Ascension Through Generations

There are two buildings that are most conspicuous in the huge Xinglong City. One is the black Gangyan city wall with a total length of more than a hundred miles, a height of 20 feet and a width of 16 feet. It is as tall as a mountain and as thick as a ridge.

The other is the Bagua Guangming Tower located in the center of Xinglong City.

This building covers an area of ​​100 acres, with nine floors and eight sides. It towers into the clouds and can be seen from anywhere in Xinglong City.

The main building is made of purple-patterned diamonds, and the exterior walls are covered with bright glazed tiles. During the day, it is resplendent, like a majestic tower made of gold.

When night falls, the Mingguang glazed tiles that have accumulated sunlight all day during the day will bloom with thousands of lights. Not only does the Bagua Guangming Tower look like a huge pillar of light that towers over the sky, but it also illuminates half of Xinglong City in one fell swoop.

Just after midnight, a gloomy-looking elder from the Foundation Establishment Tribe walked out of the eighth floor of the Bagua Guangming Building, and then controlled various spiritual weapons and flew quickly in all directions.

Some of them quickly fell into the deep mansions and courtyards of the city, while others flew far into the dim night and disappeared without a trace.

A thin man in black robes with a Taotie mask on his face walked outside the balcony and was about to jump off when he was suddenly called from behind.

"Taotie, wait a minute! I have something to discuss with you."

Zhao Sheng turned back to look at the person who spoke. Unsurprisingly, it was the clan leader Zhao Dexuan.

Zhao Sheng turned to Baxia next to him, made a gesture to the three ANBU leaders Yazui and Suanni, and said in a hoarse voice: "You guys go first. The plan remains unchanged, everything remains as usual!"

The three ANBU leaders nodded silently, then disappeared and dispersed.

Over the past millennium, the Zhao family's dark division has developed to this day. The number and scale of the Zhao family's dark division has expanded dozens to hundreds of times. It is no longer limited to the Zhao family, but also recruits and conquers loose cultivators, sect traitors, and many murderers. There are demons and even evil heretics.

The four leaders of the Anbu are all Foundation Establishment monks, and each of them controls an Anbu team of dozens of people.

As far as Zhao Sheng knows, apart from Yaizhen, who was born in the Zhao family, Baxia was originally an inner disciple of the Sky Splitting Sword Dao. He was expelled from the gate for violating the rules and disciplines of the sect. Later, he was subdued by Zhao Dingguang and joined the Zhao family's dark department.

Suan Ni is a foundation-building demon cultivator. He is from the Corpse Yin Sect, and the smell of corpses can be smelled from far away. He joined ANBU voluntarily because his only daughter married into the Zhao family twenty years ago.

Ten years ago, after Zhao Sheng was promoted to Foundation Establishment, under the arrangement of Zhao Xuanjing, he became one of the four leaders of the ANBU, and his status was slightly higher than the other three.

Because since Zhao Sheng joined, Patriarch Zhao has issued orders to other ANBU members directly through him.

When only the two of them were left in the building, Zhao Sheng took off his Taotie mask and said with a suspicious look on his face: "Chief, you just gave me some orders, why did you have to cause this scene?"

"I need to ask your opinion on something?"

Zhao Dexuan has a broad heart and a fat body, with a rosy complexion, a round face and smiling eyebrows. The corners of his mouth are naturally raised, and he smiles three points before speaking, just like the reincarnation of Maitreya Buddha.

This old patriarch, who has been in charge of the Zhao family for nearly a decade, is now more than 220 years old. Although he has completed the foundation building, there is no hope for the golden elixir and he will not live for several decades.

Zhao Dexuan has two major concerns. One is to select a qualified next-generation patriarch for the family.

This is difficult, very difficult.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Xinglong Zhao family is now at its peak. In just a thousand years since its establishment, its overall strength is comparable to that of the second-rate immortal cultivating sects.

The family's sphere of influence covers five thousand miles of surrounding mountains and rivers. The total number of vassal and married families is close to fifty. There are nearly a hundred foundation-building monks associated with them and countless Qi refiners. There are hundreds of millions of mortals living in the territories under direct and indirect jurisdiction.

Among these billions of mortals, dozens or hundreds of mortal cultivators are born every year.

There is nothing left of these immortal grass roots. Except for those that are preempted by other families, the Zhao family can accept more than ten or twenty good seedlings every year, change their clans and surnames, and include them in the Zhao family tree.

Judging from the current scale of the Xinglong Zhao family, every handover of clan chiefs is no less important than the succession of the imperial throne. One mistake can lead to a bloody storm, and even affect the Zhao family's fortune for the next hundred years.

Therefore, there is no room for Zhao Dexuan to be careless in the selection of the new clan leader. Before his death, he must win the unanimous consent of most of the Zhao clan elders.

Some people may say that if there is anything rare about the new clan leader, he can just ask the Jindan Patriarch to appoint him.

That's it for other immortal cultivating families. The Xinglong Zhao family is a bit special. Firstly, it is limited by the family's ancestral training, and secondly, the three family ancestors are now in a bad situation.

Ancestor Zhao Dingguang can still persist for ten or twenty years, but Ancestor Zhao Tongxian is about to die.

Tonight's Tongxintang meeting was held for this matter.

The enthronement of the Jindan Patriarch is a major event that affects the rise and fall of the family. Everything must be arranged in advance to minimize the impact of this event.

As for Patriarch Zhao Xuanjing, he was also in trouble. Because the mountain dragon he lived with was facing a once-in-a-hundred-year disaster of transforming into a dragon, he had to return to the mountain gate of the Ksitigarbha Sect and work hard to overcome the disaster.

If you can successfully overcome the tribulation, you will have a hundred years of freedom.

But if the tribulation fails, the consequences will be unbearable for the entire Zhao family: the mountain dragon and its ancestors will be wiped out together.

Compared with this incident, the enthronement of Patriarch Zhao Tongxian was inferior.

The golden elixir ancestors are about to lose two out of three, but the new generation of the Zhao family's golden elixir ancestors has been delayed in being born.

This matter has become the biggest haze in Zhao Dexuan's heart. If this problem is not eliminated, he will not be able to live without peace.

He checked the information of all the immortal cultivators in his family and finally found seven or eight "seeds" that were promising for promotion to the Golden Pill.

But Zhao Dexuan knows that the difficulty of golden elixir is a hundred times more difficult than building the foundation.

If these "seed" people are selected, there is a 10% chance of success in being promoted to the golden elixir, which is enough for him to burn high incense.

Among these people, Zhao Dexuan was most optimistic about the unattractive young man in front of him.

In the entire Zhao family, including him, no more than ten people knew that Zhao Qingyang had been promoted to Foundation Establishment, and apart from the three ancestors, the only one who knew that Zhao Qingyang had been promoted ten years ago was Zhao Dexuan.

At this moment, the reason why he stopped the Zhao genius was because he had something important to ask for his opinion.

Zhao Sheng looked at the solemn-looking old patriarch and said in a deep voice: "What's the matter? Patriarch, please tell me."

Zhao Dexuan considered it for a moment and said with a serious expression: "I'm going to announce your foundation building matter? What do you mean?"

Zhao Sheng changed his mind and asked: "Is this what the ancestor meant? Thirty years old or twenty years old?"

His words have multiple meanings.

Originally, it was Zhao Xuanjing's careful arrangement for him to join the family's ANBU and conceal his true identity and strength.

You all understand the purpose, no need to elaborate.

The second half of Zhao Sheng's sentence is much more interesting.

For a foundation-building monk, the difference between building a foundation at the age of twenty and building a foundation at the age of thirty is as vast as a world of difference.

Under the age of twenty, one can be called a "little Taoist", with a golden elixir in sight for the future.

Thirty-year-olds can only be considered outstanding people. Although they are very few in number, they are not uncommon in the Tianzhu world.

"Ancestor means to let you make your own decision."

"If you take the initiative to announce it to the public, clan leader, which age will you choose?"

Zhao Dexuan paused when he heard this, and said firmly: "Twenty years old!"

"Okay!" Zhao Sheng nodded and said crisply.

Zhao Dexuan was very surprised. He didn't expect the other party to answer so happily.

You must know that the name "Xiao Daozi" is not so easy to get.

The ancients said: If the trees are beautiful in the forest, the wind will destroy them; if the cliff is higher than the shore, the current will be turbulent!

Once the Zhao family lets the news out and declares that the family has a "little Taoist", it will definitely attract the attention of many forces.

Let’s not talk about the young foundation builders who take the initiative to challenge for the sake of fame and future.

The sect family that is the enemy of the Zhao family will definitely not watch the enemy give birth to a Jindan real person, and they will definitely kill him secretly.

Zhao Dexuan can even predict that in the next few decades, Zhao Qingyang will encounter countless overt and covert attacks.

But it’s easy to dodge an open sword, but it’s hard to guard against a hidden arrow!

"Qingyang, I am also suffering..."

"The patriarch doesn't need to explain. I know that the current good development momentum of the family must not be interrupted. Otherwise, at least the power will retreat, and it will be difficult to move forward. At worst, it will attract the siege of jackals, tigers and leopards."

What Zhao Sheng said is true. Anyone with a discerning eye knows that the Zhao family is in the stage of rising strength.

However, the successive deaths of family ancestors will undoubtedly severely dampen the morale of the clan members and shake the hearts of the clan and the vassal forces. The serious consequences of this are simply incalculable.

Although ancestor Zhao Xuanjing is here, the Xinglong Zhao family cannot fall from the altar, but the difference between one person and three people, steady improvement and rapid decline, is so big that even a fool can see it.

Therefore, at the critical moment of the rise and fall of the Xinglong Zhao family, the Zhao family needs a "hope", a hope to boost the confidence of the whole family.

In Zhao Dexuan's view, Zhao Sheng is Zhao's best "hope" candidate.

Of course, if Zhao Xuanjing can be promoted to Nascent Soul, everything will be fine, and there will be no need for Zhao Sheng to "show his face".

But for the sake of safety, the day when Patriarch Zhao is sure to be promoted to Nascent Soul will be at least one or two hundred years later.

The key to surviving the Nascent Soul Thunder Tribulation lies in the mountain dragon.

Secondly, the Zhao family should give birth to a new Jin Dan Zhenren as soon as possible.

But in Zhao Sheng's opinion, this matter has little hope and is very mysterious.

I think the patriarch Zhao Dexuan thinks so too, otherwise he wouldn't make such a suggestion.

Seeing the patriarch's relief, Zhao Sheng joked: "I wonder what kind of drama the patriarch has arranged for me?"

Zhao Dexuan chuckled, "I guarantee you will be satisfied! But I have to ask, how is your current strength? How many levels of foundation have you built?"

"Clan leader, do you want to listen to the truth or lies?"

"What about lies? What about truth?"

"The lie is that I have just been promoted to the fourth level of foundation building. If I can compete with those on the fifth or sixth level of foundation building, the outcome will be 50-50!"

Zhao Dexuan was shocked when he heard this.

It's only been ten years, and Qingyang has actually already reached the fourth level of foundation. His level has improved as if he were on a rocket, soaring into the sky.

"What's the truth?" he asked quickly.

"The truth is that even if four or five of them attack the fifth level of foundation building together in the middle of foundation building, they can't do anything to me. It's no problem to attack them all on the seventh or eighth level of foundation building. Attack with all your strength, even if you are the leader of the clan, you have to be careful to avoid capsizing. .”

"Really?" Zhao Dexuan's heart was pounding, and he unconsciously raised three tones when he spoke.

"How about we try it now?" Zhao Sheng rolled up his sleeves and suggested eagerly.

"No, I know you never believe what you say, so I believe what you say." Zhao Dexuan looked excited, with a signature smile on his face, smiling as if Maitreya Buddha was alive.

"In that case, forget it." Zhao Sheng loosened his sleeves, "By the way, you haven't told me what kind of grand appearance you have arranged for me?"

A mysterious smile appeared on Zhao Dexuan's face, his tone was kind and friendly, and he said: "Originally, I planned to let you challenge Liu Xinwu, the young master of the Dan Ding Sect, the young master of the Liu family in Denver. But now I have a different idea."

"Clan leader, stop being so pretentious and tell me what you think?" Zhao Sheng urged.

Zhao Dexuan's smile deepened, and he deliberately lowered his voice and said, "I plan to designate a marriage for you!"

"What?"

Zhao Sheng was surprised...

…

Two months later, in the secret room of the ancestral mausoleum on the third floor of the Bagua Guangming Building, Zhao Xuanjing, Zhao Dingguang, Zhao Dexuan, Zhao Sheng and other core members of the Zhao family stood in front of an eternal ice coffin.

Everyone's expressions were heavy as they watched Ancestor Zhao Tongxian lie down in the ice coffin, and was instantly frozen by the eternal ice, entering a state of suspended animation.

The eternal ice coffin can continue the vitality of Zhao Tongxian for thousands of years.

In the next thousand years, if the Zhao family encounters a crisis of genocide, Zhao Tongxian will reawaken and fight for the survival of the family.

This secret technique of frozen suspended animation is very common among large-scale immortal cultivating forces, and it is considered one of the most practical foundations.

The reason why the Tianzhu world's classes are becoming more and more solidified and the strong are always strong has a lot to do with this technique of feigning death and extending life.

After a while, the eternal ice coffin was slowly sealed into the secret room. As soon as the door of the secret room was closed, an earthy yellow barrier suddenly rose around it. The base of the barrier formation was connected to the main hub of the Bagua Tower formation.

Without permission, anyone who touches the barrier will definitely be noticed by Zhao.

After a while, all the core members of the Zhao family who had important responsibilities left the Bagua Guangming Tower one after another.

At this time, in a lobby on the third floor of the building, Zhao Xuanjing was sitting at the top, Zhao Dingguang was sitting at the second seat, and Zhao Dexuan, Zhao Sheng and Zhao Yancang were also present.

Although ancestor Zhao Dingguang's death is approaching, he is still in good spirits, with a pair of long-lived eyebrows floating near his ears, and his body exudes a strong aura of fire.

Three hundred years ago, Zhao Dingguang successfully formed an elixir with a fifth-level fire hornet dragon inner elixir. He was the most proficient in weapon refining in his life and was already a third-level weapon refiner.

What he was most proud of in his life was that he had produced no less than ten magic weapons, among which was a lightning protection ring with a grade as high as fourth grade, which was currently hanging on the neck of the mountain dragon.

Zhao Dingguang was in a low mood because he had just watched his elder pass away. At this time, he leaned on the jade chair and closed his eyes to rest.

"To inform our ancestors, the family that has been chosen for marriage this time is the Weaver Girl Dong family. I have received information that the Dong family intends to release four candidates for the Weaver Girl. All four of them will choose their destined husbands in the near future. Therefore, I want Qingyang to come to propose marriage. .”

"Qingyang, what do you mean?" Zhao Xuanjing turned to look at Zhao Sheng.

Before Zhao Sheng could speak, Zhao Yancang took the lead and said with a face full of joy: "Ancestor, Qingyang, he agreed! Which daughter of the Dong family doesn't want to marry?"

"Well," Zhao Sheng couldn't help but touch his nose when he saw his father rushing to express his position, and said helplessly.

Zhao Yancang was right, the daughter of the Dong family was the dream partner of countless cultivating immortal families.

Let's put it this way, the in-laws of Zhinu's Dong family are all over the Tianzhu world, and 99% of the Nascent Soul-level forces are in-laws of the Dong family.

The reason for this is that the Weaver Girl of the Dong family is not only born with a prosperous husband, but is also very easy to give birth to. There is a half chance that the children she gives birth to will have spiritual roots.

You must know that the higher the realm of immortal cultivators, the more difficult it will be for the heirs.

It is difficult for a Jindan master to give birth to an heir, let alone the ancestors of Nascent Soul.

However, the daughters of Weaver Girl Dong's family broke this iron rule.

Another very important point is that the Dong family has successfully weaved the most complex and high-end immortal cultivation circle in the Tianzhu world through in-laws.

If the Xinglong Zhao family can marry an alternate Weaver Girl, she will undoubtedly win a ticket to join the high-end circle.

This is extremely important to Zhao!