Inheritance

In an instant, three streaks of light shot from the ancient clan genealogy like startled swans flashing past, so swift they seemed to pierce through time itself as they struck the brows of the three Yun siblings with unerring precision!

Yun Ji's pupils suddenly contracted. There was no panic on his weathered face, only profound shock and a trace of understanding.

He could clearly sense that the auras of his three children had undergone an indescribable transformation in that instant, as though slumbering dragons had been awakened, or uncut jade had been meticulously carved by an invisible hand.

Yun Long's body jolted violently. Beneath his bronze skin, golden radiance seemed to flow faintly, while an overbearing, weighty aura began to spread.

Yun Hu's formerly restless aura abruptly condensed, and a sharp edge appeared between his brows, as though he were a keen sword on the verge of leaving its sheath.

An ethereal, gentle ripple spread around Yun He, nourishing all things like spring rain.

Yun Ji drew a deep breath and suppressed the surging waves in his heart. Wisdom glimmered in his eyes, which had seen the vicissitudes of life.

He did not make a sound to disturb them. He merely turned silently, gently closed the crude wooden door, then stood outside with his hands behind his back like a silent stone statue, guarding his children.

He knew that his children were undergoing a heaven-sent fortune. This would be the turning point of their destinies, as well as the true beginning of the Yun Clan's rise. Joy surged through his heart like a mountain flood, yet he forcibly restrained it with an iron will. At this moment, there was only calmness and protection.

Yun Long only felt his brow grow scorching hot before a vast, boundless torrent of information poured into his mind like the Milky Way of the Ninth Heaven flowing backward. Golden light exploded before his eyes, and a golden monk towering between heaven and earth manifested before him. His appearance was solemn and sacred, his muscles knotted, and his entire body radiated an indestructible aura.

The golden monk moved, throwing a single Arhat Fist. It was plain and unadorned, yet it contained terrifying force capable of shattering mountains and cleaving peaks. The fist wind howled, tearing through the void.

Immediately afterward, golden light blazed around the monk. An incomparably solid golden barrier emerged over his body, like a great bell turned upside down. Let wind and thunder assail it—I remained unmoved. It was the Golden Bell Shield!

Then, the golden monk sat cross-legged and chanted profound scriptures, every syllable seeming to contain the ultimate truths of heaven and earth. A Xiantian cultivation method known as the Bodhidharma Muscle-Tendon Classic was branded into the depths of Yun Long's soul.

Cleansing the marrow, transforming the tendons, purging the hair, forging the bones! The bottleneck Yun Long had reached at the peak of Bone Forging burst open with a thunderous crash at that moment!

Indescribable agony swept through his entire body, as though every inch of bone were being shattered and reassembled, every meridian forcibly widened. Sweat gushed out like slurry, instantly soaking his clothes.

Yet he clenched his teeth tightly, allowing that power to gallop unhindered through his body and transform his physique.

Crack! Crack!

Explosive sounds like beans popping rang out from within his body. His bones were transforming, and his meridians were expanding! His formerly tough bones became even more crystalline and translucent, brimming with strength. His clogged meridians were opened one by one, and his true qi flowed without the slightest obstruction.

As he looked inward, he saw that within his Dantian Sea of Qi, all of his former internal force had transformed into an even purer, more tyrannical golden true qi!

This true qi was vast and mighty, filled with masculine force and power. It was Xiantian True Qi!

The Xiantian realm!

The realm he had dreamed of day and night had finally been attained at this very moment!

An unprecedented sense of power filled his limbs and bones. He even felt that he could kill a fierce tiger with a single punch! Ecstasy—uncontrollable ecstasy—made his body tremble slightly.

At the same time, a misty, rain-veiled scene of Qingcheng Mountain appeared in Yun Hu's mind. A swordsman in azure robes moved with grace, his longsword transforming into countless flashes of light. At times, it was like a spirit snake leaving its den, vicious and elusive; at others, like a raging storm, dense and impenetrable.

A peerlessly exquisite set of Qingcheng Swordplay was transmitted in full into his consciousness. Immediately afterward, a warm current of utmost pure-yang power rose within him, and a Xiantian cultivation art known as the Pure Yang Skill began to circulate quietly.

Meanwhile, Yun He's consciousness sank into an immortal realm wreathed in medicinal fragrance, where a white-robed Daoist taught her the Wudang Xiantian Gong, the Ladder Cloud Leap, and the Compendium of Materia Medica.

As time passed, the number of people guarding the door changed from one to three. Yun Hu and Yun He quickly finished accepting their inheritances and came to the door to guard Yun Long together with Yun Ji.

Because Yun Long was breaking through to the Xiantian realm, he was much slower than the other two.

Families like the Yun Clan had no clear understanding of the Xiantian realm. They knew what it was, but not why it was so.

With complete inheritances, Yun Hu and Yun He gained a clear understanding of true qi.

True qi went by many names—internal breath, internal force, internal energy—but in essence, it was the qi cultivated on the path toward the Qi Refining Stage.

The Xiantian realm was also called the True Qi Realm. Most mortals did not know why the name Xiantian realm had become so widely known.

Xiantian carried the meaning of Revert to Root, Return to Origin: making one's cultivated true qi powerful and pure, reversing back to the primordial state and becoming the qi cultivated by Qi Refining Stage immortals.

Yun Ji had been unable to take the Immortal Fate test back then, so he did not know whether he possessed the so-called Immortal Fate.

Mortals did not need special qualifications to cultivate the Martial Dao. Those with good talent cultivated quickly, while those with poor talent cultivated slowly.

Now, after hearing his children explain the secrets of the Xiantian Martial Dao, he learned that mortals could Enter Immortality through Martial Arts!

What the Changqing Immortal Sect tested for was Spiritual Roots. As long as one possessed Spiritual Roots, one could skip Martial Dao cultivation and directly rely on those roots to refine qi! With Spiritual Roots, even the worst kind, one could ascend to immortality in a single step and directly cross the threshold of the Immortal Dao.

This world was the Immortal Realm to which Lower Realm martial artists ascended after shattering the void. Even the weakest Qi Refining Stage cultivator far surpassed a Xiantian realm mortal in strength.

The first tier of Qi Refining was merely the Mortal Stage for the Xiantian realm.

This world had numerous immortal sects but few Cultivation Families. Bloodline-based inheritances were unstable; if an entire generation lacked Spiritual Roots, the inheritance would be cut off completely.

If Entering Immortality through Martial Arts had been so easy, the Changqing Immortal Sect's Immortal Fate test would not have accepted only children with Spiritual Roots.

The strength of Character Inheritance Cards lay in the fact that those who fused with them would encounter no bottlenecks before reaching the cultivation level limited by the cards!

With three Tier 1 Character Inheritance Cards, given enough time, the three Yun siblings could become three first-tier Qi Refining Stage cultivators.

All three Character Inheritance Cards were First-Order Low-Grade. At most, they could help the three reach the third level of the Qi Refining Stage. Beyond that, their own aptitudes would determine how far they could go.

By evening, Yun Long finally woke.

Yun Hu and Yun He were the first to cheer, "Big Brother!"

A gratified smile also appeared on Yun Ji's face, though his eyes carried a trace of inquiry. Feeling the surging power within him, Yun Long said excitedly, "Father, I succeeded!"

Yun Ji nodded and laughed heartily. "Good, good! Long'er, come, let your father test your Xiantian True Qi!"

Father and son came to the courtyard. As Yun Long released his aura, a mighty presence far exceeding his father's spread through the air. The moment their hands met, Yun Ji felt an immense force surge toward him. He staggered back several steps, his face filled with astonishment.

He immediately burst into laughter. "Good lad! This truly is the might of Xiantian!" Yet mixed into his laughter was a trace of barely perceptible loss and anticipation. His son had already stepped onto the road he had once dreamed of, while he...

Yun Ji looked toward the sky, his gaze deep.

Yun Ji's breakthrough into the Xiantian realm had relied largely on his own talent, and his Xiantian True Qi was far too ordinary. After years of cultivation, the quantity of his true qi far exceeded Yun Long's, but its quality was vastly inferior. Moreover, his use of true qi was also inferior to Yun Long's, who had received an inheritance.

Yun Long's physical qualities, cultivation method, and martial techniques were all stronger than his. As an early Xiantian realm cultivator, Yun Long could fight Yun Ji, who was at the middle Xiantian realm, and win steadily.

Of course, in a life-and-death battle, when narrow roads met, the brave would prevail. Who would die was still uncertain.