Clan Cultivation: My Intelligence Updated Daily

Chapter 184 The Immortal's Summoning, News from the Secret Realm

"You flatter me, senior."

"Not an exaggeration, not an exaggeration."

Li Yanshan smiled. In his opinion, it was a bit slow for Zhang Lingyu to break through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage in seven or eight years, but his foundation was extremely solid, much stronger than that of the Foundation Establishment cultivators in Jade Light Pavilion back then and now.

If it weren't for the beast tide and his involvement in clan affairs, he could have broken through to the mid-stage within at least five years.

When Master Xuanhao first met the young man, he praised him as someone of extraordinary talent. At the time, he didn't take it seriously, but now he has to pay attention.

"Regarding the incident with Li Heihu, although Zhang Yuanhua was involved, it's said that Zhang Lingyu was the one who seriously injured him first."

"And that Yun Jinghao, they all seem to have his involvement..."

Li Yanshan sized up the young man in front of him, trying to discern something, but the other man's composed and unyielding demeanor made it impossible for him to find any flaws. So he had no choice but to bring up the important matter.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, the True Immortal has sent me to invite you to the Forest of Withered Bones, to bestow upon you a great opportunity!"

"An opportunity!?"

"That's good. We'll discuss the specifics when we get there. If you have nothing else to do, why don't you go now?"

"This... alright, I'll go tell my clan first. Please wait a moment, senior." Zhang Lingyu was stunned when he heard that True Person Xuanhao was going to give him an opportunity. He was filled with doubt, but seeing the other party's unquestionable expression, he quickly agreed.

"Fellow Daoist, please go, but please return quickly. The True Man does not like people who dawdle."

"Don't worry, senior!"

Zhang Lingyu responded and turned to fly back to the main hall on the mountaintop. The old man paced anxiously at the hall entrance, but seeing the young man land, he quickly stepped forward and asked, "Lingyu, what brings Li Yanshan here?"

"He came to deliver a message from Master Xuanhao, asking me to go to the Forest of Withered Bones to receive a fortuitous opportunity!"

"An opportunity!?"

The old man, just like before, was clearly stunned for a moment, then said worriedly, "What opportunity? I think it's a disaster!"

The Zhang family is a Foundation Establishment family and an vassal of the Li family. What opportunity could possibly fall to them? Perhaps the other party has found some new cave or secret realm and needs someone to go and explore it!

"Isn't this... just sending you to your death?"

"It's too early to draw conclusions. We'll know what it's all about when we meet in person."

"Can't you just make an excuse?"

"I doubt it; after all, it was an order from a real person!"

Zhang Lingyu exhaled a breath of turbid air and slowly said, "They are Golden Core cultivators, and we are their vassals. If they tell you to go west, you wouldn't dare to go east, otherwise my family will definitely have a hard time in the future."

He could refuse, but this might offend Master Xuanhao. Although he wouldn't do anything to him, a little pressure would... and he'd have to apologize even if he got beaten up.

"Still too weak, lacking a Golden Core!"

The old man sighed and didn't say anything more. Everything would have to wait until the boy returned.

"Lingyu, if we really put you in danger, the family would rather give the Li family more spirit stones every year than let you go!"

"Don't worry, Second Grandfather, I know what I'm doing. We'll talk about everything when I get back."

Zhang Lingyu responded and turned to hurry down the mountain. When she saw Li Yanshan waiting for her, she immediately put on a smiling face and said respectfully, "Senior, shall we go then?"

"good!"

Li Yanshan glanced at him but didn't notice anything unusual. He nodded slightly and flew towards the Bone Forest first.

......

Two hours later, two streaks of light landed one after the other in the forest of withered bones. It just so happened that the monthly Mo Yun Poisonous Flood Dragon went berserk. Zhang Lingyu watched as the beast kept crashing into the array that was flashing with spiritual light and kept a close eye on it.

"The Li family has set up a fifth-order grand formation. The Ink Cloud Poisonous Flood Dragon can slightly shake it; it seems it will advance to the next level in less than five years. We can observe it from afar then."

Both the demon race and the human race undergo the Golden Core Tribulation. If Zhang Lingyu were to observe it, he would gain some insights into the tribulation and accumulate experience for his own future tribulations.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, please!"

Li Yanshan's telepathic message brought his attention back to the present moment. He nodded slightly and followed the other person into the forest.

Master Xuanhao was still sitting cross-legged on the blue stone, his appearance and clothing unchanged. Upon seeing him, Zhang Lingyu and the other person immediately bowed and said respectfully, "Greetings, Master!"

"Young friend Zhang is here! Congratulations on your breakthrough!"

The old man nodded slightly, looked at the young man before him, and smiled:

"I also noticed the extraordinary phenomenon of that breakthrough at Qingya Mountain some time ago. To be honest, it was the first time I had ever seen a Foundation Establishment cultivator exhibit such an amazing phenomenon. Truly a dragon among men!"

"You flatter me, Master. I am able to cultivate and break through in peace entirely thanks to your protection!"

"We each get what we need, there's no need for this."

Master Xuanhao waved his hand and said, "I wish to bestow upon you an opportunity, which is why I sent Yanshan to invite you. Now that you have broken through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, this opportunity is perfect for you."

"Lingyu is terrified. This junior would like to ask, if I may be so bold as to ask, why does the Master wish to bestow upon me such an opportunity?"

"How dare you!"

Upon hearing this, Li Yanshan's expression changed slightly. Ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators would not dare to bargain when they met a Golden Core cultivator. Even if they were asked to be cannon fodder, they would only nod repeatedly and thank him for the reward.

Zhang Lingyu was a cautious man who understood that there was no such thing as a free lunch. Shouldn't he have reserved any opportunities or benefits for his confidants and clansmen?

Why give it to a stranger?

"If I had to give a reason, it's because you're quite capable and loyal."

Master Xuanhao was not angered by the boy's question. Although the Zhang family had been a vassal for a shorter period than other vassals, the amount of spirit stones they offered each year was quite considerable and was gradually increasing.

Not to mention giving it to the Li family, most of the expenses for his own cultivation of the Ink Cloud Poison Dragon came from this source.

Perhaps out of gratitude, or perhaps to win people's hearts, this opportunity was given to Zhang Lingyu.

"Young friend, I know what you're worried about. I have no reason to harm you. If I wanted you dead, as a Golden Core cultivator, I have hundreds of ways to make you die silently."

Master Xuanhao glanced at the boy and continued:

"After I finish hearing what happened, the decision of whether to go or not is yours. I will not force you or blame you."

Zhang Lingyu has a solid foundation and is very young, so to outsiders, the probability of him breaking through to the Golden Core stage is very high.

But he had seen far too many people like that.

Very few can achieve the Golden Core stage, let alone a young man who is only in the middle to lower ranks among them.

Even if given this opportunity, Zhang Lingyu would most likely not succeed.

If it doesn't work out, the Zhang family will remain a vassal of the Li family. If it does work out, Zhang Lingyu will have to thank him. Making friends with a Golden Core cultivator is a good thing for the family.

So no matter what, he's the winner.

"Yanshan, why don't you tell Lingyu about the secret realm?"

"Yes."

Li Yanshan responded and turned to the young man, smiling, "Does Lingyu know about the secret realm?"

"Of course I know, but I don't know how this secret realm was built."

Having visited the Jade Spirit Valley Secret Realm, Zhang Lingyu was very interested in its construction, but there was little record of it in ancient books. She decided to take this opportunity to ask questions and broaden her knowledge.

"It's not a secret. Since you asked, I'll just give you a brief explanation."

The True Man Xuanhao on the bluestone explained:

"When it comes to the construction of secret realms, only Nascent Soul cultivators can do it. Nascent Soul cultivators have the strength to build them, but it is impossible for one person to succeed alone. It usually requires the combined efforts of many people."

"The construction of the secret realm is not only labor-intensive, but also extremely demanding in terms of spiritual materials. The seventh-tier spiritual material, the Xuan Kong Stone, is used to construct the intercontinental array and is also a necessary material for constructing the secret realm. It goes without saying how difficult it is to obtain this material, let alone that it is one of the materials."

"Mysterious Void Stone."

Zhang Lingyu had read about it once in an ancient book, but it only described the characteristics of spirit creatures, without mentioning how they were formed.

"The manpower and spiritual resources are all prepared. Then it will take time. It will take five Nascent Soul cultivators at least fifty years to build a small secret realm. After the secret realm is completed, it will continuously absorb spiritual energy from the outside to maintain its stability. However, there are various restrictions in the secret realm. At most, only those who have completed Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment can enter."

"This time, I'm sending you to a small secret realm that can accommodate Foundation Establishment cultivators."

"Medium-sized secret realms can accommodate Golden Core cultivators, large and super-large ones corresponding to Nascent Soul and Deity Transformation cultivators. Of course, secret realms can also be upgraded. As I said before, manpower, material resources, and time are all indispensable, and the amount of work is huge, far beyond what one generation can complete."

"Does our Zhao Kingdom have any large or super-large secret realms?" Li Yanshan, who was standing to the side, also became very interested after hearing this. He knew that the Jade Light Pavilion itself had a secret realm, which was of medium size.

"Yes, but I don't know where."

The old man shook his head; such matters were not something that a Golden Core cultivator could know. He continued:

"If a Golden Core cultivator tries to force their way into a small secret realm, the rules will desperately try to prevent and resist it. However, while it is possible for a Golden Core cultivator to force their way in, it is unnecessary."

"Once you enter, the secret realm will begin to collapse rapidly. Not only will the secret realm be destroyed, but the cultivators themselves may also be swept into the spatial turbulence."

When the topic of spatial turbulence was mentioned, even Master Xuanhao showed a rare look of fear. Once you were caught in that thing, you would almost certainly die!

"I see, thank you for enlightening me, Master!" After listening, Zhang Lingyu learned a lot about the secrets of the cultivation world and was truly grateful to this Master.

"As I said before, this isn't a big secret. Yanshan, please continue."

"Yes."

Li Yanshan returned to the main topic and continued:

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, as you know, Yuhu County is not solely dominated by the Li family. There are also the Huang and Du Golden Core Immortal Clans, who are respectively affiliated with the Moonflower Palace and the Azure Serpent Fortress. Normally, the relationship between the three families can only be described as so-so."

"As for the remaining twenty-odd Foundation Establishment families, you know that they are respectively affiliated with the three of us."

Yuhu County is a large county, covering an area three and a half times the size of Yingchuan County. In the very center of the county is a large lake called Yuhu Lake, which is rich in spiritual fish and creatures.

More importantly, there is a top-grade third-tier spiritual vein beneath the lake. Whoever controls this spiritual vein has the capital to lead their family to prosperity.

If his family had even one third-grade low-level spiritual vein, Zhang Yuanhua wouldn't have needed to travel all the way to Linhai County to seek a breakthrough.

Since Zhang Lingyu became the clan leader, he has kept this matter in mind, but the resources required are enormous and cannot be completed overnight.

After describing the general situation of Yuhu County, Li Yanshan began to get to the point: "Lingyu, you know how important the third-grade top-quality spiritual vein under Yuhu is. Since we three families moved here, we have been constantly fighting openly and secretly, all wanting to take it for ourselves."

"But since they are all Golden Core Immortals with similar strength, and with the intervention of their sects, the three families have always maintained a balance of power, each occupying one-third of the Jade Lake and the spiritual vein. As for where the secret realm is, I don't need to say more."

"Beneath Jade Lake".

"That's right. No matter what kind of secret realm it is, they are almost all built in places with abundant spiritual energy. When our three families first came here, we did not find any secret realms. We were just busy fighting for control of the spiritual veins."

Unclaimed secret realms are usually hidden in spatial turbulence, only appearing at specific times, which are also the times when they extract spiritual energy from the outside world to replenish themselves.

"The name of the secret realm beneath Jade Lake County is unknown. It appears once every hundred years. The secret realm is full of monsters, spiritual creatures and so on. When we first entered, we guessed that it must be a place where disciples of an ancient sect or family trained."

The Li family has been rooted in Yuhu County for over five hundred years. The secret realm has been opened four times. The first time was the most intense, with over forty Foundation Establishment cultivators from the three families and their respective vassals perishing in the struggle to seize everything within it.

This severely damaged the Huang family. Shortly after the struggle for the secret realm, an accident caused the death of a member of the family's Golden Core stage. If it weren't for a timely breakthrough by one of their members, the family would have been overthrown by their subordinates and their lineage would have been cut off.

The three families understood that this was not a solution, so they sat down together to discuss and agreed that each family could only send one Foundation Establishment Peak member, four Late Stage members, and ten Mid Stage members to enter each time the secret realm opened.

This way, not only can each party reduce their losses, but they can also obtain the spiritual items from the secret realm.

"Lingyu, the main purpose of you coming with me to the secret realm this time is to obtain spiritual items and slay demonic beasts. After all, there are quite a few third- and fourth-tier spiritual items inside, some of which are almost impossible to find outside."

Li Yanshan smiled and said:

"And don't worry, my family won't take any of the spiritual herbs or other items you pick. All you need to do is block the other two families' forces deep within the secret realm and lend us a hand."

There must be something good deep within this hidden realm.

Seeing that he didn't explain, Zhang Lingyu already understood that the first conflict between the three families was due to a lack of intelligence, but what followed was quite interesting.

Third- and fourth-tier spiritual objects are nothing to the Golden Core Immortal Clan, and there is no need to fight to the death for these things. Why would it be necessary to use fifteen Foundation Establishment cultivators?

It would be fine to just send a few Foundation Establishment cultivators in to harvest the loot; it wouldn't hurt the harmony.

According to what Li Yanshan just said, every Foundation Establishment cultivator who went in suffered casualties and came out covered in wounds, which clearly indicated that a fierce conflict broke out over something.

A spiritual object for achieving the Golden Core stage? Or a spiritual object that assists in the formation of the Golden Core?

Only these two items are worth a Foundation Establishment Peak cultivator personally entering, and only they are worth the three families fighting to the death for.

Whenever a new Golden Core cultivator emerges from any sect, the existing balance is immediately disrupted. Although the six sects do not allow Golden Core cultivators to fight each other, the existence of those in higher positions affects those below them at all times.

For example, the size of the land occupied by Yuhu and Lingmai, as well as the development of their respective industries, still have a significant impact.

Just as Master Xuanhao just said, as long as the Golden Core cultivators dare to think of it, there are a hundred ways to make the Foundation Establishment cultivators unable to prove their innocence...

After saying all this, Li Yanshan looked at the young man in front of him. To be honest, there were definitely risks, but the opportunities were also considerable. For the Li family, they only needed to get what they wanted, and they didn't care about anything else.

For people like Zhang Lingyu who are in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, the large number of third- and fourth-tier spiritual items and their demonic beast materials are enough to make them a fortune.

To quote a common saying, one must know one's place, find one's own position, and learn to protect oneself wisely.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, what have you thought about it? The Ancestor said before that this time he would not only let you enter the secret realm, but also give your family an extra Foundation Establishment Pill. Fellow Daoist, you should think it over carefully, because this opportunity will not come again."

"Your family's spot was taken from other vassal families this time, so if you don't want it, you'll have to give it back."

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