Over the next few months, Lu Fan's household continued to grow. His third wife gave birth to a son with a strong wood spiritual root, surpassing ordinary expectations. Thanks to her diligent practice of Century Wood Art, her own cultivation had begun subtly influencing their child, gifting him with a foundation suited for wood element cultivation. Remarkably, the child also possessed a promising water root, although not as developed as his wood root.
With each wife practicing a unique longevity art suited to their elemental affinity, Lu Fan ensured a harmonious blend of cultivation methods in his family. His fourth wife practiced Dawn Art, a fire-aligned longevity technique, while his fifth wife cultivated Whale Art for water Qi, and his sixth wife trained in Black Coral Art, which strengthened her earth element. Like Century Wood Art, these longevity arts focused on enhancing vitality and lifespan but required different elemental roots. Since not everyone could cultivate wood arts, these arts were developed to suit various primary roots and to enable extended lifespans for those with compatible elements.
Refining Body-Tempering with New Elements
In his own cultivation, Lu Fan observed that his Body-Tempering Art had reached a level of saturation with wood Qi, limiting further gains solely from wood-aligned resources. To continue advancing, he experimented with level 1 beast blood infused with other elements. By cycling through different elemental Qi, he noticed an improvement in his body's resilience and overall strength. Each element seemed to add a unique layer to his physical cultivation, reinforcing his strength in a balanced manner.
With this approach, Lu Fan diversified his resources, purchasing blood from beasts with elemental Qi—fire, earth, water, and metal. The infusion of various elements kept his body-tempering progression steady and unlocked new dimensions of strength.
Star Pavilion and Secrecy
After months of diligent care, Lu Fan's Holy Basil had matured, reaching a high quality suitable for sale. However, he knew he couldn't sell it within the family marketplace, as it might lead others to investigate the purchase records and discover his cultivation resources. The growth rate of a Level 2 herb would raise questions, possibly exposing the Spirit Spring array that mimicked a Level 2 spiritual vein.
To keep his experiments hidden, Lu Fan chose to sell the Holy Basil at Star Pavilion, an external market known for its discretion and reputable transactions. By selling there, he could avoid revealing his methods and keep the true capabilities of his arrays a secret, ensuring no suspicions arose about his private cultivation resources.