CH 13

Chapter 13 – Transformation of Mind

Clear Mental State

TL: Changed the term ‘Daoist Monarch’ to ‘Daoist Lord’.

The procession slowly left Zhenhai City, but the people of the Xu Clan still had not come back to their senses after receiving such a shock. The five Elders of the Council of Elders, the Patriarch Xu Chaoyang, the Young Patriarch Xu Xiao, and the rest of the upper management of the Xu Clan were now in the main hall of the Juying Palace.

Xu Qinying was seated in the head position at the table. He met eyes with Xu Chaoyang before speaking. “The Guo Clan is about to be relocated, and the power balance of the Ruyang Region is about to be reshuffled. Although the second son of the Prince said we might soon receive the conferral order from the Dynasty, we must not let our guard down before that day comes. I command you all to continue as normal. There must be no changes!”

“Understood, Great Elder!” Everyone responded in unison.

At this moment, Xu Qinying looked over at Xu Xiao, whose presence was extremely weak in the past few days. He was ordinarily in charge of overseeing and protecting Zhenhai City while the Patriarch and the Elders all retired to the Western Ravine Palace to cultivate. As the Young Patriarch, his authority was by no means small, but at this moment, he didn’t have much say.

“Xiao’er, what do you think about the matter with Sheng’er?” Xu Qinying asked in a low voice.

“Reporting to Great Elder, Sheng’er is…” Xu Xiao trailed off, somewhat at a loss for words. He was a promiscuous man, with several dozens of sons and 4 or 5 daughters. Aside from the time that Xu Disheng was born and was discovered to have a Xiantian Companion Artifact, he hadn’t managed to get that close to him in the last five years. Xu Disheng was a young boy who didn’t like speaking to other people, so there wasn’t really anyone that he was that close with aside from Jin Yu.

But now that Xu Disheng had become a proud son of heaven with a legendary Grade 2 aptitude that others could only dream of but never meet, the others from the Xu Clan had a hard time fully accepting this.

“Hmph!” Xu Chaoyang gave a cold snort, clearly somewhat unhappy. Others might not be able to understand Xu Xiao, but as the Patriarch, he understood him best.

“Ai, let’s take it one step at a time. In the end, Sheng’er is a member of the Xu Clan,” the Second Elder shook his head with a sigh.

✧✧✧

Although the carriage was luxurious, the roads were still rather bumpy, yet Daoist Lord Qingxin sat upright within, as if he was completely unaware of it.

Xu Disheng sat at the end of the carriage. Since he entered the carriage, Daoist Lord Qingxin had still not uttered a word, and he just sat there with his eyes closed, meditating.

Xu Disheng also didn’t say anything. He inwardly considered that perhaps the Daoist Lord was testing his temperament, so he wordlessly started to try and perceive the qi according to the Shangqing Qi Cultivation Method.

He sat there for half a day, but he didn’t make any progress.

Daoist Lord Qingxin suddenly opened his eyes and asked, “Are you cultivating the Shangqing Qi?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t cultivate it anymore. If you cultivate the Shangqing Qi, you will never be able to develop a sense of qi perception. That secret technique is for martial artists with inferior grade Dao Channels. But you have Grade 2 Profound Meridians, so this secret technique doesn’t apply to you.”

Xu Disheng quietly complied, feeling somewhat amazed. He had long since entered the carriage and didn’t get to hear Zhang Kemu’s explanations, so he still didn’t know what Profound Meridians were. There were a myriad of doubts and misgivings in his heart, but he kept them to himself and forced himself to remain silent in his seat at the end of the carriage.

Daoist Lord Qingxin saw that his temperament was steady despite only being a young five year old child. He slightly nodded his head and began to tell him a bit about Profound Meridians and the Dao Palace.

The Shangqing Dao was the state religion of the Grand Chu Dynasty, and it was an independent Daoist sect. Those belonging to the Dao Palace in each Province were disciples of the Shangqing Path. Having as many as 3 Xiantian Daoist Lords, the You Province’s Dao Palace possessed a fearsome level of power!

However, although they were powerful, they had very few people. Cultivating profound energy was different from cultivating Martial Techniques, as the requisite aptitude was extremely high. The minimum requirement was Grade 3 Profound Meridians.

Martial Xiantians and Profound Law Xiantians couldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath. Profound Laws were incredible, granting all kinds of inconceivable powers. On the other hand, while martial cultivators could reach the Xiantian stage, they could only rely on Martial Skills and Martial Techniques to fight.

Although all Xiantians were similarly extraordinary, Profound Law Xiantians had about 500 years of lifespan while Martial Xiantians only had about 200 years of lifespan. The only similarity between the two was that no matter which type of Xiantian it was, they were all exceedingly rare existences.

Up in front of the other horse-drawn carriage, the white-robed youth Zhang Shichuan dismounted from his horse and passed the reins of the horse to an attendant before entering the carriage himself. Once inside, he took a side across from Zhang Kemu.

“What’s wrong? I thought you liked to ride horses? Was coming with me as an Envoy this time to patrol the Ruyang Region satisfactory enough for you?” Zhang Kemu said with a laugh.

The family upbringing in Crown Prince Xing’s household was very strict. Even though Zhang Shichuan was the second son of the Crown Prince and had received all kinds of aristocratic family teachings from a young age, he was still a teenager at heart.

When he heard the news that a person with Upper Third Dao Channels had appeared in the Ruyang Region, he had his mother, one of Prince Xing’s concubines, plead Crown Prince Xing for a long time before he was finally permitted to go along with the Envoy to the Ruyang Region.

“The Ruyang Region is poor. I don’t think I could stay here for even one day. I originally came out here to take a break, but I really didn’t think I would be so disappointed,” Zhang Shichuan said softly, rubbing his somewhat sore feet.

“What do you think about that young child?”

Zhang Shichuan thought of the calm, peaceful look in Xu Disheng’s eyes, and that time he easily reached out and grabbed the dagger that he threw. He found that he actually somewhat liked him. “If only he was a little older, we could have been playmates…” he muttered.

Zhang Kemu couldn’t suppress his laughter. “This is someone with Grade 2 Profound Meridians, who is qualified to join the Shangqing Dao Palace to cultivate Profound Laws, and you actually want him to be your playmate? If His Excellency heard you say this, he would have punished you heavily again.”

“But Clan Uncle, you won’t tell him, right?” There were no strangers around at the moment, so the youth deliberately put on a tone that made him sound like a spoiled kid, a playful smile apparent in his bright eyes. It was clear that the uncle and nephew pair had a good relationship.

“You’re a famous genius from Youyang City with Grade 4 Dao Channels, so when you’re outside you can’t go acting like a little brat like this, alright?”

“…..”

✧✧✧

For the last 5 years, Xu Disheng had been somewhat vacant and lost, living one day to the next. For a long time now, he didn’t have any goals to speak of, to the point that he even began to doubt the meaning of his own existence.

After he got on the carriage with Daoist Lord Qingxin, he started to think deeply. Just what was my purpose for being reincarnated like this?

For my mother, Jin Yu? No, that wasn’t necessarily true, since Jin Yu’s love was not reserved only for him. There was Xu Xiao, his sister Xu Yan, as well as Jin Hai, Jin Qingzhao, Jin Qingdi, and her parents.

Then was it for my father, Xu Xiao? That also wasn’t right, since he hadn’t had a close relationship with his father. Since the matter with the Xiantian Companion Jade Flute, Xu Xiao had always had a somewhat complex attitude towards him. As the Young Patriarch, he was also very busy, and he had many wives and children, so he wouldn’t pay that much attention to his eleventh son.

Was it for the Xu Clan? Zhenhai City was the home location of the Xu Clan. Apart from his connection with Xu Xiao, there were 7 branch families associated with the various Elders. He had over a hundred clan uncles, clan brothers, and clan juniors. Until now, Xu Disheng hadn’t even gotten acquainted with everyone in the main branch of the Xu Clan, and in everyone else’s eyes he was just a child. He didn’t hold much significance to them, so he never felt any particular sense of belonging to the Xu Clan.

He had lost his memories and had awakened mysteriously as a newborn infant, remembering only his name. He had too many secrets about himself, and as he was at a loss on what to do, five whole years flew past!

I want to know who I am, and where I came from! Only by becoming stronger could he begin to solve these mysteries.

Xu Disheng abruptly opened his eyes, which were burning brightly like stars as he crazily revolved the Nourishing Soul Mantra. Two round, black vortexes spun in his pupils, and his body’s aura changed completely.

His mind suddenly became clear as he thoroughly cast away the muddleheaded state that he had been trapped in for these five years. He turned over a new leaf, as if he had become a completely different person!

Daoist Lord Qingxin opened his eyes and looked at Xu Disheng, as if he sensed something.

Xu Disheng hid the vortexes of Soul Force in his eyes before saluting respectfully. “Please forgive me for disturbing Daoist Lord’s meditation,” he said politely.

“No problem. I saw that there was some change in your temperament. Perhaps you’ve figured some things out, or sorted through your worries and set your heart at ease?”

“Daoist Lord has incredible sight. It’s exactly as you say,” Xu Disheng replied.

Daoist Lord Qingxin nodded slightly. Although he was normally somewhat cold, he was happy that he unexpectedly managed to find someone with Grade 2 Profound Meridians. “I know that you must have many doubts, but once we reach the You Province’s Dao Palace, they will slowly clear up.”

“Yes, Daoist Lord.”

Xu Disheng sensed the Soul Force that he had cultivated through the Soul Song, which was entirely different from the cultivation of Martial Techniques or Profound Laws. The Soul Song cultivation method had a direct effect on his soul, which was completely unheard of.

Even though Daoist Lord Qingxin was an incredible being at the peak of the Xiantian stage and possessed an incredibly discerning eye, he still wasn’t able to perceive the Soul Force within his body, nor could he discover the secret that he already possessed a sea of consciousness.

He looked into his sea of consciousness and examined the cyan jade flute as it slowly rotated within. It occasionally spilled out cyan light, which nourished his sea of consciousness. Seeing this, he began to understand somewhat.

How could this Xiantian Companion Artifact possible be ordinary?

At this moment, he set his mind at ease. The black Soul Force flowed through his body, starting from the Jianggong meridian point in his palms to the Shenque meridian point in his navel, then the Baihui meridian at the top of his head, where it finally incorporated into his sea of consciousness, completing a full revolution.

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