After the feast, the members of the chicken-farming team went back to their work.
The three brothers, Lin Yunwen, Lin Yunyi, and Lin Yunxiao, stayed behind to clean up the pots, bowls, and utensils.
Lin Yunwen used a water-element technique to wash the dishes while his younger brothers assisted.
Suddenly, he asked, “Third Brother, aren't you about to break through to the second level of Qi Refining?”
Lin Yunyi nodded. “Yes.”
Lin Yunwen looked surprised. “That's fast!”
He couldn't help wondering whether Third Brother really had five spiritual roots.
That cultivation speed was almost on par with his own, despite his dual roots.
Of course, perhaps it was because Third Brother had been precocious from childhood. At three, Lin Yunwen had barely understood how to draw spiritual energy into his body, whereas Third Brother had already read all sorts of cultivation manuals.
Or perhaps he simply ate better. With enough resources poured into them, even cultivators with five roots could advance quickly in the early stages.
But five roots were a bottomless pit. The further one progressed, the wider the gap in cultivation speed became.
Fourth Brother, Lin Yunxiao, looked at Lin Yunyi and Lin Yunwen, then lowered his head dejectedly, like an eggplant wilted by frost.
Lin Yunwen felt a pang of sympathy. Third Brother and Fourth Brother were twins, born only an hour apart.
Although both had spiritual roots, neither had been blessed with particularly good ones.
If one had to choose the better of the two, Fourth Brother's roots ought to have been superior. Yet strangely, Third Brother was nearly at the second level of Qi Refining, while Fourth Brother hadn't even succeeded in drawing spiritual energy into his body.
Three years had passed. Even a cultivator with four roots should have managed that much by now.
Ever since he was old enough to understand anything, Fourth Brother had been Third Brother's devoted little follower. That hadn't changed after their root-testing results were announced.
If Third Brother's rapid progress was due to eating spiritual chicken meat and eggs, Fourth Brother had eaten plenty of both over the years too. Lin Yunwen simply couldn't figure out what was wrong.
He wanted to urge Lin Yunxiao to spend more time cultivating and less time playing, but one look at his despondent face made the words die in his throat.
Still, Lin Yunwen reflected, while Fourth Brother showed little talent for refining spiritual energy, he had made extraordinary progress in body cultivation. He was naturally strong, and already possessed considerable strength. Third Brother's door had been replaced with ironwood after the original pearwood was destroyed, and it had been reinforced again and again, yet it still couldn't withstand more than a few of Fourth Brother's collisions.
In a family specializing in body cultivation, a child with that talent might have been trained as an elite disciple. Unfortunately, the Lins were a traditional cultivation family, and Fourth Brother's interests seemed a little beside the point.
After helping to finish the dishes, Lin Yunwen left.
Lin Yunxiao soon recovered his spirits. “Third Brother, when are we slaughtering chickens again?”
Lin Yunyi replied, “Once you manage to draw spiritual energy into your body, I'll slaughter two just for you.”
Lin Yunxiao said miserably, “Maybe the clan members are right. Maybe I really don't have the aptitude. I've worked hard for three years, but I still can't get the hang of it.”
Lin Yunyi turned toward him, his eyes gleaming. “After three years of painstaking observation, your third brother has reached a conclusion. Your inability to draw spiritual energy into your body isn't because you haven't worked hard enough, and it isn't because you lack talent. You've been working hard in the wrong direction!”
Lin Yunxiao blinked, suddenly excited.
It wasn't that he had never tried. He had truly worked hard, but he simply couldn't sense the spiritual energy everyone talked about. Over the years, he'd been scolded countless times for being lazy and stupid.
After hearing those accusations so often, he had begun to wonder whether they were true. Now Third Brother was offering a completely different explanation.
Lin Yunxiao asked, puzzled, “The wrong direction?”
Lin Yunyi nodded earnestly. “That's right. The Yang-Metal Sword Art doesn't suit you. If you want to draw spiritual energy into your body, stop practicing it and switch to a fire-element cultivation technique.”
Lin Yunxiao looked doubtful. “Will that work? The Yang-Metal Sword Art is the only technique our family has that includes Foundation Establishment methods. The others can take you no further than the ninth level of Qi Refining. Our ancestor achieved Foundation Establishment with the Yang-Metal Sword Art, and most family cultivators who possess roots have metal roots too, so there are people to guide us. Besides, I supposedly have metal, water, and fire roots. Because water and fire conflict, cultivating the Yang-Metal Sword Art is the best choice.”
Lin Yunyi replied, “You've spent three years on the Yang-Metal Sword Art. How well has that worked out? No matter how good it is, it's worthless if it doesn't suit you. Our family's Flame Art is quite good. If you learn it quickly, you can always look for a more advanced continuation later.”
Lin Yunxiao hesitated. “But Father and the ancestor…”
Lin Yunyi snorted arrogantly. “What do those ignorant elders know? They're only good at leading the younger generation astray. Here's what we'll do. Go into seclusion and cultivate the Flame Art. If you still can't draw spiritual energy into your body after a month, I'll slaughter two chickens for you anyway!”
Lin Yunxiao nodded solemnly. “Third Brother, I'll listen to you.”
Lin Yunyi smiled. “Once you're on the right path, your future will be very promising.”
His words stirred a rush of excitement in Lin Yunxiao. “Third Brother, do you really think so?”
Lin Yunyi nodded. “Of course. Fourth Brother, don't underestimate yourself. You're much better than that show-off of an eldest brother. You're my own twin brother, after all.”
Lin Yunxiao declared, “Third Brother really is much smarter than Eldest Brother.”
…
One day later.
A member of the chicken-farming team summoned Lin Yunwen.
Lin Yunwen stared at Lin Yunyi in confusion. “Slaughter chickens again? Two of them?”
Lin Yunyi nodded. “Yes. Choose two fat ones. Your fee is already prepared.”
Lin Yunwen looked helplessly at the basket of eggs. “It isn't about the fee. Didn't we just slaughter chickens yesterday?”
Although spiritual chicken meat could nourish a cultivator's body, consuming too much rich food in a short period could overwhelm a cultivator whose cultivation was still low, doing more harm than good.
Lin Yunyi clasped his hands behind his back. “Fourth Brother has succeeded in drawing spiritual energy into his body. I promised him two chickens as a reward.”
Lin Yunwen looked at Lin Yunxiao in surprise. “You've drawn spiritual energy into your body? Really?”
Lin Yunxiao replied with absolute confidence, “That's right. I have!”
He raised his chin proudly, feeling as though he could finally hold his head high.
Seeing his smug expression, Lin Yunwen suddenly felt a trace of unease.
Fourth Brother was beginning to look remarkably like a copy of Third Brother.
Lin Yunyi always looked at the rest of the clan as though they were idiots. One such “talent” in the family was barely manageable; two might be a little too much.
Lin Yunwen caught Lin Yunxiao's hand and examined him. Then he exclaimed, “You really have drawn spiritual energy into your body! But why is it fire-element spiritual energy?”
Lin Yunxiao bared his teeth in a grin. “That's right, fire-element energy! I've been practicing the Flame Art. Third Brother was right: Father and the ancestor are ignorant elders who don't understand anything. I followed Third Brother's advice and switched to the Flame Art, and I succeeded right away. If I'd known it would be this easy, why would I have wasted three whole years?”
Lin Yunwen gave Lin Yunyi a complicated look. “‘Ignorant elders’?”
Was that really how Third Brother thought of their father and the ancestor?
That attitude was rather outrageous, even downright disrespectful!
Lin Yunyi saw Lin Yunwen's expression, then glanced at his smug fourth brother and felt a headache coming on. What an idiotic little fool! Did he have to blurt out everything? Was “ignorant elders” the sort of phrase one could casually repeat? Still, the fool was his twin brother. He would just have to endure it.
Changing the subject, Lin Yunyi said, “Eldest Brother, let's slaughter the chickens.”
Lin Yunwen nodded. “Very well. Fourth Brother's success really is worth celebrating.”
The two chickens were soon cooked. Lin Yunxiao seized a drumstick and began gnawing on it with great delight.
Lin Yunxiao said, “Eldest Brother, Third Brother, eat up! But all the drumsticks are mine.”
They had slaughtered chickens the day before, but those two chickens had been divided among more than a dozen people. Lin Yunxiao hadn't managed to grab a single drumstick, only a wing.
Now he had all four drumsticks to himself. He had never felt so wealthy.
Watching him wolf down the food, Lin Yunwen warned, “You've only just begun drawing spiritual energy into your body. Eat slowly, or you might not be able to digest it.”
Lin Yunxiao said, “It's fine. I'm not too full.”
Lin Yunwen sensed Lin Yunxiao's spiritual energy rising rapidly. The spiritual chicken meat he ate was all being converted into fire-element energy. For someone who had only just made a breakthrough, such a startling rate of conversion was almost frightening.
Lin Yunwen frowned. The family always said Father had produced two genius sons and two hopeless sons.
But suddenly Lin Yunwen felt that those two so-called hopeless younger brothers were each more astonishing than the other.
