This middle-aged man was Ling Pengliang, one of the older generation of the clan and a contemporary of Ling Pengyun.
He was also among the first batch of Foundation Establishment cultivators in the clan's early years, as well as one of the few Second Rank spirit plant farmers the clan had back then.
At the same time, he was the father of Ling Chengyuan, the clan's Grand Elder who had already entered the Golden Core realm.
He was also the grandfather of Ling Wanhui, the sole son of Ling Chengyuan's Golden Core Seedling son, who was in the Central Province Cultivation World with Ling Pengyun's grandson Ling Wanhuan, establishing a White Ling Sect branch.
In the early years, when the clan was short of manpower but controlled abundant territory, he had even managed the old grounds within the Hundred Spirits Sect's territory by himself for a time.
However, once the clan had sufficient manpower, he gave up the tedious position of managing territory. He truly disliked such affairs, so he requested a leisurely duty from the clan instead—helping tend to some spirit plants.
Over the past century or so, with the aid of plentiful resources, Ling Pengliang's cultivation had reached the Foundation Establishment Ninth Layer, only a hair's breadth away from Foundation Establishment Completion.
Unfortunately, Ling Pengliang was already nearly two hundred years old. He no longer had a chance to attempt the Golden Core realm, and he had long since abandoned that ambition.
At his age, he had already passed the optimal age for attempting the Golden Core realm by far. Even the clan's superior Lingxiao Life Extension Art, which could extend the age limit for breaking through realms, could hardly change anything.
Because of this, he had devoted most of his attention in recent years to the path