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Upon hearing this, Lan Chang'an realized that his true identity had already been discovered by the Wufu Merchant Association.
Since the Wufu and Xinyue guilds were rivals, it was inevitable that they had informants within each other’s ranks.
The Xinyue Merchant Association’s investigation of Lan Chang'an’s true identity wasn’t considered top-secret information, which meant that it had likely already spread.
“Are you referring to a skilled talisman master from the Liang Kingdom’s cultivation world, named Lan Chang'an?” Lan Chang'an asked calmly.
“Exactly! That’s the very talisman master we’ve been seeking,” Xia Mingqu said, his eyes lighting up, clearly pleased.
“Please wait a moment, Young Master Xia. I’ll have my friend come out to meet you.”
With that, Lan Chang'an stood up and walked out of the reception hall.
About ten breaths later, a tall, serene young man dressed in white entered the hall with a composed demeanor.
Xia Mingqu was slightly startled, but then smiled warmly and stood up to greet him.
“It’s an honor, Talisman Master Lan. I am Xia Mingqu.”
“You flatter me, Young Master Xia. I’m but a humble talisman master with a small reputation in the Liang Kingdom. Few would recognize me in the Jing Kingdom,” Lan Chang'an replied courteously.
“This......”
Not far away, Xia Wenyue, the thin young woman who had been standing nearby, was taken aback. For a moment, she stood frozen, unsure of how to react.
She couldn’t quite reconcile the calm and refined young man before her with the memory of the slightly oily, round-faced middle-aged man she had known.
“Aunt Wenyue, I’ll take Talisman Master Lan to meet the clan leader now,” Xia Mingqu said.
“Yes... Of course,” Xia Wenyue replied, lowering her head. Her pale face turned slightly pink as she nodded.
Lan Chang'an and Xia Mingqu then left the hall together, walking side by side.
“Talisman Master Lan, I’ve heard that you have a spiritual pet, a Profound Water Turtle of earth-grade bloodline. Is that true?” Xia Mingqu asked with a curious smile.
Lan Chang'an’s nickname, “Turtle Talisman Master,” had spread widely in the Liang Kingdom, partly because he owned a Profound Water Turtle, known for its exceptionally slow growth.
“Indeed, let me summon it for some fresh air,” Lan Chang'an said with a smile, waving his sleeve toward the nearby deep pond.
Splash!
About ten breaths later, a massive dark-green turtle leaped out of the water, sending ripples of blue waves in every direction.
With a slight smile, Lan Chang'an gracefully landed on the turtle’s back, standing with his hands behind his back as it moved through the waves.
“Such elegance, Talisman Master Lan. You are like a celestial being,” Xia Mingqu said, his eyes filled with admiration. He then flew alongside Lan Chang'an, guiding him toward the heart of the Xia Family’s territory in Qingsha Bay.
Along the way, the Xia Family’s female cultivators couldn’t help but cast glances at the white-robed man riding on the large turtle, taking note of his extraordinary demeanor.
“Brother Mingqu, who is that?” a dignified and graceful female cultivator in blue robes called out as she flew toward them, her eyes gleaming as she saw the white-clothed man with an extraordinary demeanor on the large turtle from afar.
“Shenglan, you two actually know each other...” Xia Mingqu said, a bit awkwardly. At this point, only a few of the Xia Family’s top members knew about Lan Chang'an’s true identity.
He discreetly used a voice transmission to explain the situation to Xia Shenglan.
“Greetings, Miss Shenglan,” Lan Chang'an nodded, offering her a brief greeting.
He remembered the day when he had saved her; even then, her eyes hadn’t shone with the same vibrant light they did now.
“Wu Fan... Lan Chang'an...” Xia Shenglan stood stunned, her eyes wide as she watched the handsome white-robed figure riding away on the massive turtle.
...
The heart of Qingsha Bay, within the Xia Family’s domain.
Water cascaded down in a curtain, falling from the cliffs into the pool below.
This place had the densest concentration of spiritual energy in the Xia Family’s territory, reaching the level of a quasi-third-rank spiritual vein.
“Could the Wufu Merchant Association have employed an expert formation master to enhance and cultivate their spiritual veins?” Lan Chang'an mused.
When he had first come to this location five years ago, the spiritual energy here had been slightly weaker than it was now.
Of course, such a small difference didn’t matter much to a Fake Dan cultivator.
Most Fake Dan cultivators didn’t pursue further advancement, they were content to maintain their existing level of cultivation. As a result, many of them turned their attention to managing family affairs or indulging in worldly pleasures.
Only a few Fake Dan cultivators continued to seek the elusive opportunities to advance further on the path of immortality.
“Please, Talisman Master Lan, the clan leader is waiting inside,” Xia Mingqu said, stopping outside the waterfall. He didn’t follow Lan Chang'an inside.
Within the stone palace hidden behind the waterfall, Lan Chang'an once again met with the Xia Family’s clan leader, Xia Hongyu.
“Heh, I must admit, Talisman Master Lan, your disguise was so good that I completely overlooked the truth,” Xia Hongyu said with a chuckle.
Xia Hongyu, known for his focus on health and longevity, was over two hundred years old. Yet, despite his advanced age, he had a youthful, handsome face and smooth, fair skin. Only his hair showed hints of white at the temples.
From a distance, he might appear youthful, but a closer look would reveal the weight of years in his demeanor.
“I was fortunate. I merely used a special disguise tool, nothing more,” Lan Chang'an replied with humility as he took his seat.
This time, Xia Hongyu treated Lan Chang'an on a more equal footing, personally pouring tea for him.
Lan Chang'an understood why. As a skilled late Foundation Establishment cultivator, possibly even a quasi-third-rank talisman master, he had earned the right to be treated as an equal.
“Talisman Master Lan, here is the second-rank spirit contract you signed with us,” Xia Hongyu said, producing a contract scroll and displaying it to Lan Chang'an.
She had always been frail, her body burdened by a cold constitution that barely allowed her to cultivate.
Lan Chang'an had thought that as she progressed in her cultivation, her condition might improve.
However, despite reaching the late Qi-Refining stage, her condition had not improved. In fact, the cold energy within her seemed to have grown stronger.
“I gave her the medicine, but this time it seems different. She hasn’t woken up in half a day,” Xia Mingcheng explained.
“Where did she collapse?” Lan Chang'an asked, his expression becoming more serious.
“She’s in the medicine room,” Xia Mingcheng replied.
Lan Chang'an pondered for a moment.
Over the past few years, the Wufu Merchant Association had experienced internal strife, vying for power against the Xin Family.
Externally, their business ventures had been pressured by the Xinyue Merchant Association.
Relations between the Xia and Xin families had deteriorated sharply after Xia Shenglan’s return.
Later, the Xia Family had found evidence that the Xin Family was receiving support from the Xinyue Merchant Association, leading to a series of open and covert conflicts.
The Xin Family admitted to receiving assistance from the Xinyue Merchant Association, but claimed that it was part of normal trade dealings and that they had not betrayed or sold out the guild’s interests.
With both internal and external tensions, and the war in neighboring countries affecting trade routes, the guild had faced shortages of medical supplies.
Xia Wenyue, who had chosen the path of a healer, was considered the most skilled among the younger generation when it came to medicine. She had been working tirelessly to produce healing potions for the family, it was inevitable that there would be some strain.
...
Not long after, Lan Chang'an followed Xia Mingcheng to the medicine room near the alchemy chamber.
Inside, he found a young woman in a light blue veil dress, her brows as delicate as ink, lying unconscious on the floor.
Her face, normally pale, now looked deathly white. Her lips had turned a faint shade of blue, and her body was trembling slightly.
Lan Chang'an extended his hand, placing it on her smooth forehead, feeling the chill of frost-like coldness.
His brow furrowed as he took her thin wrist in his hand, noticing the translucent blue veins visible beneath her crystalline skin.
“Cold energy has invaded her meridians and internal organs—this is a long-standing condition that has worsened over time,” Lan Chang'an concluded after a brief examination.
Given the severity of her symptoms, Lan Chang'an was surprised that she had been able to maintain her cultivation, study medicine, and manage the island’s affairs for so long.
Had it been any other cultivator, they would have long since become bedridden, their meridians blocked by the cold energy.
With a deep breath, Lan Chang'an channeled his Evergreen technique, circulating his gentle spiritual energy to dissipate the cold energy that had accumulated within Xia Wenyue’s body.
During the process, he noticed something unusual in her navel area—a deeply rooted hidden injury.
“Could this be an illness she’s had since birth?” Lan Chang'an wondered.
Half an hour later, Lan Chang'an had managed to disperse the visible cold energy within her body.
At that moment, Xia Wenyue began to cough lightly in her unconscious state, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Her body temperature started to rise.
“Hm?”
Just as Lan Chang'an was about to withdraw his hand, he sensed that new cold energy was beginning to form inside her body again.
Where is this cold energy coming from?
Puzzled, Lan Chang'an placed two fingers on her slender wrist once more, this time noticing a faint chill emanating from her bones.
“Has her skeleton been affected by years of cold energy buildup?”
Lan Chang'an checked her bones more carefully and found yet another surprise.
Her bones were slender and jade-like, almost crystalline in their transparency. Though they radiated a coolness, there was no sign of damage from the cold.
In fact, this coolness seemed to calm the mind and clear the senses, distinct from the harmful cold energy that had accumulated in her body.
Finding no further problems with her bones, Lan Chang'an then focused his attention on her upper body, extending his spiritual sense toward her head.
“There’s cold energy within her soul?” Lan Chang'an was startled.
Had it not been for his exceptionally strong spiritual sense and meticulous inspection, he might have missed this discovery.
A faint chill was seeping from within Xia Wenyue’s soul, capable of freezing spiritual energy.
“Cold Soul... Jade Bones... Could this be some sort of innate Dao physique?”
Lan Chang'an wracked his brain, trying to recall his knowledge from his previous life.
Finally, a memory surfaced of an ancient text that described something called the “Cold Soul Jade Marrow,” which matched several of Xia Wenyue’s symptoms.
An innate Dao physique, also known as an innate treasure body, was a type of rare constitution independent of a cultivator’s spiritual roots.
Lan Chang'an had encountered very few of these in his past life, and in this life, he had only ever heard of a cultivator named Tuoba Jin, a genius from the Liang Kingdom, who possessed an innate treasure body and later on, had barely managed to form a Golden Dan.
“Little Ming, you go and get busy first. Wenyue’s condition is quite serious—I’ll need to use spiritual energy to nourish her for some time,” Lan Chang'an said, dismissing his apprentice.
According to the ancient text from his previous life, the 'Cold Soul Jade Marrow,' a type of innate Dao physique, could only survive and be developed if it was possessed by a female cultivator.
Before they had cultivated to a certain level, they had to keep their physique a closely guarded secret. Otherwise, they risked attracting deadly attention.