Chongming Xianzong

Chapter 405: Almost Three Years

On the fifth day of September in the 452nd year of the Qianfeng reign, the god Qinglong appeared. It was auspicious for him to go anywhere, and whatever he did would be successful and whatever he asked for would be granted.

The birthday of the great leader of the Chongming Zongkang is approaching. The people of Ping and Jin counties are so happy to receive rice, flour, grain and oil distributed by the village elders that it is like celebrating another birthday festival.

As Chongming City is the best place under the jurisdiction of Chongming Sect, the people in the city enjoy more benefits than those in other places.

Before the hour of Si that day, the black lacquered city gate had already opened.

The few martial masters on duty at the gate had lost their usual majestic appearance, and only put on a fawning look. They bowed repeatedly to the young-looking monks who entered the gate on their spirit beasts, but they did not receive any smiling faces in return.

But these martial masters did not show any dissatisfaction at all. What did it matter if these worthless mortals did not get a good reputation?
Didn’t you see that Taoist Ning, the wandering cultivator hired by Lord Jin to guard the city, usually looks so unattainable? Even at this moment, even though he was full of flattery, he still couldn’t exchange a few words with these immortal masters who came down from Xiaohuan Mountain?
The people on both sides of the city gate were unable to watch the excitement for too long. After the young immortal masters left, these martial masters returned to their usual indifferent attitude.

And Taoist Ning's immortal demeanor suddenly returned. A whirlwind arose under his feet, and he landed back in the Yangting on the city gate. He sometimes closed his eyes in deep thought, and sometimes stared into the distance.

Soon after several young monks entered the city, a plump boy who looked only in his early teens came over and greeted them: "Tang Jiu greets all the brothers. My master has been waiting for a long time."

Although this young man was younger, his status and position were much higher than those young disciples opposite him. No one dared to return the greeting. They all got off their pack animals and bowed repeatedly.

As soon as the young man finished speaking, his eyes were attracted by the spirit beasts beside the crowd, and he asked, "Is this the Cloud-Stepping Horse that Master Duan bred last year using the Yellow Wind Beast and the Grass Deer? Can you guys rent it out now?"

The young man with thick eyebrows who was the leader among the young disciples waved his hands repeatedly and said hurriedly, "Brother Tang thinks too highly of us. This Cloud-Stepping Horse is a mid-grade spiritual beast. How can we afford to rent it? It is Deacon Duan who takes care of us. He asked us to take note of the good and bad performance of this spiritual beast when we go out so that we can make targeted elimination."

"I see. I don't want to keep Master waiting any longer. Let's talk later." Tang Jiu bowed and invited, then led the way.

The Chongming Sect can be said to be prosperous in recent years, and almost all of the sect's high-ranking relatives and bloodline descendants are gathered in the city. It is natural that this big city would not develop as well.

Compared to He Yuanbing, Jin Shilun may not have many outstanding achievements in cultivation, but because he was born into a wealthy mortal family, he is much better at pacifying the people and governing the country.

More than ten years have passed since they settled in, and Chongming City has become increasingly prosperous, with the new and emerging population filling it up. It is truly a city full of vitality and prosperity.

The Thick-Eyebrowed Monk's family was under the jurisdiction of a foundation-building family in his county. He had been to that family's mortal territory several times when he was young, so he could be considered worldly-wise. However, he was still a little surprised by the scene before him.

The group had spirit horses to move them, the round-faced young man's steps were quite nimble, and there were no mortals in front who dared not give way, so after walking for a short while, the group of cultivators arrived outside the City Lord's Mansion.

The Lord of Chongming City, a middle-aged man with bulging temples, dressed in gorgeous clothes, had been waiting here early. When he saw the cultivators, he bowed deeply.

This group of young monks had just been standing at the city gate with a sullen look on their faces as if to keep strangers away. However, when they saw the mortal city lord whose martial arts skills were not even as good as those of a martial arts master, they did not dare to be arrogant. They immediately dismounted their Cloud Horses and bowed to each of them, looking very amiable.

After all, this person in front of him is the blood relative of the headmaster Kang, and in terms of seniority, he is the headmaster's close clan grandson. If you really want to weigh them, these outer disciples who have been out of Yulin Hall for several years and still cannot enter the inner sect may not be much more valuable than this mortal city lord.

The Lord of Chongming City is already over 40 years old, and his temperament is much more stable than when he was riding a horse on the street. He was also pleased with the courtesy of these young monks, and just said respectfully as usual: "Master Tang, Guardian Jin is still talking with Master He who came to visit from Shishan Sect, so you masters should go in later."

"Thank you, City Lord, for telling me," Tang Jiu bowed again, turned around and clasped his fists to apologize to the outer sect brothers behind him, and then led everyone to the selection hall to wait.

The thick-browed monk and others did not dare to have any objections. They had never thought that a figure like Jin Shilun would wait for them specially. What Tang Jiu said before was just a polite resignation.

All the practitioners entered the selection hall in harmony and waited for a while. Tang Jiu had been practicing in Chongming City with Jin Shilun for about a year, and it was the first time for other practitioners to be sent down the mountain from the Good Deeds Hall.

Both parties were curious, and as soon as they sat down, they began to ask and answer each other's questions and had a great time chatting.

"I heard that Elder Yuan came out of retreat a few years ago and finally refined a top-grade magic weapon, but he is still not satisfied. He drinks with several Fei family members in Baiyi Building all day long, just to gain more skills;"

"Staff Wei from the Formation Hall went to Xuanwei City some time ago. He allegedly found a formation manual at a stall of a casual cultivator and was greatly inspired. When he came back, he had become a top-notch formation master.

The head of the sect praised him after hearing this. It is said that he has even started to borrow good deeds to prepare for the future foundation building. It is possible that the speed of building the foundation of this formation deacon who was born as an inner disciple is faster than many true disciples in the sect;"

"The head of Yulin Hall was promoted to deacon by Elder Pei some time ago. Deacon Ye also accepted a disciple a month ago. He has three spiritual roots and outstanding talent in water magic, but his appearance is a little unattractive;"

"Brother Yuan from the Dan Hall encountered a problem in his cultivation. Even if he took the magic pill, it was still difficult to solve it. He asked to be sent to Jin County to serve as a county assistant. Elder Yuan and the head of the sect did not allow it and sent him to Hengshan.

It seems that the tea-colored grains planted by Mo Ku, the acting disciple of Hengshan Lingtian, were not of good quality and could not be sold at a high price. The head of the sect intended to refine them into fasting grain pills and distribute them to all disciples as annual gifts this year."

"Elder Jiang went to Hong County some time ago. When he came back, he seemed to be in a very bad state. He was even scolded by the head of the sect. It seemed that he had an affair with a romantic partner."

"Shut up!! What the hell are you talking about!!" The young man with thick eyebrows stood up suddenly, then glared fiercely at the outer disciple who was chatting excitedly and talking without restraint.

The latter saw that everyone in the hall was looking at him, and then he realized that he had said something wrong. He was so scared that his hair stood up, and hurriedly turned around and bowed, saying in a trembling voice: "I made a mistake in my words, I hope my fellow disciples will not take it to heart."

"This senior brother is too polite," Tang Jiu, who had been listening with great interest, finally reacted and changed his expression. After he awkwardly offered everyone tea, the hall fell silent.

Fortunately, Jin Shilun's long-time attendant in the City Lord's Mansion came over quickly to invite them, so these young monks did not have to remain speechless for too long.

"Come quickly," Jin Shilun smiled when he saw these disciples coming in. He introduced them to a middle-aged monk beside him who looked 70% like He Dezong, "Brother Shi, please look, these are my disciples from Chongming Sect."

The middle-aged monk nodded and smiled, and praised again: "You are indeed a heroic young man."

Jin Shilun also laughed, and then urged softly: "Why don't you guys greet the senior quickly?"

Tang Jiu did not dare to neglect him, and hurriedly led a group of outer disciples to bow and said, "Greetings, Senior."

The middle-aged monk smiled and said "OK" a few more times, then he flicked his fingers and several rays of light appeared from his storage bag. A mid-grade magic weapon and several low-grade magic weapons fell into the hands of the younger generations in the hall one after another, which immediately made them smile with joy.

Jin Shilun's eyes showed a hint of strangeness, and he thought to himself: "This senior brother is not a very straightforward person. If it was Uncle He who was in person, even if he knew that they were outer disciples, he would not be partial to one over the other."

Of course, he couldn't show any of this, so Jin Shilun hid his expression first, and then apologized, "If I had known that Brother Shi was going to spend so much money, I wouldn't have let you come to see me."

The middle-aged cultivator showed some dissatisfaction on his face, and waved his hand and said, "Brother Jin, what are you talking about? Uncle Shi treated Yuan He with great kindness, how can what I have done be compared to that?"

After hearing this, Jin Shilun did not thank him anymore. He turned to Tang Jiuyan and said, "Jiu'er, take the other disciples and divide up the matters that were arranged before. Your uncle He and I will leave later to return to the sect to celebrate the birthday of our master. We will come back later."

The duty of guarding Chongming Town involves a lot of things, including driving out monsters, eliminating evil practitioners, encouraging agriculture and sericulture, and controlling the clouds and rain. These are all just part of his job.

Jin Shilun is already 46 years old and has reached the eighth level of Qi training. This speed is not too slow. However, it is still quite difficult for him to catch up with Kang Rongquan who is in seclusion to build his foundation, and the up-and-coming talents headed by Kang Changyi who emerged behind Ge Kai.

Therefore, for many miscellaneous tasks, he not only applied for a regular amount of spiritual stones from Pei Yi, who was in charge of the government treasury, so that he could hire independent cultivators to do them, but also asked Ye Zhengwen, the elder in charge of the external affairs of the Good Deeds Hall, for several task quotas specifically for major and minor matters involving Chongming City.

These tasks are not difficult. As long as they are arranged clearly, ordinary outer disciples can do them. It can not only enhance the experience of the disciples, but also make Jin Shilun much more relaxed. It is a good thing to have the best of both worlds. The mortals under the jurisdiction of Chongming City are better than those in other places in this regard.

Tang Jiu followed the order and stepped out. After he saw the two elders off, he turned around and talked to the outer disciples about serious matters. The kind expression on his face turned into a solemn one:
"Senior Brother Ma is a puppeteer. Two water-distributing puppets in Dongwen Village, sixty miles west of the city, were attacked by water beasts. They have been broken for quite some time. If this continues, I'm afraid the farm work will be delayed.

Therefore, I order it to be repaired within ten days. For every day overdue, the corresponding good deeds will be reduced by 10%, until all the ink is used up. In addition, the water beast is still lurking in the wild lake outside Dongwen Village. It should be an ordinary first-grade lower-grade one. Senior Brother Ma should be able to deal with it, but please be a little careful;"

"Brother Niu is practicing the Dao of Alchemy. There is an epidemic near the charity cemetery on the outskirts of the city. The ordinary doctors in the city went to see him but it was ineffective. He was infected with the disease instead. This matter must be completed perfectly within five days. No procrastination is allowed. If there are other discoveries or difficult issues during this period, report them immediately without delay;"

"Senior Brother Lu is good at formations. There are several low-grade formations in the outskirts of the city that have fallen into disrepair and are a little damaged. Many of the people living there are descendants of the elders and deacons of the sect. We need them."

Tang Jiu arranged a bunch of affairs in a very confident manner. Although he was young, he had an awe-inspiring demeanor when talking about serious matters, which made the inexperienced outer disciples in front of him dare not look directly at him.

To put it another way, even if Tang Jiu was not so mature at such a young age, these outer disciples would not dare to be disrespectful to him in the slightest.

After all, the person in front of him was the deacon disciple and the first disciple of the head of the Kang sect. His status was much higher than that of outer disciples like them whose future was worrying.

If the headmaster and the elders were not busy with their own cultivation, with Tang Jiu's two spiritual roots, it would not be the turn of Jin Shilun, who has not yet completed the foundation building, to accept him as a disciple. After Tang Jiu finished speaking, he said with a stern face: "It is said that all of you brothers entered the sect earlier than Tang Jiu, and some things should not be elaborated. But I still need to remind you: Chongming disciples must not abuse the people. Otherwise,"

Tang Jiu's tone darkened as he glanced at the faces of all the cultivators before he spoke: "From the elders to the inner and outer sects, everyone needs to go to the punishment hall. Brothers, you should think twice before you act. Think about whether you have the ability and face to survive the flying sword of Uncle Master Jiang."

The thick-browed young man led a group of outer disciples who were trembling with fear and immediately bowed and said, "We will abide by our conscience and will not dare to commit any crime!"

----

On the way to Chongming Sect, He Yuanhe praised Jin Shilun's disciple again: "Brother Jin's disciple is really good. Disciples with two spiritual roots are rare. We have many more mortals under the jurisdiction of Shishan Sect, but it takes more than ten years or even dozens of years to produce one."

Jin Shilun also laughed after hearing this: "This is luck. Jiuer's family was not originally under the jurisdiction of our sect. His father was an orphan who was picked up as a son by a lame mountain bandit. He was rescued by Master and moved to Chongming City with my family.

After growing up on relief food, he didn't even know his real surname, so he simply took the surname of the lame bandit. After that, he had children and took Jiu'er to test his spiritual roots at the Ascension Conference a few years ago. "

"Uncle's kindness is truly admirable. The saying that a family that accumulates good will be blessed with good fortune is exactly what this means." As He Yuanhe praised him repeatedly, his eyes lit up and he felt more confident about what he had planned.

Jin Shilun could see that he was thinking strangely, but he didn't ask any further questions. He just talked about cultivation with He Yuanhe in a casual manner.

In Jin Shilun's opinion, after talking with He Yuanhe for just a few days, he felt that the latter was indeed unworthy of the position of the true disciple of the Shishan Sect, a large sect with Jiadan as the master.

Jin Shilun has never been a conceited person, but to be fair, He Yuanhe is much worse than him.

"I don't know what position this brother holds in the true teachings of the Shishan Sect." Jin Shilun concealed his thoughts. The willow-leaf-shaped flying boat that the two of them were riding was moving at a fast speed and soon landed outside the archway of the Chongming Sect's mountain gate.

The disciple on duty at the archway this month was Ye Zhengwen's second disciple Liu Ya. Upon seeing Jin Shilun returning to the sect, he came up to greet him after the latter opened the formation with a token.

After Jin Shilun introduced He Yuanhe to Liu Ya, he did not spend too much time chatting with this junior fellow apprentice. He took this brother to meet the sect leader.

When they reached the meeting hall, they were stopped by Song Cheng, a disciple from the Punishment Hall who was also there to see his master.

Jin Shilun showed some surprise on his face. He calculated the time with his fingers and it was correct. He then said doubtfully, "Junior Brother Song, I told Master about this before I came here."

Song Cheng first bowed to He Yuanhe with a little apology, and then said to Jin Shilun: "Brother, please don't blame me. I was also reporting the quarterly inspection of the Criminal Hall to the head master on time, but Uncle Jiang came in and chased me out.

Later, Uncle Yuan and several other elders also entered the meeting hall one after another. Uncle Jiang also asked me, his junior brother, to stay here, saying that no one else would be allowed to enter unless they dispersed. "

After hearing this, Jin Shilun and He Yuanhe also frowned like Song Cheng, and said at the same time: "What happened again? Can it make the teachers so nervous?"

————Inside the Chongmingzong Council Hall
"The news that Senior Brother got last time should be correct. The elder of the Juntianqin Sect of the Fei family seized the nest of a third-level middle-grade monster in the Jackdaw Mountains near Hong County, and it seems that he also took away the monster's beast core."

Jiang Qing had a rare look of regret on his face. A third-order intermediate-grade monster could be compared to a cultivator in the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm. How many years had it been since a character of this level died in Shannan Dao?
Or maybe these people from the capital were ruthless and did not do anything to scare people by just making a fuss. They killed the third-level monsters as they were told, which really taught the cultivators in Shannan a solid lesson.

Ye Zhengwen and Pei Yi frowned at the same time, thinking to themselves, "I don't know if it was because of the departure of Uncle Hei Lu. As the son-in-law of the Fei family, our head has to get news from other families about such a big event that cannot be kept secret. This is not a good sign."

Master Kang sighed. It had been nearly three years since the departure of Taoist Heilu. While Kuang Liuting had been living in seclusion and practicing Buddhism, the Yunjiaozhou court, under the leadership of the Jingji faction headed by the old man from the Fei family, had become quite powerful.

Not only did they resettle many of the monks who had relocated from the capital in Yezhou, but the locals and immigrants also worked together to suppress the Yang family's descendants, forcing them to retreat; they also carried out large-scale purges in newly recovered places such as Dingzhou and Puzhou, targeting families who had rebelled against the provincial court.

In fact, among these purged families, many of them were not guilty of genocide, and some of them had varying degrees of involvement with the surrounding Jindan forces.

But Jun Tianqin didn't care about all this. After he got the news that the King of the South was sure that the owner of Zhaixing Tower would not act rashly under normal circumstances, he had no fear at all in this rural area of ​​Shannan Road, and some of his methods could be called cruel.

As he said: "Only after the heads of people roll down can it be clean."

It was during these three years of deaths that Master Kang finally understood why the David Dynasty had been able to survive for just over a thousand years after Taizu's fall. Even though they had so many incredible trump cards, they were still defeated by the combined forces of various immortals.

Compared with the flat-haired and pointed-beaked Marquis of Fengcheng, Kuang Liuting, the Earl of Nan'an who came from a royal family, can truly be described as kind-hearted and benevolent.

"You have no compassion and only practice cruelty, so you deserve this fate!"

Kang Dabao made his comment and composed himself. Since Jiang Qing had already found out that the information he got from the Fearless Tower was true, he should think about what to do next.

He asked Jiang Qing, "Have those people from the Hanshan Sect got the news? Have the Fei family or the provincial government sent them any orders?" As he expected, Jun Tianqin had found a third-level monster's nest with no roots as a foothold, so he must have the next move.

If he really wanted to open up a clan territory for Sheshan Hall and establish a new dojo, it would not be enough to just occupy a third-level spiritual vein. To sort out the miasma and the deadly land in the middle, and to wipe out the monster mountains and monster caves here, would all cost lives.

Jun Tianqin would definitely not want the Fei family monks to do the dirty work, so he would definitely need a Dafa monk to make the trip happen."

Jiang Qing shook his head after hearing what Master Kang said and said, "Brother Xu said he hasn't received any orders yet, but the followers of the Fei family have already started buying large amounts of supplies near Hong County."

Kang Dabao frowned again, turned to Yuan Jinyan and said, "Ask Xinran later to see if there are any unusual movements in Chongming Market."

The latter responded, and then heard the head of the Kang family say: "There will be some action from now on. It is not an easy job to make a living in the newly opened spiritual land. The Fei family will not be willing to send out their own people. There will be great things in the future.

Whether it is to send soldiers from Ping and Jin counties, or to mobilize our own troops, the message will be sent down soon, so we still need to prepare early."

"Don't worry, brother,"

"Let's go down and arrange it."

After all the fellow apprentices responded, Kang Dabao said, "Let's stop here for today. We can make countermeasures after there is progress on this matter."

"Brother, do you want to go and pay your respects to Marquis Gucheng again?" Pei Yi turned around and asked before leaving.

After hearing this, Sect Leader Kang nodded again, and then said, "Brother, you are right. I do have this idea, but I don't know if Bo Yue will see me now."

Pei Yi was silent for a while after hearing this, and then said calmly: "It should be more than that, Brother, you may be worrying too much."

"Ever since Uncle Heilu went to the outer sea, Earl Nan'an hasn't summoned me for a long time, and more and more people from the Sheshan Hall have moved away, my uncle-in-law's attitude towards me has become much colder." Although what Kang Dabao said was not a good thing, there was not much dejection in his words.

Seeing Pei Yi's gloomy face, Sect Leader Kang tried to comfort him:
"Don't worry, Junior Brother. It's not that he looks down on me. He just doesn't want to show me any human feelings anymore. He just wants to make Zhongming Sect obey him wholeheartedly. I can give you benefits and food, but you need to be obedient, as obedient as a dog."

Kang Dabao's words were so blunt and unpleasant that Pei Yi didn't know what to say for a moment. He hesitated for a long time before he spoke out to persuade him: "Brother, there are not many families in this world that don't serve others like dogs."

The head of the Kang family nodded and said calmly, "I know this truth, and I also know that in the eyes of my uncle, my family can serve as a dog for him, the direct descendant of the Fei family, which is a favor he did because of our past friendship."

Pei Yi shuddered when he heard this, his eyebrows slightly raised, but before he could say anything, he heard Kang Dabao speak again: "This is true, I didn't say I didn't want to do it, but my uncle hasn't given me a chance yet."

Sect Master Kang paused, and his voice became fainter, echoing in the hall: "You use the blood and bones of the sect disciples to exchange for the chance to be a dog."

Pei Yi really didn't know what to say now, he just sighed: "Every family is like this, there is no need to worry about it."

Kang Dabao's expression changed, and he smiled faintly: "Junior brother, you are right. If there is a chance, we should be more resolute! I have learned a lesson before. If I am afraid of death now, I am afraid that more people will die. The Fei family has put me in the team to attack Zhaixing Tower, and I dare not say a word."

"Brother," Pei Yi saw that Master Kang was a little worried.

"Haha, nothing. Junior Brother, please invite nephew Yuan He in. He must be asking for something."

(End of this chapter)