Over the week since his return, Luan had watched faint signs of life return to his clan.
In the last four days, his family's financial status began showing some improvements.
Not only had they picked and sold Spiritual fruits from the Secret Grotto, they had also stumbled upon an ore deposit.
A Grade-2 Earth Spiritual Stone ore deposit.
A type of stone that is beneficial to cultivators with an Earth affinity. Though it wasn't a rare type or a high grade stone, it was sufficient for those in the Foundation Building and Purple Mansion stages to train with.
Apparently, it was hidden beneath the Spirit Vein that the crystal pearl ate.
Luan felt a wave of satisfaction when he heard about this; So the pearl didn't completely scam me after all. The more they found, the better he felt.
At this point, his family had stopped watching every move… openly at least.
Some of the elders continued paying attention to him. For his safety, and also because they were skeptical.
They couldn't determine who it was that ambushed Luan, as he had relayed to them. And this kept them on edge.
Two days ago, Belan brought a new walking cane to Luan. One that had been forged by the family's blacksmith.
Unlike the previous cane, this one was black and gave a metallic sheen. It was three and a half feet long, and its handle was shaped like the body of a dragon.
Luan later found out that there was sword hidden inside. It wasn't a graded weapon, however it was a fine sword. He had used a sword in Sorja too.
It was his common go-to weapon.
These past few days, Luan had been paying attention to his body and how his cultivation art affected him. He was even tempted to test the immaterial core once a few times, but he held himself back.
Luan had come to a conclusion.
For his art to progress, he would have to strengthen his body. And though inner strength was a form of body strengthening art, it proved to be useless under the strain of the unique qi within Luan.
He even thought of naming this qi, but with no certain idea of what the nature of his art was, he pushed that idea to the side.
Now, what he needed most, was a body cultivation art.
The Six Hells Ape art could be considered a pseudo body cultivation art, but Luan didn't think it would be useful to him.
It was a painful fact that the bodies of most qi cultivators were their greatest weakness.
A good example are the guards that Luan killed a few days ago. If they had also cultivated their bodies, Luan doubted if he would have been able to kill those two as easily as he did.
Should I ask Second Grandpa if we have any in the family's archives?
The Khan family did have quite a few cultivation arts in their arsenal, after all, not everyone can cultivate the Six Hells Ape art. Especially if their spirit root or physique is attuned to another element.
Luan had been thinking about his father and other siblings in the past few days. He worried about them, to the point where he became a bit impatient in his cultivation.
But he knew that heading to Void Battlefield with his low level cultivation would just make him a target for the wicked to try and bully.
He needed to get a bit stronger first.
Let's ask Second Grandpa first.
Since Luan's father left for the war in the Void Battlefield a few years ago, Belan had become the acting family head. He was competent and experienced.
Everyone in the family respected him.
Luan knocked on his door and waited for the permission to enter. This was his father's cultivation room, currently being used by Belan.
"Luan, what's the matter?"
"Nothing much. I was just wondering if I could ask for a favor." Luan smiled and sat respectfully on a mat opposite his grand uncle.
In between them was a table and kettle of tea steaming by the mouth.
"A favor?" Belan was taken aback a bit, but ultimately felt good that Luna wanted something. "What would that be?"
"Second Grandpa, I need body cultivating arts. The grade doesn't matter, I just want peruse through a few."
A thoughtful arch lifted one of his brows. A body cultivation art? This was a simple favor, particularly when the body cultivation art he sought had no grade restriction.
Is he trying to strengthen his body because of his meridians? So he wants to switch paths.
Belan reasoned. All the elders of the family were aware of the condition of Luan's meridians. After they found him unconscious in the forest, they had inspected his body.
Body cultivation is a good way to counter fractured meridians… but the challenge is quite difficult.
If qi cultivation was arduous, then body cultivation using qi was considered an even more difficult hurdle to climb.
Belan thought about it for a few seconds before giving his answer.
If he wants a body cultivation art, then the family should get a good one for him. Tsk! This kid, does he think we're poor? Asking for a body cultivation art with no restriction on its grade. If we let him cultivate a useless body cultivation art, in the future, wouldn't his path forward be severed?
Second Grandpa almost sneered at Luan.
Luan didn't think of it that way. He just wanted to make his body stronger first before considering anything else.
"The family does have a few dozen body cultivation arts, but they only go up to the Purple Mansion realm."
"Good," Luan exclaimed, satisfied with that.
"But I can't let you use them." Said Belan.
"Huh, Second Grandpa, why?"
"Rather, the family will give you some funds. You can head into the city and purchase a good body cultivation art that has at least four volumes. Anything below the Golden Core realm is likely to be trash!"
Luan could see that his Second Grandpa had gotten a bit emotional over this matter. It made him… speechless.
All he wanted was a body cultivation art, and now he was being given money to source one.
"I just contacted Elder Dolan. He said that a few of the clan's outer members are heading into the city this afternoon to purchase long overdue items that the family needs. I asked him to give you enough money to get what you need. Go into the city with the outer disciples."
Belan wasted no time.
With a sigh, Luan accepted his fate. "Thank you, Second Grandpa." He bowed and left the room.
"Hmph! Nosey kid. You think the clan would be stingy to you after handing a Grade-1 Secret Grotto to us?" Belan muttered.
One would wonder why he was reacting like this, well, the Luan they knew wasn't one that held family ties close to his heart.
To the many that knew him, the only people he had shown unconditional love to were Liana and Romain, even his father had been given the short end of the stick.
He used to be rebellious, and because of this, many people already a handle on his personality.
After Luan left, Dolan visited Belan.
"Are you certain that this will work?" Dolan questioned. He poured himself a cup of tea and sipped from it.
"Not completely, but if there are people adamant on taking his life, then they won't miss this opportunity. When they reveal themselves, I'll be there to deal with them." Belan answered.
Much like everyone in the family, they were pissed that someone had attempted to assassinate a son of Khan on their land!
This was a blatant disrespect to the name and reputation, but they had swallowed their anger. Belan wanted to know who the culprit was, and why Luan was a target.
"If you leave home, a lot of eyes would follow you. Some of those nobles who've pushing our decline in the city might cause some problems for you. They might see Luan's appearance as a provocation." Dolan pointed out.
"I'll knock their teeth out if they dare to block my way today."
Dolan observed his nephew's expression. He meant every word he said. "Fifteen years of being silent and docile must have taken a toll on you… if we let Luan step out, then that's no different from announcing to the world that he has been healed. Weren't you trying to avoid those hypocritical snobs?"
"Uncle, are you trying to discourage me from doing this?" Belan frowned.
"Baldeen isn't around now, so who else apart from me can talk some sense into to you?"
"Nobody,"
"Exactly… so have some sense been imparted into you?" Dolan asked as he smiled with his eyes.
"No."
Dolan chuckled, "I thought so."
…
Luan spent some minutes trying to convince his mother that he was fine. She had almost lost it when she heard that Belan had told him to go to the city.
It took a lot of convincing before she reluctantly gave him her permission.
"I think Mother has become overly protective of me over the years." Luan muttered as he left the gates of his clan's property with a group of outer clan disciples.