The Fu Clan’s Green Lake Territory was extremely important and had great potential. Huiyue was determined that it would become her abode, and the backing of her small family.
Something deep inside of her seemed to light up at her determination, and she even felt a strong lightening power gather around her.
A stale breath escaped her lips as she realised something.
"The bottleneck... has disappeared!"
Her eyes lit up, and she understood something.
Many years ago, in the mortal territory of their Fu Clan, there was a huge thunderstorm threatening to destroy a whole town.
At that time, the town chief’s family consisted of only three people—father, mother and daughter.
On the night of thunder, the daughter huddled beneath the shade of her father’s Scholar Tree, a tree awarded only to great officials symbolising authority and officialdom.
The thunder raged and lightning fell, washing over the whole town. Houses collapsed and families were torn apart.
Her family didn’t escape this fate either. While she was huddled, father and mother had died and only the Scholar Tree protected her.
Just when she was crying in the thunder, hugging the tree, suddenly, a bold of lightning struck the tree. It pierced the three from top to bottom, creating a huge scar and nearly splitting it in to—
Lightning was just about to pierce to its roots and kill the tree, when it was suddenly absorbed by the girl hugging the tree!
The spiritual power hidden in the nature of all things, even inside the lightning, was absorbed by the little girl, and she transformed on the spot, becoming a first-stage cultivator. The tree, meanwhile, had survived because of her and also absorbed the power of lightning in the process.
When she woke up again, she was held by a kind old man, who had placed a small tree inside her arms.
He told her: from now on, you will be my daughter, Huiyue, and this Thunderstruck Scholar Tree will be your Innate Tree.
The Scholar Tree symbolised officialdom and authority, and when it survived lightning, it obtained the authority of heaven, surviving it and even becoming a spiritual tree with hidden potential. The girl was also special, with thunder-wood spiritual roots, extremely rare and seldom found.
And just now...
Her realisation had changed her mind. She wasn’t willing to be a weak elder for the sake of reaching greater heights. She would become the Matriarch, the Empress carrying the highest authority of Heaven and Earth!
The thunder-struck scholar wood awakened more of its hidden potential, and she felt a subtly upward trend. Her bottleneck disappeared, and a great path lay ahead for her to explore.
In the reverie of her realisation, she had already arrived at the ancestral hall of the Fu Clan and stood right before it.
There were cultivators hidden on the path to the ancestral hall, but right in front of it, there was no one. The hall itself wasn’t grand either—it looked like just another courtyard, with the exception that the spiritual power was extremely high, and that the wood energy was most concentrated here—
It seemed to be a paradise for planting cultivators, and... it was indeed!
"Yue’er," a soft voice called out to her.
Huiyue raised her head and saw that her ancestor had appeared at one point.
It was Peilan, the Fu Clan’s head of the Spiritual Planting Hall, a 130 year old Foundation Building cultivator of the mid stage, young and talented with the possibility of reaching the late stage or go even further.
This was the youngest cultivator of theirs, though the heritage of the Fu Clan is very young, and besides the founder who had died a hundred years after establishing the clan, the other was still alive. The other ancestor was now nearly 200 years old and only at the mid stage, being a guardian cultivator specifically cultivated by the ancestor to ensure the clan would have one to protect it even after he left.
Huiyue looked at ancestor Peilan, her eyes drooping slightly, "Ancestor, I have failed you!" she said, falling to her knees.
Peilan didn’t ask her to stand up but asked first, "Why have you failed me?"
"I hesitated! I wavered in the choice of my path! The clan raised me and took care of me, but I was ungrateful and wanted to run away! Please punish me!"
"There is no ungratefulness," Peilan shook his head, "whether you repay or karma as a clan member or as a sect member, you will be able to repay it. Blocking a cultivator’s path is a great sin."
Huiyue remained silent, not daring to comment on her ancestor’s words at this moment.
Peilan didn’t seem to care, asking instead, "My child, have you found that your path lays with the clan?"
"Ancestor, the clan raised me and I weathered through warmth and cold, and when I bore a child with the name ’Fu’. I truly settled my heart and it can no longer leave."
"Mhm..." Peilan nodded slightly, understanding the reason. The story behind Huiyue’s birth was a bit complicated, but even if she moved to the sect, taking the child with her wouldn’t have been impossible, even if the child was the designated heir of the Verdant Grove. While she mentioned her child, in fact, what she meant was that her heart was truly with the clan, and that there was no desire to go to the sect.
But he still had to ask again—this matter could not be taken lightly, "Fu Huiyue, are you sure? The sect can easily allow a cultivator to reach the Foundation Building stage, and even the third stage above is not impossible. Are you truly sure you wish to remain in the clan?"
"Ancestor, I am sure!" Huiyue raised her eyes and her determined gaze met the eyes of her ancestor, fully displaying the determination that had once made the clan help her find her partner.
Peilan smiled—this was how their Fu Clan women were like. Each one heroic and determined, even more stubborn than their male cultivators, but this was primarily because the first ancestor’s mother, an elder in the sect, had raised him with all her might. That elder said to have supported their clan—she was actually their clan’s ancestor! But to protect them, the elder hid it, ensuring that no malicious people, enemies or other sect factions would attack them. Because of this, only the ancestors knew, and the young people have been kept in the dark.
Seeing the shadow of that elder in Huiyue, Peilan truly felt gratified.
He nodded slightly, "Fu Huiyue, your status will be elevated from the direct lineage to the core lineage. Your cultivation... I see. It seems you have already made the choice in your heart, only informing the clan. Reach the peak of Qi Refining, and within four years, we will arrange a Foundation Building Pill for you!"
"Thank you ancestor!" Huiyue bowed deeply—
Core Lineage—only Foundation Building ancestors and Foundation Building Seeds were registered as core lineage, either revered to as ancestors or elders of the clan—
She bowed deeply once more, her body shaking slightly as she breathed a sigh of relief—staying in the clan was the right choice!