“Holy shit, it's a ghost!” Jiang Lu howled in a girly voice betraying his masculine and burly appearance, despite his very apparent fear, he stepped forward positioning himself to block Jiang Nan from Ling-er’s sight.
“Ghost!? Did it take Fei-er! We have to get a cultivator!” Jiang Nan quickly thought of the worst and set her mind into overdrive to think of a solution.
“Wait! Calm Down! I am a formation spirit created by your ancestors to serve you guys. My name is Ling-er and I only transported Master Jiang Fei to a secret realm for training.” Ling-er hurriedly replied, while cutely placing her hands on her head as an attempt to protect herself.
“Huh?”x2
Jiang Nan and Jiang Lu both showed confused expressions as their heads quickly swivelled to each other, both of them seemed to have question marks in their eyes and they quickly realised that they both were equally clueless.
“Please, let’s all sit down and we can talk it out?”
After a brief explanation about what a secret realm and formation spirit are, Jiang Lu and Jiang Nan were roughly brought up to speed but still had certain questions.
“Wait, you said my ancestors were powerful? Then why did we abandon our ancestral homeland and move here to become farmers?” Jiang Lu asked in a puzzled voice
“Well, 1 cultivation generation ago the family suffered great setbacks in the upper realm, this caused many sealed members to have to ascend when the heavenly staircase descended. Since the heavenly staircase can only accommodate 30 people at a time,we took up basically all the spots. “ Ling-er’s voice trembled as she recounted her experiences before being sealed.
Struggling to find it in her to continue, Jiang Lu and Jiang Nan decided to wait for her to collect her emotions before continuing.
After a while, Ling-er finally managed to resolve herself to continue her recount of what happened.
“Well, that earned us the ire of many families on this planet. Coupled with the fact that we already were at odds with many of the large factions’ branches on this planet, we were quickly overwhelmed and had to spread out to preserve our bloodline and heritage. The main branch, being your branch, had to keep both the surname and the ancestral shrine. Then, we all moved away from our homeland.” Ling-er finished her recount, all while keeping a stoic expression and resolute tone.
“Wait, slow down. What is a heavenly staircase? Also what is a planet? Are there other planets?” Jiang Nan, being the more proactive and observant one in the couple, quickly picked up on the cultivation jargon used by Ling-er and was eager to find out more.
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Ling-er raised her hand and dramatically slapped it on her head. Letting out a small sigh upon realising that she forgot the fact that the Jiang Family had stopped cultivating.
“Well, this might be shocking but try your best to keep absolutely calm.The heavenly staircase is used to go to the upper realm, the quality of energy and herbs are way better, the strength of cultivators there is also on a different scale. The most important part is that the upper realm allows access to different universes. Now-” Ling-er wanted to continue explaining but she saw Jiang Nan cloaked in a dense white light and was now floating about 20 cm off the ground.
Jiang Lu was about to pull her down and shake her away but was abruptly stopped by Ling-er, he instinctively tried to break free but was prevented by Ling-er’s firm grip on his shoulder.
Ling-er,afraid of disturbing Jiang Nan, used her divine sense to inform Jiang Lu that Jiang Nan was undergoing a Dao epiphany.
Understanding how great an opportunity his wife had been given, Jiang Lu quietly crept out of the ancestral shrine.His movements surprisingly agile as he slipped through the narrow gap in the door and carefully closed it behind him, ensuring to not disturb Jiang Nan.
The Qi in the nearby area converged and swelled into Jiang Nan’s body. This would be nothing short of a miracle for cultivators, however Jiang Nan was not a cultivator.
If a mortal underwent a Dao epiphany, they were usually peerless geniuses who had a “fortuitous” encounter and obtained a manuscript about a Dao or cultivation knowledge.
Without the aid of an existing qi circulation technique or a master nearby, their meridians would swell as the qi would enter their body haphazardly and the qi would either cause them to implode or destroy their internal organs. Then, the world would lose a peerless genius and a mortal family would stumble upon their dead kin.
Right now, Jiang Nan was experiencing a swirl of emotions, her heart incessantly thumping. Despite her efforts to calm herself down by taking deep breaths, she immediately realised she practically lost control of her body.
Oh my god, what is going on… Am I dead? Wait, what is this energy surging in me? Should I-
“Ok keep calm Jiang Nan, I am here with you ok. Now listen to me, can you feel that energy in you? Direct that energy away from your organs, or your insides. Try to filter the energy into threads and combine all the coloured energy together. Guide the threads to your skin and muscles and imagine it sinking in.” Ling-er calmly and methodically instructed Jiang Nan, hoping to gain a new cultivator for the family.
She made the cautious choice of asking Jiang Nan to absorb all the different types of Qi in the area, this was in case she wanted to choose a specific elemental qi circulation technique later, and having a balanced body, while not particularly inclined towards any element will also allow her to cultivate any element she wants to.
If Jiang Nan succeeded she would enter the realms of cultivators and reach the 1st stage of the Body Tempering realm.
While Jiang Nan was joining the ranks of cultivators, Jiang Lu was outside moping and complaining about his poor comprehension.
“This is so embarrassing, she is never going to let me live this down. If I ever say I am better at something, this pops up. Oh no, she might be stronger than me. No it’s fine, I beat a cultivator before. Please do not be stronger than me, how can I get my nightly fun on top if she is stronger?”
His monologue was interrupted by an old man, with a hermit-like appearance, and a contrasting sage-like temperament,his dirty clothes fluttered in the wind, he continued walking towards Jiang Lu, his gait unceasing. Then his lips parted as a line of words, absolutely chilling to Jiang Lu’s ears escaped his mouth.
“Excuse me, kid. Is that your wife in there?”
Instantly, Jiang Lu’s body tensed up, sweat started dripping down his back and forehead, his fists tightly clenched together, and his feet shuffled into a fighting stance.
What the duck, that is an expert. Why did he mention my wife? Is he looking to take her? This is horrible, maybe I can alert Ling-er to activate some sealed members. Ok play it calm, pretend I do not realise his strength and treat him normally. Jiang Lu could barely hear these thoughts over the drumming sound of his heart.