Ling Pengyun (Please Bookmark, Please Vote)

Yan Kingdom, Jing Province, Huai River County.

Within An Yang County stood a mountain several hundred zhang tall that soared straight into the clouds, known as Lingxiao Mountain.

Mists curled through the mountain, and from time to time cultivators riding all manner of flying magical items emerged from within, making it seem like a dwelling place of immortals.

At that moment, atop the lofty mountain, a beautiful female cultivator in green robes rode an elegant white crane down outside a courtyard halfway up the mountain and called urgently.

"Peng Yun, the Clan Head has summoned you to the Council Hall for a lineage assembly!"

After saying this, the female cultivator rode her white crane toward the other courtyards on the mountainside, notifying several more people.

Inside the courtyard.

Ling Pengyun sat cross-legged upon a meditation mat, his eyes closed as he drew in the First Sun Qi. He slowly guided it into the Yin Yang Primordial Scripture within his mind, nurturing Creation Qi from it.

Hearing the commotion outside, Ling Pengyun opened his eyes, his brows knitting slightly as he muttered in confusion.

"Was that Fifteenth Grand-Aunt's voice just now? Why is the Clan Head summoning me to the Council Hall on the mountaintop for a lineage assembly?"

Only those holding elder positions could enter the mountaintop of the lineage residence. Ordinary clansmen would be blocked by the defensive formation unique to the summit. Unless there were special circumstances, ordinary clansmen would likely find it difficult to ever set foot upon the mountaintop in their entire lives.

Ling Pengyun's thoughts churned, yet he could not make sense of it.

Still, since the Clan Head had summoned him, there had to be a reason.

Ling Pengyun drew in the final wisp of First Sun Qi before slowly concluding his cultivation.

He had been reincarnated in this world for sixteen years. Every morning and night, he sat in the open space of his courtyard, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon from nature and transforming it into Creation Qi.

This cultivation method, capable of drawing in the First Sun and Yin Moon, was called the Yin Yang Primordial Scripture. It had been a family heirloom from his previous life.

It was also this item that had allowed him to be reincarnated into this world.

After his reincarnation, the Yin Yang Primordial Scripture had entered his mind, and this scripture had given him endless help in this world.

The Yin Yang Primordial Qi formed by using the Yin Yang Primordial Scripture to absorb the power of the First Sun and Yin Moon possessed even more supreme and wondrous uses.

Through his own explorations, he had learned that this Yin Yang Primordial Qi possessed the powerful ability to alter a cultivator's spirit root aptitude.

Ling Pengyun had originally possessed Five Spirit Roots. Among the countless cultivators of the Cultivation World, such aptitude was among the worst, and these spirit roots were also known as "False Spirit Roots." With such aptitude, one could basically only mark time at the Qi Training Middle Stage for life.

However, the wisp of Yin Yang Primordial Qi he had carried with him when he was born into this world had raised his spirit root aptitude to a level comparable to Three Spirit Roots.

Ling Pengyun knew full well how precious this method was. Thus, throughout the sixteen years since his reincarnation, he had not told even his closest parents, keeping it buried in his heart.

As for how his cultivation had advanced far faster than that of ordinary Five Spirit Root cultivators, although it had caused quite a stir within the lineage, Ling Pengyun had fobbed them off by claiming that his ability to sense spiritual qi was exceptionally strong.

At the same time, throughout these sixteen years, he had never stopped relying on this method to absorb the essence of the sun and moon in this Cultivation World.

The wisp of Yin Yang Primordial Qi he had condensed from the sun and moon's essence over the first nine years had been transferred by Ling Pengyun into his own Natal Spirit Plant to improve its aptitude.

This Yin Yang Primordial Qi could only be used once. Otherwise, he truly would have wanted to enhance his own aptitude again.

From this, Ling Pengyun also learned that the effects of the Yin Yang Primordial Scripture in his mind were limited.

Aside from that, his family background in this life was also quite good.

He had been born into the cultivation family known as the Lingxiao Ling Clan. His parents were both cultivators, but neither of them was currently in the lineage. Instead, they were far away in Cloudwater Market Town of Cloudwater County, where the Ling Clan had once lived, operating a shop to earn cultivation resources for Ling Pengyun.

The Ling Clan was a Foundation Establishment cultivation family. Because it had only developed for two hundred and thirty-six years, it had relatively few cultivators—only seventy-five. Its mortal clansmen were more numerous, totaling more than eighty-five thousand.

What was also worth mentioning was that the Ling Clan had a Foundation Establishment Old Ancestor overseeing it.

This Old Ancestor was named Ling Yunhong. He was the first Foundation Establishment Cultivator produced by the Ling Clan since its founding, and he was also the current Clan Head of the Ling Clan.

Although the strength of such a lineage was insignificant in the entire Cultivation World, within ten thousand li of Huai River County, it still had a voice.

But that was only the surface. In truth, the entire Ling Clan was being forcibly propped up by Clan Head Ling Yunhong alone. He had carried the Ling Clan from a Qi Training lineage into a Foundation Establishment Family.

The Ling Clan's current territory in An Yang County of Huai River County had also been conquered three years ago by Foundation Establishment Old Ancestor Ling Yunhong leading the clansmen. It was only after obtaining Lingxiao Mountain, which possessed a Second Rank Low Grade spirit vein, that the Ling Clan became a Foundation Establishment family.

Only a family that possessed both a Foundation Establishment Cultivator and a Second Rank spirit vein could be called a Foundation Establishment Family. If either requirement was lacking, it could not bear that name.

Yet the Ling Clan's fortunes were currently poor, and the cultivators within the lineage showed signs of a gap between old and young. Most clansmen lacked talent. It was quite possible that, once the current Clan Head Ling Yunhong exhausted his lifespan a hundred years from now, no new Foundation Establishment Cultivator would emerge.

When that time came, the Ling Clan would return to being a "small Qi Training family," withdraw from Lingxiao Mountain, and huddle upon a First Rank Spirit Vein, surviving in this cruel Cultivation World by attaching itself to a nearby Foundation Establishment Family.

Ling Pengyun was one of the few promising seedlings in the lineage. Because the Yin Yang Primordial Qi had improved his aptitude, he had already broken through to the Qi Training Fourth Layer at the mere age of sixteen. His cultivation had surpassed that of more than thirty percent of the Ling Clan's members.

At the same time, Ling Pengyun had inherited the Ling Clan's ancestral craft and become a ranked First Rank Low Grade Spirit Plant Farmer.

Since its founding, the Ling Clan had been renowned for cultivating spirit plants. Over the two hundred-odd years since the lineage was established, dozens of Spirit Plant Farmers born into the Ling Clan had improved several varieties of spirit rice, greatly increasing the lineage's harvests.

Thanks to these improved spirit rice varieties, the Ling Clan had lived rather comfortably, both when it had been a Qi Training family and now that it had become a Foundation Establishment Family.

Ling Pengyun's current cultivation was also considered quite good compared to those of his age. Among the Peng Generation, only one clansman with Dual Spirit Roots far surpassed him in cultivation. All the others his age were still lingering at the Early-Stage Qi Training.

Most cultivators laid their foundations before the age of eight and began formal cultivation afterward. Cultivators born into families like the Ling Clan were supported by their lineage and could basically escape the Early-Stage Qi Training in this lifetime. But whether they could advance further still depended on their aptitude.

Of course, some clansmen had such terribly poor aptitude that they remained at the Early-Stage Qi Training for their entire lives.

Among Ling Pengyun's Five-Element Spirit Root, his water spirit root was the strongest. Naturally, the cultivation art he practiced focused on the water spirit root, and it was called the Azure Water Art.

His thoughts returning, Ling Pengyun rose to his feet, pushed open the courtyard gates, and followed a broad road toward the peak of Lingxiao Mountain at an unhurried pace.

Lingxiao Mountain was a spirit mountain with a Second Rank Low Grade spirit vein. Even throughout all of Huai River County, such spirit mountains were rare; there were only five spirit veins of this rank.

Three years ago, this place had originally been the territory of a pack of Qi Training Stage Gale Demon Wolves. The wolf king among them even possessed Foundation Establishment cultivation.

Later, Clan Head Ling Yunhong of the Ling Clan slew it and occupied this treasured land of spiritual veins. Only then did the Ling Clan's cultivators and mortal clansmen, who had originally been huddled upon a First Rank High Grade spirit vein under the Cloudwater County, Pingyun Yang Family, migrate here. From then on, the Ling Clan officially became a Foundation Establishment Family renowned throughout the region.

At the same time, Huai River County, where the Ling Clan now resided, was also territory of the Hundred Spirits Sect, one of the Yan Kingdom's five great Golden Core sects.

Huai River County, which had been wrested from demon beasts and opened up three years ago, along with Jing Province, which had only been developed in recent decades, had both been conquered under the leadership of the Hundred Spirits Sect, which led countless cultivator forces.

Otherwise, a family force like the Ling Clan would have found it difficult to seize territory from the ferocious demon beasts of the Boundless Great Swamp.