Chapter 5: Astonishing Spiritual Root

The Yan family compound’s training square was crowded with people today. Not only had the students of the clan gathered in a ring, eager to see what kind of spiritual root talent this year’s nearly fully formed clansmen possessed, but many idle members of the family had also come to watch.

Aside from Yan Qingwan and the few others who had close ties to Li Ji’an, most of the onlookers were female cultivators from the clan.

They too wanted to see what sort of partner the clan’s former guest cultivator, the one who had once looked down on them, had chosen, and what kind of spiritual roots their child had inherited.

Metal three, wood two, water five, fire four, earth three... low-grade.

Metal five, wood seven, water two, fire five, earth five... low-grade.

And so it went.

As always, the first few were all low-grade roots.

Still, three of them had spiritual resonance exceeding five threads, which was already quite good. If their character and comprehension proved acceptable later on, they would be worth cultivating by the clan.

That was the norm in the cultivation world.

“Li Fan is going up,” Yan Qing said, tugging at his father Zhang Tiezhu’s sleeve in the crowd.

Zhang Tiezhu instantly straightened.

“Let it be at least mid-grade!” he prayed under his breath.

Beyond the guilt he still felt toward Li Ji’an, he held even greater expectations for Li Fan.

Over these seven years, Li Fan’s intelligence and sense had made Zhang Tiezhu feel especially close to him, and at times he even seemed to glimpse Li Ji’an in the boy’s shadow.

That way of handling things, that ease with human affairs, that steady temperament—he often sighed that Big Brother Li’s legacy had been wonderfully passed down, and more than once he had used Li Fan as a model when scolding Yan Qing.

Two years earlier, Yan Qing’s spiritual root test had at last repaid the labor Zhang Tiezhu had poured into him over the years: his earth affinity had reached the level of eleven threads, mid-grade.

Yet his nature remained rather mischievous. Though he had begun body cultivation three years earlier than Li Ji’an, he had only barely entered the threshold by now; in the terms of the imperial martial way of the Heaven-Gifted Dynasty, he had only just reached bone tempering. And that was only because Zhang Tiezhu had forced him to practice.

The main reason was that children in this world all pursued cultivation of magical power and did not like body cultivation.

But Li Fan had already nearly reached the initial stage of first-rank body cultivation in full.

Zhang Tiezhu’s expectations for Li Fan lay chiefly in the family feud—those people who had once treated them as blood slaves.

In recent years, he had kept in correspondence with Zhao Shunyao and Dong Jiangling, and as the years passed, the letters had only grown more frequent.

All three spoke often of their inability to let that matter go.

They also worried about the Heaven-Gifted Dynasty, fearing that after the family had outlived them, it would continue to commit such evils.

Yet the truth was that all three had almost no hope left. In fact, even their children could see little prospect.

Dong Jiangling’s daughter was already thirty-seven. Thanks to her mid-grade spiritual root talent, she had fortunately entered a local Foundation Establishment family. But setting aside the fact that her temperament had been somewhat lacking, the main point was that the family only wanted her to bear children and had no real intention of supporting her. Foundation establishment was out of reach, and she was already married with children.

Zhang Tiezhu’s eldest son also had a mid-grade spiritual root, but he was not close to Zhang Tiezhu. Besides, given the Yan family’s circumstances, if he remained there all his life, he too would likely have no chance of foundation establishment.

From their perspective, to truly uncover the truth of what had happened and have the power to resolve it, one would need at least Foundation Establishment cultivation.

For that reason, all three had kept their mouths shut and never told their children about the events of the past.

They had also imagined that when they were near death, they would cast aside all caution and expose the crimes to the world—but they feared bringing calamity upon their descendants and their own family.

Now, Li Fan’s position within the Yan family, together with his excellence in body cultivation and temperament, had given them hope once more.

Only, they were all worried about Li Ji’an’s spiritual roots.

Li Ji’an walked to the spiritual-testing stone and slowly exhaled before placing his hand upon it.

A low hum.

The stone trembled faintly, and then spiritual resonance began to appear.

Above the small golden sword: eight threads.

“So high!” Zhang Tiezhu was instantly shaken.

He remembered clearly that when Li Ji’an had been tested before, aside from his fire root being two threads, all the others had been only one.

“Could it be that Big Brother Li found a partner with excellent metal affinity?”

“Metal!” Yan Qingwan also narrowed her eyes slightly. She had hoped Li Fan’s fire affinity would reach five threads, which would give him a chance to advance to the later stage of Qi Refinement and perhaps become an experienced alchemist. Wood affinity at five threads or above would also have been fine, since wood-based magic was long-lasting and ideal for talisman making.

But if it was metal, that was troublesome for her.

Admittedly, in a great clan or a vast immortal city, those with metal affinity were more favored, especially in the Sword Sect of the Dao Origin Prefecture.

Metal-based magic had the strongest offensive power of all, known as the root of slaughter. In same-level duels, metal cultivators, except against earth cultivators who specialized in defense, could easily break through the defenses of cultivators of other elements.

Still, that required high-level techniques, and the metal methods available in the wilderness were all too crude.

Yet before she could think further, a cry suddenly rose from the square.

On the spiritual-testing stone, a small sapling appeared, revealing fourteen threads of spiritual resonance.

“Mid-grade wood affinity!”

Yan Kongyi sprang to his feet, the aged light in his eyes blazing with brilliance. “Good! My Yan family is going to have a talisman master!”

Over the past few years, Li Ji’an’s comprehension had repeatedly astonished him. At times, he had nearly wished he could transfer Li Ji’an’s brain into his own head.

He remembered it clearly: when he first began studying talisman arts, it took him ten whole days just to grasp his first stroke of inscription. Yet Li Ji’an, in only three days, was already writing with flowing ease, as though moving clouds and sweeping dragons.

Now, seeing Li Ji’an’s wood affinity of fourteen threads, if he had not had to preserve his image as a dignified elder within the clan, he would have leapt into the sky and somersaulted a hundred times.

“That boy!” Only Yan Hongsheng showed a trace of disappointment.

When the metal affinity had first appeared at eight threads, he had still held a shred of expectation. After all, metal magic had tremendous offensive power, and if paired with the close-quarters strength of a body cultivator, it would be the union of two strengths.

But now, seeing the mid-grade wood root, he let out a slow breath.

Though he had very much hoped for the family’s body-cultivation path to flourish, he also understood this much: if one could cultivate magic, who would choose body cultivation?

After a brief daze, he smiled and let it go.

An experienced first-rank talisman master, however one looked at it, was far more beneficial to the family than a body cultivator.

“What kind of partner did that old fellow actually find?”

At that moment, the water-vein resonance also appeared on the spiritual-testing stone: nine threads.

“How can they all be so high!”

“Good! Water nourishes wood. If he mainly cultivates wood arts and supplements them with water arts, then his wood power will be continuous and inexhaustible. He is a natural seed for a talisman master!” Yan Kongyi cried out again, clearly barely able to contain his joy.

The five elements generate and restrain one another; the five arts support and complement each other.

Primary cultivation power resides within the dantian, transforming it and advancing one’s realm.

Supplementary cultivation power clings outside the dantian, yet still yields magical effects.

The prerequisite is sufficient spiritual-root resonance.

Yan Qingwan also smiled and nodded, already very satisfied with this result.

Having lived together for seven years, she naturally knew that Li Fan’s comprehension was extraordinary, no less impressive than Big Brother Li’s of old; whether in alchemy or talisman making, he would be no worse than others.

Yet just as she had settled her thoughts—

The whole square erupted once more in astonished cries.

“Fire affinity, nineteen threads—just a hair shy of becoming a high-grade root!”

“My heavens, our Yan family was actually this close to producing a high-grade spiritual root!”

A high-grade spiritual root made Foundation Establishment almost effortless. In fact, if one’s magic power was sufficiently solid and the body strong enough, one could even look toward forming a core without using a Foundation Establishment Pill.

What a pity—only two threads short.

“Good! Good! Good!” Zhang Tiezhu clenched both fists so tightly that his knuckles crackled. He wanted nothing more than to tell Zhao Shunyao and Dong Jiangling at once.

With nineteen threads of spiritual-root talent, the three of them would fight with everything they had to support him. Perhaps, in their lifetimes, they might yet see the downfall of that family of thieves.

“How is this possible!” Yan Qingwan abruptly stood, her beautiful eyes fixed on Li Ji’an as three emotions collided fiercely within them.

First: the family had gained another experienced alchemist.

Second: what kind of partner had Big Brother Li actually found?

Third: with such spiritual roots, how could one be content with mere Qi Refinement? As for Foundation Establishment...