Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

Chapter 296: 237 Designated Marriage



Chapter 296: Chapter 237 Designated Marriage

In the vast expanse of Xinglong City, there are two structures that stand out the most. One is the Black Gang Rock City Wall, which stretches over a hundred miles, stands twenty zhang high, and is sixteen zhang wide; it looms like a mountain, solid like a ridge.

The other is the Eight Diagrams Bright Tower, located at the very center of Xinglong City,

This tower occupies a hundred acres, with the building divided into nine floors and eight sides, soaring into the clouds, visible from anywhere in Xinglong City at a glance.

The main body of the building is constructed from Purple Patterned Diamond, and the external walls are covered with Bright Glazed Tiles. During the daytime, it’s splendid and golden, like a grand pavilion forged from gold.

When night falls and the Bright Glazed Tiles, which have absorbed sunlight all day, begin to emanate a myriad of lights, they not only turn the Eight Diagrams Bright Tower into a massive column reaching for the sky but also illuminate nearly half of Xinglong City.

Just after midnight, one by one, the Foundation Establishment Elders with somber expressions emerged from the eighth floor of the Eight Diagrams Bright Tower and then, riding various Spiritual Artifacts, swiftly flew off in all directions.

Some quickly descended into the deep courtyards within the city, while others flew far into the dusky night, vanishing without a trace.

A man in a black robe with a lean figure, wearing a Taotie mask, walked to the edge of the terrace, about to leap off, when suddenly, someone behind him called out,

“Taotie, wait a moment! This old man has matters to discuss with you.”

Zhao Sheng turned to look at the speaker, not unexpectedly, it was indeed Clan Leader Zhao Dexuan.

Zhao Sheng turned his head and made a gesture to Ba Xia, Yazi, and Suan Ni, the leaders of the Dark Department standing beside him, and said in a hoarse voice, “You all go first. The plan remains unchanged, just as before!”

The three leaders of the Dark Department silently nodded and then each disappeared, scattering individually.

Since a thousand years ago, Zhao’s Secret Department had grown exponentially in number and scale, no longer confined to the Zhao Family members alone. Instead, it consisted largely of Loose Cultivators they had recruited and subdued, traitors from Sects, and even notorious Demon Cultivators, not to mention Evil Demons from the Outer Path.

The four great leaders of the Dark Department were all Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivators, each commanding a team of several dozen agents.

As far as Zhao Sheng knew, aside from Yazi, who was from the Zhao Family, Ba Xia had originally been an Inner Sect Disciple of the Sky-splitting Sword Dao. He was expelled for breaking the Sect’s rules and later subjugated by Zhao Dingguang to join Zhao’s Secret Department.

Suan Ni was a Demon Cultivator from the Foundation Establishment stage, originating from the Shiyin Sect, and could be identified from afar by the smell of decay that clung to him. He joined the Dark Department voluntarily because his only daughter had married into the Zhao Family twenty years earlier.

It had been ten years since Zhao Sheng had advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage, and under the arrangements of Zhao Xuanjing, had become one of the four major leaders of the Dark Department, his status implicitly above the other three.

This was because ever since Zhao Sheng joined, Patriarch Zhao would issue orders directly through him to the other members of the Secret Department.

When only the two of them were left in the tower, Zhao Sheng removed his Taotie mask, looking puzzled, he said, “Clan Leader, if you had instructions, you could have simply told me. Why go through all this scene?”

“I need to inquire about your opinion on a matter,”

Zhao Dexuan, who had a broad and portly figure, was ruddy-faced, with laughter always on his round, smiling face and his mouth corners naturally tilted upwards, much like the reincarnation of Maitreya Buddha.

This old Clan Leader who had wielded power over the Zhao Family for almost sixty years was over two hundred and twenty years old. Although he had achieved Foundation Establishment Perfection, he had no hope for Golden Core and wouldn’t live for many more decades.

Zhao Dexuan bore two great worries in his heart; one was to choose a qualified candidate for the next Clan Leader of the family.

This was incredibly difficult, extremely difficult.@@novelbin@@

To put it plainly, the Xinglong Zhao Family’s current prosperity was at its zenith. Established merely a thousand years ago, its overall strength could now rival that of second-rate Cultivation Sects.

The family’s sphere of influence encompassed the surrounding five thousand li of land and rivers. Including vassal and allied families obtained through marriage, the number came close to fifty, with nearly a hundred Foundation Establishment Cultivators related to them, let alone countless Qi Refinement practitioners. Billions of mortals lived within the territories that they controlled directly and indirectly.

Among these billions of mortals, dozens or even hundreds of Human Cultivators would emerge each year.

These Cultivation grassroots had nothing to their names. Aside from those snatched up first by other families, the Zhao Family would recruit ten to twenty promising talents each year, making them change their last names and incorporating them into the Zhao Family genealogy.

Given the scale of the Xinglong Zhao Family today, each Clan Leader succession was comparable to the inheritance of a Dynasty’s throne, a slight misstep could spell a tempest of blood and a potentially negative impact on the Zhao Family’s Qi Fortune for the following century.

Therefore, the selection of a new Clan Leader could not be taken lightly by Zhao Dexuan, who had to seek the unanimous consent of most of the Zhao Family Elders before his death.

Some might suggest that the selection of a new Clan Leader was not difficult, with the Golden Core Ancestors directly designating a candidate.

It might be the case for other Cultivation Families, but the Xinglong Zhao Family was somewhat different, bound by the ancestral teachings. Furthermore, the situations of the three family Ancestors were not promising.

Ancestor Dingguang could hold on for another ten or twenty years, but Ancestor Tongxian was on the brink of passing away.

The reason behind tonight’s Unity Hall meeting was precisely this matter.

The impending demise of a Golden Core Ancestor was a significant event that could affect the rise and fall of the family, and every arrangement needed to be made in advance to minimize the impact of this event.

As for Ancestor Xuanjing, he had his own troubles as the Mountain Dragon that he shared a bond with was facing its centennial Dragon Transformation Tribulation. He had to return to the Ksitigarbha Sect to prepare for the Tribulation.

If the Tribulation was successful, a hundred years of freedom awaited.

However, if the Tribulation failed, the consequences were something the entire Zhao Family could not bear: both the Mountain Dragon and the Ancestor would be reduced to ashes.

Compared to this, the demise of Ancestor Tongxian was a secondary concern.

With the Golden Core Ancestors soon to be reduced by two-thirds, yet a new generation of Golden Core Ancestors within the Zhao Family was long overdue.

This had become the greatest shadow in Zhao Dexuan’s heart, a malaise that he could not shake off, and he would not rest in peace even in death without resolving it.


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