Author's note: This lovely chapter was sponsored by Kevin R and Jennifer R! Your contributions are eternally appreciated!
Host's note: I'm rehosting this on RRL for the author.
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In order to ensure that he would be able to find suitable elementals for his advancement, Jin Xia had decided to slowly progress his cultivation within the Xing Profound realm for the time being.
Only after he discovered a compatible elemental beast to his liking, would Jin Xia consider breaking straight into the Emperor Realm.
And with his ancient experiences, Jin Xia was not afraid he would die so easily, even if his opponents were a bit stronger than him in cultivation.
Thus, while Jin Xia may feel a faint pressure to quickly grow stronger, he continued to suppress that feeling within his heart.
Like this, several days quickly turned into two months as time, like butterflies, peacefully flew by.
During this extended period of time, Jin Xia had solidified a thorough understanding of his improvised techniques and broke into the 7th stage Xing Profound realm from the 6th stage, after spending only four days cultivating. An unprecedented speed of cultivation.
Likewise, Xie Mei, who had been studying diligently, was able to finally step into the 5th stage of the Wudan Realm. She grasped the first layer of [Four Season Palm], ‘Falling Leaves over the Sun’, and reached the first part of [Celestial Fairies Tempering Body Art], ‘Purifying the Mortal Core.’
Moreover, with Xie Mei practicing faithfully to the [Soul Transformation] mantra, Jin Xia had noticed that the girl’s innate quality had become increasingly pure. It seems that at anytime her innate quality of 4 may ‘transform’ into that of the 5th quality!
On the other hand, Fei Yu and Fei Qing did not slack off either. With their naturally given talent of 5th innate quality, their cultivation and practice speed were quite swift.
Fei Yu had already completely mastered the first layers of the [Lotus Body Art], Budding Flower, and [Seven Petals Sword Arts], First Petal: Breezing the Silent Air. Her cultivation had reached the 9th stage of Wudan from the 6th stage of Wudan.
Fei Qing had likewise managed to master the first layers of the methods Jin Xia gave her: [Golden Spring Body Art], Bronze Body, and [Moonlight Sword Arts], Dancing Under the Moon. She had also stepped into the 8th stage of Wudan from the 5th stage.
Naturally, these rapid results in this world that lacks the necessary resources were only possible due to Jin Xia’s generous supplements of high-quality pills each day. And given the high innate qualities of the three girls, the results were as Jin Xia’s expected.
While the three girls had improved their strength, the overall prowess of the Jin family had taken a leap in power.
Under the occasional guidance of Jin Xia and his medicinal pills, the younger generations of the Jin Clan had rose in cultivation, with the weakest now already being in the 4th Wudan stage and the stronger ones in the 5th or even 6th Wudan stage.
Even the older generation members, such as the family elders and Jin Xia’s father, had benefited from Jin Xia’s advice. Most of them are now within the 6th Wudan stage, with the higher ranked elders being in the 7th stage and Liu Dan Xia being in the 9th stage of Wudan.
The latter’s improvement, even without opening a whole deal of meridians or purification of innate quality, was only possible because Jin Xia had treated his father to one of the rarer pills within his Eternal Gourd collection.
Otherwise, with his father’s innate quality of 3, he would not be able to jump from the 6th Wudan stage to the 9th in two months’ time.
With this huge rise in power, everyone in the Jin Clan had been feeling excited and brimming with confidence.
They knew all of this was due to a single person, who had “once deluded the entire family” — Jin Xia.
By now, to some of the younger family generations, Jin Xia had become someone akin to a god, a living legend, whom they adored to the extreme.
Little did they know, their worship was more than appropriate…
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“It’s about time I should begin…” Jin Xia murmured softly as he stared at the clear pond in his yard.
“With the Jin Clan’s overall strength having greatly increased, they will at least be able to defend themselves much better now.” Jin Xia mused.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
He had patiently waited for the Jin clansmen’s strength to grow for the past two months. This way, even if Jin Xia was not home, the clan itself will be able to support itself and resist against outsiders.
Now that there was a visible improvement in the clan, Jin Xia finally decided to propel his plans forward.
“As of now, we have family guards, competent servants, and a stronger young generation.” Jin Xia thought.
But Jin Xia did not feel as though it was enough. The lineup the Jin Clan has now may be great for a small clan, but with Jin Xia here, the clan’s growth is destined to not stay stagnant. In the future, it would require stronger entities to protect it from enemies.
And what types of personal entity do a typical powerful clan possess?
Although the groups may vary from clan to clan, two kinds of group have always been observed in such large clans.
And those are a personal elite army and a group which operates behind the scene in the clan, otherwise known as an assassin guild.
These are the two companies that Jin Xia wishes to assemble for the Jin Clan before he sets out on his journey to explore this world. They will inevitably make up the true core of the Jin Clan.
The clan had been simply too poor and weak to afford, or even sustain, such large factions. But Jin Xia was different.
He was more or less a walking encyclopedia. And a very, very rich one at that!
“I should start looking for some mortals to supplement these two groups.” Jin Xia mused as he paced around his yard. “Perhaps I will pay a visit to a few distant villages and select some young personages to train…”
There were hundreds of small villages scattered around in the forests and woodlands of the Great Azure Country. These were all poor families, who did not have any cultivators within their ranks. They led ordinary lives in the forest, toiling and working all day on soil of this land.
Likewise, due to limited food sources a family from a village could acquire, there is often not enough to feed everyone in the family.
Because of this, many villagers would choose to abandon their children. There was simply not enough food for even the parents to sustain themselves, less the children.
Like this, there were many orphans living in the forest as well. Some may be fortunate enough to be taken in by a capable patron, while others may not be so lucky, dying by either the fangs of wild beasts or by starvation.
Having a set plan in mind, Jin Xia leisurely walked out of his backyard.
Feeling of the excited auras of the Fei sisters and Xie Mei nearby, Jin Xia smiled as he noticed that the girls were still diligently training. It seems they may have been training since morning.
This level of assiduity was quite praiseworthy, given the fact not everyone was as studious in their training. Some people, even though they were born with the opportunity to cultivate, tend not to treasure it until it’s too late and they come to realize the cruelty of the outside world…
Catching a male servant who was hurriedly walking past, Jin Xia gave him an empty spatial ring and had the servant go fill it up with large quantities of food.
Only after the servant came back from completing the task, did Jin Xia decide to leave.
As he passed through the Xia courtyard, servants and elders alike who saw him all paused their steps and politely greeted him. Jin Xia nodded his head in silent acknowledgement as he continued to walk.
When he arrived in front of the Jin mansion’s door, two guards were situated on both side of the entrance. When these two guards saw the white-clothed youth approaching, a trace of reverence flashed through their eyes before they quickly shouted out:
““Greetings, Young master Jin Xia!””
Jin Xia gave them a nod before saying: “I am going to leave to personally do something important. Tell my father and mother that I should be back by tonight.”
“”We will be sure to inform them, young master!”” The two guards saluted in unison.
“Mn.”
Jin Xia turned and walked out of the Jin mansion. With a light tap of his feet, Jin Xia propelled himself forward as he speedily raced towards the outskirts of Tian City.
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Host's note: This chapter felt shorter than the others.