Chapter 38: Chapter 38: The Second Spiritual Root Child!_1

Translator: 549690339

Time flew by, and before he knew it, half a year had passed.

In this half-year, Lu Changsheng’s fifteenth and sixteenth children were born.

All of them were without a Spiritual Root, which made Lu Changsheng’s anticipation for the child in Qu Zhenzhen’s womb even greater.

Meanwhile, through Lu Changsheng’s efforts over the past six months, five more of his wives and concubines had become pregnant.

Aside from Qu Zhenzhen who was still on her first pregnancy, the previous three wives and six concubines had all moved on to their second.

The likes of Lu Zi’er and Lu Qing’er, the two sisters, had even started on their third pregnancies.

That day,

Lu Changsheng had completed his daily meditation and cultivation in the practice room, then proceeded to the study to begin drawing talismans.

These two activities had become part of his daily routine.

Now at the Third Level of Qi Refinement, middle-grade talismans posed no difficulty for Lu Changsheng.

He could produce them successfully with ease.

As for superior-grade talismans, because his mana and mental spirit were limited, and also due to the poor quality of the talisman brush, and the average quality of the talisman paper and spirit ink, there were still significant challenges.

He could only attempt to draw some of the relatively simpler superior-grade talismans by brute force, accepting the possibility of failure.

Therefore, only a small portion of the high-grade talisman paper and spirit ink that he had purchased at Bullhead Mountain had been transformed into talismans by him, kept ready for emergencies.

For the remaining materials, he planned to wait until his cultivation level progressed further and then buy a better talisman brush to create more talismans.

After all, even if he created talismans right now, he wouldn’t be able to sell them, so it was sufficient for them to be used for his personal emergencies.

After drawing two middle-grade talismans, Lu Changsheng put down the talisman brush, ready to relax with his wives and concubines.

Just as he walked out of the study, a servant presented him with a letter.

It was written by Hong Yi.

The letter simply recounted some nostalgic matters, mentioning that he had been performing well recently and that his father, Marquis Ruyi, had entrusted him with more of the family’s affairs.

It also asked about Lu Changsheng’s recent wellbeing.

This wasn’t the first time that Lu Changsheng had received a letter from Hong Yi.

It was the third letter since he had returned to Qingzhu Mountain, and Lu Changsheng naturally understood why Hong Yi did this.

“Now that I have spare talismans to sell, even if the Lu Family finds out, they probably won’t blame me,” Lu Changsheng thought to himself.

The reason he had previously refrained from selling talismans to Hong Yi was straightforward.

He was concerned that his private dealings with Hong Yi might come to the Lu Family’s attention.

If the Lu Family found out that he had a great number of talismans to sell, that wouldn’t end well.

But after so long, having been an Elementary Talisman Master for over a year, and considering the proficiency he had shown regularly, having some spare talismans to sell seemed quite normal.

Immediately, he replied in the letter that indeed, he had some talismans for sale and that they could be sold if Hong Yi needed them.

He inquired about how they should conduct the transaction.

Naturally, he couldn’t leave Qingzhu Mountain just to sell a talisman, so he left it to Hong Yi to figure out a way.

After writing the letter, Lu Changsheng handed it over to a servant and asked it to be sent to the post station for mailing.

Within the Lu Family, there was a post station for sending letters to the secular world, though it was considerably slow.

For a letter like this to reach Hong Yi’s hands would probably take a month or even longer.

If there was truly an urgent matter, they would need to use talisman meant for transmitting messages.

After that, Lu Changsheng went to the back courtyard to spend time with his wives, concubines, and children.

This too had become part of his daily routine.

Seeing the big belly of Qu Zhenzhen, Lu Changsheng was reminded of her brother’s situation.

He made another trip to Qingzhu Villa, asking Li Feiyu if there had been any word from the Crimson Whale Gang about Qu Zhenzhen’s brother, Qu Changge.

However, Li Feiyu said that there had still been no information about Qu Changge from the Crimson Whale Gang.

Having had no news of Qu Zhenzhen’s brother Qu Changge for over half a year made Lu Changsheng even consider the possibility that his inexpensive brother-in-law might have encountered some sort of accident.

After all, based on what Qu Zhenzhen had said, her brother was just an ordinary scholar.

The journey to the capital to take the imperial exams was a tremendous one, spanning thousands of miles. If he encountered any danger on the way, it wasn’t impossible that he might have met his demise.

Lu Changsheng planned in his heart, that if there was still no news after some time, he would also ask Hong Yi to help investigate.

After all, the Crimson Whale Gang was just a martial faction; once they left Heavenly Water Mansion, their power was limited.

Meanwhile,

At the boundary between Qing Province and Jizhou in Jiang Country, atop a precipitous mountain range with bizarre rocks and steep cliffs.

Heavy mists enshrouded the area, obscuring visibility across the expanse and making the valley between the cliffs, deep and seemingly bottomless under the cover of the mists, unnerving for anyone who dared peek over the edge.

Right now, in the vast and bottomless valley,

“Whooo whooo whooo—”

“Wooo wooo wooo—”

The grey mist spread, and chilling winds howled, almost like the wailing of ghosts and wolves.

Visible at the valley’s center lay a blood-red lake, roughly ten paces wide.

Around the lake, piles of white bones accumulate, causing one’s hair to stand on end, and the blood-colored lake is even more so.

The blood water is deep and dark, filled with an indescribable evil and demonic nature, constantly bubbling with blood.

With every bubble that bursts, a faint and eerie howl accompanies it.

In this blood lake, there is also a cocoon as thin as a cicada’s wing, emitting a crystal-like blood light.

The cocoon undulates up and down in the blood lake, as if breathing, its blood light fluctuating bright and dim, soul-stirring, and quite bizarre.

If one looks closely, they can faintly make out that a man is enveloped inside the blood cocoon.

At this moment, the man seems about to open his eyes, but in the next instant, a blood-colored lotus like a half-moon emerges on his forehead, causing his almost opened eyes to tightly close again, falling into a deep slumber.

Three months later.

“Third Level Energy Refinement peak!”

“But to break through to the Fourth Level Energy Refinement, who knows how long it will take.”

In the practice room, Lu Changsheng, sitting cross-legged, opened his eyes and let out a breath of stale air, murmuring to himself.

It took him about a year to reach each of the previous Third Levels.

But now, having cultivated to the peak of the Third Level, he could clearly feel that the progression from the Third Level to the Fourth Level Energy Refinement was different from before.

There was a bottleneck.

He couldn’t break through without any obstruction, and it required a long period of grinding efforts.

Lu Changsheng didn’t pay too much attention to it.

After all, with his mediocre aptitude, being able to cultivate to the peak of the Third Level Energy Refinement so quickly, was already quite good.

He was very clear about his own position.

Late bloomer!

When there are more children, grown up, things will get better.

“Zhenzhen must be close to giving birth.”

Lu Changsheng got up, patted his dust-free robe, and walked out of the practice room.

Eleven days later.

Qu Zhenzhen gave birth.

The moment the child was born, Lu Changsheng, who was outside the delivery room, immediately felt a profound sensation.

It was the stirring of the Spiritual Root.

He knew that his child possessed a Spiritual Root.

This excited Lu Changsheng immensely.

He felt that his anticipation for the past six months had not been in vain.

“Indeed, one must have children with a woman who possesses a Spiritual Root.”

“Otherwise, with just my side having a Spiritual Root, the chances of the child having one are too low.”

“The fact that Little Seven had one was purely a stroke of luck.”

Lu Changsheng took a deep breath, very happy and excited.

This caused several of his wives who were nearby to feel a twinge of jealousy upon seeing Lu Changsheng’s demeanor.

Even though they were gentle and graceful in nature, they still felt that Lu Changsheng was somewhat partial to Qu Zhenzhen.

Not only did he show more concern for Qu Zhenzhen on a daily basis, but now that the child was born, he seemed much happier than when the previous children were born.

However, they also knew the reason.

Qu Zhenzhen possessed a Spiritual Root, could engage in cultivation, and the child she bore would likely also possess a Spiritual Root.

This naturally made Lu Changsheng more partial to her.

“When Little Seven was born, the system gave me some ‘Child Money’.”

“If I have ten children with Spiritual Roots, the system should also give me some ‘Child Money’, right?”

Lu Changsheng, who didn’t notice the expressions of his wives, was immersed in the joy of his child’s birth.

Previously when Little Seven, Lu Xianzhi, was born, because it was the first time a child with a Spiritual Root was born, a reward was given, which led him to speculate that, similar to the number of children, upon reaching a certain number, a reward would be given.

After a short while, the midwife came out of the delivery room carrying the child.

It was a boy.

Lu Changsheng held the child and entered the delivery room to visit Qu Zhenzhen.

Qu Zhenzhen, though engaged in cultivation, had become pregnant soon after starting to practice.

So she had yet to complete the process of Leading Qi into the Body and was still very weak.

Moreover, the first few levels of Qi Refinement didn’t do much to enhance physical prowess.

Seeing the frail Qu Zhenzhen, Lu Changsheng coaxed her to sleep, then handed the child over to a wet nurse, and went to the practice room to start cultivating.

He had no choice, as he was unable to see the child’s Spiritual Root or the specific changes in his own Spiritual Root.

He could only judge the improvement of his own Spiritual Root through cultivation, a simple and unpretentious method, before estimating the grade of the child’s Spiritual Root.