Soon, news that the Patriarch sent Lu Yin out to adventure and gain experience spread from the ancestral hall, and that he can only return after becoming an immortal.
Looking over the bustling city from a distance, Lu Yin vividly remembered what his grandfather said.
Apparently, things like special physiques are common in the cultivation world, and perhaps the True Qi dissipation is a blessing in disguise.
From his share of spirit stones, he consumed three-quarters of them on the spot right next to his grandfather.
Back then, he said that the True Qi didn't dissipate into the world as such a large and dense amount of True Qi would have caused some phenomena.
That only means his body absorbed all of it and stored it somewhere. Once that True Qi erupted, Lu Yin would have his answers.
For now, he can only work on further enhancing his foundation—the body and the mind, through practicing martial arts and meditation.
Lu Yin silently thanked his grandfather in his heart, turned around, and left decisively.
Behind him trailed three figures clad in red.
They were his grandfather's final gift and helped him on his immortal path, three Martial Masters one step away from the realm of Grandmaster.
They were reluctant to leave at first, but Lu Yuan told them directly that following someone with an immortal destiny is an opportunity one could kill for, and they shouldn't waste his kindness.
Feeling the overwhelming aura of vitality coming from those behind him, Lu Yin smiled faintly and picked up the pace.
…
Back inside the ancestral hall, Lu Yuan held a spirit stone in his hand and read the floating text that appeared.
One low-grade spirit stone can be exchanged for one hour in the Taiji Space.
The time in the Taiji Space is frozen, which means no matter how much time passed inside, only one second would have passed in the real world.
A perfect rep of the Eight Trigrams of the Taiji School of Martial Arts generates one attribute point.
A perfect rep means a seamless rhythm, harmony, intent, mental state, speed, and precision.
The Eight Trigrams of the Taiji conform with the intent of balance between Yin and Yang, the constant flux of energy, and the harmony between the five elements.
The Taiji Space can help Lu Yuan enter an empty state of mind, but the rest was on his shoulders.
After contemplating and feeling how rusty his movements might be compared to the demonstration of a perfect execution of the Taiji Eight Trigrams in his mind, Lu Yuan slowly stood up.
"Well, practice makes perfect," he murmured, feeling the weight of time on his old muscles and bones.
He closed his eyes to meditate while standing, slowly moving his torso, spacing his feet, and aligning his palms, wrists, elbows, and shoulders with the image in his mind.
He moved slowly, deliberately, and with his experience as a Martial Grandmaster, he quickly went through the eight stances, completing the first rep.
He exhaled a stream of white smoke, his muscles tense and shirt soaked in sweat.
It took forty minutes to complete the first rep, and it was far from perfect.
If anything, he compared his performance with the mental imprint of the perfect Taiji and realized he had a less than 30% synchronization rate.
Lu Yuan frowned.
The first time he entered the Taiji Space, the mental image would overlap with his body to complete a perfect cycle for one rep.
However, after that one time, the mental image would disappear. This trade-off wasn't worth it in his opinion.
After thinking about it for a while, he decided to first practice until he got the forms of the eight stances right.
He once again closed his eyes and focused on the imprint, this time excluding the intent and mental state from the demonstration, leaving only the pure execution in physical form.
The difficulty decreased significantly, but it wasn't easy.
Then again, great things require patience, and with his body newly rejuvenated, some time to stretch muscles and bones couldn't be any better.
And so, Lu Yuan ignored the transactions ledger and accounts book by the side, focusing only on Taiji, rest, and food for the following few days.
…
Outside the Ancestral Hall, in the Meeting Hall, the elders gathered.
The elders consist of the four sons and those among their cousins who reached the Martial Master rank.
Lu Yuan had seven siblings, and while most of them died of old age, some are still alive.
Once his branch of the family settled down in the Liang Province, the others gravitated toward this side, creating the large Lu family of today.
Lu Yuan's brothers who were still alive brought their sons, daughters, and in-laws to live inside the compound.
His sisters sent their children to find work in the businesses under the family, and some had even brought their husbands to become live-in sons-in-law.
In short, just those with the Lu surname in the compound had exceeded sixty, let alone their confidants, attendants, servants, and distant relatives.
Without Lu Yaun actively controlling the family for over twelve years, one can imagine the division of factions.
The main line's faction, the branch line's faction, and the distant relatives' faction.
In a nutshell, this had evolved into a domestic congress.
The Congress at the moment was discussing the breaking news of the president leaving the Oval Office to reside over state affairs.
This was a political disaster that not even the Senate could ignore.
The eldest son, Lu Yuanchen, started the meeting by clearing his throat.
"We have a few agendas to discuss in this meeting. First, the Wang family's procession will arrive in one week, but Lu Yin has already left the city.
"Second, my father will be leaving seclusion to take reign of the internal family affairs, so expect a shuffle coming up soon.
"Third, my second brother's newborn was discovered to have spiritual roots, meaning we might have a cultivator seedling soon."
The thirteen elders gathered had varying expressions, as the first and second agendas had been circulated in rumors beforehand.
However, the spiritual roots matter was a surprise.
The second brother, Lu Yuanyu, had a wide smile that stretched from ear to ear.
Seeing him smile, the other elders had no choice but to congratulate him now and think of the ramifications later.