I established the Eternal Immortal Clan by taming beasts.

"Greetings, Master!"

As soon as Lin Che stepped out of the Lin family's main residence, he was met by a gentle and graceful figure.

Zhou Qingwan wore an elegant light blue dress today, with her hair simply tied up, exuding a dignified and serene temperament.

Upon seeing Lin Che, she gave a slight bow, her movements unhurried and perfectly measured.

She was the legal wife of the eldest son, Lin Xuanqi.

Speaking of this "official wife," Lin Che couldn't help but recall the scene when he discussed the Lin family's marriage system with Wang Lingsu, Liu Qingxue, and others.

In order to fundamentally eliminate the problem of succession, the Lin family ultimately chose the principal wife system, rather than the secondary wife system that Lin Che himself had originally adopted.

The reason is very simple.

If the system of equal wives is still adopted, the daughters-in-law may form their own small groups in the future, vying for resources, their husbands' favor, and the status of their children, which will inevitably lead to factional disputes sooner or later.

A legal wife signifies a clearly defined maternal relatives group;

Having multiple wives means having multiple powerful maternal relatives vying for power, which can easily lead to family turmoil.

The system of having a legal wife was designed to prevent these problems from occurring.

Memories flashed through his mind, and Lin Che stopped in his tracks, a gentle smile appearing on his face.

"It's the eldest son's family, no need for formalities."

He waved his hand, his tone casual and friendly: "How are those little brats doing lately? Have they been studying hard?"

Zhou Wanqing smiled slightly, stepped aside half a step, and spoke in a respectful yet friendly tone:

"After returning home, the children are studying very hard and completing their homework on time. A few days ago, the older children did well on the tribal school's small test."

Lin Che nodded, his gaze passing over her shoulder and landing on the courtyard in the distance that had been specially built for the clan school.

With its blue bricks and gray tiles, upturned eaves and corners, it is nestled among a grove of green bamboo.

Through the open window, one could vaguely see more than twenty children sitting upright at their desks, listening attentively to the teacher's lecture.

Some were resting their chins on their hands, some were frowning, and some were writing furiously. They were all in different poses, but they were all quiet and not one of them was distracted.

The Lin family school of thought today is many times more complete than it was back then.

Unlike before, when Lin Che and Wang Lingsu were so busy teaching the children in their spare time, now the Lin family has grown and there are plenty of people to help.

Lin Xuanfeng was mainly in charge of the family's defense, and Liu Qingxue finally had some free time, so she took the initiative to take on the task of coordinating the clan school.

Her icy expression, when she stood in the classroom, was more effective than any rule.

The daily instruction at the clan school was taken care of by the eldest son's wife, Zhou Wanqing, and the second son's wife, Li Jin, in turns.

Both women came from prominent families and were skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, painting, herbal medicine, alchemy, classics, history, philosophy, and literature.

Teaching them is a piece of cake.

They are still using the same set of introductory teaching materials that Lin Che guided the compilation of back then, but in recent years they have added a lot of new content, making it more systematic and complete.

"Judging by the time, the children are almost at the age where their spiritual roots need to be tested." Lin Che withdrew his gaze, his tone tinged with emotion.

"I happen to have some free time recently, so I'll test their spiritual roots."

Testing one's spiritual roots is the first hurdle in the life of every disciple of a cultivation family.

The quality of one's spiritual root almost entirely determines the upper limit of one's future cultivation.

Of course, he already knew the answer beforehand.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Wanqing's face also showed a hint of anticipation.

Her son, Lin Xinyuan, was among them. The boy was exceptionally intelligent, but it was unknown what his spiritual roots were like.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Master." She curtsied again, her tone more solemn.

"It's nothing, just a small favor." Lin Che waved his hand. "Alright, you go ahead with your work, I'll go take a look around the clan territory."

"Take care, Master!"

……

After bidding farewell to Zhou Wanqing, Lin Che flew to the Lin family's martial arts arena on his sword.

From afar, the sounds of soldiers training could be heard.

"Form ranks—!"

"Raise your gun—!"

"Charge!"

The sound of orderly footsteps came from the huge training ground, like the beating of drums, making the ground tremble slightly.

Small squads were practicing military formations, their movements were uniform and their coordination was seamless.

Lin Che landed on his sword without alerting them.

He concealed his aura, stood with his hands behind his back at the edge of the training ground, and looked up.

There were about sixty people in the training ground.

They all have one thing in common: they are all quite young.

The tallest among them were no more than eleven or twelve years old;

The youngest, some as young as six or seven, had just begun practicing Qi cultivation and were not yet proficient in circulating their true Qi.

Yet their eyes held a firmer resolve than those of many adult cultivators.

Since the goal is to train a personal guard for the Lin family, it is best to cultivate them from a young age.

Loyalty is something that is cultivated from a young age, and the effect is stronger.

From the first day these children stepped into the Lin family, they were instilled with the ideas of "loyalty to the Lin family" and "the Lin family is heaven".

Day after day, year after year, these ideas will be etched into their very bones, becoming their unwavering beliefs.

These children all come from ordinary villages near Chuyang City.

No matter how prosperous the cultivation world may be, the world of mortals still exists.

Even cultivators with spiritual roots can give birth to mortal children without spiritual roots;

Conversely, mortal couples without spiritual roots may still give birth to offspring with spiritual roots.

So, a hundred miles inland from Chuyang City, the city lord's mansion built a village for ordinary people for them.

The village has fertile fields, houses, and a clinic, where ordinary people can live and work in peace and contentment, and raise children.

Cultivators who settle in Chuyang City can move their mortal offspring there.

Several thousand ordinary people lived there, making a living by farming and raising livestock. Although their lives were not wealthy, they were peaceful.

As a result, the Ascension Ceremony came into being.

Many sects and large families have an additional way to acquire disciples.

That is to hold an ascension ceremony.

Once a year, people are sent to ordinary villages to test whether children of school age possess spiritual roots.

If so, bring them back to the sect for training.

Given the Lin family's current status, they naturally have the right to hold the Ascension Ceremony in the villages near Zhongchuyang City.

These children before us are the ones whose spiritual roots are detected by the Lin family every year during the Ascension Ceremony.

They will join the Lin family and become members of the personal guard.

The Lin family will prepare an extremely generous compensation for their parents, enough for them to live a worry-free life.

In this way, they will no longer have any connection with the child.

This is something that's clearly out in the open.

The Lin family never hides this fact.

This will allow these children to witness firsthand the choice their parents made to "give them a better future" in exchange for this "compensation."

If their parents disagree, then it's over.

Do not force or coerce.

This guard is a key target for the Lin family to cultivate; loyalty is their top priority.

It is better to have perfection than to have inappropriate quality.

Of course, there is a minimum requirement: one must possess at least a mid-grade spiritual root.

Those with spiritual roots below the middle grade cannot join the Lin family.

Lin Che's gaze swept over the children who were training, and he nodded inwardly.

The quality of this group of children is even better than that of the previous group.

He stood with his hands behind his back, not disturbing the training, but just watched quietly for a while before turning and leaving.

On the training ground, the commands still resounded.

"Third team! The bayonet charge was a beat too slow! Try again!"

"Fifth team! The gaps between the shields are too large! Close them!"

"First team! Charge in unison! In unison!"

None of the boys complained, none of them slacked off; they simply repeated those monotonous actions over and over again…