Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 10 Li Jihu

Upon hearing the new teacher's question, the children looked at each other, and the girl volunteered, saying crisply, "My name is Li Xiangqian."

Next came the self-introductions of four little boys: Li Xiangyan, Li Xiangye, Li Xiangling, and Li Xiangxin.

Finally, there was the bold child, but he seemed very embarrassed at this moment, lowering his head and remaining silent.

"Li Jihu, say something! No, it's Uncle Nineteen who's asking you, not Brother Nineteen."

The children were giggling.

Li Jihu blushed and said in a voice barely audible, "My name is Li Jihu."

The "Ji" generation?
Li Xiangming was somewhat surprised, thinking that the "Ji" generation were all infants, but he didn't expect that some of them had already begun cultivating Taoism.

So it turns out the family tree I got was indeed incomplete; Li Jihu must be a child from a branch of the family.

After thinking for a moment, Li Xiangming asked the children to report their age, cultivation level, and family background. As a result, apart from Li Xiangxin, the other five children were all from a branch family.

To illustrate this point, it's estimated that direct descendants make up less than two-thirds of the children in the entire Qingmiao Academy.

This made Li Xiangming fall into deep thought.

Li Xiangming knew that children from the direct lineage didn't like to enter the Green Seedling Academy because they had a better education. For example, Li Xiangcheng had been practicing under the tutelage of Li Chengsi from the fourth branch of the family since childhood.

As a backbone of the Li family, Li Chengsi's knowledge and cultivation are superior to those of the instructors at Qingmiao Academy. He has also been in charge of the cultivation of the younger generation of the fourth branch for a long time. The children he teaches are obviously better than those at Qingmiao Academy, and he can even teach disciples with exceptional comprehension like Li Xiangcheng.

Li Chengsi may have the ability, but he won't teach the children outside of the fourth wife's family.

This is because the fourth branch of the family is in competition with the other three branches, as well as the entire branch.

Li Xiangming suddenly remembered the time he was forced to go to Green Cloud Cave when he was a child. This incident stemmed from the struggle between the main branch and the branch, and in the end, with Li Huinan's intervention, the weaker branch won.

However, it now appears that the branch has lost.

Zhi Mai no longer cared about saving face and directly refused to let the child enter the Qingmiao Academy.

It should be noted that the direct lineage holds power, and even the instructors in the Qingmiao Academy are all direct lineage cultivators. Now that the academy has lost its direct lineage students, can the Qingmiao Academy still gain the family's attention?

Once the Green Seedling Academy declines, how can its branches escape?
It is likely that the gap between the straight pulse and the branch pulse will only widen.

Li Xiangming breathed a sigh of relief and returned to Dangui Mountain. He saw a peaceful scene, yet there were hidden contradictions everywhere.

No wonder Li Qianbai kept his distance from him; the branch probably knew this all too well.

He couldn't help but think of Li Qianxiong; Li Qianxiong must have had a deeper meaning in sending him here.

But what can he do?

Li Xiangming shook his head. His status in the Li family was too low. He needed to be at least in the late stage of Qi Refining to be qualified to confront the conflict between the two lineages.

Of the six children, Li Jihu is the oldest, at ten years old, while Li Xiangxin is the youngest, at eight years old. The others are all nine years old and have just finished their primary school years.

However, since the previous instructors had taught them, all of these children had developed a sense of qi, so Li Xiangming didn't need to worry too much.

The first lesson was nothing new: to find out the children's progress in their cultivation and to urge them to cultivate diligently.

Soon, two hours passed, and Li Xiangming allowed everyone to leave—the Qingmiao Academy's class time was only two hours, mainly for answering questions, and taking up too much time would delay the children's time for quiet breathing exercises.

Ultimately, spiritual practice depends on the individual.

However, Li Xiangming deliberately kept Li Jihu behind. He could tell that the boy was insecure because of his seniority and probably had been teased by other children behind his back for being called a good nephew.

The Qingmiao Academy has strict rules, especially prohibiting fighting. Li Jihu came up the mountain from the mortal world and had witnessed the demeanor of cultivators, so he naturally dared not disobey the Li family rules and could only silently suffer in silence.

This is not good for spiritual practice.

"Ji Hu, right?"

Li Xiangming coughed.

Facing his new instructor alone, Li Jihu appeared quite reserved: "Yes, Uncle Nineteen!"

Li Xiangming chuckled. Li Jihu couldn't do anything with the other children, and had begun to accept his status as a member of the younger generation.

"You seem to care more about our identities?" "No, not at all."

"From now on, you can call me Instructor, and I'll call you Little Tiger, okay?"

Li Jihu raised his head, then immediately lowered it again and nodded twice.

What is the level of your spiritual root?

"Teacher, I have three spiritual roots: metal, wood, and fire. By the way, the dean said that my fire spiritual root is a superior spiritual root."

Li Jihu became a little more active.

High-grade fire spirit root?
Li Xiangming was somewhat surprised; this little guy's talent was no less than his own.

Unfortunately, being from a branch family, they were not given much attention.

Which martial art did you choose?

"Hun Yuan Ru Yi Jin" (Primordial Chaos Force).

Upon hearing this, Li Xiangming nodded to himself. The Hunyuan Ruyi Jin was a family heirloom of the Li family, which led directly to the Golden Core Dao.

Although the family is divided into direct and branch lineages, there is no secret sharing of Taoist practices, and everyone is treated equally. This is probably the main reason why the branch lineages are unwilling to separate from the direct lineage.

Li Xiangming also practiced the Hunyuan Ruyi Jin technique, and immediately reached out to test Li Jihu's cultivation level, which frightened Li Jihu's face to the point of turning pale—the instructors were never this meticulous in class.

Li Xiangming quickly withdrew his hand, frowned, and asked, "Do you cultivate Yang energy or Yin energy?"

"Yang Yang Jin" (阳阳劲).

Li Jihu stumbled along the way.

The Hunyuan Ruyi Jin is divided into Yang Jin and Yin Jin. Cultivating Yang Jin can make one's magical power incredibly profound, while cultivating Yin Jin can improve the body's control over magical power.

But now Li Jihu's magical power is pitifully weak, and it's nowhere near as profound.

This made Li Xiangming angry; the child was wasting his talent.

"Little Tiger, why do you think people need to cultivate themselves since they live between heaven and earth?"

"I don't know."

Li Xiangming paused for a moment before speaking, “We humans are a weak species. If you look up now, you can only see houses, the bricks and tiles blocking your view; if you listen carefully, you can only hear my voice nearby, not the chatter of your family down the mountain; if you get up now and keep walking, you won’t be able to get out of this Dangui Mountain even after three or five days. But the demon beasts can see farther than us, hear more clearly than us, and walk faster than us.”

At this point, Li Xiangming paused and asked Li Jihu, "You are a cultivator, capable of sensing Qi. What is your view on demonic beasts?"

Li Jihu hesitated for a moment, then whispered, "Mother said that all monsters are bad guys who harm people."

Li Xiangming chuckled. The little guy probably didn't know that his home used to be the lair of monsters.

"Let's set aside the good and the bad for now, but it's an undeniable fact that monsters are stronger than humans. The reason our human race can stand in this world is mainly because we are smarter and more united than them. We establish families, villages, towns, and dynasties, and we are always successful as a group."

"For example, the six provinces and twenty-four prefectures of Heng Kingdom protect hundreds of millions of people from the invasion of demonic beasts."

"However, there are a few exceptionally gifted demon beasts that can develop intelligence and become intelligent species no less than humans. If it were just intelligence, that would be fine, but demon beasts that have awakened intelligence can often trace the power of their bloodline, comprehend the path of cultivation, and thus become incomparably powerful monsters."

"The power of demons is such that they can reduce a town to nothing in an instant, and mortals are like ants crawling on the ground before them. Yet, even demons with such power are still kept outside the borders of the Heng Kingdom by the human race. Do you know why?"

"Because there are cultivators!"

Li Jihu blurted it out.

"That's right, because there are cultivators. Cultivators breathe in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and refine their magical power. Magical power and demonic power have the same origin, and only magical power can deal with demonic power. So what if the Nanbin demon race was strong for ten thousand years? Under the attack of the Heng Kingdom's cultivation world, they lost cities and abandoned land one after another, and once retreated from the Ganges River Basin to the present-day Caiyun Sea."

Upon hearing this, Li Jihu's face lit up with longing, imagining the magnificent scene of the great war between humans and demons. He knew that the Li family had also participated in such a war.

"So I must cultivate diligently to protect my family and the Heng Kingdom?"

Li Jihu raised his round head.

(End of this chapter)