Waves of aura seeped out through his body, stirring the night.
The old locust tree's branches and leaves moved without wind, rustling softly.
Tiny specks of luminous green light actually seeped from the tips of its leaves and merged into Xu Xuan's body.
It was the spiritual root within him drawing in the essence of plants to nourish itself.
Azure light flowed around Xu Xuan, shimmering radiance seemed to ripple beneath his skin, and his organs and bones crackled.
A wondrous transformation was taking place.
Impurities were expelled from his body strand by strand, giving off a faint fragrance.
After a long while, the unusual phenomena gradually subsided.
Xu Xuan opened his eyes, and a flash of azure light flickered through them and vanished.
He could see at night as though it were day, his hearing and vision were sharp, and his perception had greatly improved.
Every movement carried twice the strength, and all the inner breath within his body had transformed into the higher-order "spiritual power."
Though faint, it was already beyond the mundane.
"At last, I've stepped onto the path of cultivation again..."
Feeling the newly born spiritual power within him, Xu Xuan's heart could not settle for a long time.
Being able to open his chakra and refine spiritual power proved that he possessed the aptitude for cultivation.
He could now be called a cultivator.
Combined with magical arts, this already made him an unrivaled expert in this mortal land.
Xu Xuan gathered a wisp of pale azure spiritual power at his fingertip and flicked it gently.
Hiss!
A fallen leaf ten feet away split at the sound, its severed edges smooth.
"Projecting spiritual power outward-even if it only reaches ten feet, that's enough."
Over the following months.
Xu Xuan lived in seclusion, rarely venturing out, and steadily consolidated his cultivation.
At the same time, he scoured his remaining memories and unearthed several magical arts he could perform.
"Entanglement Art," "Vitality Art," "Lightness Art," "Wind Command Art"...
There were only six magical arts in total, and their power was limited.
But in the mortal world, they could be called immortal arts.
During this time, he used the Vitality Art to nourish the Lineage's medicinal garden.
Infused with spiritual power, the medicinal plants grew quite gratifyingly.
In Kunlun, this art was a common method for cultivating spiritual plants and could be used to grow spiritual herbs.
It merely consumed a tremendous amount of the caster's spiritual power.
Xu Xuan had only taken it up again to relearn it; he did not intend to feed the herbs with his own body.
That would put the cart before the horse.
He practiced this method to use it alongside the Entanglement Art.
He would stimulate plants to grow and use them to fend off enemies.
With this combination of magical arts, Xu Xuan finally possessed a little power to protect himself.
After opening his chakra, his divine sense had also improved, allowing it to cover the entire residence.
Xu Household Market often had petty thieves and bandits, those "gentlemen on the rafters."
After Xu Xuan frightened them a few times, they no longer dared to come.
Xu Household Market grew increasingly prosperous and peaceful, and all the clansmen said their ancestors were protecting them.
They had no idea that he had been watching over them in secret all along.
The autumn wind sighed bleakly, and great waves surged.
Xu Xuan's fifteenth birthday had passed not long before.
That day, he was quietly cultivating in his room when he suddenly sensed something.
Somewhere beyond his perception, the Book of Time seemed to tremble faintly.
Xu Xuan immediately investigated the cause.
He discovered that this disturbance actually came from the direction of the Lineage's ancestral hall.
He promptly rose and headed there.
Inside the ancestral hall.
A ten-year-old boy had come with his father to pay respects to their ancestors.
The boy understood little and merely followed his elder in offering incense and kowtowing.
The instant he bowed his head, Xu Xuan saw an almost imperceptible light flash above the child's head and vanish.
The Book of Time within his sea of consciousness trembled because of it as well.
Xu Xuan did not yet know precisely what change had occurred.
He examined the boy's root bone with his divine sense, and within just a few breaths, surprise and delight filled him.
"This child possesses a spiritual root?!"
"It's weak, but those are definitely spiritual root fluctuations!"
Xu Xuan immediately consulted the genealogy and noted down the boy's name.
Xu Huai'en.
His ancestral branch descended from one of Xu Xuan's sons by a concubine in his previous life.
Because that bloodline had branched off so long ago, it had lost its generational naming character; their visit to the ancestral residence now was to acknowledge their ancestors and return to the Lineage.
In the end, the clan elders placed him in the "Yu" generation.
By that reckoning, he was still of Xu Xuan's sons' and nephews' generation.
Over the following days, Xu Xuan kept observing Xu Huai'en.
First, he wanted to determine the quality of his spiritual root and the merits and faults of his temperament.
Second, he wanted to investigate the origin of his spiritual root.
In both his previous life and his present one, Xu Xuan had never seen anyone in the Lineage possess a spiritual root.
That alone showed how rare spiritual roots were.
Yet Xu Huai'en had been born with a spiritual root, and it was the relatively rare metal-element spiritual root.
Its quality was rather poor, however, mixed and impure; strictly speaking, it should fall into the category of a "false spiritual root."
Back in Kunlun, a spiritual root like this would not even have qualified him to cultivate.
Xu Xuan, however, had no room to be picky.
This was the only Xu Lineage child born with a spiritual root in fifteen years.
"The Xu Lineage improved its bloodline over five generations, and the Grain Garment Art nourished their bodies. Only then could a spiritual root be born."
"Still, perhaps this had more to do with marrying outsiders..."
Xu Xuan examined the history of the boy's father, Xu Mingyuan.
"He lost his father early, worked as an apprentice at a trading firm in his youth, made a small fortune, and took three concubines... Xu Huai'en was born to one of those concubines."
"But this child is the only offspring of Xu Mingyuan's branch."
"The mother's standing rose with her son, and Xu Huai'en's mother was elevated to the status of co-wife."
Xu Xuan's eyes lit up.
"The power of the Book of Time, a road to immortality over a hundred lifetimes..."
"So this is where it comes into play."
"Gathering the bloodline and keeping the ancestral incense burning does more than merely enable reincarnation."
"It can also nurture the bloodline to produce spiritual roots, and even an innate Dao embryo!"
Xu Xuan felt that this might be the proper way to use the Book of Time.
"Many sons and grandsons will help me attain longevity."
An enormous plan took shape in his mind.
If he could produce descendants with spiritual roots in large numbers.
Even if they possessed only the poorest false spiritual roots, he could establish an immortal-cultivating Lineage.
Then, by gathering the strength of the entire Lineage to support himself, he would surely be able to break through cultivation realms swiftly.
At the same time, after establishing a cultivating Lineage, he could also arrange marriages with other Lineages to improve the bloodline and enhance the aptitude of later generations.
By repeating this process, a true genius could eventually be born.
When that time came, drawing together the groundwork laid across his many lifetimes, Xu Xuan would surely be able to break through his own tribulations and ascend to immortality!
He took a deep breath and suppressed his surging thoughts.
The path of cultivation had to be walked one step at a time.
His immediate priority remained improving his own cultivation and guiding the Xu Lineage toward becoming an immortal-cultivating Lineage.
He had to prepare to nurture more descendants with spiritual roots in the future.
Now, he had already reached the peak of his own cultivation.
To advance further, he would need more cultivation resources.
The Upstream River might conceal a spiritual vein, but he could not excavate it as he was now.
With that route ruled out, only one way forward remained.
He turned his gaze southward.
According to the Lineage's records, over a thousand miles south of Heyang Prefecture stretched the Venerable Great Mountains, where there seemed to be rumors of immortals.
That day, Xu Xuan stood before the window for a long time, gazing toward the southern sky.
He continually worked through and planned certain matters in his mind.
If he took this step, the Xu Lineage would no longer be able to live peacefully as it had before.
Winds reeking of blood and rains of gore, flashes of blades and shadows of swords-there would certainly be no shortage of them.
When Xu Huai'en was brought before Xu Xuan, his little face was filled with fear and bewilderment.
His father, Xu Mingyuan, followed behind him, his back slightly bowed, his expression respectful yet puzzled.
He did not understand why this fifth young master of the direct line, who held considerable standing in the Lineage, had summoned father and son alone.
Xu Xuan dismissed everyone else, leaving only the father and son.
His gaze fell on Xu Huai'en, whose spiritual root was weak but clearly visible.
There was no mistake.
Only then did he speak softly.
"Little Huaien."
"Would you be willing to cultivate under me?"
Xu Mingyuan started and hurriedly said, "Young Master Daocheng, Huaien is young and unruly. I'm afraid..."
"I'm not joking," Xu Xuan interrupted him.
He raised his fingertip slightly.
A wisp of pale azure spiritual power flowed, and the potted plant in the room instantly sprouted branches and shoots, brimming with vitality.
At this sight, Xu Mingyuan was dumbstruck and dropped to his knees with a thud.
"Immortal... immortal arts!"
"Young Master, could you be an immortal?!"
Xu Huai'en also widened his eyes, forgetting his fear, filled with curiosity.
"This child Huaien shares a destined affinity with me," Xu Xuan said calmly.
"Though his aptitude is ordinary, if he follows me, he may yet achieve something in the future."
"Xu Mingyuan, I know he is the only male child of your branch."
"But I can give you a promise: if he has children in the future, they may all enter the ancestral residence and become members of the direct line."
"After you die, you may also be buried on the ancestral mountain."
"Xu Mingyuan, are you willing?"
Hearing this, Xu Mingyuan trembled all over with excitement and kowtowed repeatedly.
"Yes! Yes!"
"Thank you for your great kindness, Young Master!"
"Huaien, hurry and kowtow!"
Xu Huai'en barely understood what was happening as his father pressed him down to kowtow many times.
Xu Xuan nodded in acceptance.
From then on, Xu Huai'en became his personal attendant.
Outwardly, he attended to Xu Xuan's daily needs.
In secret, however, Xu Xuan continually guided him in cultivation.