Cultivation: I have an equipment slot

Chapter 167 Opening the Mountain, The Underwater World (6400 words)
"Greetings, Junior Uncle. I wonder if Junior Uncle's seclusion this time was successful?" Mo Changqing looked at Qingluan with some nervousness and asked.

"It's done." Qingluan didn't have the habit of keeping people in suspense, and she answered Mo Changqing's question without hesitation.

"It's done!"

Although everyone present had expected this, they still breathed a long sigh of relief upon hearing Qingluan's words.

It really did!

Their Qingheng Sect has finally produced its first Nascent Soul stage cultivator.

This means that they, the Qingheng faction, will be the hegemons of the Zhao state.

The reason it is "will" rather than "now" is mainly because the Nascent Soul cultivator from the Myriad Flowers Palace is not completely dead yet.

"This matter must be kept secret; we can't let anyone else know," Mo Changqing said, glancing at everyone.

The timing is particularly sensitive, as the Nascent Soul cultivator of the Myriad Flowers Palace is about to perish, while the two Nascent Soul cultivators of the Joyful Union Demon Sect are also eyeing the Zhao Kingdom covetously.

Although the Qingheng Sect now has an additional Nascent Soul stage cultivator, it may not be easy for them to be drawn into this vortex.

Moreover, for the Qingheng Sect, the best outcome would be for a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Myriad Flower Palace to take away a cultivator from the Joyful Union Demon Sect, and then for Qingluan to take charge of the situation in the Zhao Kingdom.

However, the chances of this outcome are slim. After all, the Hehuan Demon Sect is not stupid; they know perfectly well that the Nascent Soul stage cultivators of the Myriad Flower Palace are nearing the end of their lifespans.

They weren't really willing to pressure the other side; they had plenty of time, so they could just wait it out. Time was on their side.

"Everyone, now that Junior Uncle has become a Nascent Soul cultivator, I also need to think about what to do next." Taking advantage of this opportunity, almost all the Nascent Soul and Golden Core cultivators of the Qingheng Sect were present.

Mo Changqing also organized a meeting.

Let's discuss together what the future focus of the Qingheng Sect will be. After all, from now on, they will be a Nascent Soul sect, and their status will definitely be higher than before. We need to plan carefully and see how they can gain more benefits.

In the end, everyone unanimously decided to wait and see what the Myriad Flower Palace and the Joyful Union Demon Sect were up to. As long as their interests were not infringed, the Qingheng Sect was not in a hurry to take the lead.

After all, the Qingheng Sect had just begun its pioneering work, and Qingluan had just become a Nascent Soul cultivator; both needed a period of time to immerse themselves and stabilize their strength.

Therefore, as long as the Wanhua Palace and the Hehuan Demon Sect do not harm the interests of the Qingheng Sect, the Qingheng Sect can remain in a stable position. In fact, in order to consolidate their strength, they can even temporarily abandon the interests of the Zhao Kingdom.

After all, for him, there wasn't much benefit to be gained from the Zhao Kingdom. Their focus had always been on the Tianmu Mountains, and to put it bluntly, they didn't care about the interests in the Zhao Kingdom at all.

……

After the meeting, Zhang Yan and the others went back to their respective homes.

To his surprise, Mo Changqing approached him alone again.

"Greetings, Sect Leader. May I ask what your orders are?" Zhang Yan asked Mo Changqing with some curiosity.

“Here’s the thing, I remember saying before that when the time was right, I would let you open up a mountain on your own. Now that we’ve finished clearing the land and have a lot more spiritual veins, I think you can choose a mountain now.” Mo Changqing stroked his beard and said to Zhang Yan.

"Um?

"Opening up a mountain?"

Upon hearing this, he immediately realized that Lei Kunhai had indeed reported to him before that he wanted to establish a separate Taiyi Sect mountain.

However, at that time, Zhang Yan's strength was relatively weak, so he had not yet opened it, but now he has already reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

Although it's only the initial stage of Foundation Building.

However, with exceptional skills, one could theoretically become the master of a mountain.

"However, my master..."

Zhang Yan hesitated before speaking.

He is still a member of Muling Peak. If he wants to establish his own sect, he will have to leave Muling Peak, which is no small matter and requires Zhuge Wan's approval.

"Don't worry, I've already spoken to Junior Sister Zhuge. As her teacher, she'd love for her disciple to succeed." Zhang Yan's first reaction wasn't to agree.

Instead, I thought of Zhuge Wan's attitude.

Mo Changqing was even more satisfied with him.

What makes a good disciple? This is a good disciple!
Not only is he talented, but he is also filial. When faced with a problem, his first reaction is to see if his master agrees.

Who wouldn't like a disciple like that?
This is why Mo Changqing treated him like a personal disciple—no, even closer than a personal disciple.

While Zhuge Wan played a part, it's undeniable that Zhang Yan's success was largely due to his competence and organized approach to tasks.

Otherwise, even if he were Zhuge Wan's disciple, Mo Changqing wouldn't treat him so well.

After all, Zhuge Wan has so many disciples, and not all of them are like Mo Changqing!

Ultimately, one must be strong oneself to succeed.

“Since the sect leader has said so, then I will certainly contribute to the development of our Qingheng Sect. I am still young, so please feel free to put any responsibilities on my shoulders.” Zhang Yan expressed his loyalty without hesitation.

"You..."

Seeing Zhang Yan like this, Mo Changqing chuckled and then said softly, "Although I'm asking you to open up the mountain, you should know that your most important thing is still cultivation. Everything else, whether it's physical or other things, is illusory. Only cultivation is truly your own and the most real thing."

"I understand," Zhang Yan nodded gently, naturally understanding the principle.

Cultivators, cultivators.

In any case, and regardless of anything else, only one's own cultivation is the most important. If your cultivation is high, everything you do will go smoothly. If your cultivation is low, then everything you do will be restricted.

"Take this token and go find a spiritual vein to cultivate. However, due to the rules, you can only choose a second-tier spiritual vein, not a third-tier one," Mo Changqing said, handing Zhang Yan a token.

The Qingheng Sect is not the same as it used to be.

The Qingheng Sect is now wealthier than before, with more spiritual veins, including several third-tier spiritual veins. However, unfortunately, those spiritual veins can only be used by the main peak, not by other mountain peaks.

After all, almost all of the seven main peaks of the Qingheng Sect have Golden Core cultivators, or even if there are no Golden Core cultivators, they are Foundation Establishment cultivators with third-tier skills.

Therefore, the third-tier spiritual veins of the Qingheng Sect should be prioritized for them.

The remaining spiritual veins are then divided among numerous mountain peaks. After the mountain peaks are divided, then come the smaller families outside. This is the ecological chain of the Qingheng Sect. Zhang Yan naturally has to do his best to maintain these rules.

To know……

Besides being the mountain lord who is to be established, he is also a true disciple of the Qingheng Sect!
He is eligible to enjoy a fourth-tier spiritual vein!
The so-called "true lineage" means that one can enjoy all the resources of the sect!
They took Mo Changqing's token.

Zhang Yan transformed into a long rainbow and left the new mountain gate.

This time, the Qingheng Sect's land reclamation has made the sect's mountain gate much larger, so much so that even by flying, it would take one or two days to traverse it.

The main reason is that the spiritual veins are too scattered. Although the Qingheng Sect can barely relocate the spiritual veins with its current capabilities, it is a very troublesome thing to maintain them after they are relocated.

If not handled properly, the spiritual veins will be damaged, and the spirit may even drop in rank.

This was unacceptable to the Qingheng Sect, so they had no choice but to expand their sect.

Zhang Yan held a token in one hand and a map in the other, carefully searching for the spiritual veins. After this land reclamation, the entire Qingheng Sect had more than forty second-tier spiritual veins.

Of course, some of the spiritual veins will definitely be granted titles and rewards, but those that are granted titles and rewards will definitely be the outermost spiritual veins.

The quality of the surrounding spiritual veins is generally not very good, so Zhang Yan wouldn't bother with them.

What he really wanted to see were the three spiritual veins that Mo Changqing had marked on the map. These three spiritual veins were all top-quality second-tier spiritual veins, and if they were cultivated well, it was not impossible for them to become third-tier spiritual veins.

Yes.

The grade of a spiritual vein is not fixed; it can become stronger. Of course, if too much spiritual energy is extracted, the spiritual vein will also be damaged.

Generally speaking, unless there is no other way, no sect would forcibly exploit its own spiritual veins. After all, spiritual veins are the foundation and foundation of a sect.

The three spiritual veins were all located relatively close to the new mountain gate of the Qingheng Sect, and Zhang Yan quickly arrived at the location of the first spiritual vein.

This spiritual vein stretches for over twenty miles, lying horizontally in a ravine, its spiritual energy rising and becoming incredibly beautiful.

However, Zhang Yan only glanced at it before leaving.

The second spiritual vein is located on a mountaintop, distributed vertically. The spiritual energy on the entire mountain is very dense, making it a very good place for cultivation.

But Zhang Yan also left.

We arrived at the third location.

Zhang Yan nodded in satisfaction. This spiritual vein was actually about the same as the two above. However, this spiritual vein was in the shape of a ring, surrounding a small valley in the middle. In addition, there was a cold pool in the valley.

Of course, none of these are the most important things. What Zhang Yan values ​​most is the land in this valley, which is all top-quality spiritual fields!

Moreover, these are second-tier spirit fields, and some plots even have extremely rich spiritual energy, making them top-grade among second-tier spirit fields!
This is something we absolutely cannot let slip by!
"This is it!" Zhang Yan's mind suddenly settled; this was his mountain!

Having chosen the location, he took the token and pressed it onto the map. Instantly, the once gleaming origin point dimmed.

The words "Taiyi Mountain" slowly appeared on it.

From now on, this is Zhang Yan's territory.

"Come out." Zhang Yan shook the spirit beast pouch at his waist, and Feng Lei immediately emerged from it. After years of feeding, Feng Lei had grown much larger.

However, it's still a bit short of the Foundation Establishment stage.

Although spirit beasts have almost no restrictions before reaching the bloodline level, their growth rate is inherently slower than that of humans.

A spirit beast like the Wind and Thunder Seed, which is already at the peak of the Qi Refining stage after only a few years of birth, is already incredibly powerful. But considering that the opponent is a fourth-tier spirit beast, its speed isn't actually that fast.

"Go."

Zhang Yan took out a spirit beast pill and put it into Feng Lei's mouth, then casually put Feng Lei into the cold pool.

Although Fenglei is a spirit beast with both wind and thunder attributes.

But it is a dragon after all, so it is naturally fond of water and even has the ability to control water. It is naturally uncomfortable for it to stay in Zhang Yan's spirit beast bag on weekdays.

Now, when we encounter a water source area rich in spiritual energy, we are extremely excited.

After receiving Zhang Yan's permission, he plunged headfirst into the icy pool, stirring up trouble within it.

Now that he had chosen the location, the next step was to build the mountain gate. Although he was the only one on Mount Taiyi at the moment, he still had to save face no matter what.

The matter of overseeing the construction of the mountain gate was quite complicated, so it was impossible for Zhang Yan to do it personally. In fact, he only selected the location and notified Mo Changqing.

Immediately, someone came to supervise the construction.

Zhang Yan didn't need to do anything, not even spend any money.

But there's only one point.

That is, he needs to figure out what Taiyi Mountain will do in the future!
Cultivating immortality is not just about physical training; it also requires a life!
Take Muling Peak for example. Muling Peak is clearly just a main peak where a group of plant masters gather. Why is it one of the seven main peaks of the Qingheng Sect?

It's precisely because Muling Peak possesses a large amount of farmland, which allows them to cultivate spiritual plants and accumulate resources for cultivation.

The same applies to Qianbao Peak and Baizhen Peak.

Every peak and every mountain must have its own unique money-making skills; otherwise, how can you guarantee the cultivation of your disciples?

We can't expect the sect to provide the funds, can we?

Do you think you're Qingheng Peak?!
Moreover, even Qingheng Peak, theoretically speaking, has its own professions and strong combat capabilities, so everyone has to go out and do missions.

"Let me see what Taiyi Mountain can do." Zhang Yan rubbed his temples. He suddenly realized that opening up a mountain stronghold was not an easy task!

Although he could gain many benefits, the responsibility would also be greater. But even so, Zhang Yan would not give up.

After all, opening up a territory means access to resources and greater control over his cultivation path. Only a fool would give up.

In fact, for the first thirty years after a mountain is established, the Qingheng Sect will provide resources to support it. Only after thirty years will the mountain need to be self-sufficient and even have to pay a certain share of tribute to the Qingheng Sect.

After all, it's just a newly established area, with only a handful of people, so expecting them to be self-sufficient is simply impossible.

Zhang Yan did the math and realized he actually knew quite a lot.

He can do everything: weapon crafting, talisman drawing, pill refining, spiritual plant cultivation, and array formation!

However, the troublesome thing is that the Qingheng Sect has its own dedicated peaks to do these things. It's not that just because others do them, they can't do them.

The main reason is that he learned all these skills from others.

They taught you because they saw you as a true disciple.

If you learn it yourself, that's fine, but if you then pass it on to your own disciples, then Zhang Yan is being irresponsible.

Therefore, he cannot teach these things.

If you're going to teach, you should teach things that the Qingheng School doesn't have.

Thinking of this, he thought of the art of alchemy. This art of alchemy was a kind of magic of the Liu family. After being refined, the medicinal effects of spiritual herbs could become more pure.

But after thinking about it carefully, it's not really suitable.

"Oh right, and the things from the Palace of a Thousand Flowers..."

"Moreover, the Taiyi Sect's techniques are quite powerful in combat, so we can send them out on missions," Zhang Yan muttered to himself.

He had learned some things about the Myriad Flowers Palace before, but he hadn't revealed them for fear of offending them. However, it now seems that the Myriad Flowers Palace itself is on the verge of collapse.

So I stopped caring about these things.

Moreover, besides that, the Taiyi Sect's techniques are actually very powerful in combat.

Those disciples could simply be sent out on missions.

Don't underestimate cultivators who run quests. In fact, this group has the most members and produces many experts, but the journey is quite dangerous.

But there's no other way!
It's just that Zhang Yan doesn't have that much ability...

As he was pondering these things, he suddenly sensed something was amiss. He turned around and saw Feng Lei leap out of the icy pool.

Then it quickly arrived behind Zhang Yan, and as Feng Lei flew out, a harpoon followed closely from the cold pool.

"Be bold!"

Sensing the magical fluctuations on the harpoon, Zhang Yan roared, golden light emanating from his hand, and then he grabbed the harpoon.

Despite the harpoon's constant shaking, it could not break free from his grasp.

"Is there something in this cold pool?"

Zhang Yan used his hands forcefully, and with overwhelming power, he broke the harpoon in two.

The creatures in the cold pool seemed to have vanished after he broke the harpoon.

He looked down at the harpoon in his hand.

The workmanship is very rudimentary.

It looks like it was made from the bones of some unknown animal, with indistinct inscriptions on it, and its quality is about that of a mid-grade magic weapon.

But what concerned him was that the magical power was extremely strong, at least at the Foundation Establishment stage.

"What happened?" Zhang Yan patted Feng Lei's head and asked him.

Hearing Zhang Yan's question.

Feng Lei immediately stuck out his tongue, conveying a hint of emotion.

Although Feng Lei was only at the peak of the Qi Refining stage, he was, after all, a dragon with a fourth-order bloodline, so his intelligence was not low and he was able to understand Zhang Yan's meaning.

"You mean...

"Is there another place beneath this icy pool?" Upon hearing Feng Lei's words, Zhang Yan was stunned for a moment and asked in disbelief.

It should be noted that there is a second-tier spiritual vein here, which means that the Qingheng Sect must have sent people to investigate this place. The people who were in the cold pool at that time could not have failed to investigate, but they did not find it.

Now it seems that there is not only food inside, but possibly even living beings.

"How strong is the opponent?"

How many people are there?

Looking at the icy pool before him, Zhang Yan narrowed his eyes and asked Feng Lei in a low voice.

After a long period of questioning.

He roughly understood the situation. There was indeed a hidden world beneath the cold pool, but it was very deep, and the colder it got, the deeper you went. However, the pool itself didn't seem to have anything unusual about it.

The monks who conducted the exploration at that time may not have done a proper survey at all.

It's quite normal that the unusual phenomena in the cold pool were overlooked, since the exploration took place during the pioneering war, when spiritual veins and treasures were everywhere.

The cultivators of the Qingheng Sect simply didn't have that much time to investigate.

As for Feng Lei, being a dragon, he loved water. Having finally encountered such a large, cold pool, he naturally wanted to enjoy it, and thus, he inexplicably entered this underwater world.

According to Feng Lei, this underwater world looks very large, but it is not inhabited by humans, but by a kind of fish-people.

Those murlocs weren't very powerful, and in just a short time, Feng Lei had already killed more than a dozen of them.

It is precisely because it has killed so many fishmen that powerful fishmen have come to attack it.

Upon hearing Feng Lei's explanation, Zhang Yan was momentarily bewildered.

Good guy.

He was absolutely right.

He said, "Why would anyone attack Feng Lei for no reason?"

I didn't expect this kid to just go in and start going berserk.

"Let's go in and take a look," Zhang Yan said with a smile, patting Feng Lei's head.

He cast a spell on himself and then entered the icy pool.

The wind and thunder were right beside him, guiding his way.

It was clear that Feng Lei was very excited; in its understanding, Zhang Yan was trying to get revenge for it.

……

have to say.

This cold pool was really very deep. He dived for a full quarter of an hour before finally reaching the bottom, where he could see some traces of human activity.

Following those traces, he soon arrived at a cave.

The cave was initially very narrow, barely wide enough for one person to pass through. After walking a few dozen steps, it suddenly opened up into a bright and spacious area. Moreover, as one walked further, the surrounding water disappeared, and the cave became quite dry.

After many twists and turns, Zhang Yan finally arrived at the underground world that Feng Lei had mentioned.

how to say……

In a word, it's breathtaking!
That's absolutely shocking.

He stood on it and looked down. Everywhere he looked, there were shimmering blue lights. Under the illumination of these lights, the entire underwater world was breathtakingly beautiful.

"Is this the fishman you were talking about?"

After observing the underwater world, Zhang Yan looked at a corpse not far away, which still retained a strong aura of wind and thunder.

Without even thinking, I know this was Feng Lei's doing!
This so-called fishman was not quite the fishman Zhang Yan had imagined. He initially thought it would be a fish with a human head, but it turned out to be a fish with a human head.

Moreover, these fishmen are very thin.

Each one looked like a seven or eight-year-old child, but their muscles were very well-developed, suggesting they were quite strong.

Feng Lei flicked his tongue next to the fishman, indicating that the fishman was not tasty.

"An extraordinary person!"

Upon seeing these fish-men, Zhang Yan was not frightened at all; instead, he laughed. In fact, there were quite a few extraordinary individuals in the cultivation world.

These extraordinary individuals often do not cultivate immortality, and their combat strength varies from person to person. Some extraordinary individuals are extremely powerful, even comparable to those who have reached the Golden Core or Nascent Soul stages.

Some of these extraordinary individuals are very weak, only at the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages, just like these fish-men in front of them.

However, for cultivators, extraordinary individuals are inherently very valuable.

The reason is that extraordinary people often have some special abilities, so they are very useful as guards of cave dwellings or as servants.

Among them, the most famous are the Clam Girl and the Ginseng Spirit. The Clam Girl is beautiful and can sing and dance, and many cultivators like her style.

Ginseng essence is a kind of ginseng that has become a spirit and is quite skilled at cultivating medicinal herbs.

They are all loved by cultivators.

Zhang Yan looked at the fish-men in front of him, but wondered if these guys had any special skills.

He previously claimed to have established his own territory but had no source of income. Now it seems that he was just waiting for a lucky break.

Putting everything else aside, as long as we control these fishmen, Taiyi Mountain will not starve to death, even if these fishmen don't have any special abilities.

However, selling them as slaves was perfectly acceptable.

With this in mind, his mental energy continued to spread outward, searching for traces of the fish-men.

"Reacting so quickly, they've already started running away?"

Zhang Yan was somewhat surprised. Although he admired the fishmen's reaction speed, he felt that it was probably unrealistic for these fishmen to escape.

How can I let the prize I've already got slip away?
"Let's go." Zhang Yan patted the wind and thunder beside him and said softly to it.

"Hissssss~"

Upon hearing his words, Feng Lei quickly circled around; it had long wanted Zhang Yan to take it along.

The dragon is a ferocious beast, a vicious beast, and one that never suffers a loss.

Having just been defeated by a Foundation Establishment stage merman, it now has Zhang Yan's help and naturally wants revenge.

With a thought of Zhang Yan's divine power, the man and the dragon instantly concealed themselves and disappeared into the darkness.

……

(End of this chapter)