Li Xuan was momentarily stunned: "Isn't this a bad idea? Big brother might have objections."
He remembered that Mrs. Liu's dowry was a huge wealth. There were more than thirty shops in Nanjing City, two hundred hectares of irrigated land, and a dozen small hills planted with mulberry and sesame seeds.
Moreover, according to the rules of the past dynasties, unless it's a major crime like treason, not even the government can touch the dowry, even when confiscating property.
"He dares! This entire Earl's mansion belongs to him and his wife. I can't even give my younger son a bit of pocket money?"
Mrs. Liu placed her hands on her hips and spoke angrily: "That ungrateful little thing, after getting a wife, he forgets his mother. Whatever his wife says is right, and whatever I do is wrong, huh! Anyway, I will not give them another son."
Li Xuan began to understand, it was a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law dispute. As the saying goes, when the snipe and the clam fight, it's the fisherman who benefits - though this analogy seemed off.
At this point, Mrs. Liu changed her tone again: "That's right! Xuan, the Duke Xuguo's residence is hosting a garden party soon, you must accompany me to attend."
"A garden party?" Li Xuan was puzzled: "The guests are all women, what would I do there? I'm not going!"
"Men will be there too, they're all young people. Don't worry about why. " Mrs. Liu said with a smile: "If you're willing to go, I can give you a thousand teal of pocket money now. I heard from the housekeeper that you're broke now, right?"
"Mom, why do you always use money to coax your child?" Li Xuan frowned, appearing very displeased: "When is this garden party anyway?"
※※※※
When Li Xuan left the small Buddha hall with a thousand teals of silver notes, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly. The so-called saying 'overindulgent mothers often spoil their children' is indeed true. Mrs. Liu's words had easily shattered the life goals he had set up since he came to this world.
The previous owner's lifestyle was not entirely his fault. He was just idle and wasting his youth. He didn't go down the wrong path, and his nature was already pretty good.
It was still early, but Li Xuan chose to go back to his residence and take a copy of the 'Hunyuan Celestial Scripture' from his bookshelf to study with great concentration.
It's worth mentioning that this secret book only contains images, no text. This was Li Family's way to prevent the family's martial arts from leaking—all the secrets of their techniques could only be orally conveyed. Although the original Li Xuan was lazy, Li Chengji had forced him to memorize all the essentials of the 'Hunyuan Celestial Scripture' since he was a child.
Li Xuan's learning ability was also very good. In high school, he picked up the text books after wasting several years, then advanced to a top-tier university the next year, and even received a scholarship. It's clear that his intelligence and memory are almost top-notch.
In fact, Li Xuan had already mastered the practice of the 'Hunyuan Celestial Scripture' on his first day after transmigration.
However, in the next few days, Li Xuan still reviewed the secret book a few times before each practice, endeavoring to remember every small detail and deepen his memories.
The reason was that some of the images in it were important, an integral part of the 'Hunyuan Celestial Scripture'. The weird thing was, every other day, Li Xuan would forget a part of the images, even though he'd managed to draw them all out in detail the day before.
This was assumed to be due to some content in the images being in line with the 'Heavenly Dao'. If cultivators hadn't reached a certain level of cultivation, they wouldn't be able to keep these figures in their minds.
Li Xuan found this to be very magical, and what was even more incredible was the cultivation of martial arts itself.
This was simply unscientific. According to the images and methods in the secret book and oral instructions, one could cultivate Zhenyuan by visualization and practicing Qi. Then they could accomplish anything, such as turning rivers and seas upside down - Li Xuan would never have dared to think so before.
However, facts speak louder than words. Over these ten days, the growth of 'Zhenyuan' in Li Xuan's body was significant.
After Li Xuan reviewed the secret book a few times and was sure that he had completely memorized everything, he began to sit cross-legged, brought his hands up in the Five Hearts Facing Heaven pose, and started to circulate Qi according to the book - that is, through a special visualization method, he imagined a Qi circulating in his meridians.
The size, shape, and nature of this Qi varied depending on the individual's cultivation level, and the effects of cultivation were also greatly different.
The original Li Xuan could only imagine a cool gas the size of a melon seed circulating in his meridians. Any larger and he would get headaches.
After crossing over, Li Xuan did not follow in the original's footsteps, because he was never a stickler for rules. On the first day, he started trying to imagine a 'Qi' the size of a soybean circulating within his body.
Luckily, he succeeded, and there were no abnormalities in his body.
On the second day, Li Xuan could visualize a finger-sized cold Qi circulating in his body. Even beyond the cold power, there were traces of thunderbolts, revealing many strange images.
The 'Hunyuan Celestial Scripture' is a top-level cultivation technique from Taoism that the first Earl Chengyi obtained. The Qi cultivated from it is not only strong and solid, but it can also visualize natural anomalies and strange things, leading to various divine powers and abilities. Since it's a family martial art, most of Chengyi Earl's descendants practiced the ice style, but a few also practiced others.
For example, his older brother Li Yan, practiced both ice and fire. Not satisfied with practicing the family martial arts, he also acquired a top-tier fire sword secret from Li Xuan's sister-in-law's dowry.
On the third day, he tried to imagine that there was a walnut-sized group of cold air inside him.
It wasn't until then that Li Xuan felt his body couldn't bear it anymore, mainly because his meridians had begun to feel swollen, and there were a hint of pain caused by tearing. Li Xuan guessed that this was due to the lack of development, and he needed to gradually adapt and little by little expand it.
However, it did not matter, Li Xuan shifted his efforts to the quality aspect.
On the fourth day, he imagined that this group of air was actually not an ethereal air, but a piece of ice. But the result of this attempt was terrible. He felt as if he had received a heavy blow to the back of his head, and his consciousness had been dizzy for a long time before he recovered.
This piece of ice almost drained him entirely, and the pain in his meridians was extra, as if he'd been scratched by the sharp edges of the ice.
However, this also confirmed Li Xuan's judgment that the essence of Hunyuan Celestial Scripture was to use one's own spiritual power to cultivate Zhenyuan, strengthen the body, and even temper the spiritual power itself.
Whether it was because he traversed here, his mental power had undergone some changes and had become extremely powerful, much stronger than the original body.
While others might have stopped at this point, Li Xuan deliberated deeply and began his other attempts on the fifth day, starting to imagine that there was a group of 'dichlorodifluoromethane', roving inside his body.
Li family, represented by Earl Chengyi, had a whole set of references for the inner cultivation visualization of the Ice Style vitality - the cold air in winter, ordinary ice water, snow, ice blocks, Yuan Water of Tianyi, millennium frost, millennium ice silkworm, three thousand year ice cicada, young ice dragon, juvenile Xuanwu, etc.
In short, from virtual to real, from soft to hard, step by step towards the coldest objects, through visualizing these things, gradually, gradually gaining powerful Ice Style vitality.
But Li Xuan knew of a touch softer, a lower density, but full of Cold Power liquid - the boiling point under ordinary pressure is -30℃ dichlorodifluoromethane, also known as 'Freon 12'. The key point was that he had seen the real thing because of his work.
Li Xuan didn't stop there, he continued to dash on his death-defying path, attempting with anhydrous liquid ammonia, sulfur dioxide, methane, various refrigerants, and more.
The result was surprising, Li Xuan found that as long as it was a liquid or gaseous object, it would not impose too much burden on him.
These refrigerants could indeed replace the cold air and ice water that he had visualized before, and bolster Zhenyuan while obtaining stronger Cold Power, with excellent results.
Today, Li Xuan was preparing to court death again, by trying to visualize liquid nitrogen which had a boiling point of -196℃ under ordinary pressure!
Taking into account that the temperature of liquid nitrogen is extremely low and could pose some risks, Li Xuan had a few Shaoyang Elixirs in his mouth before the attempt.
—This thing was a Spirit Pill concocted by the Li family exclusively, using a secret recipe. Its function was to dissolve the Qi of Yinhan accumulated in the body during the cultivation of Ice Style vitality.
And with this visualization, Li Xuan really felt extremely cold in his body, and was almost frozen stiff.
However, when he controlled this group of 'liquid nitrogen' roving inside his body, it was surprisingly smooth.
Thrilled with the surprise, Li Xuan didn't make any more attempts. He firmly endured the bitter cold emanating from within and honestly followed the training method of the Hunyuan Celestial Scripture, continuous circulation of Zhenyuan throughout the body.
Another value of the Hunyuan Celestial Scripture was its training route, which circulated along the meridians in a special order, significantly saving time, enhancing effects, and achieving twice the results with half the effort.
Li Xuan circulated this group of walnut-sized gas for three rounds, and felt his mental state to be extremely worn out—this was the symptom of excessive consumption of spiritual power.
However, his abdomen was bloated and very full. The results of this short practice period, which was less than a quarter of an hour, were stronger than the months of hard work his previous body had to put in.
There was still some residual cold in his body, making him shiver incessantly.
Li Xuan was overjoyed and thought that this could be considered his special ability. Although he didn't have a system or a personal grandfather after traversing here, which made him a little disappointed, the combination of his own talent and modern knowledge was still very promising.
—If he keeps this up, he won't need three months. In ten or twenty days, he has the hope to cultivate the 'Hunyuan Celestial Scripture' to the third house level, and his Cold Breath Fierce Palm will also become extraordinarily strong.
By this time, Li Xuan was already exhausted. He didn't even want to eat dinner. He just took three Shaoyang Elixirs, felt the cold Qi deposited in his body gradually dissipate, and he slept soundly under a blanket until a clanging sound came in through the window.
Li Xuan woke up suddenly, and when he opened the door, he found his personal attendant Li Dalu banging a pair of copper gongs frantically.
"Li Dalu!" Li Xuan's eyes suddenly became extremely dangerous: "Are you seeking death?"
He wondered how this guy could be so reckless? It's not even dawn yet!
But then Li Xuan saw Earl Chengyi, Li Chengji, standing behind Li Dalu with a stern face looking at him: "You have to go to Zhuque Hall at the hour of Mao, if you don't get up and practice martial arts now, when are you going to wait?"