Chapter 186 War Incident

More than half a year later, Xiaogui Peak.

"Finally we have taken this step."

Lu Changan put away a letter in his hand, looked towards the south of Wuqi Mountain, and murmured to himself.

squeak!

The rock rat scratched the back of his head, rolled his eyes slightly, and looked at his master in confusion.

The Xuanshui turtle not far away, with a body width of 18 feet, lay lazily beside the pond with blooming lotus flowers. It has maintained a certain habit for more than 20 years, staring in a certain direction every day.

Blackwater turtles are still far from adulthood.

It didn't know that the female nun, the human nun it was once closest to, was approaching the centenary mark and had entered her twilight years.

…

Half a month later.

A well-dressed young man in the early stages of foundation building flew to the Little Turtle Peak on the escaping light.

"Junior Li Congren, please pay your respects to Grandpa Lu."

The foundation-building young man smiled and saluted in a neither humble nor arrogant manner.

"Congren, please come in and sit down."

Lu Changan sat in the pavilion and activated the formation on the mountain.

The Li Congren in front of him is the grandson of Li Ergou, who used to be named "Mu Congren".

Zhizhi!

The rock rat emerged from the hole not far away, licked its lips, and stared directly at this distant visitor.

Mu Congren's mind tightened, and with fear in his eyes, he looked at the late second-level Earth Rock Rat.

He subconsciously held onto the spiritual pet bag around his waist.

"Grandpa Lu, this is my first visit since I established the foundation, so I made some omissions. This is a special product to honor you."

Entering the pavilion, Li Congren presented a large gift box.

Lu Changan's consciousness swept away and he was slightly surprised. Li Congren's gift was several pieces of second-grade high-grade ore, including a piece of quasi-third-grade cold iron concentrate.

"Congren is interested."

Over the years, he has tried to build a second-level top-level puppet and has a demand for high-quality materials.

After accepting Li Congren's filial piety, Lu Changan couldn't help but think of Lin Lu.

The junior who showed such filial piety last time was trapped in the battlefield of a neighboring country, and his life or death was uncertain.

"Grandpa Lu, this is the debt Congren paid for his grandfather."

Li Congren handed over another brocade bag.

"Um."

Lu Changan weighed it and found that there were two thousand low-grade spiritual stones inside.

Before "Mu Congren" expanded overseas, Li Erqing had purchased a batch of valuable combat supplies from him, including second-level and high-grade talismans, and two second-level puppets.

At that time, the spiritual stones that Li Erqing and his grandson had accumulated over the years were drained, and they still owed Lu Changan two thousand spiritual stones.

Because Li Erqing had many descendants, Lu Changan was not worried about repaying the debt at all.

"Congren has something to thank Grandpa Lu. Those war preparation materials sold at a low price twenty years ago played a great role in critical moments. They helped the younger generation repel the evil cultivators and protect the safety of the clan."

Li Congren said gratefully.

"Some time ago, Tinglingzu mentioned you in a letter. It is not easy to lead a branch of the clan to expand overseas and take root in remote and cold places. It is not easy to achieve such a development momentum."

Lu Changan looked at the calm and capable Li Congren and praised him.

Li Congren's qualifications are similar to Mu Bingyun.

Although this son has no outstanding skills, he is good at management.

The branch line he brought out has good momentum of development. In just 20 years, the overall strength has caught up with the established foundation-building family, but their background is far behind.

Not long ago, Li Congren officially changed his surname to "Li", and his branch established its own branch, named "Xuemei Mountain Li Family".

The lineage he brought out were all direct descendants of Li Erqing. After nearly two decades of preparation, this matter did not face much resistance.

Some of the elders of the Feiyue Lake family complained, but they did not raise an army to hold him accountable.

Mu Bingyun acquiesced to this matter.

Back then, three foundation-building monks appeared in Feiyue Lake at the same time. The Mu family's spiritual veins could not accommodate so many monks.

At that time, the conflicts and interests between the new and old factions of the Mu family were inconsistent, and they were at a development bottleneck. It was Li Congren who took the initiative to take away the direct descendants of Li Erqing and run them in remote places with poor conditions.

If Li Congren did not take responsibility, Feiyue Lake, which failed to expand in the past, would sooner or later fall apart due to internal strife.

"Although it is hard for the family to expand outside the country, it does not have the same constraints as the original family. With the concerted efforts of the clan members, and a little bit of favorable weather and location, the younger generation has finally gained a firm foothold."

Li Congren said modestly.

However, Lu Changan knew that harmony was often more difficult than the right time and place.

Li Congren is good at business management, far better than his grandfather in this aspect, and Mu Bingyun is not as good as him.

nowadays. Although the Li family has separated, it maintains close contact and cooperation with the Feiyue Lake Mu family.

After all, the two races share the same blood.

Moreover, Li Erqing himself did not want to leave the Mu family and vowed to guard Feiyue Lake until the last day.

This is an important link for close cooperation between the two communities.

…

After talking for half an hour, Lu Changan had some understanding of Li Congren's current situation.

The "Li family" established by Li Congren is located in the northwest of Liang State, close to the border of Liang State.

The specific location is on the southwest side of the beast-controlling Zhou family.

If you go from Yushou Zhou's family to the "Redbud Fairy City" in the west of Liang Kingdom, you will pass near the clan of the "Xuemei Mountain Li Family".

Bauhinia Fairy City is also close to the border of the Liang Kingdom and has trade relations with the Jing Kingdom in the Western Regions.

Li Congren's ability to take root in a more chaotic and cold place also benefited from his diplomatic skills.

For example, the Beast Controlling Zhou family is the strongest immortal cultivating family in that area.

Li Congren relied on his relationship with Lu Changan and his filial piety to maintain a good relationship with "Zhou Jingxuan" of the Zhou family.

In terms of personal relationships, Li Congren had a life-long friendship with a casual cultivator who was in the middle stage of foundation building.

This casual cultivator in the middle stage of foundation building became the worshiper of the Li family.

Not only that.

Li Congren also became a Taoist partner with a female cultivator in the early stage of foundation building, but it was not made public.

The rapid development of the Li family also benefited from what Li Congren called "the right time and right place".

Simply put, it was a war fortune.

Ten years before the war, the Li family bought the development rights of a mine for 50 years at a low price.

As the war started, the prices of various materials rose, and gold and iron-related ores were naturally no exception.

In addition to the appreciation of minerals.

The war materials circulated from Jing State to Liang State promoted the prosperity of trade around the Li family.

"Jing State, what is the current situation?"

Lu Changan asked curiously.

At present, several nearby countries, Liang State, Feng State, Yan State, and Chen State, are involved in the Xiuxian War.

However, the battlefield is limited to Feng State.

"Jing is a neutral country for cultivating immortals. It has no fourth-order spiritual veins or Yuanying-level sects, and never participates in disputes with neighboring countries."

"The country is located in the angle between Chen, Liang, and the Black Mist Mountains. It is rich in materials and has relatively developed trade. In the immortal wars over the years, the sects and families of Jing have made a fortune from the war..."

Li Congren described the situation in Jing.

The Li family lineage is close to the northwest border of Liang and has dealings with merchants from Jing.

Seeing that Lu Changan was quite interested, Li Congren gave him a jade tube, which recorded the situation of Jing's immortal world.

"Jing, as a neutral country for cultivating immortals, does not intervene in the war, and the situation is stable. It is an alternative retreat."

Lu Changan thought to himself.

...

Afterwards, Lu Changan gave this grandson some pointers on cultivation.

Li Congren is nearly ten years younger than Mu Bingyun. He has reached the peak of the initial stage of foundation building. If he wants to break through the bottleneck, he still needs to polish it for a few years.

Before leaving.

Li Congren purchased a batch of war supplies from Lu Changan.

Li Congren's financial resources were beyond Lu Changan's expectations.

This boy bought three puppets, one each of the early, middle and late stages of the second stage.

As for the talismans, he mainly used the second-stage middle and upper-grade ones, and purchased a dozen or so, including two of the top-grade second-stage ones.

Of course, this kind of financial resources is the wealth of a family, not Li Congren's personal property.

Squeak!

The rock rat looked agitated, and when he saw Li Congren soaring into the air, he showed an unwilling expression.

"I'm sorry to make Grandpa Lu laugh. I have a pet spirit rat, which is only at the early stage of the second stage. It is not good at fighting and dare not come out to see the rock rat."

Li Congren explained with a smile.

"Oh? Is Congren's pet spirit rat male or female?"

"Male." Li Congren replied.

Lu Changan glanced at the rock rat with a smile.

After Mu Congren left Wu Qishan.

Lu Changan communicated with the rock rat for a while.

"Mu Congren's pet spirit rat has a bloodline grade that is not inferior to the current rock rat. It is not good at fighting. Could it be a rare rat that hunts for treasures or minerals? If so, its value is much higher than the rock rat."

"It seems that the lineage led by Mu Congren has such a good development momentum, not just the appreciation of existing minerals."

Thinking of the quasi-third-level ore that Mu Congren presented as a tribute, Lu Changan couldn't help but speculate.

He had no intention of exploring or coveting.

For a foundation-building cultivator, this can only be regarded as an opportunity within the normal range, and at the same time, it took advantage of the war.

...

Three years passed in a flash.

Lu Changan practiced at the sixth level of foundation-building for seven or eight years.

One day, Master Manrong came to Xiaogui Peak and brought a piece of news.

"Shen Bixin and Song Wenshu's engagement has been postponed?"

Lu Changan was surprised and almost thought that Master Fairy was joking.

A few months ago, they received an invitation letter sent by Song Wenshu, and the engagement was half a year later.

"At first, I didn't believe it either. But this is the news from the disciples of Lihuo Palace."

Shi Manrong looked puzzled.

"The engagement was postponed, not cancelled. What happened?"

Lu Changan felt strange and pondered.

Although Song Wenshu was not a true disciple or a direct descendant of the elders in Lihuo Palace, he had a good background.

"Has the price of formations increased recently?"

"There is no movement for low-level formations, but the demand and price of quasi-third-level formations have increased abnormally."

Shi Xianzi answered, and soon became thoughtful.

"Are you suspicious that this matter is related to the war?"

She turned her clear eyes and looked at Lu Changan.

"If Song Wenshu was suddenly summoned to the front line by the sect, then the postponement of the engagement was an irresistible reason and it was not shameful."

Lu Changan thought of a possibility.

"Three years ago, the Liang State Sect summoned the third batch of cultivators. The fourth batch of recruitment is indeed coming soon..."

Shi Xianzi pondered.

But Lu Changan had a feeling that things were not that simple.

Because, in the past year, he has not received any war news from Zhao Tan'er of Jinyun Valley.

Lu Chang'an speculated: There may be unknown changes in the front-line war in the neighboring country.

Zhao Tan'er was probably banned by the sect and could not pass on information about the war.

The channel for obtaining war information was blocked, and Lu Chang'an felt uneasy.

If the war of cultivating immortals is a big storm, then he is like a small boat on the sea.

The current situation is equivalent to saying that a small boat has lost the prediction of storm weather.

In a few years, Lu Chang'an will be able to advance to the late stage of foundation building, and his strength will increase greatly, but he does not want to face any accidents.

“There is a place where we should be able to get the latest war intelligence…”