Chapter 3. Main Family
Except for the first day letting everyone know the rules, the remaining days were spent however they wished. Xu Ziqing didn't want to go out and find trouble, so he kept to himself. Even all his meals were brought in by the servants. Therefore, he had no idea among that bunch of people, who spoke to who and which ones became partners.
Three days later, people came to pick up the 20 or so young boys and girls. There were four or five people per carriage, and the convoy was surrounded by masters sent by the main family. Xu Ziqing didn't dare to look at them directly, but from the secretive glances, he already felt they were different from mundane martial artists. From the mouths of the other children talking, he learned they were all "Xiantian masters".
Xiantian and Houtian practitioners were very different. Although there was only a one word difference, the gap was like a moat. Houtian practitioners are divided into ten levels: skin refining, body refining, tendon refining, bone refining, blood refining, skin-flesh fusion, body-tendon fusion, tendon-bone fusion, blood-bone fusion, skin and blood as one.1 After completing these ten levels, they can use various top-grade mortal herbs, or a few necessary spirit grasses, to wash away the turbid qi in the body and be smoothly promoted to Xiantian.
The most special attribute of Xiantian practitioners was flying.
No matter how powerful Houtian is, even if they are at the tenth-level, as long as they're not promoted to Xiantian, they can't fly.
Xiantian masters are the peak of martial arts, anything higher and they will not be able to break through, because the cultivation method is different, the accumulation time is different, and the strength is different.
In terms of longevity, there is also a difference between Houtian and Xiantian. Houtian practitioners can live up to two hundred at most, while Xiantian can reach three hundred. An ordinary person who doesn’t practice martial arts, and lives safe and sound, may be over before they even reach 150 years old.
As you can imagine, for a bunch of children who has never seen the world before, Xiantian martial artists are very impressive!
Of course, if there are any children who have spiritual roots and the hope of becoming immortal... when they look at Xiantian practitioners later, there may be another feeling.
They rushed for two days, during which the Xiantian masters flew slowly in the air. It made the Xu children in the carriage have their own desires, such as longing, fear, and ambition.
Because there were a total of 18 Xiantian practitioners escorting them, passerby's were shocked and no short-sighted people attempted robbery, so the journey was smooth. By the evening of the second day, all the horses made a long 'hissing' outside the Denglin Estate where the main family resided.
At the gate, the convoy stopped first. Because it was nighttime, the gate was closed.
A Xiantian practitioner walked in front, and shouted loudly, "The seedlings of the Xu Family Fenglin branch family have arrived. Please open the gate!"
As soon as his voice fell, a man flew out from behind the tall walls - another Xiantian master! His eyes were like a torch, sweeping across the carriages. Xu Ziqing and a few of the other children in the same car, who peeked out, not expecting to be swept by that gaze, became cold all over. The strength of the Xiantian practitioner was really extraordinary!
The man laughed loudly: "Who is calling today?"
The previous Xiantian practitioner who escorted them made a fist2: "It turned out that it was Brother Xu Qiao's shift today. Xiao Han is polite."
Xu Qiao also held his fists: "Brother Xiao is young and has already reached Xiantian grade. This Xu finds that admirable."
Although Xiao Han is arrogant, he showed courtesy to Xu Qiao, who is also a Xiantian practitioner, and the Xu family, and replied, "Xiao Mou3 still has important business, and can't let them wait for a long time. I will invite my brought out another day.
Xu Qiao's expression moved: "Exactly, at that time Xu Mou will go and drink with my brother." Then he waved, "Open the gate!"
The gates opened wide, and their Xiantian escorts fell to the ground. There are countless martial artists in Denglin Estate, and they dare not show off here at will.
The team drove in. At this time Xu Ziqing looked outside the car and saw the entire ground was paved with bluestone slabs, appearing extremely solemn. The road fourt to five times wider than Fenglin City. On both sides of the streets were countless shops, and many pedestrians bustling about, some even with martial arts!
Thinking of Fenglin City, and then the Denglin Estate... it really was just a small place.
Inside the estate, on the best piece of land in the east, the large Xu family mansion spread out, occupying half of the sky.
As soon as the carriage stopped, all the children were asked to get out of the carriage. At this time, they all saw the gate clearly. They did not know what material it was made of, it was tens of meters high and ten meters wide, and was definitely not worse than a city gate!
There are side doors on both sides, because entering the main house was not easy. Except for those with spiritual roots or distinguished guests, ordinary people are not allowed to enter through the main gate.
And even if they are entering the side door, these first-time country children cannot drive in. To show respect for the clan, they can only walk.
Xu Ziqing lamented the rules of these so-called "ancient" giants in his heart while walking along the crowd. It took almost half an hour after entering the side door to reach the front of the majestic hall.
It turns out that since entering the side entrance, everyone has entered the Xu's outer hall. This hall was the highest ranked "Guanling Temple".
The entire area of the estate is difficult to calculate, and is divided into the inner and the outer hall. The inner hall is only accessible to the Xu family children with a spiritual root. Inside, all the servants are also from the Xu family. However, maids and those responsible for various chores are also included, and those positions are held by family members or casual cultivators who are attached to the Xu family.
The outer hall is run by the Xu family members with no immortal affiliation. These people are in charge of running the business, and they also use martial arts to train Houtian or Xiantian masters. In addition, the warriors who are attached to the Xu family or people with family members who are not immortal, are responsible for protecting the business and safety of everyone.
From the side door to the main hall, there was a sweet-smiling maid who specially introduced the situation of the inner and outer halls to them. Although she did not elaborate on the details, it contained the gist that Xu Mengqian explained before. Some children were secretly cautious, but there were also some who were dazzled by the grandeur of the main family, and didn't notice their actions.
Guanling Temple is where the spiritual root test is conducted. Inside, there is a rank-five array once setup by the Xu family ancestors. In this world there are up to nine grades, and the Xu family has a five-grade array.
To maintain the operation of the array, the Xu family consumes a huge amount of unknown wealth. But once the array is running, it is no longer necessary to pay any price to test the spiritual roots for those who have Xu's blood. If it wasn't for the Xu bloodline, the consumption of the array would be doubled.
After entering the main hall, a middle-aged man strode out. He was responsible for inspecting the children's spiritual roots, and was quite powerful in the outer hall.
The maid who led the crowd retired, and after passing them to the middle-aged man, she disappeared. Only then did the children realize that the maid was also a master!
At this time an elder in the temple spoke: "Children, come and test the spiritual roots!"
This person is an elder who specializes in activating the array. He will only come out of the inner hall when operating the array, and has a high status.
The children looked up, and saw the towering view of Guanling Temple several feet high. There was a round black moon hovering above the formation, shining black light, extremely mysterious.
Everyone was dazzled, almost having their minds taken away by the array, and only until hearing the elder cough did they return to their wits.
Xu Ziqing took a step back quietly. The world he used to live in has never seen such a magical thing, which made him curious, but also because of the subtle breath that leaked from the array.
The elder saw that the children were quiet, turned around, and a blue light shone on the black moon. The black moon spun wildly, black light flooding all of a sudden, creating a black light curtain that separated out a square space of two meters.
At this time, the momentum of the elder seemed to weaken, and the middle-aged manager took over the follow-up work.
He first said: "Xu Zi'an, come forward to test spiritual roots."
Among the children, a short and sturdy boy immediately walked out, with a somewhat thick face. He stepped forward with some fear, entered the black light curtain as gestured by a middle-aged steward, and closed his eyes nervously.
Xu Ziqing knew he was a bastard son of Xu Mengqian, but he didn't have much contact with him.
The light curtain moved slightly, and then a head-sized white light spot appeared on the head of the teenager. The light spot was pure white, very calm, and there was no subsequent reaction.
The middle-aged manager shook his head: "No spiritual root, retreat back there." He pointed to the open space on the left.
The teenager had a slight disappointment on his face, but quickly got up and walked into the open space. He does not have a spiritual root, but it does not matter. After this round of screening, it is said that there are several elders in the outer hall who will come to find disciples who can practice martial arts. If they are picked, they can stay in the main family.
Then the middle-aged manager said, "Xu Zishu, come forward and test spiritual roots."
As soon as his voice fell, a cute girl came out of the crowd, wearing a goose yellow skirt, with two buns on her head.
This girl was Xu Zishu who gossiped with people outside Xu Ziqing's courtyard. She appeared courageous. Although she was shocked by the main family, she has basically recovered her liveliness and her eyes are very smart.
She walked into the light curtain with anticipation.
The response of the light curtain was different this time. Still, a large white spot appeared first, but the next moment, the spot fluttered, and a thick colored light beam suddenly appeared on it.
Looking closely, the beam of light is divided into three colors of gold, green, and brown. Among them, the green is the brightest, and the golden brown is slightly inferior.
Middle-aged managerial look moved: "Gold, water, soil spiritual roots. They have similar thickness. Medium-low qualifications. Good, stand on the right side."
After getting a"good", Xu Zishu was overjoyed. She went to the right happily, and wore a proud expression.
Immediately afterwards, more than a dozen children were tested, of which two had five spiritual roots, one had four, and were both low-low qualifications. They also went to the circle where Xu Zishu was standing.
Then it was Xu Ziqing's turn.