Night had fallen.
Chen Guan had wandered around outside the town before finally returning.
Then,
he said, without a hint of joking, that he wanted to die.
First, there were too many unknowns about his trip to the sect.
Second, this body was getting hard to train. Post-Heaven Great Accomplishment was already close to its limit.
If he kept grinding, he would only improve his talent proficiency, but he could barely make any progress in his cultivation.
To put it even more embarrassingly, if not for Bear's Strength,
his own strength alone would barely have reached Post-Heaven Minor Accomplishment.
"Heritage talents and the aptitude of each lifetime are both important. 'Root Bone' is especially crucial."
Chen Guan sighed, feeling that his Root Bone in this lifetime was somewhat lacking.
As for "Root Bone" and "talent," they were not the same thing.
That was how Chen Guan saw it.
Talent meant things like "saber techniques, fists and kicks, and Bear's Strength."
Those could be ground up quickly, and they accumulated with each lifetime, providing a substantial "boost to combat power."
In a sense, they added various "special physical states," as well as all sorts of "comprehension."
Grinding those was definitely worthwhile.
But Root Bone referred to one's "cultivation speed." It was also a kind of "hidden physical talent."
For example, his grandson had a "fifth-grade spiritual root." That was a normal talent.
Then, suppose he had a fifth-grade spiritual root in this lifetime as well.
After twenty years of cultivation, with the same level of comprehension,
his grandson, thanks to his high "hidden Root Bone," would open his dantian faster and convert the spiritual energy he absorbed more efficiently and quickly. In the end, he might have forty or fifty years of cultivation.
But with an ordinary Root Bone, he would only have ten or twenty years, perhaps not even ten.
And the reason he knew this
was that he had heard his grandson say that, according to many of his seniors, although he had cultivated for only twenty years, he already possessed "seventy-five years of cultivation" compared to an ordinary cultivator!
That was what it meant to have "exceptional Root Bone!"
He had more than three times the cultivation of a normal cultivator.
And with his grandson's fifth-grade spiritual root, he could also be considered a minor prodigy in terms of talent.
That was why, at first, his sect had refused to let him go traveling, clinging to him and refusing to let him leave.
After all, although such talent might not be top-notch compared with the cultivators of Xuanyuan East Province,
within the Guanglin Sect, he had already been placed among the "key candidates for cultivation."
As for years of cultivation, that depended on the "qi" within the body.
One complete unit of elemental qi was equivalent to one year.
At present,
Chen Guan was a Rogue Cultivator, and most of what he knew came from figuring things out on his own. He had cultivated for what seemed like twelve years, yet only had eight units.
The eighth was not even complete.
But cultivators cared about their pride. When speaking to others, they generally claimed, "This poor Daoist has diligently cultivated for many years. I'm unworthy, but I still have eight years of cultivation."
Meanwhile,
as home drew closer and closer,
Chen Guan did not know what he was thinking.
In theory, he did not want to die. He wanted to grind up more talents and lay a foundation for future lifetimes.
But reality was simply like this—helpless.
"Fate comes first, then luck, then feng shui." The first thing that mattered was "fate," in other words, one's birth.
As he came into contact with proper cultivation practitioners and learned more comprehensive knowledge,
Chen Guan realized that this body's hidden Root Bone was too low. In a sense, he had been born unlucky.
But his heritage talents really were incredible. Just four low-level talents had forcibly pulled him this far.
It was as if they had altered his "innate destiny."
At the age of twenty, he had basically become the strongest person in Little Liuzi Town.
Some storytellers had even hailed him as a "young Strange Hero."
But he knew his own situation best.
He could no longer make progress in his "cultivation realm."
"Since I'll be going to the sect..."
Chen Guan started hatching a crooked plan.
"Why not die once?
"After all, the interval between reincarnations is short right now, only twenty days.
"And I've already learned the basics of sensing qi.
"On top of that, I have some handwritten cultivation insights from my grandson, as well as a few secret arts that can only be learned within a sect.
"Maybe after I'm born as a baby next time, I can learn to gather qi before I even learn to walk.
"I'll start from a higher point and be able to cultivate farther.
"As long as I get roughly the same cards in my next starting hand...
"No! I mean, as long as my starting Root Bone is roughly the same, I'll train properly and stop hatching crooked plans."
Chen Guan wanted a fresh start.
And after this thought took root, his anticipation for the next life only grew stronger.
So, how to die,
and how to arrange his affairs afterward, were the problems he needed to solve now.
As Chen Guan saw it,
the whole point of starting over was to break through his "upper limit" again.
Of course, he had also come to the attention of the Guanglin Sect.
This was also about protecting himself, so nobody would capture him and use him as a research subject.
So before dying,
he could visit the wilderness and other places to see if the pressure of life and death could force him to improve his cultivation and physical condition.
That way, he could secure a minimum "floor" for his next random restart.
As for the Life-Extending Pill,
Chen Guan looked at it.
If he cultivated well in his next life and had a good Root Bone, he would not have to worry about his lifespan.
If he did not cultivate well, then even a few extra decades would be useless. It would be better to stack his heritage talents and start over.
The pill was no use to him, so he might as well give it to someone else and see if he could repay the debt of "being raised" in this life.
The next morning, at dawn,
in the courtyard where Chen Guan lived,
Patriarch Zhao, his hair already turning white, the Eldest Young Master, who was over thirty, the Second Young Master, and Sixth Brother, who was nearly an adult, all stood anxiously in the courtyard.
"Fifth Brother actually knows a cultivator?"
"Unbelievable... truly unbelievable... We always thought Fifth Brother was merely peerless in strength, but we never imagined he had such extensive connections..."
"Fifth Brother was away for ten years. Perhaps he became acquainted with some reclusive masters..."
"Guan'er killed the proprietor of Yanhe Pavilion. With a cultivator backing him, the authorities shouldn't come looking for trouble..."
The four members of the Zhao Family waited anxiously. They had come today because of the great event that had taken place the previous night.
Word of it had already spread like wildfire through town.
Because of this,
Patriarch Zhao and the others had barely slept the previous night, desperate to find out what had happened.
But last night, even after hearing from the servants that Young Hero Chen had returned in the middle of the night,
they had not dared disturb him, despite their sleepless night.
They had waited until now.
At that very moment, a crowd of people hoping to send gifts milled about outside the Zhao residence, peering in from all sides.
If several constables had not been keeping order, the people bearing gifts alone would have completely blocked the broad street outside the Zhao residence.
And that was nothing compared to the gift carriages stretching from one end of the street to the other.
They had lined both sides of the road in a continuous row, nearly two hundred meters from end to end.
It was all because Chen Guan knew that cultivator.
The Zhao Family had naturally benefited from the connection.
Meanwhile,
inside the county yamen,
"Are the gifts ready?"
The County Magistrate, who had been sitting calmly like a fisherman waiting for a bite, could no longer sit still after hearing there was a cultivator in town.
A town like theirs had not seen a cultivator in over a decade.
At least, they had never seen one openly—a cultivator who could cleave a ditch more than ten zhang deep into the ground with a single strike.
"If we're judging by internal energy..."
Constable Yan furrowed his brow and paced back and forth before the County Magistrate.
"This man is at least at Xiantian Great Accomplishment!
"Forget our town. Even across the city and its dozens of counties, there aren't more than a handful who could beat him!
"And by all accounts, he's no more than twenty...
"This... perhaps he belongs to some great Immortal Sect..."
The County Magistrate and Constable Yan were also preparing to visit the Zhao Family.
But at that moment,
in the courtyard,
after waiting for a long while without seeing his son come out, Patriarch Zhao grew puzzled. He stepped forward and asked somewhat awkwardly:
"Guan'er? Guan'er, are you up?"
Normally, no matter how late Chen Guan came home, he would usually be up around this time.
But today, something was off.
As a father, Patriarch Zhao was worried about him. But as a grown man and the family patriarch,
he did not know how to express his concern, so his question came out stiff and awkward.
But even after calling several times, Chen Guan still did not come out.
Patriarch Zhao hesitated, waited a little longer, then gently pushed the door.
Creak—
The door was unlocked.
It swung open at Patriarch Zhao's touch, and he saw that the room was neat and orderly. There was no sign of his son in the bed behind the screen, either.
Only a bottle of pills and a letter sat on the solid-wood table by the door.
Curious, Patriarch Zhao stepped forward and opened it. The letter read:
(Dad, I suddenly remembered that there's something I haven't settled, so I'll need to leave home for a while.
"If the cultivator Chen Changhong comes looking for me, tell him I'm used to doing as I please and couldn't refuse his kind invitation, so I left without saying goodbye.
"You can also let him read this letter.
"As for Sixth Brother's situation, I've made arrangements through Official Liu at the yamen.
"He's a man who values profit, and he also knows that our Zhao Family has connections with a cultivator. He shouldn't go back on his word, even though I killed the proprietor of Yanhe Pavilion yesterday.
"He'll be too busy trying to distance himself from the matter to defend the proprietor.
"When the imperial examinations come around next year, if he hasn't contacted you, you can contact him.
"Sixth Brother is clever. If possible, try to help him pursue an official career.
"As for the pill on the table, it's called the Life-Extending Pill. It's a miraculous medicine from an Immortal Sect. Father, don't tell anyone about it.
"Dad, just take it yourself. When I return from my travels, make sure you wait for Ling'er to come back.
"Yours,
"Zhao Ling, the Zhao Family's Fifth Son")
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