A leisurely life in the world of cultivation

Chapter 223 A visitor from the Hu family
It's impossible for them to be incorporated. It might have been possible when they first ascended, but now they've already gone through most of the eighty-one tribulations and are about to reach the sacred mountain to obtain the true scriptures. To come and try to incorporate them now is wishful thinking.

However, for the sake of that half of the "Thunder Sword Manual," we can be flexible and adapt...

The door to the reception room was half-open, and the fresh scent of the forest drifted in on the breeze.

Li Weizhou's gaze then passed through the window and landed on the distant Qingmu Peak, as if he were lost in thought.

The spirit fields stretched out below the peak, the ears of spirit rice gleaming with spiritual light. Several outer disciples bent over weeding, their faces beaming with happiness...

Okay, that's nonsense. The work of a gynostemian is not easy; it's quite arduous.

Further away, the remaining ridges of the Xuanjin Mountains gleamed with a faint metallic sheen under the sunlight, which was quite beautiful.

After observing for a while, Li Weizhou suddenly said, "In principle, I can agree to such a mutually beneficial arrangement."

Tingyang Xiao paused, blinked, and looked at Li Weizhou, asking, "Really?"

He would understand if someone else made that choice.

This is practically a windfall; who could refuse to become a member of the great families of Zhongzhou?
But Li Weizhou was different from the others. He had already learned that this person had an arrogant and domineering personality in the lower realm.

Upon arriving in the spirit world, he inexplicably became the sect leader of the Five Elements Sect, once again a man of absolute authority.

Such people are usually extremely confident and unwilling to be bound by any constraints.

At least if it were him, he wouldn't accept it, especially since his children and grandchildren might marry into the family and potentially change their surnames...

Li Weizhou seemed to see his doubts and smiled, "I only have one request. My family loves this place. It's the home where we spent a wonderful time after coming to the Spirit Realm, so we don't want to leave."

As long as the price is right, what surname the grandson has is a minor matter...

Fame is nothing but trifles; as long as I can exchange the other half of the "Thunder Sword Manual" for it, nothing else matters.

Ting Yangxiao exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? What's so good about the Northern Spiritual Domain? In terms of spiritual veins, they're not as rich as the Heavenly-grade spiritual veins of the Central State. Especially after reaching the Spirit God Realm, the Central State has abundant immortal energy to draw from within its spatial rifts. The Northern Spiritual Domain not only has sparse immortal energy, but also suffers from yin winds that can annihilate the soul, and even minor lightning tribulations—it's extremely harsh... If it weren't for that, how could the seven sects of the Northern Spiritual Domain possibly withstand the covetous eyes of the major sects of the Central State?"

He understood Li Weizhou's meaning: it was simply a matter of having multiple pretexts, but neither obeying orders nor decrees.

What's the point of being a local tyrant in this poor, remote place?
He didn't believe Li Weizhou would be so short-sighted.

Li Weizhou smiled and said, "Our family doesn't have such high aspirations for cultivation; we're content with what we have. Cultivation is just for making a living. We live a very peaceful and comfortable life here, and that's enough. Perhaps one day we'll grow tired of the ordinariness of this place and move to Zhongzhou. But until then, we're reluctant to leave. Our whole family is very attached to our home."

This reason is like the thought of someone who has suffered a qi deviation during cultivation and, by sheer luck, survives but becomes a cripple...

Ting Yangxiao stared at him for a long time, but Li Weizhou remained calm and composed.

Tingyang Xiao scratched his head and said, "I see... I can't make that decision myself. I have to go back to my clan and talk to the elders in person. Your situation is too special to explain clearly over a message. However, I still want to see your wife, who has mastered the Thunder Sword Manual, in person..."

Before the words were finished, a loud noise suddenly came from outside the mountain gate.

The sound came suddenly, as if a huge rock had hit the core of the protective array, causing the windows of the reception room to vibrate.

Luo San, who was on duty at the mountain gate today, rushed over and said, "Sect Leader! A group of people have arrived outside the mountain gate. They say they are from the Hu family of Zhongzhou, the same Hu family that was the founder of our Five Elements Sect. I asked them to wait a moment, and even though I was going to inform the Sect Leader, they refused and insisted on barging in. They started attacking without warning!"

Upon hearing this, Li Weizhou raised an eyebrow, but he wasn't particularly nervous. Instead, he glanced towards the mountain gate with considerable interest.

But Tingyang Xiao stood up abruptly, frowning deeply, and asked, "The Hu family? What brings them here?"

Li Weizhou chuckled and said, "Didn't you just say that the Hu family is finished?"

Ting Yangxiao looked at him speechlessly and said, "Haven't you heard that even a starved camel is bigger than a horse! No matter how much the Hu family has declined, has no successors, and is facing a generational gap, there is still an ancestor at the sixth level of the Immortal Spirit Realm in the family. With one stomp, the Five Elements Sect would be gone. The sixth level of the Immortal Spirit Realm is a peerless figure at the Earth Venerable level."

Li Weizhou remained unhurried and asked, "Earthly Venerable? I only know that the Immortal Spirit Realm has Venerables, how come there's another Earthly Venerable?"

Ting Yangxiao said disdainfully, "No wonder you guys in this remote mountain village don't even know this. The Immortal Spirit Realm has one level per heaven, but generally speaking, the first, second, and third levels are the Venerable Realm, and the fourth, fifth, and sixth levels are the Earth Venerable Realm..."

Li Weizhou chuckled and said, "Seven, eight, and nine are the Heavenly Venerables?"

Ting Yangxiao shook his head and said, "Seven or eight is the Heavenly Venerable Realm, and the ninth level is the Supreme Realm."

Li Weizhou suddenly remembered that Xuan Meng had once told him that although there were only three Spirit Emperor Palaces in the Spirit Realm, every Spirit Demon Emperor was an unparalleled master at the ninth level of the Immortal Spirit Realm.

The highest level a human can reach is the eighth level.

The difference of just one level prevented the human race, with its hundreds of millions of people, from harboring any thoughts of annihilating the demon race and dominating the spirit realm...

Ting Yangxiao guessed that he already considered Li Weizhou as one of his own, and urged, "Go and see him quickly. Old Ghost Hu is about to lose control and is about to undergo his seventh tribulation. He probably won't make it. Nobody wants to provoke a dying Earthly Venerable at this hurdle; that's an old madman."

Li Weizhou's last question: "How many more Earthly Venerables does the Hu family have?"

Tingyang Xiao laughed and said, "To have even one Venerable is already the result of the combined efforts of the entire clan over many years. Apart from a few families with profound foundations, who have several Earth Venerables and Venerables in addition to Heavenly Venerables, the vast majority of families have at most one Earth Venerable and one Venerable. And a few... The reason why the Hu family has fallen into decline is because their successors have been stuck at the first level of Immortal Spirit for hundreds of years and have not dared to undergo the second level of tribulation. They can't keep up."

Li Weizhou knew what was going on and stopped arguing, leading his men toward the mountain gate.

Three people stood in the square in front of the mountain gate, all exuding an astonishing aura.

The leader was an elderly cultivator with white temples. His collar of his crimson-gold brocade robe was embroidered with a blue spirit fox. He held his old face high, as if the Five Elements Sect was nothing more than a rural outhouse in his eyes.

The two young men behind him looked even more arrogant than him, with an air of looking down on everyone...

Tsk, the difference between these two prominent families from the Central Plains is too obvious.

Li Weizhou didn't rush to speak, but instead looked at these three idiots with a smile.

Judging from his aura, although this old man was also a Celestial True Monarch, he was far inferior to the Celestial Realm cultivator from the Sin Clan.

Tingyang Xiao, being of noble birth, valued his life too much, and thus worried that the Hu family patriarch would perish along with him.

But he didn't consider that the Hu family patriarch had gone mad, which was why he wasted his energy in a place like the Northern Spirit Region before undergoing his tribulation.

Even ants cherish life; what if they were just a hair's breadth away from surviving the tribulation?
Therefore, he was not afraid. Hu Yuan stood in the center of the square, his crimson-gold brocade robe embroidered with blue fox patterns using golden silk spun by ten-thousand-year-old spiritual silkworms, each thread shimmering with spiritual light.

It looks incredibly precious...

His body remained suspended in mid-air, as if the land of the Northern Spiritual Domain was not worthy of his feet.

"Finally willing to come out?"

When he spoke, he slightly raised his chin, his gaze passing over Li Weizhou's head and landing on the Five Elements Sect's mountain gate. The pity in his tone was like a gesture of mercy: "That wretched Hu Yue left the Hu family back then and actually hid in this poor, remote place where even immortal spiritual energy is scarce. It's amazing that he can get used to living here."

Before Li Weizhou could speak, the middle-aged cultivator behind Hu Yuan spoke first, impatiently saying, "Elder, why waste time with such a person? Make him hand over the array plate and return what Fifth Uncle left behind. Those are the property of my Hu family; how dare such a lowly being from the lower realms be worthy of touching them?"

Li Weizhou's eyes widened slightly, as if he had just seen something new. He turned to Ting Yangxiao and exclaimed in amazement, "The people of Zhongzhou have such low moral standards."

Ting Yangxiao: "..."

To Li Weizhou's surprise, the old man from the Hu family did not shout for battle.

Hu Yuan hovered in the air, looking at Li Weizhou with indifferent eyes, and said calmly, "If Hu Yue had stayed in Zhongzhou back then, how could his legacy have been left to wander in such an uncivilized place? Since you have inherited his legacy, you are now a collateral branch of the Hu family. Now that the clan has shown mercy and allowed you to bring people back to the main branch, you will become an outer sect steward..."

Another person behind him hurriedly said, "Hurry up and thank the Ancestor for his great kindness! Although it's an outer sect position, it's still a respectable one, much better than being a sect leader in this bitterly cold place. Moreover, our clan's True Monarch Ancestor came personally. Don't forget this great kindness in the future!"

Li Weizhou suddenly laughed and said, "Wasn't that the formation you used to test the waters just now?"

He was looking at Hu Yuan.

Upon hearing this, Hu Yuan's expression changed slightly.

Li Weizhou continued with a smile, "You've figured out he's tough, so you know how to talk nicely now?"

He then looked at the arrogant middle-aged man behind him and said with extreme sarcasm, "You shameless thing, the gift left by the Five Mountains Ancestor is in my hands. Once I get it, I can withstand the Immortal Spirit True Monarch. Come here and take it."

Hu Yuan: "..."

Middle-aged cultivator: "..."

Then Li Weizhou continued to curse: "You shameless bastard, try cursing me again."

Before the words were even finished, spiritual energy surged up on the five peaks.

Five enormous beams of light shot into the sky, and five giant swords slowly began to rotate, their tips pointing directly at the three members of the Hu family outside the mountain gate.

Hu Yuan's thoughts were exposed and he was mocked. His old face twisted into a grimace, and his floating body suddenly sank down. The hem of his crimson-gold brocade robe swept across the bluestone slab, causing it to shatter instantly.

"Shu Zi is looking for death!"

Before his stern shout had even faded, golden light suddenly shone from his palm, and a golden fox blade, over ten feet long, materialized out of thin air. Within the flowing golden light on the blade, the blue fox markings moved as if they were alive. The moment it opened its sharp fangs, it let out a piercing fox howl that made one's eardrums ache.

The Golden Fox Blade, carrying a scorching heat wave like molten lava, slashed towards Li Weizhou. Wherever it passed, the space seemed to be distorted by the heat. Not to mention Hou Haikun and Luo San, even Ting Yangxiao had to take several steps back.

This was personally handled by the Immortal Spirit True Lord.

Tingyang Xiao looked at Li Weizhou with a very strange gaze. It is said that the Tingyang clan has a volatile temper due to their cultivation techniques and is easily angered.

Compared to this one, all the disciples of the Tingyang Clan are moral exemplars of benevolence, righteousness, and propriety!
Immortal Spirit True Lord's move was indeed extraordinary, but Li Weizhou did not panic. He simply raised his hand and pressed it down above his head. The pillars of light on the five mountain peaks suddenly swelled, and the five giant swords hummed as they slashed through the sky. The five elemental runes on the swords were dazzlingly bright. He didn't even bother to defend himself and directly rammed into the Golden Fox Blade.

"clang!"

The moment the Five Elements Giant Sword and the Golden Fox Blade collided, a deafening roar like thunder echoed across the entire valley, startling flocks of birds in the distant forest into taking flight.

The shockwave from the explosion of metal-elemental spiritual power and the five elements' spiritual light sent Hou Haikun and Luo San, who had already retreated far away, flying directly into the stone wall of the mountain gate, causing them to grimace in pain.

Ting Yangxiao only retreated a few steps, but ended up suffering the most damage. His protective aura was shattered, and his robe was burned with several holes by sparks. He looked down and couldn't help but curse, "That old bastard really went all out!"

Looking again at the center of the square in front of the mountain gate, the bluestone slabs had been shattered into pieces, and the pebbles, wrapped in spiritual energy, flew and hit the stone lion next to it. With a "crack", a piece of the lion's right front paw was broken off.

Hu Yuan's hand holding the Golden Fox Blade went slightly numb, and his pupils contracted to pinpoints.

He hadn't expected that this lower realm disciple was really as rumored by the Flowing Cloud Sect, able to use the power of the great formation to withstand a Celestial Spirit True Monarch!
The power of this Five Elements Formation was far greater than he had anticipated.

Immediately, his gaze grew even more intense.

Hu Yue left behind some valuable things, which should rightfully return to the Hu family!
Hu Yuan's eyes widened, and he unleashed even more metal-elemental spiritual power from his palm. The blue fox pattern on the golden fox blade instantly surged, and it actually pounced on the giant sword like a living fox. He shouted sternly, "You ignorant lower realm brat, today I will dismantle your great formation and capture you to take you back to your clan for punishment!"

Li Weizhou stood with his hands behind his back, as steady as a mountain. He simply raised his hand and made a grasping motion in the air, then sneered, "Asking for punishment? You think you can leave without compensating my Five Elements Sect for its losses today?!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the five giant swords suddenly merged into one, transforming into a massive five-colored sword of light, which slashed down fiercely at Hu Yuan's head.

The golden fox blade lunged forward, and the blue fox opened its mouth wide, as if to swallow the giant sword whole, but it was far beyond its ability to do so...

"squeak!!"

It was as if a mournful cry of a blue fox truly rang out; the Golden Fox Blade was no match for the five-colored giant sword!

Hu Yuan felt it even more deeply. He looked at this scene with a horrified expression. The immense pressure from the golden fox blade made him unable to believe that the person he was fighting was a True Person who had just entered the Spirit God realm.

But he was certain that this lower realm being could not be a Celestial Spirit True Lord.

This demonstrates just how powerful the legacy left by Hu Yue is!
He abruptly withdrew his golden fox blade, gave Li Weizhou a deep look, and said, "Very well, you're using my Hu family's heritage to deal with me. Fine, since I say I won't listen to you, I'll have the ancestor come in person. I want to see if you can still seize my Hu family's heritage!"

Li Weizhou chuckled and turned to look at Tingyang Xiao, asking, "What's your Tingyang clan's explanation?"

Tingyang Xiao dusted off the ashes, stepped forward, and looked at Hu Yuan, saying, "Ancestor of the Hu family, I am Tingyang Xiao, the eldest son of Tingyang Zhengping. Because Sect Leader Li's beloved wife has mastered our clan's 'Thunder Sword Manual,' I have come on the orders of our clan's Heavenly Venerable to invite Sect Leader Li's family to Zhongzhou to become a branch of our clan." He paused and added, "A core branch! Therefore, if the Earthly Venerable of the Hu family has any thoughts, he can speak directly with our clan's Heavenly Venerable."

……

(End of this chapter)