Chapter 378 The Road to Nascent Soul (3)
Sang Country is located on the border of the Great Abyss Central Region. There is a Yuanying Sect force in the country, which is controlled by two early Yuanying sects.
Due to the fortune divination of "lucky stars shining high", Lu Changan slowed down his travels here.
About half a month.
As a traveling businessman, Lu Changan received his first mission.
The Ivy Mountains are dotted with dozens of spiritual veins and are dotted with large and small immortal cultivating families.
In the rugged and winding mountain roads.
A middle-aged businessman with a sallow complexion, carrying a large suitcase and cage on his back, dusty with travel.
To his left and right sides are a green-armored guard and an inconspicuous yellow-haired native dog.
Wow!
The native dog at his feet suddenly barked softly and looked at the other side of the mountain.
The sound of howling through the air came.
A magic weapon spirit boat, five feet long, passed unsteadily across the sky.
“Father, we can reach Heishafang City in twenty miles.”
On the spirit boat, Tao Wenjun was half-kneeling, with a pale face and gradually losing his magic power. He was controlling the flying boat at his feet.
“Wenjun, don’t hold on. You are at the sixth level of Qi refining, and it is very difficult for you to control a high-grade flying boat. When you get to Fangshi, you only need to convey the news..."
Tao's father struggled to open his eyes. The hall was black and blue, and his breath was like a gossamer. He was explaining the funeral.
Tao Wenjun had tears in his eyes, his magic power and consciousness were approaching the limit. The speed of the flying boat was getting slower and slower, the shaking became more obvious, and it looked like it was about to fall at any time.
Tao Wenjun gritted his silver teeth tightly and was about to forcefully activate the blood essence again when he glanced at the wandering businessman on the mountain road below from the corner of his eye.
She seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw, and she was so happy that she controlled the flying boat to land on the middle-aged traveling businessman.
“Senior, does this senior have any elixir for sale that can cure wounds and overcome disasters?”
Tao Wenjun landed on the ground as the flying boat. Her body was unsteady and her hair was messy. She wanted to stand up and salute, but she fell to her knees unable to do anything.
“Wenjun, don’t be gullible...”
Tao's father felt uneasy when he saw the three unfamiliar traveling merchants. At this moment, the two of them have almost lost the means to protect themselves. If they encounter a bad person...
Tao Wenjun also realized this and felt a chill in his heart.
Poof!
At this time, Tao's father vomited out a mouthful of black and bruised blood and passed out.
Lu Changan glanced at the beautiful, pale and helpless young woman, then stepped forward to explore Tao's father's injury.
“The internal organs are severely damaged, evil spirits are lingering, and the spirit and essence are depleted...”
Lu Changan pondered for a moment and took out a suet porcelain bottle from the cage (large storage bag) behind his back.
“This is the second-grade high-grade rejuvenation pill.”
He first fed Tao's father the healing elixir, then stretched out his green palm and patted him on his back.
Soon, a cold, dark mist floated over Father Tao's body.
After waiting for a while, Tao's father, who took the rejuvenation pill, his complexion improved a lot, his heartbeat stabilized, and he was out of danger.
“Thank you, senior, for helping me, I…”
Tao Wenjun's tense heart finally relaxed, and he bowed with gratitude on his face.
Through the treatment just now, she saw that this traveling merchant was an expert in the foundation-building stage and was proficient in medicine and pharmacology.
Otherwise, a second-level elixir alone would not be able to stabilize Father Tao's condition so quickly.
"It doesn't matter, a traveling merchant named Lu happened to be here. The girl only needs to pay for the elixir and healing costs, and it's an equal transaction."
Lu Changan waved his hand and said humbly.
Tao Wenjun was startled. He looked at the middle-aged businessman with a sallow face and a shrewd smile, and the halo of being an expert in his heart was shattered.
She pursed her lower lip and swallowed the words of gratitude that came from her mouth, such as "I have nothing to repay, I would like to be a cow or a horse in the next life, and make a grass ring...".
Then we talked about business in business.
Tao Wenjun took out the spiritual stones, valuable magical instruments, and elixirs from the storage bag, but he showed a bitter and embarrassed expression.
The exorcism treatment from the foundation-building doctor, coupled with the second-level high-grade elixir, could not compensate for the empty supplies in her and her father's storage bags.
In desperation, Tao Wenjun almost took off his robe and used it to offset some of the spiritual stones, but it was still not enough.
“Senior Lu, if you add Ye Feizhou, can it be enough to compensate?”
At the critical moment, Tao's father woke up and said in a bitter tone.
"Can."
Lu Changan nodded. Although it was only a first-level high-grade flying boat, its value was much higher than that of the same-level magic weapon.
Tao Wenjun hesitated to speak. This Ye Feizhou was not owned by the father and daughter, but was an asset of the family.
Because the family was in trouble, her father ran away with her and called for reinforcements. In the process of breaking out of the siege, they were attacked by gangsters again, and they were surrounded by dangers.
After the transaction was completed, Lu Changan dusted himself off and prepared to leave.
“I sincerely ask you, seniors, to help our Tao family. Once this is done, our foundation-building ancestors will be greatly grateful.”
With the support of his daughter, Father Tao bowed and begged.
"I let you two down. As a traveling merchant, Lu will accept some transaction commissions, but he will not participate in the battle between the various forces."
Lu Changan declined apologetically.
“Senior Lu! This crisis for our clan is not a family dispute, but a lurking demon within the clan, breaking out in the family’s forbidden area and wreaking havoc. It also happens to be a hostile evil monk who takes advantage of the situation to rob him...”
Tao's father explained anxiously.
…
“Oh? A demon is lurking?”
Lu Changan thought it was an ordinary transaction entrustment, but he didn't expect that the matter was not simple.
Back then, when he used the teleportation channel to reach the forbidden area of the Great Abyss, Lu Changan encountered some demonized monsters.
Including the demonic stone-heart dragon that was once hunted, it is also considered one of them.
In the Great Abyss Immortal Realm, especially in the Middle Realm, demons are not unfamiliar things.
The root of all this comes from the ancient forbidden land of the Central Region. The endless demonic abyss at its center once sealed many monster giants.
Every few years, a demonic tide will leak out of the endless demonic abyss, and some demons and monsters will escape from it and cause chaos in the abyss.
It is said that before Fairy Zixia and True Lord Yunlan became Taoist couples, their senior brother who had loved each other died in the chaos caused by demons in the Central Region.
"What kind of cultivation aura does the monster that appears from the Tao family have?"
Lu Changan sounded cautious and asked for the specific reason.
“The aura of the monster is stronger than that in the general foundation-building stage, and it should not be in the core-formation stage. However, there is more than one monster, otherwise our clan will have a large formation to protect the clan, and the two foundation-building ancestors will not bring about the disaster of annihilation.”
Tao Fu recalled thinking.
He retained an uncertain detail. When he left, the presence of monsters raging in the clan seemed to be rising.
“Okay, you two stay here while Lu goes over to take a look.”
Lu Changan made some calculations and concluded that the Tao family's monsters should be remnants of history.
It is difficult to completely eliminate the chaos caused by demons and monsters in the past. Some remnants remain, which are ghosts and monsters that have no climate.
This kind of situation occasionally occurs in various places in the Central Region.
In addition, on the eve of the start of the demonic tide, the remnants of demons lurking everywhere will also be ready to move.
Lu Changan simply boarded the newly traded flying boat and headed to the Tao family land.
Between the clouds, Lu Changan tried to predict the next demonic turmoil. The secret was unclear, perhaps because the information medium was insufficient.
“It shouldn’t happen.”
Lu Changan thought to himself, "In the past, most of the demon disasters in the Central Territory occurred about a decade after the opening of the Ancient Nether Palace."
Many high-level monks speculated that the demonic troubles may be related to the ancient Youdian Palace.
Because every time the entrance ticket to the Ancient Nether Palace is opened, magic crystals need to be paid.
A great Nascent Soul monk once warned the monks in the Central Region: exchanging magic crystals to enter the Ancient Nether Palace may bring uncontrollable and unknown risks to the Demonic Abyss in the forbidden area of the Central Region.
Faced with the opportunity and temptation of the Ancient Youdian Palace, the major powers in the Central Region did not take it to heart.
First of all, every demonic chaos experienced in the Central Territory is generally controllable, and some scarce materials will also be brought in the disaster. Among the demons who escaped, the strongest ones were often no more than mid-fourth level, and they had a murderous temperament and were slightly less intelligent than monks of the same level.
Secondly, every time the demons cause chaos, very few of the Nascent Soul Lords at the top level die, mainly due to the loss of pill-forming and middle- and lower-level monks.
Even in certain eras, the demons' rebellion was extremely powerful, fleeing in all directions, radiating to all major areas of the Great Abyss, and being shared by the entire Great Abyss world of immortality.
…
After a while, Lu Changan arrived at the Tao family's land, and sure enough he sensed three demonic auras.
The Tao family's second-order formation was in dilapidated condition, and the monks were either injured or fleeing.
Those demons have green faces and fangs, their limbs are shaped like jackals, and they are filled with evil energy. The strongest one among them was faintly approaching the fake elixir level.
After the killings, these demons wandered around the clan area, looking for the breath of survivors in the ruins of buildings.
“It doesn’t seem to be a pure monster breath.”
Lu Changan took a quick look and felt that there was a strong curse and yin in the demonic aura, which made people tremble and feel uneasy.
Wow!
The big yellow-haired dog at his feet had a layer of khaki halo from its hair, passing through the nearby mountains, blending into the earth and disappearing.
Phew!
Soon, a storm of yellow sand and dust filled the sky in the Tao family land.
The three demons noticed something and ran away in panic, but were soon wrapped in yellow sand and became petrified and unable to move.
After a burst of howling ghosts and wolves, it suddenly stopped.
Flying sand rolls into the sky.
Lu Changan took the three mottled magic cores and noticed the gloomy ghostly energy surrounding them.
“Ghost aura? Could it be that there is a real murderer behind this demon...”
Lu Changan's expression was calm and he asked the green-armored guards to kill several evil cultivators who were secretly hiding nearby and spying on them.
At this time, Diyanjun had something to gain, and he smelled some clues through the hidden ghostly aura.
After a cup of tea.
Di Yanjun escaped for a hundred miles underground and went deep into a dark underground mine.
This mine is bottomless and has been excavated for hundreds of years. It is a vein left by the Tao family and previous generations of owners.
Deep in the mine, numerous bones are buried, the yin energy and resentment are thick, and will-o’-the-wisps float.
“A third-level demon dog dares to kill my subordinates!”
In the abandoned mineral materials, a silver-white skeleton burning with purple will-o'-the-wisps made a horrifying scream.
The pressure of the ghost energy emitted by this ghost seems to have reached the peak of the middle stage of the third level, approaching the major repair of the alchemy, but it is a little unstable.
The silver-white skeleton stood upright, and the purple ghost flames around its body expanded, turning into a ten-foot-tall ghost. Each of its arms held a bronze ghost weapon.
唰!
The third-order early-stage dog demon in the distance turned into an afterimage that was difficult to capture with spiritual consciousness. It expanded several times in the pupils of its eyes in an instant.“Wrong!”
A terrifying aura of demonic power caused the ghost flames of the silver-white skeleton to drift away and howl in terror.
“Ah! The dignified fourth-level demon king actually—”
The ten-foot-high surging ghostly fireworks shrunk and shattered in an instant; the silver-white skeleton was caught by a sharp claw as big as a cattail fan, and there was a crisp "click" sound.
After a while.
A middle-aged traveling businessman arrived at the place quietly.
The paws of the big khaki dog imprisoned a dim purple fire remnant, like the flickering of candlelight.
At his feet is a pile of broken bones, including two ghost magic weapons and a rusty storage bracelet.
“A third-level ghost cultivator with space storage props, his origin seems not simple.”
Lu Changan took the trophy presented by the big yellow dog.
In addition to ghost magic weapons, there are also some items in the storage bracelet, but most of them have lost their spirituality due to unknown reasons.
In addition, there are several jade slips recording the inheritance related to ghost ways.
One of the complete ghost methods is called "Five Curses and Resentful Spirits Sutra", which requires collecting resentful spirits to increase the power of ghosts and curses.
“Such a harvest is not worthy of the good omen of ‘lucky stars shining brightly’.”
Lu Changan's face remained calm as he put away the loot and space storage items.
Such harvests have been encountered in previous years of travel, so they are not unusual.
Given the level he is at, the harvest that can be considered a good opportunity must be at least Nascent Soul level opportunity resources.
Subsequently, Lu Changan searched for the remaining soul of this lurking ghost cultivator.
“He turned out to be a ghost cultivator who had recently transferred to another cultivator…”
It is more difficult to search for the soul of a ghost cultivator. Lu Changan cannot obtain the complete memory, but he also knows the general origin of the other party.
This ghost cultivator was a late-stage Zhendan monk of the Yuanying sect of Sang State during his lifetime. He had failed to conceive a baby once.
Due to the limitations of his qualifications, he failed in the first step of conceiving a baby, "breaking the pill into a baby", but he was lucky enough to save his life and most of his cultivation.
After there was no hope of having a baby, the son rebelled from the sect and turned to the ghost method that he had captured.
The ghost method he majors in comes from the affiliated forces of the "Huangtian Ghost Palace", the ruler of the Northern Territory, and is expected to reach the level of the fourth-level ghost king.
Once you turn into a ghost cultivator, your lifespan will be greatly extended, far exceeding that of humans and ordinary monsters.
However, the cost is also huge.
If you turn to the ghost realm, you will not be able to enter reincarnation, which means there will be no afterlife.
Secondly, it is much more difficult for ghosts to become immortals than for normal monks, and they will suffer greater damage when faced with the thunder of transcending tribulation.
Lu Changan owns the [Nine-Seal Monument] and has no interest in the path of ghost cultivation. He only uses it as a normal reserve and for understanding.
From this point of view, the harvest this time has been greatly reduced. The most valuable thing is the bronze bracelet used as a storage item in that space.
"Huh!"
In the second half of the soul search, Lu Changan got a memory fragment.
A ghost cultivator, even if he was in the late stage of elixir formation during his lifetime, it is difficult for him to have any secrets that would disturb Lu Changan.
However, there is a clue in the memory of this ghost cultivator that is extremely useful to Lu Changan.
Because he had an impact on the Nascent Soul during his lifetime, this ghost cultivator had collected Ying Yu resources, and there was a clue to a superior Ying Yu spiritual object in his memory.
Not only that.
Such a superior infant-forming spiritual creature is extremely suitable for Lu Changan's wood type.
You must know that the [Ziwu Qingfeng] that Lu Changan extorted from Tianluo Ancestor back then was a superior infant-forming spiritual object, but it was not of the wood type.
“The wooden knotted baby spirit object is in the hands of the first family of the Sang Kingdom, ‘Heihe Fort’.”
Lu Changan's heart was pounding.
If he can get such a suitable spiritual creature for birth, his preparations for birth will be significantly strengthened!
The probability of having a baby is approaching the extreme!
This ghost cultivator was unable to obtain such a baby-forming spiritual object during his lifetime, and its attributes were not perfectly matched, so he gave up.
However, this matter is much less difficult for Lu Changan.
The first family of Sang Guo did not sit in the town of Yuan Yingzhen. The strongest was the late period of Dan Dan.
However, this family is related to the Taishang Elder of the only Yuanying sect in the Sang Kingdom, the Tiancan Sect.
…
That night, Lu Changan disappeared in the area around Tao's house.
As for the reward for killing the demon, Lu Changan did not ask the Tao family for it, which was regarded as a good relationship.
The Tao family monks suffered heavy casualties and the family land was destroyed. It was hard to say whether they could keep the family business.
Lu Changan smoothly eradicated the evil cultivator who was hostile to the prying eyes of the tribe, in return for harvesting opportunity clues.
Hello.
Lu Changan made an exception during his subsequent travels, changing his identity, and secretly investigated the information of the "Black River Castle" in Sang Kingdom, including clues to the birth of a spiritual creature.
The information is beneficial to Lu Changan.
The supreme elder who has a close relationship between Heihe Fort and the "Celestial Canker Sect" has entered his twilight years, and his lifespan even exceeds a thousand years.
Now, this True Lord Yuanying takes a back seat in the sect.
Based on the available information, it is estimated that such wood-type infant-forming spiritual creatures were planted in the forbidden medicinal garden of Heihe Fort to increase and cultivate their medicinal properties.
“Heihe Fort has a quasi-fourth-level formation, as well as various hidden restrictions. It will be difficult to take it by force or sneak into it. If it is done, it will alarm the Yuanying faction of Sang Kingdom.”
Lu Changan thought about it for a long time and had some calculations in his mind.
His gentle and kind eyes looked at Lord Diyan, who was eating the remains of prey beside him, and gently stroked the hair on the latter's head.
If you want to take the initiative in this transaction, Diyanjun, who is good at earth escape and the fourth-level demon king, is a key.
Lu Changan was in no rush to take action.
This trip will last for several years. I will stay in Sang for a while and take pictures slowly.
…
Two months later.
The border of the Immortal Realm of Sang Kingdom.
A ray of Nascent Soul-level escaping light, like snow-white silk, streaked across the sky with dazzling white marks.
Until a certain moment, the white clouds slowed down and hovered over the surrounding mountains.
“Fellow Daoist Xuancan, have you lost traces of that person?”
There were two people standing on the white clouds. The dark-skinned old man who spoke was none other than the ancestor of Heihe Fort, Heihe Zhenren in the late stage of pill formation.
The other person is an old man with white eyebrows who has cultivated Nascent Soul. He is wearing a dark green robe and looks gloomy.
On the white palm of Zhenjun Xuancan, there was a jade bottle floating, which contained a drop-shaped dark green aura.
“That person has not exceeded the aura tracking range of [Fengchun Withered Vine]. However, his escape speed is extremely fast, no less than that of Lao Chan. Even if he is not the True Monarch of Nascent Soul, he still has a powerful spiritual bird mount.”
The dark eyes of Zhenjun Xuancan were filled with a mysterious luster, and he quietly maintained the sense of calculation in "The Nine Lives of Xuancan".
This mysterious art not only contains the divination technique of seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune, but also has the ability to track things beyond common sense.
Hearing this, Master Heihe quickly calmed down and sighed:
"That's all! I troubled fellow Taoist Xuanchan this time, and I didn't expect to be able to recover [Fengchun Withered Vine]. I was just blackmailed by that person and forced to make a deal. I didn't even know his identity, which was very disturbing. Annoyed."
Based on Heihe Zhenren’s understanding of this Xuancan Zhenjun, these words just don’t want to be investigated, and they are extraneous.
After all, as the oldest Nascent Soul monk in the surrounding area, Zhenjun Xuancan is nearly 1,100 years old. He has always acted prudently and will not take risks easily.
The reason why we were following him before was because we suspected that the target was a monk below Nascent Soul who was seeking Yuanying resources. It's just that his magical powers are outstanding, and he has special spiritual pets to complement him, which makes him suffer a hidden disadvantage.
“Although the person succeeded in forcing the deal, fellow Taoist Heihe did not suffer a loss.”
“The transaction item that the man gave was enough to buy the [Spring Withered Vine]. He should not be an evil monk, and he does not want to be an enemy of the Sang Kingdom.”
Zhenjun Xuancan stroked his beard and smiled lightly, becoming somewhat interested in the mysterious monk who threatened Black River Castle and forced a transaction.
In addition, there is also a trace of fear.
During the previous tracking process, he had an intuition of destiny induction in his practice of "The Nine Lives of Xuan Can": If he continued to pursue it, the dangers would be unpredictable.
…
Three years later.
A middle-aged man with sallow complexion, dusty and with a reserved expression, stepped into the sphere of influence of the Alchemy Alliance.
“After traveling for more than six years, we finally arrived at our final destination.”
Lu Changan exhaled slowly. The magic power in his body was dark and the Evergreen Golden Pill was dead, but in fact it had been condensed to the extreme.
Three months ago, Lu Changan turned 379, and his cultivation level had basically reached the peak of the late Jindan period.
In the past six years, Lu Changan has traveled to most of the cultivation areas in the Central Region as a traveling merchant.
During this period, it is not limited to buying and selling transactions, but occasionally accepts entrustments to accumulate good and eliminate evil.
Destroy ghosts, eliminate demons, suppress bandits, tell fortunes... things that can be done casually and earn rewards and resources.
The life of traveling is more colorful than the hard work of sects, and you meet all kinds of monks or other beings.
In this process, there are insights and accumulations, and there are also unexpected gains.
Among them, the "Spring Dead Vine", a wooden spiritual object tied to the baby, is the biggest surprise of this trip.
“Now that we have arrived at the Alchemy League, you can take a rest.”
Lu Changan was resting for a while, and an invisible breeze passed over his body, as well as the green-armored guards and yellow-haired native dogs on the left and right.
The aura of wind and dust dissipated from the three bodies.
Lu Changan put away the boxes and cages behind him, as if the dust had been washed away, his whole body was light, his mind was peaceful, and he was not surprised by favors or disgrace.
Diyan Lord and the green-armored puppet bowed to their master, and the light flashed before being put away by Lu Changan.
On the last journey, Lu Changan flew alone to the hinterland of the Alchemy Alliance.
The Dan Dao League is composed of nine fragmented immortal kingdoms.
Among them, there are four Xiuxian Kingdoms with Nascent Soul influence. Their strength may be similar to that of Liang Kingdom, or even better.
The strength of the other five countries is similar to that of Jing State in the Eastern Region of Daqing.
Each of these large and small immortal kingdoms is inconspicuous individually in the Central Region, but the "Alchemy Alliance" formed together is a large neutral force that cannot be ignored in the Central Region of the Great Abyss.
In this area, there are many alchemy sects, and the alchemy path has a long and splendid inheritance. There are many monks from outside the central region who come to commission alchemy.
Lu Changan is one of them.
Nine years ago, at the Nascent Soul Exchange Meeting in Yuntian Fairy City, he made an agreement with Master Le to refine a genuine Yinghua Dan.
This is the last link of Lu Changan's journey to the Central Region for many years and the journey to Yuanying.
(End of this chapter)