Chapter 108: End of Life
Han Yu's beast taming skills are indeed worthy of praise. Unlike Zhu Youlong, he does not have a master-disciple inheritance. He is a true independent cultivator who has worked his way up from the bottom to the current state of great perfection in Qi refining and has made a great name for himself in Nanshanfang.
He also owns two late-stage first-order spirit beasts with extraordinary bloodlines, one of which is good at escaping.
It was precisely with the help of the two spirit beasts that he had the ability to deal with some cultivators in the early stages of foundation building, and he once had a record of escaping unscathed from the hands of a cultivator in the early stages of foundation building.
So before leaving Nanshanfang, he lived in Cave No. 5 of Type B.
His status is even higher than Zhu Youlong.
Otherwise, under normal circumstances, beastmasters are not as popular as alchemists.
However, although he had inherited the legacy of a top-grade first-class beastmaster, Xiao Changqing did not cultivate any spiritual beasts.
It’s still the same old problem. The resources in Nanshanfang are too scarce. Although one can buy some beast eggs and baby beasts, they are basically of first-level bloodline. Even beasts of second-level bloodline are pitifully rare, and cultivators are basically not willing to sell them.
This is because a spirit beast with a second-level bloodline, if trained properly, has the opportunity to grow to a strength comparable to that of a Foundation Establishment Realm spirit beast.
In Nanshanfang, which is mainly populated by Qigong cultivators, those in the Foundation Establishment stage are the absolute giants. Who can refuse this?
But even a spirit beast with a second-level bloodline is of no use to Xiao Changqing.
How can it help Xiao Changqing to spend energy, financial resources, and decades to cultivate a second-level monster?
By that time, Xiao Changqing would probably have already formed a pill, and his strength would be unpredictable. Would it be fun to have a second-level spirit beast as a pet?
Thinking of this, Xiao Changqing lost interest.
It is better to wait until there is a chance to encounter beast eggs with high-level bloodlines before considering cultivating spiritual beasts.
Lin Zixi, on the other hand, cultivated a spiritual beast.
It was a Red Flame Eagle cub with second-level blood that was obtained by chance.
Lin Zixi's cultivation had successfully broken through the seventh level of Qi Refining a year ago and entered the late stage of Qi Refining. She was only 39 years old that year, which was considered relatively young.
If nothing unexpected happens, there will be no problem in achieving the Great Perfection of Qi Refining before the age of sixty.
As for whether I can build a foundation, I am not sure...or rather, the hope is slim.
Lin Zixi is still full of energy and is practicing hard every day.
In addition to practicing, because she was interested in taming beasts, she begged Xiao Changqing to teach her the art of taming beasts, and she showed considerable potential in this area.
Not only did he successfully hatch the Red Flame Eagle eggs, but he was also very adept at the breeding process.
Now Lin Zixi regards taming beasts as the most important thing besides cultivation, and is very determined to train a second-level spirit beast.
Lin Ziyu's cultivation has also reached a higher level, and he is progressing in an orderly manner. Not long ago, he broke through the eighth level of Qi Refining, and still remains one step ahead of his sister.
She also tried to tame beasts, but found that she had no talent for it, so she gave up soon. But before, when Xiao Changqing was making pills for fun, Lin Ziyu helped him and found that she had a good talent for making pills. Later, she studied it and asked Xiao Changqing for guidance. Within a few months, she successfully made a furnace of basic Qi Refining Pills.
Now, three years later, without taking it too seriously or spending too much time, Lin Ziyu actually managed to successfully advance and was promoted to a first-level lower-grade alchemist!
If she had discovered such a talent for alchemy when she was still living in the shantytowns a few years ago, she would have been wooed by all the major forces. Even Zhu Youlong, the number one alchemist in Nanshanfang, would have been unable to resist accepting him as a disciple!
With clear training goals and new skills development, the Lin sisters' lives have become more fulfilling, and they are more motivated to live in Nanshanfang.
The two sisters had long known that their master Xiao Changqing would definitely leave Nanshanfang one day.
Moreover, the two of them also happened to hear Xiao Changqing mention that the place they were most interested in visiting at the moment was Liyang Fairy City.
Lin Zixi was even more excited about this. She yearned for a wider world in her heart, was unwilling to be ordinary, and liked to venture out and take risks. She was full of expectations for Liyang Fairy City, which was also one of the motivations for her hard work in cultivation and beast control.
In a place like Liyang Fairy City, cultivators in the Qi Refining Realm can only be considered at the bottom level, no matter if they are in the early or late stages of Qi Refining.
Without building a foundation, it is impossible to gain any attention and favor.
As for Lin Ziyu, I didn’t think so much about it.
She lived happily in Nanshanfang and was very satisfied with her current life. All her wishes when she left the Lin family and came to Nanshanfang had been fulfilled, and far exceeded her expectations. There was nothing she was dissatisfied with.
But if Xiao Changqing wanted to go to Liyang Fairy City, she would not object and would be very happy.
She should go wherever her master goes.
What's more, her only relative in this world, her sister Lin Zixi, also went with her.
She felt it was great to travel with three people, no matter whether they were in Nanshanfang, Liyangxian City, or anywhere else.
……
Another two years later.
Xiao Changqing's magic power has almost reached the peak of the early stage of foundation building, and is only a step away from the middle stage of foundation building.
His foundation is deep, and he did not take any external substances such as foundation-building pills when building his foundation. He relied entirely on himself. He also has earth spiritual roots, so logically there would be no bottleneck in the middle stage of foundation-building, and a breakthrough would be a natural thing.
But the facts proved that Xiao Changqing still underestimated the difficulty of cultivating immortals.
After reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage, even though the Earth Spiritual Roots still have a great advantage, the speed of cultivation is still fast, but not as great as that of the Qi Refining Stage.
In the middle stage of foundation building, he also felt a small obstacle.
It was originally expected that he would reach the middle stage of foundation building within five years, but now it seems that it will take some time to find an opportunity for a breakthrough.
"Once we arrive at Liyang Immortal City, the first thing we will do is to see if we can improve our spiritual roots to Heavenly Spiritual Roots!"
After the training, Xiao Changqing felt that the magic power in his body was stagnant, and he secretly planned in his mind.
The ability to build a foundation with earth spiritual roots is a sure thing. Basically, if a family has a child with earth spiritual roots, it means that there will be a person in the foundation-building stage in the future.
However, for cultivators with earth spiritual roots who try to break through to the Jindan stage, the probability of failure is very high.
Although in a small place like Nanshanfang, it is rare to see a genius with earth spirit roots in a hundred years, but looking at the entire Dayu Xiuxian world, there are more than a hundred thousand Xiuxianfangs? There are also many immortal cities and sects, so earth spirit root qualifications are not so rare.
At least.
For a Jindan Zhenren, although the earth spiritual root aptitude is good, it is not overestimated.
If one wants to be accepted as a disciple by a Jindan Zhenren, basicly, earthly spiritual roots are a prerequisite.
However, not all people with earth spiritual roots can be accepted as disciples by Jindan Zhenren!
It also requires various tests, training, observation of understanding, etc.
Because too many geniuses with earth spiritual roots are stuck in the foundation-building stage for their entire lives and are unable to successfully form a pill.
Even if the golden elixir is formed successfully, the hope of forming a perfect golden elixir and retaining the hope of impacting the Nascent Soul True Lord with the earth spirit root is extremely slim. Therefore, the earth spirit root qualification is not particularly attractive to the cultivators who form the golden elixir.
Accepting a true disciple requires investing a huge amount of resources, but may not necessarily get the expected return.
Only those with natural spiritual roots will be sought after by Jindan Zhenren.
However, those with natural spiritual roots are usually only found in the two major Nascent Soul forces, the Seven Star Sword Sect and the Star Moon Palace, and are regarded as the key training targets.
However, even if one has a natural spiritual root, the hope of eventually becoming a Yuanying Zhenjun is not great.
After all, in the entire Dayu cultivation world, there are countless cultivators, but the number of Yuanying Zhenjun can be counted on one hand.
After finishing his training, Xiao Changqing walked out of the training room and saw Lin Ziyu already waiting for him.
Seeing him come out, I hurried to meet him.
"What happened?" Xiao Changqing asked when he saw this.
Lin Ziyu nodded and said with some sadness: "Master Zhu Dan's servant just brought news that Master Zhu Dan has reached the end of his life span and passed away."
Because of his talent in alchemy, Lin Ziyu would often seek advice from Zhu Youlong when he encountered confusion in alchemy in recent years.
Although Zhou Youlong had sensed that his end was approaching two years ago, he had also told Lin Ziyu about it long ago.
But when this day came, Lin Ziyu couldn't help feeling sad.
The road is ruthless.
Even for immortal cultivators like them, whose lifespan is longer than that of ordinary people, it is still a drop in the ocean.
Xiao Changqing also felt emotional and asked, "Who is helping with Master Zhu Dan's funeral? Is it Shopkeeper Ruan? Please send a gift money to him for me."
During his lifetime, Zhu Youlong was an alchemist under the name of Baibao Tower. Because he admired Ruan Qingzhu, generally speaking, if one wanted to buy his elixirs, they had to purchase them from Baibao Tower.
So he was equivalent to a guest official of Baibao Tower.
Now that he has passed away, Baibaolou should handle the matter on his behalf.
Lin Ziyu was originally sad, but after hearing this, she was unusually angry: "Baibaolou did not plan to hold funeral arrangements for Zhu Danshi, and was prepared to deal with it casually. Moreover, Zhu Danshi originally had plans for his inheritance, although the bulk of it was left to Manager Ruan and Baibaolou, but now it is all occupied by Baibaolou."
Xiao Changqing frowned upon hearing this and said, "Shopkeeper Ruan is not such a person, right?"
Lin Ziyu shook his head and said, "Shopkeeper Ruan is not of course. But a new manager at the Foundation Establishment Realm has recently come to Baibaolou and has taken control of Baibaolou. Now Shopkeeper Ruan has been sidelined."
There is also a new manager in Baibao Tower, and he is at the Foundation Establishment stage?
Could it be that Baihua Valley is not very satisfied with Ruan Qingzhu and wants to get rid of her?
"Then I'll go with you in person." Xiao Changqing said after thinking for a while.
Zhu Danshi was not only Xiao Changqing's friend, but also inherited his master's teachings. He promised to help him get revenge after he had achieved the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment and obtained the Ningzhen Pill. Given this causal relationship, it was reasonable and logical for him to help him with his funeral affairs.
of course.
This is also because Xiao Changqing is now strong enough and confident enough.
If he was an ordinary cultivator in the early stage of foundation building, or a cultivator in the middle stage of foundation building like Cao Hao, he would not dare to intervene easily when facing the foundation building manager sent by Baihua Valley.
"Master, the other party represents Baihua Valley..." Lin Ziyu said with some concern.
She also wanted to help Master Zhu Dan deal with his funeral, but she didn't want her master to get into trouble because of it.
Xiao Changqing smiled and said, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing and I won't act rashly."
……
More than a hundred miles north of Nanshanfang, there is a beautiful valley that is rarely visited by people. The valley is full of nameless wild flowers and flying butterflies. A river flows through the valley, and sometimes animals drink water by the river.
If we only talk about the beautiful scenery, most of the B-level caves in Nanshanfang are inferior to this one.
But there are no spiritual veins here, so it is naturally not suitable for cultivators to live here.
This is the cemetery that Master Zhu Dan chose for himself during his lifetime.
When Xiao Changqing and Lin Ziyu arrived, there were already many monks in the valley who came to mourn. They were all good friends of Master Zhu Dan.
Ruan Qingzhu was also here, dressed in white, and looked quite sad.
She had no feelings for Zhu Youlong and had always clearly rejected him, but that did not prevent the two from becoming good friends.
Zhu Youlong has helped her a lot over the years. It can be said that Zhu Youlong has made a great contribution to her being able to secure her position as the shopkeeper of Baibao Tower and to preventing the sect from causing her trouble again.
It’s a pity that Zhu Youlong’s life span has come to an end, and Baihua Valley just happened to send a foundation-building cultivator to take charge of things. Her situation will probably be very bad in the future.
"Master Xiao Fu is here!"
"Meet Senior Xiao..."
Xiao Changqing's arrival immediately caused some noise in the solemn atmosphere at the scene.
Xiao Changqing nodded to everyone, then came to the tombstone, lit a stick of incense, paid his respects, and then stood aside so as not to steal the spotlight.
Zhu Youlong did not accept any disciples after arriving at Nanshanfang. Perhaps it was because he took into consideration the deep blood feud between his master and his school, which involved a Jindan Zhenren, and that accepting disciples would be of no use and would only add to his troubles.
But he has taken in many concubines and servants over the years, including low-level cultivators in the early stages of Qi Refining and some mortals, all of whom have good looks.
From this point of view, although Zhu Youlong was Ruan Qingzhu's bootlicker and was secretly ridiculed and mocked by many cultivators in the Yizi Cave Mansion, this alchemist did not treat himself badly and enjoyed some blessings.
Before his death, Zhu Youlong made a will, leaving most of his property to Ruan Qingzhu, but leaving a small portion for his concubines and servants.
However, according to Lin Ziyu, Zhu Youlong's inheritance was forcibly taken away by the new foundation-building manager of Baihua Valley, and even Ruan Qingzhu could not intervene.
The memorial service is over.
"Manager Ruan, please stay." After the memorial service, Xiao Changqing found Ruan Qingzhu to ask about the details.
Hearing Xiao Changqing's purpose, Ruan Qingzhu hesitated to speak, with a somewhat conflicted look on his face. Finally, he persuaded: "Master Xiao Fu, I know you have good intentions. You are concerned about Old Zhu's affairs, and you also want to help me... But I think it's best for you not to ask about this matter. Because the foundation-building cultivator who came to Nanshanfang is extraordinary and cannot be offended..."
Xiao Changqing frowned when he heard this and waved his hand, saying, "Master Zhu is not from Baibao Tower, let alone a disciple of Baihua Valley. If I ask about his funeral as a friend, will I offend the new manager? She is too overbearing."
Seeing Xiao Changqing's firm attitude, Ruan Qingzhu could only smile bitterly and said, "She is just so domineering... She is the niece of our Valley Master. She is well-known for her domineering personality in the entire southwest of Dayu Xiuxian World."
(End of this chapter)
