Yuan Jin Emerges from Seclusion

"Hey! You're daydreaming again?! I'm talking to you!" Sect Leader Kang Da glared at Zhou Yixiu with great displeasure, but seeing the latter's absent-minded appearance, he also felt annoyed and thought:

"That young widow from the Shan Household is so alluring; she's practically bewitched my junior brother Kang. If I'd known my Junior Brother Zhou was such a romantic, I should have chosen a virgin instead. She wouldn't be so captivating."

"I beg the Sect Leader to forgive me!" Zhou Yixiu was so ashamed by the shout that he immediately bowed deeply and admitted his mistake.

"Singing opera?! You better speak properly!" Kang Dabao roared, barely managing to bring Zhou Yixiu back to her senses. Still not satisfied, he pointed and cursed again:

"I've already told you that this Glazed Treasure Tree is crucial to the future of our descendants, and it's a matter of utmost importance for our sect. We went through countless hardships to obtain the Buddhist method of planting it, but why won't you listen? You're still in this listless state!"

Should I summon Junior Brother Pei from seclusion so I can examine you and see if you've Shan Xuerong?

Zhou Yixiu could only smile wryly after hearing this, knowing he was wrong, so he couldn't say anything harsh and could only continue to admit his mistake, "Senior Brother Sect Leader, please don't joke. Junior Brother knows he was wrong. I will take the Jade Slip and go back to study."

"Take it easy. Judging from your appearance, even learning a Buddhist planting technique might cause you to Qi Deviation." Sect Leader Kang Da shook his head repeatedly, but Zhou Yixiu readily agreed, "Thank you for your consideration, Senior Brother Headmaster."

"If I ask the Shan Household to send Shan Xuerong back, you'll be at ease, won't you?"

Sect Leader Kang Da's words did not cheer Zhou Yixiu up; instead, the bitter smile on the old man's face deepened, and his tone carried a hint of desolation:

"It's hard to say. To be honest, I don't know what's wrong either. With so many wives at home and being practically on my deathbed, how could Xuerong have him under her thumb like this? I can't figure it out myself."

Kang Dabao was even angrier after hearing this and shouted, "I don't care about that. I'll send a letter first, ordering Shan Sheng to send the person back within ten days. If he can't bear to see the person return by then, then the marriage between the two families will be off."

Let Shan Sheng worry about his own affairs after he's gone. He's still dreaming about getting Foundation Establishment items on credit! Whether the Shan Household prospers or perishes is none of my concern. What is she anyway? Just a widow who's been betrothed to a son-in-law, acting like she's some kind of golden princess!

Zhou Yixiu remained silent. Kang Dabao, disapproving of his demeanor, asked sternly, "Where's the little burden?"

"Shan Wei is currently cultivating under Le'er. He has good aptitude, possessing Triple Spirit Root. Junior Brother asked Senior Brother Pei to select a Hong Grade Cultivation Method for Shan Wei, called..." Zhou Yixiu seemed to instantly perk up, but before she could finish speaking, she was stopped by Sect Leader Kang Da:

"Alright, now you've asked Junior Brother Pei to choose Cultivation Method, and you're also asking him to become your Second. You should probably leave some of those Spirit Stones and Merit Points you've worked so hard to accumulate for Xinran, shouldn't you?"

Shan Xuerong seems quite relaxed. She stayed at her parents' home, and you've brought your son back to raise. You're probably still dreaming of living a life of luxury! Can't you be a little more discerning? Even if you give your heart and soul to someone else's son, how could you possibly raise him properly?"

"Yes, yes, Senior Brother is right." Zhou Yixiu nodded hurriedly. Kang Dabao couldn't tell if he had listened or not. He just felt angry and didn't even want to scold him anymore. He waved for him to leave the room.

He then sent a talisman to Yuan Jin's courtyard, ordering him to come find him immediately after he left seclusion. This time, he brought back more than just the Buddhist planting method he had obtained from Chu Yanran.

Two days later, in Jade Moon Valley, the Shan Household...

The head of the Shan Household, Shan Sheng, frowned deeply, clutching Kang Dabao's sharply worded letter in his hand. He sat alone for a long time, remaining silent.

Shan Xuerong is nothing special, just a legitimate daughter. As long as she wants to have a child and is willing to go through the hardship, she can always give birth. But the son-in-law who disappeared back then has returned, bringing with him his long-lost great-grandfather, which makes things a bit difficult.

The difficulty was not due to the awkward situation of a woman marrying two men; even small clans like the Kuai Household often did this, it was quite common.

What truly troubled them was that the son-in-law's great-grandfather was Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator with considerable skill. The son-in-law's return to his hometown in wealth and honor was precisely to demand his wife and children, and their original surname, from the Shan Household.

Unfortunately, Shan Xuerong is also someone who doesn't understand the bigger picture. She's determined to go with that live-in son-in-law, which is really troublesome!

"If I had known, I should have let him go back with Zhou Yixiu no matter what. Staying for a few days has only caused this trouble," Shan Sheng muttered to himself, looking troubled.

The Chongming Sect is certainly not one to be trifled with, but are those Foundation Establishment Late Stage Rogue Cultivator so easy to mess with? Not to mention that Shan Sheng is currently quite seriously injured and his strength is no longer at its peak, even when he was not at his prime, he would not want to offend such cultivators.

While Foundation Establishment Rogue Cultivator are generally less skilled than those from Lineage or sects, and they typically lack disciples or bloodlines to assist them, they are also free from ties and all alone.

Unless they can kill him with a single slap, offending such a being could cause the Shan Household a lot of trouble in the future.

Although Shan Sheng had taken the longevity pill refined from the Horned Dragon Grass, he still had less than three years left to live. For a Foundation Establishment True Cultivator, this was far from a long life.

Therefore, he even resigned from his post guarding the Spirit Stone mines of the various families of the New Cloud Alliance, intending to spend the next few years staying in his clan, raising his descendants and managing his family affairs.

Because the Shan Household lacked Foundation Establishment to guard the Spirit Stone mine, Shan Household could only receive half of the agreed-upon share of Spirit Stone each year thereafter, resulting in a considerable loss.

But now Shan Sheng has no time to worry about these things. One of the Shan Household's newly selected Foundation Establishment seed members, and one of his most promising clansmen, couldn't bear to see the clan's affairs manipulated by outsiders. He made up his mind, took only "Reed Flower Pill" and risked breaking through the barrier, but died.

The Foundation Establishment process is inherently dangerous, Shan Sheng felt heartbroken, he could understand it. However, from then on, he completely abandoned the idea and sternly stopped the remaining Foundation Establishment candidates from attempting to break through.

The Shan Household was able to accumulate some wealth and talent because of the hard work and ambition of its members in previous years.

If it were an ordinary family, like the Jade Moon Shan Household, which lost three Foundation Establishment seeds in succession, they would probably immediately fall into an awkward situation of generational gap. How could they have the opportunity to continue to worry about the Foundation Establishment of their descendants like Shan Sheng did?

However, Shan Sheng also knew that if this Foundation Establishment spiritual treasure was not quickly returned from the Chongming Sect, and the Feiyue Jade Moon Shan Household did not produce a Foundation Establishment within three years, not to mention the covetousness of external enemies and the ever-scheming ally Book and Sword Gate Sect, even the smaller Qi Refinement clans below would likely be difficult to subdue.

Then the Shan Household would truly be in a precarious and vulnerable situation, at the mercy of others.

"When faced with two evils, choose the lesser," Shan Sheng gritted his teeth and made his decision in an instant.

"Someone come here." Shan Sheng called out sternly, and a burly servant immediately stepped forward, saying, "What are your orders, Chieftain?!"

Where is Shan Xuerong?

"Nineteenth Sister is receiving instruction from the Second Madam."

"Summon her here. I need to take her to the Chongming Sect to apologize. This time, I need to make it clear to her that if she dares to run away again, I'll just beat her to death at the foot of Little Ring Mountain!"

---- Chongming Sect

Yuan Jin sat alone in the quiet room, his forehead covered in cold sweat, his face dark and his eyes tightly closed.

He murmured incantations continuously, and a wisp of black energy rose from his meridians, rapidly spreading throughout his body as it circulated. Before long, Yuan Jin was drenched in sweat, his veins bulging.

His resolute face changed color constantly, sometimes as red as a date, sometimes as black as ink.

It is unknown how much time passed, but when he opened his eyes, there was no longer any distinction between black and white in them; they were all red.

"Om!" A Buddhist chant suddenly rang out in the quiet room where you could hear a pin drop. Yuan Jin closed his eyes again and felt his burning hot skin gradually cool down and calm down; the violent feeling that had been raging through his body and trying to tear him to pieces also slowly faded away.

A puff of white steam escaped, the smoke dissipated, and tiny black specks fell.

Yuan Jin let out a long sigh and chanted Buddhist prayers in a low voice, but there was not much joy on his face. Instead, he frowned, as if he was reflecting on the mistakes he had made in his previous practice.

"Sigh, this is the third time. If it weren't for the Calming the Mind Incantation my senior brother found for me that still works, I'm afraid I would have really failed this time."

Upon reading this, Yuan Jin's expression turned quite serious. It wasn't out of lingering fear, but rather because he felt that the drawbacks of the "White Ape Scripture" were not as simple as he had imagined.

Yuan Jin murmured, "If I were to tell my senior brother everything, he would only have the option of dispersing my cultivation and starting over. But it's not that easy. I'm already over forty, Four Spirit Roots are not good enough for me to ascend to immortality."

Having come this far through thorns, starting all over again is easier said than done. The resources needed for rebuilding are no small sum, and both my senior brother and Little Sanzi are loyal and devoted; in the end, this burden will fall on their shoulders.

Yuan Jin didn't want to do this because back when the three brothers were struggling to survive, he, Double Brightness Second Yuan, relied on his own fists to help his senior brother, the sect leader, overcome all obstacles and hardships to get to where they were.

He was naturally overjoyed that his eldest brother and the Little Sanzi had both reached the Foundation Establishment, but that didn't mean Yuan Jin would be content to fall behind forever.

As a fellow disciple of the former sect leader and the next generation sect leader personally chosen by Kang Dabao, Yuan Jin naturally possessed a certain pride and was unwilling to become a burden to his senior and junior brothers.

Furthermore, the White Ape Scripture was once the signature text of the Chongming Sect, and successive patriarchs praised it highly. However, they had no other choice but to regret its shortcomings.

With his mere Qi Refinement, Yuan Jin devoted himself to perfecting the system over a decade or two, clarifying most of its flaws. He was almost there, with only a few minor issues remaining.

This level of achievement is something that no one could accomplish even if you went through all the patriarchs and predecessors who have Chongming Sect for the past two hundred years.

Having already gone to such lengths, it's truly incomprehensible to ask Yuan Jin to give up.

Given Sect Leader Kang Da's temperament, after learning the truth, he might very well put the "White Ape Scripture" into storage and forbid anyone from practicing it, which would be something Yuan Jin would find extremely difficult to accept.

At this moment, his eyes had returned to their original black and white color, the red light had completely dissipated, and only because of the lingering burning sensation, a few clear tears were still streaming down his face.

Yuan Jin ignored it, rubbing his reddened eyes haphazardly with the back of his hand, thinking to himself, "The danger of this demonic possession is a level less than the first time I was with my senior brother."

It seems that the Calming the Mind Incantation has a remarkable effect. I just need to refine it for a few more years, fully understand the true meaning of the "White Ape Scripture," and finally combine it with the Foundation Establishment Pill and the "Guo Mountain Qi Circulation Method." At that point, Foundation Establishment should not be difficult.

After offering himself a whole host of words of comfort, Yuan Jin's resolve seemed to have strengthened considerably. He waved his hand to remove the restriction, and a talisman appeared in his hand.

"Senior brother is back? He called me over." Yuan Jin took the talisman and summoned water vapor to cleanse himself of the impurities and grime. He pushed open the door and was about to head to the sect leader's courtyard when he saw his eldest son, Changsheng, and second son, Ruyi, playing chess in the courtyard.

Seeing this scene of brotherly affection and respect, Yuan Jin felt quite gratified and couldn't help but ask, "Second Brother has arrived? What brings you to such a leisurely time today?"

After all, playing chess within the Chongming Sect wasn't necessarily a good thing, and the elders didn't offer much support.

Yuan Ruyi is already sixteen years old this year. She holds the position of deputy city lord in Chongming City and enjoys a life of wealth and honor.

He knew that this was a favor his father and brothers had obtained for him from the sect leader, so even though he had no Spirit Root and had not ascended to immortality, his feelings for his father and brothers had not diminished in the slightest.

In recent years, Yuan Jin has either been serving the sect in military affairs or has been living in seclusion, focusing on cultivation. As a result, Yuan Ruyi has not seen her father for a long time.

Upon seeing Yuan Jin emerge from the pass, and after his elder brother had offered his greetings, Yuan Ruyi's joy was evident. He cheerfully exclaimed, "Your son greets Father with well wishes!"

"Hey, you're all grown up now, destined to be pillars of the family and husbands. Don't act like children anymore." Yuan Jin smiled at his two sons, a hint of tenderness flashing in his eyes.

Yuan Jin felt somewhat guilty because his Spirit Root was given to him by his parents.

Upon hearing her father's words, Yuan Ruyi's honest face lit up with even greater joy. "So Father already knows. I thought Father was too busy with important sect affairs to care about these things."

Yuan Jin laughed loudly, "Haha, how could that be? The wedding date has already been set, hasn't it? At that time, the Chongming City will be dressed in red, and the whole city will celebrate my son's marriage to a wife and four concubines."

Your two mothers have been talking about it to me for ages, saying that even the eldest brother has given instructions to everyone in Chongming City on several occasions. They're saying that my son's wedding day will be quite a lively affair."

"My child." Yuan Ruyi, after all, just an honest child raised by a strict family. Seeing her father and brothers staring at her with mischievous smiles, she felt both shy and happy, and a blush rose on her face.

"Haha, on my brother's wedding day, I will definitely invite all my fellow disciples to celebrate." Taking advantage of Yuan Ruyi's embarrassment, Yuan Changsheng secretly used a hand seal to move a chess piece.

The Chongming Sect First Tier Alchemist of Chongming Sect thought to himself, "It's all because my master didn't teach me chess. If I lose to Erlang, wouldn't I lose face terribly?!"

Yuan Jin saw this scene clearly, secretly glared at his eldest son who was cheating on his brother, and then said, "Second Brother, please stay a little longer. Your sect leader uncle has summoned me for something. You two play for a while. After we finish discussing important matters, we will send someone to invite you back to the sect leader's courtyard for dinner."

Yuan Changsheng replied casually, "Understood, Father. I'll bring Erlang over when it's time for dinner."

"Father, take care. Hey, brother, is this a game of chess?"

Yuan Jin listened to his two sons' laughter gradually fade away, the smile on his face slowly disappeared as well.

"Changsheng Sheng's aptitude is far inferior to mine. After many years of cultivation, he is only at the Qi Refinement Fourth Layer, and his progress is getting slower and slower. Even if he has enough resources, I don't know when he will be able to advance to the Late Qi Refinement, let alone Foundation Establishment."

As for alchemy, according to Senior Brother Pei, even a person with Changsheng has limited talent and is by no means a prodigy. In his lifetime, he would be lucky to become a mid-grade Alchemist.

As for Ruyi, she can only enjoy ordinary wealth and live a leisurely life. Alas, even for the sake of future generations, I cannot delay my Foundation Establishment. They have no hope of achieving immortality, but if they have a Foundation Establishment father in their lives, they will be superior to others both internally and externally."

Yuan Jin, whose temperament was always unwavering, sighed and entered the courtyard with the edict from Sect Leader Kang Da.

At this moment, a man and a woman sat facing each other at a stone table in the courtyard, each holding a black and white sword, remaining silent.

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