Entering the Life Foundation

The Great Scenery Plains, the Chen Household.

The disturbances nearby prompted no particular response from the Chen Household, which had sealed off its mountain.

Most of the clan's younger members wore frightened expressions. The ancestor's order to seal the mountain had already left them disgruntled.

Now that strange phenomena had appeared on the Plainlands and a True Person was making inspections, quite a few of them clamored to remonstrate with Chen Weiyuan in person.

Chen Weiyuan publicly announced that he was entering secluded cultivation. He stayed in a hidden cave residence within the estate and saw no one except Chen Xiyue, leaving the troublemakers in the clan knocking at a closed door.

The cave residence was not lavish inside; rather, it seemed somewhat austere. Chen Weiyuan was playing a board game with Chen Xiyue. After a little while, the old man laid down his pieces in concession and sighed softly.

"Xiyue, your endgame techniques keep getting stronger. I'm old now. I really can't beat you anymore."

Chen Xiyue forced a faint smile at his words. A pall of gloom now shrouded her once-radiant face, and she merely asked in a low voice:

"Sir, True Person Ru Su of Tip-Feng Mountain has come here, and his sect has been overseeing the Demon Refining Tower lately. Could something have gone missing?"

Chen Weiyuan had already put away the pieces. Entirely unconcerned, he said:

"So what if a few demons escaped? Red Cloud will perish sooner or later. With every faction crushing the others underfoot, another demon hardly makes a difference."

"Let the great figures watching over us worry about these things. It isn't our place to make plans yet. Come, Xiyue, that last game doesn't count. Let's play again."

His words did little to ease Chen Xiyue's mind. Her brows remained knitted as she continued:

"Most of the direct descendants of the households on the Plainlands are now preparing to break through to the sixth level of Qi Refining and seek their [Life Foundation]."

"The one from the Duan Clan consumed blood essence and has already succeeded. All the households still have their inheritances and some measure of fortune remaining. Seeking their [Nature Root] should pose few obstacles. In a few years, the Plainlands will have another crop of Foundation Establishment cultivators."

Chen Weiyuan seemed lost in thought. He merely asked:

"Has Xu Xuan of Green Peaks broken through to the sixth level yet?"

Chen Xiyue looked slightly uncomfortable, but said:

"Thunderclouds have surged over Green Luo. He cultivates lightning arts, so it seems he has succeeded. The Great Red Abbey's Dao lineage can be traced back to Middle Antiquity, and its ties to the Dao run deep. Seeking his [Nature Root] will be easy for him too."

But Chen Weiyuan's concern lay elsewhere. Disappointment showed on his face as he sighed:

"Then he must have relied on blood essence to advance so quickly."

"During the Demon Calamity, his sect resisted more fiercely than any other. All his elders died. He had no choice."

Chen Xiyue quietly spoke in Xu Xuan's defense. Meanwhile, Chen Weiyuan left the game board and walked toward the cave residence's exit, saying without either pleasure or sorrow:

"No choice? Everyone has an excuse. Everyone has a reason. Once something like this begins, there's no stopping it."

"Xiyue, isn't the plight of the Plainlands today also the result of someone else having 'no choice'? Only we were the price. Once you leave home, think carefully about these things."

Chen Xiyue left the game table and fell to her knees, bowing low as she spoke in anguish:

"Sir, do you truly mean to have me abandon the Lineage and enter another sect?"

Chen Weiyuan's expression did not change. He straightened, walked out of the cave residence, and looked at the clansmen below the mountain as he said softly:

"I have spoken with the Azure Splendor Sect in You Province. They have agreed to accept you as a disciple. Once you go, sever all ties with this household. You must never again claim to be of the Great Scenery Chen or the Shu Kingdom Imperial Descendants!"

"Grandfather!"

Chen Xiyue began to sob quietly, her grief stifled and restrained. Chen Weiyuan did not look at her. His voice drifted faintly, carrying a note of dejection:

"I kept you from cultivating the household's inherited path of [Wu Earth] and had you cultivate [Jia Wood] instead, precisely because Jia restrains Wu, and wood overcomes earth."

"Diminishing your fortune little by little, weakening your bloodline, having you cultivate a conflicting method-all of it was to disentangle you from this, to leave us at least something to hold on to."

"I, and everyone else in this household, must remain trapped on these Plainlands. Even if we die and are burned to ashes, those ashes must be scattered over this land."

The old man looked toward the horizon and continued in a voice like someone talking in his sleep:

"I could neither restore our fallen kingdom and return to the old capital, nor protect my blood kin and keep our ancestral flame burning. In this life, I have accomplished nothing."

"Xiyue, once matters here are settled, if you have the chance, take my spirit tablet and travel around Ancient Shu."

"See the places where our ancestors won glory and founded their legacy. Just don't go to the Qishan Imperial Mausoleum. If the ancestors in the Nine Springs saw a wretch like me, they would reproach me and curse me."

Behind him, Chen Xiyue could only weep. The sound was mournful beyond measure, carrying down into the deep, silent earth.

Xu Xuan was examining the blood flower that had grown inside him. It was shaped like a Mandarava, its red a brutal, ghastly hue.

The blood flower had taken root within his Qi Sea, beneath the [Mystic Prayer Thunderwood]. It had been absorbing the spiritual liquid in the thunder marsh until the ancient stele's clear light shuddered. Now its strange manifestations had subsided.

The thing possessed neither demonic aura nor Demonic Nature, but Xu Xuan instinctively felt that it had caused the earlier phenomena.

For a True Person of Tip-Feng Mountain to come searching in person, it had to be something vicious.

Xu Xuan had read plenty of storybooks and novels. He was thoroughly familiar with the routine of an Old Devil's remnant soul possessing someone, the two reaching a compromise, and the soul passing cultivation methods to a protagonist burdened with a blood feud. It was all stale, well-worn material.

But the Golden-Armored Deity's might had left a deep shadow over Xu Xuan. He already had enough strange secrets about him. Any one of them could reduce both him and his entire sect to drifting ash and smoke.

Not one error, first release, all content on Yi Kan!

The memories of his previous life in his mind, the White Jade Ancient Stele within him, the Seal Script that could improve his aptitude and manifest his innate gifts, and now this uncanny red flower.

He felt as though he had already reached the edge of a cliff. The lives of Wang Xiwei, Wen Si'an, and the others were tied to his own. One careless step, and they would all plunge together, their bodies smashed to pieces.

Fortunately, the ancient stele inside him could suppress the blood flower for the time being, allowing his heart to settle a little.

The sect now had four Qi Refining cultivators, with Xu Xuan, who had obtained his [Life Foundation], holding the fort. Even on the Plainlands, their words carried some weight.

Although Black Wind Valley had not attacked, Xie Shu had reached the ninth level of Qi Refining decades ago. There was no telling what heights his cultivation had reached.

Back then, he had fought Wen Fufeng. Though he suffered a crushing defeat, he had still survived that Sword Intent. Naturally, he had some means of his own.

Xu Xuan saw it clearly: Black Wind Valley would certainly make a move before he reached Foundation Establishment.

As for the Lotus Temple, it likely intended to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight. But it would not let Xu Xuan reach Foundation Establishment in peace either. A bloody battle was inevitable when the time came.

If only I could master Sword Intent.

Xu Xuan was currently studying the notes his master had left in the Sword Manual. But Sword Intent was a mystery within a mystery; he could make neither head nor tail of it.

Though Sword Qi already placed Xu Xuan among the deadliest of his peers, his cultivation methods, magical artifacts, and experience all fell short of those of Lineages that had enjoyed the protection of Foundation Establishment cultivators for generations. He could hardly compare with the direct descendants of an immortal clan like the Chen, which had produced a True Person.

For now, I should examine the records Master left about bringing Sword Qi into the Life Foundation.

Sword Qi entered the Life Foundation, and Sword Intent resided in the Nature Root. Only by making up the deficiencies of both nature and life could one become a Sword Immortal. Back then, Wen Fufeng had relied on a Fourth-Grade Cultivation Method to be ranked alongside Chen Changqi and Zhu Yucheng as the Three Dao Seeds of the Plainlands. This crucial principle was precisely what he had depended on.

Sword Qi entering the Life Foundation-how exactly does it enter?

Xu Xuan closed the Sword Manual and let out a long sigh. Sensing his mood, the [Cinnabar Thunder] within him emerged and took form, becoming a Thunder Sparrow that landed on his shoulder, chirping away.

(End of chapter)