Chapter 224: A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step

Chapter 224: Chapter 224: A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step

"A choice?"

Mo Jinyu was a little confused. The Mo Family was one of the top Noble Families in the Celestial Abyss Realm and an Elder Clan that had founded the Wuji Immortal Sect.

And the Wuji Immortal Sect was the undisputed hegemon of the Celestial Abyss Realm.

For a family as powerful as the Mo Family to be merely a "choice" for her brother’s disciple... Even if his Talent was truly exceptional, and even if he had mastered multiple Skills that could influence the family’s very foundation, he shouldn’t warrant such a high evaluation from her brother.

"What do you think of Liu Chen’s cultivation Talent?"

Mo Xuan couldn’t help but look over. The end of the trial was just an appeal to emotion; he wasn’t certain if it would be enough to make Liu Chen return.

He had formally accepted Ji Suyao and Ye Linglong as his Closed-door Disciples partly because he was truly satisfied with them, and partly because Liu Chen had a very good relationship with the two of them.

"According to the information I received, reaching Meridian Passage Peak in nearly three years certainly makes him a true prodigy. Even the most outstanding disciples in the Mo Family’s history can’t compare to him. However, the Wuji Immortal Sect isn’t without prodigies like that."

Mo Jinyu was very candid. The relationship between the Mo Family and the Wuji Immortal Sect was quite complex. Strictly speaking, the Mo Family was a part of the Wuji Immortal Sect, but it held absolute autonomy in Black Water Province.

But the Mo Family was one of the five great Noble Families that originally founded the Wuji Immortal Sect. Even now, with the Wuji Immortal Sect having transformed from a loose alliance into a true Sect, the five great families still held seats on the highest Elder Council. They were also the only five Noble Families permitted to govern an entire province on their own.

"That was false information we released. From the time your older brother brought Liu Chen back to begin cultivating until now, it has been exactly five months."

Bai Qiulan walked over and patted Mo Jinyu’s shoulder. She and Mo Xuan had already come to a clear understanding when they discussed this. If Liu Chen didn’t return after reaching the Bright Aperture Realm, they would resort to their backup plan: have Ji Suyao and Ye Linglong bring him back.

She also came from a family, so she naturally knew that a family wouldn’t cultivate a disciple for no reason. Therefore, Ji Suyao and Ye Linglong were the guarantee—and an explanation for the Mo Family.

After all, under normal circumstances, the two of them would certainly never take an interest in any other Mo Family prodigies. In that case, they would just be consuming resources without providing any tangible benefit, which went completely against the family’s interests. Liu Chen was the key to breaking this deadlock.

The good news was that both women were already deeply in love with Liu Chen. The bad news was that, so far, Liu Chen hadn’t shown any signs of having feelings for them.

"Five months..."

Mo Jinyu was lost in a daze. Five months into her own cultivation, she had only just set foot in the Body Tempering Early Stage. Back then, she had felt she was already quite impressive, but compared to this, the gap was far too obvious.

Reaching Meridian Passage Peak in five months was already terrifying to even hear about. Add to that his three Skills as a Spirit Chef, Spirit Brew Master, and Soul Cultivator, and the difference in their Talent was simply beyond words.

"This is why I won’t bring him back to the Mo Family. Or rather, ever since I started revealing the details of the Mo Family’s trial, he never once promised me he would return. His answer was that he was confident he could advance to the Bright Aperture Realm."

Mo Xuan said calmly. When he and his wife made their decision, they had already considered all of these things.

If it weren’t for Liu Chen, what would it matter if he, as the Young Master and future Patriarch of the Mo Family, took a few more disciples? But to prevent Liu Chen from feeling alienated when the time came for him to make his choice, he would not be accepting any more disciples.

"I see."

Mo Jinyu nodded. She could still understand all this information. After all, being part of the Mo Family, she had experienced many such things before. The Mo Family’s branch families would basically use these same methods when absorbing outstanding disciples.

"We’re going to rest now. See you tomorrow."

The atmosphere relaxed a little. Mo Xuan glanced at the crescent moon in the sky, feeling it was already quite late. He still had matters to attend to tomorrow.

"You could have just said you wanted to be alone with my sister-in-law."

Mo Jinyu shot her brother a sideways glance, waved to her sister-in-law, and vanished from the Bamboo Garden.

Bai Qiulan’s gaze fell on Mo Xuan. She didn’t quite understand why he had suddenly sent his younger sister away. All three of them were Bright Aperture Realm Cultivators; they didn’t need to rest at all.

"Lan’Er..."

Before Bai Qiulan could ask, she heard a strange tone in Mo Xuan’s voice. She turned to see his expression gradually turning mischievous.

"The night is late. It’s time to rest."

Bai Qiulan immediately understood what was happening. She chose to head back into the house to rest. Following behind her, Mo Xuan conjured a Barrier Technique to seal off the Bamboo Garden before stepping into the bamboo house.

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The moon was bright and the stars were few. Liu Chen opened his eyes inside the bamboo house and glanced at the night outside. Even though he had gone to sleep half an hour later than usual last night, he still woke up half an hour earlier than normal.

’I can cut down my rest time by another hour. It seems that every time a Cultivation Technique evolves into a unique one, it counts as a qualitative transformation.’

Liu Chen mulled over his changes for a moment. Combining this with his previous experiences, he finally understood what was happening. If breaking through to a completely new Realm was a qualitative transformation, then a Cultivation Technique evolving into a unique one was a transformation at least five times greater.

At least, that’s how it felt to Liu Chen. As for whether it was the same for other Cultivators, he didn’t need to worry about it. It had nothing to do with him anyway.

After freshening up a bit, Liu Chen took out the Purple Bamboo Scripture Qi Refining Chapter and began to study it. Once he understood the method for circulating Spiritual Power within it, Liu Chen closed his eyes and began to cultivate.

The Spiritual Power in Liu Chen’s body circulated along his transformed Spirit Veins. After completing one cycle, it returned to his Dantian. When this full revolution was complete, the original Spiritual Power had grown slightly stronger and smoothly merged into the Vortex within his Dantian.

[Purple Bamboo Scripture Qi Refining Chapter Proficiency +10]

After completing one circulation of the Cultivation Technique, Liu Chen opened his eyes. A wave of weakness instantly spread through his entire body. It wasn’t a weakness of his Spiritual Power, but a physical one, somewhat like complete exhaustion.

’A Qi Refining Realm Cultivation Technique takes two full hours to complete one circulation even with the help of the Spirit Ghost. And from the looks of it, I can only circulate it once a day at most.’

Liu Chen took a deep breath, feeling the difficulty of cultivation. Back in the Body Tempering Realm, he could circulate his Cultivation Technique ten times a day. In the Meridian Passage Realm, it was at least four times a day. Yet now in the Qi Refining Realm, he could only do it once.

Just to formally step into the Qi Refining Realm would take a full ten days. On top of that, it took two hours to circulate the Cultivation Technique for one revolution, and that was with the Spirit Ghost handling the refinement of Spiritual Power, which already cut the time in half.

’Oh well, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. For now, I should go prepare breakfast.’

Liu Chen sighed with emotion but quickly recovered his spirits. Although cultivating his technique had become more difficult, he would now have more time to practice Magic, so he could still improve himself in that way.

Moreover, with him having reached Meridian Passage Peak, the number of Magic spells he could cast at one time was also increasing, which would make practicing most of his Magic faster.