Fire Virtue Immortal Clan

Chapter 142 News about Shi Ningyu (Please subscribe!)
After the volcanic eruption in the Burning Flame Mountains ended, many of the visiting cultivators left the vicinity of the Burning Flame Mountains.

However, some rogue cultivators chose to remain near the Burning Flame Mountains, including some Foundation Establishment stage rogue cultivators.

The fact that Qingling Mountain Market offers second-tier cave dwellings for rent or sale is a huge attraction for Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The biggest challenge for independent cultivators in Foundation Establishment is the lack of a suitable cultivation environment. First-order spiritual veins are relatively good in the cultivation world, but second-order spiritual veins are extremely rare.

Just like the spiritual vein of the Lu family's Chiyan Mountain, which the Lu family spent a great deal of effort to cultivate from the first rank to the second rank.

Cultivation is extremely difficult for independent cultivators, and they simply do not have enough financial resources to nurture second-tier spiritual veins.

The price of the second-tier cave dwellings rented or sold by the Lu family is not expensive, and is within the affordability range of independent cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage.

However, those who rent cave dwellings in Qingling Mountain Market are all rogue cultivators in the early stage of Foundation Establishment. This is because rogue cultivators who can cultivate to the middle stage of Foundation Establishment are basically capable of occupying a second-tier spiritual vein for cultivation.

Moreover, at that time, the Lu family did not have a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator in charge, nor did they dare to rent out their cave dwelling to a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator for an extended period of time, lest any further problems arise.

There are currently three Foundation Establishment stage cultivators living in Qingling Mountain Market. They are relatively well-behaved in Qingling Mountain Market and have not dared to cause trouble.

After all, cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage are still a minority, and the Qingling Mountain Market mainly attracts cultivators at the Qi Refining stage.

These Qi Refining Realm cultivators are either independent cultivators or members of smaller cultivation groups in the vicinity; they are the main source of income for the Lu family.

In addition to the Qingling Mountain Market, the spirit stone mine in Yunling Valley and the refined iron mine in Yuhua Mountain have also begun to be mined.

Now that the Lu family is powerful enough, they no longer need to hide their mining operations, and the mining speed has increased considerably.

The fine iron mines of Yuhua Mountain were originally occupied by the Ziluan Wang clan. When the evil cultivators invaded, the Ziluan Wang clan was unlucky and not strong enough, and was wiped out by the evil cultivators.

The evil cultivators were extremely ruthless. They not only slaughtered the cultivators of the Zi Luan Wang clan, but also massacred the ordinary people of the Zi Luan Wang clan.

In the end, these evil cultivators perished at the hands of the Lu family, and the resources that the evil cultivators had plundered from the Zi Luan Wang clan all ended up in the hands of the Lu family.

The second-tier refined iron ore of Yunhua Mountain was originally a spoil of war for the Lu family after they destroyed the Qingling Chen family. However, the Ziluan Wang family took advantage of the chaos to occupy the second-tier refined iron ore of Yunhua Mountain in advance.

At that time, the Lu family only had two cultivators in the early stage of Foundation Establishment, Lu Wenxing and Lu Chengan. In addition, with the eruption of the Burning Flame Mountain Range imminent, they were still planning to seek revenge on the Tianhong Zhao family, so they ignored the Ziluan Wang family.

Originally, Lu Wenxing planned to wait until the volcanic eruption of the Burning Flame Mountains ended and the Lu family's situation stabilized before going to the Zi Luan Wang Clan to reclaim the second-tier refined iron ore from Yunhua Mountain.

However, things didn't go as planned. The Zi Luan Wang clan was wiped out by evil cultivators, and the second-tier refined iron ore of Yunhua Mountain fell into the hands of the Lu family.

The Zi Luan Wang clan is skilled at breeding demonic beasts, especially flying demonic beasts. In fact, the most famous one is the Phoenix-headed Zi Luan.

Wang Zhongyuan, the patriarch of the Zi Luan Wang clan, had even cultivated his Phoenix-Headed Zi Luan to the early stage of the second tier, which was the source of his confidence in seizing the second-tier refined iron ore from the Lu family in Yunhua Mountain.

The second-stage early-stage Phoenix-Headed Purple Phoenix that Wang Zhongyuan had cultivated was also killed by the evil cultivators outside Chiyan Mountain along with him.

The Lu family obtained the beast-taming inheritance of the Purple Phoenix Clan from the evil cultivators, and also obtained some avian monster eggs.

Many members of the Lu family were interested in the Purple Phoenix Wang Clan's beast-taming inheritance, among whom the one with the highest cultivation level was Lu Wensu, who was at the eighth level of Qi Refining.

After learning about this, Lu Wenxing simply allocated some resources to Lu Wensu, allowing him to lead some cultivators in the clan who were interested in beast taming to open a beast garden in Black Pine Mountain, specifically to cultivate demonic beasts for the clan.

Black Pine Mountain was originally the site of the Lu family's market town. After the market town was moved to Green Spirit Mountain, Black Pine Mountain, this spiritual land, was temporarily abandoned.

The beast garden at Black Pine Mountain is now basically completed, but there are not many cultivators in the Lu family who practice the art of beast taming, and Lu Wensu and others have not been in contact with the beast taming inheritance for long, so the scale of the beast garden at Black Pine Mountain is also very small.

Lu Cheng'an was also quite interested in the inheritance of beast taming. His interest in beast taming mainly stemmed from his impression of immortals in his previous life.

The immortals he knew, those of high status, did not fly on swords when they went out, but instead rode very cool mounts.

Unfortunately, there aren't many demonic beasts with superior bloodlines and impressive appearances, and he doesn't have enough time to put them into training. To this day, he still hasn't found a suitable demonic beast to cultivate.

Lu Cheng'an wasn't particularly keen on raising demonic beasts, so he didn't ask his family for help in finding one.

After the Zi Luan Wang clan was wiped out, the second-tier spiritual vein they occupied did not fall into the hands of the Lu family, but was occupied by a rogue cultivator in the late Foundation Establishment stage.

That late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator was named Black Wind Venerable Tu Ming. He was quite powerful and acted extremely domineeringly.

After learning that Tu Ming had taken over the second-tier spiritual vein of the Zi Luan Wang clan, Lu Wenxing did not intend to take it back from Tu Ming. In fact, he even intended to befriend Tu Ming.

The Luofeng Mountain, where the second-tier spiritual vein of the Ziluan Wang clan is located, is very close to Qingling Mountain, only about four hundred miles away.

After Tu Ming, a rogue cultivator in the late Foundation Establishment stage, occupied Luofeng Mountain, he became the closest neighbor to the Lu family.

Although Lu Wenxing took the initiative to make overtures, Tu Ming remained indifferent and showed no intention of developing a close relationship with the Lu family.

After realizing Tu Ming's attitude, Lu Wenxing naturally stopped communicating with Tu Ming.

Although Tu Ming's cultivation level was at the late Foundation Establishment stage, he was, after all, a rogue cultivator and lived alone.

The Lu family has four Foundation Establishment cultivators in charge. They have killed Foundation Establishment cultivators before, so they are not afraid of Tu Ming, a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Although Tu Ming never intended to befriend the Lu family, he also never intended to become enemies with them. In this way, he and the Lu family became neighbors without any communication.

After learning about the Lu family's current situation from Lu Wenmei, Lu Cheng'an took out several dozen kilograms of meat from a second-tier early-stage Phoenix-beak Black Fish from his storage bag and gave it to Lu Wenmei.

According to Zhu Yan, consuming the flesh and blood of this Phoenix-beaked Black Fish can enhance a cultivator's physical strength.

Lu Cheng'an and Zhu Yan killed a level 2 early stage Phoenix-beaked Blackfish in the lava river. The level 2 early stage Phoenix-beaked Blackfish weighed more than 300 jin.

Lu Cheng'an only managed to sort out about 200 jin of edible parts, which wasn't a large quantity.

Lu Cheng'an didn't expect to improve his physical strength much by relying on the flesh and blood of these phoenix-beaked blackfish, so he planned to send a dozen catties to each of the other three Foundation Establishment cultivators in the clan.

He obtained a relatively large number of first-tier Phoenix-beaked Black Fish. Apart from the dozen or so kilograms of flesh and blood from the early second-tier Phoenix-beaked Black Fish, the extra items were mostly flesh and blood from the first-tier Phoenix-beaked Black Fish.

Lu Wenmei didn't stand on ceremony with Lu Cheng'an and simply put the materials away. Afterwards, Lu Cheng'an left Lu Wenmei's cave with the materials, but instead of returning to his own cave, he went to his uncle's cave.

Lu Wenhua has been cultivating diligently in Chiyan Mountain during this period. He wears a spirit-gathering jade tablet specially made for him by Lu Cheng'an, which has greatly accelerated the speed of his cultivation.

His cultivation level has now reached the peak of the ninth level of Qi Refining. He is currently focusing on refining his cultivation to prepare for breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm.

After meeting Lu Wenhua, the uncle and nephew talked for a long time. In the end, Lu Cheng'an told Lu Wenhua not to be under too much pressure, and at the same time gave away a part of the flesh and blood of the first-level Phoenix-beaked Black Fish.

After leaving Lu Wenhua's cave, Lu Cheng'an returned to his own cave.

Instead of cultivating, he used the flesh and blood of a second-stage early-stage Phoenix-beaked Black Fish to cook a pot of fish soup, intending to taste the flavor of this demonic beast.

He had indeed been hunting the Phoenix-beaked Blackfish for some time, but he had been staying on Green Crocodile Island and hadn't really had time to taste this kind of monster.

The Phoenix-Beak Blackfish is indeed a rare delicacy, and after Lu Cheng'an ate its flesh and blood, he could clearly feel the nourishment this monster's flesh and blood provided to his body.

This gave him a thought: once the matter with the Fire-Slaying Earth Spider clan was over, perhaps he could have Zhu Yan take him to the depths of the lava river again to hunt this delicacy.

Of course, this was just a fleeting thought in Lu Cheng'an's mind.

After spending one night in his cave dwelling on Chiyan Mountain, he told Lu Wenmei, who was guarding Chiyan Mountain, and then headed to Dan Ding Sect.

Lu Cheng'an's trip to Dan Ding Sect was mainly for Zhu Yan, since he had promised to help Zhu Yan purchase second-tier pills for strengthening her foundation and restoring her vital energy before leaving Qing'e Island.

Zhu Yan's cultivation level is at the mid-stage of the second rank, and the best-grade pills she takes are also at the mid-grade of the second rank.

Although Lu Wenmei is currently a second-tier low-grade alchemist, the types of second-tier low-grade pills she can refine are still very limited and cannot meet Lu Cheng'an's needs.

Furthermore, now that Lu Cheng'an's cultivation has broken through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, he also plans to purchase some mid-grade second-tier pills from the Dan Ding Sect.

Apart from the second-tier pills, Lu Cheng'an did not intend to purchase the first-tier pills that Zhu Yan needed from the Pill Cauldron Sect. Instead, he told Lu Wenmei about it and asked her to instruct the first-tier alchemists of the Lu family to refine them.

The Lu family is currently training more than one first-tier alchemist, among whom Lu Chengbo has the highest talent in alchemy.

Lu Chengbo's current cultivation level is at the fifth level of Qi Refining, and he is also a mid-grade first-level alchemist.

Because Lu Chengbo possessed considerable talent in both cultivation and alchemy, the Lu family invested a great deal of resources in him, which was a major reason why his cultivation and alchemy skills improved so quickly.

This is the difference between cultivators from established cultivation forces and independent cultivators. When independent cultivators are weak, they still need to work hard to earn cultivation resources, which greatly consumes their cultivation time.

Even if they have great talent in cultivation, they will eventually be worn down by time and become mediocre.

The first-tier pills that Zhu Yan needs can be refined by Lu Chengbai and other first-tier alchemists from the Lu family. This will hone their alchemy skills and save some resources.

Lu Cheng'an was very fast. He had only been away from Chiyan Mountain for a short time when he arrived at Dan Ding Sect.

After arriving at the Dan Ding Sect, he did not enter the sect's reception hall, but was directly taken by Xu Shao to Black Stone Peak where he was located.

"Fellow Daoist Lu, your progress in cultivation is truly astonishing! You've broken through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage so quickly!" Xu Shao exclaimed in surprise after leading Lu Cheng'an into Black Stone Peak.

"Just some ascetic practice!"

Lu Cheng'an chuckled softly and said, "Fellow Daoist Xu's cultivation is also progressing at a fast pace. I'm afraid it won't be long before he breaks through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage!"

Lu Cheng'an was not flattering him; he genuinely sensed the powerful aura emanating from Xu Shao.

If Xu Shao were to cultivate diligently for a longer period of time, his cultivation level would be close to breaking through to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment.

"It's very difficult to break through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. I'm afraid only you and Junior Sister Shi were able to break through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage in such a short time!"

Xu Shao sighed softly, then looked at Lu Cheng'an with a gossipy gaze and asked with a smile, "Fellow Daoist Lu, have you contacted Junior Sister Shi since you came out of the Azure Spirit Secret Realm? Do you know that Junior Sister Shi has already returned to the sect?"

The junior sister Shi that Xu Shao mentioned is Shi Ningyu, who led the Dan Ding Sect cultivators into the Qingling Secret Realm. She is the granddaughter of Shi Mingxin, the sect leader of the Dan Ding Sect.

The Foundation Establishment Pill that Lu Cheng'an used to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm was given to him by Shi Ningyu.

In addition to the Foundation Establishment Pill, Shi Ningyu also gave Lu Cheng'an a communication jade plate.

Shi Ningyu originally said that once the Dan Ding Sect refined the Foundation Establishment Pill, she would inform Lu Cheng'an of the news through the communication jade plate.

However, after Lu Cheng'an left the Dan Ding Sect, the sect had already refined the Foundation Establishment Pill, and Lu Cheng'an did not see any messages sent from the communication jade plate.

At the time, Lu Cheng'an felt that he and Shi Ningyu might have had feelings for each other, but so much time had passed that those feelings had long since faded away with the passage of time.

When Lu Cheng'an suddenly heard Xu Shao mention Shi Ningyu's return to Dan Ding Sect, he felt somewhat dazed.

"Has Fellow Daoist Shi been traveling all these years? I wonder how Fellow Daoist Shi is doing now?" Lu Cheng'an asked with a smile.

"Junior Sister Shi is a person of great fortune. She has been cultivating in the ruins of an ancient sect for many years!"

Xu Shao's gaze fell on Lu Cheng'an, and he continued, "That ancient sect ruins contain a Nascent Soul level inheritance, and Junior Sister Shi is one of the inheritors of that Nascent Soul level inheritance... I intend to tell Junior Sister Shi about Fellow Daoist Lu's situation. I wonder what Fellow Daoist Lu's opinion is?"

As Xu Shao finished speaking, a solemn expression appeared on his face.

Lu Cheng'an's smile slowly faded, and his expression gradually became serious after sensing Xu Shao's change in mood.

His original intention in coming here was to purchase some pills from the Dan Ding Sect and, incidentally, to reconnect with Xu Shao. He never expected to face such a choice.

But he knew very well that no matter what choice he made, Xu Shao would eventually tell Shi Ningyu about his situation.

However, this is not necessarily a bad thing for him, as it is a rare opportunity to form his core.

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(End of this chapter)