Decades have passed, and Zhou Yang's face remains the same as before, still so handsome and handsome.
However, Zhou Tongyue and Li Hong, who had just passed middle age, were now gray-haired and their lifespan was short.
The age difference between Zhou Tongyue and Li Hong is only one year. After several decades, both of them have reached the ninth level of foundation building. In a place like Cangyuan Immortal City, they can be regarded as moderate masters.
Already.
However, at this moment, these two well-known masters in Cangyuan Immortal City knelt down in front of a young man with excitement on their faces, and there were tears in their eyes.
"Hey! It's been really hard on you all these years. It's me who has caused you trouble!"
Zhou Yang looked at the two excited juniors in front of him, let out a long sigh, and stepped forward to grab their shoulders and help them up.
"Ancestor, please don't say that! If it weren't for you, Ancestor, we would have died a hundred years ago. How could we succeed in building the foundation and live for another hundred years?"
"We have suffered a bit in these years, but my grandson can swear that he has absolutely no resentment against our ancestors. Your kindness to us, the descendants, will never be forgotten by our descendants!"
Zhou Tongyue looked excited and spoke repeatedly, and actually swore on the spot.
Seeing this, Zhou Yang felt even more apologetic.
He really didn't have any thoughts about the family branches in the Far West these years. If he hadn't accidentally encountered the "Tiansha Corpse King" in the "Death Sand Sea", if it weren't for Yin Hanguang who wanted to use Guo Jinhong's head to establish his authority, he would
Maybe I won’t come to the Far West again for hundreds of years.
After all, before this, both the "Tiansha Corpse King" and Guo Jinhong were enemies that he could not face and deal with at all.
If he appeared in the Far West and let these two enemies know about it before he transformed into an elixir and formed a baby, there would be an endless pursuit waiting for him.
At that time, not only would he not be able to take care of the Zhou family branches here, he would also cause them to be exterminated.
Fortunately, God opened his eyes and allowed him to return to the far west through "curves to save the country" and use Yin Hanguang's power to seek justice for the injustice he had suffered.
It also allowed him to make some compensation to the clansmen here who still stood firm.
At this moment, he looked at the excited Zhou Tongyue, nodded gently and said: "Ancestor, I know your loyalty. This time, Ancestor, when I come to the far west, I will also give you an explanation and some compensation."
.”
"Now, tell me the situation of the family here so that I can have an idea."
When Zhou Tongyue heard what he said, he immediately scratched his beard with some embarrassment and said: "Let Brother Li introduce this to you, ancestor. He knows the family's situation better than I, the nominal head of the family.
"
Zhou Tongyue is a monk from the "Tong" generation of the Zhou family, and Li Hong's Taoist companion Zhou Fuyun is a monk from the "Fu" generation of the Zhou family. According to the genealogy, he should be Li Hong's uncle and elder.
However, the two of them are close in age and have worked together for many years. Li Hong is also a very capable and powerful person. Zhou Tongyue relies on him a lot in managing the family, but he has always deliberately ignored this and only treated him as a brother.
To avoid embarrassment to Li Hong.
Fortunately, Zhou Yang himself was not that kind of rigid person, so he did not pursue such trivial matters, and just took advantage of the situation to look at Li Hong, who had never said anything.
After feeling Zhou Yang's gaze, Li Hong immediately bowed to him and opened his mouth to talk about the situation of the Zhou family branch in Cangyuan Immortal City.
"Ancestor Mingjian, the family branch here in Cangyuan Immortal City, after decades of development, now has a total of twelve monks in the foundation building stage, 187 monks in the Qi training stage, and more than 80,000 secular clan members!"
"At the same time, the family currently controls a third-order high-grade Lingshan, two third-order low-grade Lingshan, four second-order high-grade Lingshan, and three shops in Cangyuan Immortal City!"
"Due to the lack of sources of income and in order to prevent them from sitting on their hands, most of the monks in the family work in various industries in Cangyuan Immortal City to earn training resources. Most of the foundation-building monks in the family also serve in the guard team of Cangyuan Immortal City,"
Before Xiao Ying and Zhou Guangxiang left the Far West, they followed Zhou Yang's instructions and left dozens of foundation-building pills and some third-level spiritual pills in their hands to Zhou Tongyue and Li Hong, in order to fulfill Zhou Yang's original wishes for those
The promise of the monks who came to the far west.
Later, when Zhou Yang returned from the Kunxu Realm, he also gave them several fourth-level demon pills and some high-level magic weapons and talismans for their family development.
That's why the Zhou family in Cangyuan Immortal City has an abnormal situation where the number of monks in the foundation building stage is more than ten to one in the Qi training stage.
It is also because of this obviously abnormal situation that they are now being looked at from all sides.
If Li Hong hadn't been vigilant and used Li Mubai's power to arrange for all the monks of the Zhou family to work in the official industry of Cangyuan Immortal City, and use this tiger skin to scare those who were watching, the Zhou family would have been destroyed long ago.
Of course, the most critical point is that although the Zhou family has many monks in the foundation-building stage, there have never been any monks in the purple mansion stage. This has prevented them from entering the eyes of those truly powerful forces.
Otherwise, I'm afraid there would have been golden elixir stage monks who would have kidnapped people and searched for their souls to find out the reason.
However, the disadvantage of relying on the Foundation Establishment Pill to blast a large number of Foundation Establishment Monks is also obvious, that is, it can only allow people to build Foundations, but it cannot afford to support these Foundation Establishment Monks.
During the Qi training period, the cultivator only needs to build the foundation, but after the foundation is successfully established, he has to think about the next level.
The Zhou family branch in Cangyuan Immortal City obviously does not have the strength to help those foundation-building monks continue to climb up.
Once a family is unable to provide spiritual help to the family's top leaders, most people will choose to leave the family and find their own way out, except for a few monks who are very nostalgic and grateful and are willing to selflessly help the family.
You must know that even Zhou Yang often takes away large amounts of spiritual stones from the Zhou family's treasury for his own personal use when the Zhou family is unable to provide him with other cultivation resources.
"According to what you said, since the family's financial situation is so difficult, how do you make those family foundation-building monks willing to continue to serve in the family?"
Zhou Yang looked at Li Hong with surprise and asked, indeed he was extremely curious about this question.
As the saying goes, it is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice. Even Zhou Yang, who single-handedly brought the Zhou family to this point, would not be able to do this if Zifu and Li Hong moved to another place.
"It's up to my grandson to explain this to our ancestors!"
When Li Hong wanted to speak, Zhou Tongyue suddenly stepped forward and spoke for him.
After taking over the topic, Zhou Tongyue did not look at Li Hong's complicated and unreadable expression, and raised his hands to Zhou Yang with a serious look on his face: "Old Ancestor Mingjian, in fact, over the years, the monks who have successfully established the foundation of the Zhou family,
There were a total of twelve people, but one of them was killed while going out. The murderer has never been found, and the other two were executed by his grandson himself!"
"The two people who were executed by their grandson were the first group of monks in the family to establish the foundation. Because the family could not provide them with many cultivation resources after the foundation was successfully established, they wanted to leave the family and marry other families.
This act is tantamount to betrayal!”
"They also don't think about it. If they don't have a family, how can they get the Foundation Establishment Pill so easily with their qualifications? Their ancestors followed you to this far west land, using their loyalty to the family and their own lives as a foundation.
The reason they exchanged for the Foundation Establishment Pill is not to abandon the family and climb a new branch after successfully establishing the Foundation!"
"So after what happened, my grandson first sold a fourth-level demon elixir left behind by your ancestor, in exchange for several [Netherworld Blood Contracts], and forced the remaining family foundation-building monks to sign them one by one.
I signed a blood contract and vowed never to abandon my family!"
"After that, the junior used a trick to trick the two betrayers out, and then led all the foundation-building monks in the family to besiege them, and Mingzheng Dianxing killed them on the spot in the wilderness."
"From then on, as long as the Qi-training monks in the family successfully built the foundation, they were required to sign a blood contract and swear allegiance to the family, and this continues to this day!"
I should have thought of it earlier!
Zhou Yang smiled bitterly in his heart, and then stared at Zhou Tongyue, who looked like he had a clear conscience, without saying a word.
Using the "Netherworld Blood Pact" to force people to be loyal is something he has done before. To be honest, although it can forcibly bind people's loyalty, it cannot make people sincerely work for the family.
So after the Zhou family gradually became stronger, he never did such a thing again.
In fact, those really big forces would never do such a thing.
Because the backlash caused by doing so is too great.
Especially when you encounter a ruthless character who is very tolerant, it is easy for him to be deceived by signing a blood contract first, and then he will find an opportunity from the inside to risk his own life to launch a fatal blow to the forces that enslave him.
If it were the Zhou family in the world of cultivating immortals in the boundless sand sea, whoever dared to do such a thing without his consent would definitely be severely punished by Zhou Yang, or even have his cultivation level revoked.
But the situation of the Zhou family here in the Far West is too special.
Zhou Yang also believed that as long as there was some way, Zhou Tongyue would definitely not be willing to do such a heartbreaking thing to his own monks unless he was forced to a dead end.
He could even imagine Zhou Tongyue's mood at that time.
The two descendants he had trained with his own hands suddenly betrayed the family and left. This betrayal undoubtedly stabbed Zhou Tongyue twice in the chest, making him both painful and angry.
And because of the betrayal of these two juniors, the other juniors were also upset and ready to take action.
Faced with this situation, if Zhou Tongyue did not act decisively and use ruthless means to stabilize people's hearts, I am afraid that the family that had finally made some progress would soon fall apart.
"Actually, it's Li Hong who gave you this idea!"
"Although you, Zhou Tongyue, are bold, you have grown up in a family. How could you think of such a vicious idea all of a sudden?"
"I believe you said you killed the two traitors with your own hands, but if you say these ideas were your own, you are fooling my wisdom, ancestor!"
After Zhou Yang stared at Zhou Tongyue for a long time, he turned his eyes and looked coldly at Li Hong, who had a complex expression on his side. He sneered and told the truth of the matter.
"No……"
Zhou Tongyue lowered his head, still trying to make excuses.
But at this time, Li Hong had already knelt down on the ground with a "pop", kowtowed heavily to Zhou Yang and said: "Old Ancestor has a sharp eye, this matter is indeed the junior's idea for the family leader, and those two traitors are also juniors
They were tricked out by their relatives. If the ancestor wants to be punished, please punish the younger generation, so as not to unjustly accuse the head of the family!"
Seeing this, Zhou Tongyue's expression changed, and he also knelt down and kowtowed: "Old Ancestor Mingjian, although Li Hong came up with the idea, it was only implemented with the consent of his grandson. If we want to judge the crime, grandson
Have one too!"
When Zhou Yang saw this scene, he was pleased with the deep brotherhood between the two, but also resented their cleverness.
How could he not know what Zhou Tongyue meant? Now, Zhou Tongyue and Li Hong are in charge of the Zhou family branch in Cangyuan Immortal City. If he abolishes the cultivation of these two people and imposes a heavy punishment, not only will he have control over
The branch of the Zhou family here is useless and may expose its own existence.
Of course, it’s not necessarily how bad the two of them are doing, it’s just human nature to want to protect themselves.
Zhou Yang couldn't help but shook his head when he thought of this. He waved his hand and released a burst of magic power to lift the two of them up, and then said:
"Everyone, get up. I didn't say I would punish you, ancestor."
"What you did in this matter was indeed inappropriate, but based on what you said about the situation at the time, choosing this approach cannot be said to be wrong. You should do extraordinary things in extraordinary times, and I am not an unreasonable person, ancestor."
"But since I'm here, ancestor, this practice can no longer be practiced in the future."
Hearing his words, Zhou Tongyue and Li Hong breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that this hurdle was finally over.
In fact, after they did this kind of thing, they discussed how to deal with the family's questioning in the future. In the end, Li Hong concluded that as long as Zhou Yang, the ancestor of the family, was present, he would definitely not do it because of this.
They were severely punished.
Now it seems that everything is as expected, which makes Zhou Tongyue even more impressed by his old partner.
"But ancestor, if we don't use this method, how can we make the younger generations of the family loyal to the family wholeheartedly? The family here can't offer any generous conditions to win them over, and the situation here is different from that in the Boundless Sand Sea Immortal Cultivation World.
Likewise, after they leave the family, they have many better choices!"
Li Hong looked at Zhou Yang with bright eyes and said, he seemed to have realized something, his eyes were full of expectation.
Seeing this, Zhou Yang couldn't help but smile lightly and said: "You don't have to worry about this. Since I have come to see you, ancestor, I will naturally have a way to resolve this matter. In the future, you will no longer have to tie your hands and feet. You can completely let go and do it openly."
Doing things under the banner of the Zhou family!"
What?
Although Li Hong already had some suspicions in his mind when Zhou Yang summoned the two of them to meet, he was shocked when he heard Zhou Yang's domineering words.
He looked at Zhou Yang in shock, and couldn't help but ask: "Did Ancestor find a way to cancel [Backlight Alliance]'s wanted order on you? I just apologize for my rudeness, [Backlight League] issued a wanted order on you,
It was the old monster Guo Jinhong who issued it himself. With his status, no one should be able to force him to cancel the wanted order, right?"
Because of the festival between Zhou Yang and Guo Jinhong, Li Hong also paid special attention to asking about some news about Haoyang Sect and Guo Jinhong over the years.
Although due to his level of cultivation, he was unable to find out any truly secret information, from the information he learned, he also knew that Guo Jinhong would definitely not take the initiative to cancel the "wanted order" against Zhou Yang.
Although he was smart, he never imagined, or dared not even think about, that Zhou Yang could kill Guo Jinhong, the Nascent Soul cultivator!
Regarding the execution of Guo Jinhong, Zhou Yang would definitely not reveal anything to Li Hong and others before the matter was carried out.
So when faced with Li Hong's inquiry, he just waved his hand and said: "I have my own solution for this matter, so you don't need to ask. In two or three years at most, you can stand up and walk openly."
"Yes, this junior understands."
With a chill in his heart, Li Hong quickly stopped asking about this matter.
He is a smart man. From Zhou Yang's words, he has realized that there will be a big change in this far west land, and this kind of big change is not something that a little shrimp like him can participate in.
Zhou Yang likes him to be such a sensible person who knows how to advance and retreat, and is sensible. Seeing this, he couldn't help but nodded happily, and then changed the topic: "You have been in Cangyuan Immortal City for a long time, do you know what the current situation of Cangyuan Sanren Li Cangyuan is?"
?How long can he live?"
Before he was caught by the "Tiansha Corpse King", he knew that "Cangyuan Sanren" Li Cangyuan only had less than a hundred years left to live. Now that more than eighty years have passed, I am afraid that this person will also be exhausted.
.
If it hadn't been for that incident, perhaps he would have taken over the rule of Cangyuan Immortal City from "Cangyuan Sanren" Li Cangyuan, making the Zhou family officially a member of the Far West.
"Back to my ancestors, Senior Li's situation has been tightly sealed by the Li family. No one knows how long he can live or whether he has passed away!"
"In recent years, because of this incident, there has been an undercurrent in the entire Cangyuan Immortal City. The monks from the deputy city lord Geng Zhong's line have begun to openly and openly seize the properties and positions that originally belonged to the city lord's monks. Our Zhou family has
Senior Li Mubai walked together, and many people were kicked out of some industries by them, and a few people were even injured by them!"
"What's even more worrying is that we haven't seen senior Li Mubai for half a year. Several times we asked to see him, we were blocked by people from the Li family. However, some of the elite children of the Li family and some talented juniors have already left Cang.
Yuanxian City is missing!"
While Li Hong was answering Zhou Yang's words, he carefully looked at Zhou Yang's face and hesitated to speak.
After Zhou Yang noticed his little move, he couldn't help but smile at him and said: "If you have anything to say, just say it, don't hold it in your stomach."
"Yes, ancestor Mingjian, the younger generation feels that if our Zhou family can openly and openly fly in the far west in the future, we must have a fundamental place of our own, and Cangyuan Immortal City is in turmoil and is facing a change of ownership.
, wouldn’t it be just right?”
"Of course, this matter has to be decided by you, ancestor. Geng Zhong is now a third-level golden elixir monk. If it weren't for you, ancestor, we little shrimps wouldn't be enough for him to slap him!"
After Li Hong finished speaking his thoughts in one breath, he couldn't help but look at Zhou Yang expectantly, his eyes full of eagerness.
He is an ambitious and capable person. Even if he does not have much life left in his life, he still wants to develop the Zhou family of Cangyuan Immortal City into a powerful family while he is still alive, so that the spiritual tablet after his death can be found here.
It occupies a prominent position in the Bian family ancestral hall.
If the Zhou family could take over Cangyuan Immortal City while he was still alive and become the master of the land that he had struggled for hundreds of years, he would really die without regrets!
"You dare to think!"
"A mere nine-level foundation-building monk, a mere foundation-building family, dares to plot against a golden elixir-level monk, and dares to plot against the city lord of Cangyuan Immortal City. You are not afraid of taking too big a step and getting yourself into trouble.
?”
Zhou Yang looked at Li Hong, who was looking at him with eager anticipation, and couldn't help laughing, but he also admired this guy's courage.
This reminded him of the first time he saw Li Hong. At that time, Li Hong was still a young monk at the ninth level of qi training. He came for the "Treasure Hunting Conference" held by the Zhou family, and he was in the competition field at that time.
The performance is also full of courage, courage and strategy.
When Li Hong heard what he said, he immediately knew that he was not unintentional, and he quickly flattered him and said: "If you, ancestor, had not come, I would not have had the courage to do so. But now that you are here, ancestor, I will not have the courage to do so."
Just came out."
After flattering Zhou Yang in this way, he bravely said: "Besides, ancestor, I'm afraid you also know that when Aunt Guangxiang and senior Li Mubai became Taoist couples, it was the advice given to her by the junior. If it hadn't been for Guo Jinhong
If that old monster interferes with you, Ancestor, you may have already led our Zhou family to become the master of Cangyuan Immortal City!"
When Zhou Yang heard this, he couldn't help but laugh and said: "Well, since you have already mentioned this matter, I will not hide it from you, ancestor. When you come to the far west this time, ancestor, I do have the idea of helping you enter Cangyuan Immortal City.
, and in order to make a name for myself as a teacher, I brought Guang Xiang and his brothers and sisters this time."
When Li Hong heard this, he couldn't help but said loudly with joy: "In this way, great things will be accomplished!"
Looking at Zhou Tongyue again, he was equally ecstatic, his face full of joy.
"Don't be too busy to be happy. People like Guo Jinhong and Geng Zhong know Guangxiang's relationship with me, so she can't show up in public yet. The next thing you have to do is to help her.
Use a cover to hide your identity and find out from Li Mubai the true situation of Cangyuan Sanren."
"If Cangyuan Sanren is really dead, then you must persuade Li Mubai and Guang Xiang to leave Cangyuan Immortal City, and then temporarily give up everything and move to another safe place to take refuge for a while, until the ancestors and I can handle the matter.
Finally, when I can help, I will take you back to Cangyuan Immortal City!"
Zhou Yang calmly poured cold water on the two of them and explained the specific situation clearly, fearing that the two would get too excited and ruin things.
After hearing his words, the two of them calmed down a lot.
Then the two of them looked at each other, and it was Li Hong who said: "Don't worry, Ancestor, this matter will be left to the younger generation. The younger generation will definitely assist Aunt Guangxiang and the others to handle this matter, and wait for the Ancestor to take action."
That day will come!"
"Get this done and I'll give you a chance to attack the Zi Mansion!"
Zhou Yang stared at the two of them and said something that surprised and delighted them both.