From the family treasure tree to build an eternal family

Chapter 255 The Carefree King, Shennong's Creation Technique

Behind the Golden Core cultivator, the Foundation Establishment Stage 9 cultivator announced loudly, "This is the esteemed Prince Xiaoyao of Zhennan Prefecture."

The Carefree King?!

Among the crowd, Nie Tingjun and Tuoba Hongyang were terrified upon hearing this name.

Who holds the most prestigious position in the entire Zhennan Prefecture?

Which clan holds the highest status in the entire Qian Yuan Immortal Dynasty?
The answer is undoubtedly: royalty!
There are two princes in Zhennan Prefecture: the Prince of Zhennan and the Prince of Xiaoyao.

These two are people no one dares to provoke. Even the Prefect Lin Shengping has to bow his head in front of these two princes.

Nie Tingjun and Tuoba Hongyang came from a family of Golden Core cultivators and had heard of the name of the Carefree King long ago.

For the Golden Core families of Zhennan Prefecture, there are very few people they cannot afford to offend. Therefore, every member of the family needs to know who these people are.

This has almost become a "required course" for members of the Golden Core family.

"Greetings, Prince Xiaoyao!"

Nie Tingjun bowed again.

Tuoba Hongyang's expression turned obsequious, and he said loudly, "Greetings, Prince Xiaoyao! I have long admired your great reputation, and today I am honored to witness your splendor."

Seeing the two of them act this way, the others quickly changed their tune and said in unison, "Greetings, Prince Xiaoyao!"

The carefree king, whose real name is Ujuna La Yize.

"Ujunara" is the royal surname.

Yi Ze hovered in the air, looking down at the people who were bowing respectfully, his expression calm and composed.

After a long silence, he finally spoke: "From this day forward, Xiang Liuyun of the Xiang family shall be the Prefect of Yuanli County."

This was the purpose of his trip: to appoint a prefect for Yuanli County.

Xiang Liuyun comes from the Xiang family of Gu Nancheng. He is ranked among the top five Golden Core families and is on par with the Wuma family.

Upon hearing this, the crowd below reacted in various ways.

Nie Tingjun was going to take up his post in the prefectural government, so who the prefect of Yuanli County was was no longer his concern. He was just puzzled that the Prince of Xiaoyao had appointed a prefect for Yuanli County, which was clearly against the rules.

But given the Prince of Xiaoyao's status, he did it anyway, and no one else dared to say anything. Even if Prefect Lin Shengping were here, he would have to admit it.

Among the crowd, Tuoba Hongyang was the most distressed.

He was determined to get the position of governor of Yuanli County. He had previously sought help from the government office, and his family had also put in a lot of effort.

Logically, he should be the prefect of Yuanli County.

Tuoba Hongyang did not have the same talent and comprehension as Nie Tingjun. Although he also had a true spiritual root, he only reached the Foundation Establishment stage at the age of thirty with the support of his family's resources, and he only reached the seventh level of Foundation Establishment when he first arrived in Yuanli County as a celestial official.

It took many more years to reach the completion of the Foundation Establishment stage.

He is over two hundred years old this year and has been stuck at the bottleneck of Foundation Establishment Perfection for forty or fifty years. If he doesn't find a way to advance to Golden Core, once he passes two hundred and twenty years old and enters old age, his condition will decline, and his hope of breaking through to Golden Core will be extremely slim.

The position of governor of Yuanli County was very important to him.

As the prefect, he had complete control over all the resources of Yuanli County. The amount of resources he could embezzle or accept as bribes was countless, ten or even a hundred times more than when he was the director of the Demon Subduing Division!
He needs to earn resources for his family before they will help him advance to the Golden Core stage.

His sure-fire position as prefecture governor vanished with the arrival of the carefree prince.

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.

As for the other celestial officials, it didn't matter to them who became the prefect.

Everyone bowed to Xiang Liuyun.

"Greetings, His Excellency the County Magistrate!"

"..."

In the air, after making the announcement, Yi Ze looked at Xiang Liuyun and said in his ear, "Remember what I told you."

Xiang Liuyun replied repeatedly, "Your Highness, rest assured, I will keep your mission in mind."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw the Carefree King turn around and fly away, quickly disappearing from everyone's sight.

From the moment the carefree prince appeared with Xiang Liuyun, to the announcement that he would become the prefect, and then to his departure, it was only a few short sentences, yet it left a deep impression on everyone.

Xiang Liuyun descended from the sky.

Among the many Foundation Establishment Immortal Officials present, several were no weaker than him, and some were even stronger. He dared not be arrogant.

With his family's influence and the Prince of Xiaoyao as his backer, his position as prefect is quite secure.

Upon the newly appointed prefect, all the officials present stepped forward to pay their respects and strike up a conversation, hoping to leave a good impression.

"Greetings, Your Excellency Prefect. I am Xu Xiaoniu, a fourth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Xu family of Ru'an Mountain, a reserve Demon-Slaying Guard of the Demon-Slaying Division..."

"Greetings, Your Excellency Prefect. I am Xu Yiqing, the Forest Supervisor, a Foundation Establishment cultivator at level three, from..."

Xu Xiaoniu and Xu Yiqing followed the celestial officials and stepped forward to pay their respects and leave their names.

Xiang Liuyun nodded repeatedly, noting down each person's name, position, and other information. With his Foundation Establishment Level 9 cultivation, he had an excellent memory, able to recall even such simple information after a single glance.

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.

Ru'an Mountain.

Deep in the mountains and forests of the sacred land.

Two young people stood facing each other.

One of them was a real young man, 26-year-old Chung-wook.

The other one looked like a young man, but was nearly eighty years old.

Xu Lijing's grandfather was Xu Xiaoyun, and his father was Zhongchao.

His parents were ordinary people who passed away more than 30 years ago.

He was born blind, and even after embarking on the path of cultivation, his vision did not recover during his Qi Refining stage.

More than 20 years ago, he took the Sanhe Pill twice and finally broke through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

After advancing to the Foundation Establishment stage, undergoing the transformation of tendons and marrow, and being reborn, his eyes regained their sight!
He is now at the second level of Foundation Establishment.

"Uncle Xu, have you grasped the essence of what we discussed the other day?"

Li Jing, like Xu Fugui and Zhong Xu, practiced the same cultivation method: the Immortal Farmer's Yuan Building Technique, which combines the elements of wood and earth.

In terms of comprehension of the techniques, he was far superior to Xu Fugui.

Having practiced the techniques for decades, he gained many insights and often discussed the Dao with Zhongxu.

It is called "discussing the Tao," but it is actually "giving guidance."

"Hehe, let's have a competition."

Zhongxu's face was full of eagerness, and his expression was full of excitement.

At the age of twenty-six, he broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage two years ago and became a Foundation Establishment Grand Cultivator.

This is the result of his cultivation solely through Mount Ru'an, a second-tier spiritual land.

Xu Fugui was afraid that his spiritual root would be exposed if he improved too quickly, so he did not allow him to use resources such as spirit stones. Even so, his initial improvement speed was astonishing.

This is the Earth Spirit Root, an Earth Spirit Root that allows you to break through the Foundation Establishment stage without any bottlenecks!
"Then I won't bully you. I'll keep my cultivation at the first level of Foundation Establishment, and we'll have a friendly spar. Let's go, let's go into the air."

After finishing his speech, Li Jing took to the air. Given their Foundation Establishment cultivation levels, a battle on the ground would cause too much damage to Mount Ru'an.

The two engaged in a magical duel hundreds of feet in the air.

With a tearing sound, Zhongxu's clothes were ripped apart, and purple-green vines sprouted from his back.

The newly sprouted vines were only as thick as a finger, but they grew thicker and thicker as they extended, soon reaching the thickness of a wrist.

By the time it had spread to a hundred meters, it had become a huge vine as thick as a water bucket. The vine was covered with sharp thorns.

These enormous vines, numbering over a dozen, stretched as far as the eye could see, completely obscuring Zhongxu. From a distance, only the massive vines could be seen waving in the air; the figure in the center was nowhere to be seen.

On the other hand, Li Jing used the exact same moves.

After all, Chung-wook's fighting style was taught by him.

The two have different colored vines; Chung-wook's is purplish-green, while Ye-kyung's is brownish-yellow.

Hundreds of feet in the air, it looked like two enormous monsters with tendrils and vines were engaged in a fierce battle.

Vines against vines.

In an instant, splinters of wood flew everywhere, and blades of grass scattered in the air.

The broken vines fell from the sky, dissipating into spiritual energy before even hitting the ground.

Both sides fought in the same style, exchanging blows in a thrilling and exhilarating manner.

"咻咻~~"

Taking advantage of the opening, Zhongxu suddenly unleashed a burst of sharp thorns from several vines, which flew towards Lijing like a rain of needles.

The timing was perfect; the angles of several sharp spikes were tricky, making it impossible for Li Jing to defend against them.

A vine barely blocked Li Jing's path, deflecting the sharp thorns.

Then Rei-kyung used the same move, sending the thorns on the vines flying toward Chung-wook.

But Zhongxu was prepared. Several thin vines in front of him coiled and wove into a wooden shield, just enough to cover his entire body and block all the spikes.

During the exchange of blows, Li Jing unknowingly forgot his earlier promise to keep his cultivation at the first level of Foundation Establishment.

It's not that he forgot; it's that with the same level of cultivation, he couldn't beat Zhongxu.

He's nearly eighty years old; he can't possibly lose to Zhongxu, who's in his twenties—that would be too embarrassing.

Unbeknownst to Li Jing, tiny plant seeds drifted down onto him as the vines battled for survival.

"Hehe, you flatter me."

Zhongxu laughed, and then launched his hidden attack.

Suddenly, the grass seeds on Li Jing's body grew rapidly, turning into clusters of thorns that bound and enveloped him tightly.

Sharp spikes pierced his body.

"..."

Knowing he had lost, Li Jing withdrew the vines beside him. If this were a real battle, he would have been riddled with thorns and spikes.

"Uncle Xu, is this the difference between spiritual roots? You have a true spiritual root, and your compatibility with the wood and earth elements is much higher than mine. I'm so envious."

Li Jing believed that Zhongxu possessed the true spiritual roots of the three elements: metal, wood, and earth.

This is the official explanation, and even many members of the Xu family believe it. Apart from a few people like Xu Fugui and Xu Xiaohou, no one else knows that Zhongxu's spiritual root is an earth spiritual root.

Of course, Zhongxu himself knew that he was only sensitive to the wood and earth elemental energies. He had been repeatedly warned not to reveal his spiritual roots, so he had kept his mouth shut all these years and never mentioned it.

The difference between an Earth Spiritual Root and a Pseudo-Spiritual Root of the Five Elements is too great.

Earthly spiritual roots not only improve quickly, but also have an extremely high compatibility with cultivation techniques and elemental spiritual energy.

Using the same techniques and spells, Zhongxu and Lijing performed the same spells, but Zhongxu's spells were much more powerful.

"Li Jing, you taught me that move just now."

Zhongxu addressed him directly as "Lijing," which may seem impolite, but he was of a higher seniority.

"I know, but in a battle of this magnitude, I don't have the ability to use this move simultaneously without being detected by the opponent."

This is the predicament of Li Jing.

Knowing something is not enough; you have to be able to put it into practice.

Given Li Jing's abilities, he couldn't possibly have used this move.

"However, I did gain some insights..."

Through their recent sparring match, both of them gained some insights.

Li Jing realized that he used to be the one guiding Zhong Xu, but in just a few years, Zhong Xu had shown a tendency to surpass him.

Zhongxu's understanding of the martial arts technique is too exaggerated.

After discussing for a long time, the two returned to the cultivation room to begin studying the cultivation technique "Shennong Creation Technique".

In one of the most central and confidential rooms on Mount Ru'an, there is a set of jade slips.

The cultivation method on the jade slip is the Golden Elixir Cultivation Method: Shennong's Creation Technique!
This cultivation technique was a Golden Core level technique that Xu Fugui obtained more than ten years ago after consuming the Enlightenment Fruit.

As he had expected, it was an advanced Golden Core cultivation method from the Wood and Earth dual-system cultivation techniques "Lingnong Qi Refining Technique" and "Xiannong Yuan Building Technique".

Forty years ago, Xu Fugui obtained the Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation technique "Basic Formation" through the initiation of the spiritual fruit.

Before "Basic Formations" is "Immortal Farmer's Yuan Building Technique".

Later, Xu Fugui felt that the Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation method could not meet the needs of the Xu family, so he kept letting the Enlightenment Spirit Fruit absorb the bloodline of his offspring to level up.

The aura of a total of thirty-two descendants nourished the spiritual fruit at the Golden Core level.

In recent years, as many members of the Xu family have embarked on the path of cultivation, the age of marriage and childbirth has generally been very late, and the number of children they have is not like that of ordinary people, often having three or four children.

Even though the family head, Xu Zhonghuai, included rewards for having children in the family's reward program, people were still not very enthusiastic about having children.

This led to a slower rate of population reproduction.

Fortunately, the Xu family has a large enough population to ensure that new members are born every year.

Within Xu Fugui's body, the Xu family's ancestral treasure tree is growing steadily, with new branches sprouting every year.

More than a decade ago, after he acquired the "Shennong Creation Technique," he engraved it on a jade slip and kept it as a family heirloom for Li Jing and Zhong Xu to study.

Xu Fugui and Li Jing are both at the Foundation Establishment stage.

For the two of them, the Golden Elixir Cultivation Technique, "Shennong's Creation Technique," was far too profound and complex to comprehend. Even just grasping a fraction of its essence would be of immense help.

It was thanks to the "Shennong Creation Technique" that they were able to further develop the combat aspects of the "Immortal Farmer Yuan Building Technique".

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.

Inside the secret room.

Zhongxu and Lijing comprehended the "Shennong Creation Technique".

Xu Fugui had inscribed this Golden Elixir cultivation method based on the contents in his mind, and the contents were so numerous that they filled half a bookshelf.

Because they were practicing the preliminary techniques of the "Shennong Creation Technique," they were able to comprehend some of it; otherwise, this Golden Elixir technique would have been useless to them.

In the past two years, due to Zhongxu's advancement to the Foundation Establishment stage, his comprehension of cultivation techniques has become extraordinary, greatly benefiting the Xu family in their understanding of techniques.

"This Shennong Creation Technique is truly miraculous. It can be described as seizing the creation of heaven and earth."

"Li Jing sighed."

Although they did not fully comprehend it, they already knew some of the miraculous effects of Shennong's Creation Technique.

By cultivating the "Shennong Creation Technique" and reaching the Golden Core realm, one possesses the power to turn decay into wonder.

They are now at the Foundation Establishment stage, which allows them to help and nourish spiritual plants.

Upon reaching the Golden Core Realm, one can use the Shennong Creation Technique to revive and upgrade the grade of spiritual plants. A single withered blade of grass can be revived into an entire plant.

Even tree roots that have been rotten for many years can grow back into a large tree.

Or it could be to upgrade the grade of the spiritual plant, evolving a second-tier spiritual plant into a rarer and more precious third-tier spiritual plant!

This is only part of the effects of Shennong's creative powers.

(End of this chapter)