Chapter 689 - 348: Cousin’s Hobby (2)

Chapter 689: Chapter 348: Cousin’s Hobby (2)

That was for the best.

"Zongyang, did anything major happen while you were away?" his second uncle, Cheng Guangshan, asked with concern.

Cheng Zongyang shook his head slightly. "No. Everything went smoothly and is proceeding according to plan. All is well. But with everything going on with the Immortal City, is the village still safe?"

’He was a little worried. Plenty of people from the Immortal City ventured into the mountains to find things they could sell for Cultivation Resources. With so many people coming and going, he feared problems might arise.’

Cheng Guangshan shook his head. "Don’t worry. With the two layers of defense you set up, everything is very safe. Now that resources are being sent in from the outside, we hardly need to send anyone out to explore, aside from occasionally arranging for Martial Artists to go into the mountains for training."

Cheng Guanghai then asked, "Yang’Er, I heard from your cousin last time that many people from various family factions have come to the Immortal City. Are there too many of them? Will they become difficult to control?"

Cheng Zongyang smiled. "Don’t worry, Dad. As long as I’m here, they can’t stir up any trouble, no matter how many of them show up. I’ve also been developing a plan to establish our own power base on the Immortal Mountain. Eventually, I’ll have them move out on their own accord. You don’t need to worry about any of this. Here, these are gifts for you."

Changing the subject, Cheng Zongyang took out some accessories he had bought in the Cultivation Immortality Realm, which were beneficial to one’s health when worn.

’Matters concerning the Immortal City and the Cultivation Immortality Realm were best left to the younger generation. There was no need for their elders to worry.’

The older generation was now responsible for instructing and training the orphans with Spiritual Root and Bone aptitude sent in from the outside, as well as the children of the local villagers.

These children were all receiving an education based on a curriculum Cheng Zongyang had compiled, covering the clan’s ideology, literature, Martial Arts aptitude, and basic cultivation training.

The orphans with excellent aptitude and good disposition would be inducted into the Cheng Family’s Earth Branch Lineage, becoming the future backbone of the clan.

The number of orphans in the village, from the first batch recruited to those selected in subsequent groups, had now grown to over four hundred.

Every month, Zhou Zhendong and Cheng Zongwen would arrange for another ten to twenty screened orphans under the age of ten to be sent in.

Li Lu’s men found most of these orphans in the outside world. The recent wars had left behind many orphans, children whose families had been shattered and who were now forced to live as beggars.

Of the large number of orphans they found, those with average aptitude would remain in Tiantuan Village to be trained as future members of the Celestial Break Gang. Those with good aptitude and disposition were sent to the Cheng Family Village.

Both tracks proceeded simultaneously. There wouldn’t be any visible returns for the first few years, but by the time the children grew up, the self-sustaining ecosystem of the Immortal City would be fully established, and they could be assigned to various posts.

As a result, the number of children in the village grew and grew.

Fortunately, everything was managed with military-style discipline. All expenses were covered by the Cheng Clan Public Property, so it had no negative impact on the villagers’ lives; in fact, things were only getting better.

Therefore, as their idle chatter wound down, Zhou Hansong found he had to bring the matter up.

"The village needs to be expanded. Otherwise, with more and more people arriving, our current layout will eventually be insufficient."

Cheng Guanghai added, "We’ve all discussed this. It will be several years before those children are trained until the age of fifteen and can be formally sent out to handle family business. In the meantime, even more children will be sent in. We definitely need more space.

Yang’Er, your uncle’s idea is to use Mole Beasts to excavate the mountain! For one, it would be concealed. For another, the space would be vast, able to accommodate more people and alleviate the housing shortage outside. The only drawback is that it can get depressing to stay inside a mountain for too long. What are your thoughts?"

After listening, Cheng Zongyang fell into contemplation. ’He weighed the various pros and cons. Using Mole Beasts to excavate the mountain certainly had its benefits, but it also presented some problems.’ He spoke slowly.

"The idea of excavating the mountain with Mole Beasts is certainly feasible, but we also need to consider the children’s developmental environment. Living in a cave for extended periods can affect them both physically and mentally."

"However, that’s not an issue. We can solve it with an Illusion Array. As long as we set up an Illusion Array in the caverns, they will perceive a completely different environment when they go inside to rest. I will also expand the range of the Protective Array to encompass the caverns."

Hearing Cheng Zongyang’s words, the others all nodded in agreement.

Just then, Zhou Zhenyuan asked, "With so many people, won’t we have to hollow out the entire mountain?"

His father, Zhou Hansong, nodded. "More than one. We can’t hollow out an entire mountain, or it might collapse. We would have to spread it across two or three. But since Zongyang can use an Illusion Array to solve the environmental issue, it will work."

And so, with the matter settled, the group dispersed. The women began to prepare dinner.

Cheng Zongyang, meanwhile, prepared to go and set up the Five Elements Formation he had planned.

In the future, the village children would also need to practice Cultivation, which meant there would be a high demand for Spiritual Qi.

To solve the problem once and for all, he brought his father and his uncle, and after they decided which mountains to use, he moved the village’s original Protective Array and the Yin Realm of the Soul Gathering Stele over. Then, between the Defense Array and the Yin Realm, he set up a Bewitching Array.

As for the Five Elements Array, he planned to set it up within the Magical Treasure Space.

This formed a layered defense: the Yin Realm of the Soul Gathering Stele on the outside, a defensive Bewitching Array further in, and at the very core, the true Defense Array.

With three layers of defense, the security of the Cheng Family Village now rivaled that of an Immortal City.

For the next few days, Cheng Zongyang rested in the village, spending time with his family and offering some guidance to his younger sister. At the same time, he paid special attention to his cousin, Cheng Zongyan.

The girl’s development had truly taken him by surprise.

His second uncle was at his wits’ end with this daughter of his.

The reason was simple: the girl’s progress in Martial Arts cultivation was incredibly fast, and she possessed an immense talent for the Medicinal Dao, yet she insisted on researching nothing but poisons!

He simply couldn’t correct her course.

So, while Cheng Zongyang was still staying in the village, his uncle brought her over.

"Big Brother, stay out of my business," the girl said bluntly the moment she met Cheng Zongyang, puffing out her cheeks. "I just like studying this stuff."

Cheng Zongyang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "I never said I was going to stop you."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Zongyan’s bright, intelligent eyes lit up in pleasant surprise. "Really?"

Cheng Zongyang nodded, then asked, "Do you want to pursue Cultivation Immortality?"

Cheng Zongyan nodded immediately. "I do. But no one will teach me."

Cheng Zongyang said, "I’ll teach you. Your aptitude is rather special, so you won’t be taking the conventional path."

Cheng Zongyan looked at her older cousin, her face a mask of confusion. "What?"

Cheng Zongyang looked at his young cousin, overcome with emotion.

’An Immortal Body!’

’Aptitude with a complete Spirit Bone and a full set of Spirit Roots!’

’With sufficient resources, such a person could most easily step onto the path of immortality!’

’First, and most importantly, she wouldn’t need to search for fortuitous encounters to make up for any deficiencies in her Spiritual Root or Bone. This spared her an arduous and complex process; as long as she had resources, all she had to do was focus on her Cultivation.’

’Although her cultivation would be five times slower than someone with a Single Spirit Root, not needing to find opportunities to supplement her aptitude essentially leveled the playing field.’

’As long as she laid a solid foundation, her future combat power would be immense.’

’Second, for a person with an Immortal Body, the prerequisites for achieving immortality were powerful self-preservation techniques and high combat strength.’

’The Spirit Bone promotes the cultivation of the physical body, while the Spirit Root promotes the cultivation of the Divine Soul. This is equivalent to cultivating both inside and out, much like the True Martial Refining God Skill the Ring Spirit had chosen for him.’

’A Cultivator who was strong in all aspects would naturally have a better chance on the path to immortality.’

’That is why it is known as the Immortal Body in the Cultivation Immortality Realm.’

’Of course, if resources were lacking, some also called the Immortal Body a "crippled aptitude."’

’His own Cultivation Technique also automatically supplemented his Spiritual Root and Bone aptitude during Cultivation, which could be considered a different type of Immortal Body.’

’Fortunately, he did not lack resources. In the future, neither his family nor the members of his organization would lack for them either!’

"Kiddo, I’ll give you a Cultivation Technique. Take it back with you and have a look at it," Cheng Zongyang said.

"Oh." Cheng Zongyan nodded, still a bit lost. But as far as she was concerned, all that mattered was that he wasn’t stopping her from researching poisons.

Just then, as if a thought struck him, Cheng Zongyang asked, "Kiddo, how do you test the effects of the poisons you develop?"

’When you research and concoct poisons, you naturally need to understand their toxicity.’

’It was just like what happened with Zhang Jinquan, who experimented with all kinds of recipes and ended up accumulating so many toxins that they erupted, killing him.’

’He had almost forgotten that detail.’

Hearing this, Cheng Zongyan scratched her head, a little embarrassed. "I test them on myself," she said in a low voice.

Cheng Zongyang’s eyes widened. For a moment, he couldn’t quite process her words. "Wait a second."

Cheng Zongyang immediately sent his consciousness into the Wilderness World.