The world of martial arts, the immortal swordsman in the mortal realm.

Chapter 221, page 236: Let's bring Rong'er to the Hot Spring Palace for the winter!

After refining the Heavenly Soldier Talisman, Lu Chen immediately sensed the storage space he had been longing for.

The result was a little surprise for him.

Within the storage space, which is seven feet in diameter, float several pieces of "essence of black iron" that emit a cold, eerie blue light. Their shapes are irregular, clearly formed naturally, and were likely picked up by Old Zhong after he drifted to this place.

In addition, there is an unfinished sword blank.

"Luckily, thanks to Lao Zhong!"

Lu Chen chuckled, and with another thought, the three-foot-long sword embryo appeared in his hand. He swung it a couple of times, and with another thought, the sword embryo returned to his storage space.

After trying to collect items a few times, Lu Chen turned his gaze to the light screen and clicked on a "medicine cauldron" icon.

This icon indicates the exchange of pills. After clicking it, a row of options for exchanging "Grade B, Grade A" heavenly soldiers immediately appears on the screen.

Bigu Pill: Taking one of these pills allows one to go without food for seven days, without feeling hunger or thirst. One bottle contains five pills (one merit point).

Qi-Replenishing Pill: Replenishes true essence and can quickly restore qi during combat. One bottle is worth one merit point [each bottle contains three pills].

Nourishing Essence Pill: It can gently nourish and purify true essence, aiding in cultivation. It has a certain effect on breaking through the minor bottleneck of the "Refining Essence into Qi" stage. One merit pill.

Jade Mushroom Pill: Replenishes essence and qi, rapidly enhances true essence cultivation during the Refining Essence and Transforming Qi stage, and grants one merit point.

Cold Marrow Pill: Greatly benefits essence and qi, and has a remarkable effect on improving true essence during the refinement of essence and qi stage. One five merits.

Spirit Preservation Pill: Assists in Qi Refining and Spirit Transformation stage cultivation, slightly enhancing primordial spirit cultivation. One 10 merit points.

The elixirs that Grade B and Grade A Heavenly Soldiers can exchange for are quite plentiful, mainly concentrated in the two stages of cultivation: "Refining Essence into Qi" and "Refining Qi into Spirit." However, the exchange price is quite expensive.

Besides cultivation pills, there are also various other pills for healing injuries, curing diseases, strengthening the body, and tonifying the kidneys.

There are even elixirs for preserving youth and beauty, one of which is called the "Eternal Youth Elixir." Once swallowed, even a mortal who doesn't know how to cultivate can maintain their youthful appearance forever and never grow old until death. Of course, the price is also quite high, costing ten merit points per elixir.

After a quick glance, Lu Chen sighed inwardly. This single item of exchanging pills was enough to make people lose their temper. They would probably spend as much merit as they earned, and how could they possibly accumulate enough merit to level up?
Not to mention that in addition to exchanging pills, there are also various other exchange items such as weapons, magical artifacts, talismans, puppets, and spells.

Next, Lu Chen browsed through the other exchange items as well, and was indeed dazzled by them, even feeling a surge of excitement.

"So many good things... Even if the celestial soldiers in the mortal realm don't want to level up, they'll still work hard to slay demons and monsters for the Heavenly Court. I can't resist wanting to kill a few demons and earn some merit points to exchange for these good things..."

Lu Chen shook his head, glanced at the glaring "zero" in the merit column, suppressed his restless thoughts, and pondered to himself:

"The Heavenly Court's move... seems to have ulterior motives."

Mortal cultivators slay demons and offer them as sacrifices to the Heavenly Court in exchange for merit. On the surface, this seems to provide a path for mortal cultivators to advance their cultivation. However, slaying demons is risky. For example, Old Zhong suffered misfortune instead of succeeding in slaying a demon.

In this way, the Heavenly Court can control the number of demons in the mortal realm to a certain extent without losing a single soldier, obtain demon materials, and indirectly control the number of cultivators in the mortal realm.

Unfortunately, this is an open conspiracy. Even if one understands this, ordinary cultivators without a powerful background must fight desperately to obtain cultivation resources or ascend to the Heavenly Court—there are no fundamental cultivation techniques among all the exchange items, only ordinary spells.

Even longevity pills are only available for a limited time during major battles like the Battle of Flower Fruit Mountain; they are never available at other times.

Without a powerful background or any true method to achieve immortality, the only way to achieve it is to desperately accumulate merits in order to rise to the rank of a regular soldier in the Heavenly Court, and then slowly build up merits to seek immortality.

"Immortality is not easy to achieve!"

Lu Chen shook his head and sighed softly.

He himself already possessed the true method for achieving immortality.

When "Sword Body" is cultivated to a high level in "Sword III: Sword Body", the physical body can become immortal. "Sword Heart Sword" in "Sword IV: Heart Sword" can also make the primordial spirit grow stronger and gradually become unafraid of the erosion of time.

Of course, this only refers to immortality unaffected by time; one can still be killed if attacked.

But when the physical body, vital energy, and mind all reach the highest realm, that is true immortality and eternal life.

However, although he possesses the method of achieving immortality, it can only be practiced by himself. Even if he passes it on to others, they cannot practice it without the "Sword Intent of Immortal Slaying".

Therefore, he also has a need for methods and elixirs of immortality.

"No rush, cultivate slowly, and one day..."

With the "Sword of Immortal Execution" in hand, even if one brings their whole family to the Peach Banquet, the Queen Mother will surely greet them with a smile.

Having absorbed the full force of today's natural calamity, Lu Chen didn't linger. He stuffed some black iron into the Heavenly Soldier Talisman, then put it away and returned to the Twin Dragons World.

Back to the Flying Frost Palace.

Lu Chen took out the talisman and activated it. The exchange options on the light screen dimmed, and only basic information could be viewed. Of course, the storage space could still be used.

"So, in another world, all the exchange items are indeed unusable? That's right, the Heavenly Court's reach doesn't extend to the Twin Dragons World. The rank of my Immortal Slaying Sword Intent is indeed higher than that of the Heavenly Court in the Journey to the West world."

Lu Chen nodded in satisfaction, then took out the small jade sword and pondered the method of cultivating true fire in the Void Sword Sect's weapon-refining technique.

I pondered for a while.

Lu Chen raised his right hand, spread his five fingers, palm facing upwards. As his heart pounded heavily, a faint red light emanated from his body. Then, a small, crimson flame, about an inch tall, emerged from his palm.

As the True Fire Technique continued to operate, the small crimson flame gradually turned orange. Although the high temperature was contained and did not radiate outward, Lu Chen knew that the True Fire at this time could melt Xuan Iron and even soften the essence of Xuan Iron.

Sensing the rapid depletion of his true energy, Lu Chen gradually withdrew his power and nodded inwardly.

"As expected, I am the Innate True Fire Saint Body. Cultivating and controlling this true fire is effortless, and the consumption is far less than described in the inheritance. Although the flame is a bit small and delicate due to my cultivation level, I can start learning weapon refining now."

His cultivation level is still somewhat lacking; he can only emit small flames slightly larger than candlelight. He needs to continuously improve his cultivation level in order to gradually expand the scale of his true fire.

Although the flame is a bit small, it's still good for making some small gadgets to practice with.

To refine weapons, it's not enough to simply cultivate true fire.

One must also master various runes and control the heat and timing during the forging process. The runes must be infused into the forged artifact according to the rules. If there is even a slight flaw, not only will the quality of the forged artifact be substandard, but all previous efforts may be wasted, or even damage to the material properties.

Even with Lu Chen's learning ability and control, it would still require long-term practice.

He wasn't in a hurry; he continued to refine the tribulation energy step by step to improve his cultivation.

……

Calculate the time.

It's already winter on Peach Blossom Island.

In the Twin Dragons world, the chill of late autumn was gradually being felt.

Lu Chen planned to return to Peach Blossom Island and bring Rong'er to the hot spring palace to spend the winter.

Previously, because there were too many powerful and unscrupulous experts in the Twin Dragons World, and many of them were prone to sneak attacks and sabotage, the world was quite dangerous. Furthermore, Rong'er was pregnant, so he was really worried about bringing her over.

Now, with his strength and reputation, and with the security of the Lishan Palace, Rong'er will not be in any danger even if she doesn't know martial arts.

"Is my sister coming?"

Upon hearing this news, Dugu Feng immediately became nervous and even a little flustered: "Then, then I, um, I have to go home and prepare some gifts for my sister."

Li Xiuning was also nervous, clutching the hem of her clothes as she said:

"Well, I'll also go back to Chang'an. I might as well ask Wan Jing how the weapon forging is going."

Lian Rou wasn't nervous at all, and said with a smile:

“Let’s go together. Although I’m not as rich as Feng’er and Princess Xiuning, I still have to do my best to prepare a gift.”

Even Wanwan was a little nervous, and whispered to Lu Chen:
Is your wife fierce? What should I do if she hits me?

She felt that since Lu Chen was so strong, the woman who could be his wife must also be ridiculously strong, perhaps even possessing the strength of a Grandmaster.

Although her current realm is comparable to that of a Grandmaster, her skill level has not yet improved, so she cannot defeat a Grandmaster.

Shi Feixuan, on the other hand, remained calm.

The closest she ever got to Lu Chen was practicing swordsmanship; they hadn't even held hands yet.

"Alright, don't worry, my wife has a very good temper. She's known about you all for a long time."

Anyway, Lu Chen felt that Rong'er had a good personality.

Besides, they already knew about Dugu Feng and the others, so it's unclear why they were so nervous.

"How could I not be nervous..."

Li Xiuning, who had never been afraid to charge into battle on horseback, felt her legs trembling slightly, and she was also a little flustered and short of breath. Even her palms were slightly damp, and she unconsciously wiped them on her clothes.

Seeing her nervous appearance, Lu Chen chuckled to himself. Li Xiuning probably didn't know that, although they had never met, Rong'er quite liked her, Princess Pingyang.

"I'll also go back to Chang'an."

Shi Feixuan felt that she should also return to Chang'an and prepare some gifts.

Otherwise, it would be a bit unreasonable for everyone to prepare gifts while she comes empty-handed.

"Let's all go."

Lu Chen waved his hand.

Wanwan asked:

"How long will it take you to go back and pick up your wife?"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Lu Chen with curiosity.

Lu Chen's origins are shrouded in mystery; even Dugu Feng doesn't know where Lu Chen goes each time he returns to his hometown to visit relatives.

It was fine when he came alone before, but this time he actually brought his wife along, so everyone was naturally curious.

Looking at the five pairs of curious eyes, Lu Chen smiled slightly:
"It won't be long. In any case, you'll see her when you return from Chang'an."

Everyone was stunned for a while.

Even including the time spent preparing gifts, their round trip to Chang'an wouldn't take long.

In such a short time, Lu Chen was able to bring his wife over?

For a moment, the female warriors were filled with disbelief.

"You'll find out later."

Lu Chen smiled and said something else. After the female generals left with joy and anticipation, he went to his bedroom in Feishuang Palace, locked the door, and traveled back to Peach Blossom Island.

……

"Where exactly is Brother Lu's hometown?"

The five female generals traveled together to Chang'an, using their light-footed skills to travel and discussing things along the way.

"Ask Sister Feng'er, she and Brother Lu knew each other the longest."

“I’m sorry, but I, Wanwan, was the first to meet Lu Chen. Back then, at Tanxi Lake in Xiangyang, there were still lingering red clouds on the horizon, and the night sky was full of stars. The lake reflected the afterglow and the starry river. He was boating alone on the lake, and when he first saw me, he recited a poem to me.”

"Oh, Brother Lu can compose poetry? What kind of poetry?"

"Drunk, I knew not that the sky was reflected in the water; a boat full of sweet dreams pressed down on the Milky Way..."

Wanwan recalled the scene of their first meeting and recited this poem. Her powerful spiritual cultivation deeply moved Dugu Feng and the others, as if they were there, seeing the beautiful scenery of the sunset, starry sky, and lake reflecting each other, with Lu Chen rowing a small boat and wandering in the starry lake.

"I never imagined... Brother Lu would possess such literary talent!"

Dugu Feng, Li Xiuning, and Lian Rou all looked at Wanwan with envy, and even Shi Feixuan's eyes held a hint of envy.

Wanwan's lips curled up, and she laughed triumphantly to herself, as if she really thought that Lu Chenyin's poem was recited especially for her.

Just as she was feeling pleased with herself, Shi Feixuan asked a spoilsport question:

"Since Senior Sister Wan knew Brother Lu the first time, do you know where Brother Lu's home is?"

"..."

Wanwan pursed her lips speechlessly and said lazily:

"I don't know. He stayed in Xiangyang for a while, saying he was going back to his hometown to visit relatives. I happened to be going to Duba Mountain Villa for work, so I didn't see him off, and I don't know where he went back to."

He paused, then said with a serious expression:

"I feel that he might not be a person from this world. Feng'er, do you feel the same way?"

Dugu Feng certainly has one.

After all, although she met Lu Chen after Wanwan, she spent the most time with him. She knew every time Lu Chen "returned home to visit relatives," but she never knew where he went or where he came from.

However, she didn't want to speculate, and said:
"Brother Lu said we'll find out later; the time isn't right yet. There's no need for us to speculate. Let's think about what gift to prepare for my sister."

Li Xiuning looked distressed:
"We didn't even know what my sister liked, and Brother Lu didn't remind us at all."

Lian Rou guessed:
"I think it's possible that they don't have any particular preferences, so any gift will do, as long as the sentiment is there."

"It makes sense."

Even so, the gift cannot be too meager.

"That's only natural..."

Chapter Two is here! Please vote with your monthly tickets!

(End of this chapter)