15: Learning martial arts

At the small courtyard at the foot of the mountain.

Lin Xue'er cradled the baby, while Liu Xuan held a bowl of liquid emitting wisps of white mist, feeding it to him bit by bit.

"Husband, isn't it too extravagant to feed the child with moonlight spiritual marrow while he is so young?" Lin Xue'er said, worried.

moonlight spiritual marrow is divided into different Ranks based on the concentration of moonlight, but the lowest is at least First-Rank Low Grade, costing fifteen Spirit Stones per bottle.

Although what was in Liu Xuan's bowl had been diluted with breast milk, it still took one bottle every half month, costing thirty Spirit Stones a month.

A small baby costing thirty Spirit Stones a month—it was no wonder Lin Xue'er felt worried.

Liu Xuan reached out and teased little Eldest Son, making him giggle, and said indifferently: "The spiritual energy in moonlight spiritual marrow is gentle and is most suitable for building a Foundation for infants. For the sake of little Eldest Son, what are these few Spirit Stones?"

"Don't you agree, little Eldest Son?" Liu Xuan finished, smiling and flicking his tender cheek.

"That may be so, but thirty Spirit Stones a month! Isn't that too expensive?"

Looking into Liu Xuan's eyes, Lin Xue'er said seriously: "Besides, we don't even know if Xiao Yuan has a Spiritual Root yet. I think it's better to save the Spirit Stones and wait until he is six years old when his Spiritual Root is determined."

Spiritual Roots involve the Divine Soul and are ethereal; it is impossible to determine if a newborn baby has a Spiritual Root. One must wait until the child is at least three years old to use a Magical Artifact for testing, but even then, it is not very accurate. To truly determine if a child has a Spiritual Root, one needs to wait until they are six.

Lin Xue'er's concern was simple: if little Eldest Son did not have a Spiritual Root, spending so many Spirit Stones to nurture him now would be too wasteful. It would be better to save them for a future child who might have a Spiritual Root.

"Alright!" Liu Xuan wanted to laugh when he saw Lin Xue'er's serious little expression. He flicked her cheek just as he had done to little Eldest Son's and smiled:

"If he doesn't have a Spiritual Root, then so be it. If his Foundation is well-built, it will be much smoother for him to Cultivate martial arts in the future.

It's just a few Spirit Stones; for a future great Talisman Master like me, it's not a big problem."

According to the System description, all of his offspring's Cultivation would be added to Liu Xuan. The child's Cultivation was his own, and the child's potential was his own, so of course, he was willing to spend Spirit Stones on the child.

Investing in himself still required hard work in Cultivation, but investing in the child only required spending Spirit Stones—it was a huge profit!

As for the Spiritual Root, Liu Xuan didn't really care much. If there was no Spiritual Root, he would just Cultivate martial arts and practice the Kunpeng Swallowing Heaven Body Refining Method.

"Husband~"

Lin Xue'er was moved to tears. It was said that the immortal path valued selfishness, that cultivators severed emotions and renounced love, all for the sake of their Cultivation and Dao path, yet Liu Xuan gave her a different feeling.

Having lived in a cultivation Family since she was young, Lin Xue'er had long seen through the essence of cultivation Families; everything served the upper echelons.

Even for the children of Foundation Establishment grand cultivators, if they lacked a talented Spiritual Root, they would not receive much support.

Liu Xuan ignored his own Cultivation and was willing to spend a great price to nurture their child before a Spiritual Root was even determined. Lin Xue'er felt fortunate to have become his Dao Companion.

"Rest assured!"

Liu Xuan thought Lin Xue'er was worried about the Spirit Stones, so he took out a stack of Talismans to show her and said:

"I can already successfully draw three types of unranked Talismans, and my success rate has reached eighty percent. In two months at most, I will be able to become a First-Rank Low-Grade Talisman Master.

By then, your husband will be promoted to an Inner Sect Disciple of the Talisman Hall. A mere few dozen Spirit Stones will be nothing!"

Three months ago, Liu Xuan demonstrated a seventy percent success rate with the Dust-Avoiding Talisman and passed the assessment of the Talisman Hall to become an unranked Talisman apprentice.

In five months, Liu Xuan sold one thousand unranked Talismans, obtaining seventy Spirit Stones.

During this period, he spent sixty Spirit Stones to purchase thirty stacks of unranked Talisman paper and thirty bottles of unranked Talisman ink, all of which had been used up.

Besides the one thousand Talismans sold, Liu Xuan still had three thousand unranked Talismans on hand, plus one hundred First-Rank Low-Grade Arrow Talismans, with a total value of three hundred and ten Spirit Stones.

Although it was inconvenient to sell these Talismans all at once, they could be sold little by little. If he became a First-Rank Low-Grade Talisman Master after some time, he would have countless ways to cash them in.

With grain in hand, there is no panic in the heart!

Liu Xuan possessed the ability to earn money continuously, so saving money had no meaning for him. Only by spending it to turn it into strength or potential could these Spirit Stones realize their value.

"Yes! You are amazing!" Lin Xue'er gave Liu Xuan a coquettish glare and said: "Anyway, the Spirit Stones I saved have all been spent by you. If you don't become a First-Rank Low-Grade Talisman Master by then, we will have to drink the northwest wind!"

The money from selling Talismans during this period was basically all used by Liu Xuan to buy Talisman Drawing Materials. He spoke boldly, but in reality, he was spending all of Lin Xue'er's savings.

The Spirit Stones she had painstakingly saved for three years were originally intended for her future child who might have a Spiritual Root. Seeing Liu Xuan spend them all in a few months, how could she not feel pained?

Lin Xue'er did not know that Liu Xuan had stockpiled Talismans worth three hundred Spirit Stones. In her view, although Talisman Masters earned money, they also spent it.

At this stage, Liu Xuan still needed to spend a large amount of Spirit Stones to buy high-grade Materials for learning and progress. To advance to a First-Rank Low-Grade Talisman Master, the amount of Spirit Stones he could take out to use would not be much.

Liu Xuan found it difficult to explain to Lin Xue'er, so he could only keep comforting her and telling her to set her mind at ease.

After playing with Lin Xue'er and little Eldest Son for a while, Liu Xuan brought up the main business:

"Xue'er, I am a bit interested in martial arts. Can you teach me?"

Liu Xuan cultivated the Kunpeng Swallowing Heaven Body Refining Method, and his Physical Body strength was extremely strong. To make it easier to explain later if it were exposed, Liu Xuan planned to practice martial arts in his spare time.

"Practice martial arts?"

"Why would you have such a thought, Husband?"

Lin Xue'er asked, puzzled.

Liu Xuan needed to Cultivate his Cultivation Technique and also needed to spend time on Talisman Drawing. His time and energy were already very tight, and Lin Xue'er could not understand why Liu Xuan would practice martial arts.

Liu Xuan remained calm and stated the reason he had long prepared: "Talisman Drawing consumes Divine Soul energy. I heard that practicing martial arts doesn't require using one's brain, so I thought I would relax when I have free time. At the same time, it can increase my Physical Body strength. Isn't that the best of both worlds!"

Practice martial arts to relax??

Lin Xue'er looked at Liu Xuan as if looking at a fool. "Although practicing martial arts doesn't require using the brain, it requires tempering the body. Husband, are you sure you can endure that kind of pain?"

Cultivators can also practice martial arts, and increased Physical Body strength can even feed back into the Divine Soul, but why do basically no cultivators concurrently practice martial arts?

It is because practicing martial arts is too torturous and too painful! Every bit of progress requires enduring the pain of the body being squeezed to its limits.

Rather than spending time practicing martial arts, it is better to spend more time comprehending Cultivation Techniques and spells.

Concurrently practicing martial arts is a despised existence in the circle of cultivators, indicating that this person's future in cultivation has already been exhausted.

"I am just curious and want to give it a try. If it really doesn't work out, then forget it!" Liu Xuan said.

"Alright then!"

Lin Xue'er felt that what Liu Xuan said was reasonable, so she just assumed it was a common topic Liu Xuan found to accompany her.

Practicing martial arts is hard work; Lin Xue'er did not believe that Liu Xuan could truly persist!