The Shen Family Sends Someone to Intercept the Opportunity

In the small courtyard of Shen Qingshan's home, you are currently engaged in a battle of wits and courage with the air.

Black Wind has already been sent to the Yuelai Inn. You gave the proprietress a sum of money, troubling her to take care of him.

Others need to devote themselves wholeheartedly to their martial arts practice, and even then, they might not see any improvement.

You only need to go through the motions and leave the rest to the "Proficiency" trait.

Techniques are fairly easy to level up before reaching the Perfection stage, even Earth-rank ones. However, once they reach Perfection, the required number of practice repetitions skyrockets exponentially.

Repeating the same set of movements is tedious.

But the rewards are also abundant.

Take a mid-tier martial art like Rocket Step for example. For those who have entered the Superb stage, their practical combat power rivals that of high-tier martial arts with low proficiency levels!

If it enters the Pinnacle stage, it is directly comparable to a Perfected high-tier martial art!

There is another level above the Pinnacle stage, but you have yet to train any technique to that point, so you temporarily do not know its name.

It isn't that you don't want to focus exclusively on leveling one up.

Just for a mid-tier martial art like Rocket Step, the number of practices required to advance beyond the Pinnacle stage is more than the total number of upgrades for all your other techniques combined!

If it were a high-tier or Earth-rank technique, the required number of repetitions would only be greater.

The time investment cost is a bit too massive; it is better to be balanced and have all your techniques at a relatively high stage.

Moreover, once you obtain higher-quality techniques, the lower-quality ones will eventually be phased out anyway, so leveling them too high holds little meaning.

You hear a commotion outside and know that the elders of the Shen family have arrived.

You quickly sit cross-legged and frantically circulate the True Sun Incantation, deeply afraid they wouldn't be able to sense you.

A moment later, you notice the noisy sounds from the street outside instantly vanish, and a pale blue hemispherical light curtain appears above the small courtyard.

Subsequently, two elderly men dressed in plain clothes push the door open and walk into the courtyard.

"You two elder gentlemen, who might you be?"

You ask, despite already knowing the answer.

Their attitudes are quite amiable, and they first introduce themselves.

One is named Shen Linfeng, and the other is Shen Lincong.

They are from the Star Domain Shen Family.

"The Star Domain Shen Family?"

You continue to play dumb.

Shen Linfeng takes out a compass, its pointer aimed directly at you.

"Perhaps you don't even know it yourself, but the bloodline of our Star Domain Shen Family flows within your body. We have descended from the Star Domain this time to bring you home and bestow a great serendipity upon you."

Shen Lincong, who is standing to the side, takes the opportunity to explain what the Star Domain is.

Above the visible sky, there is another region known as the Star Domain.

The sun, moon, and stars float there, and the Shen family resides on some of the habitable stars within it.

"My name is Shen Yi, and my surname is indeed Shen, but am I really a descendant of the Star Domain Shen Family that lives in the sky? You two aren't just making fun of me, are you?"

Having lived multiple lives, your acting skills are exceptional.

After some intense back-and-forth, you reluctantly accept your fate.

In passing, you also manage to fish out the information that they only found you as the sole Shen family descendant in Qingzhou.

They do not know that Shen Qingshan is the true descendant of the Shen family.

You deduce that after Shen Qingshan's promotion, he definitely received higher-quality techniques from the government.

For example, a high-tier external art.

He replaced the external art True Sun Incantation he originally practiced, so the Shen family's compass used to seek out descendants could no longer detect him.

"If it is truly a serendipity, then I will accompany you two to the Star Domain to take a look. Anyway, I am all alone in this world, without any attachments."

Hearing that you have no attachments, the two seem even more satisfied.

"However, speaking of which, according to the genealogy records of the Mortal Lineage, there should be three inheritances in Qingzhou of the Central Plains. How is it that after our search, you are the only one left?"

You make something up on the spot, recounting what Shen Qingshan told you about the Shen family's ancestors having once been generals before the family eventually fell into decline.

"So that's how it is. It seems your background is not good, and you reached the Golden Body Realm entirely through your own cultivation. Brother Lincong, what do you think?"

"Since he is the only one in Qingzhou, even if he didn't meet the requirements, we'd still have to give him this quota. Not to mention, he is actually highly qualified. It's just that his innate aptitude is a bit low. I'm afraid that after returning, he will just be making up the numbers, and there isn't much hope."

"The two of us just need to bring back those who meet the conditions. Whether they can stand out or not is none of our concern."

"True."

The fact that they can see through your realm and innate aptitude means they are at least in the Soul Condensation Realm.

You ask curiously.

"What do you two elders mean by 'making up the numbers' and 'not much hope'?"

Shen Linfeng laughs.

"You'll know once you get there; knowing too much now is useless. Speaking of which, while walking through the Five Domains, we discovered that many low-tier spiritual weapons have gained sentience and developed weapon spirits. They are even rebelling against the natural order, wanting to become the masters of martial artists. Do you know what this situation is about?"

Of course you know.

You know better than anyone.

But right now, you can only state what everyone else knows.

"One day over a decade ago, all the spiritual weapons in the Five Domains suddenly gained weapon spirits. Each one of them has quite a personality. I heard they are even clamoring for independence, but I don't know the specific reasons behind it."

Shen Linfeng strokes his beard and frowns.

"That sounds like something the Earth Spirit would do."

Shen Lincong beside him also speaks up.

"The Earth Spirit is indeed capable of this. Furthermore, now that it lacks the supervision of the Great Dao Immortal Weapon, this mischievous fellow might really be running amok."

You feel quite surprised inwardly.

The Shen family's knowledge is truly impressive!

With just the few words you said, they have basically approached the truth.

Moreover, they clearly know even more information regarding the Earth Spirit and the Great Dao Immortal Weapon.

Just what kind of family is this?

However, it is not difficult for you to discover a certain fact.

The spiritual weapons in the Star Domain were not affected by the Myriad Soul Banner's wave of outrageous operations!

The Myriad Soul Banner only realizes this in hindsight as well.

"Hiss—I forgot about the Star Domain! The Earth Spirit cannot affect the Star Domain. Damn it, We have lost a huge batch of subjects for Our spiritual weapon kingdom!"

The three of you conclude your idle chat.

Shen Linfeng takes out a yellow talisman from his storage ring and sticks it onto your body.

"What is this?"

"An Ascension Talisman. It will make your body lighter, allowing us to take you up into the sky. What, did you think the two of us were in the Martial King Realm and could fly through the air? Even in the Shen family, the Martial King Realm is highly noble; they wouldn't come down to the surface to do these trivial chores."

Of course you know this is a talisman, but you have only seen them in the novels of your previous life. The Five Domains don't have them!

Shen Linfeng notices the surprise in your eyes and says.

"It's not strange that you haven't seen one. The Dao of Talismans has long been lost in the Great Wilderness of the Five Domains. Today, only the Shen family still retains a legacy of it."