Rest and Recuperate, Chen Yang Advances

Three days later, Elder Yu and Formation Master Liu Zihao returned to the Yang Family together.

Upon arriving, Liu Zihao praised the Yang Family's estate, saying it was well-built and in an excellent location.

"It has rivers and fields, pavilions and towers, as well as high mountains and rocky cliffs, with vegetation stretching far and wide. This Patriarch truly has foresight."

Upon reaching the forbidden area by the cliff, Yang Guanfeng came out to greet the two.

"Formation Master, you've had a long journey. Thank you for your hard work."

"Patriarch, you are too kind. It wasn't hard at all; I'm merely doing this for the money."

"Shall we begin then?"

"Certainly, no problem."

Everyone was straightforward, so they didn't continue with pleasantries and got straight to business.

Liu Zihao walked around the Yang Family's forbidden area several times, carefully observing the terrain and the flow of spiritual energy, then proposed a solution.

"Let's use the Cloud Mountain Mist Array. Your Yang Family is situated by the mountains and water, with sufficient humidity, making it very suitable. Furthermore, this formation possesses the ability to conceal one's realm while also blocking external sightlines."

"Agreed, we'll proceed as Formation Master Liu suggested."

For the next month, Liu Zihao stayed at the Yang Family, setting up the formation for the forbidden area.

Linghu and Lingqing had already been moved to the Yang Family courtyard below the mountain, and Liu Zihao was unaware of their existence.

Only Yang Lingrui would occasionally come out to help him.

A month later, the brand-new formation was completed.

It was a Cloud Mountain Mist Array at the Qi Gathering Mid-stage, unaffected by the magnetic stone, and the security of the Yang Family's forbidden area had a certain guarantee.

"Patriarch Yang, if the Yang Family needs defensive formations set up in the future, you can also find me. I offer discounts to returning customers."

"We certainly will. Thank you very much for your assistance this time, Formation Master Liu."

After Liu Zihao left, the three children returned to the forbidden area and resumed their daily cultivation.

During this period, Yang Guanfeng also learned about the Exotic Stone from Elder Yu.

Chen Yang was present at the time and felt it made some sense upon hearing about it.

"An Exotic Stone... it does seem to align with my own situation."

However, such wondrous items as Exotic Stones were rare. The Library in the Fish Ridge River market only had general introductions and no detailed records.

Yang Guanfeng and Elder Yu studied it with him for a while but couldn't figure anything out.

Therefore, they decided to wait a while longer, until Chen Yang's quality improved, and then re-evaluate the situation.

The remaining matters involved contacting the sects.

Yang Guanfeng had wanted to contact sects for a long time, but the timing hadn't been right, and he had neither a direction nor a path.

The news of two sects brought back by Elder Yu this time seemed very important.

Information on the two sects.

The Myriad Transformation Sect was located two thousand li northwest of Little Pine Mountain. Its sect master was at the early Spiritual Connection stage, and it had nearly a thousand disciples. They recruited disciples from outside every ten years, with the last recruitment having just concluded last year. The sect's cultivation methods were gentle, its ethos upright, and it primarily focused on Five Elements techniques...

Solitary Moon Mountain was located two thousand two hundred li southeast of Little Pine Mountain. Its sect leader was at the mid Spiritual Connection stage, and it only had about two hundred disciples. They did not publicly recruit disciples. The sect's cultivation methods were overbearing, its ethos sinister, encouraging disciples to compete amongst themselves, and it primarily focused on fierce offensive techniques...

After reviewing the information on these two sects, Yang Guanfeng asked, "Elder Yu, what do you think?"

"Patriarch, in my humble opinion, we should forget about Solitary Moon Mountain. That sect's disposition is too strange; I fear our humble Yang Family cannot afford to get involved."

Elder Yu analyzed, "The Myriad Transformation Sect is something we could potentially pursue. In another ten years, the Yang Family will be able to cultivate a new batch of children of suitable age. If any among them have outstanding talent, we could seek an opportunity for recommendation and send them to try."

"Yes, that's what I was thinking too."

Yang Guanfeng nodded, and then both fell silent.

While they said that, obtaining such a recommendation opportunity wasn't as simple as it sounded.

Usually, it required a family with a certain level of influence, like the Nanshan Li Family, which had the opportunity to recommend their own disciples, and even then, only one.

The Yang Family was still far from catching up to the Li Family, and it was impossible for a prominent family to give up their recommendation opportunity.

Therefore, the only ones who could recommend disciples to the Li Family now were the imperial forces.

They could recommend disciples to the sects, which was a clause stipulated in that bilateral agreement.

A moment later, Elder Yu spoke again, "The only things we can contend for now are the two towns. Xu Guang is profit-driven and likely has enormous appetites, which our Yang Family cannot satisfy. The one in Baishi, however, has an upright personality and likely won't easily agree."

"Then let's put this matter aside for now. We still have ten years; we can make long-term plans."

"Yes, Patriarch."

In the days that followed, the Yang Family lived a peaceful and harmonious life.

In the blink of an eye, winter turned to spring. The Yang Family's farmland had expanded considerably, and many servants were busy with spring plowing.

Half a year of recuperation and development had completely solidified the Yang Family's position in this region.

During this time, many commoners were attracted to the area, and a small village had formed at the foot of Little Pine Mountain, living under the protection of the Yang Family of Little Pine Mountain.

This area was originally wild land inhabited by beasts. After the Yang Family's arrival, these beasts were terrified and fled back into the deep mountains, creating conditions for mortals to survive.

On the cliff above, the white mist that perpetually lingered had become a totem-like existence in the hearts of the Yang family.

The villagers in the settlements below the mountain even directly claimed that an immortal lived within the white mist.

Yang Lingrui took another two drops of spirit liquid, his cultivation already at the peak of the Second Level of Qi Gathering, and prepared to find a suitable time to go into seclusion.

Yang Lingqing had just broken through to the Second Level of Qi Gathering a few days ago, while Yang Linghu was still preparing to break through to the second level.

Another piece of good news was that after six months of recuperation following the relocation, Yang Guanfeng's own bottleneck showed signs of loosening.

This was a major event for the Yang family, because if he broke through again, he would reach the Sixth Level of Qi Gathering realm, just one small realm away from Late Qi Gathering.

He was thirty-nine years old this year, and he still had ten years to strive for before he turned fifty.

Time returned to this day, within the Yang family's forbidden area, the family's five cultivators had gathered.

This was because a major event was about to happen here.

Chen Yang lay on the high platform, looking at the five people with serious expressions around him, feeling speechless.

"Seriously, do you have to be this nervous? It's just sleeping."

At this moment, the spiritual energy within his body was just a sliver away from being full, about to usher in another advancement.

The first time, he remembered sleeping for ten days before waking up and learning spirit gathering.

In his opinion, advancing and breaking through was not dangerous.

But the five members of the Yang family were different; they didn't know Chen Yang's true nature.

After reviewing the information, they learned that spiritual treasures had a chance of failing when advancing, and to increase this chance, cultivators had to continuously nurture them with spiritual power to maintain the spiritual treasure's stable state.

Chen Yang was the only spiritual treasure in the Yang family, besides Elder Yu's Dharma plate.

More importantly, he was also related to the cultivation progress of the younger cultivators.

Yang Guanfeng and Elder Yu had calculated that without Chen Yang, the three children of the Yang family would only be at the First Level of Qi Gathering today.

Chen Yang's spirit gathering effect was not simply gathering spiritual energy; it also provided an excellent environment for cultivators to meditate and enter a state of concentration. With their combined effects, Yang Lingrui and the other two had achieved their current accomplishments.

Therefore, for the Yang family, he absolutely could not have any mishaps.

At noon, the sky was clear and the air was crisp.

Under this weather that Chen Yang favored the most, the five members of the Yang family began to inject spiritual power into him simultaneously.

In an instant, Chen Yang felt his internal spiritual energy become full, and the next moment, drowsiness washed over him, and he fell asleep within a second.

At the same time, in the eyes of the five Yang family members, a faint blue light emanated from Chen Yang.

"Alright, stop for now."

Everyone withdrew their hands and stood up. Elder Yu stepped forward to carefully examine Chen Yang's condition, and after a moment, he revealed a look of joy.

"The state is stable, with no signs of collapse. This Exotic Stone is indeed a good thing; our Yang family has struck gold!"

The other four were overjoyed upon hearing this.

"So, does this mean the advancement limit of this Exotic Stone is beyond Qi Gathering Mid-stage?"

"Indeed. In my opinion, the limit of this Exotic Stone might be Qi Gathering Perfection!"

Qi Gathering Perfection!

Hearing Elder Yu's judgment, the three young cultivators showed expressions of shock; this was a realm still very distant for them.

"Lingrui, Lingqing, Linghu."

"Your disciple is here!"

"From now on, I'll entrust the guarding of the Exotic Stone to you three. You will take turns, continuously nurturing it with spiritual power every day until it completes its advancement."

"Your disciple understands!"

Normally, Chen Yang's slumber this time would take at least a month to wake up.

However, because the three of them continuously nurtured it with spiritual power twenty-four hours a day, by the eighth day, Chen Yang's consciousness had already awakened.

After waking up, Chen Yang felt that the entire world had become clearer. His vision could extend further, and when he tried to draw upon spiritual energy, he felt as if he could bring it out of the spirit storage space!