Chapter 147: Building a Fairy City, Jade Water Sword Escape

Inside the cave, Liu Xuexuan lay in Ji Chang's arms, her pretty face pressed against his chest.

Her eyes were hazy and the corners of her mouth were slightly raised. Her dress was already a little messy after the previous embrace. The ribbon was loose and the collar was slightly open, revealing her snow-white skin and slender collarbone, which added a bit of charm and style.

Next to the bed, the robes of the two people were scattered on the ground, and those robes were particularly eye-catching under the candlelight.

Just then, a slight knock on the door broke the silence.

The maid's voice sounded outside the door: "Master, Senior Hu Qingsong came to congratulate you."

Ji Chang was slightly stunned, then he loosened his arms around Liu Xuexuan and sat up.

Although Liu Xuexuan's eyes flashed with displeasure, she nodded obediently, indicating that he should go and deal with the matter first.

Ji Chang straightened his clothes, opened the door and walked out.

Hu Qingsong had been waiting in the reception room for a long time. When he saw Ji Chang coming, he quickly stood up to greet him.

The two exchanged a few pleasantries, and Hu Qingsong suddenly asked, "Fellow Daoist Han, why don't you see Fellow Daoist Liu?"

Ji Chang was slightly stunned, then a natural smile appeared on his face, and he explained vaguely: "Xue Xuan has some personal matters to deal with, so it is inconvenient for her to come."

Upon hearing this, Hu Qingsong did not ask any more questions and started chatting with Ji Chang instead.

Ji Chang and Hu Qingsong were chatting in the reception room, and the atmosphere gradually became lively.

Suddenly, Hu Qingsong's expression became serious and he mentioned an important piece of news.

"Friend Han, there is something I think you may not know yet." Hu Qingsong's tone became low and serious.

"Elder Qi from the upper sect has already issued a statement. Starting next year, every foundation-building family in our Zheng country's immortal cultivation world must send a foundation-building cultivator to the Shiwan Mountains to expand the territory."

When Ji Chang heard this, the teacup in his hand paused slightly and his brows unconsciously frowned.

This news was mentioned a few times when he was spying on Zhou family's Jindan cultivator Zhou Jingxing and heard him talking with other cultivators.

But I don’t know much about it, and I don’t understand how to organize it specifically.

Unexpectedly, every foundation-building family had to send a foundation-building cultivator.

Ji Chang suddenly thought of something and asked.

"No matter how many foundation-building cultivators there are in the family, do we have to send someone?"

"Yes, without exception." Hu Qingsong nodded affirmatively, "This is the order of the clan. Each of our families must contribute their own strength to the expansion of the Hundred Thousand Mountains."

Ji Chang fell into a brief contemplation, and the atmosphere in the reception room became somewhat solemn.

He could imagine that this order was a big test for every foundation-building family in Zheng State's immortal cultivation world.

But these foundation-building families had no choice but to listen.

The biggest difference between families and individual cultivators is that these families occupy spiritual lands and have their own clansmen, so even if they want to disobey the orders of the sect, they have no way to do so.

After all, a monk who can run away cannot run away from the temple.

We can't just abandon the spiritual land and all our people.

Ji Chang was silent for a moment, then asked, "Who do you, the Hu family, plan to send?"

Hu Qingsong gave a bitter smile and said, "Who else could it be? My cousin Hu Qingyun's child has not yet been born, and he also needs to stay in the family to take charge of the overall situation."

"Although my niece Hong Ling is quite capable, she is still young and lacks experience."

Having said this, he paused, and then continued: "So, this important task can only fall on my head."

Ji Chang could feel the helplessness in Hu Qingsong's heart.

However, as Hu Qingsong is a cultivator of the family, he is usually supported by the Hu family. Now that the family needs him, he naturally has to step up.

However, Hu Qingsong suddenly laughed and said, "In fact, I have been stuck in the bottleneck of the initial stage of foundation building for many years."

"If I go out and gain some experience this time, maybe I can have a chance to break through to the middle stage of foundation building."

After hearing this, Ji Chang couldn't help but feel emotional.

He patted Hu Qingsong on the shoulder and said, "Brother Hu, don't worry. The opening of the Shiwan Mountains may be an opportunity for you."

Hu Qingsong nodded when he heard this and said, "Thank you for your encouragement, Brother Han. I will try my best."

After Hu Qingsong left, Ji Chang began to recall the information he had previously learned from Zhou Jingxing.

Qi Zhicheng, the Jindan elder of Huangquan Sect, seems to be planning to search for a third-order spiritual vein among the Ten Thousand Mountains with the intention of building an immortal city.

The task of finding spiritual veins and building the immortal city was undertaken by Zhou Jingxing, a Jindan cultivator sent by the Zhou family.

Although only the family monks have been mobilized at present, this is just the beginning.

Ji Chang knew clearly that once the Immortal City was established, the independent cultivators would also be involved.

The mission of those family monks is to assist Zhou Jingxing and build this majestic fairy city together.

He also knew that independent cultivators were different from family cultivators in that they paid more attention to their personal interests.

Therefore, if you want to get them to participate in this territorial expansion, you must adopt some strategies, which should mainly be based on inducement.

Once the immortal city is built, it will probably be time to take action against the independent cultivators.

Ji Chang took a deep breath. He knew that he would also be caught up in the coming storm.

He must be fully prepared to deal with all kinds of changes that may happen in the future.

At the same time, he also had to pay close attention to the movements of Zhou Jingxing and others, and grasp first-hand information so that he could respond in a timely manner.

A few days later, a foundation-building celebration was held as scheduled in Ji Chang's cave, and the protagonist was his concubine Liu Xuexuan.

Outside the cave, on both sides of the road, there are spiritual flowers of various colors planted, emitting a faint fragrance.

These spiritual flowers were specially prepared by Ji Chang for Liu Xuexuan, representing his love for Liu Xuexuan.

Although Liu Xuexuan was only his concubine, Ji Chang always treated her with great affection.

Many cultivators came upon hearing the news. Although compared with the celebration when Ji Chang broke through to the middle stage of foundation building, this celebration was a little deserted.

But it is also much better than the foundation-building celebration of ordinary cultivators in the early stage of foundation-building, and comparable to the foundation-building celebration of cultivators from certain foundation-building families.

Liu Xuexuan was wearing an elegant blue dress and her face was filled with a happy smile.

She knew that she could not have come this far without Ji Chang's support and help.

The entire celebration lasted for several hours before gradually coming to an end.

……

A few months later, at the Hu family mansion.

Today is a big day for the Hu family. Shen Yaoyu is about to give birth to a child, and everyone in the Hu family is looking forward to it.

Outside the delivery room, Hu Qingyun paced back and forth nervously, his hands clenched, looking at the closed door from time to time.

Although he already had several children and even grandchildren, this time was particularly different.

This is the child he had with Shen Yaoyu, a female cultivator who was also in the Foundation Establishment Stage. They also used elixirs to assist in the process, hoping to give birth to a child with outstanding qualifications.

Unlike Hu Qingyun, his cousin Hu Rending seemed quite calm.

He sat quietly by the side, with no expression changing on his wrinkled face, as if everything was under his control.

As time passed, the noise in the delivery room gradually subsided.

Finally, after a long wait, the midwife came out holding a swaddled baby boy. Hu Qingyun immediately went to meet her, but Hu Rending got the baby first.

Hu Rending showed a look of joy and carefully checked the baby's qualifications.

After a moment, an expression of disbelief appeared on Hu Rending's face.

He looked up at Hu Qingyun and said excitedly: "Qingyun, this boy is extraordinary. He has a top-grade spiritual root. This is a blessing for the Hu family."

Upon hearing the news, Hu Qingyun was filled with joy beyond words.

Now the Hu family has the third-level inheritance in hand, and their son has the qualifications of a top-grade spiritual root.

Given time, his son would have a chance to break through to the false elixir realm, or even the elixir realm.

He looked at Hu Rending, his eyes full of respect, and said respectfully: "Uncle, please give this child a name."

Hu Rending looked at the baby in his arms, pondered for a moment, and said slowly: "This child has a top-grade spiritual root, and will definitely be extraordinary in the future."

"He is from the Tian generation, so let's name him Hu Tianxing."

Upon hearing this, Hu Qingyun said yes repeatedly.

Hu Rending then instructed, "Qingyun, go and take care of Yaoyu. After giving birth, a female cultivator's vitality will be greatly damaged, and it may even affect her cultivation."

Hu Qingyun nodded and turned to walk towards Shen Yaoyu's room.

……

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, several months have passed.

More than a year has passed since the foundation-building ceremony was held for Liu Xuexuan.

During this year, Ji Chang invested a lot of time and energy in feeding the Phantom Scale Gu.

After his unremitting efforts, the Phantom Scale Gu finally succeeded in being promoted to the second-level intermediate level, and its strength increased greatly.

At the same time, Ji Chang handed the Golden Scale Gu, which was still at the lower level of the second stage, to Liu Xuexuan, asking her to feed it for him.

In addition, Ji Chang focused his main energy on practicing magic during this year.

The spell he chose was called Green Water Sword Escape, a second-level spell with both offensive and defensive capabilities.

More importantly, this second-level spell was derived from the Danwen magical power [Bishui Qingfeng] recorded in the "Bi Tao Jing".

Ji Chang waited until he had cultivated it to perfection, and after forming the elixir, he could practice the elixir pattern magical power [Green Water and Green Sword] with twice the result with half the effort.

Because of this, the difficulty of practicing the Green Water Sword Escape is quite high, and it also requires the assistance of several water spirit objects. It would be best if a water spirit sword could be refined.

After practicing for nearly a year, Ji Chang has mastered the Green Water Sword.

……

One day, Ji Chang was meditating in the cave when he suddenly heard a maid's gentle voice reporting that someone from the Hu family had delivered an invitation.

Ji Chang opened his eyes slightly and signaled the maid to present the invitation.

The maid handed over the invitation carefully. Ji Chang took it and opened it. It turned out that the Hu family invited him to attend the first birthday party of Hu Qingyun's son.

Ji Chang had a close relationship with the Hu family, so naturally he would be there in person to congratulate on such a happy event.

Of course, although Ji Chang did not spy on the Hu family cultivators much over the years, he also discovered that Hu Rending once wanted to take advantage of Hu Qingyun's wedding to invite him to the Hu family to attend the wedding in order to force him to become a guest of the Hu family.

However, Ji Chang is no longer worried about this matter now.

Not to mention Ji Chang’s current strength, he is no longer afraid of ordinary cultivators in the late stage of foundation building.

What's more, Hu Rending had one foot halfway into the coffin at this time, and was hanging on to his life by a thread, and could die at any time.

How much strength is left for this old monk?
Ji Chang thought for a moment and decided to give a generous gift.

He took out a second-grade mid-level Peiyuan Pill, which he had refined in his spare time from cultivation. It would be of great benefit to the baby's growth.

He put the pills into an exquisite wooden box and prepared to give it to Hu Qingyun's son as a gift.

Afterwards, Ji Chang got up and left the cave, heading to the Hu family for a banquet.

Half a month later, Ji Chang arrived at the Hu family's mansion.

The Hu family mansion had already been decorated inside and out, with big red lanterns hanging high and colorful ribbons fluttering, creating a festive atmosphere everywhere.

There was a constant stream of traffic and guests in front of the mansion.

However, Ji Chang's sharp eyes caught an unusual silence behind this prosperity.

He noticed that although there were many guests, the number of foundation-building monks had obviously decreased a lot.

In addition to the fact that the Hu family's ancestor Hu Rending is about to die, the Hu family's strength and status have declined.

The more important reason is that, starting from this year, all the foundation-building families in Zheng State's immortal cultivation world have been forced to send foundation-building monks to the Ten Thousand Mountains to open up new territories.

Although the Hu family seems to be in decline due to Hu Rending's impending death, their strength should not be underestimated.

The Hu family has a large number of foundation-building cultivators, almost ranking among the top echelons except for the Jiadan family.

For most other foundation-building families, it is already a rare opportunity to have two foundation-building cultivators, not to mention the need to ensure the succession of the old and the new to avoid a period of transition.

Under such circumstances, the various families naturally could no longer easily send foundation-building cultivators to attend the Hu family's banquet as before.

A few days later, the first birthday party officially began.

There are many birthday celebration activities in the world of immortals, which are similar to those in the mortal world. The most important of them is of course the "Zhuazhou" ceremony.

The one-year-old celebration in the world of immortal cultivation has a completely different meaning from that in the secular world.

Here, the objects on the table are no longer symbols of worldly occupations, but represent thousands of skills and inheritances on the road to immortality.

When the Zhuazhou ceremony began, a huge jade table was carried to the center of the banquet.

There are various objects on the table, each of which is carefully selected.

There are magical instruments that sparkle with spiritual light, which symbolize the lineage of instrument refining; there are spiritual herbs that emit a faint medicinal fragrance, which symbolize the art of alchemy; and there are talismans with complex runes drawn on them, which represent talismans...

Hu Tianxing was carried to the jade table. He opened his big curious eyes and looked around, seeming to find everything new and exciting.

Under the gaze of everyone, Hu Tianxing slowly stretched out his tender little hand.

His action caused a slight commotion at the scene, and everyone held their breath, waiting for his choice.

Ji Chang also became interested and stared at Hu Tianxing's little hand, wanting to see what the baby would grab.

Hu Tianxing's little hand lingered on the table for a moment, and finally, his little hand fell on a puppet.

This puppet is extremely delicately made and lifelike, as if it could come alive at any time.

When everyone saw this, they all exclaimed in admiration.

Most of them believed that Hu Tianxing had extraordinary talent and potential in the field of puppetry, and would surely achieve outstanding achievements in this area in the future.

However, Ji Chang looked at Hu Qingyun meaningfully.

He noticed that a gleam of satisfaction and pride flashed in Hu Qingyun's eyes when he saw Hu Tianxing choose the puppet.

The Hu family had just inherited a third-level puppet a few years ago, and now Hu Qingyun's son Hu Tianxing grabbed the puppet during the "Zhuazhou" ceremony.

If there was no hidden secret, Ji Chang would not believe it.

After the Zhuazhou ceremony, the atmosphere at the banquet became even more lively, with people raising their glasses and drinking to celebrate this memorable moment together.

(End of this chapter)