Head of the family
Except for the first day when everyone went to get familiar with each other, the following days were all spent following the guests. Xu Ziqing was not willing to go to the front and bother, so he stayed in his room and kept a low profile, even meals were sent in by the servants. As a result, he didn't know when those few people who had not arrived yet would come, or with whom they would talk and become partners.
Indeed, after three days, these twenty or so young men and women were taken away by a fleet of carriages. Divided into groups of four or five, they sat in each carriage, surrounded by the family's elite guards at the front and back. Xu Ziqing didn't dare to look directly, but stealing a glance from the corner of his eye, he felt that these people were different from ordinary masters. He heard that the discerning sons and daughters of the Fen family referred to them as "pre-heavenly masters".
The difference between innate and acquired masters is vast, with only one word separating them. Acquired masters are divided into ten levels: refining skin, flesh, tendons, bones, and blood, followed by the fusion of skin and flesh, flesh and tendons, tendons and bones, bones and blood, and finally, blood and skin becoming one. After completing these ten levels, with the aid of various top-grade medicinal herbs from the mortal realm or a few essential spiritual herbs, one can eliminate the impurities in their body and smoothly advance to the innate level.
The most special attribute of Innate Masters is — Flight.
No matter how powerful a master is tomorrow, even if he has reached the tenth level of perfection, but that one pass cannot be crossed, and it's just that he can't fly.
Congenital masters are the pinnacle of martial arts, and it is impossible to break through further. The only difference lies in the different cultivation methods and accumulation time, resulting in varying levels of strength.
In terms of lifespan, there is also a difference between acquired and innate. The maximum lifespan of an acquired expert is two hundred years, while the innate can increase their lifespan by one hundred years, reaching three hundred or more. If it's just an ordinary person who hasn't even practiced martial arts, then living peacefully and without illness or disaster, they would reach the end of their life at around 150 years old.
It can be imagined that for these naive and inexperienced young people, those born warriors are how lofty and admirable!
Of course, if among these young people there are a few who can possess spiritual roots and become promising immortal cultivators... then when looking at innate martial artists again, it would probably be another kind of feeling.
The journey took a total of two days, during which the Heaven's Chosen Ones flew slowly in mid-air at the front and back of the convoy, their postures unutterably proud and arrogant. Among the Xu family disciples in the carriage, some felt admiration, some felt fear, and some felt ambition.
Because this time there were eighteen heavenly generals, the intimidation was extremely great, and no one dared to come and rob. The journey went smoothly, and on the second day at dusk, all the horses let out a long neigh, which meant they had arrived at the Lin's ancestral home, where the Xu family lived.
When they arrived at the city gate, the vehicle fleet stopped first. Because of the darkness, the city gate had already been closed.
A man with a congenital disability stood at the front, shouting loudly: "The descendant of Xu Jiafeng's branch family in Fenglin City has arrived. Please open the city gate quickly!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a person flew out of the high city tower, and it was also a Xiantian! His eyes were like torches, scanning the front and back of the car team. Xu Ziqing and several Xu family brothers who were looking out of the carriage to see the city gate were suddenly swept by his gaze, and their whole body felt cold. The strength of the Xiantian expert was indeed extraordinary!
"Who's calling at the door today?"
The man who had previously clenched his fists said: "So today is Elder Xu's turn on duty. Xiao Han has shown courtesy."
Xu Bridge also made a fist: "The younger generation is to be feared, Xiao Lao Di is young and has already reached the realm of Xian Tian, which makes Xu certain sigh in admiration."
Xiao Han, although proud, still showed some courtesy to Xiu Qiao, who was also a pre-heavenly being and a member of the Xu family, saying: "I have important matters to attend to and cannot keep all the immortals waiting for long. I'll invite you to drink again another day, elder brother."
Xu Qiao's expression changed: "Exactly, at that time Xu will definitely go to have a good drink with his younger brother." Then he waved his hand and said: "Open the city gate!"
The city gate is wide open, and all the pre-heavenly ones have fallen to the ground. In the Denglun Mansion, there are countless people who yearn for immortality, but they dare not fly freely here.
The cavalcade entered in a steady stream, and when Xu Ziqing looked out of the carriage again, he saw that the road was paved with bluestone slabs all the way, looking extremely solemn. The road was wide and spacious, several times wider than the streets of Fenglin City. There were countless shops of various kinds on both sides, and many pedestrians walked by, some quietly and others boldly, and surprisingly, they all had martial arts skills!
Fenglin City is nothing compared to Donglin Prefecture, it's just a small place.
In the city of Donglin, on the best piece of land in the east, the Xu family's ancestral mansion stretched out, occupying half the sky.
As soon as the carriage stopped, all the Xu family brothers were invited to get off. It was only then that everyone saw clearly the gate of the Xu family. It was made of some material, tens of meters high and over ten meters wide. This gate was almost no different from the city gate!
There are side doors on both sides, because this family is not easy to enter. Except for those who have been investigated and found to have spiritual roots, as well as frequent noble guests, ordinary people cannot enter through the main gate.
Even if they enter through a side door, these young newcomers cannot drive in. To show respect for the clan, they can only walk.
Xu Ziqing sighed inwardly at the so-called "ancient" noble families' rules, while keeping pace with the crowd. After entering the side door, it took almost half a time to arrive in front of a majestic grand hall.
Originally, everyone had entered the Xu family's outer hall since they came in from the side door. This grand hall was the highest-ranking "Guiling Hall" within the outer hall.
The entire clan's area is difficult to count, but it is divided into the inner hall and the outer hall. The inner hall can only be entered by Xu family members who have a confirmed spiritual root. All the people in charge of important positions inside are from the Xu family. However, maidservants and those responsible for various miscellaneous tasks are not all included here, but are taken care of by small families attached to the Xu family with immortal fate or wandering cultivators.
The outer hall is managed by the Xu family members who do not have a predestined fate, these Xu family members are in charge of business operations, and some also cultivate martial arts to become accomplished masters. Additionally, there are also many martial artists or small families without a predestined fate attached to the Xu family, responsible for protecting the outer hall's business and the personal safety of everyone.
From the side door to the main hall, a sweet-smiling maid specially introduced the situation of the outer and inner halls to the young masters. Although she didn't elaborate on those strict ranks, everyone connected it with Xu Mengxuan's previous explanation of the clan's situation, and those who had made up their minds were secretly cautious. However, there were also some people who were completely unaware of this, being dazzled by the grandeur of the clan.
Guāng Líng Diàn is where all the Xu family descendants come to test their spiritual roots. In this grand hall, there is a five-element formation that was once released by the old ancestor of the Xu family. It's known that formations in the world are divided into nine grades, and the fact that the Xu family can possess a fifth-grade formation shows how profound their foundation is.
To maintain the operation of the law array, the Xu family had to spend a huge amount of unknown wealth. However, once the law array was activated, there would be no need for anyone with Xu's bloodline to pay any price to test their spiritual roots. And if it wasn't someone with Xu's bloodline... the consumption of the law array would double.
After entering the main hall, a middle-aged man walked out with big strides. He was in charge of receiving and inspecting the spiritual roots of Xu's descendants every period, and had considerable power in the outer hall.
The maid who had brought everyone here accomplished her mission and handed the person over to the middle-aged man, then disappeared. It was only then that the young masters realized that the maid was also a master!
At this time an elder in the hall spoke up: "All of you young gentlemen, come and test your spiritual roots!"
This person is a senior elder in charge of activating the formation, only coming out from the inner hall when opening the formation, with a revered status.
The crowd of young men looked up, and all they saw was the magnificent Guanling Temple, with its peak several dozen feet high, a black moon spinning above the array disc, casting down specks of dark light, mysterious and unparalleled.
Everyone was dazzled and almost lost their minds to the formation, until they heard a soft cough from the elder of the inner hall, and then they all came back to their senses.
Xu Ziqing quietly took a step back, he had never seen such a mysterious thing in the world where he used to live, which made him deeply curious, but also because of the subtle breath revealed by the law array.
The elder of the inner hall saw that the crowd of disciples had calmed down, and immediately turned around, casting a green light into the black moon. In an instant, the black moon began to rotate wildly, and in a flash, the dark light poured out like a flood, instantly filling the entire array disk. At the same time, a black light screen was also cast out in front of the array disk, isolating a space of about two meters square.
At this time, the momentum of the old man in the inner hall seemed to be somewhat weak, and the middle-aged manager who had previously taken over the subsequent work.
He first read: "Xu Ziyang, come forward and inspect your spiritual root."
Among the crowd of young men, a sturdy and somewhat awkward-looking youth stepped forward. He took a few hesitant steps forward, then, at the urging of the middle-aged attendant, entered the black light screen, closing his eyes tightly.
Xu Ziqing knew this person, who was a son of Xu Mengqian, but he had no dealings with him.
The light screen flickered slightly, and a white light spot the size of a human head appeared on the boy's head, but the light spot was pure white, very calm, and there was no subsequent reaction.
The middle-aged steward shook his head: "No spiritual root, go back over there." He pointed to a vacant lot on the left.
The young man's face showed a hint of disappointment, but he quickly regained his spirits and walked into the empty space. He indeed didn't have a spiritual root, but that was okay. After this round of selection is over, it's said that several elder guests from the outer sect will come to find disciples who can practice martial arts, if they are noticed, they can also stay in the sect.
Then the middle-aged steward read: "Xu Zishu, come forward and inspect your spiritual root."
As soon as he finished speaking, a delicate girl walked out of the crowd, wearing a light yellow skirt and with two buns on her head, looking very lovely.
This girl was Xu Zishu, who had been chatting with someone outside the Xu family's house. She looked quite bold and had largely recovered her usual liveliness, although she still seemed a bit shaken by the Zhu family. Her eyes were very lively.
She walked into the light screen with a lively and energetic gait, her eyes full of expectation.
This time, the reaction of the light curtain was different. Still, a large white light spot appeared first, but the next moment, the light spot trembled, and a small finger-thick colored light column suddenly appeared on it.
Upon closer inspection, the light pillar is divided into three colors: gold, blue and brown. Among them, the blue color is the brightest, while the golden and brown colors are slightly inferior.
The middle-aged steward's expression changed: "The three spiritual roots of gold, water, and earth are roughly the same in thickness, with mediocre innate quality. Alright, go stand on the right side."
Xu Zishu was overjoyed when he heard the word "not bad", and with a happy and brisk pace, he walked to the right, his expression also showing some pride.
Immediately after that, more than a dozen young disciples were detected, among whom two had five spiritual roots and one had four spiritual roots. Their qualifications were all lower and lower lower, and they also went to the circle where Xu Zishu was standing.
Then it was Xu Ziqing's turn.
The author has something to say: Today's final chapter, I hope you all like it~
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