Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

Chapter 260 Complaints
Every member of the Lu family owns or has owned a house in the family land on Wuchen Island.

Those members of the Lu family who have not produced any immortal cultivators for three consecutive generations can only leave Wuchen Island and settle on other islands. They can only return to the family land after their descendants are detected to have spiritual roots.

However, only one in a hundred people possess spiritual roots, and more and more mortals are leaving Wuchen Island. Many of the luxury mansions and gardens in the Lu family's land are left vacant, waiting for the next owner.

After the young Taoist agreed to join the Lu family, he followed Lu Qing into the Lu family's territory and lived in a quiet and elegant courtyard at the foot of the Wuchen Mountains.

This courtyard is in no way comparable to those extremely luxurious mansions, but it is very close to the Wuchen Mountains. After going out, you only need to walk a hundred steps to enter the mountains.

The spiritual energy emanating from the mountains makes this place the most concentrated in the Lu family's land, and it is far more valuable than those mansions.

Even an ordinary cultivator at the tenth level of Qi Refining would have to obtain approval from those in power in order to be allocated such a courtyard.

As a Jindan elder, Lu Qing was in charge of the Lu family's secular affairs. When he gave this courtyard to the young Taoist, naturally no one dared to say anything. Even some foundation-building cultivators were very puzzled as to why the young Taoist was not allowed to open a cave in the Wuchen Mountains.

After recruiting the young Taoist as a guest official, Lu Qing announced the matter widely. On the first day that the young Taoist joined the Lu family, more than thirty foundation-building cultivators gathered there to congratulate him on becoming a guest official of the Lu family.

Among them were the people in power from each branch of the Lu family, including Lu Yuan, who were very enthusiastic about the young Taoist.

Those Lu family monks who had asked the young Taoist to refine pills had already tasted the sweetness and would not miss this opportunity to make friends with him.

As for those monks of the Lu family who had never dealt with the young Taoist priest, they had already heard about his miraculous alchemy skills from others. However, due to various reasons, either they did not have spiritual herbs or they had doubts, they did not ask him to make the elixirs.

Now even Lu Qing came forward personally to recruit him as a guest official, so they naturally would no longer have any doubts and would visit the young Taoist as soon as possible.

Lu Dongji, the only alchemy master of the Lu family, also came to the courtyard. His face looked very unhappy, and he had a forced smile on his face. He looked at the young Taoist with a gloomy look.

In addition, several guest officials who had previously joined the Lu family also came here.

As for the other Lu family monks who did not come, they were either practicing in seclusion or stationed on outer islands.

The head of the Lu family, Lu Gui, and another Jindan elder, Lu Haiwei, did not show up either. After all, the young Taoist was only an alchemy master, and it was enough for Lu Qing to deal with him. It was not enough to alarm the two Jindan masters.

Under the gaze of all the Lu family monks, Lu Qing handed a guest token to the young Taoist priest. From then on, he officially became a guest of the Lu family.

Everyone congratulated him, but since Lu Qing was present, they couldn't say much to the young Taoist, so they soon left.

After they left, Lu Qing smiled and said, "Friend Ziyang, you can receive 15 middle-grade spirit stones as an offering every year, and you can keep one pill for yourself for every batch of pills you refine. Are you satisfied with this treatment?"

For a cultivator in the middle stage of foundation building, an annual offering of fifteen medium-grade spirit stones is already a lot. It only takes seven years to buy a top-grade spiritual weapon. Moreover, the young Taoist can leave a pill for him, so he will not delay his cultivation. The treatment is very generous.

If the Lu family was not in urgent need of a master alchemist, they would never have offered him such conditions.

The young Taoist naturally agreed. Lu Qing smiled slightly and winked at Lu Yuan.

Lv Yuan understood, flicked his storage bag, took out a dozen spiritual herbs, raised his hand and waved, and handed them to the young Taoist: "Daoyou Ziyang, these are the spiritual herbs for two furnaces of Muyun Pills. Thank you for refining them into pills."

"Leave this matter to me. I will give eight Muyun Pills to you in one month." The young Taoist took the spiritual herb.

Lu Qing laughed and stood up: "Then I won't bother you, little friend Zi Yang anymore."

Lu Yuan also said goodbye and left. The young Taoist priest personally saw them both out the door before returning.

Lu Qing did not fly away, but just walked towards the Wuchen Mountains. Lu Yuan naturally would not fly away either, so Lu Qing followed closely beside Lu Yuan, slightly lagging behind by half a body length.

The two of them had already left their natal lamps in the Lu family's ancestral temple. The clan protection formation could sense their spiritual auras, allowing them to pass through the formation unhindered and walk up the mountain along the stone steps.

After walking for a while, Lu Qing said, "Pick a late foundation-building cultivator from the third house and have him live next to the courtyard where Taoist Zi Yang lives. Always keep an eye on his movements and be careful not to expose your whereabouts."

"A late-stage cultivator?" Lv Yuan was surprised. "Fifth uncle, this Taoist Zi Yang is only at the middle stage of foundation building. You have personally checked and found that he is fine. Besides, the clan still needs him to refine pills. Is it necessary to be on guard against him?"

"My Lu family doesn't have any treasures worth stealing. If he finds out, he might get upset..."

Lu Qing said calmly: "I really don't see any problems with Zi Yang, but he is a master of alchemy and suddenly appeared on Wuchen Island. Although he has a flawless explanation, it is still inevitable that people will have doubts."

"Besides, we must be on guard against others. If he has no evil intentions, it will only be a waste of energy. Even if he finds out, the worst that can happen is that we can just offer more offerings."

"But if this person really has bad intentions and there is no prior precaution, that would be bad."

Lu Yuan was convinced: "Uncle Fifth taught me that my nephew was not thoughtful and thought superficially."

Lu Qing smiled slightly: "You have only been practicing in the clan for a long time, so you don't have much experience. In the future, as long as you travel more and meet all kinds of cultivators, you will naturally gain experience."

"My nephew will follow my uncle's instructions!" Lu Yuan responded respectfully, "But my nephew still has one thing he doesn't understand. How long does this Taoist Zi Yang need to be monitored?"

"The clan is in a period of expansion and is short of manpower. It's easy to recruit early and middle-stage monks, but it will take some effort to transfer a late-stage monk to monitor him for a long time."

"Moreover, Taoist Zi Yang has been in the clan for a long time, so he must know the clan's rules. If the clan has always forbidden him to open a cave in the Dustless Mountains, would he be dissatisfied?"

Lu Qing nodded slightly: "You have a point. Let's set a one-year deadline. If he does not make any unusual moves during this year, he will be allowed to open a cave in the Dustless Mountains."

"Yes, I will arrange some personnel right away!"

……

In a dim and quiet room, Chen Yuan looked at the alchemy furnace in front of him with an indifferent expression.

Suddenly, he raised his hand and the lid of the furnace was lifted. Nine Muyun Pills flew out, four of which flew into a jade bottle, and the remaining five flew into another jade bottle.

The spell in Chen Yuan's hand changed, he took back the true fire, and the alchemy furnace slowly fell to the ground.

With his alchemy skills, refining the Muyun Pill, a late-stage foundation-building elixir, was a piece of cake for him.

But there are fifty great ways, and forty-nine are derived from heaven. If one is missing, it will not be complete.

No matter how skilled he was at alchemy, he could only make nine pills at most, and he would never be able to make ten.

Chen Yuan put the two jade bottles into the mustard seed ring and the storage bag respectively. This was the second batch of Muyun Pills he had refined. It only took him half a month to make the two batches of pills.

He spread out his spiritual sense and quietly probed into the formation restriction of a courtyard a hundred feet away. He saw the late foundation building cultivator of the Lu family flipping through a book. He looked up here from time to time and used his spiritual sense to explore the courtyard where Chen Yuan was. He couldn't help but smile slightly and began to meditate and practice.

When he first started to refine pills half a month ago, he found that this cultivator had moved nearby and often spied on him. He was not surprised by this. The Lu family did not allow him to open a cave in the Dustless Mountains. They must have been worried about him and would naturally send someone to monitor him.

This was the inevitable drawback of his entering the Lu family as an alchemy master, and it was something he had anticipated.

But he was just a cultivator in the late Foundation Establishment stage, so there was no way he could discover his secrets. Even Lu Qing himself could not do that.

Before, when Lu Qing came to Lingdan Hall in person, he didn't even see Chen Yuan's true cultivation level. His spiritual awareness was comparable to that of a cultivator in the middle stage of Jindan, which was enough to conceal Lu Qing's detection.

If Lu Gui took action personally, he would not be able to hide it.

But when Chen Yuan decided to enter the Lu family in this way, he was certain that Lu Gui was the head of the Lu family and was unlikely to interfere in such a trivial matter as recruiting an alchemy master as a guest of the family, so he acted boldly.

Of course, if Lu Gui suddenly got excited and asked about this matter and saw through Chen Yuan's strengths and weaknesses, he would not be afraid.

Although he was no match for Lu Gui, after stimulating Zhu Yan's true blood, he had a good chance of escaping.

Things developed just as he expected. From beginning to end, only Lu Qing was concerned about the matter. Even another elder, Lu Haiwei, did not show up, allowing Chen Yuan to successfully infiltrate the Lu family.

At this point, he was only one step away from the mysterious inheritance. As long as he entered the Dustless Mountains, he could enter the place of inheritance.

But at this point, the Lu family was most defensive against him, and he had to be more cautious than before in order to eliminate the Lu family's vigilance.

Half a month later, Chen Yuan came out of seclusion and handed over two bottles of Muyun Pill to Lu Yuan, and also received two furnaces of spiritual herbs for late foundation-building pills.

He did not refuse and continued to refine the elixir. A month later, he handed over another two bottles of elixir.

Half a year passed like this, and Chen Yuan kept refining pills. In addition to the spiritual herbs given to him by Lu Yuan, there were also late-stage foundation-building cultivators from other branches of the Lu family who asked him to help. In the last two months, he no longer refined late-stage pills, but instead refined mid-stage pills.

At this time, he suddenly refused to make the elixir anymore and said he wanted to practice in seclusion for a while.

This requirement is reasonable. Alchemists cannot make pills endlessly. They also need time to practice.

But the Lu family had finally found a guest official with such superb alchemy skills, a high success rate and fast alchemy speed. All the precious elixirs were given to Chen Yuan to refine. Even Lu Dongji, who was trained by the Lu family themselves, had only been refining elixirs for the middle and early stages of foundation building in the past six months.

Chen Yuan suddenly proposed to practice in seclusion, catching all the monks of the Lu family off guard.

Although there is still Lu Dongji who can make pills, but when he thinks about his success rate of making pills which is 20% lower than Chen Yuan's and the poor quality of his pills, his heart bleeds and he is reluctant to give the spiritual herbs to him.

But they couldn't stop Chen Yuan from practicing, so they could only ask a cultivator in the late foundation building stage to come forward and ask Chen Yuan to continue refining the elixir.

Especially the foundation-building cultivators of the Lu family who had returned from outside the island. They had guarded other islands for several years before and had accumulated a lot of spiritual herbs. When they learned that there was a new guest alchemy master in the clan, they were very happy and wanted to ask Chen Yuan to help them make pills, but he had to practice in seclusion, which naturally made them very unwilling.

Together with other monks who needed to make elixirs, they found the monks in charge of each room and asked them to persuade Chen Yuan not to go into seclusion for the time being.

This is related to the Lu family's current special situation. The cultivators of ordinary families would not accumulate too many spiritual herbs at the same time, but the Lu family obtained a large number of spiritual herbs shortly after destroying the Haiyan Sect. In the past ten years, they have distributed them to the cultivators in the family. As a result, they have no shortage of spiritual herbs and are in urgent need of refining them into pills.

The monks in charge of each branch were helpless and took turns to find Chen Yuan and try to persuade him, but he politely refused every time.

As the eldest son of the family, Lu Yuan's every move was closely watched in the Lu family. After the other monks failed to persuade him, he found Chen Yuan and persuaded him: "The monks in the family are in urgent need of elixirs for cultivation. Daoist Ziyang, can you postpone your retreat? As long as you refine the spiritual herbs in their hands into elixirs, you can retreat and cultivate at will for the next few years."

Chen Yuan sighed, "I am not a person who does not know the limits. I understand what Fellow Daoist Lu means. But I am not well-received in the Lu family. If I continue to make pills for the cultivators in the family and offend Lu Dongji, how can I stay in the Lu family in the future?"

Lü Yuan was surprised and asked, "Why do you say that, Daoist Ziyang? You were personally recruited into the Lü family by Uncle Wu as a guest official, and you have been refining pills for the cultivators in the family. The cultivators in the family all praise you, so how could you not be welcomed?"

Chen Yuan looked embarrassed, hesitant to speak, and finally shook his head and remained silent.

Lu Yuan frowned and said, "Fellow Daoist Zi Yang, just speak directly. Is it possible that someone in the clan is trying to make things difficult for you? If this is true, I will definitely stand up for you."

Chen Yuan said: "No one is making things difficult for me, it's just..."

When he said this, he suddenly stopped talking, turned his head and glanced out the window, with dissatisfaction in his eyes.

Lu Yuan followed Chen Yuan's gaze and saw that the Wuchen Mountains were just over a hundred steps outside the window. From here, he could just see the top of the Wuchen Peak across the courtyard wall. This was also the main peak of the Wuchen Mountains and the place where the patriarch Lu Gui was in seclusion.

Lu Yuan suddenly realized what was going on. He turned around, considered his words, and said, "Daoist Ziyang, do you want to open a cave in the Wuchen Mountains?"

Chen Yuan nodded: "Yes, there are sixty-three people in the Lu family, including the foundation-building cultivators and the guest officials. But no matter whether they are those who are cultivating on Wuchen Island or those who are guarding the outer islands, I am the only one whose cave is not in the Wuchen Mountains. How can I survive in the Lu family?"

Lu Yuan was speechless. What Chen Yuan said made sense, but he couldn't say that Lu Qing was on guard against him. He could only gloss over it: "Daoyou, you don't know, this is the rule of the clan. Anyone who joins the clan as a guest must live in the clan for a period of time. After being recognized by the cultivators of the clan and integrated into the family, they can open a cave in the Wuchen Mountains. This is not aimed at Daoyou alone."

What he said was not empty talk. The Wuchen Mountains were where the treasures accumulated by the Lu family were stored, and a large spiritual plant garden had been opened up, so naturally, outsiders would not be allowed to enter at will.

But what he didn't say was that this rule had long become a decoration in the Lu family. Before Chen Yuan, the guest officials only needed to stay in the clan's land for a few days to open up a cave in the Wuchen Mountains.

After all, the Wuchen Mountains were guarded by a clan protection formation and there were Jindan cultivators stationed there, and the guests who joined the Lu family were only foundation-building cultivators, so there was no need to worry about them causing trouble.

As for those who were able to hide the truth from the Jindan cultivators of the Lu family, they all had high levels of cultivation. How could they risk offending the Zhenhai Sect to seek the treasure of a small family?

After Chen Yuan got this explanation, his face looked much better. He smiled apologetically, and the hideous scar on his face was moved. "Since this is the rule of the Lu family, then I must abide by it. Daoist Fellow Lu is right. There is no rush to retreat at this moment. I will first make pills for my fellow Daoists in the clan, and it won't be too late to practice later."

Lv Yuan smiled and said, "Thank you, Daoist Fellow Zi Yang. Don't worry, I will go and ask my fifth uncle to let you open a cave in the Wuchen Mountains as soon as possible."

He stood up and said goodbye, and went directly to Lu Qing's cave, reported the matter to Lu Qing, and finally added: "Fifth Uncle, this Taoist Zi Yang is so eager to enter the Dustless Mountains, is there really some conspiracy?"

Lu Qing smiled and said, "Taoist Ziyang's actions actually show that he has an open mind and has no ulterior motives."

Lu Yuan was stunned for a moment, his face full of doubts. Lu Qing said, "He is a master of alchemy, but he cannot open a cave in the Dustless Mountains. It is understandable that he feels resentful."

"If he really lived at the foot of the Dustless Mountains for a year, working tirelessly to refine pills without complaint, I would suspect that he had ulterior motives."

Lü Yuan suddenly realized, "Yes, if he can tolerate such a thing, he must have some ulterior motive."

Lu Qing said calmly: "For the past six months, I have been waiting for Taoist Zi Yang to complain about this matter. I didn't expect that he could last for half a year. He is quite cunning."

"How about this, in two months, you invite him to open a cave in the Dustless Mountains and make up the five middle-grade spirit stones as an offering."

(End of this chapter)