After six years apart, Yun Family Manor had grown considerably, and today it was especially lively.
Many unfamiliar guests entered the manor with attendants, carrying congratulatory gifts.
Xu Ziqing wondered at the sight. Could there be some happy occasion?
He looked up at Yun Lie and said, “Senior Brother, let’s go in.”
Yun Lie nodded, and the two walked inside side by side.
The servant greeting visitors at the gate was a stranger, probably newly employed by the manor. Seeing two more guests of exceptional bearing approach, he received them with impeccable courtesy and led them inside.
As they walked, Xu Ziqing extended his spiritual sense and quickly discovered the reason for the celebrations.
A few years earlier, Yun Zhenhai’s younger son, Yun Tianyou, had married. His wife had been rather young at the time, so several more years had passed before she gave birth to a child.
Today was the child’s zhuazhou ceremony.
Xu Ziqing laughed. “Senior Brother, you’ve become an uncle.”
Yun Lie replied, “We should prepare a gift.”
Xu Ziqing smiled more broadly. “Of course.”
Following the guests, they soon reached a large hall.
Many people stood along either side of the room. In the center lay a long red carpet displaying all manner of objects: gold, silver, jade, rare treasures, brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, books, and weapons. The selection was truly varied.
Some guests had also placed objects of their own on the carpet to serve as choices for the child’s ceremony.
Several members of Yun Family Manor were receiving the guests at the front of the hall. Every face glowed with delight.
Xu Ziqing and Yun Lie remained toward the back without pressing into the crowd.
This was no occasion for an extended reunion. If they revealed themselves now, they might disrupt the child’s ceremony, and that would be inappropriate.
Gradually the auspicious time approached. Yun Zhenhai and Meng Qingxiao arrived first, followed by Yun Zhenshan and the other Yun family members, who took their places at either side. Soon Yun Tianyou and his wife Liu Yueling appeared, surrounded by female relatives. Liu Yueling carried a plump baby dressed in red, with tender white skin and a clever, adorable face.
At the sight of the baby, the guests showered him with praise, and the atmosphere grew still more festive.
The auspicious moment arrived. Smiling, Liu Yueling placed the baby at one end of the red carpet, patted his little bottom, and urged him forward.
The red-clad baby’s arms, plump as lotus-root segments, patted the ground. He babbled a couple of times, then began crawling forward with surprising vigor.
At once the compliments grew even louder. Some praised his robust health, others his bright vitality, and everyone had something kind to say.
The people of Yun Family Manor beamed even more happily at the sight.
Xu Ziqing glanced at the child and smiled. “His forehead is broad and full, and his vitality is long-lasting. Senior Brother, this nephew of yours is wonderfully formed.”
Because small children were sensitive, he did not probe with his spiritual sense. But even from the child’s features, he could see how exceptionally lively he was.
Yun Lie said nothing, but he too looked at the baby.
The red-clad baby crawled quite fast. Every three to five chi, he would grab something and throw it aside, muttering indistinct words with his rosy little mouth.
The Yun family watched with affectionate smiles, their faces full of familial warmth.
Anyone seeing this scene could feel that tenderness.
Before long the baby had crawled over more than half the carpet and tossed aside more than half the objects, without finding a single thing he wanted to keep.
He tilted his head, put a finger in his mouth, and thought for a while before crawling faster.
Finally he stopped before a group of people. “Ah, ah, ah! Move!”
The guests there exchanged puzzled looks, then tentatively shifted aside.
The red-clad baby wobbled to his feet, aimed himself in one direction, and suddenly lunged forward.
Yun Tianyou was young and not very composed. He called out anxiously, “Zhengrui!”
In the next instant, he saw his little son clinging to someone’s lower leg.
The other Yun family members were equally astonished.
Xu Ziqing could not help laughing with a little pfft, thoroughly amused.
The person Yun Zhengrui had thrown himself at was none other than his senior brother, Yun Lie.
The two men had been standing behind the crowd, observing the ceremony. Neither expected that Yun Zhengrui would crawl faster and faster until he approached the guests where they were standing.
Xu Ziqing had been slightly concerned that the baby might hurt himself. He therefore tugged Yun Lie along and stepped a little closer.
Who could have guessed the child would cry “ah, ah” until the people in front of him moved aside, abruptly stand up, and fling himself at Yun Lie?
Yun Lie had always been solitary and cold. Ordinarily, not even children approached him, and cultivators with weaker realms hardly dared draw near. Yet Yun Zhengrui seemed completely unaware of this. He clung to Yun Lie’s leg and giggled delightedly.
How could Xu Ziqing not find that funny?
Thus everyone saw a stern man in white standing motionless and silent, a red-clad baby dangling from his leg, calling “ah, ah” affectionately. One tiny hand kept patting and hugging, as though the child were trying to converse with him.
Beside the man stood another in green, handsome and elegant, with a gentle, approachable expression. He watched with a smile.
The other guests did not recognize them, but when Yun Tianyou hurried over, he recognized Xu Ziqing immediately.
Although he had been kept away from the fighting when the Wu’ao Sect attacked six years earlier, he was the manor lord’s son and on good terms with Yun Tianheng, so afterward he had learned a little of what had happened.
He therefore regarded both his elder brother and Xu Ziqing with a measure of awe.
Many other Yun family members followed Yun Tianyou over, including Yun Zhenhai and his wife, Yun Zhenshan, and Yun Tianheng and his father.
All of them saw Xu Ziqing.
But their attention quickly shifted to Yun Lie beside him.
Yun Zhenhai’s pupils contracted. He drew a deep breath. “Apothecary Xu, this gentleman is…?”
In his heart he had already recognized the man. But since he looked different from his son, Yun Zhenhai could not simply address him as such before the assembled guests.
Meng Qingxiao also trembled slightly. She stared intently at Yun Lie’s face, studying it carefully.
The other members of Yun Family Manor who knew the secret were similarly astonished and uncertain.
Xu Ziqing smiled. “This is my senior brother, Yun Lie.”
His words only made the atmosphere more tense.
The other guests were baffled. Had something happened to the Yun family in the middle of this child’s ceremony?
Who were these two strangers, and where had they come from?
Yet whatever their doubts, the visitors would not offend their hosts by pressing for answers.
At that moment, Yun Zhengrui, still standing on the floor and clutching Yun Lie’s leg, grew unhappy. He patted the leg again, apparently annoyed.
His action brought the Yun family back to their senses.
Xu Ziqing could not help laughing. He bent down and gently patted Yun Zhengrui’s small shoulder.
Yun Zhengrui turned around, blinked, and stretched out his chubby arms.
Xu Ziqing’s expression softened as he picked him up.
Yun Zhengrui immediately twisted his head to stare fixedly at Yun Lie again.
Xu Ziqing smiled. “This little fellow has an excellent eye. He actually chose Senior Brother.” After a pause, he added, “Let’s catch up after the ceremony is finished.”
Yun Zhenhai’s gaze was complicated. He looked at Yun Zhengrui and laughed as well. “That’s the nature of blood ties.”
The Yun family then attended to their guests as usual. Though those visitors did not understand how the two strangers were related to the manor, they offered their congratulations, enjoyed the banquet, and later either settled into their guest rooms or departed as the servants arranged.
Not until nightfall did the manor grow quiet again.
Everyone from Yun Family Manor then gathered in the inner hall.
Xu Ziqing held Yun Zhengrui in his arms, his expression exceptionally gentle.
Perhaps because the baby’s vitality was so abundant and his life had only just begun, Xu Ziqing suddenly gained another insight. During his senior brother’s Nascent Soul formation he had contemplated death within the cycle of reincarnation; now he gained a deeper understanding of life within that cycle. The barrier at the peak of early Golden Core broke, and he advanced directly to middle Golden Core.
Throughout this process Yun Zhengrui remained in his arms. The pure qi inside the child’s body was drawn into harmony with Xu Ziqing’s power, and he too received numerous benefits.
A thought stirred in Xu Ziqing’s mind. He cautiously examined the child and discovered that Yun Zhengrui actually possessed spiritual roots: dual metal-and-earth roots, exactly the same aptitude as his senior brother had possessed before refining his own spiritual roots.
No wonder the child had been so close to Senior Brother. It was probably not merely because the child’s father and Senior Brother had once been brothers, but also because the boy himself shared a connection with Yun Lie.
Yun Zhenhai, Meng Qingxiao, and the others had meanwhile fixed their gazes upon Yun Lie, their eyes full of emotion and faint uncertainty.
This meeting was different from the previous one. Their child had even changed his appearance completely. Though his aura and bearing were still familiar, Yun Lie’s face was clearly more severe and handsome than Yun Tiangang’s, with an inviolable coldness.
Moreover, his body had changed. His closeness to them by blood now existed only through the primordial spirit, while the overwhelming presence that their earlier blood connection could conceal could no longer be hidden.
When an ordinary mortal faced a Nascent Soul ancestor, even if they desperately wanted to approach and the ancestor restrained his aura, they still could not resist that hidden pressure.
Yun Lie looked at them and said, “Father. Mother.”
Yun Zhenhai and Meng Qingxiao relaxed at last, their faces bright with joy. “Tian… no, we should call you Yun Lie now.”
Yun Lie replied, “It makes no difference.”
Since he acknowledged them as his parents, he accepted the name Yun Tiangang when they used it.
His words reassured the couple still further.
Afterward Yun Tianyou and Liu Yueling came forward to greet their elder brother, while Yun Tianheng paid his respects to Xu Ziqing. The atmosphere became warm and harmonious.
A little later, Xu Ziqing placed Yun Zhengrui in Yun Lie’s arms. “Senior Brother, hold him a moment.”
Yun Lie frowned slightly as he took the baby, his arms rather stiff.
Xu Ziqing smiled. “Senior Brother, have a look.”
Yun Lie swept his spiritual sense over the child, and his brows relaxed.
Puzzled, Yun Zhenhai and the others asked, “Zhengrui…?”
Xu Ziqing spoke gently. “There’s nothing wrong with him. It’s simply that Zhengrui also possesses spiritual roots and, like Tianheng, may enter the path of immortal cultivation.”
Everyone present knew of immortal cultivation, so the news filled them with delight. “…Truly?”
Xu Ziqing smiled. “Zhengrui’s aptitude is exactly the same as Senior Brother’s in the past.”
The words made everyone happier still.
After some time, Yun Zhenhai suddenly grew serious. “Apothecary Xu, now that you and Tiangang have returned, are you about to leave again?”
Xu Ziqing looked at Yun Lie and then sighed lightly. “Senior Brother is still his parents’ son, and while they remain alive, his ties to the mortal world have not yet ended.”
Because Yun Zhenhai and Meng Qingxiao were still living, Xu Ziqing and Yun Lie stayed at Yun Family Manor.
Xu Ziqing formally accepted Yun Tianheng as his disciple. For the time being, however, he could not bring him into the Wuling Immortal Sect as one of its disciples.
Yun Zhengrui studied the sword Dao under Yun Lie. From childhood onward, he had to temper his sword without cease. Although his personality differed greatly from Yun Lie’s, he was equally tenacious and almost fanatical about swordsmanship. Whatever command Yun Lie gave, he obeyed without question.
Fewer than three to five other Yun family members possessed spiritual roots. One or two were already too old for suitable cultivation, leaving only two or three children. They too were taught cultivation methods and received occasional guidance from the two men. But all had four spiritual roots, and their future along the immortal path would be limited.
Yun Zhenhai and Meng Qingxiao had sustained damage to their bodies in earlier years and were approaching the ends of their lives. Unwilling to burden their beloved son Yun Lie, they refused Xu Ziqing’s offer to treat them, and still more firmly refused the life-extending pills. Instead, they left the medicine in the clan as a treasure to be handed down for generations. The three strands of sword intent Yun Lie had given them years earlier had never been used either; they were enshrined in the ancestral hall and passed down.
Several decades later, Meng Qingxiao passed away first. A few years afterward, Yun Zhenhai followed his beloved wife in death.
Now that the closest blood relatives of Yun Lie’s reincarnated life had entered the cycle of reincarnation, he and Xu Ziqing could finally depart. They took Yun Tianheng and Yun Zhengrui with them.
Xu Ziqing left behind a magical artifact and simple cultivation formulas for each of the five elements. The clan head likewise preserved these carefully.
From then on, every child born into Yun Family Manor was made to touch the magical artifact. Any child who made it glow would be taught the corresponding basic cultivation formula.
Once a child reached a measure of success, they could infuse spiritual energy into the artifact. If their aptitude proved outstanding, someone would come in the future to receive them and take them into the great world.
In this way Yun Family Manor would continue growing and flourishing, its lineage enduring for thousands upon tens of thousands of years.
Elio’s Notes: Zhuazhou (抓周) is the traditional first-birthday custom of setting objects before a child and interpreting their choice as a hint of their future interests or abilities.