Xu Xuan naturally answered his questions fluently.
He displayed an understanding of low-grade spiritual herbs that far surpassed even ordinary spiritual plant farmers.
Yuan Qiu was quite pleased and made an exception, allowing him to consult several basic spiritual plant manuals in the valley's collection.
Xu Xuan found the jade slips he had left behind in his previous life and combined them with these spiritual plant manuals, rapidly improving his own spiritual plant cultivation skills.
No longer content with simple planting, he began attempting more advanced techniques such as grafting and breeding.
Several years later, he had become a "spiritual plant master" with a modest reputation in Hundred Fragrance Valley.
Though he held no formal title, and his cultivation remained virtually nonexistent.
His skills, however, ranked among the best of the Xu Lineage's members and even the Yuan Household's disciples.
With his increasingly refined spiritual plant cultivation skills, Xu Xuan established a firm foothold in the valley and was no longer a tenant farmer whom anyone could order around.
He became indispensable to the Xu Lineage's management of the spiritual fields in Hundred Fragrance Valley.
Even the Yuan Household's disciples had heard of his reputation.
On this day, the Yuan Household's steward in the valley was one of Yuan Qiu's great-great-grandsons, named Yuan Hongyi.
He hosted a small family banquet and invited Wang Tong.
Besides Yuan Hongyi, those at the table included another guest.
She was a pretty young woman with a gentle demeanor, named Yuan Zhilan.
She was the daughter of a woman from the Yuan Household who had married out, and, tracing their kinship, she was even distantly related to Wang Tong.
Both her parents had now passed away, and she lived in the home of her maternal uncle, Yuan Hongyi.
After drinking several cups of mild wine brewed from spiritual grain, Yuan Hongyi took Wang Tong's hand and sighed.
"Brother Wang Tong, though you aren't from the Xu Household's main branch, your skill at tending spiritual herbs has certainly brought honor to your Xu Household."
"Zhilan is a careful, deft-handed girl, and she has learned a little about identifying medicinal herbs too."
"I see that you're about the same age and both alone. That, too, is fate."
"If you're willing, I'll make the decision and betroth Zhilan to you. Then you'll be one of our own, and you can devote yourself even more fully to tending Hundred Fragrance Valley's spiritual fields."
Xu Xuan paused slightly and looked at the young woman named Yuan Zhilan.
Her cheeks were faintly flushed, and she kept her head lowered without speaking, but she showed no resistance.
His thoughts raced like lightning.
His status in this life was lowly.
If he could become a son-in-law of the Xu Household, even through a collateral branch, his position would become more secure, and it would be easier for him to act.
He could also use the opportunity to look into the Yuan Household's cultivation legacy.
Moreover, Yuan Zhilan seemed gentle-natured and content with her lot.
At his current stage, the benefits outweighed the drawbacks.
Xu Xuan immediately rose and cupped his hands.
"I am honored by your regard, Steward. Wang Tong could ask for nothing better."
The marriage was settled just like that, with everything kept simple.
After their marriage, Yuan Zhilan proved virtuous and capable, keeping their little home in perfect order and showing Xu Xuan meticulous care.
This allowed Xu Xuan, immersed in cultivation and planning, to feel a rare trace of worldly warmth.
After becoming a son-in-law of the Yuan Household, Xu Xuan indeed gained access to somewhat more resources.
On one occasion, he helped Yuan Hongyi resolve a problem with pests and disease in a spiritual field, saving a large expanse of nearly ripe Jade Marrow Rice.
Yuan Hongyi was overjoyed and actually gave him a wax-sealed pill in private.
"This is a Yellow Bud Pill. The ancestor rewarded me with it for meritorious service some years ago."
"It no longer does much for my cultivation, so I'll give it to you."
"Though you have no spiritual root, this pill contains spiritual energy. Taking it may strengthen your body and prolong your life."
Yuan Hongyi spoke in a lowered voice.
Yellow Bud Pill!
Xu Xuan's heart jolted.
This was a common pill that low-level cultivators used to help open their meridians and nourish their spiritual roots.
For him, with no cultivation at present and a poor-quality spiritual root, it was nothing less than sweet rain after a long drought!
He firmly suppressed his excitement and offered his solemn thanks.
He returned to the humble little house he shared with Yuan Zhilan.
He instructed his wife not to disturb him, then went into seclusion.
He sat quietly on the bed.
He took out the yellow pill, which gave off a faint medicinal fragrance.
Rather than swallow it immediately, he first examined his own body inwardly.
He sensed the false spiritual root, so weak it was almost imperceptible.
And the newly acquired white talisman in his mind, the Earth Spirit of the Eight Directions.
Though this talisman had no offensive power and could not directly improve his cultivation.
It was extraordinarily mysterious, able to increase his fortune through unseen means, helping him seek good fortune and avoid disaster, turning peril into auspicious outcomes.
Perhaps it was precisely this talisman's blessing that had allowed him to obtain this crucial Yellow Bud Pill so smoothly.
"With the earth spirit's protection, let's see whether I can succeed in one stroke today!"
Xu Xuan hesitated no longer and placed the Yellow Bud Pill in his mouth.
The pill dissolved upon entering his mouth.
A gentle, pure stream of spiritual energy instantly surged into his limbs and throughout his body.
It was far more abundant than the spiritual energy in Hundred Fragrance Valley!
He immediately employed the energy-guiding method he had comprehended in his previous life, the one best suited to his current circumstances.
He carefully guided the medicinal power toward his dantian, attempting to break through his blocked meridians and nourish his frail false spiritual root.
The process was slow and painful.
His meridians were like a long-parched riverbed into which water was forcibly poured, sending out waves of tearing pain.
But his will was extraordinarily firm.
The experience of two lifetimes became boundless resilience at this moment, keeping his mind firmly clear as he guided and refined the spiritual energy strand by strand.
After an unknown length of time, when the last trace of medicinal power had been absorbed, Xu Xuan slowly opened his eyes.
Though his cultivation had not immediately recovered, and he remained a mortal.
He could clearly feel that the false spiritual root within him seemed to have grown a fraction stronger and more substantial.
His sensitivity to the spiritual energy of heaven and earth had also sharpened considerably.
More importantly, a faint sense of qi had quietly emerged in his dantian.
I've successfully drawn qi into my body!
I've finally set foot on the path of cultivation again!
Even Xu Xuan could not help feeling ripples stir in his heart at this moment.
With this first step taken, he could use Hundred Fragrance Valley's meager spiritual energy to accumulate slowly and gradually improve his aptitude.
When he emerged from seclusion, he was full of vigor, and Yuan Zhilan was delighted to see him.
Afterward, Xu Xuan devoted himself even more intently to spiritual plants.
Taking advantage of his position, he frequently came into contact with all kinds of spiritual herbs.
In secret, he tried using that faint sense of qi to guide the vital essence of plants and aid his cultivation.
Though the effects were slow, the advantage lay in their steadiness and continuity.
Time slipped by, and Xu Xuan spent nearly another twenty years in Hundred Fragrance Valley.
He was now over fifty, but thanks to his cultivation, he did not look old, and the spiritual power within him grew steadily.
His control over spiritual plants also became increasingly effortless, giving him an exceptional standing in the valley.
One day, he happened to hear several elderly members of the Xu Household chatting in the valley and mentioning the past.
"Ah, counting the years, it's been almost a hundred since the ancestor passed away, hasn't it...?"
"Yes, and Old Patriarch Yuming has been gone for over sixty years too..."
"When it comes to longevity, no one beats Great-Grandmother Liu Yun. I hear she's resting at the old residence in Heyang Prefecture, and she's still hale and hearty. She must be nearly a hundred and twenty!"
Xu Xuan's hand paused slightly as he tended a medicinal plant.
More than ninety years since my death...
Xu Yuming has passed away.
Yun'er is still alive?
An indescribable feeling welled up in his heart.
She was his wife from his second life, who had stood shoulder to shoulder with him to sustain the Lineage and borne him a son and a daughter.
More than ninety years had passed; seas had become mulberry fields, and those he had known had scattered and fallen.
Only she remained alive, thanks to the foundation she had laid by practicing the Grain Garment Art in her early years.
He silently calculated.
If Liu Yun was still alive, she would indeed be nearly a hundred and twenty.
She's still alive...
Xu Xuan's gaze grew distant, as though piercing the clouds and mist of Hundred Fragrance Valley to see the old residence in Heyang Prefecture, where the place might already remain while its people had changed.
A complex feeling spread through him.
There was wistfulness, there was reflection, and perhaps there was also the faintest trace of lingering concern.
He gathered his thoughts and continued focusing on the medicinal plant in his hands.
The most pressing task was to improve his strength as quickly as possible.
With the Earth Spirit of the Eight Directions Talisman upon me, fortune is mine.
The next step is to find a way into the Yuan Household's inner circle so I can obtain more resources.
At fifty years old, Xu Xuan's gaze was resolute.
Among the paths crisscrossing Hundred Fragrance Valley's spiritual fields, he continued his silent rise.
Though someone from his past remained, nearly a hundred years of time and a gulf of identity already separated them.
In this life, my name is Wang Tong. I am a spiritual plant master in Hundred Fragrance Valley and a son-in-law of the Yuan Household.
And she is the widow of the Xu Household's ancestor, a great-grandmother living in legend.
Better not to meet than to meet...
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