Mortal: Fellow Daoist! May I borrow your essence for a moment?

Feeling the surge in his cultivation level, Li Feiyu breathed a long sigh of relief and felt instantly refreshed.

In just a few days.

He went from being an ordinary person to a cultivator at the eighth level of Qi Refining.

This speed is far beyond what can be described by cultivation based on spiritual roots.

Besides seizing Ye Mei and Ye Chengyi's cultivation levels.

Their cultivation techniques and even their spiritual roots belonged to Li Feiyu.

Ye Mei has the lowest of the five spiritual roots, and Ye Chengyi isn't much better.

It has the four spiritual roots of fire, wood, metal, and earth.

With such weak spiritual roots, it's no wonder they've been stuck in the Qi Refining Realm for so long.

Although their spiritual roots were useless, things were different once they fell into Li Feiyu's hands.

He clasped his hands together, and a thought crossed his mind.

As the Devouring Heaven Demon Art circulated, boundless demonic energy within his body continuously washed over his internal organs and meridians.

It also cleansed and merged the spiritual roots of Ye Mei and Ye Chengyi.

Before long, the two spiritual roots merged into one.

Although it has not yet reached the level of three spiritual roots, it has already gained a lot of luster.

"Can't a five-elemental-root and a four-elemental-root combine to form a three-elemental-root?"

"That makes sense, the difference between spiritual roots is enormous."

"We still need a sufficient quantity to replenish it."

"However, I have demonic powers at my disposal, so as long as I devour more spiritual roots..."

"Don't even mention three or two spiritual roots, even a heavenly spiritual root is within my grasp," Li Feiyu said confidently.

The Devouring Heaven Demon Art is specifically designed to seize the essence of others and devour their physical constitution.

If there are enough of them, they can even create a chaotic entity that encompasses all laws and destroys all things.

Compared to that, what is the Heavenly Spiritual Root in the mortal world?

As long as Li Feiyu devours enough source energy, he will eventually obtain a Heavenly Spiritual Root.

"His cultivation level has increased dramatically, and his spiritual root has also gained more luster."

"This trip was truly worthwhile."

Li Feiyu murmured, then unleashed a palm strike that was none other than Ye Chengyi's signature move—the Fiery Dragon Palm.

As the Flaming Dragon Palm swept across, raging flames erupted, turning everything here to ashes.

He left only his storage bag for Li Feiyu to collect.

"At the seventh level of Qi Refining, he should at least be a cultivator from a family, but all he has is a little over twenty spirit stones."

"I can't even afford a decent low-grade magic artifact."

"No wonder he fought bare-handed, using only the Fiery Dragon Palm."

After seeing Ye Chengyi's wealth, Li Feiyu became slightly dissatisfied.

Although the differences between cultivators in the Qi Refining stage may seem small, there are still some differences among them.

Cultivators below the fifth level of Qi Refining belong to the lowest level of the cultivation world.

They have almost no contact with the real world of cultivation.

At most, all his wealth consisted of a few spirit stones.

The Golden Light Master of the Qin family was an exception, but the Old Taoist Wu whom Han Li encountered in the capital of Yue was a typical example.

Although cultivators at the sixth or seventh level of Qi Refining are also considered low-level figures.

However, he has already begun to engage with the world of cultivation, and his total assets are probably around ten or more spirit stones.

One of the cultivators at the seventh level of Qi Refining in the Tai Nan Small Gathering once complained about it.

After a year of hard work, braving wind and rain, all I got were two spirit stones.

If income is already like this, it's even more difficult to save money.

Ye Chengyi's wealth of over twenty spirit stones is already considered quite good among those at the seventh level of Qi Refining.

This is also thanks to the fact that he is a family protector rather than a rogue cultivator.

But even so.

The price of a low-grade magic weapon ranges from seven or eight to thirty or forty spirit stones.

Anything decent would cost over twenty yuan, which was almost all of Ye Chengyi's wealth.

No wonder he can't even afford a decent magical artifact.

He can only fight with his bare hands using the Flaming Dragon Palm.

Perhaps it was precisely because of this that he was greedy for merit and rashly came to Jingzhou, where he was killed by Li Feiyu.

"Just because Ye Chengyi doesn't have any magical artifacts doesn't mean his four older brothers don't."

"Especially his elder brother, Ye Chengren, whose cultivation is almost at the peak of Qi Refining!"

A faint light flickered in Li Feiyu's heart—this was Ye Chengyi's memory.

His gaze involuntarily turned serious.

According to this memory, although Ye Chengyi was also a protector of the Ye family, he was only the weakest one.

If it weren't for his brother's connections, he might not have been able to become a Dharma Protector, even with his abilities.

The five protectors of the Ye family were all stronger than the last.

In particular, Ye Chengyi's elder brother, Ye Chengren, was renowned.

There are even rumors that Ye Chengren, as a single protector, is stronger than the other four protectors combined.

Although Li Feiyu's cultivation level has now reached the eighth level of Qi Refining.

He could easily defeat any of the guardians in a one-on-one fight.

But if all four of them were to gather, even he would probably have to temporarily avoid their sharp edge and stay away from Jingzhou!

"We can't let the Ye family's protectors reunite; we must find a way to continue defeating them one by one!"

As dawn broke, the sky turned a pale white.

As the first rays of sunlight shone on him, Li Feiyu smiled and made up his mind.

"drive--!"

Beyond the border, the sound of horses' hooves rang out, and rain splashed everywhere.

In the torrential rain.

Ye Chengren, the head of the Ye family's protectors.

Calm and composed, exuding an air of authority without anger, he sat upright on his horse and continued forward.

The immense spiritual power could be controlled at will, causing the heavy rain to automatically avoid it.

But just then, a carrier pigeon arrived overhead, carrying tiny specks of light.

Ye Chengren's expression changed slightly. He reached out and summoned a carrier pigeon, which landed on his shoulder.

The letters he was carrying also caught Ye Chengren's eye.

However, with just one glance, the head of the Ye family's protectors' pupils shrank, and his face was filled with horror.

"Who is it!"

"Who killed my fifth brother!"

After a long while, a strong anger spread through his heart.

Ye Chengren roared, his face full of malice.

But he quickly suppressed his anger, used his hand as a pen to rewrite the letter, and sent the carrier pigeon into the air.

After releasing the carrier pigeons again, he turned his horse around and rode off towards a certain place.

At the same time, several other Ye family protectors also received carrier pigeons shortly afterward.

They all headed towards this place.

One day later, in an inn on the outskirts of Jingzhou.

Ye Chengren's face was ashen as he silently watched his two brothers arrive one after the other.

"Big brother, who killed fifth brother?!"

"That bastard dared to kill even our brothers! Once we get to Jingzhou, I'll tear him to pieces!"

A burly man, over ten feet tall, strong and powerful, was filled with righteous indignation.

This is Ye Chengxin, Ye Chengren's third younger brother.

"That's right, brother. He dares to kill someone from our Ye family. This person is really tired of living."

"They didn't even bother to find out our brothers' names."

"Looking across the entire Yue Kingdom's independent cultivator community, how many people can rival Big Brother?"

The other man, though not young, was short and thin.

But it was Ye Chengren's second younger brother, Ye Chengde.

Although his expression remained calm, he could not hide his anger.

He wished he could immediately storm into Jingzhou, find the murderer, and tear him to pieces, scattering his bones to ashes.

However, under the calls for his two younger brothers to kill him.

Ye Chengren's face grew increasingly ashen.

"Where's my fourth brother? Where did he go?!"

"this……"

Ye Chengde and Ye Chengxin looked at each other in bewilderment upon hearing this.

Ye Chengren clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles clanging.

But he suppressed his emotions and waited quietly in place.

What he didn't know was...

At this moment, his fourth brother, Ye Chengli, is a master at the eighth level of Qi Refining.

He lay in a pool of blood, his right hand outstretched, pointing resentfully at someone.