Immortality: Starting with the Fruit of Taiyin

Han Li didn't know what the lowest level of the ruling unit in the cultivation world was under the Merchant Alliance and even the Great Zhou Dynasty.

But as she said, at least in a cultivation country like Chen Kingdom, which is ruled by sects, a Foundation Establishment family with a second-tier spiritual vein is the smallest force that is qualified to be recruited and worshipped.

"However, unlike my Han family, the Huang family has been established in Chen Kingdom for hundreds of years. Now, there are more than one Foundation Establishment cultivator in the world. They can be considered a second-rate family with extraordinary foundation."

"As for the conflict with my Han family... it seems to be related to the inheritance of a master puppeteer from the Immortal City."

It's not entirely certain, after all, Han Li is just a member of the younger generation of the Han family, and one whose elders died young.

According to the Huang family, they were distant relatives of that master, and they had agreed before their deaths to take care of him in his old age and see him off in death.

"Unexpectedly, an accident occurred midway. A villain tried to harm the master, but in the end, my Han family benefited from it... I don't know the specifics, but that's roughly how it went."

"So the Huang clan of Meishan demanded that you hand over your lineage, which Chief Han naturally refused, leading to a conflict between the two sides?"

Wang Xuan nodded slightly and asked.

"right."

Han Li nodded.

"I see……"

Suddenly realizing the truth, Wang Xuan understood Han Li's explanation, and many of his past doubts were finally resolved.

No wonder Han Changming, a newly promoted Foundation Establishment cultivator, is so wealthy. No wonder no one paid attention to him before, but now someone has come knocking on his door.

If nothing unexpected happened, the Han family probably anticipated this outcome, so they sought a backer in the Nanhua Sect in advance. However, they never expected that such a disaster would strike, causing all their original investments to go down the drain.

"That was bad luck, but it has nothing to do with me."

He secretly thought that this was also why Wang Xuan was unwilling to truly join a faction.

One aspect is that the idea of ​​selling oneself into servitude is unacceptable, and another is the conflict between these forces.

As outsiders who joined halfway through their journey, they are obviously the first to be abandoned when danger arises.

So Wang Xuan just smiled casually and didn't ask any further questions.

The conflict between the Huang family and the Han family is unlikely to escalate to the point where only one of them can survive.

After all, what they are fighting for is an inheritance, not something tangible, immovable, and requiring long-term development like a spiritual vein or a spiritual mine.

Regardless of the specific outcome, he was merely an external alchemist and did not need to fight to the death for the Han family.

As long as the Han family doesn't suffer too heavy a loss, they don't even have to give up the Dan Pavilion in the market.

……

As Wang Xuan predicted, things unfolded exactly as he had for the next six months.

Outside the market town, conflicts frequently occur between the two Foundation Establishment families, while the Han family is in a relatively disadvantaged position.

The Han family only had one Foundation Establishment cultivator, who also had to guard the family, while the Huang family had more than one... However, when Han Changming summoned two second-tier puppets that were barely able to fight at the critical moment, the conflict turned into a stalemate.

No cultivator was willing to risk their life fighting a puppet, so the Huang family naturally chose to attrition against the Han family's puppet.

Yes, it's not the puppets that consume the cultivators, but the cultivators who consume the puppets.

Because when cultivators fight, as long as they don't fight to the death, even if they are depleted of their magical power and suffer minor injuries, they can recover to normal after a month or two of recuperation. But puppets are different.

Puppets below the third rank burn 'puppet crystals' made from spirit stone waste that has exhausted spiritual energy every second of their battle.

Even though puppets of the third rank or higher mostly have energy cores similar to golden cores or demon cores, they still need high-rank puppet crystals to replenish their energy during intense battles.

Such losses might be acceptable to puppeteers who are capable of creating and repairing puppet crystals.

However, for ordinary cultivators, such losses are extremely expensive.

Therefore, in the cultivation world, puppets are more of a trump card in critical moments and rarely become a means of daily combat for cultivators. The current conflict between Han and Huang is a clear example of this.

Unless Han Changming is determined to fight the Huang family of Meishan to the death and risks the destruction of his puppets to kill the Huang family's Foundation Establishment cultivators, they are destined to be unable to afford to drag this out.

One day, Wang Xuan finished his daily cultivation, only to see Han Changde, looking pale, hurriedly leaving at the door.

With a relaxed mindset, Wang Xuan knew that this brief conflict was probably coming to an end.

Of course, a temporary calm does not mean it has disappeared.

It will gradually accumulate and eventually transform into a long-standing hatred between the two families...

"Behind this, there is most likely the influence of a Core Formation power."

Wang Xuan summoned Han Li again and learned the latest developments in the matter from him.

"Is the Lu family of Xuanfu preparing to send their direct descendants to mediate?"

"Judging from their attitude, it seems like they're giving equal blame to both sides, but in reality, it's showing favoritism towards the Huang family..."

With a slight glint in his eyes, Wang Xuan knew that this was probably related to the puppet master's puppetry legacy.

The inheritance of the first and second levels of the Hundred Arts does not involve the inheritance of true meaning, so theoretically there is not that much difficulty in copying it.

Why was it that before the calamity of the Three Sects and Two Clans broke out, the Han family couldn't even buy a complete first-order alchemy book with spirit stones?

"Alternative forms of social isolation... are all the same tactic."

"This conflict is the same. A newly established Foundation Establishment family is not worthy of having this level of puppet inheritance, unless their family already has a second-tier puppeteer in charge."

"However, as long as the Han family bows down quickly enough, the Huang family probably won't gain anything either, after all, they are a 'veteran' Foundation Establishment family..."

"Tsk, small families suppress rogue cultivators, and large families suppress small families."

"Layer upon layer, they don't seem to make much difference."

Not paying too much attention to such matters, Wang Xuan returned to his quiet room to cultivate.

Several days later, although it was several months later than planned when it was in the sect.

However, before the age of twenty-four, Wang Xuan successfully passed the final hurdle of the mid-stage Qi Refining and entered the sixth level of Qi Refining.

……

"Phew... finally."

In the quiet room, he finished his practice and stood up.

With his cultivation breakthrough successful, the second level of his Refining Mystic Technique also reached perfection, leaving Wang Xuan feeling refreshed and invigorated.

With the enhancement of two secret techniques, his spiritual awareness had already reached the late stage of Qi Refining ahead of schedule.

Generally speaking, it takes an average of thirty years for a person with a mid-grade spiritual root to enter the late stage of Qi Refining, and another twenty-five to thirty years to reach the ninth level of perfection.

Considering that the vast majority of cultivators begin their practice between the ages of eight and twelve, the age at which their vital energy and blood begin to decline is slightly more than 60% of their lifespan limit.

Therefore, those with a mid-grade spiritual root reach the peak of Qi Refining between the ages of sixty-three and seventy-two, and have the opportunity to attempt Foundation Establishment.

As for Wang Xuan's current cultivation speed, he will probably reach the peak of Qi Refining around the age of forty.

Starting from the age of twelve and a half, it would take about thirty years in total, which is the average speed for a high-grade spiritual root, roughly twice that of a mid-grade one.

If you take another elixir during this process, it should be able to speed things up even more, but it doesn't matter if you don't.

After all, Wang Xuan has now left the sect, and even his progress in alchemy has been forced to slow down. He can't find any pills to enhance his cultivation.

Fortunately, for him, the real fighting force was the Azure Shadow Sparrow, which was rarely revealed to others.

Once Xiaoqing advances to the second tier, many things will be much easier to handle.

"The path to immortality is not something to be rushed, and I haven't faced any life-or-death crises."

"Even if you reached the Qi Refining Perfection level two years earlier, it wouldn't really make much of a difference."

"Furthermore, with the cultivation environment now more stable, perhaps I can consider picking up body tempering again, something I had previously abandoned..."

After pondering for a moment, Wang Xuan left the quiet room, intending to go to Manager Zhao's shop to brew two pots of tea.

……

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