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Chapter 34: Initial Success in Body Refinement
Two to three years later...
At the Feiyue Manor, at a separate courtyard by the lakeside.
A hint of the Qi of the ages flickered from the white-robed young man sitting cross-legged.
Sensing the lingering vitality of the Evergreen Technique's magical power within his body, Lan Chang'an opened his calm black pupils and ended his routine cultivation for the day.
"Squeak squeak!"
A plump tawny rat, with an ingratiating gaze, rubbed against the hem of his robe. Lan Chang'an showed some disdain, kicking it away with his foot.
Compared to two or three years ago, the Earth Burrowing Rat had grown fatter and sturdier.
Two years ago, nourished by precious spirit herbs, the Earth Burrowing Rat successfully broke through to become a late first-rank demonic beast.
Its corresponding cultivation realm surpassed its master, Lan Chang'an.
A year ago, Lan Chang'an stepped into the fifth layer of Qi-Refining, taking a total of five years. Next door, Li Ergou had advanced to the sixth layer of Qi-Refining half a year ago, several years ahead of his progress.
"Thirty-three years old and the fifth layer of Qi Condensation." Cultivating the Evergreen Technique, Lan Chang'an's state of mind was serene, without any hurry or impatience.
Relative to his lifespan of one hundred and eighty years in the Qi-Refining realm, he was still in the prime of his youth.
After his routine cultivation...
Lan Chang'an removed his clothes and sat in a tub filled with spirit sand, operating the methods of the Cloud Sand Body Refinement Manual.
Hot mist rose as faint red and blue crystalline light shimmered on his skin, while some of the spirit sand in the tub gradually dimmed in color.
"With a steady supply of spirit sand, combined with precious medicinal baths, the progress of the Body Refinement Manual is almost catching up to my mana cultivation."
Lan Chang'an's Cloud Sand Body Refinement Manual had recently entered the second layer, corresponding to the middle stage of Qi-Refining. His physical strength was on par with a mid first-rankspirit beast.
Anyone with such rapid progress could be considered a body refinement prodigy. This was thanks to Lan Chang'an's financial resources, abundant time and effort. As well as the powerful self-healing ability of the Evergreen Technique!
Any body refinement technique, during the cultivation process, would inevitably cause bodily damage and leave minor injuries. Yet Lan Chang'an's Evergreen Technique, in addition to having vast spiritual veins, also possessed a self-healing ability far beyond peers of the same realm.
A stronger self-healing ability meant Lan Chang'an could spend more time tempering and refining his body.
"If this continues, my body refinement technique may surpass my mana cultivation." Lan Chang'an pondered, had he strayed slightly from the path of cultivation? In previous years, those precious spirit herbs he had yet to fence were used by Lan Chang'an for medicinal baths and to feed the Earth Burrowing Rat, now completely depleted. The total value amounted to several hundred spirit stones, quite wasteful, but it also saved him from having to fence them.
Not only did it reduce risks, but Lan Chang'an and the Earth Burrowing Rat both received tangible improvements. In addition to body refinement, Lan Chang'an dabbled in alchemy during his leisure time.
In his previous life, he had to cultivate, research talisman arts, and worry about family affairs, leaving no energy to learn other cultivation arts.
This third life, Lan Chang'an planned to venture into alchemy. Alchemists could be counted among the top cultivation arts.
After experimenting, Lan Chang'an discovered his alchemy talent was very ordinary, far inferior to his talisman path.
With the memories of two lifetimes and the augmentation of his powerful spiritual sense, over the years he had barely become a first-rank low-grade alchemist.
...
Lan Chang'an stretched lazily and strolled to the courtyard.
Squeak squeak!
The obedient Earth Burrowing Rat brought two letters.
Currently, two first-grade talisman arrays were set up in the courtyard, one for defense and one for concealment.
Ordinary cultivators could not probe them, allowing the Earth Burrowing Rat to occasionally come above ground.
Lan Chang'an took the letters and fed the Earth Burrowing Rat a pill.
The two letters were recently sent by Lin Yi and Zhao Siyao respectively.
In Lin Yi's letter, he confirmed the next batch of talismans for trade.
Additionally, Lin Yi mentioned a joyous occasion: his sixth son possessed a spirit root.
With a spirit root perception of eighteen, it was just shy of being considered a mid-grade spirit root.
Lin Yi was born into the royal family, he got married earlier and had many wives, so the number of children he had in recent years was not much fewer than Li Ergou's. ๐re๐๐๐๐๐o๐el.c๐จ๐
Lin Yi's sixth son was named Lin Lu.
Saying he hoped the child could progress steadily and stably in the future, just like Lan Chang'an.
Lan Chang'an's face twitched slightly. Even with his temperament, he almost wanted to curse.
Lin Yi giving his son this name hinted at taking liberties with him, potentially calling the child "Little Six" or "Little Lu" daily.
He suspected Lin Yi harbored some resentment towards him.
Opening Zhao Siyao's letter, it shared some recent developments.
Notably, over the past two years, Zhao Siyao had successfully become a core disciple in the inner sect competition.
Not only that, but Zhao Siyao had also taken a Fake-Dan Immortal female cultivator as her master. Becoming a core disciple allowed Zhao Siyao to receive more resources for her cultivation.
Over the past two years, she had repaid the spirit stones owed to Lan Chang'an and the others, and even stated in the letter that she owed them a favor.
What was borrowed was returned, and a favor was promised.
Lan Chang'an's investment in forming connections was starting to bear fruit.
If Zhao Siyao could advance to the Foundation Establishment Realm in the future, this favor would carry more weight.
In the lower realms of cultivation, having the friendship of a sect's Foundation Establishment cultivator would count as having a certain background to rely on.
Lan Chang'an had not expended much effort, and the spirit stones he lent out were repaid. He was quite idle normally, so the time cost was negligible.
With more such potentially powerful friends, it would naturally be smooth sailing in the cultivation world in the future, much more stable than constantly fighting and making enemies with others.
"However, even though Zhao Siyao has become a core disciple, obtaining a Foundation Establishment Pill won't be so easy." Through the letter correspondence, Lan Chang'an gained more understanding of the Jin Yun Valley.
Foundation Establishment Pills had to be exchanged with sect contributions.
Core disciples had higher priority for exchanging Foundation Establishment Pills and could get a slight discount.
Zhao Siyao's cultivation was about to reach the ninth layer of Qi-Refining. After some years, she would likely have to struggle to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill.
...
Lan Chang'an left the courtyard to relax.
He noticed that next door, Li Ergou was teaching his second son Mu Ershun some spells.
"Uncle Lan."
Upon seeing Lan Chang'an, the bushy-browed Mu Ershun respectfully greeted him.
Mu Ershun was now twelve or thirteen years old, at the first layer of Qi-Refining.
On weekdays, he was taught and instilled with loyalty to the family by the elders.
"Fifteen years, time really flies. Li Ergou's children have become cultivators." Lan Chang'an lamented in his heart.
If not for his numerous wives and many children in his previous life, seeing those around him getting married and having families would inevitably make him feel a sense of desolation in this life.
"If my previous life's Great Kun and this life's Great Qing cultivation realms are both part of the Heaven Honoured Continent, I wonder if any outstanding cultivators emerged from my descendants." Lan Chang'an had this thought more than once.
In his previous life, he was not called Lan Chang'an. Strictly speaking, he no longer had any blood relation to those descendants.
The increasingly wealthy Li Ergou led his son over, smiling as he asked, "Big brother, what do you think? Can my son Ershun learn to draw talismans in the future?"
Mu Ershun only had a low-grade spiritual root with the perception of twelve points, basically lacking the qualifications to establish his foundation.
Li Ergou wanted his son to learn a trade. He had long envied Lan Chang'an's talisman arts, which could earn spirit stones and provide protection on the path of cultivation.
"Drawing talismans depends on his talent," Lan Chang'an did not give a conclusive answer.
"In a while, the Young Lady will be opening a talisman shop in the newly established Bamboo Leaf Mountain Market. She plans to recruit two talisman art apprentices, and I want Ershun to try." Li Ergou revealed his thoughts.
"The Bamboo Leaf Market Town, so soon?" Lan Chang'an had heard some rumors about this.
Ever since the Zheng Family withdrew from Bamboo Leaf Mountain, the site of that second-grade spiritual vein had been transformed into a workshop market by the Maple Leaf Huang Family in the past two years.
Named the Bamboo Leaf Market Town. The former Bamboo Leaf Mountain Zheng family had completely become a thing of the past.
To attract people to the newly opened market town, the Huang family gave away or sold at very low prices some shop properties to families like the Beast Taming Zhou family and the Feiyue Mu family.
The Mu family obtained two inexpensive shop properties.
One was going to open a restaurant specializing in spirit fish and aquatic products, taking advantage of Feiyue Lake.
The other was going to be a talisman shop.
"Alright, if I have the right to recommend, I'll put in a good word for you." A thought flashed through Lan Chang'an's mind as he understood Li Ergou's intentions.
He had a premonition that the Mu family might seek him out during this period.
...
Lan Chang'an's premonition was not wrong.
Just the next day, a Mu family elder paid a visit.
"Young Lady, what matter requires you to come in person?" Lan Chang'an rose to welcome her, feigning a slightly flattered manner.
Mu Xiuyun wore a green gossamer long dress, gentle and graceful, elegant and poised.
She was around the same age as Lan Chang'an, maintaining her youthful appearance with a few more hints of mature charm compared to her maiden days when they first met.
She was now at the eighth layer of Qi-Refining, undoubtedly a high-ranking member of the family.
"There's no need to be so courteous between us. I can feel you don't truly revere anyone anyway." Mu Xiuyun smiled, her eyes flickering.
As fellow talisman masters, they had naturally interacted over the years Lan Chang'an had been with the Mu family.
After welcoming Mu Xiuyun into the hall, Lan Chang'an brewed some tea.
"Lan Chang'an, the family plans to open a talisman shop in the Bamboo Leaf Market Town. Are you interested in becoming the head talisman master there?" Mu Xiuyun got straight to the point.
"Don't be in a hurry to answer. The shop will be taken care of by me, and you only need to refine a portion of the talismans while occasionally guiding the apprentices. In addition to the family's original agreed terms, I'll provide you with another salary."