent and ordinary origin. In this world of immortal cultivation, he is just an ordinary casual cultivator.
When Qin Gengyun traveled through time, this body was already thirty-three years old. He had been practicing for nearly twenty years, and his cultivation level was only at the second level of Qi training.
What's even more miserable is that in order to survive, the original person has been working as an elixir for the alchemist over the years, which has completely damaged his body.
The so-called erysipelas is the toxic medicine residue left after refining the elixir. The duty of the erysipelas apothecary is to clean up these toxic medicine residues.
However, long-term exposure to erysipelas caused the spiritual field in his body to be polluted, and his energy and blood were depleted, making it impossible for him to improve his cultivation.
In fact, if the erysipelas could not be completely eliminated from his body, he would not live past the age of forty.
Qin Gengen, who took over this body, had no choice but to inherit this tragic fate.
He inquired around and finally learned that if he wanted to remove erysipelas from his body, he needed to take the "Bingxin Rejuvenation Pill".
But that was a fourth-grade elixir, a hundred times more valuable than the life of an ordinary casual cultivator!
Moreover, elixirs of this level are only in the hands of large sects, and no sect would spend such precious elixirs just to save a casual cultivator.
Coincidentally, Qin Gengyun worked in a chemical factory before traveling through time. Due to long-term exposure to toxic chemical waste, his health deteriorated at the age of forty.
Chemical workers and erysipelas herbalists are in the same boat.
In order to fight for a chance of survival, Qin Gengyun came to Zhenyang City, which is under the gate of Zhenyang Zongshan. There are more opportunities in the big city, and it is easier to earn spiritual stones. If you are lucky one day, you may have the opportunity to buy life-saving elixirs.
However, there are too many monks in Zhenyang City and the competition is fierce. Not to mention earning spiritual stones, even surviving requires all your efforts.
If this continues, even if the erysipelas does not attack, Qin Gengyun feels that he will not live to be forty years old.
He could only leave Zhenyang City and move to Yunling Town where the pressure of survival was not so great.
However, the spiritual stones earned in Yunling Town were not enough for Qin Gengyun to purchase the "Bingxin Rejuvenation Pill" before he turned 40.
If you want to survive, there is only one way - to refine the Bingxin Rejuvenation Pill yourself.
Qin Gengyun has been in the alchemy room for many years and has some understanding of alchemy. However, an alchemist also needs the support of cultivation. He only has the cultivation level of the second level of Qi training and cannot even refine ordinary first-grade elixirs.
Therefore, to be an alchemist, you must first improve your cultivation.
But his spiritual field has been contaminated by erysipelas, and his normal path of cultivation has been blocked.
All avenues of survival have been blocked, leaving only the last narrow path: dual cultivation.
"Fellow Daoist Qin, this is Fellow Daoist Zhang. You two have a good chat."
After walking into another room, Matchmaker Wang said a few words and went out. Qin Gengyun sat down, opposite a young female cultivator with a charming temperament and a gentle smile:
"Fellow Daoist Qin, Matchmaker Wang has already told me about your situation. If you want to know anything, you can ask me."
Qin Gengyun chatted with this fellow Taoist Zhang for a while. Both parties felt that it was quite suitable. They soon talked about getting married. The female monk said:
"Fellow Daoist Qin, since you and I are so in love, I am willing to get married to you. All you need to do is give me a small gift."
Is it a bride price again?
Qin Gengyun quickly asked: "Zhang Daoyou, how much gift do you want?"
The female monk smiled and said: "Fellow Daoist Qin, I come from Qishan Town outside Feiyun Sect. According to the custom of my hometown, when a female cultivator marries, her husband's family needs to give five hundred spirit stones, plus a spiritual palace, but I know it's not easy for you. , there is no need for the Lingmai Immortal Mansion, only a two-story building with a courtyard is enough."
Qin Gengyun was stunned: "Fellow Daoist Zhang, this gift is really too ethereal. Can it be more realistic?"
The gentle smile on Daoyou Zhang's face disappeared: "Fellow Daoist Qin, when I marry you, I will serve you, and I will give you children in the future. The benefit will be yours, and the loss will be mine. If you can't build the foundation in the future, you and I will I have to have some protection when it comes to harmony and separation, right?"
Qin Gengyun smiled bitterly and said, "Fellow Daoist Zhang, you are thinking about getting divorced before you and I get married? Besides, we got married more to learn the method of dual cultivation, not to serve me, so why are you at a disadvantage?"
"Yes, if we can practice dual cultivation in the future, then I will help you practice, and this little gift is nothing!"
The female monk was more confident.
"Fellow Daoist Zhang, dual cultivation is beneficial to both parties. Why are you the only one helping me practice?"
Qin Gengyun defended.
"Haha." The female monk gently stroked her hair on her forehead and said with a smile on her face:
"Since we are dual cultivators, if I achieve the Great Dao in the future and rank among the Immortal Class, and you marry a fairy with five hundred spirit stones, wouldn't you make a lot of money?"
"..." Qin Gengyun had no way to argue, so he had to stand up and hold his hands in his hands:
"Fellow Daoist Zhang, please let me go home and think about it later."
After leaving the room, Matchmaker Wang immediately greeted her: "How is it?"
Qin Gengyun smiled bitterly: "Although these two Taoist friends are as beautiful as flowers and jade, their hearts are as high as the sky, and their betrothal gifts are even higher. I'm afraid I won't be able to reach them."
"Fellow Daoist Qin, don't be anxious. Marriage is tied to a thousand miles, and a good match is in the Marriage Pavilion. I will take you to meet other female cultivators."
Next, Matchmaker Wang took Qin Gengyun to see several female nuns. Some of them disliked Qin Gengyun, while others were attracted to her, but without exception, they all demanded a large amount of betrothal gifts.
Qin Gengyun couldn't take it out at all.
Finally, Matchmaker Wang felt helpless and said to Qin Gengyun:
"Fellow Daoist Qin, it is natural for women to ask for betrothal gifts. They just want the attitude of their future husbands. If you can't afford the betrothal gifts, how can others see your sincerity?"
Qin Gengyun was speechless.
He suddenly remembered that in his previous life, his parents urged him to get married, and he often went on blind dates.
I have been with a few girls for a while, and when it came time to talk about marriage, the other girls would always offer sky-high betrothal gifts.
The rhetoric was exactly the same as that of the two female cultivators just now:
I just want a guarantee and an attitude from you.
My monthly salary is three thousand, but a man with a monthly salary of tens of thousands is simply not worthy of me.
How can I see your sincerity if you can't even get this little gift?
However, if I can easily come up with a sky-high price as a gift, why would I need to go on a blind date?
Qin Gengyun walked out of the Marriage Pavilion silently. It was raining outside for some time, and there were only a few pedestrians on the usually busy streets.
He held up an umbrella and walked in the cold winter rain, unable to help but shiver.
Even at the second level of Qi training, he could still feel the bone-chilling cold.
But, his heart felt even colder.
When he first traveled to this world of immortal cultivation, Qin Gengyun was also very passionate and wanted to change his destiny against the will of heaven and reach the top.
However, just like before he traveled through time, he was full of enthusiasm when he was on campus. Less than a year after entering society, his dreams were shattered by reality.
The meaning of life is only survival.
Traveling to the world of cultivating immortals, the reality is even crueler.
He practiced hard and climbed hard, but in the end, a little gift blocked his last way of survival.
In this world, there are many casual cultivators who are struggling to survive just like him. They are still in the early stage of Qi refining in their thirties and forties. They are considered lucky to earn three or four spirit stones every month.
Foundation building is simply out of reach, and immortality is even more elusive.
Qin Gengyun once saw an inner disciple of the Zhenyang Sect from a distance in Zhenyang City. He was a disciple of the Zhenyang Sect.
It can only be said that some people have been working hard to build a foundation all their lives, and some people have already built a foundation since they were born.
But for ordinary people like him, it is the same difficulty no matter in the previous life or in the world of cultivating immortals.
It is difficult to become an immortal, difficult to marry, and difficult to survive!
Disaster! Disaster! Disaster! !
