Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

Alas!

After a long sigh, Zhao Sheng said with a worried face, "The Origin Return Sect is now in troubled waters, soon to become a target for all! I must find a way out for myself!"

Zhou Zhongyu was very puzzled, "Brother Zhao, the Origin Return Sect is currently unrivaled in the Central Continent, at the height of its power! Why do you have such a negative view of it?"
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"Brother Zhou, have you heard of the Blood Deficiency Disease?"

"I've heard a bit about it!"

Zhao Sheng then explained in detail the relationship between the Blood Deficiency Disease and the Origin Return Sect, not concealing the fact that the "Blood Soul Scripture" would reduce one's lifespan.

Zhou Zhongyu was greatly shocked after listening, and then he understood why Zhao Sheng was seeking a way out in advance.

"Brother Zhao, could it be that you also cultivated the 'Blood Soul Scripture'?" he eventually couldn't help but ask.

Zhao Sheng gave a bitter smile and nodded, "Otherwise, with my inferior Four Spirit Roots, how could I have cultivated to the Foundation Establishment Seventh Layer!"

"Ha! So, to put it bluntly, it's exchanging lifespan for cultivation! I don't even know how many years I have left." Zhao Sheng flicked his fully white sideburns and smiled bitterly with self-mockery.

"Brother Zhao..." Zhou Zhongyu looked at his drinking buddy with great sympathy.

However, Zhao Sheng was quite carefree and directly asked, "Brother Zhou, give me a straightforward answer. Will your Zhou family take me as a guest elder?"

"We will take you! Of course, we will! Brother Zhao, you are a Great Cultivator of the Foundation Establishment Late Stage. There are less than five people in my family who exceed you in cultivation. It would be foolish and idiotic not to take you!" Zhou Zhongyu promptly agreed.

"I still have some trivial matters to handle here. In half a month, I will visit Hongyang State!"

"Then... I might as well not return to Hongyang State for now. I'll set out with Brother Zhao in a month," Zhou Zhongyu said with a very excited expression after hearing this.

Zhao Sheng saw this and gave a slight smile, not verbally rejecting the other's kind offer.

Half a month later, having dealt with the matters of the Wind Feather Hall, Zhao Sheng and Zhou Zhongyu boarded a flying shuttle and departed from the Moon Spring Oasis.

Hongyang State and Moon Spring were about eight thousand miles apart.

Unlike Moon Spring, which only spans about thirty miles, Hongyang State is generally oval, with a diameter of over a thousand miles, and the terrain is flat and the soil fertile. The population of the oasis exceeds ten million.

Because it was the dry season and the Black Sandstorm was raging, it took Zhao Sheng and Zhou Zhongyu a total of seventeen days to reach Hongyang State with difficulty.

Once they entered Hongyang State, the sandstorms diminished, and the speed of the flying boat quickly increased to its maximum. In just a quarter of an hour, they flew over five or six hundred miles to a bustling, prosperous oasis city.

Zhou City is one of the rare ground cities in the Desolate Domain. Although the city is not large, its population is nearly a million, and what's more important is that most of them have the surname Zhou.

The Zhou family ancestral home is located in the most central and bustling district of Zhou City, occupying nearly half the city's area.

Looking down from the sky, one could see a tan-colored light shield enveloping the Zhou family ancestral home. Occasionally, streaks of flowing light appeared on the shield, containing a faint but strong pressure.

Under Zhou Zhongyu's driving, the flying boat easily passed through the defensive light shield and landed in a large mansion among the lower-level building clusters.

After that, everything went very smoothly!

With Zhou Zhongyu as a guarantor and Zhao Sheng's clean identity,

the Zhou family was overjoyed to voluntarily accept such a Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator.

After Zhao Sheng met the family head, Zhou Yingze, he immediately became the Zhou family's Chief Guest Elder, and his spiritual salary and other benefits need not be said.

Furthermore, the Zhou family specifically set aside a plot of land around Zhou Zhongyu's mansion for Zhao Sheng and built a luxurious mansion according to his specifications.

After becoming the Chief Guest Elder, Zhao Sheng instantly became the "favorite" in the eyes of the Zhou family members.

The Foundation Establishment Cultivators of the Zhou family frequently visited to offer various precious treasures, and during the conversations, they expressed their intentions of forming alliances and showing goodwill, both subtly and overtly.

With regard to "forming alliances" and showing goodwill, Zhao Sheng skillfully navigated among the several major branches of the Zhou family. On the surface, he did not offend anyone and appeared unbiased, but he subtly leaned towards the branch of the family head.

In no time, Zhao Sheng established himself in the Zhou family as a generous and kind person.

Don't forget, Zhao Sheng was not only a skilled brewer but also an exceptionally talented talisman master.

In just half a year, he had sent out no fewer than twenty Second Order True Talismans as return gifts.

Additionally, his uniquely characteristic Spiritual Wines flowed out like water, not only to every Foundation Establishment Cultivator in the Zhou family but even some junior Qi Refinement practitioners received gifts from Zhao Sheng.

Faced with such a generous and approachable "guest elder" the Zhou family felt like they had stumbled upon a treasure.

Some with darker thoughts even muttered to themselves, "The chief guest elder" has no children and won't live much longer.

After his death, all his possessions will belong to the Zhou family.

Thus, Zhao Sheng quickly became very popular, with Zhou family Foundation Establishers bringing their juniors to his door, hoping Zhao Sheng would take them as apprentices.

This move was exactly what Zhao Sheng had hoped for; he turned none away.

The Zhou family was not foolish,

After Zhao Sheng joined the Zhou family, the family head, Zhou Yingze, immediately sent people in secret to places like Mystic Iron City, Origin Return Sect, and Heavenly Pillar Mountain to investigate Zhao Sheng's background and origins.

Half a year later, the scouts returned one by one to report, and their findings were exactly as Zhao Sheng had stated, with no falsehoods in his background or origins.

Haha! Zhao Sheng had planned for nearly sixty years to destroy the Zhou family, how could mere scouts possibly find any flaw in him!

From there on, although the Zhou family could not fully trust him, apart from some secretive family matters, they would not deliberately hide other things from Zhao Sheng.

Of course, Zhao Sheng was very good at maintaining his boundaries, adhering to his role as a guest elder and not intentionally prying into the affairs of the Zhou family,

However, his reputation for loving to drink and even more for giving away drinks solidified in the hearts of the Zhou family, eventually making him and Zhou Zhongyu known as the "Two Drunken Friends."

...

A year later,

Dayong Dynasty, Yongjing.

That day, the front of the Ten Thousand Treasures Auction House was bustling with a crowd rare on ordinary days, filled with Cultivators but not a single mortal.

Each year, the first month after the rainy season in the Desolate Domain, Yongjing would host the annual Ten Thousand Treasures Auction.

Each year it attracted countless Cultivators to Yongjing to participate in this rare grand event of the Desolate Domain.

And the Ten Thousand Treasures Auction House was the main venue for the Ten Thousand Treasures Auction,

There were rumors...

"No need for rumors! This Ten Thousand Treasures Auction House is a property of the Royal Mo Family! They make mountains of Spirit Stones every year!"

In a private room of a tavern facing the street, Zhou Zhongyu looked down at the bustling crowd below and said to Zhao Sheng with a face full of envy and jealousy.

Zhao Sheng chuckled and replied in a casual tone: "This Mo Family has a Nascent Soul Ancestor at its helm, this mere Ten Thousand Treasures Auction House is nothing compared to that, the entire Da Yong Dynasty belongs to their Mo Family. We are nothing compared to them. Unless... the Zhou family could produce a thousand-year-old Nascent Soul!"

Zhou Zhongyu's eyes shifted, but he did not continue the conversation.

Zhao Sheng gave him a slight glance, his eyes flickering with an inexplicable light.

"By the way, why did the family head insist on dragging this old man to Yongjing? Doesn't he know how busy I am?"

Hearing his older brother's complaint, Zhou Zhongyu suddenly gave a bitter smile and said: "Brother Zhao, you're spoiling your precious disciples so much that they're almost in the heavens! The family head really couldn't stand it anymore, which is why he dragged you to Yongjing. Also, to serve as a covert move for the family."

"A covert move? What covert move? Could it be that there's something the family cannot openly bid on?" Zhao Sheng asked, his eyes flickering with an inexplicable light, though his expression showed slight curiosity.

"Exactly! Brother Zhao, please have a look!"

Saying this, Zhou Zhongyu passed a folded sheet of paper to Zhao Sheng.

Zhao Sheng took it, unfolded it, and saw that the top line boldly read "Golden Ring Spirit Earthworm."