Twenty Years of Lifespan Lost

After living at the Zhao Estate for two days, Han Xuanwu set off back to the Purple Sun Sect to prepare for the auction.

Time passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, two months had gone by.

That day, Purple Sun Market was decked in lanterns and colored banners, packed shoulder to shoulder with people. Countless cultivators had been drawn here by this super-sized auction.

Naturally, Zhao Sheng, along with his son Zhao Chengle and daughter-in-law Han Qingqing, would not miss such a grand event.

When Han Xuanwu entered the auction venue, Zhao Chengle and Han Qingqing were also going in and out of major pill shops and spirit herb stores, purchasing many different kinds of spirit herb seeds.

Zhao Sheng was a mortal and could not conveniently show himself, so he could only send the two of them.

Why buy spirit herb seeds? Naturally, because Zhao Sheng wanted to take another risk and visit the Hillside Spirit Herb Garden again.

Harvesting spirit herbs was one reason. Another was that he wanted to use its uniquely blessed environment to actively cultivate rare yet immensely important spirit herbs.

For example, the other two main ingredients of the Core Formation Pill: Jade God Flower, Nine Curves Ginseng, and so on.

To lay plans for the present and scheme for a thousand years ahead—this described someone like Zhao Sheng.

Cultivating spirit herbs was merely the beginning.

One month later.

As the last batch of Purple Sun Sect menial disciples withdrew from Dragon Carp Lake, Zhao Sheng's family moved into the lakeside manor under Han Xuanwu's guidance.

Dragon Carp Lake had been discovered and developed for more than two thousand years, while the Purple Sun Sect had managed it for nearly a thousand.

Thus, Dragon Carp Lake had long since been fully developed, and its annual outputs and profits were extremely stable.

The Centennial Token for Dragon Carp Lake was not expensive, costing only sixty-three thousand Spirit Stones.

This was because its spirit vein was a first-rank water-element spirit vein, with more than half of it lying beneath the lakebed.

It was unlike the spirit veins of mountains and plains, where one could not only plant Spirit Grain and spirit herbs, but even occasionally discover small Spirit Mines.

Other than its vast size and more than two hundred li of lake surface, Dragon Carp Lake had little that could be reliably produced. Besides selling spiritually endowed fish and shrimp, it was most famous for two types of first-rank demon fish: Red Carp and Azure Carp.

If one was lucky enough, one might even catch a Dragon Carp.

Dragon Carp were unusual Spirit Carp born from crossbreeding Red Carp and Azure Carp. One was rarely seen even once in several decades.

It was said that Dragon Carp contained a trace of true dragon bloodline. Eating one could greatly enhance the potential of dragon-blooded demon beasts such as flood dragons and pythons.

Zhao Sheng did not hold much hope for Dragon Carp. Having won the Centennial Token and found a safe place for the Zhao Family, he was already very satisfied and would not ask for more.

Moreover, Dragon Carp Lake was not without unexpected surprises. Zhao Sheng actually discovered eight mu of Spirit Fields by the lake.

Without question, someone had secretly opened them up behind the sect's back. Who knew who had given them such audacity?

Well, Dragon Carp Lake was far from the emperor's reach. Perhaps the menial disciples here had banded together in collusion.

Of course, it was not Zhao Sheng's concern. Though eight mu of Spirit Fields was not much, it was already enough for the Zhao Family's handful of people.

One thing greatly surprised Zhao Sheng. After moving to Dragon Carp Lake, the relationship between Zhao Chengle and Han Qingqing improved tremendously.

While Zhao Chengle, the eighth son, diligently tilled the Spirit Fields, Han Qingqing unexpectedly became pregnant again.

This was a joyous event beyond measure. Not only for the Zhao Family, but even more so for Zhao Sheng.

For the sake of his third grandson, who would be born eight months later, Zhao Sheng suddenly became busy. He planned to enter the mountains ahead of schedule.

Bigu Pills, odor-masking powder, protective jade talismans, a half-artifact longbow, armor-piercing arrows, a half-artifact mixed-gold soft sword...

As item after item was bought, the day Zhao Sheng was to enter the mountains finally arrived.

He did not tell his family of the dangers of this journey, only saying that he was going to Heaven Pillar Mountain to gather herbs.

Before leaving, Zhao Sheng pulled Zhao Chengle aside and secretly placed a brocade pouch in his son's hand. He told him to open it if he had not returned after half a year.

Though Zhao Chengle was lazy by nature, he was not stupid. He quickly sensed the unmistakable note of farewell in his father's words.

Yet no matter how he tried to persuade him, Zhao Sheng never changed his mind.

Soon, Zhao Sheng resolutely bid farewell to his family and headed for Heaven Pillar Mountain.

Three months later, when Zhao Sheng appeared at Dragon Carp Lake again, one of his arms was gone. Deep wounds that reached the bone covered his chest and abdomen, as though they had been raked over and over by the claws of some terrifying demon creature.

At the time, Zhao Sheng's body was on the verge of collapse. Gravely injured, he was close to death.

The moment he saw his wife Wang Yuqi, the breath he had been holding slipped away, and he immediately collapsed unconscious.

The Zhao Family's pillar had suddenly fallen. The old lady Wang Yuqi was so frightened that she fainted as well. At that moment, Han Qingqing suddenly stepped forward and quickly stabilized the situation.

On one hand, she tightly sealed off the news. On the other, she sent a Message Talisman ordering Han Xuanwu to come to Dragon Carp Lake as soon as possible and take charge.

Not only was Han Xuanwu the only one who might be able to save Zhao Sheng, but when Han Qingqing and Zhao Chengle sorted through Zhao Sheng's belongings, they were shocked to discover an entire backpack full of spirit herbs, every single one with at least several hundred years of medicinal age.

Upon receiving the Message Talisman from his precious daughter, Han Xuanwu immediately realized the severity of the matter.

He understood his own daughter very well. Unless something earthshaking had happened, she would never have sent him a Message Talisman.

Thus, Han Xuanwu immediately halted his secluded cultivation, rented the sect's Ten-Thousand-Li Cloud Vulture, and reached Dragon Carp Lake in only half a day.

Fortunately, he arrived quickly and happened to have a first-rank high-grade Soul Return Pill on him. Only then was Zhao Sheng's life narrowly preserved.

It took Zhao Sheng a full two years to recover from his injuries.

Yet the price this time was too great. Not only had he lost an arm, his cultivation had stopped at the limit of the innate realm, and only sixty percent of his strength remained. It could never be restored.

Worse still...

Name: Zhao Zhiqin (Zhao Sheng) Lifespan: 79/99 Realm: Innate Limit (Half-Step Divine Passage)

Physique: Hundred-Year Body (Mortal Grade), Light as a Swallow (Mortal Grade) Talents: Dynamic Vision (Mortal Grade), Spirit Nose (Mortal Grade) Skills: Floating Light Swordplay (Unprecedented), Azure Sea Tide Rising Art (Peak Mastery), Cloud Dragon Nine Transformations (Unprecedented), Wind Chasing Archery (Peak Mastery), Iron Body Tempering (Broken)

To enter the Hillside Spirit Herb Garden once, he had sacrificed twenty years of lifespan.

But in Zhao Sheng's eyes, he had ultimately profited from this bargain.

He always kept one saying in mind: Do not contend over the gains and losses of one lifetime; live through ten lifetimes, then see who stands higher!

As the master of the "Hundred Lifetimes Book," Zhao Sheng absolutely possessed such farsightedness.

After this incident, Zhao Sheng announced that he was washing his hands of it all. From then on, he lived a leisurely life, enjoying sweets and caring for his grandchildren.

Ten years later, the atmosphere in the inner residence of the Zhao Estate was exceptionally heavy. The servants and maids did not even dare breathe too loudly.

Outside an inner room thick with the smell of medicine, Zhao Chengle, whose hair had begun to turn gray, paced through the courtyard with an anxious, worried expression, just as Zhao Sheng had sixty years ago. Behind him stood seventeen or eighteen people, all descendants of Zhao Sheng.

This was the day his grandson was to be born.

Yet on this very same day, his mother Wang Yuqi had already entered her final moments.

At such a critical time, his own father had actually driven their entire large family out.

It was simply unreasonable!

Hmph, he was truly growing more muddleheaded with age!

The more Zhao Chengle thought about it, the angrier he became, and the darker his expression grew. But if asked to barge into the room, he did not have the nerve.

It was not that he truly did not dare. It was that he simply could not beat him.

His old father was nearly ninety, yet after creating three divine arts two years ago, he could actually beat a Qi Refining Level Four cultivator like him with ease.

Please keep reading, please add it to your collection. Just a few more readers and it can make it onto the trial recommendation.

All you heroic and righteous readers, please help me take the first step on my path to ascension! I beg you!