CH 24

Lingshan Nie family, Qingfeng Lou.

The Qingfeng Luo was a place built by the Nie family that was completed in the past two years. The small building stood high on the mountainside, facing the Lingshan Mountain across the small square. When Lingshan was not opened, it was the tallest building within a radius of dozens of miles. One could enjoy hundreds of flowers in spring and leaves in autumn, the breeze in summer and snow in winter. As Lingshan opened, it was the closest building to Lingshan Mountain. Sitting here, one could get an overview of the overall situation and facilitate deployment. Therefore, it became Nie Yao’s favorite.

Tonight, everything was stable. Nie Yao and Zhang Jinjin were playing chess here at the moment.

Nie Yao looked at the chessboard pieces worth three thousand spirit stones on the table, and couldn’t help but sigh in his heart. Lingshan opens every three years in accordance with the ancestral tradition. Although the immortals were cut off from the world, the ancestor of the Nie family, Nie Wuya, realized the Tao in the process of making iron was connected to a person’s daily life, and practiced in the family for a long time. It can be said that the whole family’s strength was used for thousands of years before his ascent. He personally brought many family members to the path of immortal cultivation.

A person that had lived for nearly a thousand years, naturally had seen many partings of life and death, and the vicissitudes of the world. Leaving the Jianlu Lingshan Mountain before the ascension, although it was for the benefit of the immortal world, it had left a rich legacy for the descendants of the Nie family.

However, whether the inheritance can be managed well depends on the ability of the Nie family.

After Nie Wuya’s ascension, the Nie family really enjoyed a good time for a while, and were hailed as one of the five famous masters in the world of immortality. But it was a pity that the Lingshan Nie family did not have any amazing talents in the next few hundred years, and the descendants who were sitting on the mountain would not be able to run it. Although several generations of family owners struggled to revitalize in the middle, the good times did not last long. Lingshan was such a big sect that once fell to the point where even a monthly salary could not be paid out.

Cultivation of immortals costs quite a lot. Before the establishment of the Moyun Mountain Spirit Array, it would take a lot of money and manpower just to explore, occupy and maintain the immortal cultivation place full of spiritual power, not to mention purchasing medicinal pills and spiritual tools to aid in cultivation. Even if it was self-sufficient, the medicinal herbs needed for medical practitioners, and the ore equipment used for refining tools were all huge expenses. From one school to another, if outstanding disciples can continue to emerge and make the world feel promising, there would be wealthy children vying for apprenticeships, and there will naturally be no shortage of offerings. Practitioners, from then on, would embark on a virtuous cycle and return to the next cycle.

Therefore, unless one was a rare genius, it would be extremely difficult for a loose cultivator without wealth and power to succeed in the world of immortals. Families on decline would only enter into a vicious cycle of getting worse and worse.

Nie Yuanshan, the patriarch of the previous generation, was still very competitive. The young man studied hard and deliberately traveled all over the world. It was said that he went to the Eastern Sea to catch mosquitoes, explored the deserts and made great efforts in overturning the battle that occurred in the Linmo Abyss. He gained fame in the immortal world and made many friends. Only then did he slowly pull the family out of the quagmire, but he was also lukewarm and could barely maintain the dignity of a sect.

Until ten years ago, Nie Yao began to take charge of family affairs.

However, Nie Yao was able to take charge of the clan affairs because of Zhang Jinjin.

Ten years ago, Nie Yao was considered talented and intelligent in the family. At the age of 13, he successfully passed the Qi condensation stage and built a foundation at the age of 15. However, at the age of 17, when he formed his golden core, he signed up as a deacon in his family. One must know that good resources in the big family were always reserved for the talented disciples, and errands of the deacon were all left to the unlucky people who can’t make it.

Nie Yao had excellent results in the family selection. He could have learned advanced skills with Nie Yuanshan, but unexpectedly, he chose to wear a deacon hall dress. His father became so angry that he blew his beard and glared with hateful eyes. He immediately led him to find Nie Yuanshan to be judged.

At that time, Nie Yao only said, “Cultivation is in the heart, and freedom can only be achieved. Otherwise, it is easy to have inner demons, which is not good for cultivation. This son does not like to follow steps in his cultivation, but he is very interested in managing family affairs. Dad, don’t worry, I will not definitely let go of my practice, but I also want to do what I like.”

Seeing the old father’s face that was about to choke to death, he lowered his voice and persuaded, “Is it because you are afraid that this son will not be able to practice with good spiritual stones and spiritual tools in the future? When this son becomes the chief steward, those things will naturally come. Do you think this son will treat himself unfairly?”

His words made his father stunned, and he couldn’t find a reason to refute it. After struggling for a few days, he let him be. On this day, the newly promoted deacon Nie Yao went to the street to shop, then found a new calligraphy and painting store called “Golden Pavilion” on the corner of the street. It was said that the people who buy and sell calligraphy and painting were all elegant people, no matter how poor, they must all be ingenious. The word “Golden” on the sign of this shop was enough to make those hypocrites avoid it, however Nie Yao admired his attitude of rather being a real villain, and walked in like a ghost..

The shop was not big, there was only one boss and one waiter, there were no famous masterpieces, but the main focus was on storybooks.

At that time, most of the popular storybooks in the market were based on ghost legends, with crude and vulgar content. There were even so many copies of storybooks with printed changed covers and names to cheat money. The storybook of Golden Pavilion mainly focuses on legendary stories, mainly on bizarre events that happened in various places, supplemented by commentary analysis, which was very fresh and refined among a lot of shoddy ghost legends.

It’s just that on a pamphlet about Lingshan’s Taoism discourse, there were several obvious mistakes in it, and even the steps to go up the mountain were reversed. Nie Yao pointed it out on a whim.

Zhang Jinjin suddenly felt like he had won a prize, and pulled Nie Yao out for dinner. The two went to Taibai Building, the largest building in Hongye, and between cups of wine, they found that they were like-minded in “custom affairs”. After the meal, they called each other brothers.

Zhang Jinjin patted Nie Yao’s shoulder and said, “Brother Nie, you really entered the mountain and returned empty? Thinking about your family’s spiritual mountain, there are at least a dozen people who acquire celestial weapons every year, and these dozen people must have something special. Who they are, how they learn from teachers, how they cultivate, what they encountered in Lingshan, and how to acquire the celestial weapon in the end, these are all living materials! Lingshan Mountain is open every three years, and when the mountain is not open, the world remembers the successful contenders!  And the dozens of stories of these dozen people are enough for the cultivators in the Central Plains to discuss for three years. By then, more people will come to Lingshan, and more cultivators will join your Nie family.”

Nie Yao was enlightened, and he took a crucial step in Nie’s family’s secular affairs.

In the first year, they traveled to the southern countries together, went to various teahouses and taverns to listen to storytellers, hired local talents to write legendary storybooks, sent them to various states for sales, and secretly collected public comments. When reprinting, they adjusted the story according to the trend of the comments.

In the second year, when Lingshan Mountain opened, Zhang Jinjin gathered people from the two states and eight cities around Hongye City, made on-site records in the square in front of Lingshan Mountain, and the legendary experience of the five of the eleven outstanding people of that year. He compiled the first set of “The Legend of Lingshan Mountain”.

“The Legend of Lingshan Mountain” had been selling well in various places, and after three years of unabated popularity, it had become the most discussed topic in the market.

Three years later, the second time Lingshan opened, the number of people who entered the mountain doubled, and many young people came here to also worship Lingshan Nie’s family. Three of them have even made great achievements in the few years after entering the mountain, and the number of worshippers and disciples of the Nie family in Lingshan had increased sharply.

At this point, Nie Yao’s business was recognized by the family and awarded the post of general manager, and Zhang Jinjin became the only merchant that could enter the Lingshan Square.

Now, the only business partner was fiddling with two chess pieces in the palm of his hand, but didn’t put them on the chessboard. Looking at the drizzling rain outside the window, he said absently, “This year’s market is not right.”

“What? Another competitor has appeared? Isn’t Yuntao Society already broken up and absorbed by you?”

“A mere Yuntao Society is nothing, it’s just a talented person with a sharp view. It’s enough to dig it out.” Zhang Jinjin lowered his eyes and said, “I mean, in the surrounding three states and fourteen cities, the consumption of Zhu crystals in the past half year was too large.”

“Zhu crystals are mostly used for arrays, especially superimposed arrays. Could it be that something happened in Taiyuan?” 

“I was worried about that. I sent someone to see it last month. It is said that everything is fine, The Qin family in Taiyuan replied that they did not buy a lot.”

“Then where were the rest of the crystals?” Nie Yao frowned and said, “How large?”

“It’s 30% more than that in the previous years. It’s about to catch up with your family’s mountain consumption. Moreover,” Zhang Jinjin put down a piece and continued, “This is the most we are familiar with. If the whole Central Plains would also do this, I’m afraid something big will happen.”

Nie Yao was speechless. The oil lamp on the table burst with a piercing sound, and broke the silence of the two. Nie Yao suddenly raised his head and looked at Lingshan not far away. There was a faint sound of thunder coming from the mountain.

***

At this time, it was already the period between 11 pm and 1 am, and it was the time where people sleep soundly the most. Zhu Yicheng directly broke into a family. A family of three were sleeping soundly and it was not easy to wake up. But when they came to, the head of the family was confused for a long time and didn’t understand what happened. When he finally understood, he began to pack up in a panic. Zhu Yicheng didn’t dare to stay long, he told the family to go out quickly, and then ran to the next house.

When Qin Le led a family of five and rushed to the meeting point far away from the brook in a hurry, Gu Qingqiao and Mu Xiyun each brought their second batch to gather.

“No, this is too slow!” Mu Xiyun, who had always been calm, began to worry, wiped the rain on his face, and planned to run back.

“I’ll go with you!” 

Gu Qingqiao handed the old man he was supporting to Qin Le, and followed Xiyun forward. It had been almost half an hour since the stream dried up, and no one knows when the torrent will come. There were still three or four people at the foot of the mountain who had not been evacuated. There is no time! Both of them used their skills to the extreme and ran down the mountain like meteors chasing the moon.

Halfway through, a green shadow suddenly flashed in front of his eyes. It was Luo Qingyao who came up from the mountain and panted, “There’s no need to go back, they’re all here, they’re all here!” Behind her, a group of people wearing green bamboo robes Taoist disciples, were helping the old and the young, and came to them. “Green bamboo robes, Qingcheng Mountain?”

“Yes,” Luo Qingyao replied, “Although Qingcheng Mountain and Baihua Valley are close, they don’t have much friendship. When Luo Ziqi entered the village before, Qingcheng Mountain disciples were already there. There was some conflict between the two sides, but luckily they didn’t fight. “

Gu Qingqiao laughed, “This cousin of yours is really a troublemaker, he attracts trouble anywhere.” As soon as the voice fell, a strange feeling suddenly rose in everyone’s heart.

The thunder of the upper stream stopped suddenly, and the surroundings fell into a dead silence.

“Let’s go!” Mu Xiyun shouted coldly. Then he picked up a child in one hand and an old man in the other, jumped up with the two of them, and ran towards the high slope of the side of the mountain.

The rest of the people also hurriedly took childrens and elderlies and walked towards the mountain road on the side of the mountain at the fastest speed. The yellow mud soaked in water after the rain wrapped people’s shoes, adding a heavy burden to the people fleeing for their lives. For a time, there was chaos, and the cries for fathers and mothers came one after another.

Zhu Li was tough, followed the team closely, and shouted loudly. “There is an open space in the middle of the mountain. It should be safe there!”

“Okay! Keep up!” The leader of Qingcheng Mountain agreed, directing the other disciples to move on.

Soon, the thunder-like roar sounded again, and on the mountain upstream, a big tree swayed and fell down. Then, from its round canopy to the roots, it seemed to have disappeared from sight. Like an invisible beast rushing down from the mountain, the trees fell to the ground one by one, and then, a turbid mud flow rushed down the stream quickly.

The mud flow was much wider than the creek, with countless tree trunks, broken branches, and gravel that rushed down the mountain with great force. A wild boar who could not dodge, ran hard, but was soon caught up by the mud flow. In an instant, it turned into a mud pig and was submerged by the rolling mud waves. The mud flow was invincible and soon reached the village. The muddy water slammed on a house with an angry roar, and the house let out a whimper and was immediately torn to shreds. The villages built along the stream were submerged in a few breaths. However, the turbid water was like an endless stream, rushing down the mountain without stopping.

Back at the Qingfeng Luo. The roar of the Lingshan mudslide made Nie Yao’s brows frown. Zhang Jinjin’s smile also became solemn. The two looked at each other and saw fear in each other’s eyes.