Family Cultivation: Evergreen of the Song Family

Yi Tianzheng looked somewhat displeased, but did not rashly intervene, choosing instead to observe the situation.

"Yunxuan, don't be presumptuous!" Ling Xiao frowned and expressed his dissatisfaction in a stern voice.

"Second senior brother, you know how much I sacrificed for this spot. Why did he become the main player while I became the substitute?"
What right does he have? Just because he defeated Song Daoling? What is Song Daoling anyway! The anger that had been building up in Liu Yunxuan's heart finally erupted at this moment, and he didn't even give face to his usually respected second senior brother.

At his level, ordinary matters no longer warrant his anger, much less cause him to lose his composure like this.

However, this competition is not just about vying for the [Earth Infant Fruit]. The ranking they achieve in the competition is also related to their future development. Even for a place as profound as the Myriad Manifestations Palace, resources are limited once they reach the Golden Core stage, and the path to advancement is even narrower.

This time, the number of mature Earth Infant Fruits reached an unprecedented twelve, representing twelve opportunities for them to form an Infant.

Even so, it wasn't enough to go around; there were many other Dharma protectors waiting in line within the palace, so there were far more monks than porridge.

Therefore, he now needs to prepare for the next ripening of the [Earth Infant Fruit].

The Earth Infant Fruit bears fruit only once every six hundred years. At his age, he can easily live until then. What he needs to do now is to accumulate as much merit as possible to exchange for the opportunity to form an Infant in the future.

This competition is a crucial part of it. As long as you can get into the top three, you're basically guaranteed a spot. Even if you only get into the top five, having this experience of fighting for your sect will greatly increase your chances of winning.

He had already stood out through layers of selection, but suddenly someone took his spot. Although he was still able to go to the Great Zhen Immortal Dynasty, his status became that of a substitute.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he would have no chance to play, which was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for him. Especially when he learned that the person replacing him was just a patriarch of a small family who had recently broken through to the Golden Core stage, his resentment grew even stronger.

He would accept it if it were a strong person from the Myriad Phenomena Academy, but what makes Song Changsheng so special? Just because he is the youngest Golden Core cultivator in recent years.
Having good aptitude doesn't guarantee good performance on the field. Someone like Jun Tianli is just going through the motions.

Over the years, he has devoted himself to cultivation, never daring to slack off for a single day, all for the sake of proving today that he is the best candidate to represent the Myriad Elephants Palace in the battle!
"It was a joint decision by the Palace Master and the Supreme Elder to send Fellow Daoist Zixu into battle. All we need to do is obey. If you speak disrespectfully again, you won't need to go to this competition. I will find someone to replace you." Ling Xiao's eyes revealed a strong warning.

As the team leader, he absolutely trusted his teammates. Yi Tianzheng said that Song Changsheng could do it, so he believed that Song Changsheng could do it.

What he needs is a united and dedicated team; only in this way can he achieve the best results.

Therefore, he would not tolerate any factor that might undermine unity. Even though Liu Yunxuan was his junior brother, if he continued to cause trouble, he would not hesitate to replace him!

Liu Yunxuan stared at him for a moment, but ultimately gave in and retreated unwillingly. He knew in his heart that Ling Xiao was definitely not just talking.

"Fellow Daoist Zixu, my junior brother was just being stubborn for a moment and said things in anger. Please don't take it to heart." Ling Xiao suppressed the coldness in his eyes and said to Song Changsheng with deep apology.

His attitude was sincere, not feigned.

Yi Tianzheng nodded secretly; Ling Xiao's handling of the matter was quite considerate of Song Changsheng.

At this point, Song Changsheng roughly understood what was going on. He had actually cut in line halfway through, no wonder Liu Yunxuan had immediately turned his attention to him.

"Fellow Daoist Lingxiao, you flatter me. This is only human nature. May I speak with this fellow Daoist?"
"After all, we'll be fighting together for the Myriad Manifestations Palace, so it's better to say some things now," Song Changsheng said solemnly.

Ling Xiao pondered for a moment, then nodded slightly and said, "That's very good."

“Fellow Daoist Yunxuan, I, Song, had no intention of taking your spot. To be honest, I only learned about the competition at the last minute. When True Monarch Tianxiang came to me, I didn’t know that the candidate had already been decided. I agreed because I was greedy for the reward.”

Of course, Song believed that Zhenjun must have communicated with his fellow Daoist afterwards.

It's normal for you to feel dissatisfied after years of hard work, and I imagine you're here today because you really want to prove yourself.

In the past fifteen years, I have made progress, and my fellow practitioners have not stood still either. All aspects need to be re-evaluated.

How about this, you and I have a competition right here and that's how we decide who gets the spot?

Liu Yunxuan, who had initially been somewhat disdainful, changed his expression slightly upon hearing this, and looked at Ling Xiao with anticipation: "Second Senior Brother."

Ling Xiao raised an eyebrow. He trusted Yi Tianzheng's judgment. Song Changsheng, who was at the early stage of the Golden Core realm, could replace Liu Yunxuan. Now that both of them had broken through to the middle stage of the Golden Core realm, Liu Yunxuan would probably only be humiliating himself.

However, this matter definitely needs to be resolved, otherwise it will always be a hidden danger.

"I wonder how Fellow Daoist Zixu intends to conduct the competition?"

He decided to first see what Song Changsheng's attitude was.

"With the competition just around the corner, injuring anyone would weaken the team's strength, so we can't use ordinary methods."

"I see that Fellow Daoist Yunxuan is also an open and honest person. Why don't we two use our understanding of the laws to determine who is superior? This way, we can decide a winner without hurting our feelings," Song Changsheng said with a slight smile.

Once you reach the Golden Core realm, the importance of laws has long surpassed that of supernatural powers and techniques.

As long as your understanding of the laws is deep enough, you can still roam freely in the world even without cultivating any supernatural powers.

Therefore, rules are the best way to demonstrate strength.

The hierarchy of rules can also be visualized, and the process is relatively gentle.

Song Changsheng understood Liu Yunxuan's feelings very well, and therefore sincerely wanted to resolve the conflict.

They were about to set off, and he didn't want a ticking time bomb in the team; if someone stabbed him in the back, it could be fatal.

"Yunxuan, since Fellow Daoist Zixu has said so, why don't you have a little contest with him on the laws? Remember to stop when you've made your point, and don't hurt our relationship," Ling Xiao instructed Liu Yunxuan behind him.

Seeing that Ling Xiao had agreed, Liu Yunxuan was overjoyed and immediately patted his chest to assure him, "Second Senior Brother, don't worry, I will absolutely not hurt him!"

Upon hearing this, Ling Xiao felt an urge to put his hand to his forehead. Was he afraid you would hurt him? Or was he afraid he would hurt you?

Yi Tian remained silent. What he valued was Song Changsheng's potential in comprehending the laws, which was also the main reason why he regarded Song Changsheng as a second layer of insurance, even with Ling Xiao as his trump card.

He was eager to see what kind of breakthroughs Song Changsheng could make over the past ten years.

"Fellow Daoist Yunxuan, please."

Song Changsheng sat cross-legged on the ground and made a "please" gesture towards the open space opposite him.

Liu Yunxuan sat down, not to be outdone. The two closed their eyes simultaneously, beginning an invisible battle.

The contest between them was essentially a competition of laws and principles.

There are three thousand paths in the world, and each path has its own unique charm, which can be visualized.

The weakest among those present was a Golden Core cultivator, yet they were unable to perceive this level of power. Only Yi Tianzheng could see the Daoist principles emanating from the two of them.

Liu Yunxuan was chosen because of his exceptional talent. His main cultivation, the Law of Space, had reached perfection. In addition, the Daoist auras of several other laws, such as the Law of Wind and the Law of the Five Elements, which had reached the Great Perfection stage, appeared around him one after another.

He had been holding onto this pent-up anger for years, and his improvement was indeed remarkable. Looking at his opponent, Yi Tianzheng couldn't help but gasp in shock.

A golden, radiant auspicious cloud appeared above Song Changsheng, supporting more than ten kinds of laws and principles, including the [Law of Yin and Yang], [Law of Space], [Law of Force], [Law of Thunder], and [Law of Life]. The auspicious cloud stretched for dozens of feet and was still expanding.

In comparison, Liu Yunxuan, who was originally quite outstanding, suddenly seemed a bit lacking.

In other words, he himself couldn't see it; otherwise, there would be no need to continue the competition.

Because most people would feel despair just by seeing this display of force; the two sides are simply not on the same level.

"How did he manage to do that?" Yi Tianzheng's hands behind his back clenched silently, his heart filled with shock.

It is said that one cannot bite off more than one can chew, but Song Changsheng truly mastered everything and was proficient in everything, leaving people speechless.

It had been many years since he had lost his composure like this. Sometimes he even suspected that Song Changsheng was the reincarnation of some powerful being, otherwise how could he have achieved this?

"I knew I hadn't misjudged him!" Yi Tianzheng was thrilled. He had faced a lot of pressure when he made this decision, but fortunately he made the right bet. Song Changsheng's growth rate far exceeded his expectations.

If he knew that this was the result of Song Changsheng deliberately hiding his true abilities, I wonder what he would think.

Although the others could not directly see the Daoist aura emanating from the two, they could clearly sense the tremendous changes in the surrounding environment and Liu Yunxuan's expression.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Liu Yunxuan had completely lost his composure, and cold sweat began to seep from his forehead.

Ling Xiao and the others were also somewhat shocked. Although they all knew that Liu Yunxuan was likely to lose, they never expected him to be so fast and to be completely suppressed from the very beginning.

"Uncle Ling, if it were you, could you do it?" a woman dressed in seven-colored clothes asked secretly.

Ling Xiao shook his head slightly and said, "It won't be that easy."

"Is he really just the patriarch of a small family?"

The same question arose in everyone's mind at that moment.

Just as the two were secretly competing, an exchange meeting held on the mountainside also began.

Compared to the previous competitions within the Palace of Myriad Phenomena, the exchange meeting is primarily focused on communication, and since it does not involve rewards, it is much less intense.

Only a very small number of cultivators from the Myriad Manifestations Palace participated; the main participants were young disciples from various Golden Core factions who came to observe and compete on the same stage.

Different batches were assigned based on cultivation level and age.

The Qi Refining Group was naturally the first to be affected.

Song Jingxiao and Xu Miaoyin were both in this batch.

Both of them defeated their opponents in the first round relatively easily.

But the second round was not so easy. Song Jingxiao drew a personal disciple of the Myriad Elephants Palace, and Xu Miaoyin, by sheer coincidence, drew the Embroidered Banner. It was truly a case of enemies meeting on a narrow road.

Luck played a part, but the main reason was that the seats were close together.

"【The Embroidered Banner】, Song Lingtao".

“Wangyue Song Shi, Xu Miaoyin”.

"I never thought I'd actually run into this." Song Lingtao said with a cold smile.

The two were seated very close to each other, and the relationship between Xu Miaoyin and Song Changsheng was clearly extraordinary, which meant that her value far exceeded that of others.

He could achieve great success by winning this battle and would surely be richly rewarded upon returning. He could almost see a golden road unfolding before him.

Xu Miaoyin frowned slightly; she disliked this person's appearance.

Song Lingtao didn't care what she thought. He suddenly exerted force with his thigh, took a few quick steps to close the distance between them, bent his palm into a claw, and grabbed at Xu Miaoyin's throat with a sharp whooshing sound.

Their first move was a deadly attack, completely deviating from the original purpose of communication.

Others might have been a bit flustered, but after arriving at the Twin Islands, Xu Miaoyin had been growing under Xu Yunhe's strict guidance, fighting many sea monsters and accumulating rich practical experience.

She took a step back and dodged the attack with a light sidestep.

Song Lingtao pressed forward relentlessly, but no matter how his moves changed, he couldn't touch Xu Miaoyin even slightly, which shocked him.

Little did he know that Xu Miaoyin had already opened up her sea of ​​consciousness, and her spiritual power was comparable to that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Under the cover of her spiritual sense, his movements were as slow as a snail, posing no threat whatsoever.

"You're not much better yourself." Xu Miaoyin's voice was soft, but her tone was unusually cold.

A palm strike landed directly on Song Lingtao's chest, sending him crashing heavily to the edge of the ring.

Song Lingtao felt a little dazed. He had been defeated after his opponent had only made one move?
The throbbing pain in his ribs silently told him that he had lost.

"With this level of skill, it's no wonder Master doesn't even want to look at you properly." Xu Miaoyin glanced at him contemptuously, then turned and walked off the stage.

"Master?" These two simple words evoked many thoughts in Song Lingtao, and a crazy idea began to sprout in his heart.

At the same time, Song Zhemin in the stands secretly transmitted his voice to him, giving him instructions that directly solidified his inner thoughts.

He discreetly took out two gold needles as thin as hair from his pocket.

The tip of the needle emitted an eerie blue light.

He poured all the remaining spiritual energy in his body into the golden needles, and with a sinister grin on his face, he shot out towards Xu Miaoyin's departing figure.

Just when it seemed they were about to succeed, the golden needle seemed to have hit an invisible barrier, hanging in the air, unable to advance an inch no matter what they did.

"How can it be!"

Song Lingtao couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

Then he saw Xu Miaoyin slowly turn around. Her beautiful face showed no sign of panic at being ambushed. Instead, she wore a strange smile and said softly, "You were the one who broke the rules first."

In an instant, Song Lingtao felt a bone-chilling cold spread throughout his body...

...(End of chapter)