Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

In the fleeting shimmer of the Floating Light, the towering ancient woods spread across the mountains and hills, with vines intertwining amongst the trees.

Colorful miasmas not only permeated through the woods but also formed clusters of virulent cloud mist in the upper sky.

Within the mountains, hills, and dense vegetation, Fierce Beasts and demon birds often appeared and disappeared.

Moreover, various strange and rare Gu worms would gather and disperse, forming patches of insect clouds that rampaged across the forests and marshes.

Seeing the rapidly changing images before him, Zhao Sheng couldn't help but smile broadly, knowing that these were the real terrains within the Desolate Domain,

These images were extremely precious,

as they were the true memories of a Nascent Soul Ancestor.

These were captured by the Yuye Ancestor after personally exploring the Desolate Domain, imprinting all that had been seen and heard along the journey onto the True Shadow Ball with powerful Divine Thought.

Although this True Shadow Ball only contained a copy of the original imprint, it was still a treasure that no ordinary Cultivation Families could obtain.

After just a short while of observation, Zhao Sheng immediately ordered Zhao Xuan'an to unfold the map.

Zhao Xuan'an nodded and tossed the map forward.

The map unfurled slowly, and in an instant, a large map nearly three square meters in size hovered in front of everyone.

The Zhao Family members approached, looking down upon the spread-out map to see mountains, rivers, forests, marshes all complete, with various names marked on it.

Only a small portion of the terrain was covered in black, gray, red, yellow, and green colors.

The very center of the map was dyed a grayish black, revealing an area of mountains marked with the words "Pig Emperor Ridge."

Ge Feng'er stepped forward, pointed at the map, and introduced, "My uncles, please look. This map covers nearly seven thousand miles. The degree of danger is represented by colors."

Black denotes absolute Dead Lands, the most dangerous level. Even a Nascent Soul entering it would barely survive.

Gray areas indicate the presence of Transformed Demons. Following that are red, which represents Golden Core demon beasts, and yellow for Foundation Establishment demon beasts.

The remaining majority of green areas do not mean absolute safety but stand for the unknown—only that no Foundation Establishment or higher level demon beasts have been discovered there yet."

Zhao Sheng carefully examined the map, noticing that the closer to Pig Emperor Ridge, the more red and yellow areas there were. On the contrary, the majority of the green unknown areas were on the edges of the map.

Without any need for Ge Feng'er to explain further, the Zhao Family members quickly realized that those territories occupied by demon beasts might very well be where the Spirit Veins were located.

The colors indicating danger levels also often hinted at the rank of the Spirit Veins. The gray Pig Emperor Ridge could very likely contain a Third-rank Spirit Vein, while the yellow areas were likely to be First-rank Spirit Veins, at the very least, they were lands of miscellaneous spirits.

The areas above red were not for the Zhao Family to covet. Zhao Sheng quickly moved on, his gaze shifting to those yellow areas.

After carefully considering for a while, Zhao Sheng silently selected a few areas in his mind.

He looked up, asking the others, "After looking at the map, have you selected any targets for our strategy?"

"I think Yellow Maple Valley is good, with its open terrain, suitable for farming."

"No, I think Five Dragons River is better. Here, five waters converge naturally forming a dragon's lair, which is sure to yield heavy treasures."

"Safety first, the area around Qingsong Mountain is all green, not very dangerous, suitable for our family to conquer."

After discussing seven or eight locations, Zhao Sheng turned his head to Zhao Jijian and said, "Fourth Master, the True Shadow Ball!"

Hmm,

Zhao Jijian nodded, manipulated the True Shadow Ball, and as a plethora of light and shadows changed rapidly, the image quickly settled on a gentle terrain covered with red and yellow maple trees in a valley.

"Hmm, Yellow Maple Valley!" Zhao Jijian declared calmly.

The True Shadow Ball came from the hands of a Nascent Soul Ancestor, and the images were transformed from Divine Sense visions.

Although Red Maple Valley was just a glimpse in Divine Sense, the resolution was still very high, and the terrain and trees were clearly visible.

At this moment, Ge Feng'er timely took out a book and quickly flipped through dozens of pages, soon stopping on one page.

She read aloud, "Yellow Maple Valley, abundant with Spiritual Maple, inhabited by groups of Red-tailed Flying Squirrel demon beasts, currently there's one Second Order Red-tailed Flying Squirrel."

Seeing that she didn't continue, Zhao Sheng asked in surprise, "That's it?"

"That's it. The Yuye Ancestor only spoke these few sentences. It seems that in his esteemed eyes, anything below a Second Order Demon Beast isn't worth mentioning."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Sheng felt extremely regretful and had no choice but to say, "What does everyone think of Red Maple Valley? For the sake of the family's great enterprise, please speak your minds freely!"

"I think..."

...

Four hours later, as the sky gradually darkened, the courtyard of the Zhao Family on Taifu Mountain was ablaze with enthusiastic discussions about a certain spirit land, with fierce debates erupting from time to time.

At this time, three or four yellow regions on the map were already marked with crosses, areas like Red Maple Valley and Five Dragons River were abandoned by the Zhao family due to various flaws.

Zhao Sheng looked up at the outside sky, then at everyone, and suddenly said, "Let me suggest a place! Lush Peach Mountain, what do you all think?"

As soon as he spoke, everyone immediately quieted down, and Ge Feng'er quickly searched the booklets, reading aloud, "Lush Peach Mountain, countless rotten peaches grow in the mountain, and it is pervaded by peach blossom miasma. A group of long-armed White Apes resides here, with both a male and a female Second Order White Ape, both of which are fierce and belligerent."

After Zhao Jijian pulled up the image of Lush Peach Mountain, he looked at the large patches of pink miasma clouds drifting over the mountain forests in the picture.

He couldn't help frowning and said, "Peach blossom miasma is notorious for its mind-befuddling and intense poison, common Barrier Avoiding Pills might not be effective. Plus, there are two Second Order Demon Apes and an unknown number of White Ape groups. Such a perilous place is hard for the family to handle!"

Hearing his words, Zhao Xuan'an, Zhao Keru, and others nodded one after another, then looked towards Zhao Sheng.

Zhao Sheng swept his gaze over everyone and said with a smile, "The reason I chose this place is manifold, but mainly for three reasons.

First, within a circumference of six hundred miles around Lush Peach Mountain, there is a number of First and Second Order spirit lands, indicating that the concentration of Spiritual Energy in this area must be high. Once developed in the future, the surrounding area is bound to become a bustling Cultivation region.

Second, Lush Peach Mountain has numerous peach trees, and spiritual peaches must be common. This is very similar to Taifu Mountain, which will be very convenient for future relocation, exchange, or transplantation of spiritual peaches.

Third, I have my eye on..."

After Zhao Sheng finished stating the three reasons, Zhao Jijian and others had a brief discussion and decided to temporarily set Lush Peach Mountain as a backup choice, and they would continue discussing to see if there was a more suitable place.

Zhao Sheng had no dissatisfaction with this. As it was a matter of great importance, it was only right that everyone considered all possibilities.

If the location was decided too easily with just a few words, Zhao Sheng would actually be disappointed.

The Zhao family discussed for three full days about where to expand their territory, going over almost all the yellow regions, and finally selected two or three suitable places, including Lush Peach Mountain.

Next, the Zhao Family members prepared for the expansion into the Desolate Domain, keeping them busy all the time.

In the face of a major battle between humans and demon beasts, Zhao Sheng dared not take it lightly.

He mixed twenty-three Cultivators of the Zhao Family who were above the Third Layer of Qi Refining and twenty-one Innate Martial Artists into three squads, and subjected them to strict training using the methods of secular military forces.

A month later, just as the Zhao Family members were being drilled to the point of exhaustion by Zhao Sheng, a sudden message arrived from the Ge family at Taifu Mountain.

Zhao Sheng looked at Ge Feng'er, who had voluntarily come over, and asked, "Has the date for the expansion war been set?"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Ge Feng'er nodded.

"When is it?"

"Wait until the eighth day of the ninth month in autumn!"