Being a Late Bloomer in the Cultivation World

"Talisman Master Wei, you are a Tributor for the Huang Family. With the front lines in crisis, we are short on a batch of Tier Two Talismans. I hope you can work quickly to produce them."

Huang Changshun instructed.

As he spoke, he took out a jade scroll and handed it to Wei Tu.

The jade scroll contained a list of the large batch of Talismans the Huang Family required.

Wei Tu took the jade scroll and glanced at it, a flicker of displeasure rising within him. However, he didn’t let any of it show, keeping his emotions hidden.

The batch consisted of a full three hundred Talismans, but the price the Huang Family offered was pushed down to an extreme low, barely above the cost of materials.

By all rights, as the Huang Family’s Talisman Master Tributor, he was obligated to craft Talismans for them during wartime. But that didn’t mean a Tributor should perform free labor for the family.

’Cost price and a low price are two completely different things!’

Although Tributors and their host family had a nominal master-servant relationship, it was more akin to a loose alliance. The host family provided an Inheritance and a Spiritual Land, while the Artisan Tributor was responsible for providing their crafted Spiritual Objects. This strengthened the host family’s power, ensuring they wouldn’t get "choked" in a particular area, while the economic exchanges reinforced the dependence of any affiliated families on the host.

The relationship was meant to be mutually beneficial.

After all, the stipend the family provided Tributors was hardly enough for daily needs. Most Tributors had to rely on their craft to earn the Spirit Stones required for their Cultivation.

In other words, the Hee Mountain Huang Family had simply provided Tributors with a platform to cultivate and sell their wares, after first bestowing them with some of the family’s Inheritance.

’This cost-price offer... Huang Changshun must be certain I’m going to leave the Hee Mountain Huang Family, so he’s trying to squeeze every last drop of value out of me.’

Such a move wasn’t entirely unjustifiable, but it had a way of burning bridges.

’No wonder Huang Caiyu dared to provoke Artifact Master Xia and me like that at the gathering more than twenty years ago. Looking at it now, it’s clearly because of her father,’ Wei Tu mused.

In his opinion, what the Hee Mountain Huang Family needed now was combat strength, not material wealth.

Golden Core Ancestor Huang Xinglie, for instance, had acted wisely. He had exempted Wei Tu from surrendering his Core Formation Spiritual Object, thus creating a bond of goodwill with him.

Huang Changshun, however, was the complete opposite.

Never mind the sour look Huang Changshun had given him after he refused the marriage alliance; the harsh demands in this jade scroll alone were enough to fill him with dissatisfaction and the desire to leave.

’After I finish these three hundred Talismans, I’ll leave the Huang Family,’ Wei Tu decided.

The three hundred Talismans would be his way of repaying the Hee Mountain Huang Family for the favor of taking him on as a Tributor.

Once that debt was paid, he would leave the Hee Mountain Huang Family immediately and find a new path for himself.

With this in mind, Wei Tu cupped his hands in a salute to Clan Leader Huang Changshun and stated his intentions.

"I am unworthy. I have taken the Huang Family’s stipend without making any significant contribution. After completing the Talismans listed in this jade scroll, I wish to request my leave from Cloud Crane Mountain. I ask for the Clan Leader’s permission."

A Tributor’s resignation, while not common in a Golden Core Family, wasn’t unheard of either. It usually involved elderly Cultivators who wished to return to their roots in their final years.

For a young Cultivator like Wei Tu to do so was extremely rare.

As his words fell, the atmosphere in the Clan Affairs Hall fell silent. You could hear a pin drop.

The eyes of the present Huang Family Cultivators all focused on Wei Tu, and their gazes were filled with hostility.

After all, the Huang Family was in peril. For Wei Tu to resign at such a time was not only a breach of faith but also tantamount to kicking them while they were down.

Clan Leader Huang Changshun had already anticipated Wei Tu’s reaction. He had seen this coming from the moment Wei Tu refused to marry a woman of the Huang Family.

If Wei Tu had wanted to remain with the Huang Family, he would not have rejected a marriage alliance at a time like this, nor would he have turned down a Female Cultivator from their clan.

The marriage alliance had been his way of offering Wei Tu a certificate of trust.

"Very well!" Huang Changshun nodded, agreeing to Wei Tu’s request. He then said, "As long as Talisman Master Wei completes the Talismans in this jade scroll, the Hee Mountain Huang Family... will give Fellow Daoist Wei a courteous send-off from Cloud Crane Mountain."

"Thank you, Clan Leader Huang."

Wei Tu’s tone had become more distant.

He wasn’t worried that the Hee Mountain Huang Family would go back on their word.

When he had emerged from the Yunze Secret Realm, he had taken the coffins of Huang Changkong and Huang Wenqing from his Storage Bag. To the Huang Family, this act was both a great service and an immense favor.

He had requested to leave the Huang Family.

If the Hee Mountain Huang Family tried to retaliate and obstruct his departure over this, their reputation in the Zheng Country Cultivation Realm would be ruined.

Besides, he wasn’t some background-less Independent Cultivator; his network of connections was quite broad.

Master Qin was on the verge of Golden Core Formation.

Kou Hongying was Jingshui Pavilion’s Golden Core Seed.

His sworn brother, Fu Zhizhou, was a Tributor for the Qiyue Zhao Family...

These connections ensured that the Hee Mountain Huang Family would not dare to make things difficult for him openly.

And as for in the shadows—he didn’t believe the Hee Mountain Huang Family would dispatch their Golden Core Ancestor, Huang Xinglie, to assassinate him over such a petty grudge.

After all, the Hee Mountain Huang Family’s situation was already precarious.

They couldn’t afford to stir up more trouble.

...

...

(PS: Weii Fei failed his first attempt at Foundation Establishment, causing his Qi and Blood to decay and his potential to be exhausted. Even if he succeeds on his second attempt, he will have no hope of ever reaching the Golden Core realm. This makes him very different from Fu Zhizhou. Weii Fei’s exhausted potential is the price he pays for his carefree days back in the Qi Refining Realm.)