Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 1867: Chapter 1122: Changes in the Situation of the Central Region (Part 2)

But things were different now. He had already reached Half-step Enlightenment. Across the entire Wanhua Domain, aside from the Heavenly Canon Daoist Master whose life was about to end, he feared no one.

In just an instant, Yang Zhenshan decided that he was going to fight for that seat of authority.

Strength is the fiercest accelerant of ambition; the rise in his strength made Yang Zhenshan’s ambition swell countless times in a heartbeat.

He no longer sought steady, peaceful development. He wanted to stand atop the peak of the Wanhua Domain, overlooking it all, gazing toward the boundless Void.

Of course, he wouldn’t rush out rashly. That wasn’t his style; he had always preferred to scheme first and act later.

The Heavenly Constitution Road had yet to enter the field. If he stuck his head out now, he’d just be asking for trouble, so for the time being he still had to keep a low profile.

At the very least, he had to wait until the Heavenly Constitution Road made its move before he could reveal his own strength.

Only then could he snatch food from the tiger’s jaws amid the scramble of the various powers.

”What about the Southern Domain?” Yang Zhenshan continued asking.

”The war in the Southern Domain is getting more and more intense. It’s said the South Sea Demon Court has sent more than ten Demon Kings ashore, and Hengshan Sect has also dispatched quite a few Golden Core Cultivators. However, up to now, the two sides still haven’t started a full-scale war between Golden Core Cultivators and Demon Kings!”

Yang Zhenshan pondered. The fact that the two sides hadn’t started a war between Golden Core Cultivators and Demon Kings meant that they were still holding back and had no intention of fighting to the death at this stage.

In truth, the battle situation in the Southern Domain had always been more intense than that in the Wanhua Mountain Range. It was just that the forces fighting the South Sea Demon Court over there were all local powers of the Southern Domain, so the conflict there wasn’t as eye-catching as the war in the Wanhua Mountain Range.

”And the Northern Domain?”

”The Northern Domain, on the other hand, is quiet now. After the Beihai Demon Court pushed a thousand miles inland, they just stopped. No one knows why.”

”The Beihai Demon Court stopped?” Yang Zhenshan’s steps paused.

”That’s right, they stopped long ago—about eight years ago they already ceased their offensive!” Kou Ta replied.

Yang Zhenshan kept walking forward and stepped into a pavilion. ”Looks like the Beihai Demon Court also doesn’t plan on going all-out yet. They were just setting up a forward position.”

”What about the remaining Central Domain?”

Kou Ta frowned in thought, then said, ”The situation in the Central Domain is very strange. Conflicts between the Ten Thousand Treasures Store and the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion keep breaking out, but the two sides still haven’t erupted into large-scale battles. Right now the Central Domain is boiling over everywhere, and even Wanbao Immortal City has become much more chaotic.”

The situation was growing ever more turbulent. All the major powers were preparing for the great war to come, while countless monsters and miscreants were jumping out to stir up trouble.

Previously, the East, West, South, and North Domains had all been rife with conflict. Now even the Central Domain was no longer peaceful.

On the rooftop terrace of the pavilion, Kou Ta poured tea for Yang Zhenshan. Yang Zhenshan lounged lazily on a soft couch.

”Looks like no one wants to make a move yet.”

”They don’t want to make a move? Why?”

”Because they’re all waiting for the Heavenly Canon Daoist Master to fall.”

”The Heavenly Canon Daoist Master!” Kou Ta mused. ”Right, the Heavenly Constitution Road still hasn’t entered the field. They seem awfully low-key.”

In the past, he had never considered such matters, because his level was too low to reach them.

Now he was already a Golden Core Cultivator. Though he still couldn’t affect the grand situation, he at least had the qualification to understand these things.

”So, should we be doing something next?”

He looked toward Yang Zhenshan, a gleam of sharp light flashing in his eyes.

The seat of authority seemed to possess a supreme demonic allure, capable of stirring the ambition of countless people, driving them into madness without their even realizing it. ℯℯ𝑙.

Kou Ta had never thought of fighting for the seat of authority himself, but he did want Yang Zhenshan to become the Authority Master.

With his own strength, he had no hope of seizing the seat of authority; he at least had that much self-awareness.

He felt that Yang Zhenshan would also find it difficult to claim that seat, yet that didn’t stop him from thinking about it.

As the saying goes, when one man attains the Dao, even his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.

If Yang Zhenshan could seize the seat of authority, then White Jade City could replace the Heavenly Constitution Road, and those of them who followed him would have a much brighter future.

”No rush. The time hasn’t come yet. It’s still not our turn to act.”

”Help me collect some Void Star Cores over the next few days. I have a use for them.”

Yang Zhenshan said casually.

”No problem, I’ve already started collecting them!” Kou Ta agreed without even thinking.

Yang Zhenshan nodded with a smile. ”Then I’ll trouble you with that.”

He had already reached Half-step Enlightenment, which meant he could already attempt to refine the Nine Tripod Divine Pill.

The strength of White Jade City was still somewhat lacking; it couldn’t yet vie with those major powers.

Yang Zhenshan still needed to enhance White Jade City’s strength, to accumulate foundation for it, and at the same time he wanted Yu Qingyi, Yang Mingcheng, and the others to set foot on the Golden Core Path.

After chatting with Kou Ta for an hour, Yang Zhenshan went to find Yu Qingyi. Over these years, Yu Qingyi had been busy training treants; she had already begun cultivating Second-Order treants, which were equivalent to Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

After accompanying Yu Qingyi for a few days, Yang Zhenshan spent another few days handling some matters of White Jade City. In truth, there wasn’t much that required his direct intervention. What he needed to do was simply chat with everyone and keep in touch.

Qing Niu, Yue Yao, Yun Xiao, Xuanzhen and the others—since he’d come out of seclusion, he naturally had to see them, ask about their situations, and exchange cultivation insights.

After spending roughly half a month, Yang Zhenshan finally headed to the Pill Hall to start refining pills.

First, a batch of Tongming Pills to warm up. Mm, his hands hadn’t grown rusty, and he’d even improved.

Perhaps due to his Half-step Enlightenment, Yang Zhenshan now had a deeper understanding of pill refinement.

Next, another batch of Thunder Tribulation Pills to reacquaint himself.

In the end, Yang Zhenshan refined a batch of Top-grade Demon Essence Pills.

This time, he directly used three Demon Cores and refined five Demon Essence Pills of different attributes, three of which were top-grade and two high-grade.

This display left Zhang Hexuan and Yang Zongyuan utterly dumbfounded, their faces full of disbelief.

They too were now capable of refining Top-grade Demon Essence Pills, but each time they did so they first had to design a pill formula based on the Demon Core, then refine the Demon Essence Pill according to that formula. Every step had to be weighed repeatedly, constantly revised, constantly tested, with extreme caution throughout. Even so, their success rate in producing top-grade pills remained very low.

But Yang Zhenshan?

He used three Demon Cores with different attributes to refine five Demon Essence Pills of differing attributes—and the key was that three of those Demon Essence Pills were top-grade.

This was simply beyond anything they could imagine.

”Master, how did you do this?” Zhang Hexuan held the porcelain plate, staring at the perfectly round pills on it, still finding it hard to believe.

Yang Zhenshan laughed. ”Very simple—just understand how to configure medicinal properties and control their distribution inside the furnace.”

”...”

Zhang Hexuan and Yang Zongyuan exchanged speechless looks.

It was very simple!

Everyone understood the theory—but who could actually do it?

The most troublesome part of refining Demon Essence Pills lay in configuring the medicinal properties, which was the process of drafting the pill formula.

Because this was a process of formulating a prescription based on the attributes of each Demon Core. Every Demon Core was different, so each formula they drafted would also differ.

For that reason, every time they refined Demon Essence Pills, they had to spend a huge amount of time designing pill formulas.

But this time, Yang Zhenshan had prepared for only three days before directly throwing the three Demon Cores into the Furnace of Eight Trigrams. This clearly didn’t fit their standard procedure for refining Demon Essence Pills.

In essence, the principle was the same; it was just that Yang Zhenshan was able to control the ratio of medicinal properties inside the Pill Furnace, and continuously adjust that ratio according to the changing medicinal balance within.

This not only required him to have an in-depth understanding of medicinal properties, but also demanded that he grasp every change inside the furnace to the utmost degree.

Zhang Hexuan and Yang Zongyuan naturally couldn’t do this, so they found it very hard to comprehend Yang Zhenshan’s control over medicinal properties.

Yang Zhenshan didn’t explain further. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to teach them, but rather that with their current level of cultivation, there was simply no way for them to reach this realm.

Telling them these things now would be no different from pulling up seedlings to help them grow.

”Alright, tidy up. Next, we’re going to refine the Evergreen Pill.”

The Evergreen Pill was a top-tier Third-tier Elixir, with effects of strengthening the foundation and replenishing vitality, extending life force, affinity with nature, and Wood Spirit rebirth.

So-called Wood Spirit rebirth meant that when a cultivator died but their soul had not yet dispersed, if they carried an Evergreen Pill close to their body, the medicinal power would wrap around the remaining soul and sink into the earth, using the life force of countless plants to recongeal a physical body. Seven days later they would break out of the ground, reborn anew.

Although after rebirth they would lose all their cultivation, they would preserve their life, and their new body would possess an extreme affinity with the world’s plants and trees.

This was a Divine Pill on par with the Nine Tripod Divine Pill, and its refinement difficulty was only slightly lower than that of the Nine Tripod Divine Pill.