My family tree hollow connects to the modern era : Chapter 57

The bustle of the live stream brought pressure to the Management Bureau backend servers for the very first time. People flooded in by the thousands; those who couldn’t afford to buy anything still went in just to take a look and broaden their horizons.

Having grown up in the royal palace, Bai Zhizhi was accustomed to luxury. Even when he ventured outside, the places he visited near the royal city were prosperous areas. The roadside stalls there sold spiritual herbs that were at least several thousand years old, and even the most basic elixirs were of superior quality.

Consequently, he felt that many of the Kong family’s items wouldn’t fetch many spiritual stones back in Qingqiu, so it was much better to exchange them for money here, which would save a lot of trouble.

These items held little value for Bai Zhizhi, but they were entirely different for the local cultivators.

Few cultivators had the privilege of entering energy fields. While one couldn’t say they had never seen good items, resources were simply too scarce. The objects stored within the Kong family treasury could be considered rare finds indeed, and those who couldn’t afford them still gained plenty of knowledge just by looking.

There were also demon cultivators mixed into the forum who were even poorer than human cultivators. Having only learned how to act like humans for a few years, they naturally had no savings to speak of, so they could only join the crowd to broaden their horizons.

Hu Fei watched the live stream from start to finish, letting out a gasp of awe every single time a new item was put up for sale. His constant gasps finally drove a black bear demon to smack the back of his head with a paw. “It’s one thing to gasp at other things, but why are you gasping at this thousand-year ginseng? If my cave dwelling hadn’t been blasted open and mined by humans, I’d have plenty of ginseng like this.”

Being spirits who had attained intelligence, they didn’t have much human currency, but mountain treasures like these were something they possessed in decent amounts. It was a pity that human expansion had squeezed their living space and forced them down the mountain to make a living, only for them to be captured immediately upon arrival and forced to attend some damned school. It was enough to infuriate any bear.

Hu Fei rubbed the back of his head with sniffling complaints. He wasn’t just gasping at those treasures; he was also thinking of his ancestor. As expected of an ancestor of their fox clan, he managed to acquire so many good things just after arriving for a short while. Compared to the meager money they earned every month working part-time at the zoo, this was overwhelmingly more impressive.

He just wondered when the little ancestor would come to pick him up. Recently, he had collected and sold quite a few empty bottles around the zoo, saving up a little money again.

The live stream ran continuously from morning until night. When Bi Weiqing grew tired of talking, Gao Man took over, until they finally managed to clear out most of the items in the courtyard while their throats felt hoarse enough to smoke.

They never imagined that at their advanced age, they would actually catch up with modern trends and work as live streamers for a day.

Once the live stream concluded, the two elders sprawled across the courtyard completely unwilling to move. Every industry truly had its difficulties; even as cultivators, they were utterly exhausted. Many ordinary people streamed for an entire day straight, which was far more tiring than practicing cultivation.

Yue Zhihuan bustled around them, alternately massaging their shoulders and handing them water. Cooking was entirely out of the question since they lacked the energy, leaving them with no choice but to order takeout.

Meanwhile, Bai Zhizhi was busy collecting payments in the courtyard. Some buyers happened to be right in the capital, and as soon as they finished their business, they rushed over to the small courtyard at the earliest possible moment. Without the treasures safely in hand, they simply couldn’t feel at ease.

The first person to arrive was Lu Mingyu, prompting Bai Zhizhi to look bewildered all over again. “Jiang Lin is busy to the point where he’s nowhere to be seen. How come you aren’t busy at all?”

Lu Mingyu let out a huff. “My division of labor is different from his. Besides, I legitimately won my items through your live stream. You certainly can’t refuse to sell to me.”

Bai Zhizhi answered, “I didn’t say I wouldn’t sell to you. What did you buy?”

Lu Mingyu said, “That club belonging to Kong Qingzhou.”

Bai Zhizhi instructed Yue Zhihuan to dig the item out, completing the transaction with an exchange of payment and goods.

After receiving the money, he handed the battered little club over to Lu Mingyu. “Have you guys finished investigating the Kong family’s affairs?”

Lu Mingyu closely examined the club. A spiritual weapon was indeed different; channeling even the slightest bit of spiritual energy could instantly arouse resonance within the weapon.

After checking it over from front to back and confirming the item was without flaw, he answered Bai Zhizhi’s question. “The Kong family’s business involves more than just the Life-Devouring Technique; other issues are entangled within it, so it won’t be cleared up overnight. However, the Kong family head likely won’t survive. Once the head of the family dies, whether a Kong family will still exist among the aristocratic clans in the future is hard to say.”

Bai Zhizhi asked, “How come he won’t survive?”

He remembered his strike hadn’t been that heavy. Although the man coughed up blood, he shouldn’t have been that fragile, seeing as he possessed a peak Golden Core grand completion cultivation level.

Lu Mingyu explained, “I’m not entirely clear on the details since I wasn’t the one in charge of the interrogation. I only heard that he likely realized the Kong family’s fortune was exhausted, suffered the blow, and vomited blood a few more times. Once that stubborn breath holding him together dissipated, his condition simply turned terminal.”

Bai Zhizhi let out an “oh” and dropped the subject. Since his grievances with the Kong family were already resolved, as long as the Kong family members stopped provoking him, he wouldn’t hold a grudge.

Seeing someone else arriving, Bai Zhizhi grabbed Lu Mingyu as the latter prepared to leave. “Since you’re already here, do me a favor.”

Everyone from the small courtyard was currently at Luoxia Village, leaving behind only two elders and a child—the manpower was simply too sparse.

Once Jiang Lin returned, he wanted to ask whether Jiang Lin could bring Hu Fei over. Previously, his transitions to and from Qingqiu were unstable, and he feared that a sudden return would fool human cultivators while failing to hide from demon cultivators. Now that he could steadily control it, bringing Hu Fei out was feasible, as he was currently lacking a running-around errand boy while living alone here.

If only he could bring Bei Shan over too, alas.

Most of the local buyers who could come picked up their purchases directly. Knowing that Lu Mingyu was heading here, the Bureau members simply transferred their payments directly to Bai Zhizhi’s account and asked Lu Mingyu to carry their items back on his way. Only then did Lu Mingyu realize that aside from Director Song buying quite a bit, even their Bureau Director had purchased a fair share.

The Kong family’s collection of aged teas had practically been bought out entirely by the Director.

Busily working until midnight, the small courtyard finally quieted down.

Bai Zhizhi handed a portion of the tea leaves he had set aside to Uncle Gao and Uncle Bi. They enjoyed drinking tea, but Qingqiu tea possessed spiritual energy far too dense for them to handle without risking their bodies bursting from overload, whereas the Kong family’s tea was just right.

Next, he gifted several pieces of jewelry collected by the Kong family to Yue Zhihuan. “Hairpins and earrings like these carry the aura of defensive formations on them. Even though you lack cultivation, if you encounter danger while wearing them, the formations should automatically trigger their defense. Keep them.”

Aside from them, Bai Zhizhi divided the items into several other piles intended for Yue Zhihuan’s brother, Deputy Team Leader Wu Yue, Lin Xiaoyang, Qiu Yan, Ye Nian, Ren Daoan, and Xie Zhihua. Nearly everyone in the small courtyard received a gift.

Previously, when Lin Xiaoyang mentioned that the courtyard had made money, the group’s custom was to hand out red envelopes to everyone. Though he had earned a vast fortune now and they probably had little need for red envelopes, items useful to cultivators should still be quite welcome.

Though he hadn’t interacted with most of them many times aside from spending a bit more time with Lin Xiaoyang, he was naturally generous, and since they lived under the same roof, he certainly wouldn’t treat anyone with favoritism.

Seeing that everyone received something, Yue Zhihuan accepted hers with expressions of gratitude, then couldn’t help asking, [Does Brother Jiang have one?]

Bai Zhizhi opened a small wooden box. “With so many items in the Kong family, they surprisingly had very few swords. This is the only one, which counts as a superior spiritual weapon. Jiang Lin said he only knows how to use a sword. It’s truly a waste on him.”

A few withered, emaciated spiritual grasses remained scattered around the courtyard, having sat forgotten for who knew how long. Bai Zhizhi told Uncle Gao and the others to handle them however they saw fit, then declared he was exhausted and heading to bed, telling everyone not to disturb him. He dashed back to his room, set up a protective barrier, and in the blink of an eye returned to Qingqiu.

Stepping back into spirit-rich Qingqiu, Bai Zhizhi took a deep breath of the crisp air, waved his hand to change his clothes and let his hair down, then sprawled comfortably on a rattan chair swaying back and forth while sipping milk tea.

As he drank, Bai Zhizhi suddenly stared down at the milk tea in his hand. Qingqiu also had spiritual beast milk and spiritual tea; compared to those items lacking spiritual energy over there, could he brew his own spirit-infused milk tea?

Lost in whimsical thoughts, he patted his storage artifact where all the items picked out from the Kong family were piled on the ground. A few ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs appeared exceptionally well-preserved, their roots continuously nourished by a special method. Throwing these into the herb garden might let them survive.

The several superior spiritual weapons also felt pleasant to the touch. Although these weapons hadn’t birthed weapons spirits yet, Bai Zhizhi could still sense the effort and affection poured into them by their forgers. Whether items were mass-produced or finely polished was something a user could easily perceive.

Even if these spiritual weapons possessed minor forging flaws, the devotion of such craftsmen had already compensated for those imperfections.

Bai Zhizhi intended to bring these items to the Artifact Refining Hall to further refine and nourish them; if they managed to cultivate weapon spirits, they could upgrade into divine weapons.

Just as Bai Zhizhi was counting his spoils, his fox father flew in from outside the tree hole. “Son!”

Bai Zhizhi jerked his head around, glanced at the pile of items that clearly didn’t belong here, and lunged forward to block his father’s line of sight. “Dad, why are you here!”

Seeing his reaction, Fox Father deliberately teased him by looking left and right around him. “What are you blocking? What secret is there that your father isn’t allowed to see?”

Bai Zhizhi protested, “You said it yourself, it’s a secret, so of course you can’t see it! Hurry up and get out. This is my territory, how can you come in without my permission!”

Fox Father countered, “Do you ever ask for permission before bursting into your father’s bedchamber at any time you like?”

Anxious, Bai Zhizhi tried pushing the old man outward. “That’s different!”

Fox Father asked, “What’s different? The monkey clan sent some tribute spirit wine and fruit nectar this morning, and your mother asked if you wanted to drink some. She sent you a voice transmission and you didn’t reply, so let Dad see what you’re sneaking around hiding here for.”

Flustered, Bai Zhizhi spread his hands to block him. Seeing that his outside barrier was still active, his eyes widened in sudden petty anger. “Dad! You broke through my barrier again!”

Fox Father spun around and bolted.

Bai Zhizhi immediately gave chase. “Dad, how can you do this! I already set up a barrier, you can’t keep bullying people just by relying on your cultivation!”

Fox Father laughed heartily. “If you have the ability, cultivate to the point where you’re stronger than your father!”

Bai Zhizhi yelled, “Even with all the ability in the world, I’m only a thousand years old! You’re tens of thousands of years old, Dad, you’re going too far!”

Chuckling merrily as he ran ahead, Fox Father teased his son into giving chase. Isn’t having kids just for playing around like this? Unfortunately, his daughter was destined to inherit the entire fox clan, so ever since she grew up sensible, she learned to act as dignified and steady as her mother, refusing to play these tag-like chasing games with him. Thankfully, he still had a son around to play with.

Panting heavily from the chase, Bai Zhizhi complained, “Dad, how old are you, aren’t you being childish!”

Slowing down until his son caught up to him, Fox Father spun around and lunged at Bai Zhizhi. “Now it’s Dad’s turn to catch you!”

Turning on his heel, Bai Zhizhi bolted away while laughing uproariously.

Watching her husband and son launch into a game of tag, Fox Queen couldn’t help rubbing her forehead. Thankfully her daughter took after her, otherwise goodness knows what would happen to this household.

After running round after round of chases, Bai Zhizhi’s energy was mostly spent, leaving him to collapse flat on the lawn without moving an inch.

Fox Father tossed him a flask of fruit nectar. “You can forget about spirit wine for now; drink it when you’re a bit older.”

Bai Zhizhi looked at Fox Father. “I’m already a thousand years old.”

Fox Father gave a light humpf. “A thousand years old is still a little cub. Play by yourself, I’m going to find your mother.”

Bai Zhizhi humpfed back, rolled over, and clutched the gold-and-jade gourd filled with fruit nectar to his chest. He clearly had his own business to attend to, yet Dad insisted on grabbing him to play, and now it somehow looked like he was the one begging someone to play along with him.

Watching his father leave, Bai Zhizhi called out, “Don’t break my barriers ever again in the future, I really will get angry!”

Without looking back, Fox Father answered, “Got it, you brat. Keeping secrets from your old man, I’ll get angry too!”

As soon as the King Consort departed, Bei Shan—who had been waiting aside since early morning—scuttled over. “Little Highness!”

Bai Zhizhi shook the gourd slightly. “Want some fruit nectar? I’ll share half with you.”

Pulling the Little Highness up from the ground, Bei Shan said, “Forget about fruit nectar, something huge has happened!”

Patting the grass debris clinging to his clothes, Bai Zhizhi asked, “What huge thing could have happened, did the sky fall?”

Bei Shan announced, “Leyou has been abandoned by a heartless scoundrel!”

Hearing this, Bai Zhizhi was utterly shocked. “A heartless scoundrel? Where did a heartless scoundrel come from?”

As a fellow member of the Youxu nine-tailed fox clan, Youxu Leyou was distantly related to their Bai family, and her territory in Qingqiu was quite substantial. The temper of the Youxu family was also notoriously fierce; which heartless scoundrel dared to deceive a daughter of the Youxu family? Had they grown tired of living and wished for death?

Bei Shan said, “It’s too complicated to explain in a sentence or two. We’d better head over to the Youxu household.”

Putting the fruit nectar into his storage artifact, Bai Zhizhi casually tossed out his mount. “Hurry up and let’s go, I want to see who’s got the nerve to have no fear of death.”

Bei Shan reminded him, “Little Highness, you might want to wipe that gloating smile off your face first. I’m afraid Leyou will vent all her anger on you.”

Bai Zhizhi retorted, “She wouldn’t dare! Instead of going after the scoundrel, she just bullies people at home. I’ll mock her for a lifetime.”

Bei Shan suddenly felt that telling the Little Highness before resolving the issue might not have been a very wise decision.