Everyone said it was an excellent name, auspicious and festive.
Yet no one knew that the newborn infant in his swaddling clothes had already quietly opened his eyes.
Those eyes were clear and bright, their blacks and whites distinct, without the slightest trace of a newborn's muddled incomprehension.
Receiving the register spared me the mystery of the womb in this life.
Xu Daocheng...
Chang, Ming, Cheng, Yao; Qian, Dao, Yu, Xuan; Zi, Wei, Heng, Yuan; Xing, Lin, Zhi, Yuan.
It seems not too much time has passed since my first life. I'm of the fifth generation descended from my previous incarnation.
The one heading the Household now happens to be that boy Xu Chengye.
Xu Xuan turned his awareness inward, sensing the faintest details.
Although this body was frail,
a faint trace of the Grain Garment Art lingered within it.
It circulated endlessly through his tender meridians.
Clearly, the Xu Household's descendants had not grown idle over the years. They had practiced regularly, improving the constitutions of their offspring.
Using this trace of energy, Xu Xuan examined the tiny body of his current life.
Deep within his flesh, he sensed a spiritual essence of vegetation.
A spiritual root of the path of vegetation?
Xu Xuan was delighted. Though its grade isn't apparent, it's much better than what I had in my previous life.
In his previous life, he had possessed no spiritual root aptitude, nor had any of his descendants.
The register read, "Longevity and long life": spring wood flourishes, spiritual energy excels, lifespan increases by forty years.
It seems this Vegetation Spiritual Root is also connected to receiving the register.
Xu Xuan tried to direct his internal breath, hoping to draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
Unfortunately, he was too young, only just born, and his body could not bear his consciousness at all.
After circulating the method for only a moment, he grew drowsy and fell asleep.
He could not speak and could not cultivate without restraint.
He could only follow the method of the Grain Garment Art, allowing that current of energy to circulate within him and gently nourish his flesh.
Most of the time, he recalled the past.
Although he had been reincarnated in this life, many memories of his former existence had also faded away.
Especially his memories of his time in Kunlun.
Apart from a few fragments, none of his cultivation methods or Divine Abilities remained.
Had he not passed down a scroll containing the Qi Refining method known as the Grain Garment Art,
he probably could not even have taken the first step now.
The Grain Garment Art can also take me to Qi Refining. As for subsequent methods, I can only consider them later... This world seems to lack spiritual energy. Cultivation is difficult.
Outside the window, the autumn wind carried a chill.
An old plum tree in the corner of the courtyard was faintly forming buds, waiting to bloom after the bitter winter.
In the fields of Xu Household Market, the winter wheat had already been planted and was gathering strength beneath the earth.
When spring brought warmth the following year, it would become a stretch of fresh green.
In the blink of an eye,
Xu Xuan reached his first full month in this life.
Xu Chengye presided over a ceremony in the ancestral hall.
He prayed for blessings upon his newborn great-grandson Xu Daocheng and entered his name in the genealogy.
During the ceremony, Xu Chengye specifically instructed the younger generations
to add another stick of incense before Xu Changgeng's portrait, in gratitude for their ancestor's blessings.
Several months later, Xu Daocheng gradually grew bigger.
He was more precocious than ordinary infants, already able to babble words and toddle about.
He showed particular curiosity toward the Grain Garment Art passed down within the Lineage.
Every dawn and dusk, when the descendants practiced, he insisted that his mother carry him to the threshing ground so he could watch them train with wide eyes.
Sometimes, he even imitated a move or two.
His behavior struck the clansmen as wondrous.
This child was extraordinary by birth and truly seemed destined for the Grain Garment Art.
He lived up to the name "Daocheng" that the Household head had chosen for him.
Xu Xuan paid them no heed.
He was taking this opportunity to openly observe his clansmen's cultivation in his infant body.
Most of his Xu Household descendants who practiced the Grain Garment Art had grasped only its form, not its spirit.
They were not entirely to blame.
After all, they were born without spiritual roots and had no immortal cultivator to guide them.
Thus, this Qi Refining method had become a rudimentary martial arts internal cultivation method, capable only of strengthening their bodies.
To hope to knock open the gates of immortality with it was a fool's dream.
Still, there were a few promising seedlings with decent aptitude and temperament who were worth nurturing.
On the path of cultivation, wealth, companions, methods, and a suitable place were all indispensable.
Xu Xuan did not intend to cultivate alone in this life.
Kunlun's immortal cultivators had plenty of young attendants and servants under them.
If any Xu Household descendants possessed spiritual roots, he would not mind taking them under his command.
Having them handle mundane affairs would be excellent as well.
Winter passed and spring came. Soon, Xu Xuan was a year old.
The Lineage held a first-birthday ceremony for him.
During the object-picking ritual, Xu Xuan ignored the dazzling assortment of objects before him.
He passed over the gold, silver, jewels, brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, reaching straight for a wooden sword the clansmen used to practice.
Then he also picked up a jade plaque engraved with the words "Grain Garment."
At this sight, the Xu Household elders were all delighted.
They felt all the more strongly that this child had been born to inherit the Lineage's supreme art.
Xu Chengye was overjoyed and valued Xu Xuan even more.
Aside from meals and sleep, he often kept Xu Xuan beside him, personally teaching him and introducing him to written characters.
He also recounted anecdotes of how their ancestor Xu Changgeng had created and passed down his art in his later years, his words filled with reverence.
Xu Xuan listened quietly, gaining a deeper understanding of the Xu Household's current circumstances.
The Xu Household had prospered thanks to the Grain Garment Art he had passed down.
At the same time, they had kept the ancestral injunction firmly in mind: "The method must not be lightly imparted."
This method was taught only to direct blood descendants, and divulging it was strictly forbidden.
The outside world knew little of it.
However, over these decades, the Xu Household had received no news of cultivators either.
In the blink of an eye,
Xu Xuan was already three years old in this life.
He spoke no differently from an adult, knew many written characters, and began practicing the Grain Garment Art under the Lineage's elders.
The Grain Garment method lay in refining and nourishing.
By eating grains and the flesh and blood of cattle and sheep, one could refine vital essence into the body and nourish one's primordial energy.
Once the circulating energy was abundant, one could then use the method of the five elements to guide qi and blood, cleanse the body, and strengthen muscles and bones.
Xu Xuan had created this method, so naturally, he progressed far faster than his peers.
However, he kept his progress only slightly ahead of others his age.
For one thing, this method was extremely suited to honing one's foundations.
He, too, needed to put patient, steady effort into practicing it, paving the way for formally beginning Qi Refining in the future.
For another, he did not wish to draw too much attention.
The tree that rose above the forest would surely be battered by the wind.
Being too astonishing and extraordinary could easily invite heaven's jealousy.
After practicing the Grain Garment Art for half a year, Xu Xuan's qi and blood were abundant, and his appetite had grown enormously, almost matching a youth's.
This delighted Xu Chengye even more, and he often summoned the cook to prepare special meals for him.
Xu Xuan turned away none of the meat offered to him.
Once his body in this life had become stable, he began trying to draw qi into it.
However, drawing qi into his body proved somewhat harder than he had imagined.
The spiritual energy of this world is far too thin, and my spiritual root aptitude isn't outstanding either.
Cultivation is too slow.
From then on, Xu Xuan took cultivation much more seriously.
To succeed in cultivation in this world of declining dharma would probably be no easy task.
Fortunately, he possessed the supreme treasure, the Book of Time.
If he used it properly, he might yet have a chance to ascend!
Afterward, Xu Xuan cultivated all day, attempting to draw in the energy of heaven and earth to nourish his spiritual root.
Then he used this as a foundation to temper the internal energy produced by practicing the Grain Garment Art.
The energy within him grew purer by the day, beyond anything ordinary clansmen could compare with.
As a result, his body also became increasingly robust, displaying extraordinary spiritual grace.
Another year passed.
One day, the spring rain had just stopped.
Xu Xuan practiced the movements of the Grain Garment Art alone on the muddy ground in the courtyard.
Inadvertently circulating that thread of pure internal breath, he actually stirred the vitality of the surrounding vegetation.
The grass that had only just poked up beneath his feet grew a little taller at a speed visible to the naked eye.
With a stir of his mind, a wisp of white light emerged from his palm, like a current of air that condensed without dispersing.
At this sight, Xu Xuan raised his eyebrows.
This was a sign of entering the threshold of cultivation.
Before Qi Refining, one must first pass the barrier and enter the threshold.
This stage can be divided into three realms: Essence Condensation, Meridian Opening, and Spiritual Treasury.
Just now, my internal breath extended outside my body, condensing without dispersing. This means I've succeeded in Essence Condensation.
After going through the two steps of Essence Tempering and Essence Fusion, I can attempt to open the meridian wheels.
Condense essence and open meridians, manifest the Spiritual Treasury, which can hold extraordinary visions of heaven and earth, refine the energy of heaven and earth, build the foundation of the Dao, open the Purple Mansion, and attain the great Dao of the Golden Core...
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