Chapter 186: To Ride or Not to Ride? The Xu Family's Foundation, Thoughts on Foundation Establishment

January 23rd.

Wu Shun'an got married. He wed one of Li Zhi's younger sisters, who had features somewhat resembling Xu Deling and also loved wearing red.

Wu Mingsheng was delighted and invited many people to attend the wedding.

As the master of the Immortal Arts Hall's Artifact Refining Palace and one of the Xu family's few elders.

He could be considered a figure with real power.

Establishing good relations with him had no downsides. Naturally, vassal families like the Chen and Bai families were all willing to attend.

Not many from the Xu family attended but all were important figures.

Xu Mingxian had once learned from him, sharing a semi-master relationship, so naturally he attended when invited, bringing Zhou Zongni along.

Xu Chuan had old ties with him and was also among those invited.

There were also Xu Dezhao and Xu Deling.

The two most central figures of the Xu family's third generation.

Actually, Wu Mingsheng had considered whether to invite Xu Deling, after all, he was aware of the matter between his grandson and her but as his most beloved disciple, Wu Mingsheng had no reason not to invite her. However, what ultimately made him decide was Wu Shun'an, who personally asked Xu Deling to attend.

This was true closure.

Even if Xu Deling still had the slightest lingering feelings for Wu Shun'an, his marriage transformed them into impossibility.

At the wedding, Xu Deling smiled and congratulated him on his marriage, wishing him and his wife to grow old together.

She wielded her sword to sever emotional ties, freezing her heart.

Xu Chuan nodded slightly.

Xu Deling dared to think and act, following only her own heart, which he greatly appreciated.

Disregarding the gap between immortal and mortal, she had been in love with Wu Shun'an.

The breakup was also decisive and straightforward, without dragging things out and at this moment, severing the last emotional thread, from now on when they met, they would be like siblings.

Xu Mingwei seemed to notice something and transmitted to Xu Chuan, "Father, Ling'er and this Wu Shun'an, the two of them..."

"No need to ask more. Just trust Ling'er."

"I naturally trust my own daughter not to do anything that would disgrace the Xu family's honor."

After experiencing this, Xu Deling's cultivation heart became even purer, and her cultivation speed increased again.

In the following short two months, she went from middle eighth layer Qi Refining to approaching late eighth layer Qi Refining. It looked like she had some hope of advancing to ninth layer Qi Refining by the end of this year or early next year.

Xu Chuan was also surprised by this.

He could check the information on the genealogy and knew everyone's realm, cultivation level, and talents like the back of his hand.

"Is this the realm of 'no romantic love in the heart makes cultivation naturally fast'?"

Xu Chuan smiled self-mockingly.

In these two months, many other things happened in the Xu family.

For example, Xu Dewen married Chang Haowen's daughter, Chang Wenya.

A few days later, Shen Qingyi became pregnant again, then Zhou Zongni, and finally even Bai Jing.

Xu Mingwei and the others felt helpless about having a sibling thirty or forty years younger but this was the norm for cultivation families.

Of course, Xu Chuan himself was also surprised.

During this period, they had only been together two or three times total. However, since it happened, he naturally had Bai Jing peacefully carry the child to term.

Her body was now no different from someone in their twenties or thirties.

This was Xu Chuan's first offspring since becoming a cultivator.

Previously, he was only a mortal. Giving birth to Xu Mingxian, this cultivation seed, was by chance.

Cultivation families naturally couldn't rely on chance to strengthen the clan.

Optimizing bloodlines and combining with women who had cultivation aptitude would increase the number of cultivators among family descendants.

Therefore, marriage alliances between cultivation families were the first choice.

Next were families with good martial arts talent.

Half a month later, the three Azure Fire Eagle brothers also found mates.

Xu Mingshu suddenly had someone notify Xu Mingyuan and Xu Mingwei to come to the Beast Taming Palace.

"Mingshu, you called us here. Could it be you plan to hand over the black tigers to Big Brother and me?" Xu Mingyuan guessed something and smiled faintly.

"Second Brother, you're the best guesser in the family. I can't even give you a surprise."

"Want me to pretend to be shocked later?"

Xu Mingshu fell silent and rolled her eyes.

"Mingyuan, stop teasing." Xu Mingwei said with a smile.

Xu Mingshu whistled and called out, "Eldest, Second, come out to meet your guests."

Xu Mingwei and Xu Mingyuan's faces darkened.

Suddenly, running sounds came from behind the hall screen, like a gust of wind passing by. Immediately, two figures appeared on either side of Xu Mingshu.

On the left was a black tiger over a meter tall, each strand of fur flowing with a luster like black jade.

On the right was a black and white striped tiger.

As both tigers' tails swayed, they emanated impressive auras.

"In just over half a year, they already have the aura of late second layer Qi Refining. Their aptitude is indeed much higher than their father Little White's." Xu Mingwei's eyes brightened.

"Naturally." Xu Mingshu said, "The spiritual energy is decent, and they're fed Spirit Beast Pills. Their strength naturally grows quickly. In five or six years, approaching Little White won't be difficult. Father says their aptitude is similar to the Azure Fire Eagles. In the future, they can both reach Qi Refining perfection, and even have hope of becoming second-rank spirit beasts. Little White will have difficulty unless he has fortunate opportunities."

After pausing, Xu Mingshu continued, "Oh right, Big Brother, Second Brother, have you learned the Spirit Control Prohibition method I had you study before?"

Both nodded.

"Big Brother, you go first. I'll help you soothe Eldest and reduce his resistance to you, allowing you to quickly establish the prohibition."

Xu Mingwei formed hand seals, condensing the prohibition. When the prohibition fell on the black tiger, it suddenly let out a roar.

All its fur stood up like steel needles, its golden pupils suddenly contracted, revealing sharp claws and fangs.

Xu Mingshu immediately comforted it, "Eldest, be good. From now on, you'll follow your eldest uncle."

The black tiger seemed to understand, and its resistance to the prohibition began to weaken.

Xu Mingwei immediately exerted full effort.

A moment later, he finally established the Spirit Control Prohibition in its essence.

Man and tiger immediately formed a mental connection.

The black tiger could understand Xu Mingwei's commands, and he could likewise understand the tiger's roars.

He heard the black tiger raise its head to look at Xu Mingwei.

Roar~

Its first words: "Eldest Uncle."

Xu Mingwei stumbled. It really took him as its eldest uncle!

Shouldn't it be master?!

How did Mingshu teach them?

His face showed a bitter smile. Looking at the black tiger's pale golden eyes, he could only nod slightly and accept it.

It was just that in the future if the black tiger said, "Eldest Uncle, ride me!"

Should I ride or not ride?

When it was the black and white striped tiger's turn, it was the same.

One call of "Second Uncle" made him shake his head and smile.

"Mingyuan and I don't understand spirit beast cultivation, and we're quite busy daily. Let them stay temporarily at the Beast Taming Palace. If needed, we'll mentally contact them."

Xu Mingshu nodded, "That works too. Spirit beasts are quite intelligent. It's not simply a matter of feeding them some spirit pills. To be more in sync, you need to build emotional bonds. Additionally, you must hone their combat instincts and develop their talents."

"How about this, normally they'll board with me. Every half month, Big Brother and Second Brother take them along to hunt in the mountains and such."

"Good." Both said in unison.

The other two, although not yet evolved into demon beasts, would become demon beasts sooner or later under Xu Mingshu's training and daily pill feeding.

It was just that their potential was destined to be limited.

"Having Third Brother post tasks to search for demon tigers or demon birds for half a month, but still no news. Indeed, my Xu family still has too few people. If one day we command all of Yuehu Commandery, such tasks would quickly have results."

Looking at Eldest and Second, she said indifferently, "Eldest, Second, come, let's begin today's training!"

The black tiger and striped tiger, one left and one right, wiggled their behinds as they followed beside Xu Mingshu.

Even though they acknowledged Xu Mingwei and Xu Mingyuan as masters, they would still listen to Xu Mingshu.

Behind the Beast Taming Palace were vast mountain ranges, perfect for them to roam.

On many thick ancient trees, there were claw marks everywhere, three parts deep into the wood.

"First practice speed and movement techniques. See that ancient pine tree a hundred meters away? Whoever brings back a branch first gets a middle-grade Qi Nurturing Pill. The loser gets a low-grade Qi Nurturing Pill. Additionally, whoever can avoid touching the ancient trees along the way gets another low-grade Qi Nurturing Pill as a reward."

"Do you both understand?" Eldest and Second nodded their tiger heads.

They had eaten quite a few pills and naturally knew that Qi Nurturing Pills were good things for them, and not something they could eat every day.

"Begin!"

With Xu Mingshu's command, the black tiger and striped tiger shot out like arrows released from bowstrings.

The black tiger transformed into a black lightning bolt. At full speed, each leap could span three or four zhang, but with many trees ahead, it couldn't fully unleash its power.

The striped tiger was the same, constantly dodging and advancing in a roundabout way, its black and white fur alternating between bright and dark in the sunlight.

The hundred-meter distance took the two tigers only five or six breaths.

They leaped up and easily bit off a section of pine branch with their sharp teeth, then rapidly returned.

The black tiger's explosive power was stronger than the striped tiger's, while the striped tiger's movement technique was more flexible.

Of course, in this short-distance race, the black tiger ultimately had the advantage but because it focused on explosive power, the black tiger still scraped quite a few ancient trees.

The striped tiger never touched any.

Therefore, the black tiger received a middle-grade Qi Nurturing Pill, while the striped tiger received two low-grade Qi Nurturing Pills.

Just as both eagerly anticipated their rewards, Xu Mingshu grinned, "The past few days your spirit pills haven't been digested yet. I'll keep them for you two for now and give them to you later."

Just like how parents collected children's New Year money.

"Next, we begin combat. The first round, you'll spar with your father Little White. The second round, you'll spar with your Azure Fire Eagle Third Uncle. The third round, you two will fight me together."

Having obtained the Spirit Control inheritance, Xu Mingshu increasingly resembled a beast tamer, methodically cultivating spirit beasts.

Spirit beasts trained this way would definitely not be as useless as domesticated ones.

Combining loyalty with combat and killing skills, and fighting different opponents could also increase their combat experience.

Sometimes the Battle Hall would also invite Xu Mingshu to bring the Azure Fire Eagles and Little White over to teach how to respond to different demon beasts then practical training.

To prevent being flustered and disorganized when truly encountering wild demon beasts in the future.

All Xu family guards now wore new standard uniforms, including not just the outermost armor but also pants, boots, long swords or spears, and even the vertical crowns on their heads—complete sets.

From then on, they had a new name: the Black Armored Army.

Although forged from mortal materials, the craftsmanship was extraordinary, all approaching treasure weapons.

As for those at late innate and above captain level, the style would be slightly different with more exquisite craftsmanship. Those swords, spears, and such all belonged to divine weapons among mortals.

Captain-level armor was silver, making the ranks clear at a glance.

As for grandmaster level, it was golden armor. However, golden armor already belonged to magical artifact grade. Currently, there weren't many sets, capable of withstanding middle-grade magical artifact attacks.

Grandmaster perfection should be dark gold armor, middle-grade defensive armor.

It hadn't been forged yet.

These past few months, Xu Deling had followed Xu Chuan's suggestion and focused on honing her mortal forging techniques, becoming more familiar with various material properties.

Forging became more effortless, already approaching the realm of unity between person and artifact.

This profound realm, even for cultivator artifact refiners, was universal, capable of improving artifact refining success rates and quality.

A few months later, her forging skills seemed to open up, reaching the realm of unity between person and artifact.

When she returned to forging magical artifacts, it was as if divinely assisted.

Her success rate reached ninety-three percent. Out of ten low-grade magical artifacts, all ten succeeded. Nine were extremely outstanding, with only one having minor flaws.

Beyond this, she successfully replicated the fish basket magical artifact obtained from Longjiang Commandery.

Chains, ropes, bells, cauldrons, towers, mirrors, and other special difficult-to-refine magical artifacts were also successively crafted.

Involving binding, attack, defense, suppression, divine light, and many other types.

She even created two sets of low-grade magical artifact sets.

One set consisted of nine low-grade magical artifacts called "Heavenly Origin."

The other set was thirty-six flying needles called "Red Thread."

The power of both magical artifact sets approached upper-grade magical artifacts.

On all these artifacts, Xu Deling engraved the mark of a feather, proving they were forged by her.

She already had the makings of an artifact refining master. She only needed to accumulate experience and learn middle and upper-grade magical artifacts. When that time came, surpassing Wu Mingsheng wouldn't be a problem.

Those special low-grade magical artifacts and low-grade artifact sets were all stored in the Xu family treasury as future rewards for family disciples.

"Heavenly Origin" was awarded to Ren Xiaoyao. However, although "Heavenly Origin's" power was formidable, it also had drawbacks, its magic power consumption.

It had three levels: three swords, six swords, and nine swords. Only the final nine swords unleashed together approached upper-grade magical artifact might.

Different levels consumed different amounts of magic power.

Three swords could be wielded by early Qi Refining cultivators, six swords required at least fifth or sixth layer Qi Refining, and nine swords probably needed seventh layer Qi Refining magic power to control.

But Ren Xiaoyao primarily cultivated the Azure Radiance Sword Formula and also practiced the Nine Flames Formula and Control Artifact Formula. The former reached the two-flames level, the latter approached great mastery.

This made controlling flying swords much easier for him, saving considerable magic power.

Therefore, even at just fifth layer Qi Refining, he could fully unleash "Heavenly Origin's" maximum power, using it several times without completely depleting his magic power.

Ren Xiaoyao truly lived up to being an earth spiritual root aptitude cultivator. Under the Xu family's cultivation, his strength advanced by leaps and bounds daily.

Only thirteen years old, having begun cultivation less than two years ago, he was already at middle fifth layer Qi Refining.

Probably reaching Qi Refining perfection before age twenty wouldn't be a problem.

From this, Xu Chuan deduced how deep the foundations were for cultivation clans with earth spiritual root aptitude cultivators.

Even if a third-rank family produced such a person, they would definitely hide and fully cultivate them, only bringing them to the forefront at critical moments to gain more benefits for the family.

Or seek opportunities to advance to second-rank.

For upper three-rank families, what mattered most was family foundation, including the number of Foundation Establishment cultivators and Qi Refining clan members, the number of recruited rogue cultivators, and such.

Cultivation families with one Foundation Establishment cultivator could generally advance to fourth-rank.

For third-rank, Foundation Establishment cultivators had to reach three, with one necessarily at Foundation Establishment middle stage, and Qi Refining cultivators numbering over one hundred.

Second-rank families had at least five Foundation Establishment cultivators, with at least one at middle stage and one at late stage, and over one hundred fifty Qi Refining cultivators.

First-rank required at least seven Foundation Establishment cultivators, with three necessarily at Foundation Establishment middle stage and one at Foundation Establishment perfection presiding, and over two hundred Qi Refining cultivators.

Xu Chuan naturally wouldn't be idle.

Besides the martial artist bottleneck problem raised at the last grand assembly, he began researching martial Dao breakthrough pill formulas, primarily formulas for breaking through from innate perfection to the grandmaster bottleneck, and formulas for grandmasters breaking through minor realms.

The two cultivation systems were different. Barrier Breaking Pills and Breakthrough Pills only worked for cultivators and were purely wasteful for martial artists.

Because martial artist breakthroughs mainly related to qi-blood and physical body.

A grandmaster martial artist's qi-blood and physical strength far exceeded Innate martial artists.

Of course, researching this pill formula wasn't without clues.

The martial artist path was ultimately somewhat similar to demon beasts, the key lay in bloodline and physical body. Each breakthrough improved both.

The "Spirit Control True Scripture" recorded quite a few types of pills suitable for demon beasts, as well as methods for improving demon beast bloodlines.

Using this as reference, Xu Chuan was confident of success within a few months.

"Perhaps I can also research a corresponding Bone Nurturing Pill, Body Strengthening Pill, and such based on the Bone Strengthening Pill formula, to build an excellent martial arts foundation for Xu clan children before they begin practicing martial arts. In the future, Xu clan disciples, even walking the martial path, would start at grandmaster on average, all having hope of reaching grandmaster perfection without being constrained by martial arts aptitude."

The martial Dao actually wasn't weak. It was just that without breaking through grandmaster, one couldn't match Foundation Establishment cultivators but Great Wei's mortal martial artists far outnumbered cultivators in quantity.

If every future Xu family member were a grandmaster, it would undoubtedly be terrifying.

"If one day someone in the world continues the martial path..."

Xu Chuan smiled self-mockingly and murmured, "Thinking too far ahead. That would necessarily bring earth-shattering changes and has nothing to do with my Xu family."

"Mingwei walks the combat path, unmatched in attack. Mingyuan walks the talisman path. Although I don't know how far he can go in the future, currently it looks like drawing upper-grade talismans won't be a problem in the future. Peak-tier talismans depend on opportunity. I'll observe Mingxuan's situation later, but with the Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Harm talent, he can attempt many things. Mingshu walks the spirit control path. The 'Spirit Control True Scripture' is extremely profound and complete. As long as she can establish Foundation, it's enough to support her reaching Foundation Establishment perfection. If she cultivates the ancient rare Iron-Devouring Flying Ants well, in the future she might make many same-rank cultivators pale at encountering her. Of course, I must also continue searching for rare insects recorded in the 'Spirit Control True Scripture' to facilitate cultivation. Mingxian walks the array path and obtained an ancient cultivator's array inheritance no less than the 'Spirit Control True Scripture.' Combined with his corresponding fate talent 'Nine Palaces Dao Evolution,' he might become an array master in the future."

Establishing third-rank or higher arrays could earn the title of array master.

The pill Dao was the same.

The artifact Dao and talisman Dao were somewhat different.

Being able to refine peak-tier magical artifact sets with a certain success rate basically qualified one as an artifact Dao master.

The talisman Dao was the same.

As for magical treasures above peak-tier magical artifacts.

For artifact refiners below Golden Core, although there was hope of refining them, it was truly difficult.

"Wu Mingsheng once said he obtained an artifact refining inheritance in his early years. In the future, when Ling'er's artifact refining attainments catch up to his, I wonder if he'll pass his entire inheritance to her."

Xu Chuan considered it and felt the possibility was high.

"The Wu clan will depend on my Xu clan thereafter. Ling'er is his most accomplished disciple, plus my kindness to him, unless he can't think straight, he'll definitely teach her everything."

Although upper-grade Divine Sense Pills weren't as good as Spirit Advancing Pills, they were still precious enough.

The Xu family wouldn't bestow them easily.

For people like Lu Feng and Luo Qianshan, even if they made many contributions in the future, they would at most receive low-grade Divine Sense Pills.

Unless they could also reach the realm of talisman master or array master.

"Dezhao has the Qi and Blood Furnace fate talent, which can't be wasted. Perhaps I could collect some blood burning techniques, blood explosion techniques, and such. Ordinary cultivators might damage their foundations, but for Dezhao, as long as he doesn't use them continuously, it shouldn't harm his foundation."

"Among the third generation, Dezhao and Ling'er are most outstanding. Deheng has good character. As for Mingxuan's newborn son, Deqian—the second person in the third generation born with true spiritual roots. Mingxian's daughter, Deyue, is suitable for cultivating the 'Supreme Yin Moon Splendor Art' and is also a key cultivation target. In the fourth generation, it would be Dezhao's eldest son, Chonghui. Must say, Eldest's lineage has good martial fortune."

Before Xu Chuan's eyes floated his golden finger, the genealogy. Information on all Xu clan members was recorded within.

"However, the fourth generation hasn't exerted effort yet. The third generation all cultivate the 'Innate Five Elements Creation Art.' Even if they don't walk the immortal path, they're true spiritual root aptitude. The fourth generation will have more geniuses than the third."

"Second's family has the weakest martial fortune, but they have a prospective son-in-law with earth spiritual root aptitude. Combined with Derong becoming true spiritual root in the future, they'll probably produce clan members with earth spiritual root aptitude."

Xu Chuan stroked his short beard, his face full of smiles.

"Wu Mingsheng will definitely reach Qi Refining perfection by the second half of next year. The collection should also begin. Although his hope is slim, I cannot renege on my promise. After him, it should be my turn. Within five years, if no one succeeds, then place hope on Ren Xiaoyao. No! Placing the family's highest combat power hope on an outsider, even if he might be the Xu family's son-in-law is quite inappropriate."

Xu Chuan frowned in thought. "The Xu family must establish Foundation first, then have others establish Foundation. If we fail, then suppress Ren Xiaoyao somewhat."

"Of course, it's best if someone among us can successfully establish Foundation."

Xu Chuan had considered it, himself, Xu Mingwei, and Xu Mingxian all had similar foundations.

All had true spiritual roots, divine sense transformed into divine consciousness, plus thousand-year spirit herbs, they should have a twenty to thirty percent Foundation Establishment probability but he himself had the Heaven Rewards Diligence fate talent.

Having stayed at Qi Refining perfection for quite a while, attempting to break through the Foundation Establishment bottleneck daily.

Persevering would definitely yield results.

His Foundation Establishment bottleneck was definitely much weaker compared to other true spiritual root cultivators.

In another three or four years, Xu Chuan felt his probability of breaking through Foundation Establishment might exceed forty percent.

This was already close to an earth spiritual root cultivator's probability of breaking through Foundation Establishment.

For true spiritual root cultivators to raise Foundation Establishment probability to this level without Foundation Establishment Pills was nearly impossible.

The more Xu Chuan thought, the more he felt he might successfully establish Foundation if he tried breaking through now.

The next moment, he quickly discarded distracting thoughts, restraining his mind to avoid generating inner demons.

Too deep an obsession easily generated inner demons.

"One of cultivators' misconceptions: other true spiritual root cultivators can all successfully establish Foundation, so I can too!"

Xu Chuan used this to warn himself.

Without a great power's foundation, wanting to establish Foundation required constantly increasing one's own foundation.

Opportunities were for those prepared!

The more sufficient the preparation, the more natural the success!