From the family treasure tree to build an eternal family

Chapter 108 Demonic Cultivator
At this moment, someone arrived at the Xu family's old residence.

Wang Qian came to announce good news: her daughter-in-law had given birth again, this was her fifth child.

She only had two children when she was young, but when it came to her son Du Meng and daughter-in-law, she urged them to have a baby every day. She was unconsciously influenced by the Xu family and changed her mindset: a large family has great strength, and if there are two successful people, they can lead the whole family to grow and prosper.

When encountering difficulties, it is easier to cope with having more family members.

Du Meng got married more than ten years ago and just had his fifth child.

The current situation of the Du family is as follows: Du Hai is getting old and has started to retire, so his second son, Du Meng, has taken over his job and is teaching martial arts to children in Baihe Village.

Du Meng was also stuck at the advanced martial artist level and failed to advance to the innate realm.

With many children, the Du family also made sure each child practiced martial arts and studied, which was very expensive.

Fortunately, the Du family was well-off, and although their lives were not as prosperous as before, they were still much better off than ordinary farmers.

"What day is it today? Why is your house so lively?"

Wang Qian smiled broadly, and her attire was much simpler than when she was younger.

"Please come in, Auntie."

Xu Xiaoan welcomed Wang Qian into the room.

"I'm here to share some good news. My daughter-in-law gave birth to a baby boy. If you're free, please come to my house for the 100-day celebration."

As Wang Qian spoke, her gaze swept across the crowd, searching for Jia Zhen.

However, after looking around, he didn't see Jiazhen, but instead saw a young wife.

"You are?!"

She stared in shock at Jiazhen's face, which was Jiazhen from twenty years ago.

“Auntie, my eldest brother gave my mother a magic pill to preserve her youthful appearance and prolong her life. It can keep her looking young for thirty years and extend her life by ten years.”

Xu Xiaoan explained.

"This……"

After a long while, Wang Qian recovered from her shock and said enviously, "Jiazhen is so lucky. Your children are all so promising."

She memorized the "elixir of youth and longevity" and planned to go back and inquire about it.

In an ordinary family, a single spirit stone could bring about the destruction of the entire household.

If she knew the price of the youth-preserving elixir, she would definitely give up the idea completely.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

a few days later.

Xu Fugui planted several spiritual plants in his internal space to fill the gap left by the previous sale of some spiritual plants.

Those two ginseng plants had been planted before.

"Begin your cultivation."

He sat cross-legged beside the precious tree and began circulating the "Lingnong Qi Cultivation Technique".

At his current pace, relying solely on the abundant spiritual energy within his body, he should be able to reach the third level of Qi Refining in about five years: a three-inch dantian and the opening of the nine orifices and eight holes.

With the addition of a "Qi-Boosting Pill", one can successfully break through to the fourth level of Qi Refining.

At the fourth level of Qi Refining, which is the middle stage of Qi Refining, he will be able to cultivate the second level of the Flying Sword Technique.

He also needs to study the spells that come with the "Spirit Farmer's Manual".

The Xu family still has more than forty spirit stones left for cultivation. Giving Xu Xiaoniu and Xu Xiaohou one spirit stone each month is enough for them to use for a long time.

"It's best not to go to Qingqiu Mountain anytime soon."

After what happened in Qingqiu Market, there will definitely be a period of turmoil.

Xu Fugui had nothing to exchange for spirit stones except for a limited number of spiritual plants, so he devoted himself to cultivation from then on.

After circulating his energy three times, he stopped cultivating and left his inner space to accompany Jiazhen.

Spiritual practice knows no time; one should not neglect spending time with family while focusing on spiritual practice.

time flies.

The Xu family quietly developed their business.

The following year, Fu Zhiyi gave birth to the first girl in the Xu family's "Zhong" generation, named Xu Zhongxi.

In the same year, Xu Xiaoniu's wife Chen Xiulian became pregnant with their second child, and Xu Xiaoan's wife Chunjuan became pregnant with their third child.

Another year later, Xu Xiaoniu's second son was born and named Xu Zhongyao.

Xu Xiaoan's third son was born and named Xu Zhongsan.

……

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Ten years have passed since Jiazhen took the Youth Preservation Pill.

Baihe Village.

A young man dressed in ordinary robes and of unremarkable appearance strolled leisurely, looking around as he walked.

"It must have been twenty-five years, the changes are really huge."

As he walked, he came to the gate of a dilapidated house.

"It's still here?"

When he left, the mansion had only been built two years prior, and it was brand new and impressive.

Over the years, the red paint on the solid wood door has faded, revealing the rotten wood underneath; the brickwork on the walls has peeled off, becoming mottled and discolored; and a corner of the eaves has collapsed due to rain...

Seeing that the courtyard gate was unlocked, he gently pushed it open and entered, the wooden door creaking and rattling.

Entering the courtyard, he saw that the surrounding houses were as they had been, except for their dilapidated state, they were almost identical to those he had left behind.

The room's furnishings remained unchanged, with several memorial tablets placed on a high table against the wall.

He glanced at it only once before looking away. He still doesn't want to think about that incident.

"Huh? Is someone cleaning?"

He ran his fingers across the tabletop, which was only covered in a light layer of dust, not like a place that hadn't been visited in twenty-five years.

But the surrounding area doesn't seem to be inhabited.

Just then, the courtyard gate creaked open.

He vanished in a flash, hiding in the distance to secretly observe.

A woman in her fifties, wearing an apron and carrying a broom and rag, came to clean.

His master's family was the Xu family, and Xu Xiaogou, the third son of the Xu family, arranged for her to come and clean this old courtyard every two months. "Is it him?"

A blurry figure appeared in Zhao Shuai's mind.

It had been so long that he could no longer remember Xu Xiaogou's appearance, only his broad body with a muscular build due to practicing the Bear-Tiger Stance.

He knew that the Xu family was doing quite well; he had just passed by the Xu family's old house and sensed that it was bustling with activity.

If someone cleans his house, it must be arranged by the Xu family.

He resisted the urge to meet with Xu Xiaogou and reminisce, as his current identity was not convenient to reveal.

Besides, we were all young men back then, with pure feelings and simple natures.

Now the other person is a middle-aged man in his forties, perhaps even with grandchildren, while he has embarked on a completely different path.

"The murderers who killed my family back then are long dead at the hands of the Xu family, and I have no regrets about that. It's just that the Liu family, who took advantage of my misfortune and bullied me, are still doing well. Heaven has no eyes."

But..."

Zhao Shuai thought that because his family members had all died, the Liu family intended to "eat the dead" and use the power of the county magistrate to seize his family's hundred acres of land.

He couldn't avenge this grudge back then, so he could only endure it.

Now, I'll just do it as a matter of course.

---

The patriarch of the Liu family, Liu Yaozong, passed away a few years ago, but the eldest son, Liu Hongwei, and the third son, Liu Hongtu, did not separate from the family.

After their uncle Liu Yaozu died, the second son Liu Hongzhan was conscripted into the army and never returned, plunging the Liu family into crisis.

If the Liu family is not united, it will fall into ruin sooner or later.

So Liu Hongwei and Liu Hongtu focused on development and gradually restored the Liu family's fortunes, giving them another 800 mu of farmland.

The Liu family's methods of development were similar to Liu Yaozong's: exploiting tenants and oppressing long-term workers in order to amass as much wealth as possible for development.

Liu Hongwei had two sons, and Liu Hongtu also had two sons.

After that, the two stopped having children. Their philosophy was to have as few children as possible, concentrate resources on cultivating innate martial artists in the family, and then benefit others, so that they could lead the entire family to develop.

Currently, Liu Hongtu's second son, Liu Qihang, has innate talent, and the Liu family has spared no effort in nurturing him, even buying him a lot of Qi and Blood Pills.

At eighteen years old, Liu Qihang is currently at the limit of his acquired abilities. Being so young, there is a high probability that he will break through to the innate level.

As for the other members of the Liu family, such as Liu Qiming and Liu Qisheng, they did not have any innate talent, so they did not waste resources and instead managed the family's land and other affairs, and were responsible for making money.

Night falls on the Liu family's three-courtyard mansion.

Zhao Shuai had inquired carefully and knew everything about the current members of the Liu family.

Liu Qihang happened to be home today, and all of his family members were there.

We must nip this in the bud; leave no one alive!

His spiritual energy surged beneath his feet, and his figure floated up, landing in the Liu family's residence.

"Kill those troublemakers first, then leave Liu Hongwei and Liu Hongtu to be tortured."

He cast a spell, and several slender, dark red vines flew out of his body in all directions, breaking through the windows and reaching into the room.

Some people were unknowingly impaled by vines while they were asleep and died instantly.

Some also experienced brief periods of pain, feeling their lives rapidly slipping away in their final moments.

In the blink of an eye, only three members of the Liu family remained: Liu Hongwei, Liu Hongtu, and Liu Hongwei's grandson.

The rest of the Liu family members, along with their wives, all died.

Liu Hongwei's eldest son, Liu Qiming, has been married for several years and has a three-year-old child.

"What is the taste?"

Liu Hongwei smelled blood in his sleep. He opened his eyes and saw his wife staring at him with bulging eyes and a look of utter horror in the dim moonlight.

……

In that instant, his mind went blank, his hair stood on end, and he was so terrified that he couldn't make a sound.

Immediately afterwards, a vine tightly bound his mouth, silencing him completely, leaving only terrified groans coming from his nostrils.

His body was dragged out of the room by vines, and next to him was his third brother, Liu Hongtu, who was also bound by vines.

Their eyes met, and both could see the terror in each other's eyes.

In front of the two, someone stood with their back to them.

The man was carrying a three-year-old child who was crying loudly.

Zhao Shuai took out a palm-sized bronze gourd from his pocket. The gourd was covered with dense patterns.

This item is called the "Infant Soul Vessel," and it can refine the souls of children around three years old.

A newborn baby has no three souls or seven spirits awakened, no consciousness, and no memory of this period.

Consciousness is not considered to be born until the age of two or three, when one has a fresh and pure soul.

Zhao Shuai opened the "Infant Soul Cup," pointed the gourd at Liu Hongwei's grandson, and poured a wisp of spiritual energy into it.

An invisible force extracted the soul of the three-year-old child and sucked it into the gourd.

The child who was just jumping around a moment ago has become a corpse in the blink of an eye, his whole body pale and his pupils gray.

"What a fresh infant soul!"

Zhao Shuai closed the mouth of the Infant Soul Vessel, turned around, and looked at Liu Hongwei and Liu Hongtu with an extremely eerie expression.

"Woo~~"

Both were terrified, struggling desperately with their mouths covered. A foul-smelling liquid flowed from between their legs.

The vines constricted the two of them, penetrating deep into their flesh, and drops of blood dripped down the vines.

"What, have you forgotten who I am?"

Zhao Shuai leaned closer so the two could see his face clearly.

More than 20 years have passed, and Zhao Shuai's temperament has undergone tremendous changes, but his appearance has not changed much.

In their shock, Liu Hongwei and Liu Hongtu recognized him.

Back when Zhao Shuai was taken in as a disciple by the immortal, the Liu family worried that he might one day cultivate into an immortal and take revenge.

So much time has passed that they've almost forgotten.

"You recognized me? Then you can go die."

That day finally arrived.

(End of this chapter)