Two Years of Time

Three days later, Li Ergou got married.

There were no elaborate betrothal rites or six ceremonial steps; everything was kept simple.

A small number of the bride's relatives came to the wedding banquet.

There were even fewer people on the groom's side.

Li Ergou had only one friend, Lan Chang'an, who helped receive and see off the guests.

The other four Immortal Seedlings came over to make up the numbers.

To show their goodwill, Lan Chang'an and the other Immortal Seedlings all gave wedding gifts.

These Immortal Seedlings were poor as church mice. They could only offer mundane gold and silver, or small personal belongings.

Lan Chang'an gave him a handwritten booklet.

It was called Dragon Locking Secrets.

It was not an immortal cultivation technique, but a secret art of the bedchamber.

Aside from enhancing one's abilities in that regard, it could also lock away more primordial yang essence, preventing one from being drained dry by beauty.

"In this life, I probably won't need Dragon Locking Secrets."

Lan Chang'an was certain of it.

In his previous life, he had come from a cultivation clan. Unable to act as he pleased, he had taken wives and concubines in droves, leaving behind many descendants.

In the early stages, a cultivation clan's support had indeed been immense.

But upon reaching a certain level, one's clan and descendants became burdens.

For the sake of his clan and children, his energy had been pulled in countless directions. At certain times, he had been forced into whirlpools, fighting others for profit.

Li Ergou moved quickly.

Two months after the marriage, his wife, Mu Qing, became pregnant.

When Mu Family Head Mu Maode learned of it, he immediately bestowed lavish rewards.

One Low-Grade Magic Tool, a set of magic robes, thirty Spirit Stones, two bottles of Qi Nourishing Pills, sixty jin of Spiritual Rice...

Such generous rewards made the other Immortal Seedlings green with envy.

Even Lan Chang'an was somewhat tempted.

He currently had only three and a half Spirit Stones and one Inferior Magic Tool.

"Mu Family Head is setting an example, hoping that the rest of us will follow suit."

Lan Chang'an saw through it as clearly as a mirror.

Mu Family Head announced that whoever first produced offspring, or first gave birth to offspring with Spiritual Roots, would receive extra rewards.

At once, the Immortal Seedlings who had still been wavering could no longer sit still. They scrambled to marry wives and have children!

However, the rewards received by those who came afterward were less than a third of Li Ergou's.

After Li Ergou came to visit one time,

Lan Chang'an learned that Ergou's wife was the grandniece of Mu Family Head Mu Maode.

Thus, the reward for his leading role in being the first to produce offspring was exceptionally generous.

"This kid is a simple man with simple blessings."

Lan Chang'an sighed inwardly.

The Family Head surely had many descendants, and one grandniece did not carry much weight.

Lan Chang'an guessed that it was because Li Ergou had no background, no education, and a pure, simple heart. Such people were easy to win over.

The Mu Family was considering truly absorbing this live-in son-in-law as one of their own.

In contrast, there was Lan Chang'an.

His will was firm, and he had experience in the martial world. He would be difficult to truly subdue.

Even if he were as eager as Ergou to have children, he would not receive genuine cultivation.

A year and a half later,

all the Immortal Seedlings who had come to the Mu Family had married and had children, integrating into the Jade Moon Lake Mu Family as clansmen with foreign surnames.

Except for Lan Chang'an.

He had yet to waver, remaining in seclusion and cultivating bitterly all along.

Though he rarely went out, the young women of the Mu Family had heard rumors about him.

Some said that Lan Chang'an possessed a Mid-Grade Spiritual Root, thought highly of himself, refused to become a live-in son-in-law, and looked down on the Mu Family's mortal women.

Inside the Cultivation Room of the side courtyard,

Lan Chang'an, dressed in white robes, sat cross-legged as he cultivated the Ancient Wood Evergreen Art.

He resembled a wooden carving. Though he appeared still and silent on the outside, within him flowed endless mana brimming with vitality.

Through his Wood Spiritual Root, he circulated his cultivation art and drew the world's spiritual qi into his body, eventually forming his own Evergreen Mana.

The difference between the spiritual qi of heaven and earth and mana was this:

The spiritual qi of heaven and earth was wild.

Chaotic and disorderly, it was uncontrollable. Low-level cultivators could not wield it directly.

Mana, on the other hand, was a form of external spiritual qi that cultivators absorbed through their Spiritual Roots and transformed through cultivation arts, "taming" it into something under their own control.

"Who would have thought that the cultivation speed of the Ancient Wood Evergreen Art would be so... 'gentle'?"

Lan Chang'an opened his eyes, his expression grim.

With a First-Order Spiritual Vein, after a year and a half of cultivation,

and after exhausting his only three and a half Spirit Stones,

his cultivation had barely reached the peak of the Qi Refining First Layer.

As early as one month ago, Li Ergou had already advanced to the Qi Refining Second Layer.

Among the other four Immortal Seedlings, one had also broken through.

Instead, Lan Chang'an, with his Mid-Grade Spiritual Root, had become the one lagging behind.

There were three reasons for this result:

First, the Ancient Wood Evergreen Art was especially gentle in its cultivation speed. Lan Chang'an's cultivation experience from his previous two lives had not provided much of a boost.

It was equivalent to offsetting Lan Chang'an's advantage of recultivating.

Second, Lan Chang'an's Mid-Grade Spiritual Root was a Fire Spiritual Root, with an affinity of twenty.

Yet when cultivating the Ancient Wood Evergreen Art, he used his Wood Spiritual Root, whose affinity was seventeen—equivalent to a Low-Grade Spiritual Root.

Third, because Lan Chang'an refused to marry a Mu Family woman and have children, the cultivation resources the Mu Family provided him had been reduced to the bare minimum.

"They only provide a Spiritual Vein Dao Field, the most basic cultivation art, and three jin of Spiritual Rice each month."

Lan Chang'an let out a sigh.

This was clearly Mu Maode's method of forcing him to submit.

Li Ergou, in contrast, received pills every month to advance his cultivation, along with as much as thirty jin of Spiritual Rice.

Of the four elements—wealth, companions, cultivation arts, and land—wealth ranked first.

Without financial resources, even someone with a High-Grade Spiritual Root could forget about advancing to the Foundation Establishment Realm in this lifetime.

Faced with such "unfair" treatment, Lan Chang'an harbored no resentment.

There was an old saying: one meal raises a benefactor, a thousand meals raise an enemy.

Lan Chang'an had not forgotten his original intention. He had come to freeload off the Mu Family's Spiritual Vein Dao Field.

Whether willingly or not, the Mu Family had at least shown him kindness.

Another half year passed.

Lan Chang'an had now been with the Mu Family for a full two years.

On this day, inside the Cultivation Room,

"Qi Refining Second Layer."

The fluctuations of mana around Lan Chang'an rose by a level.

A mysterious trace of the Aura of Time, as if years flowed past, flashed by and vanished.

"This aura..."

For the first time, Lan Chang'an's face in this life revealed shock!

A year ago, he had also experienced this strange sensation.

It carried the essence of an ancient tree's cycle through the four seasons, and he had thought it was a characteristic of the cultivation art.

This time, as he crossed into the second year and advanced in that instant, he caught that mysterious aura once more.

Had his soul perception not been so keen, he might have missed it.

"Could it be that the Ancient Wood Evergreen Art draws in the Aura of Time during cultivation?"

"If that is the truth, then its gentle cultivation speed becomes entirely understandable..."

Lan Chang'an suppressed the shock and excitement in his heart.

The passage of time was a law of heaven and earth.

Legend had it that certain ancient True Spirits and primordial divine beasts fed upon time itself.

Even Nascent Soul Realm cultivators could not hope to reach that level of power.

"No wonder the Ancient Wood Evergreen Art can extend one's lifespan..."

Lan Chang'an realized that this ancient Longevity Cultivation Art was anything but simple.

If he had the opportunity,

he absolutely had to obtain the latter half of the Evergreen Art!

In his previous life, within the Cave Abode of the Nascent Soul Great Cultivator Yan Donglai, he had fought others for it and obtained half a volume of the Ancient Wood Evergreen Art amid a chaotic battle.

The other half had been obtained by a Golden Core True Person from a major sect.

Information regarding that person could be found among the depths of his memories.

But Lan Chang'an could not be certain whether these two lives existed in the same cultivation world.

After advancing to the Qi Refining Second Layer, Lan Chang'an came out to relax.

In any case, the Evergreen Art needed to draw in the Aura of Time. It could not be rushed.

No wonder this cultivation art could cultivate one's temperament.

He first went to the neighboring courtyard.

Li Ergou was playing with his child. He was delighted to see Lan Chang'an arrive.

"Come, call him Uncle Lu."

Li Ergou held his eldest son, "Mu Yifan."

Unfortunately, the child was only one year old and not yet clever. He merely babbled incoherently.

The reason he was called the eldest son

was that one month earlier, Li Ergou's wife Mu Qing had become pregnant again.

One had to know that cultivators did not reproduce easily; the higher one's cultivation, the more difficult it became.

Lan Chang'an suspected that the Dragon Locking Secrets he had gifted him might have contributed.

Lan Chang'an gently stroked the child's forehead. The child became unusually quiet and obedient.

A child's cultivation aptitude would only reveal itself after the age of six, so nothing could be seen yet.

"Tsk, how strange. Our Yifan is usually very shy around strangers."

Li Ergou said in surprise.

Normally, his son was cared for by a wet nurse from the Mu Family. As his father needed to cultivate and did not see him often, the child sometimes did not even recognize him.

"Eh! Brother Lu, you've advanced to the Qi Refining Second Layer. Congratulations!"

Li Ergou congratulated him.

"I can't compare to your speed."

Lan Chang'an's feelings were somewhat complicated.

The two had started from the same line.

Yet he, who was cultivating in his Third Life, had actually fallen behind a farmer's son.

Li Ergou was even two years younger than him.

"Brother Lu, I don't think becoming a live-in son-in-law of the Mu Family is bad at all. Why don't you consider it too?"

Li Ergou's current life could not have been more comfortable.

He used the Mu Family's Spiritual Vein Dao Field and enjoyed the Spiritual Rice, pills, and cultivation arts provided by the Mu Family.

He did not need to raise his own children, and there were even rewards for having them.

"Everyone has their own aspirations. You need not try to persuade me."

Lan Chang'an shook his head and once again refused the pills and Spirit Stones Li Ergou offered him.

"Oh, right! Brother Lu, I received a letter from Lin Yi two days ago."

Li Ergou's expression turned serious as he handed the child to the wet nurse.

"Lin Yi?"

Lan Chang'an thought of the somewhat arrogant Young Marquis from before.

"Brother, do you remember the agreement we made on the way to the sect examination that year?"

"The Immortal Seedlings from Hengshui Prefecture agreed that, whether or not we entered an immortal sect, we would gather again at the Gathering Immortal Pavilion in Hengshui Prefecture three years later."

"That old agreement? Would disciples who entered immortal sects really take it seriously?"

Lan Chang'an was not optimistic.

He could not help recalling Zhao Siyao, that lively and beautiful young lady from a distinguished family.

After entering a sect, they were no longer on the same level.

"Haha! Brother, you're underestimating people. Lin Yi said in his letter that Zhao Siyao agreed to attend the gathering and did not break her promise."

Li Ergou grinned broadly, deeply gratified.