Night fell.
Lin Yunyi was summoned to the study.
He bowed to the man inside and greeted him respectfully. “Greetings, Father.”
His father, Lin Yuanqiao, was thirty-one years old. He had dual metal and wood roots, had reached the seventh level of Qi Refining, and was the current head of the Lin family.
Lin Yuanqiao said, “You told your younger brother to switch to a fire-element technique.”
Lin Yunyi replied, “Yes.”
Lin Yuanqiao asked, “Why?”
Lin Yunyi explained, “Generally speaking, a cultivator with metal, water, and fire roots is best suited to metal-element techniques because the water and fire roots conflict.”
Lin Yuanqiao nodded. “Exactly.”
Lin Yunyi changed tack. “But Father, don't you find it strange? No matter how poor a three-root cultivator's aptitude, he shouldn't still be unable to begin after three years. Did you assume Fourth Brother was too foolish and playful to make a start?”
Lin Yuanqiao frowned but said nothing.
Lin Yunyi continued, “My younger brother really isn't that hopeless. When he first began cultivating, he worked very hard. But because he could never sense metal-element spiritual energy, he gradually lost patience.”
“Fourth Brother is remarkably talented at body cultivation. There are scarcely any in the family who can rival him.”
“Have you ever considered that his failure to begin isn't because he plays too much or lacks aptitude, but because he's been practicing the wrong technique?”
Lin Yuanqiao repeated, “The wrong technique?”
Lin Yunyi said, “Perhaps he doesn't have a metal root at all. If he doesn't, it won't matter whether he works hard for three years or thirty. It'll be a waste of effort.”
Lin Yuanqiao was shocked. “Impossible! The testing stone clearly showed metal, water, and fire roots!”
Lin Yunyi replied, “A lightning root is a mutated root formed from metal and water. The Lin family's testing stone can only detect the five standard elements. It may have mistaken my brother's lightning root for metal and water roots. If my guess is right, he actually has dual lightning and fire roots—one of the finest dual-root combinations, marking him as a genius second only to those with heavenly spiritual roots.”
In an ordinary cultivation family, if someone had failed to draw spiritual energy into their body after three years, the family would long since have considered a different technique. But the Lins had built their foundation upon the Yang-Metal Sword Art, and their cultivators had rather blind faith in it.
Lin Yuanqiao was stunned. “Surely that can't be true?”
Lin Yunyi asked, “Why not?”
Lin Yuanqiao said, “Do you have any proof?”
Lin Yunyi replied, “Originally, I had only a suspicion. But something recently happened that supports it. Father, do you know when I told him to switch to the Flame Art?”
Lin Yuanqiao knitted his brows and did not answer.
Lin Yunyi's lips curled upward. He enunciated every word. “One day ago!”
He paused, then added with amazement, “I thought he'd need at least ten days or so. I never imagined he'd draw spiritual energy into his body in a single day. It was quite unexpected.”
“Even among dual-root cultivators, very few can manage that in just one day.”
“Of course, it might simply be a coincidence. In fact, checking whether my suspicion is correct is straightforward. The first way is to obtain a higher-grade spiritual-root testing stone, one capable of detecting special roots.”
“The second is to find a lightning-element cultivation manual and see whether my brother can practice it.”
Lin Yuanqiao was speechless. Both suggestions sounded simple, but putting them into practice would be extremely difficult.
The ancestor's five-element testing stone could detect only metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, yet it was already exceedingly valuable. The ancestor had gone to considerable trouble to obtain it.
Many cultivation families didn't own a testing stone at all and had to pay for their descendants to be tested at the outposts of major sects.
A stone capable of detecting unusual spiritual roots was ten times more valuable than the ancestor's five-element stone.
Paying for testing at a major sect's outpost could easily reveal a family's true strength.
Worse, a cultivator without powerful backing who turned out to have extraordinary roots might attract someone looking to seize their body.
Buying a lightning-element cultivation manual would be just as difficult. Lightning roots were rare, so their techniques were obscure and scarce. Such a manual could cost at least a hundred thousand spirit stones—enough to buy a Foundation Establishment Pill.
Lin Yuanqiao had mixed feelings. He was delighted that his fourth son wasn't a lazy, foolish child with no ambition, but had merely been following the wrong path. At the same time, he felt guilty. If the boy truly possessed lightning and fire roots, they had wasted three years of his life.
The possibility left him startled, delighted, anxious, and ashamed all at once. His thoughts were a hopeless jumble.
After hesitating for some time, Lin Yuanqiao finally regained his composure. “What do you think your brother should do next?”
Lin Yunyi replied, “With his aptitude, we could send him to a major sect. But he's careless and outspoken, and he might offend someone without even realizing it. The major sects are rife with infighting, and he has no powerful backer. If he really has lightning and fire roots, he might be deliberately excluded or targeted. Alternatively, you could keep him at home for now, let him practice fire-element techniques, and see how things develop. He's still very young.”
“When the Beast-Taming Sect fought the Heavenly Demon Cult, it suffered terrible losses. Although the cult was defeated, its surviving forces are still active. If a cultivator with dual lightning and fire roots appears, those remnants will certainly make a move.”
Lin Yuanqiao thought for a while. “Very well. With your brother's temperament, he probably wouldn't fare well in a major sect. Let him stay home and cultivate for now.”
Lin Yunyi nodded. “Good.”
After considering it, Lin Yuanqiao reminded him, “Don't tell Little Fourth about the lightning root just yet.”
Lin Yunyi said, “You don't need to tell me that. I know what I'm doing.”
Little Fourth had no filter whatsoever. If he found out, he might shout the news all over town, and then there would be no keeping it secret.
Lin Yuanqiao was speechless. He was the boy's father! That attitude of Little Third's showed no respect for his elders at all.
Lin Yunyi clasped his hands behind his back and continued, “While we're at it, find a way to cancel my engagement to Jiang Tan'er.”
Lin Yuanqiao asked, “Why? That girl apparently has dual roots. If you hadn't been betrothed before birth, there would be no chance of you making such a match.”
Lin Yunyi's face darkened. “No chance? Then there's no reason to force it!”
Lin Yuanqiao asked, “Why? Have you heard some unpleasant gossip?”
He recalled rumors from the Jiang family comparing Jiang Tan'er, with her dual roots, to a flower planted in cow dung by being matched with his five-root son. His third son might have five roots, but he was gifted, proud, and fiercely sensitive about his dignity. Hearing such things would hardly put him in a good mood.
The remarks were unpleasant, but their family was ultimately getting the better end of the marriage, so Lin Yuanqiao had tolerated them.
Lin Yunyi smiled. “Father, do you know why I can cultivate faster than Eldest Brother despite having five roots to his two?”
Lin Yuanqiao glanced at him and thought his third son truly had no shame. Still, his progress really was strange. Someone with five roots cultivating this quickly was almost unheard of. He had considered the question before and guessed that his son was naturally precocious, diligent, and skilled at raising chickens. When Lin Yuanqiao was young, the family had only just been established, and every expense required careful budgeting. He had never eaten as well as his son did.
Lin Yunyi continued without waiting for an answer. “You think it's because I'm clever and hardworking!”
Lin Yuanqiao nearly choked. This third son of his truly had no idea what modesty meant!
Shaking his head, he couldn't help warning him, “The further you progress in cultivation, the more your innate aptitude matters. Don't be too arrogant. Exceptional talent can make someone a target, and countless youthful geniuses have died before they could mature.”
Lin Yunyi raised his chin. “Of course I know that diligence alone can't easily make up for differences in spiritual roots. Do you know why I cultivate so quickly? Apart from being clever and hardworking, I possess a special spiritual physique.”
Lin Yuanqiao grew excited. “A special spiritual physique?”
Lin Yunyi nodded. “That's right. The Heavenly Yang Sacred Physique, also called the Sacred Bachelor Physique. Someone who possesses it cultivates extremely quickly, but must not casually lose their virginity. Once that happens, their cultivation will collapse, and decades of hard work can be lost overnight. To achieve anything, the bearer must remain a bachelor for life. That's why it's called the Sacred Bachelor Physique.”
Lin Yuanqiao stared at him strangely. “You're only six. You can't exactly have decades of hard work to lose.”
Lin Yunyi said, “That's not important. What's important is breaking off the engagement as quickly as possible.”
“Were you thinking of making humiliating concessions, bending over backward, and doing whatever it takes to bring home a wife with dual spiritual roots for me?”
“There's no need. When two families are too unequal, the marriage isn't a good match. Even if you do all that, your son won't thank you.”
“I have no interest in groveling after anyone. Even if I didn't have the Heavenly Yang Physique, I still wouldn't want this engagement.”
“If you really marry her into our family, you won't gain anything. You'll only turn your son into a cripple. Then you'll be a complete sucker.”
Lin Yuanqiao felt his sea of consciousness buzzing. Blow after blow had left him thoroughly bewildered.
He looked at Lin Yunyi skeptically. “Does this so-called Sacred Bachelor Physique really exist? Are you trying to fool me?”
Lin Yunyi said, “Of course it exists! You just haven't heard of it because your knowledge is limited.”
Lin Yuanqiao's expression turned black. “Watch your mouth! You're showing no respect for your elders. Where did you read about it? There's nothing about it in the family archives.”
Lin Yunyi said, “It was mentioned in one of the miscellaneous books I bought on an earlier visit to the market.”
Lin Yuanqiao replied helplessly, “A lot of those books of yours are storybooks. Much of what's written in them is made up.”
Lin Yunyi said, “Plenty of those stories are based on real events.”
Lin Yuanqiao sighed. “Even so, stories are still stories.”
Lin Yunyi continued, “Cultivators with the Heavenly Yang Sacred Physique often develop inexplicable high fevers. Also, when they reach Foundation Establishment, True Heavenly Yang Fire naturally forms within their bodies.”
Lin Yuanqiao exclaimed, “Foundation Establishment!”
Lin Yunyi nodded. “That's right. Foundation Establishment.”
Lin Yuanqiao looked at him, utterly at a loss for words. His third son hadn't even reached the second level of Qi Refining, yet he was already thinking as far ahead as Foundation Establishment.
After studying him for a moment, Lin Yuanqiao asked, “So you're planning to stay single for the rest of your life?”
Lin Yunyi answered, “It's not entirely hopeless. There's a Heavenly Yin Sacred Physique that's a perfect match for the Heavenly Yang Sacred Physique. Cultivators with those two physiques can break through bottlenecks rapidly by dual cultivating together. But the Heavenly Yin Physique is extremely rare, so there's no point counting on finding one.”
Lin Yuanqiao considered this for a while. “Fine. I understand. I'll find a way to deal with your engagement. But there's no need to rush; the Jiang family is even more anxious to end it than we are.”
Lin Yunyi replied, “In that case, I'll take my leave, Father.”
