I established the Eternal Immortal Clan by taming beasts.

The smooth stone surface remained silent, like a stagnant pool of water, without a single ripple.

Lin Xinyue's hand trembled slightly, and the sweat seeping from his palm left a shallow mark on the stone surface.

He pressed it for a few more moments, pressing hard, as if pressing hard enough would make it light up.

The spirit stone remained silent.

Like an ordinary stone, it has no brilliance, no reaction, and no miracle.

Inside the ancestral hall, all was quiet.

Lin Xinyue's lips trembled slightly.

He looked up at his father.

Lin Xuanfeng stood there, motionless.

He stood like a stone statue, his expression frozen, his eyes filled with confusion, helplessness, and a blankness he didn't know how to put down.

Although I had considered this possibility before.

What if my son doesn't have spiritual roots? How should I get along with him? How should I face this day?

But when that day actually came, his mind went blank, and he had no thoughts at all.

He only knew that he should do something, he should say something, but his feet were rooted to the ground, and his mouth was as if it were sealed shut.

Sun Yun, standing to the side, also looked completely incredulous.

She covered her mouth, her eyes wide open, tears welling up in them.

I wanted to move forward, but my feet seemed to be nailed to the ground, and I couldn't take another step.

No one present spoke.

No one knew what to say, no one knew how to comfort them.

Those words of comfort seemed pale and powerless at this moment.

Lin Xinyue lowered his head and looked at his hand resting on the spirit stone.

That hand was empty; there was nothing there.

There was no inspiration, no illusion, no miracle.

He seemed to understand something, and the starlight that had shone in his eyes was gradually fading away.

It was Lin Che who spoke, breaking the suffocating silence.

"Why--"

He exhaled softly, a breath that carried a sense of relief, a decisiveness, and a subtle, almost imperceptible, emotion.

"I have discussed this matter with Xuanqi."

His voice wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the quiet ancestral hall.

All eyes turned to him.

"We have built a mortal city on the very first-order spiritual vein that the Wang family once lived on."

A gift from heaven.

Cultivators with spiritual roots have a high probability of giving birth to offspring with spiritual roots, but there is also a chance of giving birth to mortals.

This situation will only increase in the Lin family; it's an unavoidable trend and a problem that every cultivation family must face.

Lin Che had already made arrangements.

The Wang family's first-tier spiritual vein is not too far from the Shattered Star Lake clan territory; its location is convenient and the environment is suitable.

Lin Che then took it from the Wang family.

With the second-tier spiritual vein of the Spirit Grass Valley, this first-tier spiritual vein was not so important to them. In addition, Lin Che provided sufficient compensation, so the Wang family had no objections.

Thus, a small town was established there.

It has city walls, streets, houses, and fertile fields.

Ordinary people can live and work in peace there, have children, and live their own lives.

"In the future, the Lin family's offspring without spiritual roots will move there to live. At the same time, some mortals from other places will also be introduced there to live among them."

He looked down at the child who kept his head down.

"Kokoro!"

His tone was serious and earnest.

Lin Xinyue was startled by the sound and instinctively raised her head and straightened her back.

"exist!"

His voice was still trembling slightly, but he tried his best to make it sound firm.

Lin Che looked at the eyes that were looking at him again, and there were still tears in those eyes.

"I want you to become the lord of this town, to govern this place on behalf of the Lin family." He spoke each word clearly and forcefully: "Do you have the confidence?"

At that moment, the ancestral hall became even quieter.

Everyone was watching the child, watching the patriarch's back, watching this scene.

Lin Xinyue was stunned.

He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

She blinked a few times, squeezing out the tears from her eyes, and then looked at the expression on her grandfather's face.

The expression on that face wasn't one of comfort or pity, but of seriousness.

It's the kind of earnestness that comes from entrusting you with an important task and believing you can do it well.

Although he was still young, he had already come to understand the difference between immortals and mortals through his studies at the clan school.

They understand that cultivators and mortals are from two different worlds, and they understand what it means to have no spiritual roots.

He also understood the significance behind his grandfather's entrustment.

He turned and glanced at his father and mother.

He turned back to look at his grandfather, the head of the family, and nodded solemnly.

"I have confidence!"

"Alright." Lin Che nodded slightly. "I will arrange for someone to train you so that you can become a qualified city lord."

……

With Lin Xinyue's spiritual root test completed, the next child would be Lin Xinyi.

She was born to Lin Xuanfeng and his concubine Zhang Wen. She was the youngest and shortest of the five children.

The little girl was quiet and reserved, rarely speaking. She always followed her mother quietly, like a timid kitten, hiding in a corner and secretly observing the world.

At this moment, she hesitated as she stepped forward.

Her face was tense, and her fingers nervously twisted the hem of her dress, creating wrinkles in the fabric.

She was especially nervous after her brother was found to have no spiritual roots.

She could feel everyone's eyes on her.

Just then, Lin Xuanfeng exhaled.

The breath was long, like a weight that had been pressing on the chest for a long time, finally being slowly exhaled.

He loosened his grip on the sword hilt, and the white on his knuckles gradually faded.

She took her son's hand.

The little hand was cold and trembling slightly.

He held that little hand in his palm and warmed it with his own warmth.

Then, a smile appeared on that usually cold and expressionless face.

The smile was somewhat awkward.

"Xinyi, don't be nervous." His voice was much softer than usual: "You can do it."

Her gaze fell on her daughter, but her hand never let go of her son's.

He looked back on these years.

Because of family defense and training the Lin family guards, he rarely interacted with his children.

He saw his concubines' children even less and spoke to them even less.

He always felt that protecting his family and ensuring their safety was the best way to repay them.

But he forgot that children need more than just safety.

This is why Xin Yue, and especially Xin Yi, developed such a timid and cautious personality.

He took a deep breath and glanced at the two children.

"No matter what, I'm proud of you all!"

His voice rose a few decibels, echoing in the empty ancestral hall, striking the beams and pillars, bouncing back, and resounding in everyone's ears.

He patted his son on the back.

The force was neither too light nor too heavy, the palm was broad and warm, and it passed through the thin fabric, carrying all that a father wanted to express but could not say.

"So what if he doesn't have spiritual roots?"

"Even ordinary people can learn martial arts and achieve great things. I'll find you plenty of martial arts manuals later. If you don't practice diligently, your mother and I will beat you up!"

Lin Xinyue's tense body finally relaxed.

My nose tingled, and my eyes welled up with tears.

He bit his lip, preventing it from falling, but the corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up slightly.

On the other side, encouraged by her father, Lin Xinyi took a deep breath, turned around, and walked towards the testing stone.

She stretched out her little hand and gently placed it on the testing stone.

The moment my fingertips touched the stone surface, a warm sensation came from them, neither hot nor cold, as if someone had breathed on my palm.

A flash of inspiration struck.

A sharp golden hue emerged from the stone core, like a sword drawn from its sheath, its sharpness fully revealed.

"Mid-grade Golden Spiritual Root".

The little girl finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Her tense little face finally relaxed, her eyebrows curved, and the corners of her mouth turned up, revealing a faint, shy smile.

She bowed to her grandfather, then slightly bowed towards her father, before lightly returning to her mother Zhang Wen's side and burying her face in her mother's sleeve.

Zhang Wen reached out and hugged her, gently kissing her forehead, her eyes filled with relief and pride.

……

The spiritual root tests for the five children have been completed.

The atmosphere at the scene was exciting.

All four children in the Xin generation have spiritual roots, and one even has a superior mutated spiritual root, which is a blessing for the Lin family.

But there was also some repression.

Because from now on, the Lin family may have more members without spiritual roots.

How should they get along with these people who have no spiritual roots?

How to face the reality that one's blood relatives have no cultivation aptitude?

How can we ensure that they do not feel alienated or forgotten when we spend every day together?

No one can answer these questions.

Lin Che's gaze swept over everyone, finally settling on the children.

His voice was not loud, but it was deep and powerful, like the sound of a bell in the mountains, echoing in the ancestral hall.

"From this day forward, you will begin your cultivation and officially become cultivators. I will prepare the corresponding introductory techniques and necessary resources for you."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the five youthful faces one by one.

"Remember, the path of spiritual practice is long and arduous, filled with thorns and temptations. You must guard against arrogance and impatience, and be down-to-earth; you must love your brothers and sisters, and support and help each other; you must abide by family rules and clan precepts, and distinguish right from wrong."

Finally, his gaze fell on the five people, especially the last child who had no spiritual root.

"I hope you will live up to your talents and the expectations of your families."

Sunlight streamed down from the courtyard of the ancestral hall, falling on the children and casting their shadows on the bluestone ground, small clusters of shadows that were already quite straight.

From this day forward, their lives will take different paths.