Southern Chu cultivation world, Southern Profound Domain.
The Southern Profound Domain was one of Southern Chu's eighteen domains, located on the southeastern frontier and bordering both the Hundred Thousand Mountains and the Southeast Two Seas.
Though remote, the Southern Profound Domain covered a vast area spanning tens of thousands of miles. Three mountain ranges and four rivers crisscrossed its territory, forming the layout of "Three Mountains and Four Waters."
The mountains within the domain were steep, and its waters swift. Spiritual herbs and precious materials were often hidden deep within secluded mountains and waters, making cultivation rather difficult.
As a result, the Southern Profound Domain had never possessed much immortal air. Its folkways were fierce, and its bandit nature flourished.
However, though the spiritual energy of Three Mountains and Four Waters was not peerless, it still far surpassed the mundane world. It was a renowned cultivation paradise within the Southern Profound Domain.
The Azure Profound Sect, one of the Southern Profound Domain's five great cultivation sects, stood atop the main peak of the Moon Gazing Mountain Range, one of the Three Mountains and Four Waters.
Around the main peak, nearly a thousand other peaks lay scattered like stars. More than fifty cultivation families, large and small, were distributed among them, surrounding the Azure Profound Sect as stars surrounded the moon.
The Chen family, one of the six Foundation Establishment Families under the Azure Profound Sect, had established itself on Jade Spring Mountain at the southern foot of the Moon Gazing Mountain Range.
At this moment, the night was black as ink. The moon was hidden, the stars concealed, and all sounds were still.
At the foot of Jade Spring Mountain, inside a dim little wooden hut, Chen Heng abruptly sat up and opened his eyes, cold sweat streaming down his forehead.
What followed were two utterly different sets of memories flooding into his mind.
"Heartless company... forced overtime... staying up late and dying suddenly..."
"Pouring rain... mourning my parents... struck by lightning..."
Chen Heng held his forehead with one hand, his expression shifting endlessly. At last, he shook his head and gave a bitter laugh.
He understood at once and finally grasped his present circumstances.
If nothing unexpected had happened, that blazing pillar of lightning that had struck him had actually helped him break through the mystery of the womb and awaken the wisdom of his previous life.
In his previous life, he had merely been an orphan on Azure Planet, an utterly ordinary corporate drudge. Yet his heartless company had forced him to work unpaid overtime, causing him to die suddenly after staying up through the night.
Now, fifteen years had passed since he had been reincarnated into this world, yet everything from the past remained as vivid as though it had happened yesterday.
His birth in this life was not much better than in his last. He was only an illegitimate disciple from a branch of the Chen family, and his parents had died early as well.
Had he not possessed a spiritual root, Chen Heng would never have been qualified to settle beneath Jade Spring Mountain.
At that thought, Chen Heng's expression became exceedingly complicated.
After living two lives, he still could not scrape together even one pair of normal parents. Could it be that he was fated to be a lone baleful star!?
Elsewhere.
Halfway up Jade Spring Mountain, in the Chen family's small council hall.
Though sandalwood incense curled through the hall, refreshing all who smelled it, the atmosphere was somewhat grave.
The family head, Chen Xingyuan, sat upright in the seat of honor. His face was as still as water, as dark as an abyss.
Several Chen family elders in late Qi Refining sat on either side, both men and women.
A trace of helplessness flashed across Chen Xingyuan's aged face. He looked at everyone in the hall and said in a deep voice:
"This year is once again the year when our family and the Luo Family contend for the share of the Little Bamboo Peak spirit mine. Elders, do you have any suitable candidates to recommend?"
Upon hearing the family head's question, the Chen family's Great Elder, Chen Xingzhou, seated at the head of the right side, spoke.
He was a bald old man with silver hair, a face full of wrinkles, and a burly build.
Expressionless, he said, "Old Ninth has just broken through to the ninth layer Qi Refining this year. He is not yet forty, so he should be sent to fight."
"Elder Xingyuan is thirty-nine this year and has abundant experience in spell battles. Securing victory in the late Qi Refining cultivator group of the Chen and Luo families' contest should not be a problem."
The Chen family's Second Elder, Chen Xinghai, seated at the head of the left side, was a plump white-haired old man with the hair of a crane and the face of a child. Stroking his beard, he spoke with a smile.
Chen Xingyuan was Chen Xingyuan's half-brother by the same father. Though participating in the contest meant death or injury, it was for the Chen family's share in mining spirit stones.
Though unwilling in his heart, Chen Xingyuan could only nod in agreement before asking:
"Then what about the candidates for Mid Qi Refining and early Qi Refining?"
Chen Xinghai continued stroking his beard, his eyes narrowing slightly. "There are quite a few Mid Qi Refining cultivators in the family who are formidable in spell battles, but if we wish to hold victory firmly in our grasp, we can only summon Chen Mingyun back from the Azure Profound Sect."
"That would be inappropriate. What if he damages his foundation during the contest?" a female elder said with a frown.
"Exactly, exactly. Mingyun possesses a superior-grade metal-water spiritual root. He is only eighteen and already at the sixth level of Qi Condensation. He has hopes of Foundation Establishment!"
"Inappropriate, inappropriate. Choose someone else..."
At the mention of Chen Mingyun, this Foundation Establishment Seed, everyone immediately began discussing it heatedly.
None of them believed Chen Mingyun might lose. They were only worried that Luo Family cultivators might take the stage to contest him with the intention of ruining their own Foundation Establishment Seed.
Such things had not failed to happen before on the arena of the two families' contests.
In the end, it was Chen Xingzhou, the Chen family's Great Elder, who made the final decision. "Ten years ago, the Chen family already lost once. If we lose again this year, it will not merely be a matter of losing face."
"Just losing another tenth of our annual share from the Little Bamboo Peak spirit mine would mean more than five thousand fewer spirit stones in income."
The Little Bamboo Peak spirit mine was located at the southern foot of the Moon Gazing Mountain Range. It had been discovered by chance forty years ago, and its confirmed reserves amounted to at least three hundred thousand spirit stones.
This spirit mine lay in a remote area. Within a radius of three hundred miles, only the Chen and Luo families, two Foundation Establishment Families, were nearby.
According to the rules of the Moon Gazing Mountain Range, mining rights for medium and large mineral veins belonged entirely to the Azure Profound Sect.
Among small mineral veins, aside from spirit stone mines, mining rights would only then be contested by the great families under the Azure Profound Sect.
As for the Little Bamboo Peak spirit mine, the Azure Profound Sect took half the share, while the remaining half was divided between the Chen and Luo families.
But the Southern Profound Domain had always possessed fierce folkways and flourishing bandit nature. Neither family was willing to split the remaining share evenly.
Thus, under the Azure Profound Sect's witness, the two families signed a contract for a contest.
Every ten years, each side would send three cultivators in late Qi Refining, Mid Qi Refining, and early Qi Refining to participate. Whichever family won more matches would claim thirty percent of the mining share.
Since the struggle involved spirit stones, the core cultivation resource, the cultivators of both families who participated in every contest generally fought with all their strength, nearly battling to the death.
Over the past forty years, the Chen family had won once, but the Luo Family had won twice. If they lost again this time, the mine's reserves would not last until the next ten-year contest.
Thus, both for face and for spirit stones, the Chen family could not afford a single mistake this time.
Once those words were spoken, Family Head Chen Xingyuan finally nodded in agreement and summoned Chen Mingyun, who was cultivating in seclusion at the Azure Profound Sect, back to participate in this contest between the two families.
"Then who should be sent among the early Qi Refining cultivators?"
Chen Xinghai shook his head and said helplessly, "A little monster has emerged among the Luo Family juniors. He possesses a superior-grade wind spiritual root. He is only twelve, yet his cultivation has already reached the peak of the third layer of Qi Refining."
In this world, spiritual roots were not judged by their number, but classified by their affinity with spiritual energy.
However, cultivators possessing mutated spiritual roots such as wind, lightning, ice, and darkness, without the aid of external objects, often possessed spell battle abilities far beyond those of their peers.
Yet among the Chen family's third-layer Qi Refining cultivators, there was no opponent who could match him.
As soon as those words were spoken, the hall fell silent enough for a needle to be heard dropping.
After a long while.
Chen Xingyuan, the Chen family head, finally spat out several words slowly: "Draw lots to decide!"
"Family Head, wise indeed!"
The next morning, Chen Heng, who had lived two lives and learned to take things as they came, had only just awakened from cultivation meditation when he received the family's summons.
He was actually going to represent the Chen family in this contest against the Luo Family!
An illegitimate disciple with only a mid-grade Water-Fire Spiritual Root, who had begun cultivating at nine and after six years had barely reached the third layer of Qi Refining, was actually being sent to represent the Chen family in this contest where death or injury was inevitable.
How was that any different from sending him to his death?
Chen Heng could not believe it and repeatedly confirmed it with the servant who had delivered the message.
In the end, he received only one reply: "Young Master Heng, the elders decided this by drawing lots. It cannot be changed. You still have one month. You should prepare well. If you have any needs, you may raise them with me, and I will satisfy them as best I can!"
"What plan can be devised?"
Chen Heng paced back and forth in his little wooden hut, somewhat lost and helpless, countless thoughts churning in his heart.
Running away would most likely not work. The family had probably already placed him under watch. To say nothing else, that Mid Qi Refining servant was guarding the door.
This concerned the family's honor. The contest could not be forfeited; he had to give it everything he had.
Just as he was at a complete loss, a mysterious, half-real and half-illusory profound mirror quietly appeared in his sea of consciousness.
Dao charm flowed across it, faint spiritual radiance circulating within, giving off an aura lofty and vast.
Several lines of ancient golden characters, like fleeting light and passing shadows, gradually appeared upon the mysterious profound mirror's surface. Chen Heng hurriedly extended his spiritual sense and slowly sent it into the mirror to inspect it.
At once, an enormous amount of information flowed in along his spiritual sense. Chen Heng shut his eyes tightly as a scroll of techniques slowly emerged within his mind.
[Sacrificial Ritual of Holding Talismans]!
This technique required slaughter-bound demonic beasts as sacrifices, along with incense offerings, demon souls, essence blood, spiritual power, and other items to worship the profound mirror.
The profound mirror could then bestow a strand of Lu Qi upon the sacrificer, enhancing his cultivation!
This Lu Qi could enlighten comprehension, awaken talents, reshape one's bones and foundation, alter aptitude, elevate spiritual roots, create spiritual bodies, evolve divine abilities...
Ecstatic joy surged through Chen Heng's heart. It seemed he might be saved after all and would not have to die the moment he set foot outside!
Though he had lived two lives, there was great terror between life and death.
Who would willingly walk toward death?
Especially for such a heartless and faithless family.
The family elders had drawn lots and pushed Chen Heng out as the representative for the early Qi Refining stage in the contest between the two families.
Not a single family elder had come to offer him comfort, nor had they provided any assistance within their means.
They had merely dispatched an old servant to brush him off.
Moreover, this old servant's greater task was to watch him and ensure that he did not run away.
After a moment.
Chen Heng then gave a mocking laugh and muttered to himself, "After the contest, I might as well find a way to leave the Chen family and cultivate alone. In any case, the Chen family has never provided me with any help."
Besides, his parents in this life had also passed away early. In this enormous Chen family, there was not a single person worth Chen Heng's concern!
Chen Heng immediately sat down cross-legged, calmed his mind, and sank his consciousness into his sea of consciousness, continuing to observe the mysterious profound mirror.
He vaguely felt that this mysterious profound mirror was likely the reason he had been able to reincarnate into this world.
And now, it had even taken the initiative to provide him with a miraculous and profound [Sacrificial Ritual of Holding Talismans].
However, after staring at it for too long, a dizzying sensation arose.
Chen Heng stopped probing the mysterious profound mirror and instead began seriously comprehending the [Sacrificial Ritual of Holding Talismans].
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