Immortality begins with upgrading buildings

Chapter 176 Dragon Qi Acquired? [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

This family seems to have some rather sophisticated ways of doing things... Ji Yuan, who was secretly watching the scene, couldn't help but sigh upon hearing this.

But compared to the Shui family digging up their ancestral graves, he was more curious about where Shui Cang's bracelet came from.

Did he buy it?

Or perhaps... it was a gift from someone?

Regardless of which option it is, Ji Yuan is prepared to act at any time, whether it's killing someone or fleeing; he has to be prepared for both.

"The water's boiling! It turns out you're the one who dug up our ancestral graves!"

One of the elders, whose face was slightly pale, shouted sternly.

Shuiyan pulled his outstretched right hand back and shook his head.

Another elder turned to look at the still-glowing patriarch, Shui Cang, and asked, "Judging from this, Patriarch, you've also dug up ancestral graves?"

Shui Cang shook his head.

There's no need to say too much to you; saying too much would be a waste of breath.

"All you need to know is that the Shui family will regain its ancestral glory in my hands."

After saying that, he opened his right hand, and a firework appeared in his hand. With a thought, he lit it, and the firework was already rising into the sky.

But just then, a streak of light blue flashed by.

The fireworks disappeared instantly.

"Um?!"

Shui Cang realized something was wrong, and immediately took out a communication talisman... white, with a limited range.

Before he could transmit his message, the light blue talisman flashed again, and the talisman in his hand immediately turned to ashes and vanished.

He seemed to sense something, and subconsciously reached for his waist, only to find that his storage bag was gone too.

"Who... I didn't know which senior had graced us with their presence. Please forgive me for not greeting you properly."

Shui Cang isn't stupid. If he still can't figure out the problem by now, he'll have wasted his life.

Under these circumstances, it must be that a senior has come to his Shui family manor.

As soon as he finished speaking, a mist suddenly appeared over the entire Shui family village.

"Two choices: take out the secret manual you obtained from your ancestral tomb, or... die."

A hoarse voice echoed in his mind.

Ji Yuan forcibly broke open his storage bag, but there were no items inside that recorded dragon energy or true dragons. If that was the case, then he had probably hidden them away.

"Senior, it's not that I don't want to give it to you, it's just that the secret manual isn't with me."

Shui Cang said bitterly.

"Oh?"

Ji Yuan seemed to have some doubts and curiosity.

"I made a deal with Qingwu Sanren in Hehaifang. He promised to protect our Shui family as long as I gave him the secret manual, until a Foundation Establishment cultivator appears in our family."

"Bah! Shui Cang, you traitor! You actually gave away our Shui family's ancestral secret manual! Are you out of your mind?!"

Upon hearing this, Shui Yan was furious.

"This defensive technique was given to me by Qingwu Sanren. Besides that, he also gave me many talismans, pills, and cultivation techniques. You fool, those secret manuals are of no use to us. Only by trading them for resources can we quickly improve the strength of our Shui family!"

Shui Cang immediately retorted, "Besides, don't you think that if there really were such a thing as a dragon, would our Shui family even dare to touch it?! We should pack our things and move our Shui family away from Lihua River right now."

Ji Yuan listened to their bickering.

He checked Shui Yan's storage bag again. In his opinion, there were basically no good items. Whether it was the second-grade low-level talisman or the pills, the cultivation techniques were all Foundation Establishment stage techniques.

In that case, it seems that the elusive Qingwu Sanren is nothing special.

"go!"

With a thought, Ji Yuan unleashed the Frost Flowing Sword once more, instantly reaching Shui Cang's side. Shui Cang's "protective golden light" couldn't even last a moment before shattering with a "crack".

The bracelet even broke in two.

Ji Yuanjian immediately understood.

This Green Mist Hermit is most likely a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the early stage, and a hidden Foundation Establishment cultivator in the market. Whether it is cultivation level or strength, he is nothing special.

"Wh...what?!"

Shui Cang looked at the flying sword hovering in front of him and finally came to his senses.

The Green Mist Hermit, whom he had long admired, couldn't protect him at all.

"Senior, please don't kill me! I... after I took the secret manual, I copied it and put it in. It's with Shui Kai now. He must have taken that copy of the secret manual."

Upon seeing this, Shui Cang immediately became obedient and, without Ji Yuan pressing him further, quickly told him the truth.

"Oh?"

Under Ji Yuan's divine sense, Shui Kai, who was standing at the entrance of the ruins, bowed slightly and presented a neatly folded piece of silk with both hands. "My Shui family's secret manual is here. Please accept it, senior."

The secret manual... has been on Shui Kai's body from the very beginning.

No wonder he's been in no hurry.

With a casual gesture, Ji Yuan brought the secret manual into his hands.

After he finished reading it, he discovered that this so-called secret manual was actually just a...treasure map? Or perhaps it contained a story?

Basically, it means that the patriarch of the Shui family discovered a real dragon at the bottom of the Pear Blossom River.

It was still a very weak true dragon.

Its strength was only at the Foundation Establishment stage. The Water Clan Ancestor tried to capture it but failed. So he purchased a magic spell to trap it inside. Finally, he moved the ancestral graves up there as a cover.

So that later generations could arrest them.

Ji Yuan looked at it from the front and back and found that the contents recorded in this secret book were just this much.

"This is the so-called secret manual you've been talking about?"

The hoarse voice rang in Shui Cang's mind again, and then a piece of silk appeared in his hand.

He quickly looked through it and said, "It is...it is. This is what I found in the ancestral grave. That's why I made a new copy and put it in the ancestral grave."

"Senior, there is indeed something under our ancestral grave. We have a tradition that every time we worship our ancestors, we have to kill ten demonic beasts in front of the grave to offer blood as a sacrifice."

"Every time we slay a demonic beast, we feel a chilling aura. Now that I think about it, it really is something beneath our ancestral graves—a true dragon, it must be a true dragon!"

In order to survive, Shui Cang tried every means to make Ji Yuan believe the story.

Only if Ji Yuan believed the story did they have value, and with value came hope of survival.

"madness!"

Ji Yuan's cold laugh grew fainter and fainter until it disappeared completely, along with the water boiling at the doorway.

"S-senpai?"

Shui Cang called out tentatively, but there was no response.

However, the fog that shrouded the entire Shuijiazhuang village did not disappear.

The senior seemed to have left, so Shui Yan and Shui Cang's gazes gradually converged on one place, and the two of them... each had their own thoughts.

"..."

Ji Yuan called Shui Kai away and obtained the location of the Shui family's ancestral graves from this clever man.

"Go back and tell them that the senior has already left."

Ji Yuan did not show himself, but only sent a message via telepathy.

Shui Kai's eyes flickered, and he immediately understood. He bowed and took his leave.

Seeing that Shui Kai had returned to the clan elders' hall, Ji Yuan then left the Shui family village.

What he didn't expect was that the Shui family's ancestral graves were not on the ground, but underwater, hidden beneath the Pear Blossom River.

"Looking at it that way, there's actually a good chance."

As for why it's a few points...

According to the story passed down from the Shui family, the strength of that wisp of dragon energy would weaken over time; however, judging from what Hua Yaoyue said at the time, the strength of the dragon energy should not have weakened. If it had, it would probably have been taken away long ago.

Instead of waiting for the patriarch of the Shui family, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, to come and lock him up.

Whether it's true or not, Ji Yuan is prepared to go and see for herself first.

He continued north along the river and found the crooked tree in the opening of the river, then he knew that the Shui family's ancestral graves were not far away.

Before he could even use his divine sense to investigate, he saw a figure suddenly leap out of the water ahead.

"Um?"

Qingwu Sanren looked at the figure approaching in a flying boat and knew something was wrong. It was likely that the Shui family had sold the secret of their ancestral tomb to someone else.

"court death!"

It's just a mere Qi Refining stage cultivator. Even if he's at the peak of Qi Refining, so what?!

The opportunity to become a true dragon is right before our eyes. In the struggle for the Great Dao, there is no room for mercy. Therefore, Qingwu Sanren immediately unleashed his killing move.

A deep blue pearl was spat out of his mouth and flew straight toward the thin man in front of him.

A magical artifact?

Damn it, they want to kill me the moment we meet?

A thought flashed through Ji Yuan's mind, and almost instantly he guessed the identity of the person in front of him: Qingwu Sanren, is that so ruthless? Then don't blame me...

"go!"

With a thought, the sword embryos of two natal flying swords shot out from his dantian, while he also held the Mountain-Breaking Halberd in his hand.

It can shatter mountains with a single strike!

"boom--"

The magic and the magical artifact collided, immediately producing a loud sound.

"scare!"

Seeing his magical artifact being knocked away, Qingwu Sanren thought to himself, "It's all over."

Sure enough, before he could even form a hand seal to protect himself, let alone summon a magical artifact to protect himself, he saw two streaks of light blue light appear before him, and he instinctively leaned back.

But no matter how fast it goes, it can't outrun the flying sword in front of it.

"laugh."

After a slight sound, a sword embryo pierced through his brow, and another sword embryo swept past his heart. With the two combined, Qingwu Sanren died instantly.

A Foundation Establishment stage cultivator... was instantly killed like that?

But then I thought about it again and it made sense, since the two of them had just run into each other.

Qingwu Sanren acted as a hero, but he never expected that the man in front of him, who seemed to be at the peak of Qi Refining, was actually a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Moreover, he is an extremely skilled cultivator, a Foundation Establishment cultivator from a sect!

Seeing that the corpse was about to fall into the river, Ji Yuan finally reacted and casually put the corpse into his storage bag.

According to the world's customs, these are all divine materials, and they cannot be wasted.

Furthermore, Ji Yuan also has a [mass burial ground] that urgently needs the corpses of Foundation Establishment stage cultivators.

Although getting 100 bodies is a bit difficult, these things add up little by little. The corpses of the two demonic cultivators from before, plus the corpse of this Green Mist Hermit now, make up 3 bodies.

After the killing was over, Ji Yuan immediately invaded the storage bag of the Green Mist Hermit with his divine sense.

One word: poor.

Three words: penniless!

Ji Yuan never expected that this Foundation Establishment stage rogue cultivator would be so poor. He only had this one low-grade spiritual artifact, and a top-grade magic weapon shield, but no other spiritual artifacts or magic weapons.

Spirit stones are also scarce.

The dragon energy that Ji Yuan had been longing for was nowhere to be found.

If that's the case, then the dragon's energy should still be at the bottom of this water.

If even the Green Mist Hermit could return safely after going into the water, then I should be fine too… Ji Yuan cast a water-avoiding spell, pushed the flying boat forward, and immediately disappeared into the Pear Blossom River.

As soon as he entered the water, he released his divine sense.

Being in the water, his divine sense was naturally suppressed to some extent, but fortunately, Ji Yuan estimated that it was only suppressed by one-tenth. He piloted the flying boat forward for about ten feet, and the ancestral tomb of the Shui family appeared in his divine sense vision.

But now this ancestral grave...

It was dug up.

Although nothing was visible on the outside, Ji Yuan's divine sense could clearly detect that there was a dark hole next to the Shui family's ancestral grave, but it was covered by a talisman used for deception.

But this only applies to cultivators in the Qi Refining stage, not to Foundation Establishment cultivators who possess divine consciousness.

There is no three hundred taels of silver here.

Ji Yuan urged the flying boat to arrive at the ancestral graves of the Shui family.

He originally thought the grave would be on the riverbank, but when he arrived, he found that the ancestral grave was actually right at the bottom of the river, and it was a huge rock.

It's like a section of a huge rock being cut out and used as a tomb.

This way, there's no need to worry about the ancestral graves being washed away by the water. Moreover, judging from the surrounding mud, the Shui family probably has to clean up the silt every time they hold an ancestral worship ceremony, otherwise the ancestral graves would be buried.

Ji Yuan scanned the tomb with his divine sense and indeed found signs that it had been opened again. He then casually destroyed the talisman next to the tomb and his divine sense flowed into the passage.

The passage was not deep, only about twenty or thirty feet.

After Ji Yuan's divine sense passed through the passage, he arrived at a spacious cave.

The cave was a water cave filled with silt, and it was in this silt that Ji Yuan discovered a broken array.

"This is... a Blood Coagulation and Evil-Dispelling Array?!"

Ji Yuan scanned the array patterns with his divine sense and immediately discerned the origin of the array.

He had seen an introduction to this formation from Yun Qianzai. It was a second-tier trapping formation, mostly used by demonic cultivators. Its general effect was to trap the opponent and then refine them by pouring essence blood into them.

So, the Shui family patriarch was using the Blood Coagulation and Evil-Dispelling Array to refine this wisp of dragon energy?!

What kind of courage does this require? No wonder it is said that fresh blood must be poured during ancestral worship, all for the purpose of this blood-coagulation and evil-repelling formation.

But what about that wisp of dragon energy?

Ji Yuan's consciousness wandered in this underwater cave.

Soon, he found that faint, almost imperceptible breath in that filthy mud.

The dragon shape could still be roughly discerned, but its form was extremely dim, so dim that it was almost invisible to the naked eye. Countless years had passed, which had worn away the formation and also extinguished the dragon's aura.

Ji Yuan's divine sense did not detect any other abnormalities. If he was too slow, things would change. So he immediately slipped into the hole and entered the water cave.

Although the formation was damaged, it was still effective. Judging from the traces in the cave, Ji Yuan must have tried to break the formation by force, but failed.

He is not a formation master.

It seems that he left this time to find a way to break the formation and then come back to retrieve the dragon energy.

Unexpectedly, as soon as I stepped outside, I ran into Ji Yuan, who had just arrived...

Since that's the case, let's break this Blood Coagulation and Evil Transformation Formation first.

Under the influence of Ji Yuan's divine sense, following the array patterns and the "Three-fold Breaking Array Method" taught by Yun Qianzai, he quickly found the array pattern nodes of the Blood Condensation and Evil Transformation Array.

"go--"

Ji Yuan casually unleashed three beams of spiritual light, which landed steadily at the three nodes along the array's patterns.

Then it exploded with a bang.

The Blood Coagulation and Evil-Dispelling Array was destroyed instantly.

The dragon energy that was originally curled up in the mud disappeared in a flash after sensing the destruction of the formation.

"Still trying to run!"

Ji Yuan's divine sense had already locked onto it.

Before it could leave, Ji Yuan used the "Shadow Follows" technique to appear in front of it in a flash, grabbed it, and put it into a spiritual jade bottle. He then quickly cast several restrictions to trap it.

Even after putting it into his storage bag, Ji Yuan still couldn't quite believe it.

Dragon energy... just like that, I got it?

Aside from the Green Mist Hermit who suddenly appeared and delivered the immortal materials, there were no obstacles whatsoever throughout the entire journey.

Logically speaking, to obtain such a treasure, shouldn't one have gone through countless battles and overcome numerous hardships before finally getting their hands on it?

Although many thoughts were running through his mind, Ji Yuan did not linger there any longer.

The moment he obtained the dragon energy, he burst out of the water cave, summoned his flying boat, and soared straight upwards, instantly breaking through the water.

The best way out would have been to leave via the Pear Blossom River, but since the dragon energy itself originated from the Pear Blossom River, Ji Yuan was worried that taking the waterway might lead to unforeseen circumstances.

So as soon as he emerged from the water, he scanned his surroundings with his divine sense and, finding nothing unusual, immediately cast an invisibility spell and drifted downstream.

After a while, he returned to Shuijiazhuang.

Before leaving, he used his divine sense to scan the area once more.

In the short time he was gone, Shuijiazhuang had already changed dramatically.

The patriarch, Shui Cang, along with his entire family, was gone... physically gone. The four surviving elders were now spreading rumors throughout the manor, saying that Shui Cang had colluded with demonic cultivators and sold off family property for personal gain.

Shui Kai had also benefited greatly, and was currently cultivating in a cellar.

A power struggle within a cultivation family has ended so quickly.

With a sigh, Ji Yuan put away the iron box [cave dwelling] he had placed in the Shui family manor, then piloted the flying boat and headed straight north towards the Shuilong Sect.

Just as he was flying over the Pear Blossom River, he seemed to suddenly sense it.

He looked down.

In the vast river, a dark shadow seemed to be lurking, with two lantern-sized eyes staring at him... It posed no threat, but rather carried a hint of goodwill.

Just as Ji Yuan broke out in a cold sweat, he blinked and found that the river was completely empty.

There was nothing there; everything that just happened seemed like an illusion.

Did I misread it?

No.

Ji Yuan felt a little flustered when he recalled those eyes.

"There must be something really lurking at the bottom of this water. Could it be a real dragon?"

The moment the thought arose, Ji Yuan urged the flying boat to its full potential, and his figure transformed into a streak of light, instantly heading north.

Regardless of whether there is a real dragon or not, or whether one has obtained a great treasure, this place is not a place to stay for long.

One day later.

Ji Yuan returned to the Water Dragon Sect. He stayed on Worry-Free Island for a few days, and then went to see Hua Yaoyue. After confirming that there was nothing wrong with him, he headed south back to Misty Island.

Ji Yuan pondered the use of this dragon energy for several days and had a vague idea in mind.

(End of this chapter)