Chongming Xianzong

Chapter 407: Restoring the Ming Alliance

On the sixth day of the ninth month in the 452nd year of the Qianfeng reign, Master Kang turned 65 years old. He was born in a prosperous and successful official position, and was good at studying and working.

Kang Dabao is a down-to-earth person after all. According to his original intention, he probably doesn't want to host this birthday party.

After all, whether he hosted the birthday banquet or not, the families in Ping and Jin counties would surely send gifts. If that was the case, why would he give up his spirit stones to provide others with a good meal?
The last time Kang Changxi was born, a long banquet was held in Chongming Market. The head of the Kang family still hasn't recovered from the pain. So in his opinion, it is best to save as much as possible now.

It's just that Yuan Jin and other fellow apprentices were all thinking about Kang Dabao's 60th birthday, which had not been celebrated because he was in seclusion, so they were clamoring to make up for it with him.

After all, the latter is now the leader of a large sect with thousands of monks under his jurisdiction. Although he cannot be said to have the final say, it is no exaggeration to say that he can decide the life and death of hundreds of monks with just a thought.

In this case, such a person should always be decent.

The heads of many major foundation-building sects, such as Hanshan Sect, Qiaogong Fort, Tang Guming Family, Feiyue Shan Family, and Hemu Dao, all came with gifts to congratulate. The heads of many wealthy Qi-cultivating sects, such as the Changxian Ma Family and the Caishi Lu Family, had already arrived at Chongming Market half a month in advance to wait.

As for the other smaller sects, they had to arrive earlier. The reason they did this was because they were expecting Chongmingzong to arrange the seats according to the order of their arrival.

After all, if they could get closer and talk to the leaders and elders of the Chongming Sect, even just a few words, it would be enough for them to go back and make some excuses.

It is difficult for small families to survive, so it is no wonder that they have some concerns.

Zhou Yixiu, who was originally in Hong County looking after the Moon Fern Field for Sect Leader Kang, also took some time off to come back. At this moment, he was helping Ye Zhengwen collect the gifts brought by the guests. The storage bags were so full that it was difficult to count them all.

Seeing this scene, Sect Leader Kang began to reminisce about the good old days. He thought that if he were still the peddler who carried a basket of goods on his back and walked through the streets, he wondered how long it would take to sell all these spiritual objects.

The practitioners in the hall had no idea that their host had such thoughts in mind, and they just chatted and laughed for a while. At noon, Kang Changyi hurried back to the hall, and Fei Shuhe signaled the disciples in the dining hall to prepare a banquet and wine.

In the past two years, he often stayed in Qi's house in Xuanwei City and obeyed orders, which was different from being by Jindan's side.

Although Kang Changyi was only a nominal disciple of Chu Yanran, as long as the latter gave him a little guidance from time to time, Kang Changyi would feel that his eyes were suddenly opened and benefited a lot.

In addition, although Chu Yanran did not value this registered disciple very much, she had always been a generous person and was always lavish in her spending.

Therefore, with the support of both his stepmother and his master, Kang Changyi's cultivation progressed rapidly.

This child is only twenty-two years old, and he is only one step away from reaching the ninth level of Qi training. In terms of cultivation alone, he is not much worse than his peers like Jin Shilun who are more than twenty years older than him.

If things continue to develop in this way, by the time he reaches the stage of foundation building, he might be earlier than Jiang Qing, the Chongming Sword Immortal.

This account was not settled clearly by only Chong Mingzong's family. Everyone in the field was also slightly excited when they saw Kang Changyi stepping in.

In addition, the appearance and demeanor of this top yamen official in Pingrong County were impeccable.

Therefore, as soon as Kang Changyi showed up, he easily won the hearts of many female Taoists in the field without saying a word. However, this was something that a big leader who already had many wives and concubines could never do.

It was rare for all the forces close to the Chongming Sect to gather together like this, and it was even more impossible for Master Kang to host a banquet for nothing. After a few toasts, the rest of the excitement was the responsibility of the young disciples.

Kang Dabao led a group of elders and went ahead, while the heads of each faction were politely invited to the side hall to discuss matters with the people in front.

Not long after everyone sat down, the first round of tea was served on the table, and even the formalities hadn't started, Ma Yansong, the new head of the Changyun Ma family after Ma Wenhan's death, couldn't help but express his loyalty: "Master Kang, if you have anything to say, just tell us. Our Ma family will be the first to respond, just follow your command."

Hearing what he said, everyone around him laughed in their hearts. In the past few times when Chongmingzong encountered tough guys, you, Ma Yansong, had never been so active, but now you are pretending.

Everyone suppressed their smiles, forced their lips to smile and just sipped their tea, which made the head of the Ma family quite embarrassed.

"Ahem." Others could just watch the joke, but the owner of this place, the Kang family, couldn't do that. He just coughed and said, "Master Ma, you are really serious. What do you mean by driving or not driving? Our two families should benefit each other and have their own friendship."

"Yes, yes, yes," someone took over the conversation at this time to give Ma Yansong a way out. Ma Yansong didn't care what Kang Dabao was saying. After responding, he returned to his seat as if he had been pardoned, and did not move for a long time.

"Kang would like to thank you all for coming to congratulate me. I am deeply grateful for your kindness."

After a polite word was blurted out and a bunch of nonsense like "where" and "how dare you" were heard, Master Kang got straight to the point and talked about business.

"In my humble opinion, the provincial government has been making a lot of moves recently, and something big might happen soon. It's time for each of us to take action."

Kang Dabao finally spoke, and He Degong, who had been silent in the crowd, stood up and said:
"My He family has been engaged in business for generations, and we have always been sensitive to the world. I am just one family, and you should just listen to my opinion. I think that now is indeed as Master Kang said, there will be a war and disaster in the near future, and each of our families really needs to make preparations early."

Everyone was knowledgeable and could see that He Degong had jumped out to serve as a supporting actor for his brother.

However, what the two brothers said was true. Although their families had not received the news that Jun Tianqin had occupied a third-level spiritual vein in the Jackdaw Mountains, the situation in the market had indeed become much more tense.

Just looking at the Fireball Talisman, a talisman that has always been in the street, the selling price in various markets has slightly increased. It is not difficult to see that there must be a powerful force in Yunjiao Province that is secretly hoarding supplies for conquest.

After Ming Hui heard what Kang and He said, he immediately frowned.

Because after Tie Liuyun and his family moved to Laoniu Mountain in Baisha County, the situation of the Ming family in Tanggu County became even more difficult. The Yunwei Zheng family, who moved back to Tanggu County from Laoniu Mountain, a place of hard battle, were as cruel as Tie Liuyun, the assistant of the Demon Suppression Department.

The fake Dan ancestor of the Yunwei Zheng family was seriously injured by Yuan Buwen's hand halberd technique. Although he had elixirs allocated by the state court, he was still some distance away from fully recovering from his injuries.

The Zheng family ancestor needed food to heal his wounds and could not move. The Zheng family cultivators were not yet firmly established and wanted to try their best to provide a fake Dan to sit in Tanggu. These two things were extremely urgent, so they could only exploit the locals for their own benefit.

If the Ming family had not saved Kuai En's entire family, which made the Zheng family a little wary, they would have asked Master Kang to send troops to rescue them a long time ago.

These people from the capital are not here to help the poor and the needy or to purify the country as they claim. It is obvious that they are here to steal crops from the border families like the Tie family.

The people in and outside the state are clearly all the same.
However, under such circumstances, the situation of the Ming family was naturally quite difficult.

However, Master Ming was unable to live long due to the hidden injuries accumulated from his bravery and aggressiveness in his early years. He passed away suddenly last year before he was even a hundred years old.

Ming Hui felt even more miserable in his grief, fearing that one day the Zheng family would frame him, surround the mountain gate, and force the entire family to move. By then, who knows how many lives of Ming family members would be lost and how many human tragedies would be witnessed.

It was difficult for outsiders to describe his feelings, and he had no intention of showing it. He just said softly: "Then according to Master Kang's advice, how should we act?"

"It's nothing more than the idea of ​​forming an alliance and protecting each other." Kang Dabao took out a proposal and had it held in the mouth of a little bird, which was then distributed to the hands of other people in the hall.

"Another alliance?" Xu Liuxian, who came from a casual cultivator background, wasn't really interested in whether to form an alliance or not.

He just glanced at the covenant in his hand hastily, and only remembered the three big words "Renew the Alliance" in his mind. Then he put his seal on it without hesitation, and then urged Xiao Que'er to take it back first.

After all, Xu Liuxian had made a real profit from Kang Dabao after the trip to Guanshan Cave. Naturally, he trusted the latter more than others.

After hearing the news of the alliance, the reactions of the various families were different, with some expressing joy and some expressing sorrow. However, after reading the proposal drafted by the head of Kangda himself, they all signed on.

After all, this time, Master Kang was as kind as ever, and the conditions he offered were very cost-effective.

In addition, for them, Kang Dabao's position as leader was real but not in name only, so even if the covenant was not signed, it was not a waste of paper. So why bother getting into trouble?

Kang Dabao did not expect this reaction. He did not take this alliance lightly. After all, no matter whether it was real or just in name, it was not as legitimate as having both name and substance. He carefully put away the list before speaking:
"We are just a bunch of insignificant forces that are not taken seriously by the big guys. We call it an alliance, but in essence we are just banding together for warmth because of our weak strength.

When the time comes, a piece of spiritual silk will be sent down, and you must not slack off in the slightest when it comes to providing labor and food. You must not lose your temper because of this, or else you will bring disaster upon others."

After hearing this, the other cultivators nodded in agreement. Kang Dabao glanced at them and then continued, "Okay, then let's start discussing the first matter since the establishment of this alliance."

He took out a map and pointed, saying:

"The Chongming Sect, Qiaogong Fort, and Hemu Dao are squeezed into a poor county like Pingrong County. Even with the little grain allocated by Sima Mansion from Chongming Market, it is still not enough to cover expenses. It may not be noticeable at first, but in the long run, it will definitely cause disadvantages. So we still need to think of a way to earn more spiritual land."

"What do you mean?!" Mo Wen and Li Mingyuan, who were called out by name, were a little panicked. They almost thought that Alliance Leader Kang was getting rid of them and was going to drive them out of Pingrong County for no reason.

Shan Shijie had just established his foundation a few years ago, and his strength was still weak. He thought he could not afford the slightest risk, so he advised: "Uncle, the surroundings are all under the control of the Immortal Dynasty military. If you attack other mountain gates without any reason, you will be punished by the state court!"

Kang Dabao flatly denied it and said, "Who said that the nearby counties are under the control of the Xian Dynasty military? But isn't the Jackdaw Mountains behind us?"

"Jackdaw Mountain Range?!" Xu Liuxian, who was much older than the others in the hall, was surprised. After thinking for a while, he said, "This is a good idea, but I'm afraid it will be very hard."

"I'm not afraid of hard work," said Li Mingyuan, the only true foundation-building cultivator of Hemu Dao. He made a promise for his disciples. He then said, "The disciples of Hemu Dao are the most able to endure hardships."

After Kang Dabao finished laughing, he said to everyone, "The three Pingrong families have indeed benefited the most from this matter. The rest of the families can just help out to the best of their ability."

People like Xu Liuxian who had nothing to do with the matter did not react as actively as Li Mingyuan, but he did not raise any dissenting opinions.

So the issue was decided at this time, and then each family was required to allocate people to be used to open up the spiritual land.

As a natural barrier that isolates David Immortal Dynasty from the outside world, it is not easy to develop the Jackdaw Mountains. Back then, Zhang Zushi of Chongming Sect had this idea, but he failed to do it because his disciples were not capable of being used and he could not do it alone.

However, Master Kang did not come here out of boredom to fulfill the last wish of the founder of the sect. This was because the land of Pingrong County was really barren and could hardly support the three foundation-building families.

Another thing is that the Chongming Sect will have to send people to help the Fei family clear out the territory of the third-level monster that was killed by the elder of the Juntianqin Sect. It would be better to take this opportunity to practice.

Anyway, Kang Dabao is not greedy. If he can open up a spiritual land, it will be a plus. Even if he really doesn't gain anything, he won't feel at a loss.

The result this time was not important at all. The most important thing was to accumulate experience before the real war. I thought that even if the head of the Kang sect was so careful, it would be possible to save the lives of a few disciples.

After the cultivators discussed a few unimportant matters enthusiastically, the first meeting after the establishment of the Chongming Alliance came to an end.

At Ye Zhengwen's suggestion, the cultivators held a small trade fair here, exchanging what they had with each other, and except for a few people, everyone gained something.

Head of Kangda took this opportunity to have Pei Yi take out a lot of spoils collected over the years from the treasury.

Most of them were not very useful, such as mourning sticks, soul-guiding banners and other spiritual tools and magic tools. Perhaps because the price was fair, the other families did not hesitate to pay the spiritual stones.

Chongming Zong cashed in a considerable amount of spiritual stones. This time Kang Dabao did not hold on to them for too long. He immediately sent some of them to the county temples in Ping and Jin counties by special personnel.

The next morning, as the sun was rising, rows of militiamen from Ping and Jin counties, led by the chief officers of the two counties, gathered at the parade ground outside Xiaohuan Mountain.

(End of this chapter)