NOVEL NEXT Chapter 291: Spiritual Medicine
Chapter 291: Spiritual Medicine
Xu Lian finally understood. It turned out that he had come into a windfall, which explained their sudden generosity.
“Back then, in order to secure that ancient relic, I put in my share of effort. I overpowered the Holy Son of the Divine Thunder Sect with my strength, decisively securing ownership of that ancient relic for our Nine Heavenly Sacred Lands. These 81 Strands of Origin Tracing Light are still too few. How about giving me a few more?”
The Grand Elder’s face immediately darkened. “That won’t do! You’ve already received 19 strands of Origin Tracing Light before.
This time, with the additional 81 strands, it makes a complete set of cultivation resources for the Origin Tracing Realm. If that’s still not enough for you, then you’ll have to find a way on your own.”
No matter how much Xu Lian tried to persuade him, the Grand Elder refused to give any more. “There’s no point in talking to me about this. Giving you 100 strands of Origin Tracing Light is already the highest privilege I can offer you. Anything more would be beyond the authority of the Elder Council.”
Xu Lian had no choice but to give in. “Fine.”
The Grand Elder left to retrieve the 81 Strands of Origin Tracing Light from the secret vault.
After receiving them, Xu Lian departed from the Heavenly Mystic Sacred Land, traversing space to return to the ancestral lands of the Divine Clan.
“116 Strands of Origin Tracing Light, plus 81 more, makes 197 in total,” Xu Lian calculated.
To advance to the 6th stage of Origin Tracing, he needed 32 strands.
To advance to the 7th stage, he needed 64 strands.
That would consume 96 strands, leaving him with 101 strands.
To advance to the 8th stage, he would need 128 strands, for which he didn’t have enough.
“This is too difficult,” Xu Lian muttered.
He immediately allocated his progression points and added the necessary materials to advance to the 6th stage of Origin Tracing.
After another round of allocation and material addition, he advanced to the 7th stage.
[Name: Xu Lian]
[Realm: 7th Stage of Origin Tracing]
[Techniques: Nine Elements Escape Techniques, Four Symbols Battle Tactics, Great Desolate Dragon Grasping Technique, Sacred Spirit Record (Immortal Technique Supplement), Breaking Wind Sword Technique (Volumes 1-3)…]
[Artifacts: Left Hand Bone (Divine Bone), Sword of Destruction (Not Equipped)]
[Note: You currently have 34 progression points available for use.]
In just over 50 years, Xu Lian had climbed to the 7th stage of the Origin Tracing Realm. This was an incredibly fast pace, as most Origin Tracing Realm experts would take thousands of years to reach the higher stages.
For example, Ye Rushang had guarded Wuguang City for thousands of years and had only reached the 6th stage of Origin Tracing.
Speaking of Ye Rushang, Xu Lian couldn’t help but recall the promise he had made to him.
He immediately traversed through space and arrived at the Ye family.
The white mourning cloths were still hanging, as the family had just finished the funeral. It was clear that they had already received the news of Ye Rushang’s death.
Xu Lian explained his purpose, “Before my father-in-law passed away, he asked me to bring you all to the Divine Clan’s ancestral lands to cultivate.”
Ye Beining’s eyes were resolute as he replied, “That won’t be necessary. Even though my father is gone, I am still here. I will take on the responsibility of reviving our family.”
Xu Lian sensed Ye Beining’s cultivation level and noted that he was on the verge of reaching the Return To Void stage. This was quite impressive. Aside from Ye Rushang, the Ye family had two other elders at the Nine Tribulations Realm, making them a relatively strong force.
“Very well,” Xu Lian said without pushing the matter further. He took out a communication talisman and handed it to Ye Beining. “If anything happens in the future, you can use this to contact me.”
This communication talisman had been crafted by an elder from the Nine Heavenly Sacred Lands who was skilled in artifact forging. Xu Lian had commissioned over a dozen of them for emergencies.
Originally, he had intended to distribute them to his descendants for urgent use. However, the number of descendants had grown too large, and he couldn’t decide who to give them to, so he ended up keeping them all.
Most elders would have given these talismans to their most talented descendants, focusing their attention on them. But Xu Lian was different. Regardless of their talents, he treated all of his descendants equally. Whether they were highly gifted or not, they were all his blood, and he couldn’t bring himself to be cold and indifferent to those with lesser talents.
“Beining, take it. This is a token of Senior’s goodwill,” one of the Ye family elders urged.
“Beining, hurry up and accept it,” the other elder chimed in.
The two Nine Tribulations Realm elders of the Ye family were practically fawning over Xu Lian, repeatedly addressing him as “Senior”, which made Xu Lian feel somewhat embarrassed.
Xu Lian simply pushed the communication talisman into Ye Beining’s hand. “Stop being so hesitant. After all, I’m your brother-in-law, the son-in-law of the Ye family. It’s only natural for me to support the Ye family in the future.”
“Senior is right. We’re all family here,” one of the elders said with a smile.
“Exactly, Beining. Why are you so distant?” the other elder added, also smiling.
“…” Xu Lian was a bit overwhelmed by the blatant flattery. He didn’t say anything more and simply traversed space, leaving directly.
Upon returning to the ancestral lands of the Divine Clan, Xu Lian began to ponder his next steps.
“Next, I need to find some spiritual medicines that can extend lifespan,” Xu Lian thought to himself.
According to the blueprint he had drawn up for his future, he planned to bring all his women with him on the path to immortality. However, he was still in the Origin Tracing Realm and wouldn’t be able to achieve this vision in the short term.
He needed time-a lot of time. Yet, most of his women had average cultivation talents and limited life spans. By the time he explored the path to immortality, they would have already passed away from old age.
Therefore, he needed to find some spiritual medicine that could extend their life span.
“I will only extend the life span of my wives. As for my descendants, they’ll have to rely on their own cultivation. I’ve already provided them with a good cultivation environment, fulfilling my responsibility as a patriarch. I can’t support them for their entire lives. There’s no way I’m allowing them to leech off me,” Xu Lian resolved silently.
This was an inevitable decision. He already had over a thousand descendants, and in a few years, that number would double, and then double again…
By then, he would have tens of thousands of descendants. No matter how capable he was, he wouldn’t be able to procure enough spiritual medicines to cater to every single one of them. It just wasn’t realistic.
Of course, not all of his descendants would need to have their lives extended. In fact, most of them had decent talents. They had received guidance from the Divine Clan’s portrait spirits from a young age, and they had also joined the Heavenly Mystic Sacred Land, benefiting from the teachings of both factions. Reaching the level of an average expert shouldn’t be a problem for them, and they could enjoy a lifespan of around a thousand years, which was already quite good.
A small number of exceptionally talented descendants could even become top-level experts, with a lifespan of several thousand or even tens of thousands of years.
“Every descendant has their own destiny. How far they go depends on their own luck,” Xu Lian concluded.
With his mind made up, Xu Lian ventured into the mist to seek out the Goddess of Time, asking her where he could find spiritual medicines that would extend his life span.
The Goddess of Time gazed at him with her beautiful eyes, remaining silent for a long while before finally speaking, “You can extend their lives for a time, but not forever. The path to immortality is destined to be a lonely one.”
Xu Lian replied, “I know. But I still want to do my best. I’ll extend their lifespans as much as I can. When the time comes that I can’t, I will have no regrets.”
The Goddess of Time nodded softly. “As long as you understand. Extending lifetimes by ten or twenty years is easy. Even extending them by several decades isn’t difficult. But if you want to extend their lives by several hundred years, you’ll have to use limited life-extending spiritual medicines.”
Xu Lian frowned. “Life-extending spiritual medicines are also considered limited cultivation resources?”
The Goddess of Time replied, “Of course. The elders of major powers are in great need of such things, making them extremely scarce.”