From the family treasure tree to build an eternal family

Chapter 185 Decision-making
"Using force to coerce these people into talking won't work."

Xu Xiaohou realized that he had made a mistake in his decision.

He had deliberately left them alive, but the two demonic cultivators at the ninth level of Qi Refining committed suicide without hesitation after losing their ability to resist. One of them turned into poisonous pus all over his body, leaving not even a hair behind.

With his methods, he could only kill these demonic cultivators to vent his anger, but he could not possibly find out the mastermind behind them or the whereabouts of Xu Zhongxi.

"What force is behind these demonic cultivators?"

He couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

It can make demonic cultivators at the eighth or ninth level of Qi Refining give up their lives without hesitation, and these demonic cultivators seem to be endless, as a few are killed and a few more emerge.

Ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivation families probably wouldn't consider the lives of late-stage Qi Refining cultivators as worthless.

"Chief Yan of the Demon-Slaying Division in Heyuan County clearly knows something. Since he doesn't want credit..."

Thinking of this, Xu Xiaohou gave up his plan to bring these demonic cultivators back to his elder brother as a reward for his achievements.

He simply packed up all the storage pouches, then turned and flew away.

As soon as he ascended into the sky, he remembered that there were still many girls imprisoned in Wuxu Mountain, so he searched carefully and found them in the cave.

About seventy girls were rescued.

Xu Xiaohou originally intended to seek help from Heyuan County, but he realized that Yan Qing was clearly unwilling to get involved, so he could only slowly bring these girls to the outside of Wuxu Mountain by himself.

"This is the main road, with passing caravans and pedestrians. You are safe now. This is the best I can do for you."

He has already done an immense favor by saving these people's lives; it's impossible for him to settle everyone's affairs properly.

"Thank you, sir!"

"Thank you, Immortal!"

The girls bowed in gratitude, for they had been given a second chance at life.

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.

Baihe Mountain.

Xu Fugui practiced his cultivation techniques within his internal space.

He is 83 years old this year, and the family's treasure tree next to him has grown to 8.3 meters tall.

The Xu family's treasure tree now has a thick trunk, lush branches and leaves, and a verdant canopy that covers the space inside the body.

In the past five years, the branches of the "Li" generation have grown a few more, and both the Enlightenment Spirit Fruit and the Longevity Spirit Fruit have been nourished.

The Enlightenment Spirit Fruit is only missing the aura of two more descendants to be upgraded to the Foundation Establishment level!
By next year, the Xu family will possess a Foundation Establishment level cultivation technique.

The Longevity Fruit is currently only missing the aura of three more of Xu Xiaoan's offspring to be upgraded to a [Forty Years] Longevity Fruit.

The generation name is "Zhong".

Xu Xiaoniu's eldest son, Zhonglei, has three sons.

His second son, Xu Zhongyao, is a cultivator in name only. He married Miao Yingying, who is pregnant and awaiting childbirth.

The deceased Xu Xiaogou had an eldest son, Zhongche, who was the family's alchemist and remained unmarried. His second son, Zhonghuai, had an only son, Liyuan, who was currently the most talented and strongest member of the "Li" generation.

The whereabouts of the third daughter, Zhongxi, are unknown.

Xu Fugui had personally advised Zhongche on his marriage, as had his uncles, but Zhongche was worried that outsiders would find out about his family's secret alchemy, so he was unwilling to get married.

Xu Xiaoyun's eldest son and daughter-in-law, Xu Zhongchao and Ma Shujie, only have one son, Li Jing.

Her second son, Xu Zhongchuan, gave birth to three children.

Xu Xiaoan had the most children and descendants.

Zhongyi had four children: Lijia, Liyi, Libing, and Liding.

After giving birth to Li Jie and Li Jie, Zhong Er did not have any more children.

Chung-san had three children, and Chung-si had two.

Because Xu Fugui was reluctant to use spirit stones, he was at the seventh level of Qi Refining five years ago, and he is still at the seventh level of Qi Refining now.

Upon reaching the late stage of Qi Refining, with his five pseudo-spiritual roots, his progress would be very slow without the aid of spirit stones. Even with the abundant spiritual energy within his internal space, it would still take him ten to twenty years of arduous cultivation to advance from the seventh to the eighth level of Qi Refining. Since he possessed the Longevity Fruit, he wasn't in a hurry. After circulating his cultivation technique for two hours, he stopped and used the "Spirit Farmer's Qi Refining Technique" to nourish the spiritual plants within his internal space.

The internal space expands year by year as the family's treasure tree grows.

The number of spiritual plants among them is increasing.

Xu Fugui used the Spirit Farming Technique to enhance the growth of spiritual plants, accumulating a considerable number of century-old, first-tier spiritual plants. Having reached the seventh level of Qi Refining, the magical effects of the Spirit Farming Technique were further enhanced.

"Promote growth!"

He made a hand seal, and the spiritual energy in his dantian circulated between the meridians and acupoints, transforming into pure wood-type energy essence, which was then injected into a spiritual plant called the withered leaf crow.

The less than ten-year-old withered leaf plant is growing at a visible rate, sprouting patches of "withered leaves".

A moment later, the withered leaf crow suddenly gained thirty years!
Xu Fugui's spiritual energy in his dantian was more than half depleted.

"A hundred-year-old withered leaf crow is worth thirty spirit stones. I can cultivate a hundred-year-old withered leaf crow in three days. Tsk, being a spirit farmer is not bad. Although the combat power is not strong, it is not so difficult to earn spirit stones."

With that thought in mind, he sat cross-legged again beside the precious tree, circulating his energy and restoring his spiritual power.

It's an illusion for Xu Fugui that spiritual farmers can easily earn spirit stones, because he has an internal space that allows him to quickly replenish his spiritual energy.

If this were outside, a Qi Refining Stage 7 cultivator would need to practice for a full day to recover after consuming half of their spiritual energy, thus delaying their cultivation progress.

"It's time to go out."

After recovering his spiritual energy, he left the space within his body.

Every one or two days, he would patrol around Baihe Mountain to check the situation in various places.

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.

Xu Fugui had just appeared in the sacred land of Baihe Mountain when he happened to meet Xu Xiaohou, who had just returned from Wuxu Mountain.

"Sixth son, how is the situation?"

Xu Xiaoniu had told Xu Fugui before, so he knew where Xu Xiaohou had gone.

“Father, I have not been able to find out Xiaoxi’s whereabouts. It’s a long story. I’ll go and call my elder brother here. This matter is worth discussing.”

"Okay, I'll wait for you in the underground cave."

Xu Fugui went to the underground cave where they were discussing important matters.

A moment later, Xu Xiaoniu and Xu Xiaohou arrived.

"Let me first explain what happened. After I arrived in Heyuan County, I found Yan Qing, the head of the Demon Subduing Division..."

Xu Xiaohou recounted the whole story.

After listening to his words, Xu Fugui and Xu Xiaoniu both fell into deep thought.

This is no small matter.

The more they learned about that group of demonic cultivators, the more they realized the immense power behind them.

After a long silence, Xu Fugui sighed, "There must be a Foundation Establishment cultivator behind them."

Without Foundation Establishment, it would be impossible to control so many late-stage Qi Refining demonic cultivators.

I suspect there is more than one Foundation Establishment cultivator.

"Dad, what should I do?"

Xu Xiaohou knew the matter was thorny and even concerned the safety of his family, so he could not make decisions on his own.

Should we save Xu Zhongxi or not?

Xu Fugui pondered for a long time before saying, "Our most urgent task is to find a way to help Liu Zi break through to the Foundation Establishment stage. Da Niu, use your status as a celestial official to inquire about the methods for breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage and what resources the imperial court can provide."

"Liu Zi's decision not to bring back those demonic cultivator corpses as a credit was wise. We still need to find out Xiao Xi's whereabouts, but we should try a different approach and be more flexible..."

His current reliance is that the forces behind the demonic cultivators may not know that it was Xu Xiaohou who killed them.

Secondly, they are demonic cultivators after all, beings that everyone hates, and dare not reveal their identities in broad daylight.

(End of this chapter)