"Nascent Soul" Cultivator

Swallow Cloud City. The Mu Family's main line was matrilineal, and by Mu Liuxi's generation, there were two men and one woman in total.

In other words, her two elder brothers above her did not have the right to take over the family. Once they came of age and married, they would leave the Mu Family and become independent.

Mu Liuxi was different. As the only single branch of the matrilineal line, and with her mother's generation having no intention of having more children, she had no choice but to shoulder the responsibility of taking over the family.

The problem now was that, in essence, the Mu Family belonged to the secular aristocratic families, not the cultivation aristocratic families.

The definition of a cultivation family depended on whether the family had five generations of inheritance, and whether it possessed a foundation of legacy.

Clearly, from top to bottom, the Mu Family had no immortal arts inheritance.

Otherwise, the Mu line, up to the great ancestor four generations above, would not have had cultivation only at the early stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

By the fifth generation, Mu Liuxi's appearance finally gave the Mu Family a seedling of cultivation with great difficulty.

The family's power had split into two factions.

One faction was called the Conservative Faction. The Conservative Faction still insisted on the route of matrilineal supremacy, letting Mu Liuxi become family head to safeguard the Mu Family's immediate interests.

The other faction was called the Reform Faction. They wanted to push the Mu Family through a transformation, changing it from an ordinary secular aristocratic family into a cultivation aristocratic family. Mu Liuxi would still be the actual person in power, but the so-called Matrilocal Marriage System had to be abolished.

Abolishing the Matrilocal Marriage System was to break the autocracy of matrilineal supremacy, and they wanted to gather all the Mu Family males back in.

The inheritance methods of cultivation aristocratic families could not allow outsiders who married in to get their hands stained with it.

Where was the logic in driving one's own family members out to spread branches and leaves, then passing the inheritance down to collateral lines?

After Mu Liuxi finished explaining the situation she faced, Yun Yao felt her head swell just from listening.

"Senior Sister, I feel that whether they're advocating reform or protecting the matrilineal line, they're all treating you like a tool!"

"Look, you're a Core Disciple of the Green Pavilion Sect now. Those people in your family are only placing importance on your cultivation aptitude. In the future, you'll definitely become illustrious throughout the Heavenly Profound Continent.

When all is said and done, those matrilineal people are doing it to protect the interests of their own branch. In name, they're honoring you as family head, but within the next fifty years, power will still be held by your mother's generation."

"As for those people advocating reform..." Yun Yao thought for a moment, then continued, "Those uncles of yours are protecting you, and I feel like it's more like the paternal and maternal lines fighting for power, but it's undeniable that their starting point is good. With you here... transforming into a cultivation aristocratic family isn't impossible."

"If the transformation succeeds, you'll become the ancestral grandmistress. Hahaha..."

Ancestral grandmistress...

Hearing Yun Yao's half-joking words, a smile could not help surfacing on Mu Liuxi's cold, pretty face.

"Ancestral grandmistress doesn't sound very nice, and I don't want to participate in their struggle either. The mountains and rivers are vast, the cosmos deep; I prefer wandering alone in peace and quiet."

"Tsk, tsk!" Yun Yao clicked her tongue. "Then what's with the matrilocal marriage to the Li Family? Senior Sister, you're not really going to marry some young master, are you!"

"What nonsense are you saying!" Mu Liuxi glared at her. "It's all because our ancestors randomly pulled strings. The ancestors of the Swallow Cloud City Li Family and the Mu Family had a very deep friendship, and in order for the two families to remain on good terms forever, they arranged a child betrothal for me."

"I came back to deal with this matter. It's just that my ancestor ran into some trouble. On the other hand, my uncles are very supportive of me."

Yun Yao nodded.

She roughly understood Swallow Cloud City's layout. The Li Family was the most wealthy and powerful family in the area, the largest taxpayer, and it was said that people from the family were also serving in the Dynasty capital.

Even the City Lord's Mansion did not dare offend them lightly.

No matter how rich and powerful the Li Family was, they still could not withstand the Mu Family producing a cultivation genius.

With Mu Liuxi, the Mu Family could stand on the same level as the Li Family.

"All right, Senior Sister. During these few days when the Auction Feast begins, I'll stay in Swallow Cloud City the whole time. If anything comes up, you can ask me for help."

"Mm, all right."

After bidding farewell to Mu Liuxi, Yun Yao clasped her hands behind her back and twisted her still somewhat aching waist.

"There shouldn't be any big problem, right?" she murmured softly. "Forget it, forget it... I'll buy a few doses of medicine and keep them ready, just to be safe."

"Junior Brother Lin Heng, don't let me catch you... hmph!"

She made a trip to West City Street and picked a nearby pharmacy. Only when there was no one around did she dare ask the boss for medicine.

The boss merely looked her up and down, then immediately gave her a knowing look.

Soul-Calming Pill (Baby's Lament)

Common name: Baby Ascension Pill

Unlike ordinary people, it was not that easy for cultivators to have children. It was affected by many factors such as cultivation realm, physique, race, and Dual Cultivation.

One of them was a big shot in the Golden Core Realm, while the other was a rookie in the Qi Refining Realm. Although the gap in their cultivation realms was enormous, it still could not withstand the number of times being piled up there.

How did that saying go?

Little drops make much, streams gather into rivers.

Add in some lucky emperor possession, one shot into the soul...

The consequences did not bear thinking about.

What was more, her mind had been somewhat unclear back then. By the time she sobered up, it was already too late to refine it away.

She did not want, at such a young age, to directly be promoted next year into a "Nascent Soul" cultivator.

Achoo!

On the other side, Lin Heng returned to the inn and sneezed.

It felt somewhat baffling.

With his current physical constitution, he would not say it was just perfect, but surely he would not fall sick.

Maybe someone was talking about him behind his back.

"Ah! This is getting more and more interesting. After winning over Sun Hao, this human pillar, I'll have confidence when facing Ye Tian too."

"Time is getting tighter and tighter. Maybe Ye Tian has already arrived in Swallow Cloud City. Once the Auction Feast ends, I'll return to the Green Pavilion Sect."

"Master must have been having a very hard time these days. After all, the impact of her cultivation falling isn't ordinary. The Elders of the other peaks will grow restless sooner or later."

Lin Heng took out Golden Scale from the System Space. The hard-to-conceal gold-attribute aura blew against his body, faintly tugging at the four spirit wheels inside him.

Through the Mirror Person's continuous, unceasing efforts, he had already begun moving toward the Fifth Spirit Wheel.

At this moment, he was not idle.

He sat cross-legged, placed Golden Scale in both hands, then circulated his True Yuan and recited the scripture formula.

"Chaos Indestructible Body" Five Elements Volume: Gold

As the surrounding spiritual energy surged, it was mixed with majestic gold-attribute elements.

Among the five great branches of the Five Elements Body, gold was the most rigid and most suited to conquest, focused on blades and weapons. If one wanted to cultivate the Gold Element Body within it to perfection, one needed a large amount of essence materials containing the gold attribute.

Golden Scale was undoubtedly the best choice.

Once the Gold Element Body was completed, his body would become incomparably hard. Even without mobilizing True Yuan, he could directly withstand knife handles and short blades.

Especially in close-combat fighting, he would be unstoppable wherever he went.

While Lin Heng absorbed and refined Golden Scale, he considered another matter.

"The cultivation technique 'Ten-Zhang Golden Body' is too compatible with the Gold Element Body. The two can support and promote each other. Once the Gold Element Body reaches minor completion, there will be a natural physique advantage."

"When the two are combined, wouldn't it be gold on top of gold, hard on top of hard!"

What man did not hope he could be a little harder?

During the process of refining Golden Scale, Lin Heng was not too anxious. Instead, he advanced steadily and also stabilized his cultivation along the way.

In less than a month, he had reached the Qi Refining Fourth Layer. His cultivation speed was already more than three times that of an ordinary cultivator.

When he returned to the sect and let those Elders know, would they not regret being blind?

The good-for-nothing they had disdained was actually a piece of gold wrapped in kerosene.

After stabilizing his realm, Lin Heng devoted himself wholly to refining Golden Scale.

From morning to night and then to morning again, cycling over and over for three days, Lin Heng finally opened his eyes. Feeling the subtle changes in his body, he could not help frowning. "With all four spirit wheels running at full power, I've only refined one-tenth of Golden Scale. At this speed, who knows how much more time it will take... Fine, I'll focus on opening up spirit wheels first."

The more spirit wheels there were, the faster the devouring and refining speed. It had to be said that Golden Scale, this rare item, was much harder to refine than the Water Spirit Mother.

Refining all of it should allow him to reach minor completion in the Gold Element Body.

After tidying up more or less, Lin Heng changed into clean clothes and held a folding fan painted with landscapes. He looked like a talented scholar with a belly full of classics.

Although he had not yet reached the Foundation Establishment Realm and could not abstain from grain, after going three days straight without eating or drinking, even if he felt there was no problem, his body still could not adapt for the moment.

He went out to get a meal. At the roadside, he had only slurped a few mouthfuls of mutton soup when suddenly, a carriage stopped in front of him.

The Zhao Family?