Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

After staying at Zhao Mansion for two days, Han Xuanwu left for Purple Sun Sect to start preparing for the auction.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, two months had passed.

That day, Purple Sun Square was festively decorated, teeming with a sea of people. Countless cultivators were attracted by this grand auction and flocked to the location.

Naturally, Zhao Sheng along with his son, Zhao Chengle, and daughter-in-law, Han Qingqing, would not miss this grand event.

When Han Xuanwu entered the auction venue, Zhao Chengle and Han Qingqing also visited various elixir shops and spiritual medicine stores, purchasing many different kinds of spirit medicine seeds.

Zhao Sheng, being a mortal, found it inconvenient to show up in person and could only send the two of them instead.

Why buy spirit medicine seeds?

Of course, because Zhao Sheng wanted to take a risk and visit the Sloping Spiritual Medicine Garden once again.

Harvesting spiritual medicine was one aspect; on the other hand, he wanted to take advantage of the unique environment there to actively cultivate some rare yet vital spiritual medicines from the outside world.

Such as the other two main ingredients for the Golden Core Formation Pill, the Jade Divine Flower and the Nine Curves Ginseng, among others.

The saying "Plan for the present and strategize for a thousand years ahead" refers to people like Zhao Sheng.

Cultivating spiritual medicine was just the beginning.

...

A month later.

As the last group of Purple Sun Sect's miscellaneous disciples withdrew from Dragon Carp Lake, Zhao Sheng's family moved to a manor by the lake under Han Xuanwu's guidance.

Dragon Carp Lake had been discovered and developed for over two thousand years, and Purple Sun Sect had been managing it for nearly a thousand years.

As a result, Dragon Carp Lake had long been developed maturely, and its annual output and profits were very stable.

The Hundred-year Token for Dragon Carp Lake wasn't expensive, costing only 63,000 spirit stones.

This was because its spirit vein was a First-rank Water Spirit Vein, with most of it located at the bottom of the lake.

Unlike spirit veins in mountains and plains that can be used to grow spirit grain and medicine, and even occasionally yield small spirit mines.

Besides having an area over two hundred li, Dragon Carp Lake did not have much to offer in terms of stable output. Aside from selling some spiritual fish and shrimp, the most famous were the Red Carp and Green Carp, two types of First-rank demon fish.

If lucky enough, one might even catch a Dragon Carp.

Dragon Carp was a hybrid offspring of Red Carp and Green Carp, an extraordinary spiritual carp rarely seen in decades.

Rumors had it that Dragon Carp possessed a trace of the True Dragon Bloodline, consuming it could greatly enhance the potential of dragon-kind demon beasts like the Jiao python.

Zhao Sheng didn't harbor much hope for the Dragon Carp; having secured the Hundred-year Token and found a safe haven for the Zhao family, he was already quite content and did not expect more.

However, there were unexpected surprises at Dragon Carp Lake. Zhao Sheng discovered eight mu of spirit field by the lake.

Without a doubt, someone had secretly developed it without the sect's knowledge, and it was a mystery who had such audacity.

Well, Dragon Carp Lake was far from the reach of the Emperor, so it was possible that the miscellaneous disciples here were banding together in an unspoken alliance.

Of course, it wasn't something Zhao Sheng needed to worry about; the eight mu of spirit field might not be large but was already sufficient for the small Zhao family.

One thing surprised Zhao Sheng greatly; after moving to Dragon Carp Lake, the relationship between Zhao Chengle and Han Qingqing improved drastically.

When Old Eight, Zhao Chengle, diligently tilled the spirit field, Han Qingqing unexpectedly became pregnant again, out of the blue.

This was a joyous occasion. Not only for the Zhao family but even more so for Zhao Sheng.

In preparation for the birth of his third grandchild eight months later, Zhao Sheng suddenly became busy and planned to head into the mountains ahead of time.

Fasting Pills, Deodorizing Powder, Protective Jade Token, Half Magic Bow, Armor-Piercing Arrows, Half-Magic Tool Mixed Gold Soft Sword...

As item after item was purchased, the day for Zhao Sheng to head into the mountains finally arrived.

He did not disclose to his family the dangers of the trip, only saying he was going to Heavenly Pillar Mountain to gather herbs.

In the final moments before departure, Zhao Sheng pulled Zhao Chengle aside, secretly handed a brocade bag to his son, and told him that if he hadn't returned in half a year, then to open the brocade bag.

Although Zhao Chengle was a bit lazy by nature, he was not foolish. He quickly sensed that his father's words carried a hint of an ultimate farewell.

However, no matter how much he was persuaded, Zhao Sheng never changed his mind.

Soon, Zhao Sheng bid farewell to his family, resolutely set off towards Heavenly Pillar Mountain.

...

Three months later, when Zhao Sheng reappeared at Dragon Carp Lake, he had lost an arm, and his chest and abdomen were covered with deep, bone-deep wounds, as if they were repeatedly scratched by the claws of some terrible demon beast.

At that time, Zhao Sheng's body was on the verge of collapse, severely injured and close to death.

Upon seeing his wife Wang Yuqi, Zhao Sheng relaxed all at once and immediately collapsed to the ground unconscious.

The collapse of the Zhao family's main pillar, all of a sudden, also caused the old lady Wang Yuqi to faint from fright, and that's when Han Qingqing suddenly stood up and quickly stabilized the situation.

She tightly sealed off any news while sending out a communication token to let Han Xuanwu come to Dragon Carp Lake as soon as possible to take control of the situation.

Not only because Han Xuanwu was the only one who might be able to save Zhao Sheng, but also because Han Qingqing and her husband Zhao Chengle, while packing up Zhao Sheng's belongings, were shocked to discover a backpack full of Spiritual Medicine, each at least a few hundred years old.

Upon receiving the precious communication token from his daughter, Han Xuanwu immediately realized the severity of the situation.

Because he knew his daughter well, if it weren't for a major issue, she would never send a communication token to him.

Therefore, Han Xuanwu immediately stopped his closed-door cultivation, rented the sect's Cloud Sculpture that could travel thousands of miles, and arrived at Dragon Carp Lake in just half a day.

Luckily, he arrived quickly, carrying with him a First-Order High-Grade Rejuvenation Pill, which just barely saved Zhao Sheng's life.

It took a full two years for Zhao Sheng to recover from his injuries.

But the price was too high this time; not only had he lost an arm, but his cultivation had also halted at the Innate Limit, and his strength was reduced to a mere sixty percent, never to be restored.

What's worse...

Name: Zhao Zhiqin (Zhao Sheng)

Life Span: 79/99

Realm: Innate Limit (Half-step to Divinity)

Constitution: Hundred-year-old Body (Mortal Level), Light as a Feather (Mortal Level)

Talent: Dynamic Vision (Mortal Level), Spirit Nose (Mortal Level)

Skill: Floating Light Sword Skill (Unprecedented), Emerald Tide Technique (Refined), Cloud Dragon Nine Transformations (Unprecedented), Wind Chasing Arrow Technique (Refined), Cross Refining Iron Body (Broken)

For the sake of one visit to the Sloping Spiritual Medicine Garden, he had reduced his lifespan by twenty years.

However, in Zhao Sheng's view, he ultimately came out ahead on this deal.

He always remembered one phrase: Do not quarrel over the length of one lifetime, and look at the heights and lows after ten lifetimes!

As the master of "Hundred Lifetimes Book," Zhao Sheng certainly had such a long-term perspective.

After this incident, Zhao Sheng announced his retirement from the martial world and thereafter lived a leisurely life of enjoying candy and raising grandchildren.

...

Ten years later, the atmosphere in the back house of Zhao Mansion was abnormally heavy, with servants and maids daring not to even breathe loudly.

Outside a room filled with a strong medicinal scent, Zhao Chengle, whose hair had begun to gray, paced anxiously and worriedly in the courtyard, just like Zhao Sheng did sixty years ago. He was followed by about seventeen or eighteen people, all Zhao Sheng's descendants.

This day was the birthday of his grandson.

On the same day, however, his mother Wang Yuqi had fallen into a comatose state.

At such a critical moment, his own father actually kicked their entire family out of the house.

It was utterly unreasonable!

Humph, the older he gets, the more muddled he becomes!

The more Zhao Chengle thought about it, the angrier he became, his expression growing increasingly gloomy. But even if he wanted to storm into the room, he didn't have the guts.

It wasn't that he truly didn't dare, but rather that he truly couldn't win.

Despite nearing ninety years old, after creating three divine skills two years ago, his father could easily overpower him, who was at the Qi Refining Fourth Level.