"Hong'er, this used to be a wealthy merchant's summer resort. Although not large, it's quiet and elegant. You should like it."
Yang Ping pushed open the mountain villa's gate with force, and the faint creak of the bolt sounded.
The sound was not loud, clear and pleasant to the ear, showing the original owner's meticulous attention.
As for what happened to the original owner?
Yang Hong had no interest in knowing.
Stepping into the villa, the first thing that caught his eye was a screen decorated with green bamboo. A skilled craftsman had skillfully coiled the living bamboo into the shape of the character "春" (Chun, meaning spring).
Beyond the screen, green trees and red flowers complemented each other, their faint fragrance wafting into the air; rockeries and flowing water depicted the colors of spring, while pavilions and bridges exuded an ancient charm.
It was indeed an elegant mountain villa.
After dealing with the Mongols, Yang Hong felt as if a deep-seated obsession within him had been resolved. He became detached from worldly desires and decided to find a mountain villa to live in seclusion outside Daxing City.
Today, he and Yang Ping were here to scout for a villa.
"Very good, this is the one. I'll live here from today onwards."
Yang Hong was quite satisfied after looking around and directly made the decision.
"It's good that Hong'er likes it.
Would you like Uncle Ping to find you some young servants and palace maids?"
"That won't trouble Uncle Ping. I'll find them myself later.
Uncle Ping, please build some houses at the foot of the mountain for the young disciples of my Yang family to cultivate nearby.
There will be some benefits."
"Hong'er, are you going to teach those nephews and nieces to cultivate?"
Upon hearing this, Yang Ping's eyes gleamed.
Yang Hong shook his head.
"I will leave ten martial arts manuals at the foot of the mountain for them to cultivate themselves.
Only those who have achieved success in cultivation will be qualified to further cultivate immortal arts."
He planned to bring out the "Ten Martial Arts" summarized on Ren Dao Island, but he wouldn't teach them like a nanny.
Cultivators had to work hard on their own.
Only those juniors who achieved success through their own efforts were worthy of his nurturing.
As for the elderly?
Their achievements were destined to be limited, and he didn't need to pay them any attention.
"Hong'er, can I cultivate?"
Yang Ping looked at Yang Hong with anticipation, causing the "no" that was about to leave Yang Hong's lips to twist.
"Yes, anyone can. Even if they are not of my Yang family, or not from the Great Sui, anyone from the human race in the world who harbors no hostility towards me or the Great Sui can cultivate."
"This is not acceptable, Hong'er. How can you let outsiders cultivate the martial arts you've created? Absolutely not!"
Upon hearing Yang Hong's open approach to immortal cultivation arts, Yang Ping's expression changed dramatically, and he vehemently objected.
"Heh heh ~ Uncle Ping, your vision is still insufficient.
Moreover, the martial arts I've created are not easy to cultivate."
Yang Hong smiled faintly and didn't explain further. Without spiritual energy, the cultivation of his ten martial arts would be extremely difficult and slow.
After sending Yang Ping away, Yang Hong returned to dig up the Green Jade Grapevine and the Moonlight White Tea tree, and then began to set up the formation.
This time, he was setting up a fourth-grade formation, the Ten Directions Spirit Locking Formation, which was used to seal spiritual energy. In the cultivation world, it was a common formation for establishing cave dwellings.
Normally, it would be used in conjunction with a Spirit Gathering Formation, but there was no spiritual energy in the Five Directions Domain.
Its purpose here was to lock in the spiritual energy generated by the spiritual plants Yang Hong had planted.
The Ten Directions Spirit Locking Formation had 1,000 formation nodes and 10 formation cores, and each formation node required specific Yin, Yang, and Five Element attributes.
Although Yang Hong had over 100,000 spiritual plants in his scale space, he couldn't gather enough for these 1,000 nodes. In the end, he had to take out spirit ore and several magic treasures to complete the setup.
Once the formation was completed, the mountain villa and the 300-zhang mountain it was located on directly disappeared, as if that mountain had never existed.
Subsequently, Yang Hong set up an illusion formation within the Ten Directions Spirit Locking Formation, projecting the image of the mountain.
"Right, this mountain villa hasn't been named yet."
After setting up the formation, on his way back, Yang Hong's gaze inadvertently swept across the mountain villa's main gate, and he realized that the original plaque had been removed.
Suddenly, a gentle breeze blew, stirring his hair.
"The mountain breeze here is quite pleasant. Let's call it Qingfeng Mountain Villa."
Yang Hong's heart stirred. He took out a piece of seventh-grade spiritual wood from his storage ring, along with his seventh-grade flying sword, the "Kui Shui Guang Jian" (Kui Shui Light-Splitting Sword).
His entire being surged with sword intent. He activated his most proficient Qingfeng Sword Intent, and his long sword danced freely with the mountain breeze.
As wood shavings flew, the four characters "清风山庄" (Qingfeng Shanzhuang, meaning Qingfeng Mountain Villa) appeared on the reddish-brown spiritual wood.
A faint sword intent surged over the newly crafted plaque for a moment before slowly subsiding.
"Not bad. Sealing the Qingfeng Sword Intent onto this plaque perfectly matches the name of my Qingfeng Mountain Villa."
Yang Hong was quite pleased with the four characters written in a dynamic, flowing script.
"Huh~ I've seen the characters '龙飞' (Long Fei, dragon soaring) and '凤舞' (Feng Wu, phoenix dancing) before. Why not use the postures of the dragon soaring and the phoenix dancing to write the characters?"
He thought of the majestic appearances of the phoenix and dragon tribes when they transformed into their true forms and flew in the sealed demon secret realm, and a sudden interest struck him.
With a wave of his hand, he hung the plaque on the main gate. Yang Hong then flew out of the villa and went to a nearby stone mountain to collect rocks.
Using his Qingfeng Sword Intent again, he began to write freely.
However...
"That idiot said 'dragon soaring, phoenix dancing' means good writing?
These characters look nice, but their contribution to the artistic conception is too weak."
After carving six giant stones, Yang Hong shook his head at his own work.
However, he didn't destroy these six giant stones. Instead, he placed them at the foot of the mountain to serve as boundary markers.
One of the giant stones, which did not use the "dragon soaring, phoenix dancing" font, was placed in front of the small path leading to the main entrance of the villa.
To ordinary people, these stone tablets appeared to be ordinary boundary markers. But to cultivators above the Foundation Establishment stage, they looked like colossal swords piercing the heavens and the earth, capable of cleaving anyone who dared to offend them into dust!
Those without a grasp of artistic conception, or those below the seventh-rank Integration stage, would tremble before these six giant stones.
After finishing the six "Qingfeng Mountain Villa" stone tablets, he leisurely walked to the small village at the foot of the mountain.
"The terrain here is quite good. Although not perfectly flat, it's gentle enough. It's perfectly fine to build a small town here."
Arriving at a small plain, Yang Hong nodded with satisfaction.
He took out ten three-zhang-tall giant stones, cut them into square shapes, and then began to engrave characters and patterns on them.
He did not infuse any artistic conception into these ten giant stones. He merely recorded his "Ten Martial Arts" in detail, stroke by stroke.
To facilitate learning for visitors, he deliberately spaced out the giant stones and informed Yang Guang and Yang Ping not to restrict the common people from learning.
Anyone from the human race, even from other dynasties, was welcome to come and learn.
He had just returned from the Myriad Sea of Demons, and his heart was still filled with concern for the human race and the great cause of striving for humanity's rise.
He sincerely wished for all humans to be able to cultivate and become strong.
"Alright, my new home is completed. The important matters are finished. From now on, I should take a good rest for a while.
Now that I'm home, it's time to enjoy myself."
With all the matters weighing on his mind taken care of, Yang Hong's heart naturally relaxed. He casually summoned two maids and returned to the villa to sleep soundly.
Little did he know that while he slept, the "Negative Yang Hong" he had just integrated was beginning to influence him!