Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 718 A Land of Chaos
After learning some details, Yang Zhengshan went to talk to Xuanzhen again. The elixirs and such belonged to Yang Zhengshan, and he had no intention of sharing the spoils with Xuanzhen.

Besides, these elixirs are not of much use to Xuanzhen. What he needs is a martial god realm cultivation technique or a longevity-enhancing pill.

Yang Zhengshan discussed those cultivation techniques with him.

"So it seems the cultivation methods of the Great Zhao royal family are not suitable for me. I might need a wind-attribute cultivation method!" Xuanzhen said.

Yang Zhengshan nodded. These techniques had attributes from the very beginning.

From physical training to internal strength cultivation, and then to the condensation of true qi, all are of the same nature and complement each other.

In comparison, the cultivation techniques they practiced were not only chaotic, but also lacked any attributes.

For example, the innate skill that Yang Zhengshan cultivates, Yi Wood Everlasting Spring Skill, seems to be of the wood attribute, but it is not actually wood. Its name is actually taken from the characteristic of Yi Wood Everlasting Spring, and it has nothing to do with the attribute.

Yang Zhengshan estimated that martial arts techniques at the Martial God Realm might need to be more compatible with one's own attributes.

Forging a golden body and comprehending spirituality should both be closely related to natural attributes.

Yang Zhengshan specializes in lightning, Yu Qingyi specializes in wood, Xuanzhen specializes in wind, and An Yuxing specializes in water.

And none of them cultivated the fire attribute.

"Can I cultivate this?" Li Shangyuan suddenly asked.

Yang Zhengshan looked at him, nodded, and said, "If you want to cultivate, you can copy it!"

Li Shangyuan has not yet entered the Dao and does not have any attributes, but the cultivation method he practices is actually more suited to the water attribute.

Most of the martial arts techniques on Qinglan Island are compatible with water and wind attributes.

Of course, Li Shangyuan has not entered the Dao, so he can now cultivate other attributes.

After pondering for a while, Yang Zhengshan said to Xuanzhen, "There's a Xuanqing Sect over at the Lingxiu Sea. It's a Taoist sect. Do you want to give it a try?"

"Perhaps they'd be willing to take you in?"

Xuanzhen was taken aback; he hadn't really thought of that.

There are three sects and twelve families in the Lingxiu Sea. The three sects are Xuanqing Sect, Huanyue Sect and Wuxiang Sect. Xuanqing Sect is a Taoist sect. If the old Taoist Xuanzhen goes there, he might be able to get close to them.

"Why not give it a try? You won't lose anything if it doesn't work out. Even if they reject you, they probably won't kill you outright!" Yang Zhengshan advised.

"Then I'll give it a try?" Xuanzhen said, somewhat tempted.

Yang Zhengshan grinned and said, "We don't need to go to the capital of Dazhao. We don't need that fire-attribute technique. Let's just go directly to the Sea of ​​Spiritual Beauty!"

“Alright!” Xuanzhen nodded, agreeing with Yang Zhengshan’s idea.

The night passed, and the team set off again early the next morning.

They no longer went to Lushan County or the capital of Dazhao, but headed directly northeast towards the Lingxiu Sea.

The Sea of ​​Spiritual Beauty is the true holy land for cultivation. It is home to not only the Three Sects and Twelve Families, but also numerous smaller sects and families, making it a gathering place for martial artists.

With Tianhu, a local, leading the way, their journey became much smoother.

Although Tian Hu's strength was average, he was quite familiar with the western and northern regions of Da Zhao, which saved Yang Zhengshan and his group a lot of trouble.

……

November of the 28th year of Lingyuan.

Shanggu County, in the eastern part of the Great Zhao Dynasty.

The cold north wind howled past, bringing the freshness and purity of early winter.

The climate of the Great Zhao Dynasty is somewhat different from that of the Great Rong, especially in the northern region. Although it also has four distinct seasons, the winter temperatures are lower and there is more snowfall.

Perhaps due to the influence of cold air from the western sea area, it is only early winter and there is already a biting cold wind.

Yang Zhengshan and his party set off from Shenmu Island in June, entered the stormy sea area from Linfeng Island in early July, landed in Lushan County at the end of July, and then traveled around for nearly three months before finally arriving at Shanggu County in the eastern part of the Great Zhao Dynasty.

The Sea of ​​Lingxiu is roughly located in the northeast of the Great Zhao Dynasty. In a narrow sense, the Sea of ​​Lingxiu is a large lake, but in a broader sense, it includes all the territories occupied by the three sects and twelve families around the lake.

For example, the Zhao royal family was one of the twelve families, but the Zhao dynasty only had a small part of its territory near the western shore of the Lingxiu Sea.

On the map of the Great Zhao Dynasty, it looks as if a person is reaching out a hand and grasping the edge of the Lingxiu Sea.

And this hand belongs to Shanggu County.

The shape of Shanggu County is like a thumbtack, with the slender nail embedded in the many forces on the edge of the Lingxiu Sea.

Donghua County is located south of Shanggu County, and Tianque City is also very close to Shanggu County.

After the Lu family of Tianque City destroyed the royal family of Dazhao, they did not declare themselves kings or emperors. Instead, they shrank their defenses, occupied half of Donghua County and Shanggu County, and abandoned the rest of the territory of Dazhao Dynasty.

Clearly, the Lu family had no intention of establishing a dynasty or becoming royalty; they simply wanted to integrate into the Lingxiu Sea and replace the Wei family as one of the twelve Lingxiu families.

Yang Zhengshan and the others naturally didn't care much about this. They had been traveling all the way and didn't want to meddle in other people's business. They arrived in Shanggu County very smoothly.

Upon entering Shanggu County, Yang Zhengshan and his group clearly sensed something different.

Along the way, the counties they passed through were in a state of chaos and misery, but Shanggu County was a peaceful and prosperous place.

The city of Shanggu, in particular, was a bustling and prosperous place, a stark contrast to other counties.

The streets are wide and flat, the bluestone slabs gleaming with a warm luster from the wear and tear of time, with a constant flow of vehicles and pedestrians. Restaurants line the streets, each a magnificent building with carved beams and painted rafters, its eaves and brackets adding to its imposing presence.

The restaurant's signboard fluttered in the wind, bearing the bold and grand words "Zui Xian Lou" (Drunken Immortal Pavilion), exuding a strong sense of local life.

Yang Zhengshan sat on the second floor of the restaurant, looking out the window at the bustling street scene.

The pedestrians on the street were dressed in various styles. Some wore silk and satin, their clothes fluttering in the wind; others wore coarse linen clothes, but they were clean and tidy, exuding a simple and honest air.

Most importantly, there are groups of martial artists here, with masters everywhere, giving the impression that innate martial artists are everywhere and acquired martial artists are as rare as dogs.

In just a short while, Yang Zhengshan spotted six innate martial artists walking down the street. These were the innate martial artists he could recognize; there were others whose cultivation levels he couldn't even determine.

"How many innate martial artists are there here?" Yang Zhengshan asked Tian Hu, who was sitting opposite him.

After spending three months together, Tian Hu had become part of their small team and became Yang Zhengshan's strategist.

"I don't know either, but Shanggu County used to be the place with the most martial artists in the Great Zhao Dynasty. Innate martial artists from all over the country would come to Shanggu County to find cultivation methods or to purchase various cultivation resources. Even many martial arts families thought about settling down in Shanggu County!" Tian Hu said.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly. This was similar to the siphon effect of big cities. Abundant resources made warriors from all over the Great Zhao Dynasty flock to Shanggu County.

If this is the case in Shanggu County, then the other regions surrounding the Lingxiu Sea are probably the same.

To put it simply, the Sea of ​​Spiritual Beauty has a siphon effect on martial artists within a radius of tens of thousands of miles, attracting many innate martial artists. That number would be an extremely terrifying one.

Taking Da Zhao as an example, there should be thousands of innate martial artists in the entire Da Zhao. Even if only 30% of the innate martial artists come to Shanggu County, that would still be thousands of innate martial artists.

A city with thousands of innate martial artists is unimaginable in the vast ocean.

But in the Sea of ​​Spiritual Beauty, this is indeed a very common occurrence.

There are many cities around Lingxiu Sea that are similar to Shanggu County City.

Yang Zhengshan gazed at the bustling street, lost in thought. Xuanzhen had already parted ways with them, heading to the Xuanqing Sect, and Li Shangyuan had also parted ways with them, taking his disciples out to explore the world.

Although they came with Yang Zhengshan, they were not Yang Zhengshan's people after all. They all had their own goals and could not follow Yang Zhengshan forever.

Therefore, they separated from Yang Zhengshan and his group when they entered Shanggu County.

Chen Zhongshu and Lü Hua were still with Yang Zhengshan; they had already joined the Yang family and were considered one of their own.

So the question is, what should they do next?
Just occupy the land and become king, rob him of his mother's territory?
This is clearly not feasible!

It is estimated that Yang Zhengshan will be suppressed and killed by the combined forces of the three sects and twelve families as soon as he shows his face.

They didn't even need the three sects to make a move; one of the twelve sects could have easily killed Yang Zhengshan.

Don't forget, they have a Martial God Realm expert among them.

No matter how arrogant Yang Zhengshan was, he didn't believe he could contend with a Martial God Realm expert.

Logically speaking, the cultivation techniques of the Great Zhao royal family should be the easiest to obtain, since the Great Zhao royal family has already been destroyed.

There is no longer a Great Zhao Dynasty; the Great Zhao has been fragmented into several separate regimes.

If the Lu family of Tianque City has no intention of vying for the world, it is unlikely that a large dynasty will emerge in this vast territory in the future.

Yang Zhengshan estimated that this outcome was probably what the three sects and twelve families wanted.

They didn't want a huge dynasty to be next to them!

That's why the Lu Clan of Tianque gave up their ambition to rule and only wanted to integrate into the Sea of ​​Spiritual Beauty.

However, Yang Zhengshan felt that the cultivation method of the Great Zhao royal family should not be easy to obtain, because too many people were eyeing that cultivation method at this time.

"Don't be too hasty, haste makes waste!" Yang Zhengshan thought to himself.

"Furthermore, before I can cultivate the Martial God Realm techniques, I need to find other techniques to cultivate so that my cultivation can form a complete system!"

"There are also spiritual fruits, elixirs, runes and secret techniques, etc. We need to collect these things slowly!"

"I am not Xuanzhen, I can take my time, I still have a long lifespan to wait for the right opportunity!"

If you calculate the time, he has been in this world for fifty-nine years, which means he is now ninety-seven years old.

Living to be a hundred years old is just around the corner!
But he still has at least fifty years to live, or even more.

The Yi Mu Chang Chun Gong has the effect of prolonging life. I dare not say more, but his lifespan is definitely not shorter than Xuan Zhen's. Living to 170 or 180 years old is not a big problem.

"First, find a place to settle down, and then gradually integrate into the Sea of ​​Spiritual Beauty, waiting for the opportunity to compete for the Martial God Realm cultivation technique!"

"The three sects and twelve families are not easy to seize the cultivation techniques from the three sects, which have been passed down for thousands of years. However, the twelve families are replaced every few decades, so there should still be a chance."

"The other thing is the Spirit Source Land. We absolutely cannot reveal its existence here. Fortunately, only Li Chang and Wang Lei know about the Spirit Source Land among the people around me right now, so the risk of exposure is not high!"

Just as Yang Zhengshan was deep in thought, Li Chang walked in from outside the door.

"Master, the map has been acquired!" he said, placing a map in front of Yang Zhengshan.

The currency of Da Zhao is also gold, silver, and copper coins, but this is only the currency for ordinary people. Martial artists use spirit crystals and spirit stones for transactions.

Spirit crystal coins are made by pressing the slag from mining spirit stones. They also contain spiritual energy, about one percent of the spiritual energy contained in the spirit stone. Therefore, one spirit stone can be exchanged for one hundred spirit crystal coins.

One spirit crystal coin can be exchanged for one hundred taels of gold or one thousand taels of silver.

If we convert it this way, then one spirit stone is equivalent to 100,000 taels of silver.

The annual fiscal revenue of the Da'an Dynasty is 30 million taels of silver, which, if converted into spirit stones, would amount to 300 spirit stones.

However, this is just wishful thinking. It's easy to exchange spirit crystals for gold and silver, but it's very difficult to exchange gold and silver for spirit crystals.

For ordinary people, spirit crystals are useless and far less practical than gold, silver and copper coins. For innate martial artists, gold, silver and copper coins are just mundane things. It is easy for them to earn gold and silver, but it is very difficult to earn spirit crystals and spirit stones.

Therefore, these two currencies are not interchangeable and cannot be equated.

Buying a map doesn't require spirit crystals; a few taels of silver will suffice.

This map is also very rough; it only roughly marks the locations and boundaries of the three sects and twelve families, and is not very detailed.

The Xuanqing Sect, one of the three sects, is located on the north shore of the Lingxiu Sea, occupying about one-third of the land there. Its sphere of influence is not large, extending only about three hundred miles to the north.

The Illusion Moon Sect is located on the southern shore of the Sea of ​​Spiritual Beauty, near Donghua County, less than a hundred miles away.

The last one is the Wuxiang Sect, located on the eastern shore of the Lingxiu Sea.

Then the twelve families survived in the gap between the three sects, and there were also many small forces on the periphery of the twelve families.

Yang Zhengshan searched the map for a long time, then suddenly looked up at Tian Hu and asked, "Is Shanggu County now the territory of the Lu family of Tianque?"

Tian Hu was taken aback. "I think so!"

"The Sun family is to the north. Why don't they seize the territory of Shanggu County?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

The area surrounding the Sea of ​​Spiritual Beauty is not an ordinary area. Why are so many forces gathered here, vying to occupy even a small piece of the lakeshore of the Sea of ​​Spiritual Beauty?

Because the area surrounding the Lingxiu Sea is a blessed land.

That's right, it's a blessed land where you can grow spiritual fruits and cultivate spiritual herbs.

They transformed the blessed land into a sacred land, and cultivated the sacred land into sacred fields, planting various sacred creatures.

They called spiritual fruits spiritual roots, medicinal herbs containing spiritual energy spiritual medicines, plants containing spiritual energy spiritual plants, and animals with special abilities exotic beasts.

Both spiritual roots and spiritual herbs can be called spiritual plants, but spiritual plants are not limited to spiritual roots and spiritual herbs; they also include many other crops, such as spiritual wheat and spiritual rice.

They eat spirit rice, use spirit elixirs, raise silkworms that are spirit insects, and the silk they produce is called spirit silk.

Spiritual silk can be woven into cloth, then cut into clothing, and decorated with runes to create magical robes with special effects.

And all of this is based on sacred land and sacred fields.

That's why they're desperate to squeeze into the area surrounding the Sea of ​​Spiritual Beauty.

What they sought was to cultivate abundant resources using sacred land and fields.

"This..." Tian Hu couldn't understand it either.

Yang Zhengshan smiled and said, "Why else? Because the Sun family doesn't dare to compete. Why doesn't the Sun family dare to compete? Because the Tianque Lu Clan has the support of three sects, and the one supporting the Tianque Lu Clan is very likely the Huanyue Sect!"

Yang Zhengshan pointed to the Huan Yue Sect, which was close to Donghua County. He even suspected that the Huan Yue Sect might be behind the current situation of the Great Zhao Dynasty.

There is conflict among the three sects, and the twelve families may have to consider which side to take. Many small families and forces are eagerly waiting for their chance.

This is hardly a blessed and beautiful place; it is clearly a land of chaos and destruction.

However, Yang Zhengshan was not afraid of the chaos in the Sea of ​​Spiritual Beauty at this time. The more chaotic it was, the more opportunities he would have to fish in troubled waters.

(End of this chapter)