From the family treasure tree to build an eternal family

Chapter 98 Qi Refining Level 3
When Xu Xiaohou arrived home with his nephew, the Xu family was organizing a large-scale search.

"It's Liu Zi!"

"He found his child..."

The news spread quickly.

At the entrance of the Xu family's old residence, people who had heard the news returned one after another, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Xu Xiaoan's wife, Chunjuan, cried until her voice was hoarse and her eyes were red and swollen. After seeing the child, she first took the child home to comfort him.

"Liu Zi, you really saved my life!"

Xu Xiaoan was still shaken; he couldn't imagine what would happen to him if his child hadn't been found.

"What about the human traffickers?"

"I killed him with one punch."

"Die well!"

"It's too easy for him to die. If he falls into my hands, I'll torture him severely."

Everyone gritted their teeth in hatred when they mentioned human traffickers.

As the county constable, Xu Xiaoniu knew that human traffickers had been frequently appearing in Tonggu County recently. Upon receiving the news, he immediately led a group of his men to search for the missing person. Seeing Dahei's corpse at this moment, he felt extremely sad.

He planned to bury Dahei on his own land later, where Dahei had grown up.

"Thanks to Liu Zi."

Everyone praised Xu Xiaohou.

Xu Fugui had originally planned to gather his sons together to strictly discipline Xu Xiaohou, but now that he had made a great contribution, he couldn't very well reprimand him in front of everyone. However, one thing is one thing, and he still needed to be disciplined.

"Liu Zi, come with me."

He led Xu Xiaohou to the underground secret room in the backyard.

Everyone dispersed.

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.

Silence lingered in the dimly lit, secret room.

Xu Xiaohou stood quietly, watching his father's back, wondering what his father wanted to say to him.

Xu Fugui remained silent for a long time, which made Xu Xiaohou feel inexplicably pressured.

After a moment, Xu Fugui slowly spoke: "I heard from your fourth brother that you bought twenty Qi and Blood Pills on credit?"

"Father, you know? I...I know I was wrong."

Xu Xiaohou suppressed his urge to argue and simply admitted his mistake.

"What's the use of admitting your mistakes but not correcting them? What if there's a next time?"

Xu Fugui knew his habit of "admitting his mistakes but repeating them next time".

"I swear I won't do it again next time!"

Xu Xiaohou raised his right hand as if to swear an oath.

"How much has your strength improved after taking so many Qi and Blood Pills?"

"Father, I have entered the Innate Realm!"

When talking about his own abilities, Xu Xiaohou couldn't help but feel proud.

Have they already entered the Innate Realm?

Xu Fugui stood there, stunned, and fell silent once again.

After an unknown amount of time, he made a decision: "Now that we've reached the Innate Realm, there's a secret I should tell you..."

He then told Xu Xiaohou the secrets of the Five Elements Stance Training.

"Spiritual root? Father, you just said I could cultivate immortality?"

The fourteen-year-old boy was filled with fantasies about cultivating immortality.

“That’s right. Don’t be too happy. Cultivating immortality isn’t as easy as you think. Five elemental roots are the worst, and cultivating immortality is even more difficult. Your third brother has already given up cultivating immortality and is now focusing on martial arts.”

"My third brother? So, my eldest brother's spiritual root also came from this?"

Xu Xiaohou suddenly realized what was happening.

"Yes, this is our family's biggest secret, and no one can know it! Unless you are facing a life-or-death situation, you must not reveal that you have spiritual roots and can cultivate immortality. On the surface, it's enough that our family has your eldest brother who can cultivate immortality."

You must always remember this! If this is exposed, our family could face annihilation!

Xu Fugui couldn't help but give a few more instructions.

"..."

Xu Xiaohou was breathing rapidly; he realized the seriousness of the matter.

"As for cultivation techniques, I will teach you the Spirit Farmer Qi Refining Technique, a dual-element cultivation technique for wood and earth. I will also teach you flying sword techniques, which is a sword control method at the Qi Refining level. However, for now you can only learn the basic hidden weapon techniques. To truly control a sword, you need a magic weapon."

The "Lingnong Qi Refining Technique" was the cultivation method for the Xu family to practice in the future, while the "Earth Element Technique" was too ordinary and was naturally abandoned.

As for Xu Xiaoniu, he held an official position and practiced the imperial court's cultivation technique, the "Mysterious Earth Turtle Spirit Technique." Imperial court techniques could not be passed on to outsiders, and this technique was of high quality, so Xu Xiaoniu had no need to switch to practicing his family's Spirit Farming Technique.

Xu Fugui didn't teach Xu Xiaohou the "Flying Sword Technique Basics" because he felt that Xu Xiaohou's strength was improving too quickly and his temperament was not good enough. He was worried that Xu Xiaohou would cause trouble, so he didn't teach him this powerful technique.

“You have entered the Innate Realm; you are now an adult, no longer a child.”

Xu Fugui suddenly said this.

Xu Xiaohou understood what his father meant.

He had originally planned to improve his strength before seeking revenge against Kong Sen, but now he had completely abandoned that idea.

He carries so many family secrets on his shoulders; he can no longer be as arrogant as before.

In the following days, Xu Fugui taught Xu Xiaohou the "Lingnong Jue" and "Feijian Shu".

With the help of a spirit crystal, Xu Xiaohou drew in Qi and opened his Qi Sea, officially embarking on the path of cultivation.

As a dual-system cultivation method, the "Ling Nong Jue" is 20-30% more efficient to cultivate than the "Tu Yuan Jue".

Therefore, although Xu Xiaohou's cultivation progress was slow, he could still accept it; he could simply spend more time circulating his cultivation techniques.

He cultivates immortality in the underground chamber every day, but he is also reluctant to waste his martial arts skills, so he still practices stance training every morning and evening.

They also need to find time to practice flying swordsmanship, honing their skills to the level of beginner-level hidden weapon techniques.

Then he realized that he didn't have enough time.

Cultivating immortality, practicing martial arts, and honing flying sword skills occupied all his time, leaving him no free time at all, let alone the opportunity to go out and "stir up trouble."

— A few days later, Xu Zhong'er's third birthday celebration went smoothly.

Xu Fugui absorbed the bloodline essence of his offspring.

At the end of the fifth branch representing Xu Xiaoan, the family's precious tree extends a second branch, and the crown fruit grows again from the center of the tree.

This newly formed spiritual fruit needs to continue to be nourished and grown with the aura of the Xu family's descendants.

If there are three more offspring, they will grow into ordinary blue-green empowerment fruits.

If there are seven more offspring, they will grow into yellow Qi Refining level empowerment spiritual fruits.

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 finally achieved a breakthrough in his cultivation level.

internal space.

Xu Fugui sat cross-legged beside the precious tree, his hands clasped together at his dantian, each holding a spirit crystal.

He continuously absorbed the surrounding spiritual energy into his body, and the refined spiritual energy circulated repeatedly through his meridians along specific routes.

The Qi Sea and Dantian expand at an extremely slow rate.

"absorb!"

At the last moment, he absorbed the spiritual energy from the spiritual crystal in his palm and relied on this wisp of spiritual energy to complete his final breakthrough: his dantian expanded and the sixth aperture was formed.

Upon completing the second level of Qi Refining, the dantian expands to two inches and contains six orifices and six openings.

The first level of Qi cultivation involves the dantian being one inch deep and the three orifices and three openings.

The second level of Qi cultivation involves the dantian being two inches in size and the six orifices and six openings.

The third level of Qi Refining involves the three-inch dantian and the nine orifices and eight holes, which correspond to the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams, thus forming the foundation for cultivating immortality.

The spiritual energy circulates through the meridians and returns to the dantian (lower abdomen).

As his dantian expanded, it could hold a slightly larger amount of spiritual energy. The number of openings connecting his meridians increased, accelerating the circulation of spiritual energy. Xu Fugui's strength improved considerably.

"We can go to Qingqiu Market now."

His strength is unlikely to improve significantly in a short period of time, and he is unwilling to waste any more time.

The Xu family truly lacks resources for cultivating immortality.

Of the three spare spirit crystals, one was given to Xu Xiaohou, one was used by himself, and only one remained.

To cultivate the Flying Sword Technique, one needs a magical flying sword.

He also wanted to get Jiazhen a youth-preserving elixir or a spiritual plant.

"You must keep a low profile and be cautious on your first visit."

Despite having been a cultivator for five years, he is still a novice and has never been in contact with cultivators from the outside world.

"Let's take two 20-year-old spiritual plants, Iron Root Grass, and check the situation first."

Qingqiu Mountain is the territory of a Foundation Establishment cultivation family, and it has Foundation Establishment Grandmasters.

Xu Fugui dared not enter or leave his inner space at will, as it would be very dangerous if he were discovered. He decided to take two spiritual plants with him first, pretending that they were spiritual plants dug up in the deep mountains and forests.

In the remote, spiritually rich corners of deep mountains and forests, it is quite common to occasionally find one or two spiritual plants growing.

The area with abundant spiritual energy was very small, not even a spiritual land, let alone a spiritual vein.

He took out a delicate little herb-gathering hoe from the wooden box next to the precious tree and began to carefully dig up the iron root grass.

The spiritual plants in the inner space were first planted by Xu Xiaogou the year he started practicing martial arts. There are two kinds: withered leaf crow and iron root grass. It has been twenty-three years since then.

The internal space has been expanding year by year, and many more spiritual plants have been planted, though the number of years is relatively small.

He brewed the Five Elements Spiritual Medicine Soup, and the spiritual herbs he needed did not have to be very old. He only used herbs that had been processed for three to five years, so he did not use those spiritual plants that were twenty-three years old.

Except for a half-meter area next to the trunk of the family's treasure tree, which was Xu Fugui's area for cultivation and activities, the entire internal space was filled with spiritual plants.

Even a small piece of land in a spiritual vein area of ​​less than 90 square meters is extremely precious.

"It's done."

To ensure the irongrass remained in perfect condition, he carefully dug out two stalks of irongrass that gleamed with a golden-iron luster, without losing even a single tendril.

He exited his internal space, found an exquisite wooden box used for storing ginseng, put the two iron root grasses inside, wrapped the box with straw paper, placed it in a bamboo basket, and then covered it with some weeds.

He changed into coarse linen clothes, wore a straw hat, and carried a bamboo basket, looking exactly like a rural farmer.

He greeted Jiazhen, saying he was going on a long trip, and then he set off.

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 has entered the third level of Qi Refining and has mastered the Earth Sinking Technique, Earth Spike Technique, and Light Body Technique.

Earth Collapse Technique and Earth Spike Technique are spells attached to the "Earth Element Technique," which he can use. However, since he switched to cultivating the "Spirit Farming Technique," the power of these two spells will be much weaker.

Combining spells and techniques will result in a power boost.

The "Lingnong Qi Cultivation Manual" contains no spells for killing enemies or engaging in combat; it only contains spells for cultivating and promoting spiritual plants.

He still possessed the internal energy of a pre-natal martial artist, but after reaching the pre-natal stage, he began cultivating immortality and stopped practicing stance training, so his internal energy was minimal. Furthermore, since he only practiced stance training and didn't know any hand-to-hand combat, his internal energy could only be used to enhance his defensive capabilities.

In addition, he concealed three hundred-forged flying swords under his robes. These hundred-forged flying swords were merely ordinary weapons with limited destructive power.

This is Xu Fugui's current level of ability: he knows a little bit about everything, but he's not proficient in anything; he's a mess and just so-so.

He carried a bamboo basket to the official road leading to Puye County and paid fifty coins to board a horse-drawn carriage bound for Puye County.

It is common for ordinary farmers like him to hitchhike to get around.

Tonggu County is quite far from Puye County, about 100 to 200 li (approximately 50-100 kilometers). This is the straight-line distance; the actual distance is even further due to the winding roads.

After a day and a night, he arrived in Puye County.

The destination, Qingqiu Mountain, is located 200 li (approximately 100 kilometers) east of Puye County.

He then encountered a caravan on its way and shamelessly hitched a ride on one of their carriages.

The journey was long and the carriage bumped along.

Finally, Qingqiu Mountain, shrouded in clouds and mist, came into his view.

Xu Fugui bid farewell to the caravan and headed towards Qingqiu Mountain. Near Qingqiu Mountain, he occasionally spotted one or two cultivators.

There were cultivators in the late stage of Qi Refining who flew through the air, soaring high into the sky.

A cultivator in the early or middle stages of Qi Refining can float more than a hundred meters away with a tap of their toes.

He covered his face with a mask and used a lightness technique to move forward. He was far from Tonggu County, and with his face concealed, he wouldn't be discovered.

(End of this chapter)