Don't Ask—My Family Has Mines!

"This is what Hui'er saw in his dream." Qingyi spoke solemnly. "She is a noble goddess named the Goddess of Life."

"???" Aunt Hong felt that her clan leader was joking.

Qingyi did not intend to explain too much just yet and continued, "Aunt Hong, go gather the Elders in the council hall. I have important matters to discuss."

"Yes, Clan Leader." Though Aunt Hong was puzzled, she respectfully accepted the order.

Qingyi told her son to rest at home, then followed her out with the portrait.

"Time to loosen up a little." Watching his mother leave, Minghui strode over to the wall, took down the wooden longbow hanging there, and headed outside.

As a direct descendant of the Ming Family, even though he had yet to awaken his Martial Soul, he still had to practice archery with his father.

He had started training at the age of three and had now practiced for three years.

The medicinal baths, Profound Water Pills, Black Tortoise Divine Pills, Whale Rubber, and other miraculous medicines that improved one's physique could not cure his internal organ failure in a short time, but they had given him excellent bones and greatly increased his strength.

Drawing a heavy bow and lifting large stones were no trouble for him. He simply lacked endurance and could not exert too much force all at once.

Otherwise, he would suffer angina. It was excruciating.

Because of this, although he dearly wished to build a strong body through exercise, in practice he could only stop at warming up, terrified that an accidentally accelerated heartbeat would kill him on the spot. In other words, his muscles and strength had basically been bought with money.

Don't ask. Having mines at home was just that great!

The key was that there were no side effects. Unlike some muscleheads from his previous life who took drugs to work out, developed all sorts of illnesses, looked strong but were weak within, and often died suddenly.

"Uh, fine. I'm pretty much the same now. I have muscles and strength, but my organs are fragile. I can't go all out, and I could easily die suddenly." Thinking of his current predicament, Minghui felt a little sad. So he took his bow and arrows to the range beside the wooden house and vented by firing arrow after arrow.

As for the Martial Soul: Divine Plume Bow, he did not dare take it out at all right now. He was afraid of getting frozen again.

More than fifty meters away.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!" His arrows struck the bullseye in rapid succession.

Before long, his body heated up and his heartbeat accelerated to a certain point. The instant he released the bowstring, a sudden stabbing pain shot through his heart.

"Hiss!" Minghui instinctively doubled over and clutched his chest, baring his teeth as he slowly shuffled toward the door.

"Damn, I end up like this just from practicing with a bow. What am I supposed to do when I have to fight later?" He looked dejected and helpless.

At the same time, he became even more eager for the improvement his Body Martial Soul would bring after obtaining its first Soul Ring.

A man could not lack stamina!

Meanwhile, in the family council hall.

"The Clan Leader is right. Since this concerns gods, we would rather believe it than not. As the Clan Leader said, Hui'er had never seen the Ancient Tree of Life before, nor had he heard anyone speak of it. Besides, the way he described the Goddess of Life was far too clear."

"No matter what, Hui'er's talent is right there for all to see. I believe the family cannot miss this opportunity."

Looking at the portrait hanging before them, the Elders reached a consensus.

Nurturing a god would be of extraordinary significance to the family.

"Then have someone purchase some Image Conductors from outside." The eldest Elder made the final decision.

An Image Conductor was a Soul Tool developed with reference to Simulation Soul Skills and produced by Mingde Hall of the Sun Moon Empire. Its function was to use a specially made Soul Tool helmet to link with one's Spiritual Power, then use that Spiritual Power to project the images in one's mind through a matching disc-shaped device.

Its original purpose had been to free Soul Engineers from the constraints of blueprints and better facilitate research, development, and teaching.

Perhaps because its function leaned toward civilian use, Mingde Hall later released it onto the market. It remained highly popular in the construction industry.

After all, compared to looking at complicated blueprints and listening to baffling technical jargon, tangible images clearly made it easier for homeowners to understand.

It did not matter if they could not understand it. As long as they liked what they saw, that was enough!

With this thing, they could have Minghui fully recreate the Goddess of Life's true appearance, making it easier to produce images and statues afterward.

"I will arrange it as soon as I leave." Qingyi took over.

"Then next is Hui'er's future cultivation plan." After a pause, she revealed that her son possessed Twin Martial Souls, further bolstering everyone's confidence.

"What? Twin Martial Souls!" Everyone in the hall was invigorated, becoming even more convinced that Minghui had the potential to become a god.

Sea God Tang San had possessed Twin Martial Souls back then.

An intense discussion broke out.

Some Elders even proposed that Minghui change his surname to Qing, but Qingyi rejected it. Her reason was that the Qing Family was currently at the height of its prosperity, with no shortage of gifted descendants. Choosing a competent new clan leader in the future would not be difficult; there was no need for her own son to inherit the position.

The capable rose to the top. This was also why the Qing Family had endured for so long. Talent and combat strength were not the only standards for choosing a clan leader.

Besides, compared to the Qing Family, the Ming Family was now down to a single bloodline and needed this inheritance even more.

As a wife, she had more to consider.

Thinking this, Qingyi waved her hand, her tone firm and decisive.

"There is no need to discuss this matter further."

"Besides, there is no need for you Elders to worry. Hui'er is still young, and we already have a solution for his Martial Soul's flaw. There is no fear that waiting too long will leave him unable to have children."

"So whether he changes his surname or not is not particularly significant."

"As a member of the Qing Family bloodline, would Hui'er truly ignore the Qing Family's fate in the future? As for the continuation of my branch within the clan, we can simply have Hui'er father more children later. Those who awaken the family Martial Soul can change their surname."

Uh, that did seem reasonable. The Elders looked at one another and ultimately agreed to the Clan Leader's arrangement.

They also planned to give serious thought to Little Hui's future marriage arrangements after returning, striving to pass down his Twin Martial Souls talent several more times.

Yes, this was very important to the family!

"Ah-choo!" Far away at home, Minghui suddenly sneezed for no apparent reason, wondering to himself who was thinking about him.

Not long afterward, Qingyi returned home and discussed with her son the matter of going to the Body Sect for cultivation.

Minghui was reluctant to leave his parents, but he also knew this was currently the best arrangement. He nodded in agreement.

By evening, news that he had dreamed of a Deity had spread throughout the family territory.

"Could Little Hui really be a Deity's Reincarnation?"

"It really is possible. Didn't Grandpa say that Little Hui had never seen what the Tree of Life looked like before? Besides, he described that goddess in great detail."

"..."

"Little Hui has the potential to become a god!"

This thought arose in many people's minds.

The next day, when the sunlight was at its brightest.

Under the watchful eyes of the clan members, Qingyi led her son and a group of family members away from the family territory, flying toward the Snow Mountain outside Wind and Snow City.

It was also where the external Sect was located.

They departed at noon and only arrived by evening, showing just how distant the journey was and how well-hidden the family territory remained.

"Never mind that it's far away, the flight route was winding too. No wonder the family territory has never been exposed." On his first trip outside, Minghui was deeply moved.

The Qing Family Territory was not only home to precious mineral veins but also a training ground for the younger generation. It was filled with the elite among elites, and the descendants born there generally possessed greater talent than family members outside. Of course, children outside who awakened the Azure Luan Martial Soul would also be sent in for training. They looked only at Martial Souls, not legitimacy. Anyone worth nurturing could enter.

This might also be a form of hostage-taking, meant to prevent people from succumbing to temptation and betraying the family, Minghui thought.

As for the reclusive Qing Luan Sect known to the outside Soul Master World and the commercial outpost in Wind and Snow City, they were merely covers to deceive others. At the same time, they served as the family territory's outposts and defensive line.

If necessary, all family members stationed there would become expendable pawns, including the Sect Leader. Their inherent duty was to attract attention and draw fire outside. Should anything happen, the Elders would immediately relocate with the children.

Any family member assigned to this so-called Qing Luan Sect had long been prepared to die.

And they did so without regret.

After all, the family territory behind them was home not only to their own children, but to the family's future.

Protecting the children meant protecting the family's future. Surnames could be changed, but the bloodline could not be severed! This was the ancestral teaching of the Qing Luan Family, and it was why the family had endured for so long.

Of course, there was another reason: they kept an extremely low profile in ordinary times. While working hard to nurture the younger generation and strengthen themselves, they quietly did business to earn money and improve their lives. They focused on steady growth and never showed off or caused trouble outside.

If something truly had to be done, the hired hands went first.

The unaffiliated Soul Masters from outside who joined the so-called Qing Luan Sect had simply been recruited as workers. They knew absolutely nothing about the real Qing Luan Family. Naturally, their benefits were excellent.

"Unlike some bosses in my previous life, who wanted the horse to run without feeding it grass, doing nothing but making empty promises. What a load of crap! There's a reason the Qing Family has endured from the Douluo I era to the present, ten thousand years later."

Only after reading the family history did he learn that Qing Luan Douluo, who had joined Spirit Hall and become its Third Worshipper, had merely been an investment in the continent's strongest force at the time.

At the same time, he had been an undercover agent, just as his mother had entered Shrek Academy to study several years ago.

The Qing Luan Family had never truly trusted any outside force. It always placed the family's survival above all else.

As for why his father had been allowed into the family territory, first, the Ming Family had only his father left; second, he and his mother had been together for years and were completely trustworthy, and they were already old.

If they had not had him in their old age, then barring any surprises, his father would have "died naturally of old age" with his mother in the future, then returned to the family territory to retire until death. Along the way, he would help the Qing Luan Family train its younger generation and give off the last of his remaining warmth.

A textbook capitalist move!

There's a reason millennia-old families outlast centuries-old dynasties, Minghui thought.

The waters of this continent might be deeper than I imagined. Who knew what ancient monster might be lurking in some forgotten corner?

As these thoughts ran through his mind, his mother led him through a secret passage on the Back Mountain and into the Sect.

A cold wind swept past, and the tracks on the ground were quickly covered by snow, as though no one had ever been there.