92: Chapter 92 Family Hero Sun Mao!

[3000-word chapter, I will not post it in segments today]

Spring departs and autumn arrives; the seasons change.

Five years of time have slipped away in a flash.

Since Shi Jian returned, the momentum of the Sun Clan's development has surged once again, and Hongtian City has undergone earth-shaking changes.

The city walls have been expanded outward by a full ten miles, built with dark blue giant stones, creating a sturdy defense line over ten zhang high!

Inside the city, shops and markets are numerous, and the flow of people is constant.

In the South City market, the banners of the Mingqiu Merchant Alliance are planted all over the main street. Loose Cultivators and merchants from the Nine Counties gather here, and even traveling Cultivators from Qingzhou County stop here to trade.

The Sun Clan's Main Peak has changed even more drastically.

In just five short years, the original 2nd-grade Low Grade Spiritual Vein completed its upgrade. The Sun Clan was determined, smashing in a large amount of Spirit Stones to forcefully stack it up.

The concentration of Spiritual Qi at the 2nd-grade Medium Grade level caused the entire mountain to be shrouded in a faint spiritual mist, adding a touch of the charm of an immortal blessed land. Even the one main and three secondary Peaks appeared increasingly tall and vast.

At the mountainside—

There were large tracts of newly reclaimed spiritual fields, growing vigorously, and the Thunder Pool on the mountaintop had been expanded by more than three times!

As the Formation operated, silver electric arcs flickered from time to time, and the quality of the Thunder Spirit Liquid condensed by the Thunder Pool had also improved significantly, sufficient to condense deep purple 2nd-grade Thunder Spirit Liquid.

Halfway up the Main Peak, a secret chamber's stone door was tightly shut.

Suddenly, the surrounding Spiritual Qi churned violently, forming a funnel visible to the naked eye, crazily pouring into the secret chamber.

Boom!

The stone door opened.

A pressure belonging to the Foundation Establishment Stage burst forth, clearing away the fallen leaves outside the door. The person who achieved Foundation Establishment was none other than someone else.

It was Sun Mao!

Sun Mao stepped out, wearing a green Daoist robe, his face increasingly resolute. He was now thirty years old.

Now that he had successfully achieved Foundation Establishment, he became the true person in power of the Sun Clan!

A few short whiskers had grown on his chin; he was no longer the cowardly child who would cling to Shi Jian's feet, crying and whimpering...

He had truly grown up, from a child to a youth, from a youth to the current head of the Family, and then to a great Foundation Establishment Cultivator!

Stepping into Foundation Establishment, everything changed.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Sun Boan, who was guarding outside the door, said the word "good" three times in a row, his eyes filled with tears, and he stepped forward to pat Sun Mao on the shoulder.

"My Sun Clan finally has three Foundation Establishment Cultivators in one Family!"

Sun Mao took a deep breath to calm the surging spiritual power in his body.

"I was lucky to succeed."

Recalling the experiences of these five years, Sun Mao still felt it was thrilling.

He had sold off more than half of the resources bestowed by the Old Ancestor. To avoid the eyes and ears of Baiyun Prefecture, he personally led the team, disguised himself, and infiltrated the largest black market in Qingzhou County.

That trip was fraught with danger.

A single foundation establishment pill had a base price of 10,000 Spirit Stones.

Yet it was forcefully driven up to 15,000 Low-Grade Spirit Stones!

Sun Mao emptied his entire fortune to barely secure it. On the way back, he encountered three waves of robbery attempts.

If not for Shi Mo protecting his master, he would never have been able to return to Hongtian City.

After three years of seclusion, burning his bridges, he finally broke out of the cocoon and turned into a butterfly today, reaching the position of Foundation Establishment, and from now on, he could be the pillar of the Family!

"Clan Chief Grandfather, has the Old Ancestor come out of seclusion?"

Sun Mao turned his head to look in the direction of the back mountain of the Main Peak, his eyes full of awe.

When he was a child, it was looking up and longing; as a youth, it was respect and admiration. Now that he had also achieved Foundation Establishment and had gone through more than ten years of struggle,

He saw things more thoroughly and saw the essence of everything.

The respect was still there, but there was also more awe. The more he knew, the more he thought, and the more he feared...

What Sun Mao could do was to maintain the status quo.

He was unwilling to break this relationship and balance; he did not want to turn against the Old Ancestor, only wanting to be the child who nestled beside the bear's claw in his childhood.

No one wants to become an adult; everyone is just being pushed forward.

Hearing this, Sun Boan shook his head.

"The back mountain has been closed for five years. The sound of thunder is louder day by day, and no one dares to get within half a step."

"The Old Ancestor does not see guests either, and even Elder Rat and the others are in closed-door cultivation, and rarely walk around now..."

Sun Mao tidied his clothes, faced the direction of the back mountain, knelt solemnly, and kowtowed three times.

Without the Old Ancestor's resources, without the Shi Mo bestowed by the Old Ancestor, he, Sun Mao, would never have touched the threshold of Foundation Establishment in this lifetime.

This kindness was heavier than Mount Tai!

After standing up, Sun Mao looked down the mountain, his eyes full of calm.

"Clan Chief, how is the situation in the clan?"

"Excellent!"

Sun Boan stroked his beard, his face glowing: "The eight vassal small families under our rule are obedient and pay tribute on time every year."

"The Mingqiu Merchant Alliance occupies 20% of the low-level Medicinal Pill, Talisman, and spiritual plant business in the surrounding three counties; it can be said to be smooth sailing!"

"The children of the 'Cheng' generation in the clan are also growing up one after another."

The third generation of the Sun Clan, the 'Cheng' generation.

This was the generation where the atmosphere of the Sun Clan had completely transformed.

The two walked side by side down the Main Peak and came to the martial arts field.

More than a dozen children of five or six years old were sitting and meditating, practicing the basic Cultivation Technique that Shi Jian had improved back then.

The speed of drawing Qi into the body was more than 30% faster than that of the older generation.

The most eye-catching thing was that beside these children, without exception, there was a Spirit Beast cub lying down.

There were black and yellow earth dogs, gray-skinned big rats, and several chubby cubs of various bear species...

"Chengzu, your punch must be steady!"

Sun Xing shouted loudly, acting as an instructor.

The boy named Sun Chengzhu threw a punch, and the little Black Bear beside him stood up like a human, also throwing a clumsy bear paw.

One person and one beast, yet their movements were surprisingly consistent.

The Sun Clan had completely branded itself as a Beast-Taming Family.

The older generation might still have some resistance, and the second generation began to come into contact with it, but the 'Cheng' generation, the third generation, had been mingling with these Spirit Beasts since they wore split-crotch pants.

They ate and slept together, and cultivated together.

In their eyes, Spirit Beasts were not tools, but brothers and siblings.

This bond, deep into the bone marrow, was the purpose of Shi Jian's move back then.

After watching the martial arts field, Sun Mao walked straight to the Beast Valley on the outskirts of the back mountain.

The Beast Valley occupied a vast area. Now, after several arrangements, it occupied an even wider area, firmly enclosed by the Formation...

This was the Forbidden Ground of the Sun Clan, and also the greatest Foundation of the Sun Clan.

After many years of reproduction, the Beast Valley had formed a situation where three major groups coexisted, among which the bear species was naturally the most prominent!

Just stepping into the valley entrance, a burst of dense dog barking came over.

The Black Dog clan.

Descended from the five Black Dogs that Shi Jian had bestowed Enlightenment upon back then, thirty years had passed, and now hundreds of Spirit Dogs had been bred.

These Spirit Dogs were not of high grade, mostly unranked Yao Beasts, but they had the advantage of being loyal, alert, and not weak in combat power.

The Black Dog clan had clear differentiation.

Those with sensitive sense of smell were responsible for tracking and investigation, acting as tracking auxiliary Spirit Beasts; those with strong physiques and amazing bite force served as war beasts, acting as guardian dogs or escorts.

Many of the Sun Clan's industries had become impregnable because of the existence of this group of Spirit Dogs.

Going deeper, it was a dark mountain col full of burrows.

The Spirit Mouse clan territory.

Elder Rat had obtained the Blood Fiend treasure bestowed by Shi Jian back then and was in closed-door cultivation to break through to Foundation Establishment.

Now, the one leading the Spirit Mouse clan was four big gray-furred rats that had reached the 1st-grade Peak, with an aura comparable to Qi Refining Perfection!

The Rat clan was not known for its combat power, but its numbers were extremely terrifying.

Tens of thousands, or even millions of rat masses and Low Grade Spirit Mice, formed an airtight intelligence network...

This network took Hongtian City as the center, covered the Nine Counties, and had even penetrated into the borders of Qingzhou County and Fenghe County.

Any disturbance would be reported back to the Beast Valley within half a day.

In Fenghe County, the secret probes of several Cultivation families were all detected in advance by the Rat clan.

Sun Boan used this to set a trap, killing dozens of the other side's high-level Qi Refining spies, directly cutting off the claws they had extended.

Passing through the Spirit Mouse clan territory, Sun Mao arrived at the deepest part of the Beast Valley.

This was a steep Stone Forest, filled with strong Geng Metal Qi and violent blood Qi.

The Bear Clan territory.

The Bear Clan had the smallest number, totaling no more than two hundred and twenty, but this place was the combat core of the entire Beast Valley.

As soon as Sun Mao approached, a giant bear with a jet-black body and a height of nearly two zhang turned out from behind a stone pillar.

It was Shi Mo.

Five years had passed. Shi Mo had devoured the remains of that Dark Gold Ape and a large amount of metal-attribute Ore, and its physique had become increasingly terrifying.

The fur on its body had completely hardened, glowing with a dark golden metallic luster.

Every step Shi Mo took, the ground trembled with it.

2nd-grade Yao Beast. In five years, Shi Mo had also taken this step, becoming the second Foundation Establishment bear demon in the Sun Clan!

Shi Mo let out a low roar and walked to Sun Mao's side.

It rubbed Sun Mao's shoulder with its huge head. The connection of the equal contract made the person and the beast understand each other's thoughts.

Sun Mao patted Shi Mo's hard neck and scanned the Stone Forest.

Over a hundred various bear species were fighting and tempering themselves in the Stone Forest. Some bear species did not eat flesh and blood, only gnawing on Ore and gold and iron.

Some used massive amounts of blood food as a Foundation, focusing on cultivating the Physical Body and blood Qi!

It could be said that the Legacy Foundation of this Bear Clan was in no way inferior to the various Legacies of the Sun Clan, and the diversity of the Legacy was even stronger than that of the Sun Clan.

Currently, the bear species in the clan had been initially divided into five categories.

Led by the Thunder Bear lineage, followed by the Dark Gold, Frost Snow, Rock, and Primitive lineages. The Primitive lineage referred to the bear species that cultivated pure Physical Body.

The Dark Gold lineage referred to the gold-path bear species led by Shi Mo.

And in the shadows at the deepest part of the Stone Forest, Sun Mao vaguely sensed an extremely weak, yet cold and bone-chilling aura.

He knew that was Shi Yin.

Also of the Frost Snow giant bear lineage, Shi Yin had also reached the Foundation Establishment realm and was the third Foundation Establishment bear demon in the clan!

After its Breakthrough, its concealment ability had become increasingly powerful.

The color of its fur had also changed to gray and white...

In the past five years, Shi Yin had never stepped out of the Beast Valley and was the bear demon the Sun Clan knew the least about, which could be said to be very little known.

But Sun Mao had a hunch that the danger level of Shi Yin was definitely not below that of Shi Mo.

The rise of the Sun Clan and the growth of the Beast Valley.

Everything was advancing steadily step by step according to the Old Ancestor's plan.

"The Sun Clan has today entirely because of the Old Ancestor."

"I will do the things that a Junior should do..."

Sun Mao stood at the high point of the Beast Valley.

He overlooked the mountains, feeling a surge of pride in his heart. He would not let the tragedy of the older generation happen to the Sun Clan again.

The Family would be guarded by him!