News of the Hundred-Year Monster Beast Calamity
Two months later.
At the Lingxiao Mountain, in the Meditation Room of that cave abode.
After consuming six Second Rank Low Grade Stone Spirit Walnut in succession, Ling Yunhong, who had been in seclusion for two months, felt his Dantian filled with Liquid Spiritual Power and reached the bottleneck of the Foundation Establishment Sixth Layer. His expression changed slightly, and he opened his eyes.
He patted the Storage Bag at his waist and summoned the remaining seven Stone Spirit Walnut from his body.
A glint of light flashed in his eyes as he gazed at the seven Stone Spirit Walnut.
"The time is ripe to break through to the Foundation Establishment Sixth Layer. Whether we can successfully enter the Foundation Establishment Sixth Layer depends on these seven Stone Spirit Walnut containing pure spiritual power."
After a moment's thought, Ling Yunhong placed four of the Stone Spirit Walnut beside him, then unleashed three bursts of spiritual energy to shatter the shells of the remaining three Stone Spirit Walnut, peeled out the walnut kernels, and popped them into his mouth.
The shells of those three Stone Spirit Walnut contained very little Spiritual Qi; the true essence was the walnut kernel. Moreover, the shells were extremely hard and of no use to Ling Yunhong, so he placed them beside him.
As soon as the kernels of the three Stone Spirit Walnut entered his stomach, Ling Yunhong felt a vast and pure spiritual energy filling his meridians.
Ling Yunhong dared not delay. He quickly closed his eyes, circulated his Cultivation Method, and frantically refined the spiritual energy contained within the three walnut kernels, sending it all into his Dantian.
At the same time, a huge surge of Spiritual Qi rose from his body, frantically absorbing the rich spiritual power in the cultivation room into his body.
Relying on the pure spiritual energy contained in the three walnut kernels, the rich spiritual energy in the cultivation room, and the spiritual energy in his own Dantian, he frantically tried to break through the bottleneck of his Dantian.
After nearly half a day of continuous attacks, although the bottleneck in his Dantian was shaken and even several small cracks appeared on it, the spiritual power contained in the three walnut kernels in his abdomen was completely refined.
With the bottleneck seemingly broken, Ling Yunhong was naturally unwilling to stop.
After calculating how much spiritual energy he would need to break through the bottleneck, he picked up the two Stone Spirit Walnut placed beside him, used his spiritual energy to shatter their shells, ate the kernels, and refined them into Liquid Spiritual Power to break through the bottleneck once more.
A day later, after Ling Yunhong's frantic absorption of the dense Spiritual Qi in the Meditation Room ceased, a shattering sound rang out from his Dantian.
Subsequently, his aura surged rapidly, and he successfully entered the Foundation Establishment Sixth Layer.
"We have finally broken through this bottleneck. With this level of cultivation, the Ling Clan now has some confidence to challenge the Peace Cloud Yang Clan."
Ling Yunhong opened his eyes, feeling the benefits brought by this breakthrough in cultivation. A look of joy appeared on his face, and he muttered to himself.
As soon as he finished speaking, he closed his eyes again, circulated his Cultivation Method, and refined the remaining power of the two Stone Spirit Walnut kernels he had consumed for the second time to consolidate his cultivation.
Half a month later, after Ling Yunhong had consolidated his cultivation, he left the Meditation Room and exited the cave abode.
He went to the Clan Repository first and took a lot of spiritual items.
They then found Ling Pengxing, a newly promoted Foundation Establishment cultivator in the clan, and gave him one of the two remaining second-tier low-grade stone spirit walnuts.
Finally, he went to the Affairs Hall and sought out Ling Pengliang, the newly appointed Great Elder of the Ling Clan.
Ling Yunhong sensed that Ling Pengliang's aura was nearly twice as strong as it was two months ago when he went into seclusion. His expression shifted slightly, and he spoke.
"Qi Training Seventh Layer, not bad. Cultivate diligently and strive to reach the Qi Training Completion as soon as possible. This will also help you secure your position as the Great Elder of the Lineage."
"If you can reach the Qi Training Completion stage before the other clansmen, the Small Hundred Spirits Water that I obtained two years ago can be given to you for priority use."
"Afterwards, the Lineage can also prepare another Meridian Protecting Pill for you."
Upon hearing this, Ling Pengliang's eyes immediately burned with fervor.
The main reason he agreed to let the previous generation's Great Elder Ling Ruxian the position of Great Elder, which involved numerous tasks, took a long time, and would slow down his cultivation progress, was that the position of Great Elder was a high-ranking position in the clan, and if the Lineage obtained Foundation Establishment Spiritual Object, it would definitely give priority to him.
"Third Grandfather." Ling Pengliang bowed and expressed his gratitude.
"There's no need for thanks. Whether you can obtain the Lineage's Small Hundred Spirits Water and Meridian Protecting Pill depends entirely on yourself. In the past few months, has anyone from the Yang Clan come looking for me?" Ling Yunhong waved his hand in reply, and then asked.
"Yes, Supreme Elder Yang Changxing of the Yang Clan came to the mountains to look for you two months ago. However, after learning that you were in seclusion and would not be able to come out for a while, he left a Storage Bag and left this place."
Ling Pengliang took out a Storage Bag from the shelf in front of him and handed it to Ling Yunhong, replying.
Upon hearing this, Ling Yunhong reached out and took the Storage Bag.
There was no Divine Sense imprint placed in this Storage Bag, so Ling Yunhong easily injected his Divine Sense into it.
In an instant, three medicine bottles and a letter spilled out of the Storage Bag.
Ling Yunhong took the three medicine bottles in his hands, opened the caps, poured out the six pills inside, examined them carefully, and found that the pills were of medium quality and had no defects in their Spirit Gathering Pill. Only then did he put the six Spirit Gathering Pill back into the three medicine bottles.
Then, he picked up the letter on the ground and read it carefully.
There were many small characters written on it.
"My clan is busy with affairs. Since Ling Daoyou is in seclusion, I will return to my Lineage first. I will trouble Ling Daoyou to go and pick the fifteen acres of Yellow Sprout Grass that ripens once every three years on the Spirit Vein of the Rock Scale Snake Den."
"I will come to your Ling Clan to collect my share of the Yellow Sprout Grass that belongs to the Yang Clan in six months."
"As for those three bottles of Spirit Gathering Pills, which contain a total of six Spirit Gathering Pill, they are Peng Yun's reward for guarding the Snake Den Spirit Vein for the past three years."
Ling Yunhong saw that Yang Changxing's letter was quite polite, and since it was indeed his own fault for breaking the promise and being late to the Serpent Dragon Lake area to pick the mature Yellow Sprout Grass from the Rock Scale Snake Den Spirit Vein, he did not care that Yang Changxing had made him travel more than ten miles alone to the Snake Den Spirit Vein.
He put the letter away and informed Ling Pengliang.
"Peng Liang, I need to go to the Spirit Vein inside the Rock Scale Snake Den in the territory of the Serpent Dragon Lake, where Peng Yun is stationed, to harvest the fifteen acres of mature Yellow Sprout Grass planted there."
"During the three years that Peng Yun was stationed at the Rock Scale Snake Den Spirit Vein of Serpent Dragon Lake, I took the salary that he did not receive and the Spirit Stone that the Lineage should repay to him over the past three years from the Clan Repository. I will give them to him during this trip to the Snake Cave. These spiritual items will be taken from the clan's ledger. You can write them down in detail in the ledger later."
"Okay." Ling Pengliang.
Three years ago, before Ling Pengliang became the Great Elder, he was learning about management from the previous Great Elder Ling Ruxian. Ling Ruxian had already told him many secrets that were difficult for ordinary clansmen to know.
This includes the matter of the Lineage and the Yang Clan jointly occupying the next Spirit Vein in the Serpent Dragon Lake area.
"I have already explained why I came to find you. During my absence, if any problems arise in the clan that you cannot resolve, you should seek out Eleventh Uncle, who has just stepped down from the position of Great Elder, or convene the other elders of the clan in the Council Hall to discuss them together," Ling Yunhong instructed.
"I understand, Third Grandfather," Ling Pengliang said.
Ling Yunhong nodded slightly, transformed into a Qing Feng, and quickly left the place.
Ling Pengliang watched Ling Yunhong's departing figure, his expression shifting slightly, and muttered to himself.
"With the help of a Small Hundred Spirits Water and a Pulse Meridian Protecting Pill, the probability of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment can be increased by at least 10%."
"Even a small percentage is much better than the slim chance of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment on your own."
"If I miss the opportunity that the Third Grandfather just promised, and the other clansmen seize the opportunity and break through to the Qi Training Completion first, and obtain the Lineage's share of the Small Hundred Spirits Water and the Meridian Protecting Pill, based on the Lineage's finances in recent years, I'm afraid it will be impossible for me to obtain even a second-class Foundation Establishment Spiritual Object before my optimal Foundation Establishment age."
"Compared to the other members of my clan, although my cultivation aptitude is not much better than theirs, my salary is much higher. I can take advantage of this to buy spiritual fruits with pure spiritual power that are far more effective than Pill Refining, or pure Heaven and Earth Spiritual Water containing a large amount of pure spiritual power, so as to widen the gap in my cultivation realm."
After making these plans, Ling Pengliang decided to use all the Spirit Stone he had saved over the years—originally intended for purchasing a First-Tier Superior-Grade Law Artifact —to buy a high-grade First-Tier Superior-Grade stone Stone Spirit Walnut Stone Spirit Walnut Tree on the mountaintop that had failed to reach the second tier two months prior.
As for purchasing First-Tier Superior-Grade Law Artifact, it will be postponed indefinitely, since he is now the Lineage's Great Elder and rarely leaves the Lineage.
Eight days later.
After leaving Lingxiao Mountain, Ling Yunhong entered West Yang County West Yang Market Town County, which is adjacent to Serpent Dragon Lake in the territory of the Hundred Spirits Sect.
Upon entering the market, Ling Yunhong headed straight for the Lingxiao Treasure Pavilion, a two-story pavilion-style building with a large courtyard owned by his Lineage.
This shop is the only one opened by the Ling Clan in West Yang Market Town, and it mainly sells four items: pills, Law Artifact, Spirit Talisman Cave, and spiritual rice.
There were some other spiritual items as well, but not many, and their quality wasn't very good.
Even so, this Treasure Pavilion still does good business, relying on the four items of pills, Law Artifact, Spirit Talisman Cave, and spiritual rice, especially the pills.
Every month, Treasure Pavilion would take out a bottle containing two Second Rank Low Grade Spirit Gathering Pill for sale.
This has led to the Treasure Pavilion Foundation Establishment Cultivator frequently visiting the Treasure Pavilion, boosting its reputation and increasing its foot traffic.
In addition, the West Yang Market Town, where this shop is located, is adjacent to Serpent Dragon Lake and has a large flow of people.
The Lineage specially dispatched four members of the clan to the Treasure Pavilion: Ling Yunfeng, the only First-Tier Superior-Grade- First-Tier Superior-Grade Artifact Refiner; Talisman Crafter Ling Yun'an Ling Yunhui, First Rank Middle Grade Alchemist; Ling Yunhui, First Rank Low Grade- level alchemist; and Ling Xiaojiang, a first-grade low-level Alchemist who followed Ling Yunhui to learn Pill Refining. They were all sent to the Treasure Pavilion Treasure Pavilion to oversee the refinement of spiritual items.
After entering the Lingxiao Treasure Pavilion, Ling Yunhong sought out Ling Yunfu, the Fourth Elder of the Ling Clan, who was in charge of all the miscellaneous affairs within the Treasure Pavilion.
The Treasure Pavilion was crowded with people and eyes. When Ling Yunfu saw Ling Yunhong arrive, he led him into a quiet room in the backyard attached to the Treasure Pavilion.
"Tenth Brother, have you heard anything about the recent outbreak of Centennial Demon Beast Riot?" Ling Yunhong asked as soon as he entered the quiet room.
Ling Yunfu was the only son of the Ling Clan, the previous Great Elder of the Ling Ruxian family, and ranked tenth in the Yun Generation.
Since the Ling Clan and Yang Clan families began planting Spirit Plant on the Snake Den Spirit Vein in the territory of Serpent Dragon Lake three years ago, Ling Yunhong has entrusted Ling Yunfu, who is in charge of the Treasure Pavilion, to pay close attention to the Centennial Demon Beast Riot and to immediately send a message back to the clan if anything changes.
This move was also to prevent the arrival of the Centennial Demon Beast Riot and to avoid putting Ling Pengyun, who was stationed at the Snake Den Spirit Vein in the Serpent Dragon Lake area, in danger.
Ling Yunhong was on his way to collect Yellow Sprout Grass from the Snake Den Spirit Vein in the Serpent Dragon Lake West Yang Market Town. He stopped by to inquire about the business of the Treasure Pavilion.
"I haven't heard the exact time when the Centennial Demon Beast Riot started, but four days ago, I heard a regular customer who often comes to the Treasure Pavilion to buy Pill Refining and makes a living by hunting Demon Beast complain about it."
"According to that regular customer, even if we only venture two or three thousand miles into the Serpent Dragon Lake area in the last five or six days, we often encounter groups of Demon Beast, making it extremely difficult to kill Demon Beast. In the past, although there were groups of Demon Beast when we ventured this far into Serpent Dragon Lake, there weren't many."
"If what that cultivator said is true, then the Beast Tide of a hundred years is probably not far off."
"I sent this message back to the clan three days ago through a cultivator in the market who specializes in delivering letters. I estimate that the cultivator is still on his way," Ling Yunfu said, frowning slightly.
"This matter is most likely true. They haven't ventured deep into the Serpent Dragon Lake area, but recently there have been many reports of Demon Beast groups. It's estimated that the news will spread in a few days. Before the market prices skyrocket, you should buy more auxiliary medicines needed for refining pills, spirit iron for refining Law Artifact, talisman -Talisman Crafting Grass for making Talisman Paper, or Demon Beast hides." Ling Yunhong's face darkened as he spoke.
"Third Brother, I understand this principle. Four days ago, when I learned of this news from a regular customer who made a living by hunting Demon Beast, I began to act accordingly. I also entrusted a cultivator in the market who specializes in delivering letters to convey the matter of acquiring spiritual items to the managers of the Lineage's shops in various markets." Ling Yunfu said, taking out a bulging Storage Bag from his Storage Bag and handing it to Ling Yunhong.
"Third Brother, this Storage Bag contains auxiliary ingredients that I have searched extensively in West Yang Market Town over the past three days, enough to refine dozens of batches of Second Rank Low Grade Spirit Gathering Pill."
"The spirit Spirit Stone spent on purchasing these spiritual materials all came from the accounts of the Treasure Pavilion."
"The Centennial Demon Beast Riot are not far off, and the Lineage does not cultivate the auxiliary herbs needed to refine this Spirit Gathering Pill. I was worried that once the Demon Beast riots started, it would be quite troublesome to send this batch of materials back to the Lineage. I was planning to buy another batch of auxiliary herbs in the next two days and send them back to Third Brother Lineage together, but I didn't expect you to come, so I handed these auxiliary herbs over to you first."
Ling Yunhong was very satisfied with this reply.
"Tenth Brother, you are indeed shrewd in business, but you still need to pay more attention to the matter of having children. I suppose the news of the Eleventh Uncle's abdication was told to you a month ago when the Eighteenth Brother led a caravan to this shop to deliver supplies."
"Although you have many children, none of them have Spirit Root and can shoulder the responsibility of your lineage."
"Don't let Eleventh Uncle leave this world with such regrets."
Ling Yunfu's eyes darkened, and he said with a hint of helplessness, "Third Brother, it's too difficult to give birth to a child with Spirit Root. I'll try my best, and if that doesn't work, I'll take two more wives."
"You can decide what to do, but the concubine you take must have a clean background, and you must treat her well and not mistreat her," Ling Yunhong said.
"Understood," Ling Yunfu nodded.
Afterwards, Ling Yunhong asked Ling Yunfu about the business of the Treasure Pavilion before leaving.