Chapter 4: Seven Years Passed

That afternoon, Zhang Tiezhu deliberately waited outside the academy and met Li Ji'an.

Compared with nine years ago, Zhang Tiezhu’s skin had grown much darker and he had thinned out. He was dressed like an old farmer, and the magical implement in his hand was a hoe.

Back when he decided to hand over resources to his eldest son, it had actually been his dao companion who had repeatedly persuaded him, forcing him to face reality.

With a low-grade spiritual root and no sufficient resources, and without any special opportunity, the late Qi Refinement stage was the limit. Rather than wasting his limited resources on an old man like him, whose prospects were dim and whose path was already going downhill, it was better to spend them on the son who was rising steadily and brightly.

It had to be said that after he completely gave up struggling, there was a period when he suddenly felt the heavens and earth widen before him, and his burdens became much lighter.

After that, he made the final decision to lie flat and enjoy his later years, forgetting his former ambitions, forgetting the villains who had taken them as blood slaves, forgetting everything about the Divine Gift Dynasty.

Who would have thought that a few years ago, when the youngest son’s potential was measured by the clan elder, he might also have a medium-grade spiritual root?

However, it seemed to be only barely above the threshold.

Without a Nurturing Source Pill, it would probably be somewhat difficult.

In the end, Zhang Tiezhu gritted his teeth and borrowed spirit stones from the clan to buy a Nurturing Source Pill for Yan Qing.

Naturally, his dream of peaceful retirement was shattered.

In these years, he had specially cultivated spiritual farming techniques and gone to work at the clan’s medicinal fields for merit points.

He even squeezed out time to study earth-and-wood construction spells and occasionally took on odd jobs building houses in the settlement.

It could be said that he worked even harder than he had when he had once struggled to earn resources for himself before marriage and children.

“So alike, truly alike, just like Brother Li…” In those eyes that had lost both the ambition of old and the ease of more recent years, Li Ji'an now saw only exhaustion.

Zhang Tiezhu knelt on one knee. His rough palm wanted to touch Li Ji'an’s cheek, yet fearing he might scratch the child’s face, he forced himself to stop.

“Uncle Zhang, my father told me to send you his regards,” Li Ji'an said with a smile.

“...” Zhang Tiezhu froze.

Then he suddenly turned his head away, and only after a full five breaths did he look back. “Your father... Brother Li, is he well? He... he doesn’t blame me?”

Nine years ago, when Li Ji'an had been driven out of the clan, Zhang Tiezhu had been filled with guilt. He even believed that if he had not mentioned Li Ji'an and Yan Qingwan’s matter at the clan elders’ meeting, none of it would have happened.

Over the years, he had dreamed several times of Li Ji'an coming to question him, asking why he had betrayed him.

He had also woken in the night on many occasions, beating his chest, consumed by regret.

If time could be turned back, he would never have said a word, even if it killed him.

That afternoon, Zhang Tiezhu deliberately waited outside the academy and met Li Ji'an.

Compared with nine years ago, Zhang Tiezhu’s skin had grown much darker and he had thinned out. He was dressed like an old farmer, and the magical implement in his hand was a hoe.

Back when he decided to hand over resources to his eldest son, it had actually been his dao companion who had repeatedly persuaded him, forcing him to face reality.

With a low-grade spiritual root and no sufficient resources, and without any special opportunity, the late Qi Refinement stage was the limit. Rather than wasting his limited resources on an old man like him, whose prospects were dim and whose path was already going downhill, it was better to spend them on the son who was rising steadily and brightly.

It had to be said that after he completely gave up struggling, there was a period when he suddenly felt the heavens and earth widen before him, and his burdens became much lighter.

After that, he made the final decision to lie flat and enjoy his later years, forgetting his former ambitions, forgetting the villains who had taken them as blood slaves, forgetting everything about the Divine Gift Dynasty.

Who would have thought that a few years ago, when the youngest son’s potential was measured by the clan elder, he might also have a medium-grade spiritual root?

However, it seemed to be only barely above the threshold.

Without a Nurturing Source Pill, it would probably be somewhat difficult.

In the end, Zhang Tiezhu gritted his teeth and borrowed spirit stones from the clan to buy a Nurturing Source Pill for Yan Qing.

Naturally, his dream of peaceful retirement was shattered.

In these years, he had specially cultivated spiritual farming techniques and gone to work at the clan’s medicinal fields for merit points.

He even squeezed out time to study earth-and-wood construction spells and occasionally took on odd jobs building houses in the settlement.

It could be said that he worked even harder than he had when he had once struggled to earn resources for himself before marriage and children.

“So alike, truly alike, just like Brother Li…” In those eyes that had lost both the ambition of old and the ease of more recent years, Li Ji'an now saw only exhaustion.

Zhang Tiezhu knelt on one knee. His rough palm wanted to touch Li Ji'an’s cheek, yet fearing he might scratch the child’s face, he forced himself to stop.

“Uncle Zhang, my father told me to send you his regards,” Li Ji'an said with a smile.

“...” Zhang Tiezhu froze.

Then he suddenly turned his head away, and only after a full five breaths did he look back. “Your father... Brother Li, is he well? He... he doesn’t blame me?”

Nine years ago, when Li Ji'an had been driven out of the clan, Zhang Tiezhu had been filled with guilt. He even believed that if he had not mentioned Li Ji'an and Yan Qingwan’s matter at the clan elders’ meeting, none of it would have happened.

Over the years, he had dreamed several times of Li Ji'an coming to question him, asking why he had betrayed him.

He had also woken in the night on many occasions, beating his chest, consumed by regret.

If time could be turned back, he would never have said a word, even if it killed him.

“My father is very well. He often speaks of you and his other old friends,” Li Ji'an replied with a smile. He had never blamed Zhang Tiezhu.

“Old friends... good, good, good...” Zhang Tiezhu nodded woodenly, finally laid to rest.

After that, Li Ji'an settled comfortably into life in the Yan household.

Aside from her daily cultivation, Yan Qingwan also had to refine pills, and often needed to instruct the two alchemists being trained by the clan. Her time was tight, but she would still make time to accompany Li Ji'an.

She took him to eat delicacies, told him strange and curious stories, asked him about the years he had spent living with his father, gave him exquisite robes, and even sometimes slept beside him... Aside from bathing him, which he strongly resisted, Li Ji'an more or less accepted everything, and he truly came to feel the warmth of maternal love.

For this, he was deeply grateful.

Happy times always passed in the blink of an eye.

Five years went by in the flash of a moment.

That year, Li Ji'an was thirteen. His spiritual root had not yet fully taken shape, but his bones and frame had already matured, and he could begin body refinement.

“The affinity of my spiritual energy now is even stronger than it was in my past life at Qi Refinement First Layer.”

After returning from the clan hall to Yan Qingwan’s residence, Li Ji'an, as usual, circulated the method for sensing qi, increasing his closeness to spiritual energy, while comparing it with his cultivation experience from his previous life.

The results made him more and more satisfied, and his expectations for his soon-to-form spiritual root grew steadily.

Once the sensing method finished circulating, he focused into his sea of consciousness.

His soul was already nearly condensed into divine sense.

Though it had not yet truly transformed, it could already be extended slightly outward.

The faint projection of divine sense just covered his own cheek, allowing him to see his face clearly without needing a mirror.

“So this is what it means to be nourished by spiritual energy versus not!”

In this life, nourished by spiritual energy, his thirteen-year-old appearance was somewhat different from when he had once been in the Divine Gift Dynasty. His features were more vivid, his skin fair and tender, and his height had already surpassed seven feet.

Beyond that, he could not tell whether it was due to spiritual nourishment or to the marrow-cleansing pill he had refined in his previous life using the medicinal materials of this world, but when he examined himself, this life’s bones and frame were actually somewhat better than they had been in the Divine Gift Dynasty.

Buzz.

At that moment, the communication talisman in his bosom trembled again.

Li Ji'an was a little helpless. Reaching into his chest, he found three communication talismans, all of them two-way.

The one trembling now was the Great Elder’s.

“Hurry over. Tonight we’ll study the essentials of talisman making. Once you cultivate magical power later and your spiritual awareness grows strong, you’ll be able to make talismans yourself.”

Over these five years, though he still had not begun cultivation and had no magical power, Yan Kongyi still made time every month to teach him about talismans.

By now, he had a solid grasp of the basic theory of talismans, including several simple starter talismans such as cleansing talismans, dust-removing talismans, and calming talismans. Once he had magical power, he should be able to complete them in a single stroke, and there was a strong chance he could produce medium-grade quality.

This was not only because talismans were easy to begin but hard to perfect; it was also thanks to the rise in comprehension he had gained in this life.

Buzz.

Before he could reply to Yan Kongyi, another communication talisman trembled.

“Xiaofan, hurry over, hurry over. Your Seventh Grandfather has brought you something good today: a first-tier saber-toothed tiger, still fresh. Come eat well tonight, and tomorrow we’ll officially begin body refinement.”

Yan Hongshe had started explaining the basics of body refinement to him two years earlier, and had been slowly guiding him to comprehend the body-refinement cultivation method.

It was worth mentioning that he somehow even obtained another body-refinement technique from who knew where. Coincidentally, it was also the Hundred Temperings Golden Body Art. It was unclear whether Chen Zhaohu had sold it.

As always, Li Ji'an informed both sides separately and let them compete over him.

In the end, he first went to Yan Kongyi’s place, studied the essentials of talisman making, and additionally received a spirit stone.

Finally, he went to Yan Hongshe’s place, ate to his heart’s content, and received another spirit stone.

In the two years that followed, Li Ji'an officially began body refinement.

With the experience of his previous life at the peak of first-tier Hundred Temperings Golden Body Art, along with decades of experience in condensing and releasing blood and qi, body refinement in this life proceeded naturally and smoothly.

Within two years, he had reached the perfect Blood Exchange realm he had once attained in the Divine Gift Dynasty, and at most, after another three years, he would be able to break through into a first-tier beginner body cultivator.

That day, at fifteen years old, Li Ji'an finally arrived at the time for spiritual root measurement.

Though he had some confidence, he still could not help feeling nervous, for this concerned his path to eternal life across all ages, and the ease or difficulty of his future cultivation.

Most importantly, with this life’s aptitude for nurturing meridians, even if those eight unchangeable years still remained, he should already have basically reached the limit of his innate origin.

As Li Ji'an slowly walked toward the spirit-measuring stone, the people around him were even more nervous than he was.

Yan Qingwan hoped his fire spiritual root would be at least five strands.

Yan Kongyi, on the other hand, hoped his wood spiritual root would reach medium grade.

Yan Hongshe was the least nervous of all. He had never thought highly of Li Ji'an’s spiritual root, and by now he had already decided to raise Li Ji'an’s body refinement to the late first tier; by then, he would become the Yan clan’s number one body cultivator.