Longevity Family: Let Her Live At The Beginning, Let Her Live

Any small matter in the harem is very sensitive, so Wanfei's breakthrough seems very abnormal. Some concubines have started investigating secretly. Someone found out that the Thirteenth Princess stayed at the Ninth Prince's mansion for several days. But after racking their brains, they combined it with the identity of the Ninth Prince's alchemist and guessed some possibilities.

The competition in the harem is cruel, so...

"That Ninth Prince must have a secret. I heard that he likes to recruit Dao companions. Let my daughter inquire about it."

"But..." A maid at the Foundation Building stage hesitated to speak.

"But what?" The woman sitting in the first seat was a charming concubine.

"What if the princess goes there and is taken advantage of by the Ninth Prince?"

"Hmph, she is the daughter of Emperor Qian. Would the Ninth Prince dare to use force? Tell her to leave immediately. I want to see what secrets that Ninth Prince has. I am also at the late stage of Core Formation and have been unable to break through to the peak of Core Formation. If he really has the ability..."

In the Zhang family in Beiyuan, the Great Alchemist Zhang.

Naturally, he didn't know that his breakthrough pill had caused a lot of turmoil in the harem, especially among the concubines who had daughters. They arranged for them to visit the Zhang family one after another.

For a while, there were often luxurious carriages leaving the palace gate, pulled by colorful peacocks. After flying out of the palace's canopy, not just one or two, but more than a dozen in a row, naturally attracting a lot of attention.

From the palace, the people inside must have a noble status. Those who were observant could tell that these were the princesses' carriages. And they all seemed to be heading in the same direction.

In a tavern in the capital city of Daqian,

Some people were discussing this matter.

"Have you noticed that many carriages have been leaving the palace recently? Does anyone know what's going on?"

"Could it be that some precious treasure has appeared, and these nobles and officials are going to compete for it?"

"It doesn't seem like it."

"Forget it, all these people are heading in one direction, which is the Ninth Prince's mansion." The person speaking was wearing black leather armor, with a long knife on his back and sharp eyes.

"Oh? Brother, how did you find out?"

This person sneered, "Heh, I just returned from the border, bringing back the body of a descendant from the Zhang family. That person was a good brother of mine on the battlefield, so I specially sent him back. When I was passing by the imperial city, I saw many eye-catching carriages flying towards the Zhang family."

This person's voice was loud, and he exuded a bloodthirsty aura. His cultivation was also at the late stage of Foundation Building. Although his face looked young, it was filled with vicissitudes at this moment.

Suddenly, someone seemed to recognize him and exclaimed, "Fellow Daoist, are you Zhao's descendant?"

"Oh? How did you know I am from the Zhao family?" The man was slightly surprised. He was dressed in casual clothes without any special markings.

"Fellow Daoist, your courage alone reveals that you are a person of loyalty and righteousness. Moreover, your appearance resembles General Zhao quite a bit, so I took the liberty to guess your identity."

Zhao Kuo laughed heartily, "Haha, you guessed right. I am indeed from the Zhao family. However, General Zhao is a legendary figure, generations apart from me. I haven't seen him more than a few times. It seems that you are not ordinary to have met General Zhao."

The person's gaze showed a nostalgic expression, "What's so extraordinary about it? I only caught a glimpse of him a hundred years ago. At that time, General Zhao was on an expedition to the Great Yu Dynasty. He was like a heavenly general, riding a golden armored warhorse, with a collection of divine weapons adorned with white feathers. That unparalleled heroic appearance is still unforgettable to me."

Zhao Kuo hadn't been born at that time. Seeing that this person only had a middle-aged appearance, he sensed that there was no trace of cultivation aura from him.

Unconsciously, he bowed and said, "So it's a senior."

"Don't be polite. The stability of Daqian is largely thanks to your Zhao family's contribution. I should be the one to thank you," replied the senior.

Zhao Kuo waved his hand and said, "Senior is joking. The true stability of Daqian comes from the Emperor's power. My Zhao family is merely a pawn."

After chatting for a while, Zhao Kuo left the tavern, leaped onto a black and white dragon horse, pulled the reins, and headed straight for the Zhao family.

The Zhao family was located just ten miles outside the imperial city, very close by.

...

At the Zhang family's residence.

Jiang Xiaoyun was a Dao companion that Zhang Ran had recruited in the Six Sects. They met shortly after Zhang Ran reached the Core Formation stage, when Jiang Xiaoyun was still in the early stages of Foundation Building.

The child brought back by Zhao Kuo was her great-grandson, from the Xuan generation. Originally, the Zhang family had seventy percent of their spiritual root descendants concentrated in the Tian generation. Among them, twenty percent were in the Di generation, and half a percent were in the Xuan generation. The rest were in the Huang and Yu generations, with the majority being ordinary mortals.

Zhang Xuanlin had a fifth-grade spiritual root, which was considered quite outstanding among the Xuan generation. Now that he had returned in a shroud, the entire Jiang family was filled with grief.

"I told him not to go to the border, but he wouldn't listen. Even Core Formation cultivators would perish there, let alone someone at the Foundation Building stage," Zhang Xuanlin's mother sobbed as she leaned over his body.

This was the first descendant of the Zhang family to sacrifice their life at the border since Daqian's establishment.

Of course, the Zhang family had a large population, with a base of three hundred thousand ordinary mortal descendants. Some of them would wander outside and be killed by demonic beasts in the wilderness. There were also cases of robbery and the like, but the Zhang family would always investigate immediately. There were some bandits who dared to rob the Zhang family's cloth business on the nearby official road, but they were all dealt with by a Qi Refining cultivator sent by the Zhang family, who bloodily exterminated several bandit strongholds.

Zhang Xuanlin was the first cultivator to sacrifice his life in the past fifteen years, and he was also a Foundation Building disciple.

Senior martial sister, as well as Wang Ling and others, came to visit. Zhang Ran naturally came to pay his respects as well, and he gave a generous amount of resettlement funds.

Zhang Ran was also quite knowledgeable about the situation at the border. It was the border between Daqian and the Great Yu Dynasty, and there were other forces involved as well, making it very chaotic.

"My husband, the situation in the Baiwan Mountains is becoming increasingly intense. It might be better to forcibly recall the Zhang family's descendants. The Zhang family's population is thin now, and we need to lay low for some time," suggested Zhang Ran.

Zhang Ran nodded. "I've heard about it too. The Great Yu Dynasty has been increasing its military strength, and it's said that a Nascent Soul cultivator has gone to assist."

The Baiwan Mountains were a large mountain range between the central and southern regions. It happened to be located between Daqian and the Great Yu Dynasty. The mineral deposits and spiritual herbs there were extremely abundant, attracting various forces to fight over them.

Because of the multiple forces involved, this area had been ownerless for countless years, earning it the nickname "Million Layers of Hell."

When the mountain range was first discovered, even Soul Formation cultivators fought over it, but in the end, they found that they couldn't gain anything and retreated.

Now, it had become a battleground for most Foundation Building and even Qi Refining disciples, with some Core Formation cultivators also meeting their end there.

The main reason for the conflict was the competition for resources, such as the mineral deposits. Daqian had even built an ancient city in this area.

There were millions of cultivators in this area alone, fighting for the mineral deposits, defending them, and seizing resources every day.

In this place, only strength mattered, and any kindness or compassion would result in bloodshed.

The Zhang family had also sent some Qi Refining cultivators, but they were extremely cautious and always ran the fastest, so no one died.