Clan Cultivation: Starting from Foundation Establishment on Mount Luoxia

A month later, the city had taken shape.

The city wall rose from the ground. Although it was just rammed earth and piled stones and had not been reinforced with formations, it was already taking shape.

The city has a network of roads, and the districts are clearly defined.

The foundation of the city lord's mansion at the core has been laid, using bluestone quarried from the mountains, which is thick and sturdy.

On this day, three large transport airships belonging to the Xiao family arrived.

The boat gate opened, and a dense crowd surged out like a tide.

Men, women, and children were present, most of them dressed in rags, with haggard faces and eyes filled with confusion and unease.

These are the 30,000 ordinary people that the Xiao family purchased.

The Xiao family cultivators had already made preparations and, according to the pre-planned schedule, divided the crowd into groups and arranged them to the temporary shed area.

Food, water, and basic necessities were distributed one by one.

Some cultivators used calming spells to soothe the mind and calm emotions; others, skilled in medicine, patrolled and treated patients.

The order was well maintained.

Li Xiaoyao watched from afar, feeling a mix of emotions.

This demonstrates the efficiency of large families; they have a mature process for everything from population migration to resettlement management.

"It will take these ordinary people about six months to fully adapt to this place and become a workforce."

Xiao Chuhuan walked to his side, "However, we have enough manpower for the first batch of land reclamation, cultivation, and construction."

"Only after the first generation of newborns were born a year later can we say that the family has truly taken root."

Li Xiaoyao nodded, then suddenly asked, "Brother Chu Heng, among these mortals, are there any who possess spiritual roots?"

"Yes, but very few."

Xiao Chuhuan said, "In black market transactions, items with obvious spiritual root aptitude will be priced separately and are very expensive."

"Among these ordinary mortals, perhaps one in ten thousand possesses a pseudo-spiritual root, but most are destined to never attain immortality."

"However, their descendants, growing up in this place rich in spiritual energy, have a higher probability of developing spiritual roots."

This is the way of inheritance for cultivation families—using a large base of ordinary people to nurture offspring with spiritual roots, thus replenishing the bloodline of the family's cultivators.

"If Brother Xiaoyao is interested, I can take you to see it when the black market opens next time."

Xiao Chuhuan smiled and said, "However, we'll have to wait until the city is stable. There will be a large black market gathering about six months from now."

"it is good."

Li Xiaoyao agreed.

He really wanted to go and see.

The hidden Purple Mansion in the void, those shady deals, and the other side of Yunzhou's top families...

You need to see it for yourself to truly understand how this world works.

As the sun sets, the new city is bathed in golden afterglow.

Thirty thousand ordinary people were settled, and wisps of smoke rose from their chimneys. The cultivators were still busy reinforcing the city walls, setting up formations, and planning the spiritual fields.

Xiao Chuhuan gazed at all this, his eyes filled with hope:

"This city should be named 'Chuyang' (meaning 'First Sun'), signifying the rising sun and the beginning of light."

Li Xiaoyao smiled and said, "A good name."

Chuyang City.

The Xiao family's foundation in the Spirit Soul Realm, and the Li family's first property in this realm.

Time flies like a galloping horse, and the sun and moon are like falling flowers and flowing water.

Six months have passed in the blink of an eye.

The city of Chuyang, located in the southeast corner of the Spirit Soul Realm, has already stood at the junction of the plains and the sea.

The eight-zhang-high bluestone city wall embraces all four sides, with array patterns faintly visible on the wall surface. That is the foundation of the "Four Symbols Suppressing Mountains Array", a city-protecting array set up by the Xiao family at great expense.

The city is crisscrossed by streets and lined with neat houses. The cultivator area has pavilions and palaces, while the mortal area has courtyards and alleys. Shops in the commercial area are gradually opening, and the furnaces in the workshop area burn day and night.

Outside the city, the reclaimed spiritual fields stretch for dozens of miles, and the seedlings grow vigorously under the nourishment of the spiritual rain.

The mines extend deep into the hills, producing basic metals and earth-based spiritual materials.

The harbor is taking shape, with several fishing boats operating in the nearshore waters.

Everything has been roughly set up and is ready to go.

Li Xiaoyao hasn't been idle in the past six months either.

Aside from assisting the Xiao family in building the city and managing the Li family's shops and alchemy workshops in the city, he spent most of his time "chatting" with the Five Spirit Kings.

The old tree was a man of profound wisdom, and Li Xiaoyao often went to listen to it recount the history of the Spirit Realm and the principles of the growth of all things.

He occasionally exchanged knowledge of formations and alchemy from the outside world, and each of them gained something.

The air was crisp and cold after the snow, but Li Xiaoyao used several water-attribute minerals to make a few trinkets, which amused Xuehou greatly.

He was also allowed to collect some unique ice-attribute spiritual materials on the outskirts of the ice field.

Stone Ancestor was a man of few words, so Li Xiaoyao, catering to his tastes, helped him refine a piece of "Earth Core Iron Essence" into a breastplate.

In exchange, they obtained three pieces of "Earth Essence" of excellent quality in the second tier.

The one who was most compatible with them was none other than the Thunder Beast King.

The two have sparred twice more in the past six months.

The first time, they fought for a full three hours on the outskirts of Flaming Mountain.

Li Xiaoyao used all his skills, rotating his two immortal foundations and unleashing his magical treasures, but in the end he was still slightly inferior and was blasted into a sorry state by the Thunder Beast King's "Thunderous Sky Strike".

The second time at Tianqi Peak, Li Xiaoyao learned from his experience and focused on hit-and-run tactics.

With the help of array formations and talismans, they wore down the Thunder Beast King for five hours until both sides exhausted their spiritual energy, resulting in a draw.

They became friends through fighting, and the more they fought, the more compatible they became.

After their final sparring match, the Thunder Beast King looked at Li Xiaoyao's Flame Scale Armor, damaged by the lightning strike, and suddenly said:

"Your armor is too fragile! It'll crack after a few of my lightning strikes!"

Li Xiaoyao smiled wryly: "Brother Lei's thunderous power is not something that ordinary magic weapons can withstand."

Thunder Beast King thought for a moment, then turned and flew back to Thunder Swamp. After a while, it returned with a large piece of purplish-blue metal, its surface crackling with electricity, and threw it in front of Li Xiaoyao.

"Here, this is 'Golden Thunder Iron,' the kind I use as a stepping stone. You know how to forge weapons, make me a suit of armor too!"

Li Xiaoyao took the Golden Thunder Iron. It was heavy in his hand, and the golden and thunderous dual-attribute spiritual energy contained within it was pure and surging. It was at least a second-grade high-quality spiritual material!

Such wondrous treasures are rare even in the world of cultivation!

"Brother Lei trusts me, and I will do my best."

He said solemnly.

Upon returning to Chuyang City, Li Xiaoyao secluded himself for half a month, meticulously refining the Golden Thunder Iron as the main material, along with many auxiliary materials.

As they emerged from the pass, a suit of armor, entirely bluish-purple with flowing lightning patterns on its surface and sparks of electricity dancing at its joints, floated in the air.

Li Xiaoyao also referenced some of the Xiao family's weapon-refining classics and inscribed runes such as "Gathering Thunder," "Guiding Spirit," and "Lightness" inside the armor.

Although it is a second-tier magic weapon, it is made of high-quality materials and its defensive power is comparable to that of a low-grade third-tier magic weapon.

When the Thunder Beast King saw the armor, his eyes lit up, and he couldn't wait to put it on.

The armor automatically adjusted its size to fit its robust body, and the lightning patterns resonated with its own lightning, making the electric light even brighter.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Thunder Beast King exclaimed "Good!" three times in a row, and excitedly did three somersaults in the air, with lightning crackling around him.

"Much more comfortable than my rough leather suit! Kid, what's the name of this armor?"

Li Xiaoyao laughed and said, "Since it is Brother Lei's armor, let's call it 'Thunder Spirit Armor'."

"Thunder Spirit Armor... What a great name!"

The Thunder Beast King was very satisfied, and his gaze toward Li Xiaoyao became even more affectionate.

A few days later, it came to Li Xiaoyao's door again, insisting on giving him a gift as a token of its gratitude.

Li Xiaoyao declined repeatedly, saying that there was no need for such formalities between friends.

Don't give me that!

The Thunder Beast King glared. "Our rules in the Spirit Soul Realm are reciprocity! If you don't want it, you're looking down on me!"

Li Xiaoyao smiled bitterly and had no choice but to follow it into the depths of Thunder Swamp.

At the bottom of a thunder pool, he saw a palm-sized, golden-purple crystal shaped like a heart, with electric light flowing inside.

"This is the 'Heart of Thunder,' which I dug out of the corpse of an old thunder dragon a hundred years ago."

The Thunder Beast King didn't care at all. "You like it? Take it!"

Li Xiaoyao's heart skipped a beat.

Heart of Thunder! A rare treasure with both golden and thunder attributes! In terms of rank, it's even a level above Golden Thunder Iron!

Using this item to build a foundation, the resulting immortal foundation will surely be incredibly powerful!

He took a deep breath: "Brother Lei, this item is far too precious—"

"Take it if I tell you to!"

The Thunder Beast King said impatiently, "This thing is useless to me; it'll just gather dust here. If you like crafting, take it and use it to forge something better!"

Li Xiaoyao no longer declined and solemnly accepted it.

He remembered this favor.