Chapter 82

Zhu Lingwu was very clear that this visit to the three foundation-establishing elders was a crucial step he had to go through.

Now it seemed that these foundation-establishing elders were not as discerning as Meng Yishi, who had no suspicion of him at all!

"Am I being too smug? I should be grateful to Meng Yishi. If I hadn't restrained my soul consciousness and probed recklessly in front of them, I might not have been able to hide from these three old men! At that time, how would this kind-hearted Elder Xiaobai deal with me, would he flay me alive?"

Zhu Lingwu secretly rejoiced in his heart. At this moment, he suddenly felt immensely grateful to Meng Yishi, who was truly a good person, not only reminding him of his biggest flaw but also bringing him so many things.

Thinking of this, Zhu Lingwu couldn't help but feel smug again. No matter what, he could now live in peace with this body in the Zhu family's ancestral land.

When Zhu Lingwu walked out of the Zhu family's ancestral hall, he felt much more relaxed, and his soul consciousness couldn't help but scatter from his brow, once again monitoring the surroundings.

Thus, he returned to his private courtyard, and this day finally passed without incident.

The following days were also peaceful, and before they knew it, it was already New Year's Eve.

For the scholar-gentry, New Year's Eve was just like this: everyone sat together for a New Year's Eve dinner, but it wasn't a family reunion meal. They still sat at their own tables, known as separate seating.

The only difference from usual was the added festive atmosphere. There was no Spring Festival Gala in this era; at most, there were firecrackers going off inside and outside the house.

In Zhu Lingwu's home, because Zhu Junyan couldn't return from Tongshan County, the family reunion dinner lacked a sense of completeness.

At the banquet, Zhu Lingwu's stepmother couldn't help but miss Zhu Junyan and was secretly saddened. Fortunately, there were many children in the family, and with Zhu Lingwu and the other children's deliberate flattery, the atmosphere was lively and not too cold.

For the scholar-gentry, the most festive day was actually the first day of the New Year.

On the first day of the New Year, all the clansmen from the various branches of the clan would gather in the ancestral hall to worship the ancestors.

So after the New Year's Eve, Zhu Lingwu was woken up early the next morning.

With the help of three maids, Zhu Lingwu dressed neatly, first went to greet his stepmother, and received a red envelope with lucky money.

Then, after his older brothers and sisters gathered, the whole family left their residence and took a sedan chair to the front gate of the Zhu family's seven branches.

Here, the clansmen from the other branches of the seven houses had already gathered, with one to two thousand clansmen lined up according to their bloodline, making a grand scene.

Zhu Lingwu's family was not one of the main branches of the seven houses, but because they had the old ancestor called Xiaobai, they still had some status in the seven houses.

Now, the true name of this old ancestor called Xiaobai was revealed to Zhu Lingwu. His Daoist name was Bai Shui.

Because the other two elders were older than him, they called him Xiaobai, but the other clansmen of the seven houses called him Elder Bai. The other two elders were called Elder He, with the Daoist name Huang He, and Elder Shi, with the Daoist name Shi Ping.

In this world, most cultivators after the foundation-establishing stage would give themselves a Daoist name and only use this name when addressing each other, not their real names.

On one hand, this was to show that they had severed ties with the mundane world, and on the other hand, it was to protect their families from being involved in the disputes of the cultivation world.

However, for the scholar-gentry, giving a Daoist name was more like a pseudonym, and it was impossible to truly sever ties with the family.

Ordinary people would call those foundation-establishing cultivators Daoists. When they reached the Golden Core stage, they could be called Golden Core True Men. When they reached the Nascent Soul stage, they were considered terrestrial immortals and could be called Earth Immortals. As for those above the Nascent Soul stage, they could be called Earth Immortal Ancestors.

Zhu Lingwu recalled the stories of the seven realms he had heard from Li Tiezui at the Tian Tang Pavilion in Tongshan County. He felt that the world he was in, at least the Xuanping Continent, should be a world that revered the Heavenly Court.

The sects in Xuanping Continent should have inherited the teachings of the immortals from the Heavenly Court.

However, from the birth of the seven realms to the present, Zhu Lingwu believed that countless years had passed, and even the legendary immortals had changed several times. Therefore, the ancestors revered by these sects might not be well-known.

For example, the Xuanming Sect, where Meng Yishi came from, was considered a heretical sect by the orthodox sects, but it also revered an immortal ancestor called Xuanming Laozu, and its teachings were also considered a branch of the immortal sects.

However, the origin and status of this Xuanming Laozu in the Heavenly Court were unknown.

One thing was certain: Xuanming Laozu was an immortal who had ascended to the Heavenly Court from this world many years ago.

The Xuanming Sect inherited his teachings, and it was said that the founder of the sect was a third-generation direct disciple of Xuanming Laozu, but this was now just a legend.

However, these matters were not directly related to Zhu Lingwu. What surprised him was that the ancestor of the Zhu family was also a Golden Core cultivator, known as Chilong Zhenren.

On the first day of the New Year, the clansmen of the Zhu family would worship this ancestor.

However, Chilong Zhenren was a figure from two thousand years ago. It was said that the current residence of the Zhu family, Chilong Prefecture, had some connection to him, which is why the Zhu family lineage remained in Chilong Prefecture.

As Zhu Lingwu returned to the ancestral land of the Zhu family, he finally understood the background of the family he was in. No wonder it was one of the top scholar-gentry families in Chong'an Kingdom, with a family lineage of two thousand years.

The eight-year-old child he had taken over only had a superficial understanding of these matters and didn't care much about them, but Zhu Lingwu needed to understand them, as they were the most basic information about this world.

To stand firm in the family, he had to understand the family.

Thus, Zhu Lingwu, following the customs of the scholar-gentry, completed the New Year's celebrations, which meant he had grown a year older, turning into a nine-year-old child.

After the New Year, Zhu Lingwu's new training room was gradually completed, and he could finally begin his cultivation.

However, as soon as he started cultivating, Zhu Lingwu realized how inefficient his inferior innate spirit meridians were in cultivating qi.

Initially, he had used half a year to connect the small heavenly cycle of the Ren and Du meridians, and then he had opened several major meridians in the large heavenly cycle, making rapid progress in martial arts, which made Liu Ping secretly curse him as a monster.

But now, as Zhu Lingwu began his qi cultivation, the contrast made him feel disheartened. He felt that his cultivation progress was like an ant crawling, and even slower than an ant.

Zhu Lingwu finally understood the difference between the cultivation of martial arts and the cultivation of qi. Martial arts were essentially about controlling and utilizing the life force within the body.

The most important thing was that the cultivation of martial arts could only condense acquired spirit energy within the body, which was inferior to innate spirit energy and could not merge with the heavens and earth.

In other words, it could not achieve the unity of heaven and man, which was ultimately a personal power. However, the cultivation of qi was different...