Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty One: Visiting Relatives
Some people can be controlled.
Some people can't.
At the reception banquet prepared by Cui Min for him, Zhang Heng only drank a few glasses of fruit wine.
But he has said everything that needs to be said, and the rest depends on how the Cui family will act.
He felt that there should be no fools in this world, especially the overlords like the Cui family. No matter what the people below were like, the top members would never be fools.
He admitted that he was a fool.
If there is no butcher Zhang, we have to eat pigs with hair on them?
The most important thing for a sect is balance.
We will not let one family dominate.
The Cui family is the top power in the Immortal Sect, but it is not the only one.
In 2000, the world entered an era of catastrophe.
According to Zhang Heng's understanding during this period, when the Catastrophic Era came, eight major forces formed an alliance and jointly occupied the Yaochi Immortal Mansion. This is the origin of the Yaochi Immortal Mansion.
One of them is the Cui family, who was originally a leader in the local pharmaceutical industry.
The other seven companies are also leaders in all walks of life.
Now two thousand years have passed. After a series of changes and wars, the eight major forces of the past are now left with five families, that is, the five major families.
Among them, the most powerful ones were the local officials during the disaster.
By the way, it's not called official now, it's called the sect leader's lineage.
For Zhang Heng.
The Cui family is not the only choice.
Just like the college entrance examination.
The Cui family is from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in addition to Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, and University of Science and Technology of China.
He is the top scorer in the college entrance examination and the one who holds the initiative.
"how do you feel?"
After coming out of Cui Min's cave, Zhang Heng accompanied the eldest lady and walked by the lake.
"It's incredible."
Zhang Yitong sighed with a look on his face: "I never thought that the several major families and sect leaders who control the Immortal Sect originally came from this way."
Hear this.
Zhang Heng chuckled and said: "How else could it happen? The era of catastrophe has come, and the planet has expanded outward a thousand times or ten thousand times. In the past, China was said to have only more than 9 million square kilometers, but after the catastrophe, a county's growth rate increased
It’s tens of millions of square kilometers.”
"Take the Yaochi Immortal Mansion as an example. This place is called the Yaochi Domain, and its area is close to the total area of the planet before the disaster."
"Before the disaster, this was just a provincial city."
"Big families like the Cui family are just some of the leading companies in the city."
"After the disaster struck, these leading companies with tens of thousands of employees quickly formed alliances with the help of various materials and their own size to share the benefits together."
"So there are various fairy gates and holy places formed around the secret realm that we are familiar with."
Zhang Heng shrugged.
"Before leaving, Cui Min invited me to go to Chuan Gong Pavilion tomorrow to select the secret method of golden elixir. What do you think?"
Zhang Yitong actually has a good impression of Cui Min.
Back then, everyone came in a flying boat. When they first arrived at the sect, because of Cui Min's presence, they had never been bullied.
Now that Cui Min wants to have a good relationship with her, Zhang Yitong feels that he can go along with the situation.
"Go ahead, the Cui family tree has deep roots and has a strong say in the Immortal Sect."
"I don't care. As an alchemist, I don't have to go on a war mission."
"If you can't do it, you will have to leave the sect sooner or later and go to fight against the Holy Land of Maitreya."
"On weekdays, walk more with the Cui family children. For my sake, those people will take better care of you."
Zhang Heng added another sentence at this point: "When you have chosen the golden elixir secret method, we will ask for leave and go back. Inner disciples have family leave, so if you don't use it, it will be in vain, and the old grandmother is old, according to my estimation.
..”
He didn't say anything else.
Birth, old age, illness and death are natural for human beings. My grandmother is an ordinary person and she is almost eighty years old this year.
In addition, he had been worrying about so many things in recent years. Before leaving, Zhang Heng realized that his old grandmother was about to expire.
Three more years have passed now.
If I don't go back and take a look, I'm afraid I won't even see him for the last time.
"It's been three years, it's time to go back and take a look."
Zhang Yitong looked sad.
the next day.
Zhang Heng was refining elixirs in the cave.
Zhang Yitong followed Cui Min to Chuan Gong Pavilion and selected two secret techniques that could be practiced in the Golden Core realm.
A few more days followed.
After taking care of the matters at hand, the two went to the sect to ask for family leave and took a flying boat back.
A few years apart.
The old grandmother looked older and older.
When Zhang Heng and others returned, she was cleaning the vegetable garden.
Talk about it.
Although the sun has set on the Zhang family, they still have some fields.
The old grandmother was too old to farm the land herself, so she rented it out so that she could get some for chewing every year.
"Why are you back?"
Seeing Zhang Heng and the two returning.
The old grandmother was first happy and then surprised, and asked with some trepidation: "Were you not driven back by the sect?"
Zhang Yitong was a little bit dumbfounded.
However, she also knew that the old grandmother had high hopes for them, hoping that they could succeed in the fairy sect.
Seeing that the old grandmother was a little restless, she quickly explained: "Grandma, Zhang Heng and I have practiced hard and are now disciples of the inner sect. This time we came back because the sect granted us family leave."
After saying that, he handed over the two waist badges representing the identity of the inner disciples.
"Inner disciple!"
See the waistband.
The old grandmother felt relieved.
In the past few years, Zhang Yitong has occasionally written to her, saying how he was doing and so on.
But how much can you believe this kind of thing?
Grandma is someone who has been here before and knows what it means to report good news but not bad news.
Zhang Yitong said, she would listen.
Whether that's the case or not, who knows.
Xiao Chunzi, who lives next door, also said that she was enjoying the hot food outside, but what happened? She didn't come back after being away for several years, and she finally came home once. I heard from Aunt Li on the front street that all her clothes were rented.
"Grandma, Zhang Heng and I have discussed this."
Zhang Yitong didn't know what the old grandmother was thinking, so he said happily: "We have another idea when we come back this time. There are some satellite cities around Xianmen. Not only are they very close to Xianmen, the living conditions are also very good."
"We are discussing buying a farm nearby, and adding a few servants to bring you there to enjoy your happiness. You see..."
"Qingfu?"
The old grandmother heard it.
He was happy, but he had no intention of leaving with the two of them. He refused: "Grandma, I am seventy-eight this year. How many days can I live? These neighbors are all my friends. I go out to chat with people every day.
Playing cards makes me live a relatively comfortable life."
"If we go to Yaochi, which way should the door of Yaochi open?"
Sighing: "I'm not being hypocritical, it's really hard to leave my homeland. I just want to be buried in the Zhang family's ancestral grave after my death, and I won't care about anyone else."
"If you are filial, please accompany me around these days. Aunt Liu from the Xi family bought herself a wedding coffin. The wood is very good, so I thought about preparing it for myself.
Don’t be careless about things. If you do it now, it will be too late.”
Well...
Zhang Heng and Zhang Yitong looked at each other.
The old grandmother still looked at things openly, so she got up and thought about what to do next.
Actually that's right.
After working hard all his life, Zhang Yitong has now grown up and has become an inner disciple, promising.
It's time for the old grandmother to take a break and think more about herself.
After all, customs vary from place to place.
In Zhang Yitong's family, the coffin is called Shou Fang, which is very particular.
There is an old saying: It is better to live without a house than to die without a home.
night...
The eldest lady is lying on the bed.
Zhang Heng sat aside.
This is Zhang Yitong's boudoir. To put it bluntly, my predecessor never came in.
In his previous life, he was a slave of the Zhang family, and he has been like this for seven generations.
My predecessor had very complicated feelings towards the eldest lady, as he treated a goddess, for fear of blaspheming her.
Zhang Heng does not have such complicated thoughts.
Sitting on the little chair of the eldest lady, she played with the little doll on the dressing table and said without looking back: "As expected, grandma still has four years to live."
The eldest lady didn't ask Zhang Heng how he knew.
She had long been accustomed to Zhang Heng's mystery, and just sighed: "Before we leave, let's buy some slaves for my grandmother. We are not around, and my grandmother is getting older, so she needs someone to take care of her."
Zhang Heng nodded: "You can figure it out. Don't you have a sixth sense? Pick a few kind-hearted people and come back."
Yaochi Xianfu is a class society.
Immortal, merchant, farmer, slave.
Classes are clearly defined and are set as early as birth and are difficult to change later.
Take the immortal status, that is, the monk status.
They could do business, farm, and buy slaves.
But for merchants, they are not allowed to practice cultivation, and farmers are not even allowed to do business.
Zhang Heng actually has nothing to comment on this system.
The birth of class originated from the early days of the catastrophe.
The group of people who dared to fight hard and defended the inheritance of Yaochi eventually became monks.
Honest people who did not dare to risk their lives became merchants and farmers.
The rebels, outsiders, and captured members of the hostile forces were beaten into slavery.
Destiny made its choice two thousand years ago.
If you are not convinced, work hard and use your abilities to change your destiny.
If you don't have enough ability, you might as well have better luck.
The Yaochi Immortal Sect only accepts disciples who are monks, but there are also some small inheritances among the people that are not very impressive.
Some of these inheritances are exercises created by practitioners themselves, which are disseminated for people to practice and see the effects.
Some are revealed from unknown secret realms.
If you are lucky, you can get the sect's inheritance and embark on the path of spiritual practice, but it's just a little more difficult than the immortal sect disciples.
"Zhang Heng, you have been busy all day, you should be tired."
Just talking.
The old grandmother came in with a cane in one hand and a blanket in the other: "I found a blanket for you. You can go back to your room and rest."
Um??
Zhang Heng looked at himself and then at the eldest lady lying on the bed.
Look at the smiling old grandmother again.
Alas, this is quite speechless.
Who do you think he is? When he was in the Immortal Sect, the eldest lady lived with him every day, so he was not unruly.
It's fine now. I finally came back and treated him as a thief.
This is inappropriate.
"Tongtong, Xiaoheng didn't bully you, right?"
Wait for Zhang Heng to leave.
The old grandmother immediately pulled Zhang Yitong and started talking quietly.
The eldest lady blushed and said, "Grandma, what are you talking about? That's my brother."
The old grandmother was a little confused: "If I had known he was so talented and could make alchemy, I would have made him my son-in-law. Now he has become my younger brother. He is neither fish nor fowl."
The eldest lady couldn't stand listening anymore: "Grandma, you should go to bed early and stop thinking about these things about having your legs broken."
The old grandmother was leaning on a cane and shaking her head: "Blame me, blame me."
A flash.
Half a month later.
After the family visit leave ended, Zhang Heng and his wife returned to their sect with their grandmother's reluctance.
This is the way to go.
I don’t know when I will return.
But there is nothing we can do about it.
The path of spiritual practice is a one-way road with no turning back.
Once you step on it, you can't come back.
"Zhang Heng!"
Get off the flying boat.
Suddenly there was a call from behind.
Zhang Heng looked back and found Liu Wu standing not far away, looking at him happily.
Take a look at his waist.
The identity badge of an inner disciple.
Zhang Heng smiled: "Okay, you have entered the inner door too."
"It's half a month later than you, and nearly two months later than Yun Lingzhi and the others. There's nothing to praise."
Liu Wu scratched his head: "I heard from eldest sister that you guys went back to visit relatives. How is it? Is it going well?"
"smoothly."
"It's just that the old man is getting older and it's hard to leave his homeland. He won't come back to us at all."
Zhang Heng called Liu Wu: "It's time for you to go back and take a look, right?"
"I won't go back."
Liu Wu explained: "My mother asked me to practice peacefully in the sect. She missed me and came to see me, saying that it would be too much trouble for me to go back."
Zhang Heng didn't know much about Liu Wu's family.
I only know that his family opened a farm and planted a large fruit orchard.
"Okay, the inner disciples have a war mission. Let's look back and see if we can get together and take care of each other."
Zhang Heng has a good feeling for Liu Wu.
He is a smart man. If he is in danger, take Cui Min, Liu Wu, and Zhang Yitong as examples.
If only one person could survive, he felt that Liu Wu had the best chance of surviving.
"I heard something..."
Liu Wu came over cautiously: "There are undercover agents from the Maitreya Holy Land in the inner gate. Heirs of big families like Cui Min. Each of them has a huge reward. They are the assassination targets of the Maitreya Holy Land. In the early years, a direct member of the Liu family,
He was ambushed when he was on a mission, and even the guardian fell."
He looked around and then said: "In my opinion, when we go on a military mission, it is best not to go with Cui Min. It is very dangerous. After all, if someone sets a trap for her, it is hard to say what will happen."
"this..."
Zhang Heng was silent for a while: "I want to keep it simple."
"I made an appointment with some senior brothers."
"When I go on war missions, they come to help me."
Liu Wu invited: "If you trust me, you can ask the eldest lady to come with me. Our goal is small, and with preparations, the battle mission should be easy."
"not necessarily..."
Zhang Heng shook his head: "If the Holy Land of Maitreya thinks Cui Min is a threat and plans to kill her in the bud, I'm afraid I will be the same. With my relationship, it's hard to tell my sister's side."
Zhang Heng suddenly discovered.
It's not good for people to be too famous, as they can easily stand out.
Now everyone in the inner sect doesn't know that he is a genius in alchemy, and he has become a middle-grade alchemist after practicing for only three years.
In the future, he is very likely to become the next immortal alchemist in Yaochi Holy Land.
In this case, the Maitreya Holy Land may also put him on their must-kill list.
What's more, his ranking may still be higher than Cui Min.
Implicated by him.
It is possible that no one will have their mind set on Zhang Yitong.
"It seems that I have to go along with you on this expedition mission."
It was originally in Zhang Heng's mind.
The eldest lady's mission is just to go through the motions, just find a few Cui family members to take them with them.
Looking at it now, there are many uncontrollable factors.
The Cui family's goals are too big, and Liu Wu's abilities are somewhat insufficient.
Think about it over and over again.
Maybe I should go out and walk around to create the illusion to the outside world that the eldest lady is protected by a strong protector.
Well.
It's not an illusion, after all, he is quite capable of fighting.