Chapter 48

Ever since Grandfather and Aunt returned, Lin Zhangqing had felt much more relaxed.

Every day, aside from cultivation, he would tend to the spirit fields and look after First-Born and the group of Purple Crystal Scorpions; his spare time was spent drinking tea with his young companions or sparring with them.

Ever since the last counter-ambush, the young companions had consciously improved their combat skills and all liked to come to Aoyun Peak to spar with Lin Zhangqing whenever they had free time, which resulted in mutual gains and progress for everyone.

Or they would go into the woods to play hide-and-seek with the Purple Crystal Scorpions—this was actually invented by Lin Changlian, who said that if one could evade the search of the Purple Crystal Scorpions in the woods, then their survival skills when hunting demons in the Qingyun Mountain Range later would surely be much stronger than others'.

However, they were found by the Purple Crystal Scorpions every single time, though Lin Changlian was tireless in her enthusiasm for it.

Time flowed by slowly like this, and Lin Zhangqing's cultivation had also reached the peak of the fifth layer of Qi Refining; it had been over a year, nearly two, since he last consumed a Vermilion Fruit.

Now, Lin Zhangqing could advance to the sixth layer of Qi Refining at any time by consuming a Vermilion Fruit, but he wanted to see if he could advance on his own, as he did not want to rely too much on the Vermilion Fruit.

As for the Thunder Apertures, although every cultivation session was extremely arduous, Lin Zhangqing had successfully opened another one; after all, having had the experience, opening them was faster than before.

With three Thunder Apertures, he had enough to trigger a Geng Metal Divine Thunder or a Gui Water Yin Thunder once. Now, his evening spell cultivation was primarily focused on the Thunder Control Technique secret method, with the two types of thunder techniques as supplements, and other spell cultivation was relatively less. However, he still managed to attend to all of them.

On this day, the family demon-hunting team finally returned; this time it was a bit later than in previous years, as it was already very close to the end of the year.

When Lin Zhangqing rushed to the family square, the atmosphere was very heavy; it didn't look like a good situation!

Fortunately, seeing that his father hadn't suffered any injuries, he felt much more at ease and stood quietly by his father's side, listening to the Clan Leader speak on the platform.

It turned out that four clansmen had died this year, and there were more injuries than in previous years, no wonder the atmosphere at the scene was bad! After the Clan Leader finished speaking and arranged for designated personnel to count the harvest and exchange it for contribution points, he let the demon-hunting team members go back to rest first.

However, on the way home, his father looked preoccupied, and Lin Zhangqing asked worriedly if something had happened.

His father only patted Lin Zhangqing on the shoulder and sighed, saying, "Let's talk when we get back!"

It seemed the matter was not small! Upon returning home, his father gathered everyone together and spoke of a major event that would affect everyone: a beast tide might be about to erupt in the Qingyun Mountain Range!

It turned out that there were many more demonic beasts on the periphery of the Qingyun Mountain Range this year than last year, which was why the casualties among the clansmen were higher than before.

The family organized personnel to hunt demons every year precisely to continuously reduce the number of demonic beasts in the Qingyun Mountain Range and try to delay the eruption of the beast tide.

Now that the number of demonic beasts on the periphery had increased, it was highly likely that the demonic beasts inside the Qingyun Mountain Range were breeding too quickly, squeezing the living space on the periphery, which proved that a beast tide might erupt very soon.

A beast tide would erupt every few decades to a hundred years, and each time it caused huge losses in personnel and property to the family.

Moreover, if a beast tide truly erupted, the Qingyun Sect would also conscript the cultivators of the Lin family to participate in resisting the beast tide.

The demon-hunting team had already reported the news to the Clan Leader, who would verify it with the other twelve families.

If all confirmed that the demonic beasts on the periphery had increased, then it would immediately be reported to the Qingyun Sect, who would send people to verify it again, and then they would begin preparing to resist the beast tide.

This sudden situation caught Lin Zhangqing off guard, throwing all his arrangements into disarray.

If they could have had another year or two of stability, both his father and second uncle might have successfully reached Foundation Establishment.

Fortunately, there was still some time; the family still had to verify the news with the other twelve families and report it to the Qingyun Sect, so there was at least half a month left.

At this time, Grandfather also received a sound transmission talisman from the Clan Leader; originally, being so close within the family, there was no need to use a sound transmission talisman, but now that he was transmitting directly to Grandfather, it seemed a major event had occurred.

It was likely about the possible eruption of the beast tide, and the Clan Leader was anxious to have Grandfather go over to discuss it.

It wasn't until evening that Grandfather returned and told everyone the decision made at the family high-level meeting. Tomorrow, Grandfather would go to the Pingyang Market to meet with Grand Elder Lin Fanhong, bring the news of the possible beast tide eruption, and arrange for people to secretly purchase a batch of strategic supplies, including dharma artifacts, talismans, Qi recovery pills, Spring Return pills, and so on...

Then they would go together to visit the Xu family, which was Lin Zhangqing's mother's family, to verify the news with each other.

If all thirteen families confirmed that the demonic beasts had increased, then Grandfather and the Grand Elder would have to report it to the Qingyun Sect.

According to past experience, the Qingyun Sect would conscript family cultivators to participate in resisting the beast tide; each family had to provide half of their Foundation Establishment cultivators, which meant that since the Lin family currently had four Foundation Establishment cultivators on the surface, they would have to send two to accept the conscription.

Fortunately, the Clan Leader had foresight and hid the trump card of Aunt. Therefore, at this time, the news of Aunt's Foundation Establishment could not be exposed. About 100 people would likely be conscripted from the Qi Refining stage, which was equivalent to half of the Lin family's strength.

In such a situation, his father and second uncle in the demon-hunting team would have to accept the conscription; only these demon-hunting team members, who frequently participated in hunting activities, had a chance to survive in the beast tide.

However, Lin Zhangqing also intended to participate this time, at the very least to protect his father and second uncle; of course, this could not be said out loud.

Soon someone would come to notify his father and second uncle, but that was not what Lin Changqing was concerned about. Now he only thought about strengthening his strength, so let's start with First-Five and First-Six!

He also had to hurry to talk to Grandfather again before he set off tomorrow.

Everyone was digesting this news, while his mother and younger sister were worried about the safety of his father and second uncle. He didn't know what they would think when they found out that Lin Zhangqing was also going to participate in the conscription! After everyone went back to rest in the evening, Lin Zhangqing slipped over to Grandfather's house, and the grandfather and grandson were now in the secret room.

"Grandfather, I also want to participate in this conscription," Lin Zhangqing said straightforwardly.

"Nonsense, how old are you, and with such little cultivation, are you going to your death?" Grandfather scolded him with some anger.

"Grandfather, I must go this time. If I don't go, I can't guarantee that my father and second uncle will return alive. I want to go to protect them," Lin Zhangqing said with a serious face.

"Don't let your imagination run wild. Your father and second uncle are both at the ninth layer of Qi Refining and have rich demon-hunting experience, so they are the most likely to return alive. Don't add to the chaos!" Grandfather comforted him helplessly.

"I must go. With me there, it's equivalent to having an extra Foundation Establishment cultivator, plus First-Born and that group of Purple Crystal Scorpions, I guarantee I can let more clansmen return alive. Grandfather, let me go!" Lin Changqing insisted.

Grandfather remained silent.

Lin Zhangqing added more fuel to the fire, "Grandfather, think about those dense, bottomless small holes in the cultivation room."

Grandfather sighed, "This was not something you should have participated in originally!"

Lin Zhangqing quickly said, "This is my own wish. I cannot let my father and second uncle take such a big risk of falling and remain indifferent. I can't do that!"

"Alright, I agree to let you go, but you must guarantee to return alive," Grandfather said with some helplessness.

"Don't worry about that, I'm more afraid of death than anyone, and I will protect myself well.

Grandfather, please give my parents and second uncle the Earth Soul Fruit tomorrow morning, and by the way, give First-Five and First-Six a Vermilion Fruit each."

Seeing that Grandfather agreed to let him go, Lin Zhangqing quickly told Grandfather what he had just thought of.

Then he took out a jade box containing two Vermilion Fruits.

Grandfather nodded, thought for a moment, took out that piece of light gauze magic treasure and that golden jade slip of Shuowen Jiezi, and handed them to Lin Zhangqing.

He said, "Take these. Anyway, they don't need to be refined, and covering your body can also make you invisible. Maybe they will come in handy when the time comes."

Lin Zhangqing promised, took them, and kept them carefully, hoping he wouldn't need to use these things! (End of chapter)