The Founder of Qi Cultivation, Reincarnates?

As Xi Shen listen to this story that happened long ago, he was absolutely speechless.

“What happened after their affair got out? Does this story have something to do with the bad blood between the Star Bound Continent and us?”

Lady Ying nodded at her son’s question and then said, “The results of the outcome were indeed what brought about the tension between our Continent and there’s. As when the 4th Emperor had found out, he had killed the Profound Sword Sect disciple and imprisoned the Patriarch's third daughter in the Divine Music Academy, refusing to hand her over to her father. Over the years, several large and small-scale battles ensued between us and the Profound Sword Sect. Although they were the strongest power on their Continent back then as well, they were unable to mobilize the Continent's power as our Li Clan could so they would always be on the losing side.”

Lady Ying paused for a moment then said, “You asked why the Celestial Academy was so against Soul cultivators, but they’re not, they just refused to acknowledge that they were once associated with our Divine Star Academy or anything to do with our Li Clan. This was because, during her imprisonment in the Divine Star Academy, the Profound Sword Sect Patriarch’s third daughter was nursing a child. When the 4th Emperor found out, in order to protect her son she told the Emperor he was his. Though the Emperor obviously hadn’t believed her, he still decided to spare the child’s life but cripple her foundation as a consequence. Though until she had died of old age, she adamantly stick to her belief that the child was the Emperor's and not the Profound Sword Sect’s disciple’s...”

“...As for that child, he eventually grow up and refused to return to the Star Bound Continent as his mother had actually been pressured into marrying the Emperor when she had already had a lover. So he chose to stay on the Maple Continent for some reason and took over the Divine Music Academy, changing its name to the Celestial Star Academy. Then as if he wanted to rid the academy of its former self, that child, now adult, chose to create various division’s meant for the different professions and paths of cultivation, but completely disregard music and subsequently Soul Cultivation. Over the years, the disciples began developing a mindset where they see Soul Cultivation as a useless profession, and after becoming the number one academy, that mindset start to spread across the Continent, as people started saying if the number one academy doesn’t believe in Soul Cultivation then it must be useless. Thus this left the Divine Star Academy as the only institution on the Maple Continent, that has a department that focuses on training disciples in the Music Dao, and to become Soul Cultivators.”

With that, Lady Ying finished her long retelling of those past events that were not known by many people.

Xi Shen sat in front of his mother for a moment, going over all that he had just heard.

He now understands why the Soul Arts felt so tailored to a sword practitioner. For example, the Raindrop Sword Sutra Soul Art, he had chosen in the Techniques Library. That was a combination of the Sword Dao and the Music Dao.

Even the Soul Illusion Art. If that was used while a Soul Cultivator controlled dozens or even hundreds of swords with the Soul Diffusion Art, the enemy wouldn’t know which one was real or which one was fake. If they weren’t careful they could be beheaded without even knowing it.

After a while, Xi Shen then looked up at his mother and asked, “Why are you to tell me this story?”

Even though this explains a lot of things for Xi Shen, he still asked this because his mother could have given him a much simpler answer without revealing these past events. There must be a reason for her to go out of her way to do so.

Lady Ying looked at her son and then asked, “Why don’t you create a Faction in the Sword Pavilion that focuses on learning the Sword Dao as well as the Dao of Music? With your situation like this, it would be perfect for you. I had my doubts as to why your father had made that decree for you to enter the Celestial Academy, despite you not being able to cultivate Qi, but thinking about it now this must be one of the reasons why. Maybe he wants to bridge the gap between the Celestial Academy and Divine Star Academy again.”

Hearing that, Xi Shen couldn’t help but have shock flood his heart. Indeed, if his situation was looked at from that angle it seemed as if that was his father’s intention.

But Xi Shen thought this plan from his father only came after he had tried to use his talents to deter the Seven Clans from working together. With his supreme-grade attributes, he would have become a cultivator and an Emperor that could suppress them all under his palm, more so than the previous Emperor’s could.

But from this, one could see how far-reaching his father’s sights were. Even though it wasn’t a guarantee Xi Shen would have created a faction like what his mother had suggested, with his Supreme-grade soul his father had likely wanted Xi Shen to become a Soul Cultivator that could battle and win against the top geniuses of the Celestial Academy.

This would inadvertently have the same effect as grabbing the people who said Soul Cultivation was useless by their shoulders and shaking them until they came to a realization that it wasn’t so. This could also lead to the Celestial Academy disciple’s mindset about Soul Cultivators to change.

As Xi Shen thought about how his father was as conniving as Ghuanyu by trying to get the Celestial Academy back under their Li Family’s control, he couldn’t help but have one big fact he had his suspicions about but hadn’t asked about until now, appear in his mind.

Looking at his mother, Xi Shen asked, “Who is the son of the 4th Emperor’s first concubine?”

Upon hearing this question, Lady Ying smiled at Xi Shen and said, “He’s the current Academy Leader of the Celestial Academy, Lu Xue Wen.”

Just as Xi Shen had suspected, his speculation was right.

But Xi Shen still couldn’t stop himself from feeling slightly overwhelmed.

By what his mother had mentioned in the story of the first concubine still saying her son was the Emperor’s child until her death, there was a very likely possibility that Lu Xue Wen was a member of the Li Clan bloodline.

And seeing that he might be the 4th Emperor’s firstborn son, his bloodline was extremely pure coming from the main branch of the family.

Curious Xi Shen asked, “Was it ever confirmed that he was the 4th Emperor’s son?”

After asking that Xi Shen saw his mother shook his head and said, “No it hasn’t, but the fact still remained that the 4th Emperor had passed a decree that as long the Celestial Academy didn’t betray the Maple Continent and the throne, no action should be taken against them.”

Xi Shen sunk back into his thoughts upon hearing that.

He thought about Lu Xue Wen’s reaction when his father had made the decree for him to enter the Celestial Academy. He came to realize at that time it was an indirect clash between both of them.

By placing Xi Shen in the outer sect, he wouldn’t be able to make any waves in the academy and wouldn’t have access to any of the Soul Arts that remained in the institute, making his father’s plan fall short.

But then he thought about how his daughter had gone against his orders and promoted him to an Inner disciple and had even allowed him to join the Sword Pavilion. A weird expression couldn’t help but appear on Xi Shen’s face.

‘Is Lu Dongmei not on good terms with her father? Why would she help me, and subsequently my father?’

Xi Shen suddenly got the feeling that some massive conflict was secretly happening that spanned the entire continent with him having no clue about it. If that’s the case, he was extremely uneasy as he didn’t know what role he played in all of this. He was just glad that the attention on him wasn’t that much. If it were, he would have had to constantly worry about not revealing his Dao Foundation.

But then again, there was also the fact of the heavens blessing him when he was born. His mother had told him of what his father did, in which he hid it from the public, but even then he had made sure not to stand out when he was growing up, only showing the bare minimum of what he was capable of and completely hiding the rest.

Though he was starting to think that the attention would turn on him even if he didn’t want it to. Especially if he decided to create a Faction as his mother had suggested.

After a while, Xi Shen suddenly snorted in his heart, before admonishing himself, ‘What is there to be worried about? The fact that I came from an era of Gods and even survive them constantly raging wars, this little conflict on this small Continent shouldn’t be a problem to navigate through.’

Xi Shen then turned to his mother with a smile, and then said, “Creating a Faction like that does sound like a good idea, but the problem is finding disciples to join it when everyone hates Soul Cultivation so much.”

*******

~Fun Fact~

The Sound Dao produces the Music Dao, they are the same but then again not the same.

See ya!! ~waves gb~ Word Count: 1586