For ordinary people, sensing the Pulse and achieving Foundation Establishment are two insurmountable mountains before mortals; a wealthy family like the Bai Qingqian's can use resources to forcibly achieve it, but this is entirely impossible for smaller cultivation families.

The growth of every cultivator relies on resources in the early stages, and after achieving Foundation Establishment, they give back to their families, forming a virtuous cycle; however, the previous Foundation Establishment patriarch of the Zhang Family failed to manage this well, still harboring ambitions of reaching the Golden Core Realm, which resulted in his death and the complete loss of the Zhang Family's accumulated wealth over generations.

This is the typical path to ruin for many small cultivation families, where family cultivators focus less on nurturing descendants and more on attempting to soar to great heights, thereby dragging the entire family into the abyss.

For cultivators, this is normal, but for a family, it's a disaster.

The decline and hardship span like countless lifetimes; even though the general atmosphere in Sui Mo City is relatively decent, avoiding situations where everyone kicks down a fallen wall, the Zhang Family still feels tremendous pressure. This includes the operations of the entire family's businesses in Sui Mo City, where accounts receivable can't be collected, and debts are frequently demanded. Such issues wouldn't arise when cultivators are suppressing, but now it's indescribably dire.

The Zhang family tried every means to solve this problem, one of which was recruiting a son-in-law, a common move employed by cultivation families when there's a break in lineal descent—a cultivator son-in-law can provide direct help for the family and also carry on the lineage, achieving two goals at once.

The Zhangs happened to be in such circumstances, with two beautiful young ladies in their prime, indeed some capital.

But the issue is, there aren't many single cultivators to recruit; sect cultivators certainly won't condescend, loose cultivators don't want to be bound, they must also have mutual affection, and there must be a roughly correct judgment on the character of this cultivator, lest one loses both people and wealth.

After searching for two years, the Zhangs finally found an opportunity.

Introduced by someone, a handsome cultivator came into the Zhangs' view, said to be a loose cultivator from the Northern Territory, injured in a war between humans and demons, needing a place to recuperate, recover and nurture well-being.

Injury isn't a big problem; what attracted the Zhangs even more was that this loose cultivator surprisingly had Golden Core cultivation, which is indeed enticing; even if life span is limited in the future, another two to three hundred years would still hold up, within these two to three hundred years, would the Zhang family fail to produce a true Foundation Establishment cultivator?

Though time was short, an opportunity missed is lost forever, and there was no time to worry about too much; first tie down this Golden Core, then talk; one must understand that the aging of mortals is rapid, the most attractive years of a woman's life only lasts that long, unable to endure wasting it; if missed, by the time they seek another, their daughter would no longer be in her prime, which is really troublesome then.

Rush is as rush does, for the stable development of the family, not much else mattered, no matter how reluctant the two ladies were, under the long-standing family influence, they couldn't rebel, but had to go with the tide, having no other method.

Daughters from big families, without means to make a living, are powerless like birds without wings; besides marrying a good man, what else can they do?

The wedding feast was set at a family estate outside Nine Towns in Sui Mo City; the place was spacious, capable of portraying grandeur; albeit the clan life was increasingly tough, saving on this expenditure wasn't an option; not only shouldn't it be saved, it should be lavishly amplified, to leave an impression on their circle in Sui Mo City: my Zhang family has roots anew, vile creatures step back quickly!

This is the rule of this world, a fallen family must dress properly, with a well-lit home; a flourishing ancestor must dress plainly, to the extent of lighting just a candle at home.

So, familiar cultivation families in Sui Mo City were all invited, along with government officials, business associates, and so on.

Fortunately, the Zhang family hasn't declined for too long, connections weren't completely severed, and the new son-in-law happened to be a Golden Core cultivator, so everyone still showed respect.

It's a pity that two beautiful flowers are... um, not really in cow dung; in this cultivation world, for mortal women to marry a cultivator lord is indeed a great fortune, with a materially prosperous life, not to mention an easily extended lifespan by a dozen or more years.

As dusk fell and the lamps were lit, more guests arrived than expected, far exceeding the hosts' preparations, and the hall couldn't accommodate everyone, so the wedding was held on the lawn in the courtyard; Shangyu has a mild climate, like spring all year round, adorned with colorful lanterns and Treasured Beads, bright as daylight, no different from indoors, adding more sentiment instead.

After three circulation rounds through wine, and five types of dishes, as per Sui Mo City's tradition, a Taoist rite was due to conclude the ceremony.

In the normal cultivation world, cultivators forming Daoist couples don't bother with such formalities, just moving two meditation mats together suffices, no need for mundane rituals; but for marriages between cultivators and mortals, there are more demands.

The Zhang family didn't want to seem casual, also wanting to leave a deep impression on various circles in Sui Mo City, naturally, they imbued the ceremony with full sensibility, to show an openly sanctioned marriage, sharing joys and troubles, and not just a cultivator finding a woman as temporary warmth in fleeting places.

So they performed the full ceremony; of course, they dared not bother the new son-in-law, knowing how cultivators dislike this hocus-pocus stuff, and simplified many processes, especially those needing the groom's involvement, basically boiling down to the Taoist officiant performing solo.

It was still a formality, after all, many mortals attended today's banquet, and the cultivation attendees weren't of high realms, not entirely adverse to such ceremonies, as they occasionally indulged for excitement.

Jinxiu Continent's Taoists are originally divided into Daoist mortals and Daoists; real Daoists are genuine cultivators, generally retreating to their mountain gates over the years, rarely seen; mortal Taoists cater for mortals' incense offerings and worship, without actual cultivators among them, deriving significant income from conducting rituals for people, regardless of weddings or funerals, as long as invited, they come.

The banquet hosted nearly a hundred tables, the host couldn't attend one and all, at the remotest corner table, two young men whispered together.

The scholar in white appeared slightly nervous, "Cousin, did you or did you not hire him? The ceremony's about to start, but the Taoist officiant hasn't shown up, did he know who he's facing and got scared away?"

The scholar in blue was equally nervous, but dared not show it, "Rest assured, I didn't hire a local temple Taoist, they definitely wouldn't dare come; I hired a traveling Taoist, new to the area, unfamiliar with local circumstances, as long as there's money involved, what dare he not do? Anyway, for them, it's a one-time earning before moving on, without the worry of anyone causing trouble for him; I heard, with the difference between Mortal Cultivation, generally, cultivators don't dare bother mortals."

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