Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 824 Soul Spells
"Both of these soul-attacking magic treasures are usable for me. As for this Golden Cloud Silk, I'll pass on it and get a protective robe from Lotus Heart Valley later."

The Golden Cloud Silk was clearly feminine, with some patterns embroidered on it. Although Yang Zhengshan really wanted a protective magic weapon, he really didn't want to wrap the Golden Cloud Silk around himself.

However, he could leave this item for his disciple to use, so he still put the Golden Silk into the warehouse.

After taking stock of his spoils, Yang Zhengshan began to digest these magical treasures and spells.

He wants to master the techniques of soul-stealing, soul-capturing, and soul-searching.

He also needs to refine the Soul-Sweeping Bell and the Soul-Breaking Cone.

Neither cultivating magic nor refining magical artifacts can be accomplished in a short time.

Cultivating magic requires constant research and practice, and refining magical artifacts also requires constant practice. It's not enough to simply refine a magical artifact; you also need to understand its strengths and weaknesses, be able to skillfully control it, and achieve complete control.

After reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, Yang Zhengshan had even more things to cultivate.

His cultivation level wouldn't see a significant breakthrough in the short term, so he reduced his daily cultivation time for the "Green Wood Longevity Scripture" to one hour.

The "Green Wood Longevity Scripture" is a balanced and moderate cultivation method that emphasizes gradual progress and cannot be achieved overnight.

Previously, Yang Zhengshan was in a hurry to establish his foundation, so he spent a lot of time and energy on the "Green Wood Longevity Scripture". Now he needs to settle down and proceed step by step, so he only needs to meditate for one hour every day.

In addition, Yang Zhengshan also practiced the "Dongxu Refining Nerve" and the Qinghua Thunder Pearl, maintaining a fixed practice of one hour every day.

These two techniques cannot be rushed; they both require patient and persistent effort.

In addition to these three basic techniques, Yang Zhengshan also needs to cultivate magic, refine magical artifacts, study alchemy, and make talismans.

He filled his time to the brim, and his days were both monotonous and fulfilling.

Of course, he didn't forget what he got from the auction.

He also completed the refining of the Jade Cloud Boat. However, the Jade Cloud Boat was only a top-grade magic weapon. Yang Zhengshan only used it as a means of transportation, so he did not spend too much time on it.

The golden bamboo has already been planted on the south bank of Lingquan Lake, and Yang Zhengshan has entrusted it to Yang Jizhen for care.

Yang Jizhen cultivates the "Yi Wood Thunder Control Scripture," which he can also use once the Golden Thunder Bamboo grows.

The young apprentices are all working hard in their cultivation, and Yang Zhengshan will take the time to guide them. However, how far they can go in the future depends on themselves.

As the saying goes, the master leads you through the door, but the practice depends on the individual.

Yu Qingyi was not idle either. She bought a lot of things in Lianxin Valley. Although Lianxin Valley was a market for immortal cultivators, there were still many things there that martial artists could use.

Moreover, Yu Qingyi has already reached the Martial God Realm, and she can already use her divine soul power. However, compared to the divine soul power of immortal cultivators, the use of divine soul power by Martial God warriors is quite clumsy.

This is still because martial artists lack spiritual apertures.

For example, Yu Qingyi's spiritual sense could only cover a radius of ten feet around her, which was significantly different from Yang Zhengshan's.

In the Lingquan Villa.

After finishing his meditation for the day, Yang Zhengshan went to the main room.

Inside the main room, Yu Qingyi was leading Ma Qiuyan and Ning Yun in needlework.

Now Ma Qiuyan is twenty years old and has grown into a beautiful young woman. She has been cultivating the "Gui Shui Yang Yuan Jing" for ten years and has reached the third level of Qi Refining.

Ning Yun was similar, having also reached the third level of Qi Refining.

"What are you doing?" Yang Zhengshan asked, looking at the fabric they were sewing.

"Sew the robes!" Yu Qingyi said with a smile.

"Mahayana robes? You can sew mahayana robes?" Yang Zhengshan asked in surprise.

"I don't know how? Do you think I can't learn?" Yu Qingyi rolled her eyes at Yang Zhengshan. "I bought a jade slip in Lotus Heart Valley that teaches me how to sew robes. This is a good opportunity to give it a try!"

The robe is the most commonly used magical artifact and treasure for cultivators. It can have many functions, such as defense, concealment, flight, and assistance in cultivation. The specific functions can be seen from the magic array on the robe.

Yu Qingyi naturally doesn't know how to use magic arrays, but Ma Qiuyan and Ning Yun do!

As Yang Zhengshan's disciples, it is basic for them to learn one of the various arts of immortal cultivation, while they will also explore other arts of immortal cultivation.

As per Yang Zhengshan's requirements, they must choose one of alchemy, artifact crafting, talisman arrays, or other related fields as their main discipline, and also learn about beast taming, spiritual plants, meridian exploration, and other aspects.

For example, Yang Jizhen chose weapon crafting.

Ma Qiuyan and Ning Yun chose to use formations.

Yang Zhengshan has no talent in formations, but Ma Qiuyan and Ning Yun seem to have a good talent in formations and can now set up some simple first-order formations.

Cui Yang chose the art of talisman making, while Zhang Hexuan had only been practicing for a short time and had not yet explored the various arts of immortal cultivation.

As an alchemist, Yang Zhengshan was frustrated that none of his disciples chose alchemy, so he decided to have Zhang Hexuan focus on cultivating alchemy.

Sewing magic robes is also a part of weapon crafting, but it is different from regular weapon crafting. Its foundation is the magic array on it, so it is also possible for an array master to help with the sewing.

Yang Zhengshan wasn't interested in this and said, "Then you guys go ahead with your work, I'll go to my study first!"

"Hey, wait a minute, there's something I need you to decide!" Yu Qingyi said.

"what's up?"

"About Ji Zhen and Qiu Yan!" Yu Qingyi said.

Yang Zhengshan was taken aback and looked at Ma Qiuyan. At this moment, Ma Qiuyan's cheeks were flushed, and she lowered her head shyly, not daring to look up.

What do you mean?
When did his two apprentices have an affair?
Yang Jizhen is twenty-five years old this year, and it's time for him to get married, while Ma Qiuyan is twenty years old now.

If the two of them hadn't been cultivating at Lingquan Mountain, their families might have already arranged marriages for them.

"As long as they're willing, I have no objection!"

Yang Zhengshan would never do anything to break up a couple. Besides, his original purpose in wanting to absorb spiritual treasures from the outside world was precisely to have them marry into the Yang family's descendants, thereby giving birth to more spiritual treasures for the Yang family.

Yang Jizhen and Ma Qiuyan's marriage was exactly what he wanted, so naturally he wouldn't stop it.

"That's good. I'll have the clan hall arrange it and get their wedding done first!" Yu Qingyi said with a smile.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly. "Hmm, what about Yun'er? Has she taken a fancy to any young men?"

Ning Yun was teasing the shy Ma Qiuyan when Yang Zhengshan suddenly brought up her.

"Ah, Master, I'm still young, there's no rush!"

She blushed and waved her hands repeatedly as she spoke.

Yang Zhengshan laughed and said, "Isn't your Senior Brother Cui Yang good?"

"Senior Brother Cui? Ah, Master, please don't hurt me!" Ning Yun was about to cry.

"..."

Yang Zhengshan was speechless for a moment.

Okay, Cui Yang is indeed a bit unreliable.

Cui Yang is very smart, but he is also a bit eccentric.

He was too obsessed with cultivation.

Such a person will surely go further on the path of immortality, but he is clearly not a suitable partner in matters of the heart. Ning Yun, on the other hand, comes from an official family. Although she was only eight years old when she came to the Spirit Source Land, her personality was formed from a young age. Now, she doesn't seem like an immortal cultivator, but more like a young lady from a prominent family.

Therefore, it's not surprising that she and Cui Yang didn't get along.

"Then you can choose one yourself! Your master still hopes that you can get married! Of course, your master will not force you, but only hopes that you can find a satisfactory husband!"

Yang Zhengshan hopes that these spiritual talents can form marriage alliances with the Yang family, but he will not force or coerce them.

As time goes by, more and more spiritual apertures will be sent from Da'an. In fact, there are already more than 20 people with spiritual apertures in the Spiritual Source Land.

However, most of them were quite old, and Yang Zhengshan did not take them as his apprentices.

Yang Zhengshan wanted to take on seven apprentices, but his requirements were that they be highly talented and young. He would not accept anyone over the age of twenty as an apprentice.

As for the arrangements for these spiritual beings, it's actually quite simple: those with families should all move to the Spiritual Source Land, while those without families should be allowed to marry and have children in the Spiritual Source Land.

Yang Zhengshan wanted to increase the birth rate of spiritual treasures in the Spiritual Source Land, but this process was very long and could not be completed in a day or two. It would take at least several hundred years and dozens of generations.

Furthermore, marriage, once forced, will cause a lot of unhappiness and resentment.

Therefore, Yang Zhengshan's principle is that as long as people come to the Spirit Source Land, they should let nature take its course.

"Master, I understand!" Ning Yun replied obediently.

The image of a well-bred young lady is just that—an image. In reality, she's quite wild. Compared to her, Ma Qiuyan is much gentler.

Yang Zhengshan smiled, turned around and walked into the study.

Children and grandchildren have their own blessings, and so do disciples.

Aside from cultivation, as long as his character wasn't corrupt, Yang Zhengshan never interfered much in his disciples' personal affairs.

In fact, Yu Qingyi, the master's wife, put more thought into her disciple. She took care of many things. Of course, Yu Qingyi only took care of things; if anything really happened, the clan hall would take care of it.

Upon entering the study, Yang Zhengshan flipped through the letters and documents that had been delivered in the past two days, glancing at them casually.

The clan hall has been busy mining all this time. The ancient ruins have been basically emptied out. Apart from the Transmission Hall and the mine that couldn't be moved, the clan hall has been dug up to the ground.

All sorts of dilapidated array plates and magical artifacts, towering trees, and even the ruins of palaces and pavilions were all moved to the Spirit Source Land by the clan's main hall, leaving not even a single tile behind.

Don't underestimate those remaining tiles in the ruins; they were used by ancient cultivation sects. They were made of glazed tiles imbued with spiritual power and have remained undamaged for tens of thousands of years.

There are also bricks and beams. Many of the wooden beams and pillars have rotted, but many of the stone pillars are still intact.

These stone pillars contain arrays and restrictions, which can be used as research materials for the Mystic Arts Pavilion and as building materials for the construction of buildings in the Spirit Source Land.

As for the mines, they naturally mined as much as they could. As for the Transmission Hall, the Array Department had been researching its arrays, but unfortunately, the results were not significant.

The array formation of the Transmission Hall is far beyond the current level of array formation in the Spirit Origin Land to break.

According to the research of the Formation Department, the outer protective formation of the entire ancient relic formation and the formation of the Transmission Hall are connected to the earth veins, which also involve underground mineral veins, water veins and spiritual veins. It is because of this that these two formations have been able to remain unbroken for ten thousand years.

This is a typical high-level formation, most likely a fourth-order formation.

Such a massive formation is beyond the capabilities of the Spirit Origin Land; let alone breaking it, even finding the slightest loophole is beyond their ability.

The Hidden Sword Mountain and Lingxiu Sects have guarded this great formation for thousands of years, yet they still haven't been able to break it, have they?

Only by finding a node and taking advantage of the weakening of the formation's internal operation can a person be sent into the formation.

This demonstrates the high level of skill involved in this grand formation.

Yang Zhengshan was not disappointed by this; on the contrary, he is now very satisfied with the work done at the clan hall.

After putting down the report from the clan hall, Yang Zhengshan opened the report from the Secret Martial Guard.

In recent years, the Secret Martial Guard has developed rapidly. The number of spies has increased from three hundred to eight hundred, and the number of shadows has reached tens of thousands, covering the entire Lingxiu Sea and the surrounding areas.

Secret agents of the Secret Martial Guard are active in the three great dynasties to the west, the Wanlin Mountain Range to the south, and the territory of Youyu Gate to the east.

Although the intelligence they gathered was still limited to the information on the surface, it was enough for Yang Zhengshan to understand the movements of various forces.

Yang Zhengshan picked up the intelligence report about the Lian family and looked at it. The Lian family patriarch had not shown up for more than two years, and he wondered if he had passed away.

The Lian family is much more well-behaved now than before. The direct descendants are almost all based in Lianjia Town and rarely go out. The collateral descendants have also become much more restrained.

There are also quite a few people eyeing the Lian family.

Don't think that only Yang Zhengshan wants to step on the Lian family to become one of the twelve great families. Many old families in Lingxiu Sea want to take this opportunity to rise to the top.

As for the Lian family, they certainly wanted to cultivate a new generation of martial gods, but they clearly failed.

To this day, the Lian family has not produced a new Martial God, which means they have failed many times.

Yang Zhengshan looked at the intelligence sent by the Secret Guard, stroking his beard thoughtfully.

According to information gathered by the Secret Guard, three families have already set their sights on the Lian family's location.

The Luo family of Anhu City is an old martial arts family that started by hunting exotic beasts. Their strength and foundation are not weak. However, the Luo family's weakness is obvious: they do not have a martial god level expert.

The Chen family of the Wuxiang Sect is a family within the Wuxiang Sect. They have a Martial God expert and many connections within the Wuxiang Sect. If they wanted to separate from the Wuxiang Sect, they could easily become one of the twelve great families.

However, there might be objections within the Wuxiang Sect. It's not a good thing for the sect if a family wants to leave. Even if the family leaves the sect but still wants to follow in its footsteps, it will be difficult to gain the sect's approval.

The third is the Ming family of Qingyu City. Qingyu City belongs to the Xuanqing Sect, and the Ming family is considered an affiliated family of the Xuanqing Sect. However, such a family is certainly not valued within the Xuanqing Sect.

If the Ming family wants to compete for the position of a prestigious family, they must have the support of the Xuanqing Sect behind them.

It's just unclear how much support the Xuanqing Sect is giving them.

Each of the three families has its own advantages, so what are the advantages of the Yang family?

If Yang Zhengshan wants to seize a position in a prestigious family, he certainly can't use the identity of the Lingyuan Yang family; he has to use the identity of the Lingxi Yang family. Simply put, it's about using a backdoor listing.

In terms of foundation, the Yang family of Lingxi is naturally inferior, and Yang Zhengshan cannot borrow too much power from the spiritual source land.

If the power of the Spirit Source Land is exposed, the three major sects will definitely be wary of him.

Therefore, he can now rely on the power of the Yang family of Lingxi, as well as Yang Minghao and Ding Qiu, who have already made their appearances.

In terms of strength, Yang Zhengshan is already a Foundation Establishment cultivator and is qualified to compete for a position in a prestigious family. However, his identity as a cultivator of immortality may bring him trouble, or it may bring him an advantage.

Immortal cultivators certainly have a higher status than martial cultivators, but the three sects of Lingxiu have always been wary of immortal cultivators, especially immortal cultivators like Yang Zhengshan who are not part of the three sects of Lingxiu. They are likely to harbor hostility towards them.

Therefore, being a cultivator could be an advantage or a disadvantage.

After careful consideration, Yang Zhengshan felt that this matter was worth trying to resolve, but he shouldn't have too high expectations.

It would be best if it could work out, but we can't force it if it can't.

After thinking it over, he decided to first try to get through to the Illusion Moon Sect and see if they were willing to support a new aristocratic family.

If the Illusion Moon Sect is unwilling, then there's no need for him to waste his time on this.

He then wrote a letter and handed it to Li Chang, asking him to deliver it to Lu Fusheng.

If one wants to follow the path of the Illusion Moon Sect, one naturally needs Lu Fusheng as an intermediary to introduce them.

Without Lu Fusheng, Yang Zhengshan really wouldn't have been able to establish connections with the three major sects.

(End of this chapter)