Lu Changan put away a letter in his hand, looked to the south of Wuqi Mountain, and murmured to himself.
squeak!
The rock rat scratched the back of its head, rolled its eyes slightly, and looked at its owner in confusion.
Not far away, the Xuanshui Turtle, with a body width of 18 feet, lay lazily beside the pool with blooming lotus flowers, maintaining a certain habit for more than 20 years, staring in a certain direction in a daze.
Blackwater turtles are still far from adulthood.
It doesn't know that the human nun it was once closest to is approaching the centenary mark and has 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 overbearing 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".
Squeak!
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-stage second-level 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."
Walking into the pavilion, Li Congren presented a large gift box.
Lu Changan's consciousness swept away and he was a little 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.
Accepting Li Congren's filial piety, Lu Changan couldn't help but think of Lin Lu.
Last time, the junior who showed such filial piety to himself fell into 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 lower-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 top-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's.
Although this man has no outstanding skills, he is good at management.
The branch line he brought out has a good momentum of development. In just twenty years, its overall strength has caught up with the established foundation-building family, and its foundation is not even close.
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 twenty years of preparation, this matter did not face much resistance.
Some of the elders of the Feiyue Lake family had some complaints, 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, Mu Jiaxin and the old faction were at a development bottleneck due to conflicts and inconsistent interests. It was Li Congren who took the initiative to take away the direct descendants of Li Erqing and go to remote places with poor conditions to operate.
If Li Congren had not taken the 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, there are no constraints like those of the original clan. With the concerted efforts of the clan members, and the favorable time and place, the younger generation has finally gained a firm foothold."
Li Congren said modestly.
However, Lu Changan knew that harmony and harmony were 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 Zhou family of Yushou.
If you go from the Royal Beast Zhou Family to the "Redbud Fairy City" in the west of the Liang Kingdom, you will pass near the clan area 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 bitter cold place also benefited from his diplomatic skills.
For example, the Zhou Family, a beast-controlling family, is the strongest family that cultivates immortals 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 made a fatal 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 enshrinement of the Li family.
Not only that.
Li Congren also became a Taoist couple with a female cultivator who was in the early stage of foundation building, but it was not made public.
The rapid development of the Li family also benefited from the "right time and right place" as Li Congren said.
To put it simply, it was a war fortune.
Ten years before the war, the Li family purchased the 50-year development rights to a mineral vein at a low price.
As the war started, the prices of various materials increased, and gold and iron-related ores were no exception.
In addition to mineral value added.
The war preparation materials circulated from Jing State to Liang State promoted the prosperity of trade around the Li family line.
"Jing Kingdom, what's the current situation?"
Lu Changan asked seemingly curiously.
Currently, several nearby countries, including Liang, Feng, Yan, and Chen, are involved in the Immortal Cultivation War.
However, the battlefield is limited to Fengguo.
"Jing Country is a neutral immortal-cultivating country. It does not have fourth-level spiritual veins or Yuanying-level sect forces, and it never participates in disputes between neighboring countries."
"This country is located in the angle between Chen State, Liang State, and the Black Mist Mountains. It is rich in materials and has relatively developed trade. In the past years of the Immortal Cultivation War, the sects and families of Jing State have made war fortune..."
Li Congren talks about the situation in Jing Kingdom.
The Li family was close to the northwest border of Liang State and had contacts with merchants of Jing State.
Seeing that Lu Changan was more interested, Li Congren gave him a jade tube, which recorded the situation of Jingguo's immortal world.
"Jing Country, as a neutral immortal-cultivating country, does not intervene in the war and the situation is stable. It is an alternative retreat."
Lu Changan thought to himself.
…
Later, Lu Changan gave some guidance to this younger grandson in terms of spiritual practice.
Li Congren is nearly ten years younger than Mu Bingyun, and has reached the peak of the early stage of foundation building. If he wants to break through the bottleneck, he still needs some years of polishing.
Before leaving.
Li Congren purchased a batch of war preparation materials from Lu Changan.
Li Congren's financial resources were beyond Lu Changan's expectations.
This guy bought three puppets, one each for the early stage, middle stage, and late stage of the second level.
In terms of talismans, we mainly purchased second-level mid- to high-quality talismans, and purchased ten or twenty of them, including two of second-level top-quality talismans.
Of course, this kind of financial resources is the inherent wealth of a family and is not Li Congren's personal property.
squeak!
The Earth Rock Rat's face was restless, and when he saw Li Congren rising into the air, he showed an unwilling expression.
"I made Grandpa Lu laugh. This junior has a pet spirit rat. He only has the second-level initial cultivation level. He is not good at fighting and does not dare to come out to meet the rock rat."
Li Congren explained with a smile.
"Oh? Is Congren's pet spirit rat male or female?"
"Mr." Li Congren replied.
Lu Changan glanced at the rock rat with a smile.
After Mu Congren left Wu Qi Mountain.
Lu Changan communicated with the Earth Rock Rat for a while.
"Mu Congren's spirit rat pet has a bloodline level that is not inferior to that of the current rock rat. It is not good at fighting. Could it be that it is a rare rat that hunts for treasure or minerals? If so, its value is much higher than that of the rock rat."
"It seems that the development momentum of the line led by Mu Congren is so good, not only because of the added value of existing minerals."
Thinking of Mu Congren's filial piety of the quasi-third-level ore, Lu Changan couldn't help but make some guesses.
He had no intention of exploring or coveting.
For the foundation-building monks, this can only be regarded as a normal opportunity, and at the same time, it takes advantage of the east wind of war.
…
Three years passed by in a flash.
Lu Changan practiced on the sixth floor of the foundation for seven or eight years.
On this day, Shi Manrong came to Xiaogui Peak and brought a piece of news.
"The engagement between Shen Bixin and Song Wenshu has been postponed?"
Lu Changan looked surprised, almost thinking that Master Shixianzi was joking.
A few months ago, they received an invitation letter from someone sent by Song Wenshu. At that time, the engagement was scheduled to take place in half a year.
"At first, I didn't believe it. However, this is the news from the disciples of Lihuo Palace."
Shi Manrong looked confused.
"The engagement is postponed, not cancelled. What happened?"
Lu Changan felt strange and thought deeply.
Song Wenshu was in Lihuo Palace. Although he was not a true descendant or a direct descendant of the elders, he still had a good background.
"Will the price of formations increase in the near future?"
"There is no movement in the low-level formations, but the demand and price of the quasi-third-level formations have increased abnormally."
Master Shixianzi replied, quickly thinking about it.
"Do you suspect that this matter is related to the war?"
She turned her clear eyes and looked at Lu Changan.
"If Song Wenshu is suddenly called up by the sect to go to the front line, then the extension of the engagement is due to force majeure and is not a shame."
Lu Changan thought of a possibility.
"Three years ago, Liang Guo's sect recruited the third batch of monks. The fourth batch of monks is indeed recruiting soon..."
Master Shixianzi said in deep thought.
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 Changan speculated that unknown changes may have occurred in the frontline war in neighboring countries.
Zhao Tan'er was probably banned by the sect and could not pass on war information to the outside world.
The channels for obtaining war information were blocked, and Lu Changan felt uneasy.
If the Immortal Cultivation War is like a big storm, then it is like a small boat on the sea.
The current situation is equivalent to saying that the sailing boat has lost the ability to predict the storm weather.
In a few years, Lu Changan will be promoted to the late stage of foundation building, and his strength will greatly increase, but he does not want to face any surprises.
"There is a place where you should be able to obtain the latest war information..."