Author's note: One more chapter for the day…sponsored by our generous Mark S!

Host's note: I'm not the author, I'm just hosting this story on RRL with permission.

Listening to her young master’s explanations, Xie Mei felt as if the books that were in her hands weighed a hundred tons.

Although she was not a cultivator as of yet, Xie Mei had at least heard about various tales and bits of martial knowledge growing up.

Even if Xie Mei could not estimate the value of the three parchments in her hands, she could still tell that they were extremely precious.

Take the soul enhancement technique for example. Xie Mei had heard about such a technique once in the past before.

But unlike the one in her hand, the technique she had heard about was attack-based, which was directed at another’s soul.

Moreover, Xie Mei had only learned of such a technique through the several outlets in the cities. Apparently, there had been a huge commotion in public of how several big sects had been directly fighting over the ownership of the attack-based soul skill.

And now, such skill was in her hands. Moreover, it even seemed to be several times more rare than the soul attack technique she had once heard about.

After all, to strengthen one’s soul is not a simple thing at all…

“Young master Jin XIa…Th-these techniques may be too precious for someone like me..”, Xie Mei said as her large watery eyes stared at the books in her hands.

“Enough. I prepared these books just for you because I believe they are quite suited to your current body. Go practice them, regardless if you succeed or not. If you do fail, however, that is not a problem. We can just find another skill book for you to learn.”, Jin Xia said as he waved his sleeves.

“…”

Xie Mei timidly nodded her head as she saw that her master had no intention to change his mind. She could only try her best to meet her master’s expectations…

“Alright, you may go study those skills I had given you. Since your meridians are all open and purified, you should have no problem practicing those techniques immediately if you wish.”, JIn Xia said.

“I understand. Then, I will take my leave now, young master..”, Xie Mei gave a small bow as she retreated from the room.

After Xie Mei left the room, Jin Xia closed his eyes and entered a meditative state.

Jin Xia had purposely refrained from telling Xie Mei the level of techniques he had given her.He was a bit worried that letting her know too much may bring her trouble. The skills Jin XIa gave her,after all, were each Jade-grade.

Having already decided to have Xie Mei included as one of his companions in this life, Jin Xia was not reserved and instead, wanted to properly nurture Xie Mei’s strength for the future.

Jin Xia had even planned to give Xie Mei much higher graded skills from his Eternal Gourd after she had improved her strength to a certain extent.

For those whom he acknowledged to be friends, or was fond of, Jin Xia was naturally more generous and caring towards them. He didn’t want to return to his previous solitary, martial arts-hungry life anymore.

Although Jin Xia was unsure whether it was because he pitied Xie Mei’s life after coming to know of it from the previous host’s memories, or perhaps because Xie Mei’s solitary situation seemed similar to his previous life as a deity, Jin Xia felt compelled to help the little girl.

Nearly two hours went past, when Jin Xia heard knockings on his door. His eyes fluttered open before he said, “Come in.”

The door opened as two figures stepped in. Jin Liu Dan smiled when he looked at his son. At his side, Jia Yue Bing also blossomed a smile when she saw that Jin Xia had been cultivating a while before.

“Were you cultivating? Did we disturb you? Maybe we should come back tomorrow…”, Jia Yue Bing worriedly rambled as she went over to her son.

“Ah, it’s nothing, mother. Did you and father need anything?”, Jin Xia smiled when he saw the troubled look on his ‘mother’s’ face.

Jia Yue Bing and Jin Liu Dan both looked at each other before turning to face Jin Xia. After their son’s mighty demonstration in front of the entire Jin Clan yesterday, the couple knew that their son was no longer the weak and immature person whom they once knew.

In fact, after the incident, many have suspected that Jin Xia had been acting spoiled and weak all along, waiting for the moment to swoop down and eliminate the branch family. Jia Yue Bing and Jin Liu Dan thought the same, but they did not say it out loud.

Though in their heart, they were extremely proud of their son’s ability. It would at least mean that they did not have to worry about Jin Xia being able to take care of himself in the future, should anything happen to them. This was the only thing that they were worried about, but seeing Jin Xia now, the old couple knew that their last regret had disappeared.

“Xia’er…were you truly crippled by Feng Hao before?” Jin Liu Dan asked with doubt in his voice.

“Haha, father, when you checked my pulse and body the day I was crippled, was my cultivation not indeed gone?” Jin Xia said.

“It was indeed wasted…” Liu Dan nodded. “But..then how did you get your cultivation back?”

Jin Xia smiled and casually replied: “Oh, I came across an expert in the city and he just happened to take pity on me and presented me a strange pill that allowed me to connect back my meridians.”

Hearing Jin Xia’s words, Liu Dan Xia’s eyes lit up as he nodded without a word.

“Then…we must definitely reward this person for helping our Jin Clan!” Liu Dan said as he thought further. Although Jin Xia’s story was a bit fishy and incoherent in some parts, the main thing for him was that his son was actually not a cripple anymore. He had no choice but to believe that Jin Xia indeed had a fortuitous encounter that brought about this change in his body.

“Unfortunately, father, this expert was merely a passerby. I know not of his name or appearance, as he had concealed himself very well. I’m afraid, we would not be able to find him. He may have long left this city.” Jin Xia said.

“Ah…so it is like this.” Liu Dan mused. “Then, Xia’er, inthe future you must remember this act of kindness well! Strive to train hard and not let this renewed opportunity go!”

“En, father.” Jin Xia nodded slowly.

“Now that this is clear, we have another matter discuss with you, Xia’er .”, Liu Dan asked as a serious look surfaced on his face. “We just want to ask if you have any plans for our Jin Clan now that our family has been united.”

After taking out the branch families and sweeping the opposing major clans in the city, the Jin Clan is now practically in control of Tian City. A situation that Liu Dan, or anyone in Tian City, would have never even dreamed of.

“Mmm, actually I do, father. In the near future, I want to spread our Jin Clan’s influence to other cities. As for what’s after that, we can slowly plan…”, Jin Xia replied nonchalantly as a strange light appeared in his eyes.

“This…”, Liu Dan was a bit startled when he heard his son’s direct response. “For us to increase our clan’s influence, we would require a huge amount of power…ah, Jin’er, come to think of it, I have continuously put this question off, but: what exactly is your cultivation now? To be able to battle against late Wudan warriors, you should be at the same stage, or perhaps even at the 9th Wudan stage? Or…or the Spiritual Dan realm?”

As Liu Dan looked at Jin Xia with an anticipating expression on his face.

Jin Xia smiled and spoke:

“Father, to be honest, I still haven’t cultivated enough. I am merely at Xing Profound 6th stage at the moment.”

Silence.

Liu Dan and Jia Yue Bing felt their heartbeat increase when they finally registered what their son had said.

Xing Profound 6th stage? Impossible!

In a city where there aren’t even a Spiritual Dan practitioner, if one excludes visitors, it is unheard of for a Xing Profound realm expert to appear. And one at the age of sixteen is practically unprecedented in the Great Azure Country!

But after thinking about it, the couple felt that there was no reason for Jin Xia to lie to them. And moreover, the dark light that Jin Xia had generated to kill off his enemies were similar to those Qi energy attacks that they’ve heard about from other experts.

In short, they chose to believe that their son was indeed a Xing Profound expert — and one who isn’t weak at that!

“Th-this…haha, haha! I knew my son would not be a cripple in his lifetime! Haha, Xing Profound realm! Xia’er, if this is true, with your power we can indeed spread our influence across other cities in the future! I doubt besides those top three major cities in our Great Azure country, no other city would have Xing Profound realm practitioners. And even if they do, only those patriarch-level figures of those large clans would have such a cultivation…haha, this is great! Great!”, Liu Dan heartily laughed.

“And those experts has already long past their prime, while our Xia’ Er is still so young! His future achievements are simply immeasurable compared to those old masters!”

This was happiest that he had been since the day he was informed of his son being crippled in public.

In a country where cultivation resources are scarce, it was incredibly difficult to increase one’s cultivation level. A Xing Profound expert would already be considered a top power in such a place. And with the help of such an expert, one can expect a similar boost in status and influence!

Moreover, each time a cultivator breaks through to another stage, there would be a slight increase in their vitality, allowing them to live longer than a normal person. And if one were to break through an entire realm, there will be a huge increase on their life expectancy.

For example, a peak Wudan warrior can expect to live up to 130 years old. If they advance into the Spiritual Dan realm, there will be an additional 100 years added to their vitality. And if they break through once more into Xing Profound Realm, their life expectancy will yet again increase by another 200 years.

Even advancing in between stages in a realm, one can expect to have their vitality lengthen by around 5-10 years per break through!

This was why many people would want to become cultivators. The dream of living forever endless is an allure that very few can resist. And in a bloodthirsty world, only those with power will have right to speak!

“Mm, father, I am thinking about purchasing some slaves tomorrow.”, Jin Xia suddenly said as he looked as his ‘father.’

“Oh? Why so?”, Liu Dan asked perplexedly.

“I want to increase our clan’s manpower. Although we can hire some experts, I wish to personally train a few cultivators, so that our family can receive an extra layer of solid protection.”, Jin Xia replied.

“And speaking of our family, I have scoured the treasures of the other three major clans. Here, take this, father.”

Jin Xia lifted his hand as a purple Space bag flew towards Liu Dan’s hand.

“With this wealth, we should have around 3 million Crystal coins available to spend as a clan. Father should go purchase large batches of cultivation resources and pills, so that the younger generation could quickly increase their strength.”

Jin Xia said as he motioned towards the purple bag. “Oh, as for you father, you do not have to waste money buying any cultivation pills for yourself. I have here two bottles of high quality martial arts pills. If you and mother eat one pill each every three weeks for about twelve weeks, you should be able to quickly break into the Spiritual Dan realm. If you continue to consume more, maybe you and mother could reach the Xing Profound realm too!”

“…Xia’er, this, this, isn’t this a bit too precious for old bones like us? You are still young and the martial journey is a long and harsh one. You should save these pills for yourself so you can further improve your own cultivation.”, Jia Yue Bing said as she tried to hand back the bottle.

“Mother, you do not have to worry about me. At my stage, these pills will be of little use to me. So you should take them and increase your strength. As our Jin Clan rises in power, so will the danger that comes along with this fame. We will need to get stronger.”, Jin Xia calmy said as he softly pushed the bottle back to his mother.

“Hahahaha! To think we would be relying our own son to help us improve our cultivation! The time has really changed, huh? Haha, then as your father I will not be polite and accept this!

But remember, Xia’er, you must not slack off and continue to train! It is better to not rely on pills like we are doing now, if possible.”, Liu Dan suddenly laughed as he said to Jin Xia. His eyes shone a light of gratefulness.

Unbeknownst to the husband and wife, the bottle of pills that JIn Xia had given them was called the Heavenly God Pill, a 10 star medicine.

In the world of WuDang, medicines and pills are graded by star ratings from 1 (lowest) to 12 (highest). The number of stars indicate quality and effectiveness.

To discern a pill’s quality, one would look for faint star markings on the pill that’s created during the pill making process. The number of stars imprinted on the pill will indicate that pellet’s quality rating.

It is said that the star signatures are the leftover essence of a pill maker’s soul, as one’s soul is needed to be used to refine a pellet from precious ingredients. But no one could truly explain how that came to be, and people simply came to slowly accept such a classification of pills.

Naturally, Jin Xia did not openly tell them the name of the pill and had even purposefully concealed the star markings on the pills beforehand.

Sometimes, knowing less can be a blessing rather than knowing too much. And seeing Jin Xia did not mention any revealing details of the pills, Liu Dan and Jia Yue Bing did not probe any deeper either.

With the Heavenly God Pill, not only would all of one’s meridians fully open for a set of two hours, their blood would go through a refining process in which it would make it easier for one to absorb the World Qi in the air.

This will dramatically increase one’s cultivation speed and thus, allow one to break through to the next stage, or even through bottlenecks!

Although Jin Xia may have said that it was useless to him after reaching the Xing Profound realm, that was not true. He had merely said that to comfort his parents’ conscience.

In fact, the Heavenly God Pills were greatly beneficial to his training and along with other medicines, it had allowed him to quickly reach the stage he was at today. The first three stages of cultivations are merely the introductory realms, in Jin Xia’s opinion. Being to reach the mid stages of Xing Profound realm so quickly was, in reality, a normal outcome for an ancient guru like him.

Though, however precious the pills were, since the two duo are, in a sense, his ‘mortal’ parents, Jin Xia did not mind giving them a few bottles. After all, he still had a great sum leftover, along with even more potent medicines, in his Eternal Gourd. However, those even potent pills would require him to reach a higher stage before Jin Xia could think of consuming them, lest he wishes to receive permanent internal damages!

After chatting for a while, the old couple left the room while Jin Xia once again entered his meditative state.

“I will pay a visit to the Black Pearl Market tomorrow and see if I could find a few strong retainers for my family…”, Jin Xia thought as he continued to cultivate and absorb the World Qi around him at a frightening rate.

Soon, the afternoon turned to night and then to dawn as day quickly finished its cycle.