For a long period of time, nothing significant happened in the Taiyi Sect, and the surrounding areas remained calm. Meng Zhang finally had a rare time of undisturbed days, allowing him to wholeheartedly focus on cultivation. The principles of civil and martial arts involve alternating between relaxation and tension. After spending some time in seclusion for cultivation, Meng Zhang occasionally went out for a stroll. Apart from visiting Firewell Market twice, the farthest place he went to was Singing Sand City.
At present, Taiyi Sect had several territories, including the original mountain gate, Sweetwater Oasis, Morning Sun Hillside, and an oasis that formerly belonged to the Zhao Family. Every time Meng Zhang went out, he would visit a few places. However, most of his time was spent on Morning Sun Hillside.
As for the White Hidden Earth mine, Meng Zhang completely handed over its management to others and rarely went there. Fortunately, Li Xuan was competent and handled the mining and transportation matters efficiently.
To facilitate the covert transportation of White Hidden Earth ore, Taiyi Sect purchased several humped sand lizard beasts at a low price from Twin Success Valley. Hu Jing, an Inner-Sect Disciple of Taiyi Sect, displayed great talent in beast-taming and received special attention and training from Meng Zhang. Once she achieved a certain level of proficiency in beast-taming, she took charge of all the beast-related affairs in Taiyi Sect.
Hu Jing spent some time training over a dozen mortal beast handlers who could now ride the tamed humped sand lizard beasts. She also completely tamed the small Crimson Feather Eagles in the sect, which could serve as scouts, spies, and messengers. Currently, the communication between various strongholds of Taiyi Sect primarily relied on these Crimson Feather Eagles.
Even the three larger Crimson Feather Eagles were now able to be ridden.
After completing his seclusion, Meng Zhang visited Singing Sand City once again. He made a stop at the grocery store, chatted with Zhang Zhanlin for a while, and then headed to the Four Seas Building.
If we talk about a store with a comprehensive range of goods, the Four Seas Building surpassed the Flying Swan Building. Moreover, the You Family, who managed the Four Seas Building, was a purely merchant family and had a distinct business style. Unlike the Flying Swan Building, which appeared courteous on the surface but still exuded an air of arrogance.
Meng Zhang had been to the Four Seas Building several times before. The Four Seas Building provided intermediary services for loose cultivators, and Meng Zhang had recruited many loose cultivators here in the past.
This time, Meng Zhang didn't come to recruit more loose cultivators but to shop. Since Tian Li became an official tool refiner, his alchemy skills had improved rapidly, and he had already started crafting various magic tools.
Inside Taiyi Sect's Hidden Scripture Pavilion, there was no shortage of magic tool blueprints. This time, Tian Li asked Meng Zhang to help purchase some refining materials. Additionally, Meng Zhang bought several young pups of mountain patrol dogs.
Hu Jing needed enough training subjects for her beast-taming practice, and although the mountain patrol dogs were only First Rank lower-grade demonic beasts, they would become excellent guardians once properly tamed.
After completing a trade with a familiar acquaintance, Meng Zhang was about to leave the main hall when he noticed a young and handsome cultivator with a somewhat slick appearance engaging in an intense conversation with a beautiful girl who seemed to be around sixteen or seventeen years old. He inadvertently caught a few phrases as the male cultivator's voice was quite loud, and Meng Zhang's hearing was exceptionally keen.
"Young Miss Yang, our Liu Family is sincere. As long as you join us, we will never mistreat you."
"Master Liu, I have already said that my concern is not about my personal treatment. If you want me to join Liu Family, please help rescue the members of my Yang Family first."
"While Liu Family is not afraid of Green Bamboo Mountain, we cannot unnecessarily offend them."
"Young Miss Yang, rest assured, once you join Liu Family, Green Bamboo Mountain will not continue to trouble you."
"As for those so-called family members, they are just insignificant mortals. As a cultivator with a bright future, Young Miss Yang, there's no need to be delayed by mere mortals."
"Master Liu, we have different beliefs, and we are not on the same path. My decision is made, please do not continue to pester me."
"Young Miss Yang, you seem to be underestimating us. Liu Family has good intentions, yet you seem indifferent. Do you really look down on Liu Family?"
During the argument, the young male cultivator's voice grew louder, and he even attempted to pull the girl away. However, since this was the territory of the Four Seas Building, such disturbances were not tolerated. Guards quickly arrived to separate the two.
After leaving a few harsh words, the young male cultivator left in anger, and the young girl thanked the guards before departing as well. From her expression, Meng Zhang could sense that she couldn't completely hide her worries.
Observing the situation with interest, Meng Zhang was approached by a familiar acquaintance.
"Sect Master Meng, are you interested in those two?" the acquaintance asked.
"I wouldn't say interested, just a bit curious. What's their background, and why did they have a dispute here in the Four Seas Building?" Meng Zhang casually inquired.
"The male cultivator is Liu Fenglang from the Liu Family. He is the son of Liu Dachuan, an Elder of the Foundation Building stage in the Liu Family. The female cultivator is Yang Xueyi, who possesses outstanding cultivation talent and is skilled in talisman-making. At such a young age, she is already an exceptionally talented talisman master."
As the acquaintance slowly recounted the details, Meng Zhang began to understand the whole story. Yang Xueyi was originally from the Yang Family, a subordinate family of the Green Bamboo Mountain. Not too long ago, the Yang Family somehow offended the Green Bamboo Mountain and was directly wiped out by them under the accusation of colluding with bandits.
During the annihilation of the Yang Family, Yang Xueyi and a few Yang Family cultivators happened to be traveling outside and luckily escaped the massacre. After all the Yang Family cultivators were killed, many mortal family members were left behind. Since Green Bamboo Mountain was a righteous sect, they couldn't directly slaughter mortals on a large scale. Therefore, they exiled these mortals, leaving them to fend for themselves in the Endless Sea of Sand, which was tantamount to a death sentence.
The acquaintance maliciously speculated that Green Bamboo Mountain probably had another motive for not directly killing these mortals. They likely intended to use these mortal family members as bait to lure the remaining Yang Family cultivators out of hiding and conveniently eradicate them.
Yang Xueyi sought help from those forces that used to have good relations with the Yang Family, but everyone avoided her. Faced with no other choice, she came to Singing Sand City to hire loose cultivators to help rescue the mortal members of the Yang Family. However, despite visiting the Four Seas Building several times, no loose cultivator dared to take up her request.
In the Four Seas Building, Yang Xueyi somehow got entangled with Liu Fenglang from the Liu Family. Perhaps he was lured by Yang Xueyi's beauty or was genuinely interested in her talents and wanted to recruit her for the Liu Family. Liu Fenglang kept pestering Yang Xueyi, and the scene that just unfolded was not the first time such an incident occurred.