Siblings

The changes Lu Weiwen felt in her body naturally came from the "Spiritual Root Enhancement" Lu Qing got for her. Her Metal–Fire Double Spiritual Roots had been enhanced to become Metal–Earth, with metal being the primary element. He had not solved the problem of the imbalance between her Spiritual Roots, but her secondary Spiritual Root had been transformed to become the earth element, which was beneficial for her metal Spiritual Root. This was much better than before.

If she found a suitable technique to cultivate and was provided with sufficient resources along her path of cultivation, she should have no problems breaking through to the Foundation Building Stage by the time she was 40. After that, if she would keep up her cultivation efforts and were provided opportunities and resources, she should not have much trouble reaching the Initial Enlightenment Stage. She might even be able to reach the Golden Core Stage.

It was not easy to reach the Golden Core Stage.

Even the massive Feiyun State, which spanned 9,000 miles and had seven to eight prefectures, only had four powerful Golden Core cultivators. Three of them belonged to the sect, while out of the countless clans of various sizes, only Lu Qing had managed to reach the Golden Core Stage as an unaffiliated cultivator in the past 1,000 years.

A person in the Initial Enlightenment Stage could already be considered a high-level cultivator. If his clan could produce a cultivator at the Initial Enlightenment Stage, then they would be able to reverse their current situation. While they might be able to return to how they were like at their peak, they at least would not have to worry about being in danger.

The expectations of Lu Qing and the entire Lu Clan were pinned on Little Weiwen. She would become the future of the Lu Clan.

Of course, the best method to reverse the clan's current situation was for Lu Chaoxi to break through to the Initial Enlightenment Stage. His old injury had been cured, and he would return to a healthy state in a year. However, Lu Qing had not managed to restore Lu Chaoxi's damaged Core Lifespan. Lu Chaoxi did not have much time left. Whether or not he managed to break through would depend on his luck, as well as whether or not he had sufficient resources.

After the little girl left, Lu Qing mentioned two other things to Lu Chaoxi.

"I have a recipe for Turtle Snake Pills and a few Turtle Snake Grass seeds here. Take them. You can plant the seeds in the medicinal garden and get the clan's alchemist to study and learn the recipe. It would, at the very least, increase the income of the clan."

Lu Chaoxi first nodded and was about to reply, but then he became confused. Where were the objects?

He was about to ask when he saw two illusory objects appeared in front of him.

The objects seemed like they were illusions at first, but they slowly materialized right in front of him after an immensely short time.

Looking closely at the objects, Lu Chaoxi noticed a jade scroll and a small burlap sack.

Those should be the formula and the seeds that his father had mentioned.

He did not see how these objects appeared right in front of him.

This method was magical.

In actuality…Lu Qing's spirit form had floated out of the chamber after he spoke and manifested the two objects in front of his son.

Lu Qing floated back into the chamber after he saw that Lu Chaoxi had kept the items. He had already realized that he could only speak when he was in the chamber. Also, only people within a 10-meter-radius of the chamber could hear him. He would have to use the Voice Transmission if they were any farther away. One Karma for one sentence was extremely expensive.

After he returned, Lu Qing mentioned the second thing. "Just northeast of Yuyan Mountain, around 200 miles away, there is a group of migrating Water-Spirit Horses passing by. They would leave the clan's sphere of influence in four days. There are about 15 to 30 horses. Get someone to head over there. You have to capture this group of horses."

"All right, Father. I'll personally lead the team."

"Your injuries have not fully healed," Lu Qing said. "Get Chaohe and Mingchao to lead the team."

Lu Chaohe was Lu Qing's seventh son. He was 79 and a second-tier Foundation Building cultivator. Lu Mingchao was his youngest daughter, the youngest of all his children. She was 72 this year and was a fourth-tier Foundation Building cultivator.

Normally, Water-Spirit Horses were level one medium-grade Spiritual Beasts. Their strength was equivalent to a fifth- to sixth-tier Qi Refining cultivator. However, there might be a Horse King in a group of such a quantity. A Horse King could be level one high-grade or even level two.

The chances of capturing such a group of horses were greater if they mobilized two Foundation Building cultivators.

******

Lu Chaohe and Lu Mingchao's emotions were still in a mess when they were about to lead a team out of Yuyan Mountain.

They had received their elder brother's message yesterday.

The three of them had met. Their elder brother, Lu Chaoxi, had first told them about the group of horses. He had instructed them to mobilize 15 of the clan's cultivators and head northeast in search of the group of horses.

Then, their elder brother told them about something that made them too dazed.

"Father is awake, but he cannot come out for the time being."

While the news had made the two of them extremely excited, they were also a little disappointed.

"Only the three of us, Mingsi, and his daughter Weiwen know about this in the clan. I've already sworn Mingsi to secrecy. Weiwen has a restriction on her. She is still young and might unintentionally speak about this. I told the two of you because I did not want you to worry. It is not appropriate for us to tell the outside world that Father is still alive, but his injuries had not gotten better. The two of you must not accidentally say anything about this!"

"Don't worry, Elder Brother." The two of them knew that this was an important matter.

Now, the outside world's general understanding of the Lu Clan was that Lu Qing was dead and the Lu Clan was hiding that information.

It was not just outsiders who thought that way. Several people from the clan also believed it to be true.

Otherwise, why would their great ancestor Lu Qing not show his face when the Zhao Clan attacked them and pushed the clan to the brink of extermination 13 years ago?

Wasn't it because Lu Qing had died and the Lu Clan was hiding this fact so that the outside world would still be cautious of them?

Their cover-up had been exposed when the Zhao Clan forcefully attacked them. Now, no one in the Feiyun Stage viewed the Lu Clan as a family who had a Golden Core cultivator.

That was not a good thing for the Lu Clan. The authority of the clan had completely collapsed. It was hard for them to move around the outside world.

Logically, it would be a good thing to announce to the outside world that Lu Qing was still alive. It could greatly boost the authority of the clan. However, if they thought closely about it, their father's injuries had not gotten better, and he could not come out of his closed-door training. He could not take action even if they faced a difficult situation.

It was one thing whether or not the outside world would believe them if they announced this piece of news. Even if they believed the news, what would they do about it?

Would the Zhao Clan, their mortal enemy, attack them once again?

The Zhao Clan felt that Lu Qing was really dead, and thus they no longer saw the Lu Clan, which had been completely weakened, as a threat. Coupled with the mediation of the sect, the Zhao Clan had quietened down in recent years and stopped forcing them back. If the Zhao Clan knew that Lu Qing was not dead and was only severely injured, would there a possibility that they would try to prevent Lu Qing from exacting revenge after he recovered from his injuries and seize the opportunity to attack them once again, risking punishment from the sect? Would they try to finish off their threat completely?

As long as there was that possibility, the Lu Clan could not afford to take the risk.

The three of them were the people making the decisions in the Lu Clan. After some discussion, they decided to hide the news and not expose it to the outside world.

At the very least, they would not announce this until Zhao Zidan died and the clan produced a new Initial Enlightenment cultivator.

Zhao Zidan did not have many years left to live.