Chapter 300: The Death of an Old Friend

After Zhang Zhixuan took over Black Mountain, Han Yan also moved his cave residence to Black Mountain not long after.

The reason why Han Yan came to Black Mountain was that she was responsible for relatively few things in Qingxuan Sect, and only managed the affairs of the spiritual medicine garden. She had handed these matters over to the foundation-building disciples. Except for major events, these foundation-building disciples would not alarm Han Yan, who was devoted to hard practice.

The purple mansion cultivators of Qingxuan Sect were already the upper echelons of the sect, and almost all the cultivators of the entire sect served them.

With their status, they were no longer burdened by the sect's menial work, and had extremely high freedom in life. In addition to the need to participate in major actions within the sect, they had enough free time to practice.

Secondly, the chaos of monsters in the southern wilderness was about to come, and it would be a bit difficult for Zhang Zhixuan and Qingchan to guard the Black Mountain spiritual vein alone. If Han Yan could come, the combined strength of the three of them would be no less than a purple mansion eighth or ninth level cultivator, and the chance of guarding this spiritual vein would be a little greater.

After the third Han Yan opened up the Purple Mansion, he did not open up caves on Qingyang and Zhongxuan Mountains, but continued to practice in the Lingshan Mountain of Grandma Yunzhi. This spiritual vein is a third-grade upper-grade spiritual vein. Although the spiritual energy is far superior to Lingjing Mountain, Han Yan still has to refine 200 spiritual stones every year to replenish the spiritual energy.

For a Purple Mansion cultivator, 200 spiritual stones are not much, but it is also a huge resource after accumulating over time.

So after a letter from Zhang Zhixuan, Han Yan quickly packed up and came to Black Mountain to practice.

After Han Yan came to Black Mountain, the three Purple Mansion cultivators of the Zhang family would preach to the Black Mountain foundation-building and Qi-training cultivators every once in a while.

The three people's cultivation levels are not much different. Although their spiritual roots and techniques are different, the frequent exchange of experiences still allows the three people to make progress. Although it is impossible to go further, their understanding of the cultivation techniques has also improved slightly.

In this way, half a year of leisurely and ordinary days passed, but bad news came from home one after another.

First, Zhang Siming, the child of the eleventh brother Zhang Zhijing, took the foundation-building pill, but unfortunately he failed to build a foundation. Because of the protection of the foundation-building pill, he was lucky enough to survive and broke through to the great perfection of Qi training.

Unfortunately, for the family, the great perfection of Qi training is useless. Compared with wasting a foundation-building pill, Zhang Siming's improvement in cultivation is insignificant.

Zhang Siming is a cultivator with three spiritual roots. He broke through the ninth level of Qi training at the age of 39, and it has been six years now. His spiritual roots are better than Sidao, and his foundation is relatively stable. Even his Yuanyang has not been lost. The probability of building a foundation by taking the foundation-building pill is more than 70%.

Unfortunately, the world is unpredictable and fate plays tricks on people. Zhang Tonghuai, who has only a 30% probability of building a foundation, can successfully build a foundation, and Zhang Sidao, who has less than 40%, has also lived up to expectations and succeeded in building a foundation. Unfortunately, Zhang Siming, who has a very high probability, stumbled, not only exhausting all the good deeds accumulated by two generations of father and son, but also owed a large debt.

Even if the father and son repay the debt of 7,000 good deeds, it will take decades.

Fortunately, Zhang Zhijing is a second-level upper-grade talisman maker, and Zhang Siming is also a second-level middle-grade alchemist. The two have learned some skills to make money. Before Zhang Siming passes away, he should be able to repay the 7,000 good deeds he owes.

After the failure of the foundation building, Zhang Siming was already disheartened, and the family would not give him a second chance. He had no hope of making further progress in this life.

Because he was sure that he could pay off his debts before his death, Zhang Siming had married and taken concubines on a large scale, placing his hopes on his descendants.

Not long after the bad news of Zhang Siming's failure to build his foundation came, Taicheng County received another bad news. The patriarch of the Wu family, Wu Xiangwen, had exhausted his lifespan and passed away.

Wu Xiangwen was more than ten years older than Zhang Leqian, and his lifespan was very close to the limit of a foundation-building cultivator. He wanted to hold on until the chaos of monsters in the southern wilderness and make another effort for the family, but unfortunately, things did not go as he wished. In the end, he did not wait for the chaos of monsters to come and died of old age on his sickbed.

Although Wu Xiangwen, the clan leader, was not as ambitious as Wu Xiangzhen, he was also a shrewd man with self-awareness. After his death, only three foundation-building cultivators were left in the Wu family. Among these three, the one with the highest cultivation level was Wu Xiangheng, who was at the sixth level of foundation-building.

However, this person had made a vow that he would never be in power in his lifetime, so the position of clan leader was temporarily given to Wu Xianghuai, who was at the fifth level of foundation-building.

Wu Xiangwen passed away, and Zhang Zhixuan took Zhang Leqian to attend his funeral. On the way back, Zhang Leqian felt even more heavy-hearted.

"Zhixuan, my old friends have died one after another, and I don't know if I will die of old age on the sickbed like fellow Taoist Wu."

After hearing Zhang Leqian's somewhat dejected words, Zhang Zhixuan comforted him: "Third uncle, you are still strong and healthy, and it is far from this time."

Zhang Leqian smiled bitterly and said: "Zhixuan, don't comfort me. I have expected this day. Even if you are unwilling, unable to see it, and don't want to die, what can you do?"

As soon as Zhang Leqian said this, Zhang Zhixuan was immediately speechless.

"Zhixuan, how many people in history have truly achieved immortality among cultivators who seek the Tao? You are still young, so you should pay more attention to the Tao in the future. Leave the chores at home to the young people, and don't worry too much about this."

In just a few months, there were continuous bad news, which made Zhang Zhixuan and his partner feel a little heavy.

The two returned to Black Mountain in a depressed mood. Before Zhang Zhixuan could rest, the Qingxuan Sect sent a sound transmission note. The monsters in the southern wilderness had begun to gather, and a huge group of wild boar monsters had approached Guiyuan Peak.

This group of wild boar monsters was not only large in number, but also led by a fifth-level wild boar king. Moreover, among this group of monsters, there was also a fifth-level iron-backed ape that had become a lost dog.

Lu Hongniang went to get information and was almost besieged by two fifth-level monsters. If it weren't for the slow escape of the wild boar king, it would have been difficult for Lu Hongniang to retreat safely this time, and she would probably die in the wild mountains of the Southern Wilds.

Even if she retreated safely to Guiyuan Mountain, her vitality was slightly damaged.

Guiyuan Mountain is now besieged by a large army of monsters. Even Lu Hongniang dare not easily leave the protection of the fifth-level formation to avoid being besieged by the Iron-backed Ape and the Wild Boar King.

With the siege of Guiyuan Mountain, several fourth-level spiritual veins in the Southern Wilds have been very tight. Because Wu Siheng was trapped in Guiyuan Mountain, there was no Purple Mansion cultivator guarding Jiaohefang. After discussion, the cultivators stationed in Jiaohe Spiritual Veins have decided to temporarily abandon Jiaohefang and concentrate their forces on the nearby Tuoshanfang to block the attack of monsters.

Jiaohefang has been run by Zhang Chuyun and Wu Siheng for hundreds of years, and many mortals have multiplied nearby. This time, the situation in the Southern Wilds is very tight, and the cultivators stationed in the spiritual veins are forced to abandon this fourth-level spiritual vein and also abandon the mortals who settled near Jiaohe.

There are many monsters in the Southern Wilds. Even in the buffer zone along the road from Heishan to Taicheng County, there are many third-level monsters. Without the protection of cultivators, these mortals can't survive in the Southern Wilds. Except for a few lucky ones, the fate of most mortals is doomed.