Becoming a father for the first time, Zhou Luo was thrilled beyond words.
Once he regained his senses, he immediately carried the child into the room.
Inside, Lin Qinghan lay with a slightly pale face, her beautiful eyes tightly shut. She only opened them when he drew near.
“It’s a son, and he has spiritual roots.” Zhou Luo looked at her with gentle affection.
A rare smile graced Lin Qinghan’s face. Her voice was weak as she said, “Let me see.”
Zhou Luo smiled and placed the baby by the bedside. Turning on her side, Lin Qinghan looked at the tiny infant whose eyes were still closed, her expression softening.
“Have you thought of a name?” she asked, lightly stroking the baby’s small head.
“We’ll call him Changan,” Zhou Luo replied, offering the name he had long prepared.
He hoped his firstborn son would live a long, peaceful life.
“A very nice name.” Lin Qinghan liked it immensely. She lightly tapped the baby’s nose. “From now on, you will be Changan.”
The little baby opened his mouth, as if in response.
This sight caused another bright smile to bloom on Lin Qinghan’s face.
Zhou Luo gazed dotingly at the mother and son, feeling a profound sense of responsibility well up in his heart for the first time.
In this moment, he desired nothing more than greater strength.
Only then could the people close to him live in peace and happiness.
Zhou Luo secretly made a resolution.
He would cultivate with everything he had and protect his family.
…
The news that Lin Qinghan had given birth to an offspring with spiritual roots instantly spread throughout the entire family.
As one of the first batch of Matrilocal Husbands to join the Lin Family, Zhou Luo was currently the only one to produce a child with spiritual roots.
This naturally drew the family’s intense attention.
To motivate the other Matrilocal Husbands, the main branch even made an exception and sent him a large amount of Cultivation resources, leaving the others deeply envious.
But the most important of these was naturally the qualification to enter the spiritual vein’s blessed land.
By customary rules, only achieving pregnancy would yield this kind of Reward.
But this time, the family was clearly trying to encourage everyone to produce more offspring with spiritual roots, so they laid down a special rule:
Anyone who produced a child with spiritual roots could enter the spiritual vein’s blessed land to cultivate for three months.
This served as a massive incentive to the Matrilocal Husbands looking to climb the ranks.
However, some Matrilocal Husbands felt the family was only doing this to bind them tighter.
Dangling this new Reward was a clear ploy to slow down everyone’s child-rearing progress.
If they did not cultivate, they would have no standing or dignity, and their children would lack high talent. But if they did cultivate, it would delay their childbearing progress, and the higher their Cultivation level, the harder it would be to conceive.
Zhou Luo had distinctly felt this point himself.
For instance, after recently sharing a bed with Lin Lan, the chances of her conceiving were noticeably lower than before.
Of course, this was also because his time had been consumed by alchemy and Cultivation.
It seemed like an unsolvable dilemma, unless one had exceptional talent and could balance both…
However, to Zhou Luo, these were all minor matters.
Because the more children he had, the longer his lifespan became. He had ample time for Cultivation and never needed to worry that fathering children would hinder his progress.
A few days later, Zhou Luo arrived at Shouchun Hall for his usual instruction.
“I heard you produced a child with spiritual roots for the family?” Lin Zhishou looked at him with a pleasant expression.
“It is all thanks to the family’s deep grace,” Zhou Luo said sincerely.
Ever since he deduced that the family did not fully trust him, and thus hesitated to heavily nurture a potential Alchemist like him…
Zhou Luo made sure to keep the word “family” on his lips whenever he was in front of Lin Zhishou.
His purpose was simple.
He wanted to use Lin Zhishou to display his “loyalty” to the family, thereby securing more benefits.
Clearly, this approach was highly effective.
Every time he heard Zhou Luo speak this way, Lin Zhishou’s smile only grew brighter.
“It is very good that you harbor such thoughts. Come, let me see your current alchemy skills.”
Zhou Luo skillfully stepped up to the alchemy furnace, where the medicinal herbs had already been prepared.
Over the next two hours.
His success rate in condensing Pills reached eighty percent, and his chance of producing two Spirit Pills per furnace hit fifty percent.
Such a terrifying speed of improvement left Lin Zhishou extremely pleasantly surprised.
If this continued, Zhou Luo would advance to become a first-rank Middle Grade Alchemist within three years.
With such powerful talent, no one across the entire Lin Family could match his progress.
Lin Zhishou called Zhou Luo over and said seriously, “Your performance has greatly satisfied me. I plan to take you to participate in the Alchemy Gathering.” This chapter was taken from novelping . com without permission.
“Alchemy Gathering? Uncle Shou, what is that?” Zhou Luo had never heard of such a thing.
“This Alchemy Gathering is a blessing handed down by the Qingyuan Sect…” Lin Zhishou slowly explained.
As the saying goes, Cultivation encompasses a hundred arts.
To expand its influence and unearth talented youths with Potential, the Qingyuan Sect used the study of these hundred arts as a pretext. Every year, they ordered the Longevity Families to hold related gatherings to select capable individuals to enter the Sect and study.
Among these various gatherings, those dedicated to the four major arts were naturally the most famous.
The Alchemy Gathering was one of them.
Every year, the Qingyuan Sect selected a number of talented new alchemists from the Alchemy Gathering to enter the Sect for instruction.
Of course, because the art of alchemy boasted many talented youths, the competition was always incredibly fierce.
Lin Zhishou wanting Zhou Luo to attend was not to have him enter the Sect, but simply to broaden his horizons and let him see the outside world.
But falling into Zhou Luo’s ears, those words held a completely different meaning.
He secretly contemplated that if he could display his skills at the Alchemy Gathering and enter the Qingyuan Sect to study, it would immensely improve his Cultivation and status.
Compared to a Longevity Family, a Cultivation Sect was clearly the true path to pursue.
Even if he couldn’t become a formal Sect disciple this way, merely being allowed to study at an immortal Sect was already a massive stroke of fortune.
“When the time comes, you can also observe the alchemy skills of your peers,” Lin Zhishou encouraged him.
“Thank you, Uncle Shou.” Zhou Luo feigned deep gratitude, then conveniently showed a troubled expression. “But the contract stipulates I am not allowed to leave the estate…”
To prevent them from escaping, the family had specially made this group of Matrilocal Husbands sign a contract clearly stating they could not leave the Lin Family.
“Rest assured, I will report this to the Family Head,” Lin Zhishou replied without hesitation.
Hearing this reply, Zhou Luo secretly rejoiced.
It seemed his efforts had finally paid off. Being able to step outside the Lin Family would be a major turning point.
Unfortunately, according to Lin Zhishou, the Alchemy Gathering wouldn’t be held for another half a year.
He could use this time to further improve his strength.
Returning to his courtyard that night, he first went to check on Lin Qinghan and little Changan.
After chatting for a few moments, Zhou Luo chose to return to Lin Lan’s room so as not to disturb her rest.
The following afternoon, a servant appeared at his door.
“The Family Head wishes to see me?” Zhou Luo asked, a surprised look on his face.
He hadn’t expected Lin Zhishou to act so swiftly.
“Yes, please follow me,” the servant nodded.