Chapter 216

Three months later

Fengxi, on Mount Zhu Feng.

Yet one saw streams of magical light flowing and turning, a great cauldron transformed into a golden light that fell deep into the ancestral tomb.

Zhang Jian ultimately chose to suppress the Red Dragon Vein with his natal magic treasure, the Qian Yuan Golden Cauldron, and also borrowed the power of the Red Dragon Vein to nourish this natal magic treasure in return, aiding in containing spiritual essence and nurturing the mountain-river dragon soul.

And at this moment, as the Qian Yuan Golden Cauldron descended as a fortune-suppressing treasure, one saw four divine lights rush into the sky on Mount Zhu Feng, faintly drawing starlight from the Four Symbols star regions in the celestial firmament, which fell and merged into the deep earth veins of Mount Zhu Feng; the starlight descended, nourishing the auspicious geomantic sites on Mount Zhu Feng, making the entire mountain range increasingly spiritually exquisite and towering.

Dragon momentum lay hidden.

"Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, Black Tortoise!"

In the void, as a faint voice appeared, one saw a huge seven-colored phoenix unfold its phoenix-spirit body; the seven-colored phoenix instantly transformed into human form, and the phoenix spirit gazed at this scene with some astonishment.

She merged into the formation with her whole body, able to feel the formidable nature of this formation.

At this time, the Vermilion Bird starlight above gradually dimmed, while beneath one's feet lay a tomb; however, around this special tomb were spread many peculiar runes, as if a great firebird lay hidden deep within the tomb.

This is the Vermilion Bird position, and naturally the other three directions correspond to the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise positions.

As the phoenix spirit's gaze fell, within the tomb below lay another heaven and earth; not only had a special formation been laid down, possessing the Vermilion Bird banner for suppression, but also a huge golden-bodied Vermilion Bird stone statue for suppression—this represents the southern spirit suppressing the Vermilion Bird position.

The existence of these four great golden bodies can also allow the four spirits to temporarily depart from the Four Symbols Coiling Dragon Grand Formation.

After all, most of the Four Spirits Guardians are deities, possessing their own functions.

Only the White Tortoise at the Black Tortoise position has its true form submerged within, with a spirit ever-present, so there is no need to worry about flaws appearing in the Four Symbols Coiling Dragon Grand Formation; if problems arise, the other three spirits can also be summoned.

At this time, within the Four Symbols Coiling Dragon Grand Formation, the suppressors of the other three symbol positions could also feel the peculiarity of this grand formation; as the four formation eyes, they ceaselessly inhaled and exhaled the spiritual essence of heaven and earth, strengthening the dragon vein's power.

The four forces converged into the Qian Yuan Golden Cauldron, within which a red treasure pearl appeared.

This is the Red Dragon Pearl.

Within the Red Dragon Pearl, a formidable dragon vein essence qi continuously released; besides strengthening the subterranean dragon vein, benefiting the four directions, the four gods seated at the Four Symbols positions also felt their life destinies receiving a magnificent fortune's suppression, and the speed of their magical power growth increased.

Especially the White Fury at the Azure Dragon position, he felt that the red dragon essence qi contained in the Red Dragon Pearl had a great attraction for him.

Although he could not directly absorb it, but that red dragon essence qi transformed into earth vein dragon qi after, he absorbed a thread of earth vein dragon qi, and could continuously purify the magical power within his body's dragon pearl, which is greatly beneficial for transforming into a dragon.

White Fury's face at this time showed a smile, gazing upward and saying:

"A Yu, this grand formation is entrusted to us; with us here, we guarantee no problems will arise in the dragon vein!"

In the divine light, White Fury manifested the form of the White Water Dragon Lord.

"And me too; Xian Yin will henceforth retreat into seclusion in this mountain for a hundred years, assisting the young master in achieving great undertakings!"

Bai Xian Yin also flew out from the White Tiger position at this time, her jade visage smiling.

And in the Black Tortoise position, that white tortoise merely lifted its head to glance, then lazily sank into the earth's cavities, cultivating with the earth's qi.

Zhang Jian nodded to the three.

"Father-in-law, Feng Ling, Xian Yin, and also Brother Xuan Dao, this place is entrusted to you; if anything goes awry, you can also summon me!"

"However, the Four Symbols Coiling Dragon Grand Formation's power to conceal wind and gather water is extremely strong; under ordinary circumstances, no action is needed, unless the dragon vein truly reveals itself!"

Zhang Jian's expression remained calm.

This formation is actually not a killing formation, but rather more for concealing the dragon vein and increasing dragon qi.

However, with White Fury and Feng Ling, two Yin God venerables, present, they can still exert some effect.

White Fury laughed at this time: "A Yu, with us four spirits guarding the formation, we shall surely be flawless!"

White Fury indeed had full confidence; having passed the thousand-year divine path tribulation, his magical power was continuously recovering; when he reaches his peak, his true peak is as a venerable of the Four Tribulations Yin God, plus the Jiaolong body—unless a Primordial Immortal comes, whoever comes is just giving him a free gift.

Zhang Jian slightly nodded.

As for White Fury's strength, Zhang Jian naturally trusted it.

Dragon clan's simpleton, he had heard the River Dragon Lord mention……

At this time, Zhang Jian also felt the power of the Four Symbols continuously drawing the geomancy of heaven and earth to converge in the ancestral tomb, while within his body the three great dragon vein ranks were continuously strengthening.

Zhang Jian clearly felt that within his Yin God body, the three great life destinies were gradually transforming into pure purple.

This is a kind of progress.

Before stepping into the Primordial Spirit realm, the "Treasure Record" states that the foundation of life destiny formation relies greatly on.

Life destiny transformation, his own foundation's growth will be extremely evident.

"When the Hidden Dragon Life Destiny reaches pure purple, the next step is kingly destiny, and even the Son of Heaven's destiny of Nine Five; this requires worldly foundations, as well as the active evolution of one's own life destiny!"

Zhang Jian wore a blue robe, his gaze at this time calm.

This day will not be far off.

Even ordinary cultivators, no matter how great their abilities, if they wish to transform their Hidden Dragon Life Destiny into kingly destiny, also need worldly foundations!

One needs to raise the rebel banner, or be ennobled as a king by imperial decree, but he is not an ordinary cultivator, naturally he has a way to bypass this.

He has already thought of a method.

For example, borrowing his own dragon vein, or simply stealing the spiritual rhythm of the Great Qian Dragon Vein.

……

After the successful arrangement of the Four Symbols Coiling Dragon Grand Formation, Zhang Jian operated the Wind-Treading Azure Void Technique, flying and leaping away; his evasion speed was extremely fast.

At this time, it seemed as if two Azure Void wings appeared behind him, allowing him to enter the mad wind through them, swiftly wandering with the wind's urgency.

After cultivating the Nine Heavens Riding Wind and Controlling Thunder Technique to the Yin God realm, one can condense the Wind Lord Dharma Aspect and Thunder God Dharma Aspect; after the Yin God exits the orifice, one can also don the Wind Lord's skin bag or the Thunder God's skin bag, thereby roaming freely between heaven and earth.

This is the strongest aspect of Yin God powerhouses.

And the Primordial Immortal True Person, at this time, can merge the dharma aspects, truly using them as a foundation, borrowing false cultivation to become the Wind Lord or Thunder Lord, thereby achieving an immortal god foundation.

After Zhang Jian entered Fengyang Prefecture, he went to see Zhang Yi and his wife once more, as well as several younger brothers and sisters.

The Zhang family is a large family; that old man Zhang Yi is very fertile, now in total there are seven or eight sons and four or five daughters, big and small.

Zhang Jian is the eldest son; the others are not old, the eldest being Zhang Min, born of the Second Aunt Zhou.

He is sixteen years old.

Zhang Min also passed the prefectural and provincial examinations this year, obtaining the status of xiucai, and was very diligent.

As for the other brothers, most of them were not very old—thirteen, twelve, and had only recently come to their senses. Over these years, Zhang Jian either buried himself in studying for the imperial examinations or devoted himself to cultivation, and later focused on stirring up affairs to strengthen the Zhang family, so he was not particularly close to these brothers at home.

But though he was not present at the Zhang household, he had already become a legend of the Zhang family and a role model for many of the Zhang brothers and sisters.

Zhang Jian rarely returned once to the Zhang family in Fengyang Commandery, and this time he brought back many gifts, which could be considered as deepening his relationship with his brothers and sisters.

Winning over people's hearts was not difficult for him.

Secondly, Zhang Jian's return to Fengyang this time had another purpose!

That was to hold the capping ceremony in advance.

In the Great Qian dynasty, men are capped at twenty; Zhang Jian is nineteen this year, but having already obtained official status and entered officialdom, he is eligible for an early capping.

For this capping ceremony, Zhang Yi intentionally invited many influential clans and powerful families from within and outside Fengyang Commandery to come to the door, and thereby further increase the Zhang family's influence.

But Zhang Jian stopped him.

Because he had recently refused the Emperor Jingwu's bestowal of a courtesy name, making a grand show at this time would be tantamount to slapping the emperor's face.

It would be enough to simply ask some elders of the clan to go through the motions and liven things up a bit.

Zhang Jian and Zhang Yi agreed that the capping ceremony would be held two days later.

Two days later, most of the Zhang family elders from Fengxi County had arrived, including Zhang Jian's two paternal uncles; Sixth Uncle Zhang Duan was not in Fengyang Commandery, so only a letter was sent, delivered on his behalf.

And the Qi family—father-in-law Qi Yuan si, Qi Wan shi, and several other Qi family elders—also arrived at the scene.

Although only some elders of the Zhang and Qi families and a number of younger generations were present, the occasion was still very grand.

According to the unique capping ceremony customs of Fengyang Commandery, Zhang Jian omitted nothing except the divination ritual; there was also Zhang Yi's congratulatory address, then entering the ancestral temple to worship the ancestors, and finally Zhang Yi bestowing a courtesy name upon Zhang Jian.

After completing the entire procedure, Zhang Jian remained composed and spirited, until finally bowing deeply before Zhang Yi, the head of the ancestral hall, and the Zhang Qi clan.

Zhang Yi had long prepared; Zhang Qi shi smiled and stepped forward to place the dark cap on Zhang Jian's head and dress him in dark robes.

"A Yu, you have finally grown up!"

At this moment, Zhang Qi shi's eyes were slightly reddened with tears; Zhang Jian gave a light smile and said, "Mother."

Seeing this, Zhang Yi glanced at his wife, then stepped forward, taking a sheet of xuan paper from the nearby stand.

At this moment, the xuan paper already bore two large characters written in iron-brush and silver-hook style.

"Dao sheng?"

Zhang Jian had already noticed these two characters; this might be his courtesy name.

At this moment, Zhang Yi's solemn face faintly showed a hint of affection as he smiled and said.

"A Yu, your father has chosen the courtesy name Dao sheng for you—what do you think?"

"Father, does this name carry any meaning?"

Zhang Jian gazed ahead.

Zhang Yi faced Zhang Jian and the many gazes of the Zhang clan members, stepped out, and spoke loudly.

"Dao sheng naturally means 'born of the Dao'; my son is the qilin child of our Zhang family, and moreover a seed of longevity. Your aspiration is to become an immortal through the Dao, to attain eternal life, to open a new realm for our Zhang family. Therefore, I bestow upon you the name Dao sheng—born of the Dao, born with the Dao—may your wishes be fulfilled in the future, and may you achieve immortality through the Dao!"

At this moment, Zhang Yi gazed at Zhang Jian, unable to conceal his partiality.

In fact, what he was most satisfied with regarding Zhang Jian was that although Zhang Jian cultivated, he did not ruin the family, and had even produced two intelligent heirs for the Zhang family.

Zhang Yi was extremely satisfied with this.

Therefore, he fully supported Zhang Jian's pursuit of the Dao of longevity.

"Son, thank you, Father, for bestowing the courtesy name!"

Zhang Jian immediately took the xuan paper offered by Zhang Yi with both hands, his expression solemn.

He also felt a warmth in his heart.

Zhang Jian, Zhang Dao sheng—this is not bad either.

After the capping ceremony, Zhang Jian, acting in place of Qi Yuhua, made a trip to the Qi family to pay respects to the Qi family's great elder, the ancestral forefather, and finally met with the elders of each branch.

Only then did he return to Haojing City.

……

Haojing City, and shortly after Zhang Jian departed, outside the Southern Mountains, a subterranean dragon suddenly stirred, and the tremendous commotion shook half of Haojing City.

Many commoners in Haojing City were startled by this sudden great commotion, panicking and discussing anxiously.

The city was filled with rumors and gossip.

Deep in the Eastern Mausoleum, two figures appeared, their faces grim, yet not far from them, many eternal lamps were extinguished, and two paper figures were engulfed in raging flames.

The yellow talismans on the paper figures were gradually destroyed by the firelight, but instantly, the seven-star banners surrounding them began to flow with starlight, gradually merging, and the firelight vanished.

This is the Northern Dipper Seven Stars Prolonging Life Grand Array set up around the imperial mausoleum, and also a deceptive illusion to confuse outsiders.

Yet the two had not expected that it would be so quickly broken by someone.

Before their eyes, two of the star-life talisman papers condensed by the Seven Star Generals were forcibly torn open; had the two Primordial Spirit True Persons not been prepared and timely substituted themselves with a secret method, they might not have saved the two martial generals bearing star-life.

At this moment, seeing the flames nearly burned out, the seven-star radiance before them gathered, and in an instant transformed into a star-arrow that shot forth from deep within the imperial mausoleum.

This seven-star arrow flew out, sank into the deep void, and in an instant, it seemed as if a painful groan came from the depths of the void.

Upon hearing this, the figure wearing a high cap and broad belt, resembling a scholar-official, gave a cold laugh, then turned to face Chaomu Dao beside him.

"It's about time; please, Brother Chao, take action and slay the one who cast the spell!"

Chaomu nodded.

The Primordial Spirit True Person who cast the spell should now be suffering backlash from the Seven Stars, and combined with the suppression of the Great Qian's national fortune dragon qi, he now has a great chance to capture this great fish.

His form transformed into a stream of light, and in an instant he vanished into the depths of the imperial mausoleum, from his body flowed forth a dense blood-killing aura.

Seeing this, the guardian figure drew a deep breath, and in his eyes there remained a trace of chill.

He had set up the Northern Dipper Seven Stars Prolonging Life Grand Array mainly to hope to confuse outside cultivators, using it as a trap merely as a side effect; he had not expected to capture a prey so quickly.

This was truly beyond his imagination.

But this did not make him happy.

This meant that the enemies of Great Qian were more numerous and bolder than they had imagined.

"Since one Heavenly Corpse Daoist is not enough, then let us suppress another!"

The eyes of this Primordial Spirit True Person flickered with substantive killing intent as he glanced at the fissure gradually emerging deep within the imperial mausoleum.

These people truly spared no means in their efforts to destroy the dragon vein.

This time, they actually attempted to shatter the earth pulse of Mount Nan.

Had it not been for the suppressing treasure within the imperial city holding back the residual waves of the earth pulse, they might indeed have succeeded in using this to disturb the dragon vein and destroy the most core Prayer to Heaven Bureau deep within the imperial mausoleum.

……

"Greedy Wolf, Giant Gate, Lu Cun, Literary Star, Honest Wealth, Martial Star, Breaking Army! The seven-star stellar fate is fluctuating—someone is attacking the imperial mausoleum!"

At this moment, outside Haojing City, Zhang Jian was hurrying back and also caught sight from afar of Lu Cun and Martial Star among the seven stars overhead, obscured by black clouds.

His expression turned astonished, and in an instant he saw two divine lights clashing at high speed deep in the firmament, both hurtling toward his direction.

These were two Primordial Spirit True Persons engaged in battle.

Zhang Jian circulated the Golden Lotus Hidden Breath Technique to restrain his own cultivation, yet his gaze turned toward the Eastern Mausoleum direction.

A gleam appeared in his eyes.

He realized that what lay before him might be a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity.

An opportunity to investigate the mysteries of the dragon vein.

Or perhaps an opportunity to investigate the Three-Eyed Demon-Subduing Well.

Two choices, two directions.