That day, at the first glimmer of daylight, Xu Xuan left the herb garden with the purchasing convoy.
The road wound onward, and only at noon did they reach a stretch of riverbank called Green Moss Market.
The market stood along the river. It was small, with few people about.
Most were outer disciples of the Azure Wood Sect and nearby rogue cultivators, each tending their own stall, with little noise or bustle.
Xu Xuan arranged a time to meet the convoy steward there, then entered the market alone.
His purpose on this trip was very clear.
His first priority was to find a "method of locating spiritual energy."
Xu Xuan had already made his plans.
Along the stretch of river beside Xu Household Market, the spiritual energy showed faint signs of unusual movement, as though a spiritual vein lay hidden there.
If he could locate it and draw upon it, he could certainly establish a place for cultivation over at the Xu Household.
Furthermore, becoming familiar with spiritual veins would also help him grow spiritual plants in the Azure Wood Sect.
He walked slowly among the stalls.
His gaze swept over the low-tier talismans, ordinary pills, and common spiritual herbs without lingering.
Only when he reached an old man's stall specializing in all manner of damaged jade slips did he stop to look closely.
After some searching, he spotted an aged-looking jade slip titled "Spiritual Vein Notes."
He haggled with the old man several times and spent most of his savings before finally buying it.
Holding the jade slip, he probed it with his spiritual sense. The contents were rudimentary.
They consisted mostly of basic methods of sensing and identification, but they suited his present needs perfectly, and his heart could not help settling.
Besides this, he also found a blue-green jade slip.
It contained an incomplete volume of the "Commentary on the Hundred Herbs Classic."
Not only did it record detailed illustrated descriptions of over a hundred common spiritual herbs, it also included formulas for several first-tier pills and key points for refining them.
Alchemy ranked first among the four arts of "pills, artifacts, talismans, and formations."
Even a glimpse of its doorway would bring boundless benefits to his own cultivation and even his lineage's long-term development.
Though incomplete, this item was worth more than the "Spiritual Vein Notes," and Xu Xuan naturally acquired it without hesitation.
Even merely learning the basics would bring boundless benefits to his own cultivation and his lineage's development.
Afterward, he purchased a few miscellaneous jade slips here and there concerning basic formation arrangements and the identification of ordinary minerals.
This knowledge was scattered and fragmented, without a coherent system.
Yet it could broaden his experience and allow him to draw connections between related subjects, leaving him feeling that he had benefited considerably.
Though this knowledge was disorganized, overall, it still benefited him greatly.
Once he had purchased all the jade slips he needed, Xu Xuan counted the spiritual sand he had left and found very little remained.
After a moment's thought, he went to a stall specializing in pills and seeds and exchanged all his remaining spiritual sand for several bottles of "Qi Gathering Powder" and several packets of spiritual herb seeds of varying quality.
The pills could aid his cultivation in the short term, while the seeds could be kept for future cultivation; at least he would not return empty-handed.
By the time everything was settled, the sun had begun to slant slightly westward.
Only then did he turn and head toward the agreed meeting place with the convoy.
After returning to the herb garden, Xu Xuan shut himself indoors and bent over his desk day and night, concentrating on inscribing jade slips.
Compared with his previous life, his cultivation had now advanced somewhat, and his spiritual sense was more condensed, greatly reducing the mental effort required to make jade slips.
First, he copied the contents of the newly purchased "Spiritual Vein Notes" and "Commentary on the Hundred Herbs Classic" into blank jade slips without changing a single word.
Spiritual power gathered at his fingertips, like a blade, like a brush.
It left grooves of varying depths upon the smooth jade pieces.
After completing the copies, he did not stop.
Instead, he focused his mind in quiet contemplation and carefully organized the many insights and experiences he had gained from tending the herb garden and cultivating spiritual plants over the years.
Which spiritual herbs preferred shade, and which needed water channeled to them at regular intervals.
How to deal with pests and diseases.
Even some labor-saving tricks he had worked out himself.
He sorted them all into categories and inscribed them anew into another jade slip.
This process consumed immense mental energy, and he often sat for several hours at a time.
When he rose, he felt dizzy and light-headed, yet he never tired of it.
Once the jade slips were ready, the next crucial matter was how to send them safely back to the Xu Household.
Xu Xuan had already made plans for this.
He knew that the sect sent a regular convoy to Hundred Fragrance Valley every month to collect spiritual herbs.
Among its members was a cultivator surnamed Zhang who had some acquaintance with Xu Jingyun of his lineage.
From Li Jiangping's occasional remarks, this man was quite dependable and reliable in handling affairs.
When the time was ripe, Xu Xuan found an opportunity to slip the sealed jade slips and spiritual herb seeds into the convoy preparing to travel to Hundred Fragrance Valley.
Then he sought out the cultivator surnamed Zhang and spoke earnestly.
He said only that they were ordinary items needed at home and asked him to deliver them to Xu Jingyun in Hundred Fragrance Valley along the way.
As a precaution, Xu Xuan also made use of an extremely secret channel.
It was a network of connections left behind by the Azure Mystery Gang in days past.
He wrote a letter in cipher, explaining in detail the importance of the jade slips and seeds.
He urged the lineage to send direct-line descendants to Hundred Fragrance Valley to collect them in person, and to exercise the utmost caution along the way.
The letter mentioned that the jade slips and seeds were crucial to the Xu Household and needed to be collected carefully by direct-line descendants.
The cultivator surnamed Zhang knew that Xu Xuan was a favorite of Li Jiangping, and the items he was sending did not appear unusual.
It was no more than lifting a hand, so he readily agreed.
Thus, the things Xu Xuan had prepared quietly left the Azure Wood Sect with the convoy.
Several months later, a secret letter quietly reached the hands of Xu Ziyu, the current head of the Xu Household.
The letter had arrived through a secret channel that had lain dormant for many years.
When a trusted member of the lineage presented the sealed bamboo tube, Xu Ziyu's heart tightened.
He was over seventy, a direct grandson of Xu Yuming, and also a great-grandson of Xu Daocheng, Xu Xuan's previous incarnation.
Thanks to his meridian opening stage cultivation, he looked only fifty-odd, but he had already led the Xu Household for decades and had long since developed the composure to remain unshaken by unforeseen events.
Yet when he inspected the bamboo tube, his brows knitted deeply.
"This channel has been abandoned for so long... who could have sent a secret letter by this means?"
He dismissed the attendants and opened the bamboo tube alone in his study.
Inside was a thin, tough sheet of parchment.
The writing upon it used an extremely complicated cipher, obscure and difficult to understand.
Xu Ziyu tried to decipher it using several lineage codes he knew, but gained nothing, and his alarm grew still greater.
After pondering for a long time, he carefully put the parchment away and sighed deeply.
"This matter has far-reaching implications. It is not something I can decide; I must consult Great-grandmother at once."
Afterward, without alerting too many people, Xu Ziyu took only two utterly trustworthy experts from the lineage, quietly left Xu Household Market, and secretly made his way to North Ridge Mountain.
His great-grandmother Liu Yun now lived out her remaining years in the mountain cottage there.
Nearly a hundred years had flowed past, and the affairs of the world had undergone vast changes.
The Great Dragon Gang, which had once dominated River Sun, had long since vanished like smoke and scattered clouds.
The Azure Mystery Gang, established single-handedly by the Xu Household, had likewise broken into scattered units to avoid the enemy's sharp edge, slipping into streets and alleys and going underground.
River Sun Prefecture City now belonged to the Blood Refining Hall.
Its blazing influence reached the heavens, and it even had qi refining stage cultivators stationed there.
The Xu Household was far weaker and could only avoid its sharp edge for the time being, enduring in silence without making a move.
North Ridge Mountain, the cottage.
The place remained quiet and secluded, sheltered among pines and cypresses.
Several plain houses stood silently halfway up the mountain.
This had once been the place where Xu Xuan kept vigil for Xu Chengye.
Every brick and tile was steeped in the traces of bygone years.
Later, the descendants of the Xu Household had gradually built several quiet chambers around the original thatched hut, specifically for members of the lineage with spiritual roots to cultivate here in peace, far from worldly clamor.
Xu Ziyu waited quietly outside the cottage for a short while.
A girl in a green skirt appeared with graceful steps, her features lovely and her bearing calm.
"Household Head Xu, Master invites you inside."
"Sorry for the trouble, Miss Qingchan."
Xu Ziyu hurriedly cupped his hands in return.
His manner was respectful; he clearly regarded this girl as an equal, or even someone above him.
The girl, Qingchan, nodded slightly and, without saying more, turned to lead the way.
Xu Ziyu followed closely behind her into the cottage.
The furnishings within were simple, with only a faint scent of sandalwood lingering in the air.
"Chan'er, you may withdraw."
A woman's voice, gentle yet authoritative, came from the inner room.
"Yes."
Qingchan answered and withdrew, her steps light and soundless.