The next day.
Ling Pengyun and the other five members of the Peng Generation gathered in the General Affairs Hall. After collecting the Vein Protection Formation Control Array Disks needed for the spirit veins they were each to guard, five Tier 1 Middle Grade Spirit Talisman Caves, one Tier 1 High Grade Thousand Mile Communication Talisman, the spirit plant seeds they would need to cultivate over the coming year, half a year's salary, and the spare Spirit Stones needed to activate the Vein Protection Formations at their respective spirit veins—
Ling Ruda then carefully instructed them one after another not to forget the descriptions of the Cultivation World's brutality that they had learned in the Clan School as children; not to trust outside Rogue Cultivators lightly; not to leave the spirit mountains they guarded without cause; not to underestimate their enemies in battle...
"Also, the five spirit veins you will be guarding are territories the Lineage has only recently opened up. There may well be Demon Beasts nearby that slipped through the net and were not cleared out by the Lineage. Furthermore, An Yang County lies close to Serpent Dragon Lake, three hundred thousand li away, with only Huai River Market Town between them. In ordinary times, quite a few Demon Beasts are bound to sneak into Lineage territory. You must be extremely careful while on guard. Do not begrudge using the spirit talismans the Lineage has given you. If you cannot defeat an enemy, send word for support at once! ..."
Ling Ruda was deeply worried about these five young clansmen of the Peng Generation, afraid that they would meet with an accident outside and lose their lives. He lectured them carefully for quite some time before finally allowing them to leave.
The five spirit veins Ling Pengyun and the others were to guard were actually not far apart. They all lay in the same direction, so they traveled together.
It was precisely because the five spirit veins were so close together that the Lineage had reclaimed them from the Demon Beasts during the same period.
The First Grade Middle Rank Spirit Vein Ling Pengyun was assigned to guard had been named Azure Stone Mountain by the Lineage.
Azure Stone Mountain was more than two thousand li from Lingxiao Mountain. It was also the farthest of the low-grade spirit mountains that needed guarding in this batch, located on the border of An Yang County.
Even though Ling Pengyun's Light Body Technique had reached the minor mastery realm and allowed him to travel a thousand li a day, it still took him a full two and a half days to reach Azure Stone Mountain.
As for the other clansmen who had left the Clan Mountain with him, they had all parted ways along the road.
"Is this Azure Stone Mountain? This curtain of light must be the Azure Stone Mountain Protection Formation, the Wu Earth Two Elements Formation, that Eleventh Great Grandfather mentioned!"
Standing at the foot of the mountain, Ling Pengyun gazed at the dozens-of-zhang-tall azure stone mountain shrouded in a massive yellow curtain of light. A trace of surprise appeared on his face as he muttered to himself.
Azure Stone Mountain lived up to its name. The entire mountain, dozens of zhang high, resembled an enormous piece of blue-green stone.
Of course, there were also quite a few smaller azure stones on Azure Stone Mountain, though comparatively fewer.
Since there was not much soil on the mountain, vegetation was scarce as well. Yet any vegetation that grew on the mountain flourished under the nourishment of its spiritual energy.
When Ling Pengyun spotted many arm-thick holes throughout Azure Stone Mountain, he recalled something Ling Ruda had told him.
According to Ling Ruda, before the Lineage had occupied this mountain, it had been a Snake Cave filled with numerous Snake Demons.
Later, the Clan Head led the clansmen in surrounding the mountain. They besieged it and slaughtered the Snake Demons within for several days before finally killing them all.
The several hundred sizable holes in the mountain were clearly nests that the Demon Snakes which had once occupied it had dug.
The curtain of light enveloping Azure Stone Mountain was formed by the Wu Earth Two Elements Formation, the mountain's protection formation.
So long as restrictions were entered into the formation, it could remain activated indefinitely as long as it had sufficient spiritual energy, even without anyone controlling it. The Wu Earth Two Elements Formation was currently in precisely such a state.
Before coming here, Ling Ruda had already informed Ling Pengyun about the Azure Stone Mountain Wu Earth Two Elements Formation.
This formation was a Tier 1 Middle Grade offensive and defensive formation. Its formation core consisted of two First Rank High Grade artifacts: the defense-oriented Rock Earth Bell and the attack-oriented Heavy Earth Thousand Catty Hammer.
The formation could not only draw upon spiritual energy, but also borrow the power of the earth veins' Wu Tu, unleashing astonishing might.
The Rock Earth Bell's function was naturally to rely on the formation and conjure this curtain of light.
The Heavy Earth Thousand Catty Hammer accumulated Wu Tu power and could attack nine times in succession. The first strike carried a thousand catties of force, with every subsequent strike increasing by another thousand catties. By the ninth strike, it could reach nine thousand catties of force.
The force of every strike was beyond what ordinary Qi Training Middle Stage cultivators could withstand. The final four strikes could even threaten, or kill, Qi Training Late Stage cultivators.
However, the Wu Earth Two Elements Formation was ultimately only a Tier 1 Middle Grade formation, corresponding only to Qi Training Middle Stage cultivators. To display such power, it needed time to accumulate Wu Tu power.
It would take nine years to gather sufficient Wu Tu power and bring the formation to its peak state.
The reason the formation had been activated now was simple: it was mainly to prevent nearby Demon Beasts that had luckily escaped the Ling Clan cultivators' sweep from being drawn here by the spiritual energy and occupying this mountain again, thereby causing further trouble.
Beside Azure Stone Mountain lay a small lake, which Ling Pengyun named Azure Stone Lake. Its water was incomparably clear, clear enough to see the fish swimming within.
From time to time, birds would dive down from the sky to prey upon the fish in the lake.
Ling Pengyun carefully observed Azure Stone Lake.
"This Azure Stone Lake has no upstream tributaries and only one downstream tributary for drainage. Its water only flows out and never in, yet the water level has not decreased. It should be connected to an Underground River!"
"The water quality in this lake is quite good, and it contains many fish. The land around the small lake is all flat, suitable for opening up fields to grow grain or building residences. It is quite a fine place to establish a village," Ling Pengyun said carefully.
Although Azure Stone Mountain had previously been within the Ling Clan's An Yang County territory, the Demon Beasts occupying it had prevented the Ling Clan's mortal clansmen from coming here to develop the land.
Now that the Demon Beasts of Azure Stone Mountain had been eliminated, the Lineage would soon transfer a group of Ling Clan mortal clansmen from elsewhere to reclaim this land, making use of every territory within their borders and increasing the number of mortal clansmen.
Mortal clansmen would likewise be transferred to settle and reclaim land near the other four First Rank Low Grade Spirit Veins that the Ling Clan had occupied in the same batch as Azure Stone Mountain.
Seeing that the environment around Azure Stone Mountain was fairly suitable for habitation, Ling Pengyun felt relieved. If there had been no environment suitable for mortal clansmen to live in around Azure Stone Mountain, it would have been troublesome.
They might have had to establish a village several li, or even more than ten li, away from Azure Stone Mountain.
If the village encountered a Demon Beast attack in the future, Ling Pengyun might have found it difficult to provide support in time.
Like cultivators, Demon Beasts could sense the aura of spiritual energy. Quite a few Demon Beasts often entered human territory from all sorts of desolate mountains and wild ridges, or even from the hundreds of thousands of li of Serpent Dragon Lake territory, devouring mortals and attacking spirit mountains.
To ensure that no Demon Beasts were lurking around Azure Stone Mountain, Ling Pengyun deliberately searched the area within half a li of the mountain with great care.
During this search, Ling Pengyun truly did discover a Snake Demon at the Innate Realm.
However, before determining whether this Snake Demon had any companions, Ling Pengyun did not kill it immediately. Instead, he pressed his aura down upon it, terrifying it so greatly that it fled in panic.
A Snake Demon at the Innate Realm had no real mind and was no different from an ordinary wild beast, save that it was stronger.
It was precisely because of this that, after Ling Pengyun frightened it, the Snake Demon hurriedly fled. In the end, it entered a deep underground hole several feet wide within an extremely concealed thicket.
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