Yang Guanfeng returned home and came to the Forbidden Ground. Lingqing and Ling Rui had just finished a round of cultivation.
"Patriarch, that spirit liquid..."
"Of course it was delivered. What, you don't trust the ancestor to handle things?" Yang Guanfeng said, feigning anger.
"Ah, no, no. Ling Rui wouldn't dare."
"Pfft..."
Yang Lingrui hurriedly waved his hands. Yang Lingqing found it amusing as she watched from the side. "Alright, the ancestor is teasing you."
After the three spoke for a while, their conversation turned to Yang Lingqing's arrangements for today's discussion.
Once the various clans along the North Bank received the news, they could scarcely contain their excitement and sent people everywhere to inquire about it.
After all, in their eyes, climbing this little cliff meant entering the immortal sect. In the future, they could become like the Yang Family's Immortal Masters, soaring through the skies, burrowing through the earth, slaying demons and exterminating devils!
"The North Bank clans have all been very cooperative. They reported their numbers just now."
Yang Lingqing handed Yang Guanfeng a roster. There were fifty-five people in total.
After reading it, Yang Guanfeng said, "Fifty-five people. Who knows whether even one talented seedling will emerge."
"Sister Qing, is it really so hard for children with aptitude and talent to appear? There are only a dozen or so people in our generation, yet three of us emerged."
Standing nearby, Yang Lingrui quietly asked Yang Lingqing.
"Hard is an understatement."
Yang Lingqing shook her head and explained, "Our family differs from ordinary mortal households. A great Spiritual Connection Realm cultivator once emerged among our ancestors, so we possess a bloodline inheritance."
"Yet even so, look at our father's generation. Only the ancestor emerged. For three to appear in ours, our fortune has already reached the heavens."
"For ordinary commoner families, the proportion of people with cultivation aptitude is likely not even one in ten thousand."
"So few!"
Yang Lingrui was rather surprised. "Then among these fifty-five children, producing even one would be difficult."
"It matters not. With the three of you in the family, we have enough to handle matters for now. It would be better if there are cultivators from outside the family, but we will not force the matter if there are none. Once the North Bank Clan has rested and recovered for several years and its population grows, a few promising seedlings will emerge sooner or later."
Yang Guanfeng put away the roster. "You need not concern yourselves with this. I will make the arrangements. Just cultivate diligently."
"Yes, ancestor."
When Ling Rui and Lingqing returned to the ancestral hall to cultivate, Chen Yang's consciousness gradually cleared.
"Why did I muddle through and sleep for so long again?"
As he gathered spiritual energy for the two to cultivate with, he pondered the matter.
Ever since the Blood Burning Spirit Sacrifice, he had become prone to drowsiness. It seemed as though he had returned to the first few years after transmigrating here.
However, unlike back then, when he would fall into a dead sleep, Chen Yang now retained a layer of conscious awareness even while asleep, allowing him to forcibly boot himself up in an emergency.
"Mm, my consciousness has indeed solidified a little more."
This slumber was not without benefits. After waking from his first sleep, Chen Yang had discovered slight changes in his consciousness.
If his consciousness had originally been "perception"—understanding and recognizing things through observation and sensation—then now it was gradually becoming able to "touch" them.
"The two little ones are here. I'll use you two to give it a try."
With that thought, Chen Yang extended his consciousness toward the two of them.
"Mm?"
"What was that?"
Almost the instant his consciousness touched them, they reacted.
"Oh? They noticed it that easily."
It was Chen Yang's first time using this method, and he was somewhat surprised as well.
"Looks like I can't use this method on people casually. Even Ling Rui and Lingqing, two minor cultivators at Qi Gathering Early-stage, could react to it, much less those with higher cultivation."
His little stunt gave the two children quite a fright. They hurriedly got up and searched the Forbidden Ground from end to end.
"There's no one."
"Same here. Then where did that feeling of being watched come from?"
The two returned to the ancestral hall. Just as they were puzzling over it, a thought suddenly entered their minds.
"This is!"
"It's Immortal Venerable Spirit Stone!"
They immediately looked toward Chen Yang and discovered that he was flickering faintly, brightening and dimming with each pulse.
"The Immortal Venerable wants to inspect us."
"Then sit properly, quickly!"
Yang Lingrui and Yang Lingqing immediately returned to their places and sat down. Chen Yang extended his consciousness once more.
This time, they did not resist. They opened their minds and allowed Chen Yang to examine them.
"How wondrous!"
As Chen Yang "felt" them out, he marveled.
Previously, he could only judge everyone's strength through fluctuations in spiritual energy. Now, however, he could pass through the exterior and reach their essence directly.
Every Qi Meridian within the two children's bodies, the form and appearance of their qi palaces, their reserves of spiritual power, even where the circulation of spiritual power encountered obstructions—he could see it all with perfect clarity!
After this examination, he could see even more directly that Yang Lingrui's talent was astonishingly good.
His twelve Qi Meridians were broad and complete, even in thickness. Their connecting points were rounded and natural. More importantly, the child's qi palace was especially large, able to store far more spiritual power than an ordinary cultivator's.
By comparison, Yang Lingqing's condition was somewhat weaker. Moreover, after Chen Yang's inspection this time, he truly found a Qi Meridian on her body that obstructed the circulation of spiritual power.
This Qi Meridian was located at Yang Lingqing's left shoulder. It seemed to have been squeezed by something, leaving it somewhat narrowed.
With the intention of giving it a try, Chen Yang mobilized the spiritual power within himself, wanting to help Yang Lingqing repair this Qi Meridian.
"Hiss—"
When his spiritual power reached the Qi Meridian, Yang Lingqing felt a needle-like pain from her shoulder.
But out of her trust in Chen Yang, she still gritted her teeth and endured the pain.
Chen Yang carefully controlled his spiritual power, slowly using it to expand that section of the Qi Meridian.
After roughly the time it took an incense stick to burn, Chen Yang withdrew his consciousness and pulled back his spiritual power.
"Hah... hah..."
Only then did Yang Lingqing begin breathing heavily. That process just now had truly been difficult to endure.
"Sister Qing, are you alright? How do you feel?"
Knowing that it was Immortal Venerable Spirit Stone's doing, Yang Lingrui had not asked questions earlier.
"I'm fine. It just hurts a little."
As she spoke, Yang Lingqing stood and rubbed her left shoulder.
It would have been fine if she had not rubbed it. But the moment she did, she noticed something different.
"My left shoulder was struck by a wooden stake when I was young. Though the injury healed afterward, it still affected the flow of qi somewhat. Yet now, it feels a little better?"
To verify her suspicion, Yang Lingqing immediately entered meditation. Spiritual energy traveled through her Qi Meridians and around her entire body. When it reached her left shoulder, it truly flowed more smoothly than before!
She told Yang Lingrui about this, and the two were both overjoyed. They soon summoned Yang Guanfeng and Elder Yu.
At first, the two did not quite believe it. But after each inspected Yang Lingqing's Qi Meridians, they found that the damaged area had indeed been repaired somewhat.
Yang Guanfeng and Elder Yu exchanged glances, each seeing astonishment in the other's eyes.
They had discovered Yang Lingqing's injury long ago, but neither understood medicine, leaving them unable to repair it.
The spirit stone actually possessed such a wondrous method!
"Patriarch, we must properly thank the Immortal Venerable."
"Mm, follow me!"
The four returned to the ancestral hall. Led by Yang Guanfeng, they earnestly offered Chen Yang their thanks.
Helping Yang Lingqing repair her Qi Meridian had originally been a spur-of-the-moment decision. After discovering that it worked, Chen Yang took it seriously, consuming quite a bit of his own spiritual power throughout the process.
Seeing this, he sent Yang Lingqing a thought. After being dazed for a moment, she understood its meaning.
"Patriarchs, Immortal Venerable Spirit Stone has sent a Thought Transmission. He says that using this method once requires him to rest for one month. My damaged Qi Meridian will need four more treatments before it can fully recover. But this method consumes greatly, and each use will require both Patriarchs to personally nourish him for ten days," Yang Lingqing said.
"Good! There will absolutely be no problem!"
"Immortal Venerable, you have toiled greatly. The Yang Family can never thank you enough!"
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