Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather Chapter 1699 - 1037: One Wave Hasn’t Settled When Another Rises

"This is what Senior Brother deserves, we have all greatly benefited by following him!" Yang Zhenshan laughed.

"Haha, you! Among the few of us, you’re the slickest one!" White Cloud True Monarch laughed and scolded.

"Slick or not, so be it!" Yang Zhenshan said nonchalantly.

He felt things were quite good right now. Although the Sky Cloud Sword Sect wasn’t particularly powerful, with White Cloud True Monarch leading in the front, he could focus on cultivating and developing peacefully, which was much better than recklessly charging forward on his own.

As they spoke, Jian Changhe strode swiftly into the Jade Sky Hall.

"Senior Brother, Fifth Junior Brother!" Jian Changhe called out warmly with a smile.

"Haha, Old Third, come sit and talk!" White Cloud True Monarch laughed.

Yang Zhenshan also nodded and smiled, acknowledging the greeting.

He observed Jian Changhe’s demeanor and guessed Jian Changhe’s cultivation had also improved.

It’s not that his cultivation had improved significantly, but Jian Changhe’s aura had become steady, no longer as restless as before.

This was all normal; cultivators who newly entered the Golden Core stage had a process of stabilizing their cultivation, which could take several decades. Once stabilized, their cultivation would progress further.

The same was true for Yang Zhenshan. Over the past twenty years, his cultivation continually progressed. He gained his own insights and understanding of Divine Dao Intent, the Void, and the use of Spiritual Artifacts.

After Jian Changhe sat down, White Cloud True Monarch began to speak, "I’ve called you two here today because there are two matters we need to discuss."

"What’s the matter, Senior Brother? Just tell us!" Jian Changhe said.

White Cloud True Monarch nodded and continued, "The first matter is some recent events that you need to be aware of!"

Yang Zhenshan felt alert, put down his teacup, and looked at White Cloud True Monarch, making a gesture of listening intently.

If it warranted special instruction from White Cloud True Monarch, it surely wasn’t a trivial matter.

"According to the information I received, five Blood Pools of the Unpredictable Ghost Sect in the Western Regions and the Wanhua Mountain Range have been destroyed, and the officials, Ghost Soldiers, and Blood Puppets managing these pools have all disappeared." White Cloud True Monarch said gravely.

Yang Zhenshan’s expression became serious upon hearing this.

"Five Blood Pools? Do we actually have so many of the Unpredictable Ghost Sect’s Ten Thousand Ghost Blood Pools hidden on our side?"

He knew the Unpredictable Ghost Sect had set up numerous Ten Thousand Ghost Blood Pools outside, but he didn’t expect them to be so reckless as to establish five Blood Pools in the Wanhua Mountain Range and the Western Regions.

Each Blood Pool is made from the fresh blood of cultivators and Martial Artists, and it takes hundreds or even thousands of Blood Puppets to operate each pool.

The more Blood Pools there are, the more cultivators and Martial Artists are killed and enslaved by the Unpredictable Ghost Sect.

"I don’t know the specifics, I only heard about it, but the existence of five Blood Pools shouldn’t be false!"

"What’s important is not this, but the fact that these five Blood Pools were destroyed!"

White Cloud True Monarch said solemnly.

Yang Zhenshan lowered his gaze slightly, understanding White Cloud True Monarch’s implication—it didn’t matter how many cultivators the Unpredictable Ghost Sect harmed as long as they didn’t harm them directly.

"This matter will surely provoke the wrath of the Unpredictable Ghost Sect. They might already be on their way!" White Cloud True Monarch noted.

"The Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion just settled down, and now the Unpredictable Ghost Sect comes along. Haha, how interesting!" Jian Changhe chuckled lightly.

The Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion had lingered in the Wanhua Mountain Range for years to investigate the disappearance of the Longevity True Monarch. Only three years ago did True Monarch Huagai leave. Now, with the arrival of the Unpredictable Ghost Sect, it truly was one wave after another.

The Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion had to maintain its reputation and acted with restraint, unlike the Unpredictable Ghost Sect, who were much more ruthless in their methods.

Yang Zhenshan frowned, "The Unpredictable Ghost Sect is not as easy to deal with as the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion!"

White Cloud True Monarch sighed softly, "Therefore, we must be prepared!"

Yang Zhenshan fell silent, and Jian Changhe’s expression also turned somewhat grim.

What preparations could they make?

Preparations to confront the Unpredictable Ghost Sect?

It’s not a question of whether they could confront them but rather that they had no other choice when the time came.

They could allow the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion to enter the Sky Cloud Sword Sect for investigations, but not the Unpredictable Ghost Sect.

Seeing that both understood the seriousness of the situation, White Cloud True Monarch continued, "We can only be more vigilant on this matter, avoid conflicts with the Unpredictable Ghost Sect as much as possible, but also not let them act recklessly."

"As for the second matter, I plan to go into secluded cultivation for a breakthrough, regardless of whether there’s time. I’ll do the breakthrough first!"

After saying this, he glanced between Yang Zhenshan and Jian Changhe.

Yang Zhenshan nodded, "Strength is the hard truth. We are so passive now because our strength is inferior. Senior Brother’s breakthrough is a good thing and should be done as soon as possible!"

Jian Changhe also agreed with a nod, "That’s right, Senior Brother, go into seclusion with peace of mind. We’ll watch over the sect!"

White Cloud True Monarch’s expression relaxed a bit, "Haha, then I’ll trouble the two junior brothers to look after sect affairs!"

Yang Zhenshan and Jian Changhe exchanged glances, "No problem!"

Though sect affairs were mostly managed by the Sect Master and the six Hall Masters, certain matters still required input from Golden Core cultivators like themselves, such as negotiations with True Yang Immortal City or dealings with other Golden Core cultivators.

Since they’d been in seclusion for cultivation, many matters had been handled by White Cloud True Monarch himself.

Now, with White Cloud True Monarch going into seclusion for a breakthrough, they naturally needed to focus some energy on the sect.

The next day, White Cloud True Monarch entered seclusion, while Yang Zhenshan and Jian Changhe remained at the Sky Cloud Sword Sect.

Jian Changhe needed to refine the Green Gold Sword, so he returned to his own abode for cultivation, leaving Yang Zhenshan to take over for White Cloud True Monarch in the Jade Sky Hall.

In Jade Sky Hall, Yang Zhenshan, not bothering to cultivate himself, took some jade scrolls from the Transmission Hall of the Sky Cloud Sword Sect to study slowly.

The cultivation techniques of the Sky Cloud Sword Sect were a mix of three factions, mostly from the former White Cloud Dao and Hidden Sword Mountain. Yang Zhenshan also had Yang Jizhen transcribe some techniques from the Spirit Origin Land into the Transmission Hall.

Many of these techniques, especially the elixir recipes, were ones Yang Zhenshan had never seen before.

Out of boredom, Yang Zhenshan decided to take a look at them.

As for sect affairs, if there were matters that required his attention, Yun Ge would naturally come to the Jade Sky Hall for him.

...

While Yang Zhenshan was idly spending time in the Jade Sky Hall, a fiery red flying boat descended outside the Qingli Immortal City.

This flying boat was only a few dozen feet long, a medium-sized vessel with its entire body as if cast from molten gold. The prow was adorned with a Red Copper Fire Pearl about three feet in size, its cracks flickering like tongues of flame, radiating blindingly in the sunlight like a small sun, hence the name Flame Sun Flying Boat.

The Flame Sun Flying Boat was the first large flying boat designed by Ma Qiuyan. However, during construction, Ma Qiuyan found many issues and modified the design, eventually turning the Flame Sun Flying Boat into the Vermilion Bird Cloud Boat.

After creating the Vermilion Bird Cloud Boat, Ma Qiuyan modified the Flame Sun Flying Boat’s design again, turning it from a large flying boat into a medium-sized one.

Now, the flying boat manufacturing industry in Spirit Origin Land had become more mature, with both medium and large flying boats entering standardization.

Large flying boats were standardized on the Vermilion Bird Cloud Boat, while medium flying boats followed the standard of the Flame Sun Flying Boat.

Now, the Spirit Origin Land had two Vermilion Bird Cloud Boats and more than thirty Flame Sun Flying Boats.

The Vermilion Bird Cloud Boats were mainly used for commercial transportation between True Yang Immortal City and Ancient Arrays, while Flame Sun Flying Boats were primarily used within the Spirit Origin Land, which now spanned thousands of miles.

Additionally, Flame Sun Flying Boats were used for short-distance transport outside.

Just like now, Spirit Origin Land had transported a large batch of low-level elixirs, talismans, and magic artifacts to Qingli Immortal City.

This ’large batch’ didn’t refer to a hull fully packed with goods but to nearly ten thousand storage bags within the cargo hold.

Once the flying boat landed, Xia Yunshu and Yang Qingyu were the first to disembark, then directed over twenty Martial Artists to unload the storage bags from the hold.

Storage bags could not be placed inside other storage bags, so during the transportation of storage bags, a simpler method was used—transport by carriage, horse, or ship.