Chapter 946: White Xi Heavenly Resonance, Third-Rank Musician

Although Lu Xingchen kept his mind on cultivation,

as the head of Bihu Mountain’s alchemy workshop he still had plenty of affairs to handle day to day.

So breaking through to Core Formation would take at least three to five years.

His son Lu Xuanqian, however, had already reached the peak of Foundation Establishment.

He’d begun preparing for Core Formation and was practicing the secret arts for the breakthrough.

None of this surprised Lu Changsheng. He’d seen it coming.

The Lu Family lacked no resources.

As the standard-bearer of the third generation and born with the Five Elements Spirit Body, Lu Xuanqian enjoyed the same resources and treatment as Lu Xingchen.

And Lu Xingchen and Wang Yanjing placed great importance on their son.

Especially Wang Yanjing.

She knew well that her chance to attempt Core Formation with the Lu Family’s support wasn’t due to outstanding talent.

It was thanks to her husband and her son.

So after she formed her core, every congratulatory gift from the ceremony and the resources sent by the Wang Clan were all set aside for her husband and son.

In recent years she hadn’t even gone into seclusion to cultivate divine abilities.

She poured all her energy into her son’s path and served as the instructor of the Five Elements Unity Sutra on Bihu Mountain.

She’d realized after her breakthrough that the Lu Family didn’t exactly need her as another combat strength.

Rather than secluding herself to hone divine abilities, it was better to win resources for her husband and son so they could reach Core Formation sooner and plan for the future.

“Xingchen, set aside your current responsibilities for a while. Later go into seclusion with your elder brother.”

Lu Changsheng remembered the early years when husband and wife formed their cores together, then father and son formed cores together, their names spreading through the Jiang Kingdom as a tale for the ages.

Soon his son Lu Xingchen would repeat that old miracle. A family of three at Core Formation.

For a moment he found it rather amusing.

“Yes, Father.”

Lu Xingchen was a bit surprised, but none of them ever questioned Lu Changsheng.

Especially when it came to cultivation arrangements.

As for Lu Xuanqian’s Core Formation plans, Lu Changsheng only asked a few questions.

He didn’t intend to send him into the Timeflow Barrier.

On one hand, the Spring and Autumn Cicada’s barrier had limited effect. One more person meant more consumption.

On the other, Lu Changsheng had a general plan for who used the barrier. The second generation took priority.

Celestial Music Residence.

“Brother, you’re back! Sister Miaoge, Sister Miaoyun…”

These years, besides helping raise spirit beasts, Bai Ling tended flowers and plants, studied music, and nurtured her temperament.

Lu Miaoyun, Lu Miaohuan, Qu Zhenzhen and the others often came to hear her play and chat about songs and dance.

“Little Ling’er.”

Seeing Bai Ling in a white dress, still looking like a maiden, Lu Changsheng smiled and called out.

He doted on the once timid girl he’d picked up and brought home.

Thinking of how he’d been running around for years with little time for her, and how her “bosom friend” Bing’er had been asleep all this time, he couldn’t help feeling even more tender toward her.

He wanted to pull her into his arms and spoil her a little.

But with Lu Miaoge, Lu Miaoyun and the others present, and since he was here on business, he held back.

After some small talk with Bai Ling, Lu Changsheng asked after his daughter Lu Baixi.

“After she came back with the Little Roc King, Xiao Xi went straight into seclusion. If you need her, I’ll call her out.”

It wasn’t only human cultivators who needed time after breaking through to Core Formation to polish their techniques and arts.

Demon cultivators like Lu Baixi were the same.

After reaching third rank and stabilizing her realm, she tested herself in the Myriad Beasts Mountain Range, then returned to Bihu Mountain to seclude herself and comprehend her bloodline inheritance and innate divine ability.

“Good. Ling’er, please call her.”

With a sweep of divine sense, Lu Changsheng saw his daughter Lu Baixi cultivating.

Not just Lu Baixi.

His daughter Lu Linghe was cultivating here too,

inside Lu Baixi’s cave residence.

“Linghe.” Compared to the usually cold, quiet Lu Baixi, he felt more naturally close to this always-smiling daughter and spoiled her more.

He sent his voice straight to her mind.

“Huh?” Snapped out of meditation, Lu Linghe looked around as if waking from a dream.

“Dad, you’re back? Where are you?”

She didn’t mistake it for an illusion and spoke out loud, knowing her father would hear her either way.

“I’m at the Celestial Music Residence.” Hearing this daughter’s voice lifted Lu Changsheng’s mood.

At that, Lu Linghe beamed, stood up, and hurried to the courtyard.

“Dad, Auntie Miaoge, Auntie Yun, Auntie Bai, Sister…”

Seeing the group, Lu Linghe bowed with a guileless, well-behaved smile.

There wasn’t a single person on Bihu Mountain who didn’t get along with Lu Linghe.

Not only did Lu Changsheng dote on her.

The main wives of the Lu Family and even juniors like Lu Ping’an spoiled her too.

Back in the day Bai Ling helped Ling Zixiao look after Lu Lingxiao and Lu Linghe, the brother and sister.

She treated Lu Linghe almost like her own daughter.

On ordinary days both Lu Baixi and Lu Linghe were around her, and the lively Lu Linghe was even closer to her.

“Linghe, these days of cultivation must have been tiring.”

Looking at his daughter whose face always carried a sunny smile, Lu Changsheng spoke with warm indulgence.

Cultivation and meditation weren’t painful, but they could get dull.

“Not tiring at all.” After receiving the Exquisite Seven-Orifice Heart, Lu Linghe’s comprehension soared. As long as she put in the time, she could get into most techniques.

With the Zen Dream Bodhi Technique she’d gained from the Buddhist Bone Sarira, her progress was even more astonishing.

She could enter a dreamlike meditative state.

When she was bored, tired, or had cultivated for too long, she would slip into that meditation.

As she grew more adept at it, she discovered she could use that dreamlike state to cultivate anything.

Everything took half the effort for twice the results.

So not only did she not feel tired now, she was actually excited to cultivate.

She wanted to reach Core Formation quickly so she could help her brother and sister.

As for helping Dad—

she knew Dad was too powerful. She couldn’t keep up. She might just get in the way.

“Dad, the techniques you told me to practice before, I’m just about done with them…”

Lu Linghe reported her progress.

“Oh?” Lu Changsheng listened with interest.

Meanwhile Bai Ling brought Lu Baixi over.

After reaching third rank, Lu Baixi had grown taller and now looked around fifteen or sixteen.

Her face was as exquisite and beautiful as ever.

And as she grew into her features, like Bai Ling she carried a holy pure beauty, now tinged with a startling allure.

But her long hair was tied into a brisk ponytail and the cold severity in her eyes scattered that hint of allure.

Seeing his daughter’s bearing, Lu Changsheng couldn’t help frowning.

Lu Baixi had always been on the cool side, but it used to be a quiet, expressionless calm.

Now her gaze was sharp and severe. With her platinum eyes and the serpent mark between her brows, it all added up to an arrogant, intimidating air.

“Wait…” The feel of it was oddly familiar to Lu Changsheng.

A bit like the Golden-Winged Roc.

“Damn that Roc!”

He immediately understood—his daughter had picked up the Roc’s habits.

He had no problem with the Roc’s usual bearing.

But for his sweet daughter to end up like the Roc? He did have a problem.

“No. I can’t let Xiao Xi keep hanging around the Roc. If this keeps up what will she turn into?”

He muttered to himself. If they spent more time together, she might start side-eyeing people just like the Roc.

“She’s with Linghe every day. Why didn’t she learn her cheerfulness?”

He couldn’t figure it out and could only hope this daughter would be as bright and open as Lu Linghe.

But everyone had different personalities, and he wouldn’t force it. He smiled and called, “Xiao Xi.”

“Greetings, Dad, Auntie, Sister.”

Lu Baixi’s expression softened a bit as she bowed to Lu Changsheng, Lu Miaoge and the others.

Lu Linghe could chirp away for ages in front of everyone.

Lu Baixi was the opposite.

Unless someone asked, she rarely spoke.

Most of the time, unless something came up or she had a question, she was quiet.

But as Lu Changsheng asked after her cultivation and her gains in the Myriad Beasts Mountain Range, Lu Baixi gradually opened up.

Aside from Bai Ling, Lu Changsheng, and Lu Linghe, no one knew the specifics of Lu Baixi’s cultivation.

The others only knew she didn’t cultivate like ordinary people. She walked the path of a demon cultivator.

“Innate divine ability?”

Hearing that Lu Baixi had awakened an innate divine ability, Lu Wangshu grew curious.

“White Xi Heavenly Resonance!”

It was the bloodline divine ability of the White Xi clan.

With heaven and earth as the zither and herself as the strings, she could derive myriad divine arts.

It could break enemies, subdue demons, confound minds, and soothe souls.

But such a bloodline ability didn’t reach mastery the moment it awakened.

It needed continual development through bloodline inheritance and bloodline power.

As they spoke, Lu Baixi asked Lu Changsheng about some doubts in her bloodline heritage.

The Golden-Winged Roc had explained much to her before,

but the Roc’s inheritance and hers were two entirely different systems.

Early on, the Roc could lean on general bloodline lore to help.

But as Lu Baixi’s cultivation rose, their inheritances diverged more and more, and even the Roc got a headache.

“Should I take Xiao Xi to Yangming Mountain and ask Bai Zhaozhao to teach her?”

Even Lu Changsheng felt a bit stumped faced with his daughter’s questions.

He’d read widely and cultivated multiple top-tier techniques,

but he’d never studied demon script and demon bloodline inheritance, nor did he have the time to dive into it.

He didn’t feel easy handing her back to the Golden-Winged Roc either.

Lu Lingjing…

Her temperament wasn’t bad, but she wasn’t suited to raising a child.

The Turtle Immortal Patriarch was an option.

But according to Bai Zhaozhao, the Bai Ze clan and the White Xi clan shared close blood ties.

If Bai Zhaozhao taught her, it might be even better.

The only issue was that before a Nascent Soul True Lord and grandmaster of divination like Bai Zhaozhao, Lu Baixi would have almost no secrets.

He might even use her to glimpse some of Lu Changsheng’s own secrets.

Lu Changsheng trusted Bai Zhaozhao, but not completely.

He decided to wait a while before deciding.

For now he patiently probed his daughter’s bloodline inheritance and explained the path of music to her.

Luckily, the Lu Ancestor had once leaped to third-rank music in a single epiphany and left a solid foundation on the path of sound.

Otherwise, for the famed Yangming True Lord, a Nascent Soul expert who shook both Southern Desolation and the Northern Region, to fail at teaching his just-advanced third-rank daughter—what a joke that would be.

Lu Wangshu listened with great interest, asking a question now and then.

She wasn’t only a third-rank talisman maker; she also knew music, alchemy, and puppetry.

Only time and energy had forced her to put those aside for now.

Time ticked by.

After Lu Changsheng’s explanations, Lu Baixi went into the Sumeru Cave Heaven. With the Timeflow Barrier she began digesting the knowledge and bloodline inheritance in her mind.

“Hm?” Cultivating within the barrier, Lu Qingshan sensed something, opened his eyes, and looked at Lu Baixi.

He was a sword cultivator.

And with Sword Heart Clarity, his spiritual sense was razor sharp.

At a glance he could tell Lu Baixi wasn’t like most cultivators. She was more like a demon.

“This is Xiao Xi,” Lu Changsheng introduced simply.

“…” Looking at the expressionless girl before him, Lu Qingshan couldn’t help thinking, Just how many siblings do I have?

And this sister should have demon blood.

He knew his father well—pure human.

So this sister’s mother must be a fourth-rank shapeshifting demon king?

“Dad really doesn’t discriminate between meat and vegetables…”

Demons who reached fourth rank could take human form,

but most still retained demon traits.

And a demon was still a demon. Their nature differed from humans in some way.

Still, they were used to Dad’s affairs. As children, they wouldn’t pry.

Thinking of his father being on good terms with a shapeshifting demon king made him think of his own master.

They’d been master and disciple for years. Seeing Immortal Tian Yuan scour the land for a Nascent Soul opportunity, risking herself again and again,

she might have to gamble everything in the end. He felt a pang of reluctance.

“What a pity.”

After answering Lu Baixi’s questions, Lu Changsheng couldn’t help sighing when he heard Lu Linghe talk about entering a meditative state via the Zen Dream Bodhi Technique.

She’d obtained that technique from the Buddhist Bone Sarira.

But before she could claim the whole thing, he used the sarira to cultivate the True Saint Skill of Brahma and Demons.

If the technique had follow-ups, or if the sarira were still around, Lu Linghe’s results would be even better.

“Linghe, later I’ll take Gun Gun out and give you a boost.”

Lu Changsheng said.

Xu Ruoyin’s Beast Taming Ancient Rune could plunder a beast’s bloodline essence and life essence to nurture a spirit pet.

After years of care, Lu Linghe’s spirit pet had reached late second rank.

From chatting with Hong Lian he’d learned of a technique called the Borrowed Spirit Method.

By borrowing a spirit pet’s cultivation and potential, it could help a cultivator break through.

It wasn’t nearly as effective as Lu Chensha’s Beast Art,

but it could still help his daughter quite a bit.

“Thank you, Dad.” Lu Linghe nodded sweetly and told him Gun Gun was sleeping on Lingcui Cliff. She’d go call him.

“No need, no rush.” Lu Changsheng chuckled. A single thought showed him the iron-eating beast sprawled in the bamboo grove behind Lingcui Cliff.

Hearing that, Lu Wangshu perked up and asked, “Dad, how are you boosting it? Why don’t you take Little Ice and Little Water out too?”

Her spirit pet, the Coldjade Mystic Tortoise, had been raised earlier than Lu Linghe’s and with more resources and money.

But its growth lagged behind the iron-eating beast. It was still at early second rank.

Other than serving as a fishing mount sometimes, she’d basically given up on it.

Her other pet, the Sea-Winged Dragon, grew faster than the tortoise,

but it still took too long. It wasn’t much use and couldn’t match Lady Wangshu’s strength.

“Spend more time on talisman making. Once you reach fourth tier in the art, I’ll help raise both Little Ice and Little Water to third rank,” Lu Changsheng said with a smile.

“Dad, I just formed my core. To draw fourth-tier talismans I’ll need to reach mid-Core Formation at least.”

Lu Wangshu didn’t think fourth-tier talismans were beyond her.

But the requirements in mana and spirit-soul for drawing them weren’t there yet.

“Mid-Core Formation is nothing for you,” Lu Changsheng said with an easy grin, giving his daughter some encouragement.

After checking on the children, Lu Changsheng stayed with his wife in the Sumeru Cave Heaven for a few days, nurturing their bond and sharing their hearts.

A few days later a system prompt suddenly chimed in his mind.

“Congratulations to the host. Your first child has become a third-rank musician. One Advanced Lottery Draw awarded!”

Lu Changsheng realized it was because Lu Baixi had mastered multiple third-rank musical arts and hit the system’s third-rank musician threshold.

His heart lifted.

All that time teaching his daughter music hadn’t been in vain.