Returning from the Immortal World

“They are of the best cultivation geniuses among the children army and also much more mature than their peers.” Tang Xiu sighed. “It’s like the saying from the ancient times that the children of the poor are growing up earlier. They lost their family since they were very young. Hard and rough life tempered them as it’s the only way to make a living.”

“So to say, they are all the street children you adopted before?” Kang Xia was shocked. “But I can sense that all five of them have reached the Foundation Establishment Stage? How old are they? How can they advance to Foundation Establishment Stage? Especially that Tang 28. He’s at the mid-stage Foundation Establishment.”

“They are naturally very talented in cultivation for being able to stand out among the tens of thousands of children soldiers,” explained Tang Xiu. “With a steady supply of cultivation resources, it’s still possible to advance to the Foundation Establishment Stage.”

“You’re getting more and more amazing, Tang Xiu.” Kang Xia sighed in admiration.

“The situation forced me to do so, and I must do my best to train more powerful experts under me.” Tang Xiu shook his head. “The dangers we will face in the future are far beyond your imagination, and only by constantly growing more powerful and expanding our forces will we be able to seize more chances to survive. Also, Kang Xia. I know you’ve been managing the Magnificent Tang Corporation all this while, but I’d like you to take more time to cultivate, as much as possible. Only by becoming stronger will you able to protect the people you want to protect in the future.”

“Definitely. I’ll do my best as well.” Kang Xia nodded.

After dinner, Tang Xiu accompanied his mother and Kang Xia and chatted with them for a while. Then, he took Tang 28 and left South Gate Town to visit Chen Zhizhong’s residence.

Inside the classical-styled villa, Chen Zhizhong was sitting cross-legged and quietly absorbing the world’s spiritual energy. He was a bit too old when he began his journey on the cultivation path, thus the reason why his cultivation progress was slow despite having many cultivation resources. He was only able to reach the late-stage of the Foundation Establishment at this point.

“Master.”

Suddenly, he opened his eyes and saw Tang Xiu, who stood quietly in front of him. He immediately floated up and respectfully bowed.

“Your progress is indeed much slower compared to those cultivation geniuses.” Tang Xiu nodded and said, “You’re even slightly worse than the most talented children from the orphans I’ve adopted.”

“Disciple is dull and has you disappointed,” said Chen Zhizhong, ashamed.

“Not really. Aptitude and age are equally important.” Tang Xiu shook his head. “Besides, I only had a few resources back then, so I couldn’t help you much before. But now is different since I have so many precious herbs I’ve obtained in the past year. I can concoct some precious herbs to help solve the problems with your aptitude. However, I still lack spiritual herbs. I need you to find them for me.”

Chen Zhizhong looked blank and immediately looked joyful and enthusiastic. “What kind of medicinal ingredients do you need, Master?”

“Dragonbone Herb,” said Tang Xiu.

“Dragonbone Herb? I’ve never heard this name, Master.” Chen Zhizhong frowned and said, “What does it look like? Like the shape and its obvious characteristic?”

“The Dragon Bone Herb has nine buds and looks like Willow soft shoot,” explained Tang Xiu. “There are white dots on it, a bit like a five-star pattern. It’s also recorded on the Compendium of Materia Medica with one line, but nonetheless explains its complete functions. You have herbs business and your company has many herbs as well as a wide range of channels. You can take your time to find this Dragonbone Herb. I’ll concoct the Marrow Purifying Pill for you. Your physique will be remolded and reborn once you take it.”

“Rest assured, Master. As long as there’s this Dragonbone Herb in our country, I’ll definitely find it as soon as possible no matter the price,” said Chen Zhizhong excitedly.

“Anyways, do you live here by yourself? I just noticed when I came here,” asked Tang Xiu.

“Yeah. My son has been staying in the Capital to develop himself and I don’t have the intention to let him take over the company for the time being,” said Chen Zhizhong. “Whereas my parents… they don’t want to live in Star City since they are used to the life in their hometown, so my wife stays there to take care of them and only comes back occasionally.”

“If so, then I’ll refine something for you here while directing your cultivation.” Tang Xiu nodded.

“Then I’ll assign some people to arrange a room for you right away, Master,” said Chen Zhizhong immediately.

“No need.” Tang Xiu shook his head and said, “Just tell your men to clean up the garage. Also, I need a few days for the refining process, so tell your bodyguards not to disturb me.”

“I’ll tell them immediately. Also, please notify me at once should there be anything you need, Master,” replied Chen Zhizhong immediately.

“Alright!” Tang Xiu nodded.

In the next few days, Tang Xiu accompanied his mother during the day and occasionally visited his company and secretly came to Chen Zhizhong’s place at night.

The tools Tang Xiu wanted to refine were identity tokens. Every refined token had a protective function that was similar to protective amulets. However, this token would only activate once its owner was in danger and was only one-time use before it lost its protective effect.

In a few days, Tang Xiu had refined 10,000 tokens and christened them as Tang Sect’s Token as identity tokens for all juniors under the Tang Sect.

At the same time, he also paid attention to the Nine Dragons Island’s situation. The ships appearing in the nearby waters around the ninth deserted island kept increasing in number, and the forces of various parties were getting more active as well. Some of them were hostile forces and thus led to some clashes. Although the scale of the fight was small, dozens of people had forever fallen into the vast sea.

A few days later, Tang Xiu bade farewell to his mother and left for Changbai Mountain with Chen Zhizhong.

The Changbai Mountain range was the source of origin of the Yalu, Songhua, and Tumen rivers. The region boasted a total area of 1964 square km with 758 square meters at the core. The highest peak of Changbai Mountain range, the Jiangjun Peak, was within the border of North Korea with an altitude of 2749 meters, whereas the highest peak in China that Tang Xiu was now heading to was the Northeast Peak with an altitude of 2691 meters.

Prior to coming here, Tang Xiu believed that the data recorded in the book was correct while he also had some knowledge about the Changbai Mountain range through the map. But after he personally entered the place, he realized that it was all off the mark since the Changbai Mountain range was far more complex and very steep. Many areas even had naturally formed arrays.

“This place is interesting.”

As he came halfway up the main mountain peak, a smile hung on his handsome face. He observed the array in front of him and determined that such a huge geomancy array wouldn’t be so easily formed naturally without the involvement of some people’s hands. After studying it, he then fully comprehended the array.

“Is there any problem here, Master?”

With Tang Xiu’s instructions in the last few days, Chen Zhizhong had made great progress in his cultivation as well as his state of mind. Although his cultivation was still at the early-stage of the Foundation Establishment, there were signs of breakthrough to the mid-stage. As he saw the smile on his Master’s face, he hurriedly asked.

“Mountains have a lot of formations, and the likes of geomancy arrays formed by nature are very powerful ones, yet contain less mystery therein. The current array before us is, however, very different. It’s intentionally arranged to cover a huge region of this mountain range. Average people won’t be able to enter it, let alone notice the existence of this geomancy array at all. It seems that this Changbai Mountain has more than meets the eye!”

Chen Zhizhong couldn’t grasp even a single word from Tang Xiu’s explanation. However, he didn’t go to the bottom of things since his purpose of bringing Tang Xiu to this place was because of the cave he had been unable to open.

“So, what are we gonna do next, Master?”

“We’ll bypass this area and head straight to the cave to have a look at it!” said Tang Xiu. “The Bloodsoul stone is a precious ore and there are so many there. It’s very likely that we can find better things inside the cave. However, you’re too weak, so you must pay attention to your safety.”

“Will do, Master,” said Chen Zhizhong. “After we’ve crossed this mountain, we’ll find a snowy peak where that cave is located. I brought some people there several days ago and the mountain pathways in that snowy peak are covered by snow, so it’s very difficult to traverse.”

Tang Xiu just let out a light smile. He grabbed Chen Zhizhong’s shoulder and they floated up mid-air. In just half a minute, they had already crossed the mountain. Tang 28 also led the members he picked up and followed them very quickly.

‘Awesome!’

Chen Zhizhong lamented in a sigh. However, it was not for Tang Xiu but Tang 28’s group of five. He was already over 40 years old, but his cultivation just reached the early-stage of Foundation Establishment, compared to Tang 28 who had advanced to the mid-stage and the other four at the early-stage of Foundation Establishment.

“Where is it?”

Tang Xiu stood mid-air as he asked while letting the snowy wind brush past him.

After spending some time to observe the surroundings, Chen Zhizhong pointed to the snow-capped peaks in the distance and said, “Do you see the mountain valley over there, Master? The cave is halfway up the valley. Given your flight speed, it’ll take only half a minute to get to the cave entrance.”

Tang Xiu kept releasing his spiritual sense and quickly found the entrance to the grotto after flying toward the direction Chen Zhizhong pointed.

Another array?

Just as his feet landed on the ground, Tang Xiu’s face slightly shifted and he covered the area with his spiritual sense. He easily pulled two Bloodsoul Stones the size of a small thumb and held them. Although he was an array expert, he didn’t rush to study the array here and seriously scoured the nearby area.

The Bloodsoul Stone was a very rare ore that could be used as a container for a cultivator’s soul. Further, it could also be refined to extract the essence of blood contained inside and was also a top ingredient to concoct pills. Aside from those, it was also a good material for refining.

After a long while, Tang Xiu returned to the cave looking a bit disappointed. He couldn’t find anything else in the nearby area aside from the Bloodsoul Stones he found previously.

‘I’ll research the array, then.’

Tang Xiu then sat cross-legged outside the entrance to the grotto to decipher the sealing array at the entrance. After analyzing it for a short time, he figured out the principle of the array and was confident that he could crack it down.