From the family treasure tree to build an eternal family

Chapter 246 Yiqing Establishes Foundation, Tianlin Visits Relatives

After Xu Xiaohou and Liu Yun got married, life in the Xu family returned to normal.

After Xu Zhongche was able to refine the Three-in-One Pill and obtained the superior spiritual artifact Yin-Yang Qiankun Furnace, the Xu family's development speed rose to another level.

The sacred land of Ru'an Mountain is very large, filled with spiritual plants, leaving no empty area.

However, the Xu family has only occupied Ru'an Mountain for a short time, and most of the spiritual plants have just grown up and are far from being ready for alchemy.

The three main medicinal plants used to refine the Three-in-One Pill are required to be over two hundred years old.

Those three main ingredients are second-tier spiritual plants.

The second-tier spiritual plants that Xu Zhongche used to refine the Three-in-One Pill were all grown by Xu Fugui using magic to increase their age in a short period of time.

Fortunately, Xu Fugui advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage, and his cultivation technique, "Immortal Farmer's Foundation Building Technique," was even more effective at promoting the growth of spiritual plants than "Spiritual Farmer's Qi Refining Technique."

Every one or two months, Xu Fugui would cultivate several 200-year-old dragon beard grass, phoenix tail flower, and tiger eye fruit, which he would then hand over to Xu Zhongche to refine the Three-in-One Pill.

Besides refining the Three-in-One Pill, Xu Zhongche continued to refine first-grade spiritual pills such as Qi-replenishing pills and Qi-boosting pills every day.

In addition, he selected members of his family who had the aptitude for alchemy and began training alchemists for the family.

Time passed as the Xu family steadily prospered.

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 months later.

Xu Zhonghuai obtained two more Sanhe Pills from Zhongche.

One Sanhe Pill was given to the Baili family to settle the debt, leaving one Sanhe Pill remaining.

He planned to give this Three-in-One Pill to Xu Yiqing, the only member of the Xu family with a true spiritual root.

Three years ago, Xu Yiqing became a celestial official and was assigned to Changyue County, which is next to Ru'an Mountain, as the chief supervisor of the forestry bureau.

At that time, he had just reached the ninth level of Qi Refining, but now he has reached the peak of Qi Refining.

"Grandpa, did you call me for something?"

Xu Yiqing did not know why Zhong Huai had summoned him.

"Yiqing, you reached the Qi Refining Perfection stage half a year ago. Do you have any plans to break through?"

"I've been preparing for half a year, and I'm planning to go into seclusion recently to try and break through this bottleneck."

Xu Yiqing is still very young, and with his true spiritual root aptitude, he has not used any extra resources such as spirit stones and spirit pills in the past three years. He has only relied on the second-tier spiritual land of Ru'an Mountain to cultivate to the Qi Refining Perfection stage.

With his true spiritual root cultivation aptitude, even without the aid of pills like Foundation Establishment Pills or Three-in-One Pills, he still has a certain chance of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

"To ensure everything goes smoothly, I'll give you a Three-in-One Pill. But this Three-in-One Pill can't be given to you for free. Your merits aren't enough to earn you a Three-in-One Pill from the family. How many spirit stones have you accumulated?"

Xu Zhonghuai was worried that if Xu Yiqing failed to break through, it would be a waste of time.

Given Xu Yiqing's age and aptitude, it's definitely better for him to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm as soon as possible, so that he can achieve greater things in the future. If he fails to break through in seclusion without using the Three-in-One Pill, he will have wasted a lot of time.

At best, it wastes six months to a year to readjust; at worst, it damages the foundation and requires three to five years to recover.

But the Sanhe Dan cannot be given to Xu Yiqing like this.

This is a family resource of the Xu family.

Although Xu Zhonghuai was Yiqing's biological grandfather, he could not treat his clansmen differently based on their relationship to him; he had to treat them all equally and impartially.

"Grandpa, I have a total of over five hundred spirit stones."

Xu Yiqing doesn't usually need spirit stones. These five hundred spirit stones are the result of his hard-earned savings from his salary and benefits as a celestial official over the past three years.

“More than five hundred spirit stones… Ask your father for some more, and I’ll give you some more. If it’s still not enough, just put it on your tab and you owe the family spirit stones. You have to pay them back.”

Xu Zhonghuai was making plans in his mind.

"Ok."

Xu Yiqing nodded. If he had a Three-in-One Pill, his advancement to Foundation Establishment would be a sure thing.

After obtaining the Three-in-One Pill, he immediately went into seclusion to adjust his state.

A few days later, they began to break through the bottleneck.

His foundation-building technique, which he purchased from the imperial court half a year ago when he was a celestial official, is called "Three Thousand Cold Ice Technique".

The cultivation techniques purchased from the imperial court are, apart from being forbidden from being passed on to outsiders, absolutely of high quality and low price.

Two days later, Xu Yiqing successfully broke through and advanced to the Foundation Establishment Realm!
He went to the county government office to register immediately.

Foundation Establishment Immortal Officials enjoy different treatment than Qi Refining Immortal Officials.

After advancing to the Foundation Establishment stage, his salary will increase, and the county government will reassign him to a new position.

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.

On the long journey from the ancient city of Nancheng to Yuanli County.

The two Foundation Establishment cultivators were flying at a leisurely pace.

It was Fan Tianlin and Yang Zhen who had come to Gu Nan City three years ago to participate in the selection of immortal officials by the government.

However, the two were actually members of the Wuma family who had possessed them.

Fan Tianlin's true identity is Wuma Chenyang, the grandson of Wuma Boyi, the second strongest member of the Wuma family and a late-stage Golden Core cultivator.

Yang Zhen's true identity is Wuma Haoqian, and his great-grandfather was also a Golden Core cultivator of the Wuma family.

Taking over another person's body and seizing their spiritual roots is extremely dishonorable on the surface, but not everyone is qualified to have this "opportunity".

Both of them were originally mortals without spiritual roots in the Wuma family, but they both had powerful direct ancestors.

Fan Tianlin is currently at the third level of Foundation Establishment.

Three years ago, he reached the ninth level of Qi cultivation.

In just three years, Fan Tianlin progressed from the ninth level of Qi Refining to the third level of Foundation Establishment. Such a rapid advancement was extremely remarkable, even considering his talent with the Earth Spirit Root.

It should be noted that it took Xu Xiaohou thirty years to go from the first to the third level of Foundation Establishment.

Fan Tianlin not only possesses the Earth Spirit Root, but also has the Wuma family, the most prestigious family in Zhennan Prefecture, behind him, so his strength naturally increases extremely quickly.

He has no official connection with the Wuma family, but a few members of the clan, such as Wuma Boyi, know his identity and will spare no effort to provide him with resources.

Yang Zhen is currently at the second level of Foundation Establishment.

His cultivation level was lower than Fan Tianlin's, but when he signed up for the selection of immortal officials three years ago, he was only at the second level of Qi Refining.

Three years is not a long time even for ordinary people, but the two of them have undergone great changes in their cultivation level and status.

"Haoqian, this is our first time visiting home. What if we get caught?"

This was the first time the two had returned home to visit their family.

This was a test for the two of them, as they were the people who had possessed those people.

"Shh~~"

Hearing Fan Tianlin call him by his real name, Yang Zhen was startled. Over the past three years, he had become accustomed to the identity of "Yang Zhen" and very few people called him by his real name in front of him.

"Tianlin, from now on you must call me Yang Zhen by my name."

Although the two were flying through the air and no one around could hear them, Yang Zhen still lowered his voice.

Seeing Fan Tianlin's worry, he comforted him, "It's been three years. We've both advanced from the Qi Refining stage to the Foundation Establishment stage, and we also have the status of celestial officials in the government office. It's normal for our temperament and habits to change."

Besides, from sixteen to almost twenty, this is the time of greatest change. This is the source of their confidence in pretending.

Three years ago, they were sixteen-year-old boys with youthful innocence on their faces.

Now that the two are approaching twenty years old, their physical appearance has changed drastically, not to mention the changes in their aura brought about by their improved cultivation levels.

Given their circumstances, it's unreasonable for them not to go home to visit their families for three years.

No matter how busy he was with government affairs, he still had to go home.

Fan Tianlin was aware of all this, but he still couldn't help feeling nervous. It wasn't just the fear of being discovered, but also a sense of guilt and shame in his heart.

"Tianlin, what excuse do you think I should use to return to the family?"

Yang Zhen felt the wind whistling past his cheeks as he pondered this question.

He preferred his original identity to the identity of Yang Zhen. After becoming Yang Zhen, even some of his original relatives and friends in the clan could not recognize him.

The secret of "body possession" is something that even some members of the Wuma family with slightly lower status are not qualified to know.

"The most common method is to fake death to escape. Pretend to be on a mission outside, encounter a demonic cultivator, and then die."

Fan Tianlin said that this is the most common method used after someone has possessed another body.

Once the identity of "Yang Zhen" is dead, all that is needed is for Prefect Lin Shengping to cooperate in sending people to investigate and deal with the demonic cultivator. After that, no one will care about the death of this celestial official from a mortal family.

After that, Wuma Haoqian will be able to return to his family under his true identity. With the Wuma family's resources, they possess techniques to alter one's appearance and physique, allowing him to return to his former form.

The problem is that the excuse of faking death has been used by others many times.

Even immortal geniuses with the aptitude of earth-rooted spiritual cultivation can perish prematurely, but too many earth-rooted immortal officials dying unexpectedly would seem suspicious.

"I actually have another idea."

Yang Zhen knew that "faking death to escape" was the most common, simplest, and most convenient method, but he had other ideas.

"Do you think that if I marry into the Wuma family under my current identity, I can return to the family without dying or changing my appearance?"

Bringing in a wife?

Fan Tianlin was surprised: "You want to marry into our family and become a live-in son-in-law of a woman from the Wuma clan?"

"...I think this is a very good method."

Yang Zhen knew the rules of "body possession": to maintain the purity of the Wuma family bloodline, he could not have children. It was uncertain whether the offspring born into his new body would be of the Wuma or Yang family bloodline.

There is no definitive conclusion on this point, but it is against the rules of the Wuma family.

However, for a man, being unable to have children is a great regret in life. He thought that if he married into the Wuma family and had children as a son-in-law, then his descendants should be considered as members of the Wuma family bloodline.

"You still want to have children and grandchildren, don't you?"

Fan Tianlin thought for a moment and understood Yang Zhen's true intention, and pointed it out to him.

"Um... the rule that we can't have children after possessing another's body is so unreasonable. Why shouldn't we be considered as belonging to the Wuma family? Do you consider yourself a member of the Wuma family or the Fan family?"

After being exposed, Yang Zhen decided to reveal her true feelings.

Fan Tianlin rolled his eyes: "We knew the rules before the possession, why are you going back on your word now? Do as you please, I have no interest in having children, I only want to pursue the path of immortality and reach the Golden Core stage as soon as possible."

"..."

Yang Zhen was speechless. It wasn't that he had changed his mind; it was just that his greedy human nature—wanting both—was at play. Compared to having offspring, possessing a spiritual root and cultivating immortality was clearly more appealing.

If he had to choose ten thousand times, he would choose to possess another body and acquire the earth spirit root without hesitation.

But having acquired the Earth Spirit Root, he felt it was unfair and unreasonable.

With their own thoughts, the two spent two days flying from Gu Nan City back to Yuanli County.

As they were about to part, Fan Tianlin, who was feeling nervous, changed his mind: "Yang Zhen, don't go back to your house yet. Come with me to my house and be my guest."

"Row."

Yang Zhen knew that Fan Tianlin was nervous. As someone who was selected as a celestial official in the same batch as Fan Tianlin, becoming friends with Fan Tianlin and visiting the Fan family would better explain his identity.

The two flew together to the sacred land of the Fan family and the towering sacred mountain.

Near Yuanli City, the two saw the towering, cloud-piercing Mount Wanren, which was very conspicuous.

The two were very familiar with each other's identities, even though it was actually their first time here. That towering sacred mountain was the highest sacred mountain in Yuanli County and was the territory of the Fan family.

As they approached the towering Mount Wanren, the two slowed their pace.

"Walk."

Fan Tianlin took a deep breath and flew into the towering Mount Wanren with Yang Zhen.

"Who is coming?"

A member of the Fan family, who was guarding the mountain and was at the late stage of Qi Refining, discovered the two.

Just as Fan Tianlin was pondering how to greet them, the other person recognized him first: "It's Tianlin?! Tianlin, you're finally back! Quick, I'll go inform the clan leader..."

The man became agitated and turned to fly deep into the sacred mountain.

Without hesitation, Fan Tianlin quickly led Yang Zhen to fly into the Spirit Mountain, which saved him the trouble of searching for people.

A moment later, Fan Tianlin met Fan Kongye.

He had seen Fan Kongye's portrait long ago and had memorized all the information about Fan Kongye.

"Great-grandfather, I'm back."

He was the first to bow and greet them.

"Tianlin, my good great-grandson, you've reached the third level of Foundation Establishment in just three years?!"

A month ago, Fan Kongye received a message from Fan Tianlin via a talisman, saying that he would be going home soon, and he had been waiting for it.

Fan Kongye looked at Fan Tianlin with great joy.

"Who is this?"

He noticed Yang Zhen standing next to Fan Tianlin.

“Great-grandfather, he is Yang Zhen. When the immortal officials of our Yuanli County were selected, he was the earth spirit root of our county. He was selected as an immortal official of the prefecture government along with me, and he also entered the patrol office with me.”

We're from the same hometown and looked after each other at the government office. He's also back to visit relatives this time, so I invited him to our home as a guest.

Fan Tianlin introduced himself to Fan Tianlin.

“I remember, but things have changed so much that I didn’t recognize you at first. Young friend Yang Zhen, welcome to my home. Thank you for taking care of my great-grandson all these years.”

As a celestial official of the government office with a spiritual root, Yang Zhen was a guest of extremely high status in the Fan family.

Yang Zhen bowed politely: "Greetings, Elder Fan. Over the years, it was mainly Tianlin who took care of me and looked after me a great deal..."

A moment later, all the Foundation Establishment members of the Fan family arrived.

And Fan Tianlin's parents.

Although Fan Tianlin possesses the rare aptitude of Earth Spiritual Root, his father only has a mixed four-elemental spiritual root, and his mother is a mortal from another cultivation family: she has potential spiritual root aptitude but no spiritual root.

He wasn't very familiar with his parents, but he was much closer to Fan Kongye. After his spiritual root aptitude was detected, he spent more time with Fan Kongye.

Given that they hadn't seen each other for three years, it was understandable that Fan Tianlin and his parents were estranged, and it didn't arouse any strange thoughts among the Fan family members.

After staying at the Fan family's house for a day, Yang Zhen saw that Fan Tianlin had become familiar with the family, so he bid farewell and left for his own home.

(End of this chapter)