128: Chapter 128 Spirit Testing in the Clan Land

At this moment, the power and density of the Spiritual Qi within his body had doubled compared to the Foundation Establishment Initial Stage.

In just a fleeting moment, his Foundation was solidified, his Spiritual Qi sublimated, and his Realm broke through!

Li Changqing's heart suddenly cleared; he was now certain that he had thoroughly broken through the shackles and successfully stepped into the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage!

At this moment, Li Changqing's tense expression suddenly relaxed. Joy that could not be concealed erupted in his eyes. The heavy stone that had been hanging in his heart finally landed, and he exhaled a long, turbid breath, feeling a sense of relief wash over his entire body.

Hard cultivation led to a Breakthrough, and a child was added to the Family; one achievement and one blessing—it could truly be called a double happiness.

Thinking of this, Li Changqing's joy deepened. A warm and sincere smile lingered between his brows, and his Dao Heart became increasingly clear and stable.

After the surging joy in his heart slowly calmed, Li Changqing pondered for a moment, calmly sorting out his own state.

He had not seen his beloved son, Li Yuntian, for over half a year, and his heart had long been filled with overflowing yearning and constant worry.

But he knew deeply that since his Realm had just broken through, his Foundation was not yet completely stable. At this moment, the most dangerous thing was a restless mind or rashly leaving seclusion. If the Foundation was not firmly consolidated, it would easily leave behind hidden dangers for his cultivation. At best, his Realm would be unstable and progress slow; at worst, his Foundation would be damaged, and his cultivation would regress—the losses would outweigh the gains.

After weighing the pros and cons, Li Changqing suppressed the longing for his son and decided to continue his seclusion for some time to thoroughly polish and consolidate his Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Foundation, remove any hidden dangers from the Breakthrough, and temper his cultivation to a stable state before peacefully leaving seclusion to reunite with his wife and child.

Having made up his mind, he no longer allowed himself to be distracted by stray thoughts. He quickly collected his mind, calmed his breath, reorganized his cultivation state, and once again sank into focused, diligent cultivation.

Time flowed leisurely, and another half a year passed in a flash.

After half a year of seclusion and precipitation, day after day of polishing and tempering allowed Li Changqing's newly broken-through Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Realm to become completely stable. His Foundation was incredibly solid, his Spiritual Qi flowed smoothly and freely, without any trace of instability or flaws; his Foundation was sturdy and reliable.

With his cultivation completely stabilized, the long-repressed yearning for his son could no longer be contained.

Li Changqing finished his cultivation and stood up, slowly walking out of the training room where he had been in seclusion for several years.

After leaving seclusion, he sensed the fluctuations of Spiritual Qi in the surroundings and realized that his wife, Zhang Yuxi, was still in seclusion, her state stable and improving.

Li Changqing did not want to rashly send a message to disturb her cultivation rhythm, so he moved his Divine Thought and walked out of Changsheng Garden.

Stepping onto Xuanling Island, he caught sight of his young son, Li Feng, from whom he had been separated for over a year.

After more than a year of not seeing each other, the once ignorant child had grown much larger.

Now, Li Feng was nearly six years old. His features had become increasingly refined and delicate; his eyebrows were like a painting, and his facial features were beginning to show definition. His stature far exceeded that of ordinary children—he was tall, robust, and had solid bones, naturally carrying a clear, spiritual aura unique to the offspring of Cultivators.

In another half a year, Li Feng would be able to have his Spiritual Root tested.

According to statistics from busybodies, the probability of a Cultivator's offspring having a Spiritual Root is vastly different from the one-in-ten-thousand chance among the offspring of Mortals.

Usually, if one parent is a Qi Refining Cultivator, the probability of the offspring having a Spiritual Root is around one percent. If both parents are Qi Refining Cultivators, the probability can increase several times, reaching about five percent.

This is also the reason why even a Qi Refining Initial Stage Cultivator with only an inch of Spiritual Root is more valued than most Innate Realm Martial Artists.

If both parents are Foundation Establishment Cultivators, the probability of their offspring having a Spiritual Root can basically reach about thirty percent; that is to say, if they have ten children, about three will have a Spiritual Root.

Likewise, the higher the quality of the parents' Spiritual Roots, the easier it is for their offspring to be born with high-quality Spiritual Roots.

If both parents are Golden Core Cultivators, the probability of their offspring having a Spiritual Root can reach seventy percent. It is said that the probability for the offspring of Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators to have a Spiritual Root reaches over ninety percent. However, once cultivation reaches the Nascent Soul Stage, the difficulty for Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators to conceive increases exponentially.

Li Changqing had fed the remaining drop of creation immortal liquid in the creation bottle to Zhang Yuxi's flying Spirit Beast, the Twin-Winged Azure Phoenix. After consuming the creation immortal liquid, the Twin-Winged Azure Phoenix's Bloodline broke through to the Earth Rank, and its cultivation simultaneously broke through to become a Second Rank Initial Stage Spirit Beast.

It is rumored that the Azure Phoenix is a close relative of the ancient divine bird, the Phoenix, belonging to an independent branch within the "Phoenix species."

It originally possessed extremely high spiritual intelligence, and after the Breakthrough, it could even understand human speech and conduct telepathy.

Its Bloodline contained pure Origin of Wind and a small amount of Wood vitality.

This Bloodline gave it a natural affinity for natural elements, allowing it to easily manipulate air currents and sense subtle movements within a radius of ten miles.

Over these past ten-plus years, four more drops of creation immortal liquid had been born in the creation bottle, which he had saved in a separate vessel. Li Changqing prepared to feed one drop to his son before the Spirit Testing Ceremony; the creation immortal liquid was extremely mild and would not cause any damage to the body.

Seven months later.

At the Qingfeng Mountain Family grounds, on the plaza outside a certain pavilion on the mountainside, more than two hundred people had gathered at this time.

Looking around, most of the people here were children between six and eight years old. Most of them were whispering to each other, and the scene was quite lively.

And in this crowd, Li Feng was among them.

As for today, it was the annual day for the Li Family's Cultivator descendants to have their Spiritual Roots tested.

And this plaza was the Spirit Testing site for the Family grounds, mainly held to conduct Spirit Testing for the second and third-generation blood relatives of Cultivators living in the Li Family grounds.

Besides this, in the dozen or so Mortal towns controlled by the Family, there were dozens of Spirit Testing points, which would be held every two years.

It must be known that the Spirit Testing Ceremony held every two years could reserve quite a few cultivation seeds for the Li Family to strengthen the clan, and among them, there was no lack of young boys and girls with outstanding Spiritual Root Aptitudes.

Over these past ten-plus years, because the Li Family increased rewards for giving birth to clansmen with Spiritual Roots, the scale of Cultivators had grown rapidly.

And the children who could conduct Spirit Testing at Qingfeng Mountain at this time were all direct close relatives of Li Family Cultivators.

The Family rules were strict. Clansmen beyond the third generation, if they lacked Spiritual Root immortal affinity, had to move out of the core of the main peak of Qingfeng Mountain and go to various towns under the Family's jurisdiction to settle down, either enjoying wealthy assets and spending the rest of their Mortal lives in peace, or becoming Martial Artists to continue striving.

This iron rule had been strictly observed by the Li Family for over a thousand years; it had long been carved into the Family rules and deeply rooted in people's hearts. If ordinary clansmen did not have world-shaking exploits or supreme contributions, there was absolutely no possibility of an exception.

Li Feng had just turned six years old not long ago, which happened to be the best age for a Cultivator to have their Spiritual Root tested; it was a critical day to determine his immortal path and decide his future route in life.

Li Changqing and his wife, although they were already certain in their hearts that Li Feng had a Spiritual Root, did not know its specific quality. Therefore, before dawn had fully broken, Li Feng arrived early at the Spirit Testing plaza to wait quietly for the Family elders to arrive and preside over the ceremony.

At this moment, he stood quietly in a corner of the crowd, his posture tall and slender; at such a young age, he already possessed a steady demeanor.

Between his tender brows, there was a touch of tenacity far exceeding that of his peers. His gaze was calm and distant, fixed steadily in the direction of the pavilion, turning a deaf ear to the surrounding clamor.

Such steady Heart-Nature was already second nature to him.

He had lived in the core area of Xuanling Lake since he was young, and was revered as the Young Lord by many Martial Artists on Xuanling Island who were the same age or even much older, which had cultivated an extraordinary demeanor in him.