Chapter 38: The Second Spirit Root Child!

Time flew by like a fleeting horse and half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

During this half-year period, Lu Changsheng’s fifteenth and sixteenth children were born.

Neither of them had a Spirit Root, which made Lu Changsheng even more hopeful for the child in Qu Zhenzhen’s belly.

Meanwhile, thanks to Lu Changsheng’s efforts over the past six months, five more of his wives and concubines became pregnant.

Except for Qu Zhenzhen, who was still expecting her first child, all three of his wives and six of his concubines were onto their second.

Lu Zi’er and Lu Qing’er, two sisters, were already expecting their third.

On this day.

Lu Changsheng finished his daily meditation and training in the practice room, then went to the study to begin crafting talismans.

These two tasks had become part of his everyday routine.

Now, with his Qi Refining at the third level, middle-grade talismans posed no challenge for Lu Changsheng.

He could create them with ease.

However, upper-grade talismans still required some effort due to his limited spiritual energy and the inferior quality of his talisman pen, paper, and ink.

He could only forcefully create simpler upper-grade talismans, failing often.

That’s why he used only a small portion of the advanced talisman paper and ink purchased from Niutou Mountain to craft talismans in case of emergencies.

He planned to wait until his cultivation improved to buy a better talisman pen and then attempt making superior talismans.

After all, even if he crafted them now, he had no way to sell them, so he only needed enough for emergencies.

After crafting two middle-grade talismans, Lu Changsheng put down his talisman pen and decided to relax with his wives and concubines.

Just as he stepped out of the study, a servant approached with a letter.

The letter was from Hong Yi.

In the letter, Hong Yi mentioned some old stories, reported on his good performance, and noted that his father, the Marquis of Ruyi, had entrusted him with some family affairs again.

He also asked about Lu Changsheng’s recent activities.

This was not the first time Lu Changsheng had received a letter from Hong Yi.

It was the third letter since he’d returned to Qingzhu Mountain, and Lu Changsheng naturally understood Hong Yi’s intentions.

“Now that I have extra talismans to sell, even if the Lu Family finds out, they wouldn’t reprimand me.”

Lu Changsheng thought to himself.

He had refrained from selling talismans to Hong Yi for simple reasons.

He was worried the Lu Family would find out about his private transactions with Hong Yi.

If the Lu Family discovered he was selling a lot of talismans, that would be troublesome.

But after so long, he’d been an entry-level Talisman Master for over a year, and it was only natural to have extra talismans to sell, given his demonstrated skill.

So, he replied in the letter that he indeed had some talismans to sell, and Hong Yi could make a purchase.

He asked for suggestions on how to conduct the transaction.

He wasn’t going to leave Qingzhu Mountain just to sell a few talismans, so he left it to Hong Yi to figure out.

After writing the letter, Lu Changsheng gave it to a servant to mail.

The Lu Family had a postal station for sending letters to the mundane world, though it was relatively slow.

A letter like this would probably take a month or more to reach Hong Yi.

If it was something urgent, he’d have to use a message-carrying talisman.

Afterwards, Lu Changsheng went to the courtyard to spend time with his wives, concubines, and children.

This was also part of his daily routine.

Seeing Qu Zhenzhen’s large belly reminded Lu Changsheng of her brother.

He went to the Qingzhu Mountain Estate to ask Li Feiyu if there was any news from the Red Whale Gang about Qu Zhenzhen’s brother, Qu Changge.

Li Feiyu said that there was still no news about Qu Changge from the Red Whale Gang.

It had been over half a year without news of Qu Zhenzhen’s brother, making Lu Changsheng wonder if his brother-in-law had met with some trouble.

After all, according to Qu Zhenzhen, her brother was just an ordinary scholar.

The journey to the capital for exams was thousands of miles long, and encountering danger along the way could easily lead to an unfortunate end.

Lu Changsheng planned that if there was no news after some time, he would ask Hong Yi’s side to help investigate.

The Red Whale Gang was just a jianghu faction, and their influence was limited outside of Tianshui Prefecture.

Meanwhile.

At the border between Qingzhou and Jizhou in the Jiang Kingdom, there was a steep, rocky cliff.

A thick fog enveloped the area, obscuring visibility, and the valley between the cliffs seemed bottomless, inducing fear in anyone who approached.

At this moment, endless and unfathomable, within the valley.

“Whoosh whoosh whoosh—”

“Wooo wooo wooo—”

Gray fog billowed, and ominous winds howled like the wails of ghosts and wolves.

In the center of the valley was a ten-square-foot blood-red lake.

Bones piled around the lake made for an unsettling sight, and the lake itself was even more so.

The deep, murky bloodwater emitted an inexplicable malevolence, bubbling ‘gurgling gurgling’ with blood bubbles.

Each bubble burst produced a strange, lingering howling sound.

In the blood lake was a cocoon as delicate as a cicada’s wing, glowing with a crystalline blood-red hue.

The cocoon rose and fell in the blood lake, as if breathing, its bloody glow flickering brilliantly, eerily enchanting.

Upon close inspection, it seemed there was a man inside the blood cocoon.

He appeared to be trying to open his eyes, but a crescent-like blood-Hong Lian appeared on his brow, causing his eyes to close tightly, putting him back into slumber.

……

Three months later.

“Peak of Qi Refining Level Three!”

“But to breakthrough to Qi Refining Level Four, I have no idea how long it’ll take.”

In the training room, Lu Changsheng, sitting cross-legged, opened his eyes, exhaling deeply.

It took a year and four months to breakthrough to Qi Refining Level Three.

Lu Changsheng had reached the pinnacle of Qi Refining Level Three.

But this time, he clearly felt the difference between breaking through from Qi Refining Level Three to Level Four.

There was a bottleneck.

He couldn’t break through effortlessly and needed a long period of grinding work.

Lu Changsheng wasn’t too concerned.

Given his poor aptitude, reaching the pinnacle of Qi Refining Level Three this quickly was already quite good.

He had a clear sense of his own path.

He believed he would achieve greatness later in life!

When he had more children and they grew older, things would improve.

“Zhenzhen should be giving birth soon.”

Lu Changsheng stood up, brushed his spotless robe, and left the practice room.

Eleven days later.

Qu Zhenzhen gave birth.

The moment the child was born, Lu Changsheng, waiting outside the birthing room, felt a profound sensation.

It was the stirring of a Spirit Root.

He knew that this child had a Spirit Root.

This filled Lu Changsheng with excitement and joy.

It felt like his anticipation over the past half-year had paid off.

“Truly, having children with women who possess Spirit Roots is essential.”

“Otherwise, with only me having a Spirit Root, the chance of the child having one is too low.”

“Last time, Xian’er having a Spirit Root was purely extraordinary luck.”

Lu Changsheng took a deep breath, very pleased and excited.

His conduct made several of his wives and concubines a bit envious.

Even though they were good-natured, Lu Changsheng’s apparent fondness for Qu Zhenzhen was noticeable.

Not only did he care more for her daily, but he was also happier at this child’s birth compared to previous ones.

But they understood the reason.

Qu Zhenzhen had a Spirit Root, enabling her to cultivate immortality, and the children she bore with Lu Changsheng were more likely to have Spirit Roots.

Naturally, this made Lu Changsheng favor her a bit more.

“When Xian’er was born, the system gave me a gift.”

“If I have ten children with Spirit Roots, the system might offer another gift.”

Lu Changsheng, absorbed in the joy of this child’s birth, didn’t notice his wives’ expressions.

When Xian’er, Lu Xian’er, was born, the system granted a reward due to his first Spirit Rooted offspring, leading him to speculate that more such offspring would bring rewards.

Soon, the midwife came out holding the newborn.

It was a baby boy.

Lu Changsheng cradled this child and went into the room to see Qu Zhenzhen.

Though she was a cultivator, having become pregnant shortly after starting cultivation, she hadn’t yet completed Qi Initiation, so she was still very weak.

Furthermore, the initial stages of Qi Refining did not significantly enhance physical fitness.

Seeing the frail Qu Zhenzhen, Lu Changsheng lulled her to sleep and handed the child to the wet nurse before returning to the practice room to cultivate.

He couldn’t see the child’s Spirit Root nor observe changes in his own.

He could only gauge the enhancement through cultivation and thus estimate the child’s Spirit Root quality.