Protect Our Patriarch

……

But these words, he only dared to grumble in his heart. He was utterly intimidated by this Fifth Aunt. No matter how beautiful she was, she was still his aunt, and she was covered in poisonous insects. He was really afraid that if he wasn't careful, he would be tormented to death by those bugs.

"Thank you, Fifth Aunt." Wang Shihai grumbled internally, but still thanked her obediently. This little troublemaker did have some merits; at least when facing someone he couldn't beat, he was always quick to admit defeat.

He then changed the topic, "By the way, why are you here in the outer regions?"

"I heard from Fourth Brother's letter that there are some troublesome blood bats during the frontier reclamation," Wang Luojing said calmly. "I was on a mission in the Barbarian Lands a while ago and missed the letter. When I returned and learned of the situation, I came to take a look."

"Those blood bats are indeed quite troublesome," Wang Shihai said with lingering fear. "Individually, they're not strong and are easy to deal with outside. But in those complex caves, even Celestial Realm ancestors find it hard to navigate. Fourth Uncle has tried various methods like smoke, fire, and flooding, but none have been very effective."

"Instead, our attempts to clear them out seem to have angered the blood bat colony, causing frequent attacks on our construction teams on 'Shouzhe Road.' We've had to increase the number of family guards to protect the workers in shifts."

"Especially in the past half month, the attacks have been so frequent that several construction teams had to pause their work."

Talking about the blood bat colony, Wang Shihai was full of helplessness. Frontier reclamation was like this; sometimes the hardest to deal with weren't the fourth or even fifth-tier beasts, but seemingly insignificant insect swarms, plant clusters, and even many invisible bugs.

"What?" Wang Shihai was stunned. "Fifth Aunt means... should we gather a few more clearing teams and invite Ancestor Long Yan to oversee?"

"Lead the way... just the two of us."

"Alright, alright."

……

More than an hour later.

They arrived at a mountain cave with an extremely complex terrain. Inside, the paths were crisscrossed and of unknown depth, with passages of varying thickness spreading like a spider web, covering dozens of miles of the mountain.

In such a harsh environment, even Celestial Realm cultivators were mostly helpless.

At one of the cave entrances, which was as spacious as a plaza, countless blood bats hung from the ceiling. Although these were the lowest-tier blood bats, which an ordinary person could kill with a slap under the right conditions, their sheer numbers were overwhelming. Anyone with trypophobia would likely faint on the spot. Even the young prodigy Wang Shihai shivered and whispered, "Fifth Aunt, why don't we call a few hundred more people over?"

"Too many people will only cause trouble." Wang Luojing lightly shook her wrist, producing a series of crisp and pleasant bell sounds.

The bell sounds varied from low to high and back again, unpredictable and even causing Wang Shihai's eardrums to ache at the highest frequencies, while the low frequencies were inaudible.

Suddenly!

The blood bat colony became agitated.

Wang Luojing seemed to have found some mysterious frequency, and with increased profound energy, the bells on her wrist shook wildly. Strangely, Wang Shihai couldn't hear any sound.

At this moment, the blood bats were in trouble.

They became increasingly restless, flying chaotically within the large cave.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Blood bats continuously crashed into the cave walls, falling to the ground as bloody messes. In the sky, it was like a rain of "blood dumplings," with batches of blood bats knocking themselves out and falling to their deaths!

"This... this..." Wang Shihai was utterly shocked. There was actually such a miraculous way to deal with blood bats.

In the spider-web-like cave passages, blood bats kept rushing out, crashing to their deaths like headless flies. Soon, the ground was covered with a layer of blood bat corpses.

In just ten days, Wang Luojing had cleared out all the blood bats within dozens of miles of underground caves, including two third-tier beast-level blood bats.

With the blood bat colony eradicated, the progress of the frontier reclamation greatly accelerated. The Wang's Clan freed up more manpower to repeatedly sweep the reclamation area, completing "Shouzhe Road" a month ahead of schedule.

Meanwhile, cement factories, gravel pits, laborer dormitories, and other facilities were built one by one.

On this land named Xin'an Town, the grand reclamation plan was proceeding methodically step by step.

And time flew by year after year.

In the blink of an eye, another ten years passed.

In the 3,178th year of Longchang in Daqian—early May.

It had been thirty-three years since Wang Shouzhe transmigrated to this world. From a handsome and heroic eighteen-year-old youth, he had now surpassed the age of fifty.

Fifty-one years old.

If he were on Earth, his physical functions would inevitably decline, gradually transitioning from middle age to old age.

But at this moment, Wang Shouzhe's age seemed frozen in his prime, with his physical functions in peak condition. This was the benefit of cultivating the Basalt technique. The younger one started cultivating to the Lingtai Realm, the longer they could maintain their youth.

In his current state, even if he didn't advance to the Celestial Realm, he would only start to age gradually after a hundred and several decades, and then slowly decline in the last few decades of his life until death.

Moreover, he was cultivating the "Changchun True Art," a technique that inherently extended lifespan. If he remained healthy, living past two hundred years would be easy, and he might even reach two hundred and thirty years.

However, all this would change dramatically once Wang Shouzhe advanced to the Celestial Realm.

In the past ten years, the reclamation of "Xin'an Town" in the outer regions had been proceeding methodically. Meanwhile, Wang Shouzhe had never slackened in his cultivation. With his bloodline reaching the level of a great prodigy, his cultivation progress soared.

In just ten years, he had advanced from the seventh layer of the Lingtai Realm to the peak of the Lingtai Realm, just half a step away from the Celestial Realm.

This was the power of a great prodigy.

Most great prodigies, as long as they had sufficient cultivation resources, would generally advance to the Celestial Realm before the age of fifty. The reason Wang Shouzhe was slightly slower was that he only became a great prodigy at the age of forty.

In the newly developed "Xin'an Town," a rare mid-grade wood-type spiritual vein was discovered. Therefore, Wang Shouzhe built a small courtyard at the center of this spiritual vein.

Although his bloodline wasn't purely of the Yi Wood type, among all types of spiritual veins, the wood-type spiritual vein benefited him the most. Thus, choosing to cultivate and advance at the core of the wood-type spiritual vein was one of the best options.

Of course, if he wished, he could also go to the Changchun Valley of the Purple Mansion Academy to advance. But after careful consideration, Wang Shouzhe decided it was more prudent to advance on his own territory.

The Wang's Clan was developing too rapidly, and he needed to secretly accumulate some trump cards. He didn't want his advancement to be widely known.

At this moment, Wang Shouzhe had been in seclusion at the "Xin'an Town" for a month, preparing to break through to the Celestial Realm. With daily introspection, he had entered a state of no joy or sorrow.

With the final refinement of his body, his vitality had reached its peak.

He chose to break through.

Sitting cross-legged, he slowly circulated the thick and substantial profound energy within his body. This was different from advancing to the Lingtai Realm, where one only needed to open the two bridges between heaven and earth and establish the Lingtai.

Advancing to the Celestial Realm was a comprehensive evolution of the mortal body.

With the circulation of profound energy, every cell in his body became active, vibrating in resonance. Vitality continuously flowed into the bone marrow of his bones, which had been long tempered and strengthened by vitality, reaching a critical point and breaking through the bottleneck with a "boom." Under the catalysis and refinement of the immense vitality, the bone marrow began to transform, becoming stronger, more sensitive, and highly resilient.

"Bone Marrow Transformation!"

This was an extremely important step in advancing to the Celestial Realm. Those with insufficient bloodline aptitude often needed the aid of the Ascension Pill to break through.

However, Wang Shouzhe was a great prodigy, having reached the level of a spiritual body in the Lingtai Realm. The step of bone marrow transformation was almost a natural progression for him, without the need for the so-called Ascension Pill.

With the refinement of each bone, the bone marrow throughout his body began to renew.

This process took a full three days.

Wang Shouzhe's entire bone marrow had been thoroughly strengthened.

Bone marrow is one of the most important organs in the human body, primarily responsible for blood production and enhancing immunity.

After the bone marrow transformation, the newly produced blood also became stronger.

This process was known as blood purification.

The blood purification process lasted for several more days.

When Wang Shouzhe completed these two critical steps, he opened his eyes slightly, feeling the earth-shattering changes within his body.

However, this was not the final result.

He replenished some pills and consumed a large amount of high-grade spiritual food. Entering the next stage, he began to advance to the "Celestial Body." During this process, his body would undergo continuous changes, becoming increasingly powerful.

In Wang Shouzhe's understanding, this process involved the continuous renewal of his body, with new cells replacing old ones, essentially equating to acquiring a new body.

This process lasted for three months.

This was the entire process of advancing to the Celestial Realm: bone marrow transformation, blood purification, and the Celestial Body!

This advancement method differed from the fantasy novels Wang Shouzhe had read in his previous life. In those stories, breakthroughs often happened in an instant, sometimes even during battles!

But in this world, breaking through during a battle without preparation was simply unimaginable. Without completing the bone marrow transformation, one might be killed before the breakthrough was complete.

Especially since this breakthrough process was not a matter of a day or two, and varied for each individual. For instance, it took Wang Shouzhe a total of one hundred and twelve days, while his wife Liu Ruolan, who completed her advancement four years earlier, took less than a hundred days.

Wang Shouzhe had even heard of cases where individuals took several years to successfully advance.

Additionally, it was worth mentioning that in the final days of the Celestial Body stage, Wang Shouzhe's tribulation clouds appeared, followed by three bolts of heavenly lightning. This matter was not elaborated upon because the lightning bolts were too weak, and he easily overcame them.

Compared to the heavenly lightning he had seen when the six-tailed fire fox advanced to the seventh tier, these bolts were not even in the same league.

Of course, this was because the lightning encountered Wang Shouzhe. For someone with a weaker foundation, surviving the heavenly lightning would be uncertain. Throughout history, there had always been some unfortunate souls who perished under the Celestial Realm's heavenly lightning.

After successfully advancing to the Celestial Realm, Wang Shouzhe felt the earth-shattering changes within his body. Every cell had become extraordinarily powerful, and his divine sense and profound energy had reached a new level.

Especially his bloodline, which had awakened to the fifth level of the Dao Body.

A great prodigy in the Celestial Realm was truly a great prodigy. With the awakening of the Dao Body, one could theoretically comprehend minor divine abilities and had the qualification to invoke some of the laws of heaven and earth.

After all, a considerable number of Purple Mansion Realm cultivators also possessed the Dao Body.

Of course, having a Dao Body didn't mean one could rival a Purple Mansion Realm cultivator. The Purple Mansion Realm was powerful in many aspects, not just the Dao Body.

Even so, the strength of a great prodigy in the Celestial Realm was incomparable to that in the Lingtai Realm. In a fight, it would be like an adult fighting a child.

Wang Shouzhe had firsthand experience of this, all stemming from when Liu Ruolan advanced to the Celestial Realm first... talking about this was a tale of bitterness.

Forget it, forget it, let's not talk about it.

In any case, he was now a great prodigy in the Celestial Realm, no less than Liu Ruolan. It was fortunate that he had wisely spent a fortune and effort to acquire the Wuji Baodan. Otherwise, improving his bloodline after reaching the Dao Body would have been as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

Wang Shouzhe only briefly felt his newfound strength, flying through the sky for dozens of miles before descending. Then, he put on a prepared concealment treasure—the "Deceiving Heaven Jade Talisman"—and activated its effect.

In an instant, Wang Shouzhe's powerful aura was suppressed and concealed by some mysterious energy. Other Celestial Realm cultivators would only sense that he was at the late Lingtai Realm.

Even Purple Mansion Realm cultivators would find it difficult to see through the powerful effect of the "Deceiving Heaven Jade Talisman" without using special means.

However, the "Deceiving Heaven Jade Talisman" was an extremely rare treasure, very difficult to refine. During this period, the Baibao Pavilion hadn't had any in stock. Helplessly, Wang Shouzhe had to write to Liyao, asking her to trouble Tianhe Daoist.

Tianhe Daoist, after all, was the Dean of the Purple Mansion Academy, a top-tier figure. Eventually, he managed to obtain two "Deceiving Heaven Jade Talismans" for the Wang's Clan at a friendly price of one million each!

With the "Deceiving Heaven Jade Talisman," the Wang's Clan could at least hide two Celestial Realm cultivators, making their strategic and tactical planning more relaxed.

As for the title of a sixth-grade family, Wang Shouzhe wasn't uninterested, but it wasn't beneficial at the moment. It was more important to accumulate resources and bide their time.

Meanwhile, the newly constructed "Xin'an Town" was still in its infancy. This vast land, about four and a half times the size of Ping'an Town, was expected to have a total of 1.3 to 1.6 million acres of arable land (including terraced fields) in the future.

However, the development of Xin'an Town wasn't solely undertaken by the Wang's Clan. The allied families also contributed significantly to this reclamation. According to the prior agreement, the Wang's Clan, which made the greatest contributions, would occupy sixty percent of the land.

The remaining families would share the remaining forty percent.

Even among allied families, the tradition of clear accounts among brothers was upheld. On the mapped-out areas of Xin'an Town, each family's territory was clearly marked and officially registered with the government.

Daqian law stipulated that no matter how families expanded into the outer regions, the land still belonged to Daqian in name. A garrison office had to be established, with a garrison commander appointed by the city guard office to oversee the area.

Wang Shouzhe also requested that the garrison office be built near Shouzhe Pass, almost connected to it.

This was Wang Shouzhe's way of preventing a repeat of the Zhouxuan Pass tragedy.

Fortunately, the current city guard, Wei Wenxun, had essentially given up and agreed to all of Wang Shouzhe's requests as long as they were legal.

Years ago, the construction of the garrison office behind Shouzhe Pass began, and it was now completed. Simultaneously, the town of Xin'an had taken shape.

On this day, Wei Wenxun personally escorted the new garrison commander and his entourage to take office in Xin'an Town.

Wang Shouzhe, having successfully advanced to the Celestial Realm and having been in seclusion for too long, decided to show his face and get some fresh air. Thus, he went to the garrison office in Xin'an Town to meet the new garrison commander.

It must be said that the garrison commander in the Wang's Clan territory was always the most inconspicuous official.

It wasn't that the Wang's Clan deliberately suppressed the garrison commander.

It was just that the Wang's Clan had become so powerful that a small garrison commander could only look up to them. Therefore, the garrison commander in the Wang's Clan territory could only obediently lie low and listen to the Wang's Clan's opinions on everything.

As a result, Wang Shouzhe had to think carefully to recall the name and appearance of the current garrison commander in Ping'an Town.

"Ah, Master Shouzhe." City Guard Wei Wenxun's face twitched when he saw Wang Shouzhe standing at the garrison office entrance. He quickly stepped forward and said, "How could we trouble Master Shouzhe to come for the new garrison commander's appointment?"

"Not at all, the garrison commander is the local authority and will undoubtedly need to look after the Wang's Clan in the future." Wang Shouzhe replied politely and then changed the topic, "By the way, I heard that you are getting promoted? Congratulations, City Guard Wei."

"Not at all, not at all. I owe it all to Master Shouzhe's numerous contributions," Wei Wenxun said modestly, feeling a mix of emotions.

When he first arrived at Changning Garrison, he was full of enthusiasm, determined to make a name for himself. But he didn't expect the situation in Changning Garrison to be so dire, with the major families forming marriage alliances and looking up to the Wang's Clan.

This made him, the dignified city guard, a mere figurehead. During this time, he had struggled and tried to resist, but the Wang's Clan always had him firmly under control.

In the last ten years of his term, he no longer had the strength to fight the all-powerful Wang's Clan and decided to lie low.

This decision unexpectedly brought him many achievements.

Economic development ranked among the top in the commandery, and annual tax revenue was the highest outside the commandery city... Moreover, the Wang's Clan's ambitious reclamation efforts opened up a vast new territory for Changning Garrison...

Naturally, these achievements fell to Wei Wenxun.

This made Wei Wenxun an accidental winner in life, using the abundant resources and achievements to outshine countless competitors and secure a good position in the commandery city, with a promising future.

Looking back, he couldn't help but sigh.

"Master Shouzhe, this is the new garrison commander of Xin'an Town," Wei Wenxun said as the crowd behind him parted, revealing a handsome man with the bearing of a martial general.

He cupped his hands and said, "Garrison Commander of Xin'an Town, Wang Shoulian, greets Master Shouzhe."

Shoulian?

Even Wang Shouzhe was slightly surprised. He hadn't expected Wei Wenxun to appoint Wang Sh oulian as the garrison commander... Well, this almost represented the city guard office's complete abandonment of oversight over Xin'an Town...

Unexpectedly, Wei Wenxun, who had always harbored some resentment towards the Wang's Clan, gave them a parting gift before his promotion.

……

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