Family Cultivation: Evergreen of the Song Family

"Yongzhou Island, if I remember correctly, that should be the sea area under the jurisdiction of the Hanhai Chamber of Commerce, and it is located on the edge of the area. I'm surprised that they found it so quickly."

Song Changsheng was somewhat surprised by Song Jingxiu's efficiency.

“Reply to the clan chief.”

In the East China Sea, disasters such as thunderstorms, hurricanes, and tsunamis occur frequently and are highly destructive. Therefore, the branch has specially set aside personnel to collect intelligence in this regard.

"Actually, besides Yongzhou Island, the branch has intelligence on several other thunderstorms, but they are too small to meet your needs," Song Jingxiu said respectfully.

"That's excellent. How's the budding process going?"

A long, long time ago, when the Wind Whisper Palace first began its major expansion, Song Changsheng and several key figures in the clan devised a plan.

At the time, the plan did not have an official code name; internally it was simply referred to as "infiltration," which meant spending ten or even a hundred years to conduct a comprehensive infiltration of the Great Qi and the surrounding cultivation world.

Later, after Song Qingshi took over the Fengyu Palace, he confirmed the code name of this plan as "Budding".

Many intelligence agents were sent away directly after receiving Song's education or "brainwashing".

The Wind Whisper Palace will send people to disguise their identities, or even switch them out, to infiltrate various families and sects through various formal or informal channels, quietly lying in wait for the right opportunity.

Over the years, this plan has begun to show results, with thousands of people being dispatched, leaving their mark throughout the entire cultivation world of the Great Qi, and even extending beyond the Great Qi cultivation world.

These spies were like dandelion seeds, scattered by the wind. Most of them didn't even have a specific mission; they just went with the flow and took root wherever they landed.

They can have any identity; some are sect servants, some are sons-in-law of families, some are apprentices of alchemy masters, and some are rogue cultivators who live on the edge of death...

These people silently sprouted in the land; some grew strong and healthy, while others perished halfway through, quietly waiting to be awakened.

This approach would have a high success rate for infiltration, but the downside is that it is easy to get out of control. As for these issues, the Fengyu Palace has mostly not taken any action to eliminate them and has largely adopted a tacit attitude.

It wasn't that they were particularly kind, but rather that there was absolutely no need to waste manpower eliminating these spies who were unaware of the inside story. Doing so would be pointless and might even alert the enemy.

These spies underwent completely closed training before being released. They were loyal to a code name and did not know the specific person or faction. Some of their memories were also restricted, so even a soul search could not find their birthplace, thus minimizing the possibility of exposing their family.

Over the years, with the substantial financial support of the Wind Whisper Palace, quite a few have made a name for themselves, and many of them have even broken through the Foundation Establishment stage and begun to occupy some key positions, providing the Song family with a lot of useful intelligence.

The Song family's intelligence network was built up little by little in this way, and after a century, it began to show results.

The original group of spies, apart from those in key positions and those who had already fallen, were mostly old and left for various reasons to return to the Wind Whisper Palace, where they went to work behind the scenes or to enjoy their retirement.

They're back, and even more spies are active outside.

Because of the great success achieved in the early stages, the first task for the Song family when establishing a new branch is to implement the "Budding Plan," which involves planting spies everywhere. Song Jingxiu is naturally aware of the implications and dares not slack off for a moment.

Now, hearing Song Changsheng ask, he said with some pride, "Since arriving in Linhai City, I have not dared to slack off for a moment. To date, 121 spies have successfully completed their infiltration."

The majority of them were concentrated in the Linhai City Guard, [Jinxiuqi], Hanhai Chamber of Commerce, and Qianren City, while some entered auction houses, shops, and other places.

In addition, they have developed hundreds of subordinates through various means to provide us with intelligence.

Our branch receives a massive amount of intelligence every day, and we have a dedicated team to analyze it.

Although most of the intelligence isn't useful to the family right now, I've categorized and organized it all, thinking it might come in handy someday. I didn't expect it to come true so quickly.

"In just a few years, more than a hundred spies have completed their infiltration, and there are hundreds more subordinates. This efficiency is no less than that of the families in Daqi."

"Transferring you from Jiangzhou to Donghai was truly one of the best decisions I've ever made." Song Changsheng gave him extremely high praise, which made Song Jingxiu feel quite flattered.

It's not that these spies played a particularly significant role, but rather that it was an affirmation of Song Jingxiu's personal abilities. The cultivation world of the Great Qian and the East Sea are not comparable to the Great Qi. The difficulty of infiltrating these Golden Core forces without any foundation is self-evident.

If it were someone else, they might not have been able to turn things around so quickly.

Taking the first step is always the hardest part.

Song Changsheng encouraged them for a few words, and then set off for the thunderstorm mentioned in the intelligence report. He hoped that the thunderstorm would last a long time and that he wouldn't miss it. Thunderstorms of this scale are very rare even in the East China Sea. If he missed it, he didn't know how long he would have to wait.

Shortly after he left, a steward hurriedly found Song Jingxiu at the Fengyu Palace branch in Linhai City.

"Master, a spy on a merchant ship of the Han Hai Chamber of Commerce just sent back a message that the thunderstorm over Yongzhou Island has inexplicably expanded several times, covering Yongzhou Island and the surrounding waters."

"An emergency evacuation is underway on Yongzhou Island. You inquired about this earlier, so I brought it here for you to see."

Upon hearing this, Song Jingxiu could no longer sit still. He quickly took the jade slip and read through the entire document with a frown.

The thunderstorm on Yongzhou Island was already enormous; this area of ​​the sea surrounding the Great Qian Cultivation Realm had not seen such a phenomenon for at least a decade.

Thunderstorms of this scale typically last for several days. If any creature is unfortunately caught in them, it usually ends up as a charred corpse. Even powerful cultivators at the Purple Mansion level mostly only dare to venture to the edge.

The core area is absolutely a one-way trip; even Golden Core cultivators must be cautious.

The thunderstorm has now expanded several times over, covering Yongzhou Island, which is 30,000 miles away. This scale is quite alarming, and the core area will become even more dangerous.

Song Changsheng was heading to the core area.

He put down the jade slip in his hand and quickly sent a message to Song Changsheng to inform him of the situation.

However, Song Changsheng had mastered the Dao of Space and could travel through the air at an incredible speed, so fast that the communication flying sword almost couldn't catch up with him.

Seeing Song Jingxiu's reminder, Song Changsheng not only did not back down, but became even more interested in the thunderstorm.

The operation of all things in the world is closely related to the power of the laws of heaven, and this thunderstorm is caused by the large-scale accumulation of the laws of thunder.

The same principle applies to man-made thunderstorms. If Song Changsheng wanted to, he could summon a thundercloud and unleash a torrential downpour at any time, but the affected area would be limited to a thousand miles, which is nothing compared to the scale of this thunderstorm.

This shows just how powerful the laws of thunder were gathered in that place.

These laws of thunder do not gather without reason.

The earlier events could be considered coincidences, given that the East Sea is rich in the laws of water and covers such a vast area, it's understandable that some large thunderstorms would occasionally form.

But the sudden surge in scale seems very strange.

Normal thunderstorms don't appear suddenly. After all, the convergence of the laws of thunder takes time, and regardless of its size, it expands at a relatively constant rate. It's absolutely impossible for it to suddenly expand several times in size like this. Something unusual must be going on. Either someone is playing tricks, or an opportunity has arisen.

The possibility of it being caused by human intervention is extremely small. Even a Nascent Soul True Monarch could not accomplish a thunderstorm of this scale. Song Changsheng was not entirely sure about the power of a Divine Transformation Supreme, but it was highly unlikely that he could achieve this level of power either.

Song Changsheng quickened his pace and soon arrived near Yongzhou Island, where he could see a dark, heavy thundercloud in the distance.

Blackness filled his entire field of vision, boundless and endless, as if it had fallen from the sky and was almost touching the sea.

Electricity snakes crisscrossed, and thunder roared like drums, each resounding sound sending shivers down one's spine.

The raging sea surged with tremendous force, and thunder roared.

Through the incredibly thick thunderclouds, Song Changsheng saw a spirit island no smaller than White Dragon Island. The island had numerous markets and houses, but they had all been reduced to ruins by the ravages of the thunderstorm.

"This must be Yongzhou Island. The protective array has collapsed. I wonder how many people managed to escape." Song Changsheng frowned slightly.

Yongzhou Island has a large permanent population. This thunderstorm came suddenly, and Yongzhou Island has limited transportation capacity. It is conservatively estimated that at least half of the people will not be able to leave immediately, and their fate is predictable.

"Alas, what an undeserved disaster." Song Changsheng shook his head slightly, this truly was fate.

At this moment, his expression shifted slightly, and he flashed into the thunderstorm, where he discovered a large ocean warship, filled with panicked cultivators, speeding through the storm.

A faint light shield enveloped it, seemingly on the verge of shattering under the bombardment of thunder.

At their speed, it would be almost impossible for them to escape the range of the thunderstorm before the protective array collapsed.

"Whose warship is this? How could it withstand a thunderstorm for so long?"

Well, since they've run into each other, it's their fate.

Just then, a thick bolt of lightning struck, shattering the already crumbling protective array. Terrified screams almost drowned out the rumbling thunder.

Just then, another bolt of lightning struck down from the heavens. Just as the people on the warship were preparing to face death in despair, the lightning bolt visibly changed direction and fell into the sea.

The joy of surviving the ordeal almost made them faint on the spot.

But this joy was quickly overshadowed by despair. So what if they went astray? Without the defensive array, they would still die.

"You all came from Yongzhou Island. Did you notice anything unusual in this thunderstorm?" At this moment, a gentle voice rang out above them.

Everyone looked up at the same time and saw a young man in a blue robe standing in the thunderstorm without any protection.

"Golden Core... It's a Golden Core cultivator! He's the one who saved us just now!" someone suddenly shouted excitedly.

Upon hearing this, the people on the warship were immediately filled with renewed hope for survival.

"Answer my question, and I guarantee your safety." Song Changsheng had no time to argue with them.

Everyone immediately started talking at once, racking their brains to answer Song Changsheng's question.

Most of it was just meaningless nonsense, but the words of an old cultivator piqued Song Changsheng's interest: "When the thunderstorm first expanded, the thunder sounded like someone was beating a big drum, and there was also a muffled roar like that of a domestic ox."

I've seen plenty of thunderstorms at sea, but I've never heard such a strange sound before.

"A muffled roar like a bull?" Song Changsheng's eyes flashed slightly; this was indeed somewhat novel.

After listening for a while and finding no more useful information, he waved his sleeve, and a yin-yang symbol immediately enveloped the warship.

The lightning struck, but only caused slight ripples on the surface.

"Let's go, my supernatural powers can ensure your safe passage out of this sea."

A cultivator who appeared to be of high status bowed gratefully and asked, "May I ask your esteemed name, Master?"

My name is Zixu.

Having said that, Song Changsheng's figure merged into the void, heading towards the center of the thunderstorm...

"Boom..." A bolt of pale golden lightning, thicker than an adult's arm, struck Song Changsheng, but he only frowned slightly.

Although the lightning was powerful, it was still somewhat inferior to the Golden Core Tribulation. With his current physical strength, it was about the same as being bitten by a mosquito.

However, he has not yet penetrated into the core area of ​​the thundercloud. The deeper he goes, the stronger the power becomes. The intensity of the core area will definitely surpass his Golden Core Tribulation.

"Dong dong dong..."

The deeper he went, the clearer the drumbeats became. Although they were mixed with the roar of thunder, he was certain that the thunder moved in sync with the drumbeats.

"Someone is beating drums in the heart of the thunderstorm?" An extremely absurd thought popped into Song Changsheng's mind.

He instinctively dismissed the idea, but the drumbeats were so clear that he couldn't possibly have misheard them.

"Never mind, we'll just go and see for ourselves."

Having made up his mind, Song Changsheng continued his journey deeper into the heavens amidst the thunderous roar. This time, he slowed down to carefully comprehend the Dao of Thunder.

"boom"

"Click"

Golden lightning struck Song Changsheng's shoulder, causing him to pause in his steps. He looked down at his shoulder and saw that it was already charred black.

"Moo...moo..."

In the dim light, amidst the thunder and drumbeats, there was another sound—the mooing of a cow, as the old cultivator on the warship had described.

The strange feeling in Song Changsheng's heart became more and more obvious. There were drums and cows mooing. What exactly was in the depths of the thundercloud?
At this moment, he was less than a thousand feet away from the true core area. Thunder surged like a tide, emitting a dazzling light, as if he were facing a giant electric ball composed of thunder laws.

"Let me see what's hidden here!"

...(End of chapter)