Protect Our Patriarch

Chapter 8 – Wang Clan’s Xuan Yuan Techniques

Red-scaled eels were rare in these waters. Even if there were fishermen who were lucky enough to come across them, the fish would destroy ordinary fishing nets. At the end of the day, it boiled down to luck and strength to be able to catch them.

Of course, if one sailed into the ferocious waters, red-scaled eels were readily found. But God knows how many vicious creatures were hidden in such untamed and dangerous places. Even if you had stepped into Lingtai Realm, your life would be in danger if you were to trespass.

With the harvest of Wang Dinghai’s red-scaled eel, the fishermen’s excitement peaked. They quickly mended the net and continued to fish with great enthusiasm.

Wang Dinghai, on the other hand, personally led Wang Shouzhe and Gongsun Hui and sailed back to the Dingpu ferry wharf. They met up with a few of the family’s generals who had stayed behind and returned to the main residence.　

It was getting late, so Wang Shouzhe went to bed after washing up.

That night, Wang Shouzhe explored and entered into the Xuanwu cultivation state. Due to the memory fusion, he was somewhat familiar with it, and stepped into the correct path of cultivation.

Wang Shouzhe’s qi refining cultivation method was called “Wang Clan’s Xuan Yuan Techniques” which was said to be the earliest techniques handed down by the ancestors.

The profound energy of the cultivation method was calm and peaceful. There were no outstanding advantages and no fatal flaws. However, if you cultivated this method progressively to a more advanced stage, your strength would be more profound.

Qi Refining Realm!

This was the process by which the Xuanwu martial artist cultivated qi to continuously refine his/ her body to be stronger.

The pure qi travelled along his body’s network of channels where vital energy circulated and along the acupuncture points to warm them up, stimulating them one after another.

The acupuncture points would produce invisible energy fluctuations rhythmically which would spread throughout the body, compelling the vibration of qi and blood throughout the body.

As the qi flowed through more acupuncture points and orifices, the more intense the rhythm of qi and blood became until the 12 acupuncture points were connected in a closed loop. With that, the consumption of qi also reached its maximum and the rhythm of qi and blood peaked.

Suddenly!

A cool sensation spread instantly from his tailbone to his whole body, Wang Shouzhe felt his scalp tingling, his soul seemed to float out, and a dense qi rose from the top of his head.

The whole process lasted for 10 or so breaths, and the violent rhythm of qi and blood in the body receded like a tidal wave, turning into an invisible energy which converged towards his lower abdomen.

He spurted a mouthful of foul air. Within the empty sea of qi, a new surge of qi emerged like a pool of spring water, quickly filling the sea of qi.

At this moment, Wang Shouzhe could vaguely feel that the new profound energy in his qi sea had grown slightly stronger. His energy which had somewhat depleted seemed to have recovered, as if it had grown marginally stronger.

This completed the cultivation of the Xuan Yuan Techniques for the week. The cultivation of Xuanwu martial artists was an extremely long and cumulative process. These were the foundation blocks for every strong fighter.

However, this process required a massive consumption of qi and blood. Xuanwu practitioners must supplement their food and take pills to increase their qi and blood. Otherwise, the body would not benefit from such cultivation. Instead, the body would collapse due to the deficiency of qi and blood.

The higher the cultivation level, the greater the demand for food and nutrition. This was the reason why every Xuanwu practitioner established his/ her own aristocratic family, using it as a way to seize wealth and abundant resources to feed themselves.

Fortunately, in these couple of days, Wang Shouzhe was well nourished, and he didn’t refine his qi and blood.

As such, he continued the cultivation for the second week…

By dawn, Wang Shouzhe had completed four weeks of cultivation in two hours or so. He felt very energetic and had seemingly endless energy. He could clearly feel his cultivation level had made some progress.

However, his body’s qi and blood had been depleted. He could feel a sense of “hunger”. It was different from the usual feeling of hunger. It was a very strange and clear call of hunger.

At the same time, he felt some “swelling” and discomfort in the acupuncture points and meridians. His experience tells him that in this situation, no matter how strong his qi and blood are, he can’t practice anymore. He needs to restore the overburdened acupuncture points and meridians naturally.

But the progress was gratifying! As he combined the memories and experiences of his predecessor to judge the current situation, Wang Shouzhe felt that if he made such progress every day, he would have a chance to break through the shackles and reach the seventh level of the Qi Refining Realm in less than three months.

It was extremely difficult to achieve such an ideal state under normal circumstances. After such a massive consumption of qi and blood, replenishment was required.  Consuming ordinary food would take too long. Only a large amount of spiritual rice and spiritual food would do the job.

But even though Wang Shouzhe was the first in line to receive the clan’s cultivation resources, he was only allocated five catties of white jade spirit rice, five catties of spirit fish meat, and five catties of spirit horn yak beef every month.　　

Although these were high-end ingredients which were rich in energy, they make up five meals at most, which means he could only replenish his diet once every six or seven days. In addition, as the family’s top priority, he has a monthly share of one “Xiao Pei Yuan Dan”.

Xiao Pei Yuan Dan was a more advanced cultivation resource than spirit food, but with a price tag of 10 Qian gold a piece, it can be said to be extremely expensive. Some of the clansmen at the end of the cultivation chain can only claim one from the clan when they are about to breakthrough at each cultivation level to assist them in their breakthrough.

If he ate spirit food and had a cultivation pill every day, Wang Shouzhe estimated that his cultivation speed could take flight……

“Patriarch, your morning meal is here,” his servant, Wang Gui knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

Wang Shouzhe got up from the bed, while Wang Gui came in. He put the breakfast aside, and first fetched water to help his master wash up and brush his teeth. Then, he opened the food boxes and set them out, one by one.

“Huh? A big pot of white jade spirit rice porridge and slices of steamed Linggan (spirit yellowcheek) pickles? Wang Shouzhe looked at the dazzling breakfast astonishingly. In addition to the two precious spirit food, there were also some pastries, snacks, side dishes for the porridge, and others.

He knew this morning’s meal was exceptional, and that eating spirit food all the time would certainly replenish his qi and blood quickly and maximise his cultivation progress. But in reality, there was a principle of diminishing marginal productivity involved.　

If all of one’s meals were like this, there would inevitably be lots of wasted nutrition and reduced the cost-benefit ratio.

The Wang clan was too poor to afford such a wasteful form of cultivation. Moreover, the clan has family rules, and even the patriarch couldn’t arbitrarily suck the blood of other clansmen.

“Patriarch, this came from Miss Xia He, Madam Gongsun’s personal maid.” Wang Gui replied honestly, “She said Madam Gongsun made the morning meal. She also brought a message from Madam, who said that the patriarch is now at a critical moment when he is sprinting towards the late Qi Refining Realm, so he should not be contentious.”

As expected!

Wang Gui’s words confirmed Wang Shouzhe’s suspicions that the meal comprised Gongsun Hui’s own rations. In particular, the phrase “don’t be contentious” also prevented Wang Shouzhe from declining the meal.

Right, best not to let her good intentions and efforts go to waste.

He was confident that the clan’s situation would improve. From his efforts yesterday, the revenue from Wang Dinghai’s fishing and hunting fleet would more than double in the future, and this would significantly ease the family’s resource constraints.　　

After a meal of spirit food, the slightly deficient qi and blood were immediately replenished. As the food was digested and transformed, the qi and blood would become increasingly abundant.

After eating and drinking his fill, Wang Shouzhe mused about preparing to inspect the family’s other properties. Whether he wanted to or not, he was already completely tied to the Ping’an Wang clan.　　

As the patriarch, it was natural to know every aspect of the family. This was the only way to think holistically and find a way to revive the declining family.