396: The grandson is older than the son.

Three days later.

[Ding! Congratulations to the Host on the birth of your 500th offspring. Spiritual Root: Ninth Grade. Reward: 500 Low-Grade Spirit Stones.]

[Ding! Congratulations to the Host on reaching 500 offspring. Reward: Tier 4 Top-Grade Alchemist experience.]

Li Man had given birth; it was a boy, ranking 483rd in the Family.

Following the custom of one generation name for every two hundred children, Liu Xuan named him Liu Tongya, intending for his heart to connect with heaven and earth, and his ambition to stand at the edge of the cliff.

"Little Man, take good care of yourself and strive to achieve Foundation Establishment within three years."

Liu Xuan no longer needed to personally provide rewards when his Concubines gave birth. The Family would naturally raise her status, her benefits would improve in a few days, and she could receive a one-time childbirth subsidy from the Family.

"Thank you, Husband!"

"You coming back to see me is worth more than any number of Spirit Stones!"

Liu Xuan hadn't returned for the births of so many other women's children, yet he had arrived days early for hers. This alone was enough to incite the jealousy of many other women.

"How is Ninth Son doing? Has he caused any trouble for you, Husband?"

During the time she spent recuperating at the Red Pine Sect, Li Man's biggest worry was her son, Ninth Son.

Although the child was sensible, worked hard to Cultivate, and was steady in his actions, in Li Man's eyes, he was always just a child. After being separated for so long, she always worried that he wasn't doing well.

"Ninth Son is doing very well, rest assured!"

"He is currently third among all the children in terms of combat ability, and it's estimated that he will reach the Foundation Establishment stage within two years. If you don't work harder, you'll be surpassed by your son!"

Li Man did not fight or compete, never interfered with Family power, and wasn't even very diligent about her own Cultivation. However, because she had such a good son in Ninth Son, her status had always been very high.

If Ninth Son successfully became the third of the Family's children to advance to a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, her status would soar even higher.

"Really! They weren't lying to me. He is truly my son!"

Li Man had heard rumors about her son's excellent performance, but she hadn't truly believed them. Now that she had confirmed it from Liu Xuan himself, it was even more gratifying than Liu Xuan coming to see her in person.

The couple chatted for a while to nurture their relationship until a maid came to report that Young Master Dao Hong and others had brought the little young masters to request an audience with the Master.

Only then did Liu Xuan remember that one of the purposes of his return was to see those dozen or so grandchildren.

After reminding Li Man once more to rest well, Liu Xuan stood up and followed the maid toward the East Garden Hall.

East Garden Hall.

The nineteenth son, Liu Daohong, along with several playboy sons born to Concubines from the Yongning Family, sat properly. Nearby, their women were present with a total of seventeen children of various ages.

Among them, the eldest, Liu Yifan, was eight years old, while the youngest was still in swaddling clothes, not yet weaned, and only three months old.

Although Liu Yifan was already eight, he would always be a generation lower in the Liu Family. Some of the newly born children were his uncles and aunts; they were all his elders.

Grandchildren being older than sons was quite normal since Liu Xuan was constantly having children. As time went on, situations where great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren were older than his sons would also occur.

With his own sons constantly being born, Liu Xuan naturally didn't place much importance on the grandchildren. Furthermore, since the cultivation accumulation of later descendants suffered from diminishing returns, he had even less time to concern himself with them.

Although he rewarded their parents for every grandchild born, he did not put as much effort into nurturing them as he did his own children.

Liu Xuan's philosophy was that when descendants beyond the second generation were born, their parents would receive a childbirth subsidy and be responsible for raising them. Unless they possessed exceptional talent, they could not enter the Clan School, nor could they receive the super-standard nurturing that Liu Xuan's own children received.

Because of the diminishing returns on cultivation accumulation, it was destined that the Family would not treat them with the same equality as the second-generation children.

Currently, the number of Liu Family descendants was small, so this wasn't very apparent, but once the number of Family members skyrocketed, this would gradually be reflected in the Family system.

For every generation lower, one had to put in double the effort to receive the same treatment from the Family.

This was clearly unfair! At the very least, Liu Daohong felt it was extremely unfair. After giving up on himself, his greatest wish was to raise a Genius child to prove to his father that he was not useless.

He had so many children and wanted to send them all to the Sect's East Garden Clan School, hoping they could receive the same level of nurturing.

But First Madam Lin Xue'er told him it was impossible. He had to raise his own children himself. They could participate in the Family assessment, but their comprehensive scores had to be in the top fifty percent to enter the Clan School; this was an order personally issued by his father.

Without having entered the Clan School from a young age, everyone's starting point was different. Unless their Spiritual Root talent was exceptionally high, it was impossible to score in the top fifty percent.

After they started martial arts training at age six, the Family would conduct assessments every quarter. Currently, there were three third-generation descendants who met the age requirement, all of whom were Dao Hong's children, but none of them met the conditions to enter the Clan School.

Before Liu Xuan returned this time, he had sent word for them to bring the children along to meet him. Dao Hong thought his father had realized his mistake and was going to give the grandchildren the same treatment, and he was incredibly excited.

Liu Xuan entered holding Xin Ci. Dao Hong hurriedly stood up and bowed, "Son Dao Hong pays respects to Father!"

He signaled for his Dao Companion to bring his son over and instructed, "Yifan, quickly greet Grandfather."

"Yifan pays respects to Grandfather!"

Eight-year-old Liu Yifan was well-mannered and very obedient.

Liu Xuan patted his shoulder and smiled, "Your bone structure is strong, and you are quite diligent. Not bad!"

"Thank you for the praise, Grandfather!"

Liu Xuan looked at each of the dozen or so grandchildren. He didn't lecture them much, offering only encouraging words as if they were just chatting.

The Liu Family's benefits were exaggeratedly good, yet these sons had still become playboys. Their talents were originally among the worst, so Liu Xuan didn't have high expectations for them, and his expectations for their children were even lower.

As long as they didn't violate the Family rules, Liu Xuan wouldn't treat them coldly due to objective reasons.

Liu Xuan wasn't ruthless enough to force untalented children to achieve great success. At the very least, he had to provide the decency they were owed; after all, they were his own descendants.

Seeing his father's attitude was so amiable, Dao Hong became even happier. While chatting, he quickly steered the conversation toward the children entering the East Garden Clan School.

"Father, these grandchildren of yours are all descendants of our Liu Family. Is it possible to let them enter the Clan School as well?"

The smile on Liu Xuan's face slowly faded, and the atmosphere in the entire hall fell silent.

After a moment, Liu Xuan said, "The East Garden Clan School is not suitable. In a while, I will have someone open a lower-level Clan School in Great Sun City. You can send them there when the time comes."

The Liu Family was developing rapidly and had no shortage of resources. The third-generation descendants could also be nurtured; their benefits just needed to be halved.

The number of third-generation descendants would certainly increase over time, and eventually, their number would inevitably exceed that of the second-generation descendants.

Once the numbers grew, it was inevitable that some Geniuses would appear, and Liu Xuan couldn't ignore all of them.

His idea was to first build the framework for a Clan School to nurture the third-generation descendants, making it convenient for centralized cultivation once the numbers increased later on.

Dao Hong really wanted to know about the benefits of the lower-level Clan School, but he was sensible enough not to ask further.