Family Cultivation: Evergreen of the Song Family

Under the strange gazes of everyone in the hall, Chi Ming followed an external affairs steward to the back of the hall, where Song Luzhou was already sipping tea and waiting for him.

"This is the general affairs elder of our tribe." The external affairs steward beside him explained softly.

"Junior Chi Ming pays homage to the Great Elder!"

The General Affairs Elder is the head of all the elders, so there is nothing wrong with Chi Ming calling him the Great Elder.

Song Luzhou nodded calmly and said, "No need to be so polite, please take a seat."

"Thank you, Great Elder, for the seat."

Chi Ming sat down rather stiffly, but in his heart he was thinking about Song Luzhou's intention in calling him here this time.

"You are so young, but your cultivation is quite good. Chihuo gave birth to a good son. How has your father been these years?" Song Luzhou signaled the maid to serve tea.

Hearing this, Chi Ming's eyes flashed with sadness, and he slowly shook his head and said, "Thank you for your concern, Great Elder. My father has been in seclusion for several years, and his bottleneck has not been shaken at all. He often feels powerless, and the deadline may be in the next few years."

Old ghost Chihuo was only slightly older than Song Luzhou. Hearing what Chi Ming said, he couldn't help but feel sad. In the blink of an eye, his time was almost up.

Fortunately, Song Changsheng gave him a different choice this time.

Thinking of this, Song Luzhou couldn't help but sighed: "Back then, Chihuo and I fought side by side. Now, we are all old. Over the years, Yangzhou has been so stable, and you have made an indelible contribution."

Chi Ming was touched and said sincerely, “My father always said that he and the Chi family could have achieved what they have today thanks to the full support of the clan leader and the family.

Although my father has entered his twilight years, the Chi family has been established in Yangzhou for decades and has already taken root. Now that my eldest brother's eldest son has been born, as long as the family gives an order, the three generations of the Chi family are willing to be the pioneers of the clan!"

"The family has never doubted your loyalty. The family has seen your efforts. The family has never treated meritorious officials unfairly. The clan leader originally planned to reward you personally this time.

But he is delayed by other things now, so I have to do it for him."

As he spoke, Song Luzhou took out an exquisite jade box from his voluminous sleeves, motioned the maid beside him to bring it to Chi Ming, and said, "There are three spiritual fruits inside. Taking them can extend your life by ten years. You should take it back to Chi Huo. Maybe there will be a glimmer of hope."

That’s right, what’s contained in this jade box is the [Longevity Peach].

Although it takes a full sixty years for the [Longevity Peach] to bloom and bear fruit, when Song Youlin picked it, the fruit on the branch had already begun to take shape. However, under Song Qingxi's careful care, it matured soon.

A total of nine fruits were produced, and Song Changsheng divided them into three equal parts. One of them naturally belonged to Song Luzhou, and the second one was made into a [Longevity Pill] by Song Luzhou and preserved.

As for this last one, after careful consideration, Song Changsheng decided to give this opportunity to prolong his life to the old ghost Chihuo.

Although the old ghost Chihuo was forced to submit to Song Changsheng in the beginning, he has worked diligently over the years and successfully passed Song Changsheng's test.

Giving him this opportunity was, firstly, to commend his achievements over the years, and secondly, to further unite the Chi family.

Although the Chi family has just started out, it has great potential. Just as Chi Ming said, it already has three generations, and everyone is a ruthless "seeding machine". They are proud of marrying many wives and having many children, and ashamed of marrying few wives and having few children.

Chihuo Laogui alone had hundreds of wives and concubines. After working hard for decades, he had more than 400 sons and 200 daughters.

Although there are only nine people with spiritual roots, Chi Huo's sons got married very early and were very productive. Up to now, there are thousands of mortals in the Chi clan, and more than twenty of them have spiritual roots.

As time goes by, the size of the Chi family will expand rapidly. With the support of the Song family, in time, they will be able to compete with the top families in Yangzhou.

In addition, in addition to their own family members, they also control more than two million mortals under the rule of the former Lieyang Sect, and every year at the Ascension Conference, they can select a large number of young people with spiritual roots.

Among them, except for the top ones who will be absorbed by the Song family's Foreign Affairs Hall and Fengyu Hall, the rest will be assigned to a force called Liehuotang to receive concentrated training.

The Fiery Hall is jointly run by the Wind and Rain Palace and the Red Fire Old Ghost.

After continuous selection and elimination over the years, there are still nearly 800 people left, which is no less than the number of any family in Yangzhou. It is precisely relying on the "foreign force" of Liehuotang that Chihuo was able to control Yangzhou step by step.

There are just a few cultivators who are building the foundation, with only one so far. But we have just started out, and the potential for development is huge.

As an important part of the Song family's rule over Yangzhou and maintaining the stability of Yangzhou, if the old ghost Chihuo can break through the Purple Mansion, it will naturally be of many benefits to the Song family, and they must be supported if there is a chance.

Although Chi Ming's younger generations are good, they are still far inferior to the old ghost Chi Huo, and they are not as reassuring to use as Chi Huo.

After all, Chihuo's positioning is actually the same as Jinxuan's.

Song Changsheng could help Jin Xuan break through the realm of the great demon with confidence, so naturally he would not favor one over the other.

Song Changsheng originally planned to do this task himself, but was delayed by the task of refining the [Barrier Breaking Pill], so he had to ask Song Luzhou to do it for him.

However, the effects are similar.

Sure enough, when Song Luzhou finished speaking, Chi Ming stood up in surprise, looking at the jade box that the maid handed to him with shock on his face, and even suspected that there was something wrong with his ears.

A spiritual object that can prolong one's life is right in front of me?

"Great Elder, this..."

Song Luzhou stretched out his hand to interrupt Chi Ming and said, "Young man, there is no need to say more. This is the clan leader's intention. Just accept it. If your father can break through the Purple Mansion, Yangzhou will be more stable."

All of a sudden, all kinds of emotions surged in his heart, and Chi Ming picked up the jade box with trembling hands. What was inside was not a spiritual fruit, but Chi Huo's ten years of life!

This is extremely crucial for Chihuo now.

He held the jade box high up, and actually knelt down directly in front of Song Luzhou, saying in a trembling voice: "Chi Ming, on behalf of my father, would like to thank the family for the gift of the treasure. The entire Chi family is deeply grateful!"

"No need to do that. Please get up quickly." Song Luzhou showed a satisfied smile on his face, and quickly used his spiritual power to help Chi Ming up.

He said with a smile on his face: "In addition to this spiritual fruit, I specially called you here this time because there are other things I need to discuss with you."

"Please give us your instructions, Great Elder. The Chi family will do our best." Chi Ming immediately expressed his attitude.

"Don't be in a hurry to show your determination. It's not a big deal. It's about the Fiery Hall."

"The Fiery Hall?"

Chi Ming couldn't help but feel a little confused. Although the Fiery Hall had been established for decades, the Song family had basically not interfered in other aspects except for sending a few key monks to participate in the management.

In the early years, the Song family was responsible for the allocation of funds. Later, the Fiery Flame Hall gradually took over part of the legacy that once belonged to the Fiery Sun Sect, and was able to be self-sufficient in terms of resources. The Song family's presence became even lower. Now that they suddenly asked about it, he was a little uneasy, fearing that something had happened to the Fiery Flame Hall. Although Chi Ming was mature, he was still young after all, and his nervousness and uneasiness were soon exposed in front of Song Luzhou.

He smiled slightly, without exposing the truth, and said calmly: "You may also know that there is some unpleasantness between the family and the Tianjian Sect. Although there has been no fighting, the cracks have already appeared and are difficult to bridge.

We must prepare for this in advance. We won’t be the first to take action, but we must have a quick countermeasure.”

"Great Elder, do you mean that we should strike first and attack Xiangzhou?" Chi Ming asked cautiously.

The current situation in Xiangzhou is very complicated. In addition to the recovering Rong family, there are also two other forces, the Tianmai Sect and the Tianjian Sect.

The Song family also had a hand in it, but it was limited to the Qingyuan Mountains of the Wang family.

In addition to not wanting to waste strength in vain, he also wanted to avoid provoking the Tianjian Sect. Now that the relationship has been broken, in Chi Ming's opinion, he can completely gather the power of Yangzhou to strike first and tear off a piece of meat first.

Song Luzhou shook his head slightly and said, "Xiangzhou is now a bottomless quagmire, and it is not a wise choice to intervene.

The family intends to increase investment in the Fiery Flame Hall, with the Chi Clan as the backbone, and jointly with the Fiery Flame Hall to form the Blazing Sun Guard, making it the family's main force in Yangzhou to maintain regional stability and deal with the Heavenly Sword Sect. "

"Chiyang Guard?" Chi Ming was secretly shocked. This seemed like they were planning to completely militarize the Liehuo Hall.

“Yes, according to the clan leader’s instructions, I need you to select 500 people from the Fiery Hall within one month for fully closed training.

In the future, the number of people will increase year by year depending on the situation, and we can also recruit disciples from the major local forces in Yangzhou as appropriate." Song Luzhou said slowly.

"Closed training?" Chi Ming was even more confused. What were they training for? Formation? Don't be ridiculous. That's something only mortal armies need to practice.

"The family will provide you with equipment and training methods, and will also send three elders to go there in person. They will be fully responsible for all matters related to training.

In addition, in order to facilitate unified allocation and management, the family will also send people to take over all the industries originally registered under the name of Liehuotang.

One point that needs to be made clear is that everyone must join voluntarily and must undergo necessary background checks in advance.

Of course, after joining the Blazing Sun Guard, they can receive the same treatment as the Song clan members, with a salary at least three times the current amount. Whether they are injured or killed, they will receive compensation, and military merits will be awarded, with the purchasing power of military merits being equal to the family's contribution points!"

Chi Ming secretly sighed. Song's move was equivalent to taking back all the power of Liehuo Hall, including the financial power.

In the future, the cultivation resources needed by the Liehuo Hall will be directly allocated by the Song family, which will directly eliminate the possibility of the Liehuo Hall starting up a new organization.

In contrast, the treatment offered by the Song family was very generous, and even he couldn't help but be tempted.

"May I ask, Great Elder, how many years of service are required..."

"Twenty years. If you are supported by the family to build your foundation, you need to serve for fifty years. Once the time limit is up, you can leave or stay as you wish. If you choose to stay, the family will further improve your treatment."

"I understand. I will do it as soon as I return." Chi Ming felt that he had understood most of it and quickly agreed.

Over the years, we have had sufficient control over the Liehuotang, so there shouldn't be much resistance to this "adaptation".

"Well, you can stay for a while after this trade fair is over. Then several elders of the family will return to Yangzhou with you."

"As ordered."

Chi Ming knew that the Song family was finally preparing to attack Yangzhou, and the good days of the seven major families in Yangzhou were about to end...

After Chi Ming left, Song Luzhou began to think about who to send to Yangzhou.

The decision to form the Chiyang Guard was a well-considered one.

The situation around the Song family became increasingly severe, but there were simply not enough people to allocate, so Song Changsheng had no choice but to make use of these "outsiders".

Although this method is relatively expensive, the Song family is currently very well-off financially, and as the number of members gradually increases, it will not bring much of a burden.

In addition, the most important point is that it can save the tribe members from shedding less blood!

After these people are selected, they will practice unified mental methods and techniques, and receive training in combat formations.

When I have time in the future, I will imitate the armor brought out from the Lost Pearl World and equip them with standard armor, magic weapons and even warships.

Once it reaches a certain scale, Yangzhou will be able to fight whether it is against the Tianjian Sect or other emergencies.

If the old ghost Chihuo is capable enough and successfully breaks through the Purple Mansion, then the Song family's defense in Yangzhou can be considered impregnable.

In the future, when the Song family has more manpower, they may form a similar tribal army. There are a full 3,000 sets of armor lying in the warehouse.

After thinking for a long time, Song Luzhou finally called a steward and said, "Let Lu Tong, Qing Hong, and Qing Xia come to see me."

This is the candidate Song Luzhou finally decided on. Song Lutong is the elder with the highest cultivation level and seniority besides him, which is enough to convince everyone.

Song Qinghong has made achievements in both weapon refining and formation, and has recently also taken a minor in battle formations. He can provide them with guidance and ensure logistical supplies.

Song Qingxia has learned the true sword art from Yuan Tianshu and has outstanding strength, so she can serve as Song Lutong's deputy.

This lineup is already a very powerful configuration even for the current Song family...

When Chi Ming returned to the Foreign Affairs Palace, the trade fair was almost over, but his deputy had already helped him select all the inheritances that the family needed.

I picked up the list and checked it, and found that there was nothing missing.

However, he found that ever since he went to the back of the hall, the way everyone present looked at him seemed to have become a little different.

He naturally knew where these changes came from. Thinking of the jade box he was carrying, he couldn't help but sigh: "The trust that the sect master has in my clan is truly rare in the world..."

……

ps: I don’t know what you think of this development idea.

(End of this chapter)