Adjusting His Cultivation Path

After the elders' meeting, its resolutions soon spread throughout Peach Blossom Mountain.

Meanwhile, Liu Changxu was in his courtyard, planting the spirit tea tree he had obtained.

First, Liu Changxu dug a pit one zhang across and one zhang deep. Then he filled it with spirit soil, made by mixing soil from around the original Spirit Tea tree with demonic beast manure.

Liu Changxu also placed a hundred low-grade spirit stones of wood, earth, water, and other attributes in the pit.

He was very fond of this Cloudmist Tea tree, so rather than turn it over to the lineage, Liu Changxu planted it in his own courtyard.

His younger sister Liu Changxue and his youngest sister Liu Ling were happily playing with Xiao Qing nearby. Both girls adored Xiao Qing! They even gave Xiao Qing the spirit rice cakes they normally could not bear to eat themselves.

Seeing this, Liu Changxu felt happiness well up in his heart. This was the home he wanted to safeguard. He wanted to protect his family-that was what drove him to pursue immortality.

For a moment, Liu Changxu's thoughts flowed freely, and he felt the bottleneck to the sixth level of Qi Refinement loosen.

Liu Changxu hurried back to his room, sat cross-legged, and circulated the Essence-Nurturing Qi Refinement Art to break through to the sixth level of Qi Refinement.

Early the next morning, Liu Changxu stepped out of his room in high spirits. He had thought it would take some time before he could break through, yet unexpectedly, he had done so just after returning from a beast hunt. It seemed that single-mindedly cultivating at home was not the way to go!

He went to the dining hall and greeted his parents, his father's concubine, and his younger siblings. The family ate breakfast together in harmony.

Breakfast that day was fairly simple: crystal spirit rice, gently stewed snake meat, spirit mushroom soup with shredded meat, and steamed spirit egg custard.

After breakfast, Liu Changxu chatted with his father and mother for a while before returning to his courtyard.

Liu Changxu needed to think carefully about his future cultivation path!

He had now reached the sixth level of Qi Refinement. His next step was to break through to late-stage Qi Refinement.

Besides his own good aptitude, the most important reason Liu Changxu had reached the sixth level of Qi Refinement at sixteen was the wholehearted support of his father, mother, grandfather, and grandmother. Without their support, he could never have attained his current cultivation.

But that could not continue. To help his father reach Foundation Establishment as soon as possible, the whole family would have to tighten their belts. They could no longer support Liu Changxu's cultivation as they had before.

Moreover, by the lineage's custom, its cultivators were considered adults at sixteen. That also meant he would have to rely on himself for the spirit stones and spiritual resources his cultivation required from now on.

Once he became an adult, he would also need to establish a household, make a living, marry, and have children. When that time came, he would have to provide the spiritual resources his wife and children needed for their cultivation as well.

Taking stock of his assets, he had 550 low-grade spirit stones, 750 lineage contribution points, one Middle-Grade First-Tier Magical Artifact, the Dragon Spring Sword, twenty talismans, two Yellow-rank mid-grade cultivation manuals—the Azure Water Art and the Thick Earth Method—one Middle-Grade First-Tier talisman brush, one talisman-making manual, one illustrated guide to spirit plants, one Lower-Grade First-Tier Magical Artifact, the Dark Iron Sword, one comprehensive guide to Qi Refinement spells, two Middle-Grade First-Tier Jade Spirit Peach trees, one Middle-Grade First-Tier Cloudmist Tea tree, and one Lower-Grade First-Tier spirit beast.

Among mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivators, Liu Changxu could be considered quite well-off. However, most of these gains had come from this beast hunt. He still had no cultivation craft that could bring him a steady income.

Therefore, Liu Changxu now intended to learn a cultivation craft.

At present, alchemy appealed to him most. However, learning alchemy required too large an initial investment. Although his father was an Upper-Grade First-Tier alchemist and could teach him, his father was now preparing to focus on cultivation so he could reach the Great Perfection of Qi Refinement as soon as possible and gain an advantage over Sixth Elder Liu Shisheng in their competition for a Foundation Establishment Pill. Thus, now was not the right time to learn alchemy.

As for artifact refining, the lineage's legacy in that field was relatively weak. Artifact refining required powerful earthfire, which was precisely what the Liu Household lacked. Therefore, it was not a good choice either.

The art of formations required extraordinary talent, as well as considerable time and energy devoted to long-term study. For now, it was not a good choice either.

After weighing his options, Liu Changxu felt that learning to make talismans suited him best at present. His mother was also a talisman maker, so he could ask her about anything he did not understand.

Finally, this beast hunt had exposed the shortcomings in his combat abilities.

He had struggled against both the Middle-Grade First-Tier Withered Leaf Snake and the Green Fox, which were at the same cultivation level as him, let alone demonic beasts at a higher level.

The main problem was that he knew too few spells. His only offensive spell was the Fireball Spell, and he was not proficient in it.

Spell proficiency was divided into four levels: beginner, minor mastery, major mastery, and perfection.

A spell at minor mastery was considerably superior to one at the beginner level, both in casting speed and power.

Moreover, relying on a single spell made it easy for an opponent to counter him. Each additional spell he learned would give him another way to face his enemies and another measure of confidence in victory.

Lastly, he planned to learn a Body-Refining Technique. A strong physique was the foundation of any cultivation, and many Body Cultivators could fight opponents above their level in close combat.

With his cultivation path clarified, Liu Changxu was once again filled with fighting spirit.