Free Web NovelChapter 80: Chapter 68: Karmic Entanglements of Cultivating at Home, and Another 6 Years Pass
"Mom, what just happened?"
His big brother asked, "When you were about to fall just now, how did you suddenly stop yourself?
Did I see that wrong?
I don’t think I saw it wrong, did I?"
"I... My foot really did slip just now, and I was about to fall."
His mother recalled, "But it felt like something suddenly steadied me.
And then I was standing firm.
But when I turned my head, there was nothing behind me!"
"Then what I saw before wasn’t a trick of the eyes!"
His big brother analyzed, "I thought your core strength was just terrifyingly good.
To be able to stop yourself in a position like that!
But what was it that held you up?
What’s going on?
Could it be the Mountain God showing his power?"
"It’s possible!"
His mother said, "It was the great Mountain God showing his power!"
Half a minute later, his big brother and mother went into the house to see what Xu Lei was doing.
By this time, Xu Lei was naturally pretending to be sound asleep.
Then, his big brother and mother left the room.
In the courtyard, his mother caressed her belly and knelt down with his big brother to kowtow toward the mountain across from them.
At the same time, inside the house, Xu Lei sat cross-legged on his bed, sensing the consumption of Magical Power within his body.
’This is the karma of practicing Cultivation at home.’
He watched his big brother and mother outside and sighed, ’It’s also why Cultivators of the Daoist Sect and Buddhist Sect leave their homes to pursue Cultivation.’
Although he had only given his mother a simple bit of support just now, it had still consumed more than a month’s worth of Magical Power that Xu Lei had painstakingly cultivated.
He had inherited the Dao Seed from his previous life, which was an Origin droplet the size of a grain of rice.
He used it to absorb Spiritual Qi and increase his Magical Power.
After three difficult years of Cultivation, the Magical Power attached to it had grown more and more abundant.
The Magical Power combined with the Dao Seed had already reached the size of a soybean.
Now, with just that one action, the Magical Power on the surface of the Dao Seed had thinned somewhat.
In total, it had become slightly smaller than a soybean again.
Of course, although he was pained by the consumption of his Magical Power, Xu Lei did not regret taking action.
After all, this was his birth mother, who had gone through great hardship to bring him into the world.
And she was carrying his younger brother or sister in her belly.
Although other Cultivators were extremely wary of karma, even to the point of cutting off all worldly ties, they wouldn’t even intervene if their mortal relatives were in trouble and begged for help.
But Xu Lei could inherit the Cultivation of his previous life and could also be reincarnated many times over.
Therefore, he was not in a hurry to attain the Dao in a single lifetime.
There was no need to be as cold-blooded and heartless as the Cultivators of the Daoist Sect’s Supreme Forgetting Emotions Dao.
The reason they were so cold and heartless was that they only had one lifetime to attain the Dao.
The entire process was one where if you didn’t advance, you would regress.
So they couldn’t slack off in the slightest.
「In the blink of an eye, another three years passed.」
Xu Lei was six years old.
Because he was still young, he hadn’t done anything astonishing.
He just cultivated silently.
After his rebirth, his Cultivation speed was indeed much faster than in his previous life!
After all, Xu Lei had started his Cultivation from childhood this time.
As a Child, his body’s Essence Qi was pure and whole, and his Chun Yuan had not dissipated!
Unlike in his past life, when he had already squandered more than half his life in debauchery by the time he obtained the Dao Seed.
After three years of arduous Cultivation, Xu Lei had finally managed to increase the Magical Power in his body again.
During Introspection, he could see that the Dao Seed, together with its Magical Power, had now become quite a bit larger than a soybean.
’A few more years of practice!’
Xu Lei thought to himself, ’Once I cultivate it to the size of a peanut, I should be able to venture deep into the Great Xing Mountain Range.
To refine that cave mansion of Robert Keating.
And snatch it away from Qi Yang, who has been guarding it bitterly for decades.
Once I get that cave mansion, especially that Spirit Gathering Array!
My Cultivation speed should become even faster than it is now!’
That’s right, Xu Lei had been thinking about this matter all along.
It was just that his Magical Power was too weak; he had no way of refining the cave mansion.
Besides, the Great Xing Mountain Range was a vast, sprawling mountain range.
To get from here to the cave mansion’s location, he would definitely encounter all sorts of wild beasts along the way.
If he didn’t cultivate enough Magical Power, it was uncertain whether the not-yet-adult Xu Lei could even make it there safely!
That was why Xu Lei hadn’t set out yet.
Instead, he had been diligently cultivating and developing his strength.
He wasn’t in a hurry now, either.
After all, he had lied to Qi Yang back then, telling him that the cave mansion’s Restriction would dissolve on its own in fifty or sixty years.
As of now, only thirty-seven years had passed.
「Three days later.」
"Second Brother, let’s go!"
His big brother, now seventeen and much sturdier than before, shouted in a booming voice, "Come hunt in the mountains with me and Dad!
It’s time you came along to watch and learn!"
The reason his big brother was a full eleven years older than Xu Lei was because their mother’s health hadn’t been good after giving birth to him.
She had gotten pregnant a few more times after that, but they all ended in miscarriages.
She rested for several years, and her body recovered somewhat, but it still wasn’t in good shape.
That is, until she became pregnant with Xu Lei!
While Xu Lei was cultivating in her womb, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi he absorbed nourished her, making up for her body’s deficiencies.
Only then did she truly regain her health.
Spiritual Qi naturally had this effect of strengthening one’s Essence Qi.
Otherwise, how could Xu Lei have relied on it to enhance his Charitable Giving ability after he obtained the Dao Seed?
And because of this, with her body now healthy, she got pregnant again not long after giving birth to Xu Lei.
"Coming!"
Xu Lei replied, "Big Brother, I’m coming!"
This was the trouble with cultivating at home.
But since Xu Lei was at home, he had no choice but to endure it.
In truth, Xu Lei had thought about leaving, but for one, he was still too young. Second, this place was already near the Great Xing Mountain Range. And third, his progress from cultivating in secret was actually acceptable.
So, Xu Lei figured he would stay at home until he was ready to go get the Spirit Gathering Array.
After successfully returning with his prize, he would then leave home for good.
"Brother, brother!"
Just then, a cute two-year-old toddler came running over with faltering steps to hug Xu Lei.
"Third Brother! Be good!"
Xu Lei said, "Your big brother and second brother are going to go hunt for some meat!"
That’s right, the baby in his mother’s belly three years ago had also been a boy.
"Enough talk, let’s go now!"
At this moment, a sturdy, dark-faced middle-aged man with a full beard said, "Second son, just follow your big brother.
For now, your main job is to just watch how we hunt.
Don’t go running off."
This was Xu Lei’s father.
"You all must be careful!"
Xu Lei’s mother, who wasn’t pregnant at the moment, ran over, picked up her third son, and said, "Second son, once you’re in the mountains, you must listen to your dad and big brother!"
"I know."
Xu Lei said, "Don’t worry, Mom."
「A few hours later.」
Xu Lei was hunting in the mountains with his big brother and father.
Everything was going smoothly at first.
Suddenly.
"Look out, a ’black blindy’!"
Xu Lei’s father roared, "Run!"
A ’black blindy,’ as it was called, was a large black bear.
In an ancient world, encountering such a creature was quite dangerous.
His big brother’s face also turned pale as he grabbed Xu Lei and started running.
Then, he simply hoisted Xu Lei onto his shoulders.
At that moment, the black bear charged toward their father.
Their father held his weapon and tried to resist, but he was knocked flying.
His big brother took a shot with his Bow and Arrow, but it had little effect.
Instead, it only enraged the black bear.
It lunged at their father even more fiercely.
"Shatter!"
Seeing his father in danger, Xu Lei had no choice but to put his hand behind his back, form a two-finger sword, and once again channel his Magical Power!
An invisible surge of Magical Power shot out.
It directly pierced the black bear’s eyes!
"ROAR!"
The black bear, in pain and a furious rage, swiped its claws wildly.
However, Xu Lei’s father was an experienced hunter and naturally dodged out of the way in an instant.
"What happened?"
Afterwards, the father and son couldn’t help but look at each other in astonishment. "How did the black bear’s eyes suddenly go blind?"
But they looked all around and saw no one else nearby.
Xu Lei, meanwhile, pretended to be scared and hid behind his big brother.
"It must be the Mountain God showing his power!" his big brother finally said. "There’s no other explanation!"
"The Mountain God again?"
His father said, puzzled, "What good karma have our family accumulated?
To receive the Mountain God’s protection so many times?
First, when your mother fell, and now this business with the black bear..."
Of course, in the end, although they couldn’t figure it out, they still knelt and kowtowed respectfully toward the great mountain.
「An hour later.」
They returned home.
When Xu Lei’s mother heard what had happened, her face turned pale with shock, and she too knelt and kowtowed toward the great mountain once again.
However, what Xu Lei hadn’t expected was that because of this incident, his mother now forbade him from going into the mountains to hunt with his father and big brother.
She said he was still too young and the mountains were too dangerous.
This gave Xu Lei much more time for his Cultivation.
Naturally, he was happy about this.
「In the blink of an eye, another three years passed.」
Xu Lei was now nine years old!
Now, during Introspection, he could see that inside his Lower Dantian, the Dao Seed plus the Magical Power on its surface had become slightly larger than a peanut.
’The time has come. It’s time to set out!’
On this day, Xu Lei opened his eyes.
He got out of bed and walked out the courtyard gate.
He gazed in the direction of Robert Keating’s cave mansion, deep within the Great Xing Mountain Range.
