In Heheyuan, Zhao Sheng patiently comforted Zhao Xiaoqi who came to inquire about the news and sent him away.
After sending Zhao Xiaoqi off, he shook his head with a wry smile on his face, and couldn't help but sigh, "This mastermind behind this is really painstaking, even resorting to spreading rumors among mortals. It seems he won't stop until he's tormented the Zhao family to death."
By this time, Zhao Sheng had already vaguely guessed who was manipulating all this behind the scenes. It was most likely that old fox Wei Chengwo.
Only he would do whatever it takes to achieve his goal.
Wei Cheng, the reason why I want to force the Zhao family to death is not only to target the Zhao family's cultivators, but more importantly for the Zhao family's 50,000 mortal relatives.
Don't think that mortal relatives are unimportant to a family of immortal cultivators.
On the contrary, it is the most important foundation of any immortal cultivation family.
Take the Zhao family as an example. Among the 31 immortal cultivators of the Zhao family, more than 10 came from secular families.
When the Wei family swallows up the Zhao family's 50,000 relatives, the number of new cultivators in their family will inevitably increase greatly.
In the world of cultivating immortals, a considerable number of cultivating immortal families achieve a leap in family strength by constantly assimilating the mortal relatives of other families.
Zhao Sheng also guessed that maybe he was not the only one who had guessed it, and even several shrewd elders in the family probably had a rough idea of it.
But so what!
Wei Chengwo's move was clearly one of confidence, and his conspiracy seemed even more like an open conspiracy.
It was the Zhao family's own fault for not living up to expectations and revealing such a big flaw.
Zhao Sheng had no good solution for this and could only respond accordingly.
The key to breaking the deadlock lies in whether the two elders can successfully establish the foundation.
It works, and everyone has a bright future.
If you can't succeed, you can only make plans!
…
The sun was scorching hot in July, and two months passed in the blink of an eye.
That day, Zhao Sheng was concentrating on drawing the invisibility talisman in the talisman-making room.
After a moment, as the surface of the talisman paper glowed, the complex and gorgeous talisman shape disappeared in a flash, and an invisibility talisman suddenly took shape.
Zhao Chongwei, who was standing by, saw Zhao Sheng succeed again. She threw down the talisman pen in frustration and complained to Zhao Sheng, "Chonghe, why is the invisibility talisman so difficult? I've failed more than ten times today."
Zhao Sheng walked over to her and picked up a ruined talisman from the table. After examining it for a moment, he said, "Xiao Wei, your brushwork and talisman shape are correct, and all the spiritual nodes are complete. The reason you keep failing is because the spiritual energy is unevenly distributed between the talisman lines, resulting in poor connection between the nodes."
Zhao Chongwei took the talisman and looked at it for a while, then said dejectedly, "I've tried my best to control it, but the invisibility talisman is too complicated. I've put all my energy into its shape and spiritual orifice, and I really can't pay attention to anything else. Not everyone is as perverted as you!"
Zhao Sheng was speechless. It's all my fault!
Finally, he could only comfort her: "Don't worry, take your time. Practice makes perfect. At your current pace, it will only take three months at most."
Zhao Chongwei couldn't help but roll her eyes and said disdainfully: "Are you laughing at me for being stupid?"
Zhao Sheng's face froze upon hearing this, and he quickly apologized, "My dear, you are the genius of our family. At only seventeen, you have already reached the third level of Qi Refining. How dare I, a rookie at the second level of Qi Refining, laugh at you?"
Hearing him say this, Zhao Chongwei's depression eased a little, but she still sighed, "What's the point of being at the third level of Qi Refining? It won't help the family at all. I wonder when the elders will come out of seclusion?"
Zhao Sheng's expression darkened slightly as he consoled her, "Don't worry, the two elders will definitely succeed!"
After hearing this, Zhao Chongwei clasped his hands together, bowed his head, closed his eyes, and prayed devoutly: "Ancestor, please bless our Zhao family to produce another foundation-building cultivator!"
After she finished speaking, she nudged Zhao Sheng and urged him, "Chonghe, pray with me."
Zhao Sheng was speechless.
Who says that cultivators are not superstitious? In fact, they are very superstitious.
Just like Zhao Keru, the alchemist of the Zhao family, every time before he started to make elixirs, he would bathe, change clothes, burn incense and pray, and the scene was very grand.
He wasn't the only one. Most of the weapon refiners, alchemists, and formation masters in the world of immortal cultivation had similar rituals of offering sacrifices. Some worshipped heaven and earth, some worshipped the sages of our way, and some even worshipped their own ancestors.
Seeing that Zhao Sheng didn't move, Zhao Chongwei urged again: "Hurry up!"
Zhao Sheng touched his nose and had to say a few words to please his ancestors.
Because of his perfunctory attitude, Zhao Chongwei complained to him a lot.
He was not let go until Zhao Sheng "turned over a new leaf".
By the way, I ask myself to bless my descendants, no one else can do this!
Facts have proven that asking for blessings from ancestors is of no use at all.
Two days later, a piece of bad news came like a bolt from the blue, making the Zhao family panic.
Zhao Jingang failed in building his foundation!
Not only did he fail, but even his meridians were broken in many places, and his realm regressed to the early stage of the ninth level of Qi Refining.
In just half an hour, Zhao Chonghe, the only one of the Chong generation, and seven powerful Zhao elders sat down at the round table again.
At this time, the atmosphere in Tongxin Hall was even heavier than it was two months ago.
There is no doubt that Zhao Jingang's failure was a serious blow to the Zhao family, so serious that it shook everyone's confidence.
At this emergency meeting, Zhao Sheng did not speak, as there was actually nothing much to say.
Failure is failure, it's not the sky falling.
The other elders of the Zhao family behaved very rationally this time. After a brief period of frustration, they immediately discussed the aftermath properly.
To put it simply, it means blocking the news from the outside, downplaying the failure as much as possible internally, doing everything possible to appease people's hearts, and cracking down on any rumors.
After leaving Tongxin Hall, Zhao Sheng immediately went to Shangong Hall and advanced ten years of spiritual salary as the head of the family. He also exchanged all the treasures in his storage bag, such as the flying sword and Xuanlan crystal, for Qigong pills and Lingyuan pills.
Then, he plunged into the water vein training room and began a long period of secluded training.
He has to prepare for retreat.
If Zhao Jinding also failed.
Zhao Sheng decided to enter Tianzhu Mountain in advance after he was promoted to the third level of Qi Refining.
Time flies, and two years pass in a flash.
That day, Zhao Sheng, with messy hair and beard, finally walked out of the training room.
At this time, no one knew that he had successfully advanced to the third level of Qi Refining.
After leaving the customs and surfacing, Zhao Sheng boarded a wooden boat and ordered the boatman to sail to the shore of Longli Lake.
Halfway through the journey, he was surprised to find that there were more than 60% more boats on Longli Lake than two years ago.
From three-meter-long wooden boats to wide-bottomed, bow-raised boats of more than ten or twenty meters, there are more than a hundred of them in total.
There were also two medium-sized dragon-headed magic boats, more than thirty feet long and seventy or eighty feet high, with countless runes flashing on the surface of the hull, speeding across the lake.
From time to time, people on the Dharma Boat would cast glowing fishing nets into the water.
This busy scene seems to symbolize the prosperity of the Zhao family.
However, when Zhao Sheng saw this scene, he was not happy, but frowned tightly.
Standing at the bow, Zhao Sheng muttered to himself: "This situation is not good!"
After getting ashore, Zhao Sheng soon learned some very bad news from his tribesmen.