Protect Our Patriarch

Book 1: Chapter 112: Start! Autumn and Winter Hunting

The Great Qian was founded on the basis of the Basalt Clan and has been in operation for seven to eight thousand years, with its territory becoming increasingly vast.

Numerous clans of all sizes depend on the Great Qian for survival.

Without the relatively strict laws of the Great Qian to restrain them, and without the unspoken rules among the clans to guide their behavior, the world would have long been in chaos.

After bidding farewell to Chen Fangjie, Wang Shouzhe returned to his main residence and began to live the life of a homebody clan leader. He would never give the Liu and Zhao Clans a chance to assassinate him.

Every day, he practiced cultivation, played with his turtle, and "bullied" the younger generation in his family.

Now, the learning atmosphere among the younger generation in his family was very "intense". They all had a strong "ambition", practicing Basalt martial arts, arithmetic, and literary cultivation every day.

This made Wang Shouzhe quite pleased. The Wang's Clan was indeed thriving.

In addition to this, Wang Shouzhe was devoted to developing and researching his innate bloodline.

Unlike his naive nieces and sisters, Wang Shouzhe, as a mature adult, naturally wouldn't neglect to understand the direction and limit of his abilities.

This was one of the abilities that Wang Shouzhe valued the most, and it was also the foundation of his role as a "healer". He needed to understand the strength and quantity of his healing power.

Therefore, the food in the Wang's Clan had suddenly improved during this period.

These were chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, and even wild boars and a sick ox that were sent from several farms.

While testing the extent of his healing ability, he inevitably had to use the animals that couldn't be saved due to his heavy hand as food.

However, because of this, Wang Shouzhe had gained a fairly comprehensive understanding of his healing ability.

Firstly, his treatment of external injuries was the simplest, able to stop bleeding and heal wounds in a very short time, leaving no scars and even having a whitening effect. This ability, if used in the beauty and obstetrics and gynecology departments on Earth, would definitely have a heaven-defying effect.

Secondly, his treatment of internal injuries was also quite good, such as damage to the internal organs and internal bleeding.

In the past, it was usually difficult for Basalt practitioners to treat these conditions. They had to gradually dissolve the blood stasis with their energy and take healing pills to gradually treat the internal injuries, a process that was usually quite lengthy.

Therefore, most Basalt practitioners were not afraid of external injuries, but were most afraid of internal injuries.

Back then, Ancestor Long Yan suffered severe internal injuries and was constantly hindered by the Yin Sha Qi in her body from self-healing or using pills to recover. This tormented her for fifty years.

It wasn't until she refined the Yin Sha Qi and used it for herself that her injuries began to improve with the help of the Creation Pill.

However, it can also be seen from this how tenacious the life force of a Lingtai Realm cultivator is. Despite such terrible injuries and constant deterioration, she was still able to pull through.

Wang Shouzhe's healing ability was also quite beneficial for internal injuries, although it wasn't as immediate as for external injuries and needed to be gradually healed in conjunction with the patient's self-healing ability.

But even so, such healing ability can be considered extremely strong. Even Ancestor Long Yan said that if the family had Wang Shouzhe's bloodline talent earlier, she, Wang Long Yan, wouldn't have ended up like this.

Therefore, after Wang Shouzhe tried treating internal injuries on animals, he tried it on Ancestor Long Yan. After all, having this ready-made Lingtai Realm internal injury template for experimentation was a rare opportunity.

In Long Yan's residence.

Inside the pavilion, Wang Shouzhe's palm was pressed tightly against Ancestor Long Yan's back. The green energy passed through the acupoints and meridians on her back, slowly circulating in her internal organs. The remaining traces of the Yin Sha Qi's poison were being dissolved at a visible speed under the wash of the green energy.

Even with Long Yan's Yin Sha method, she could only slowly dissolve this residual poison. How could she match Wang Shouzhe's speed?

At the same time, the green energy was nourishing her internal organs, bit by bit, they were regaining their vitality. Although the process was slow, it was quite effective.

After a long while, Wang Shouzhe finished his treatment, looking slightly tired in his eyes.

After a round of treatment, his energy was almost exhausted, not much better than after a big battle. He swallowed a small Peiyuan Pill, slowly refining it into Qi and blood to replenish every cell in his body.

The acupoints in his body rhythmically swelled, driving the Qi and blood in his body to surge, transforming into a bit of green energy, and then gradually gathering into the Qi Sea along the meridians.

More than half an hour later, the previously depleted Qi Sea gradually swelled up. The newly born energy had been replenished, and it seemed even purer and thicker than before!In Wang Shouzhe's understanding, Xuanqi does not generate out of thin air, nor can it be directly replenished by consuming food or elixirs. Whether it's food or elixirs, they can only replenish Qi and blood nutrients, albeit at different levels.

A portion of the cells, while maintaining their own operations, would convert the surplus Qi and blood nutrients into Xuanqi with a higher energy efficiency ratio, and store it in the Qi Sea. This process is somewhat similar to the human body storing fat.

Under normal circumstances, once the Qi Sea is full of Xuanqi, the body's functions would automatically stop the conversion. If the Xuanqi in the Qi Sea is depleted, the body's functions would automatically consume Qi and blood to convert it into Xuanqi slowly.

Moreover, Xuanwu practitioners can actively catalyze the conversion of Xuanqi by stimulating acupoints, quickly replenishing Xuanqi. Wang Shouzhe's recent cross-legged meditation and acupoint stimulation was an active conversion of Xuanqi, which is much faster than passive conversion.

After Wang Shouzhe finished his practice and stood up.

Ancestor Long Yan had also finished her practice. Her eyes slightly moved, and she asked with concern, "Shouzhe, how do you feel?"

"It's strange. I was just healing Ancestor, not practicing myself." Wang Shouzhe said somewhat inexplicably, "I feel like my cultivation has improved a bit, faster than when I practiced with the 'Xuanyuan Jue'."

"The first time might be an illusion, but the second time is probably not." Ancestor Long Yan pondered, "There are thousands of bloodlines in the world, and although my knowledge is limited, your bloodline talent is one of the most unique ones I've seen. Remember, never reveal it to others, just pretend you have the Yimu bloodline."

The Yimu bloodline is relatively superior among many wood bloodlines.

It has strong recovery power, decent healing ability, and some catalytic effect on plants.

But compared to Wang Shouzhe's, it's far inferior.

"By the way, is Zhong Xingwang still here?" Ancestor Long Yan suddenly asked.

"He is." Wang Shouzhe replied, "Does Ancestor want to see him?"

"No, last time at the black market of the Hundred Islands Guard, I bought twenty 'Creation Pills', and I've already taken three." Ancestor Long Yan said, "Since you, Shouzhe, can heal me, the remaining Creation Pills would be wasted. Call Zhong Xingwang to see me and dispose of the remaining Creation Pills."

"Our Wang's Clan is spending too much right now, we can recoup some funds."

Wang Shouzhe broke out in a cold sweat, can we not be so realistic, Ancestor? He immediately said, "Ancestor, let me handle this matter."

"No need, Shouzhe, you've been working too hard recently, take a good rest. That Zhong guy has been freeloading off us every day, living too comfortably, is it too hard for him to do some small tasks?"

Alright~~ But Wang Shouzhe also knew that if one day Ancestor Long Yan was kind to Zhong Xingwang, he probably wouldn't be used to it.

Wang Shouzhe followed Ancestor's instructions and invited Zhong Xingwang over.

At first, he was trembling with fear.

But as soon as he heard Ancestor Long Yan's task assignment, he was immediately excited as if he had been injected with chicken blood, patting his chest to ensure that he would complete the task perfectly.

Then, he took the seventeen Creation Pills with joy and left happily. Before leaving, he said to Wang Shouzhe, "Little brother Shouzhe, I'll be back soon. Sister is weak, you must take good care of her."

"Brother Zhong, I have to tell you the truth, my Ancestor Long Yan will never be interested in you." Wang Shouzhe couldn't stand it anymore and said seriously, "Please accept the reality, Brother."

"What are you talking about, little brother Shouzhe? Sister is such a person, isn't it normal for her not to be interested in me?" Zhong Xingwang said, "I've never asked for anything from Sister, as long as she can be a little happier, I'll be content."

Such a spineless appearance really made Wang Shouzhe unable to sympathize with him.

Brother, you won't be able to get a wife like this.

However, Zhong Xingwang himself was enjoying it, he liked it this way, and it was a mutual consent, Wang Shouzhe couldn't do anything about it.

……

During the days when Wang Shouzhe was practicing and researching his talent at home every day.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was the autumn harvest season. This harvest season, due to the good effect of the improved insecticide, all families in all places had a bumper harvest.

Especially the Wang's Clan's own farm, and the areas under its jurisdiction. With the early care of the Spirit Insect Master Wang Luoqing, the harvest was exceptionally good.

The only unlucky ones were the farms of the Liu and Zhao Clans.

The tenant farmers were already fearful and had no intention of producing. In addition, without a Spirit Insect Master and insecticide, the yield plummeted to an unbearable level.

Why didn't they have insecticide?

The reason was simple, Wang Shouzhe had claimed all the pest extermination powder shares in Ping'an Town. For the common people in the territories of the Liu and Zhao Clans, Wang Shouzhe distributed the pest extermination powder at a third of the price as per the agreement.

However, for the farms of the Liu and Zhao Clans, it was a different story. Even if they went to Qian's Merchant House for help, they were ignored.

Under these circumstances, the villagers organized themselves and went to the Town Guard House to request a change in jurisdiction. After Lei Yangqiu, the town guard, pretended to scold them, he finally agreed to their request for the sake of public opinion, and changed their jurisdiction to the Wang's Clan.

The power of the Liu and Zhao Clans was gradually shrinking.

If they couldn't come up with an effective counterattack strategy, they would inevitably be squeezed out of all their living space by the Wang's Clan.

However, at this moment.

The annual autumn and winter hunt of the Wang's Clan officially began.

This was a tradition left by the Ancestor Zhou Xuan, to remind the younger generations not to forget the hardships of their ancestors, and also to urge them to cultivate and develop the hope of the clan.

This tradition has been imitated by many families and has gradually become a reserved project for all families.

However, in recent years, the Wang's Clan has been declining. They dared not venture deep into the foreign territories to hunt fierce beasts, but merely wandered around the periphery of the foreign territories, hunting some ordinary beasts before hastily ending the hunt.

The Wang's Clan hadn't hunted a fierce beast in five years, and had become a laughingstock.

This time, it was rumored that the Wang's Clan, led by the young Clan Leader Wang Shouzhe, would venture deep into the foreign territories to redeem their honor.

In the middle section of the Liuan Mountain Range, there was a natural canyon.

The narrowest part of this canyon was only a hundred feet wide.

Therefore, the ancestors built a city wall and set up a pass here to block the migration of fierce beasts.

This pass was the famous Zhou Xuan Pass.

Yes, it was the city wall and pass personally supervised by Ancestor Zhou Xuan. It was also the boundary line that distinguished the inner and outer territories of the Ping'an habitat.

The foreign territories were a general term.

Areas outside the national border where no humans had settled were collectively referred to as foreign territories. But for the people of Ping'an Town, the area outside Zhou Xuan Pass was the foreign territory.

Zhou Xuan Pass was known for its majesty. It was over a hundred feet long, seven or eight feet wide, and ten feet high!

Lying across the earth, it looked like a giant dragon lying down.

The city wall was equipped with parapets, battlements, anti-aircraft arrow towers, crossbow towers, watchtowers, and other facilities. The outer wall was made of large rectangular stones, more than a foot thick.

The interior of the city wall was hollow, allowing for the storage of bows, arrows, crossbows, weapons, food, and oil, among other supplies. There was also a section for the living quarters of the town guards and soldiers.

Outside the heavy city gate, there was a protective wall river more than ten feet wide, which could block some water-fearing fierce beasts. Outside the protective wall river, the ground was covered with defensive spikes similar to caltrops, including wooden spikes, iron spikes, and stone spikes, extending more than ten feet.

In addition, inside the city gate, there was a small urn city. When the pressure on the wall was too great, some fierce beasts could be let in through the main gate and lured into the urn city for a siege.

In short, Zhou Xuan Pass was a barrier to ensure the safety of human life, and it was never too much to defend it.

The Wang's Clan's caravans and horse teams passed through the urn city first. Then, under the watchful eyes of some people in the pass, wandering merchants, soldiers, and others, they left Zhou Xuan Pass and entered the foreign territories.

During this process, the members of the Wang's Clan and their family generals all remained silent, their expressions solemn and a little sad.

That was because Ancestor Zhou Xuan, Ancestor Qiong Yuan, and many elders of the clan had died at Zhou Xuan Pass.

Zhou Xuan Pass was more than a hundred feet long, and the Liu and Zhao Clans also defended part of the city wall. Their ancestors pretended to be dead and let a group of fierce beasts over the city wall! This led to a complete loss of defense.

Therefore, every time the Wang's Clan passed through Zhou Xuan Pass and entered the foreign territories, their mood was very low.

However, this time seemed a little different.

The members of the Wang's Clan, while repressed, seemed to exude a strong inner aura. This time, during the autumn and winter hunt, they wanted to show the style of the Wang's Clan of Ping'an again.

It seemed that they also wanted to use this autumn and winter hunt to prove that the Wang's Clan of Ping'an, once with three spiritual platforms, was back!

The spies hidden in the dark all reported this scene.

Clan Leader Wang Shouzhe of the Wang's Clan, riding a black steed, stepped onto the land of the foreign territories.

The wind after autumn seemed to be getting colder, and the vegetation was gradually turning yellow.

In order to store enough food and energy for the winter, the entire food chain in the foreign territories, including wild beasts, fierce beasts, and so on, also began to become unusually active.

In this season, the roles of prey and hunter often reversed, and it had always been unpredictable...

After autumn.

It was also a good time.

To settle accounts.

...