Taoist cultivation begins with being a miner

At the beginning of Chen Shi (7 to 9 o'clock), the group successfully left the city, but the area outside the city was still crowded with people.

With so many people searching together, let alone capturing corpse puppets and vengeful spirits, they probably won't even be able to touch a hair on them.

Helpless, the group could only continue walking, deciding to get further away from Worry-Free City.

According to the news released by Wuyou City, the members of the Holy Heaven Sect are mainly active in the south, west and east of Wuyou City. After all, the north side faces Qiongyi Ridge, which is full of monsters, and they dare not act recklessly.

Their main activities were destroying spirit stone mines and robbing caravans.

After discussing it, the group decided to head south.

But there were countless others who shared their thoughts, and tens of thousands of people spontaneously set off together again.

Lu Yan and others: ...

Well, all we can do is pray that the members of the Holy Heaven Sect will have good fortune.

Your terror is nothing compared to the greed of money.

Sure enough, Lu Yan and his group spent a whole day wandering around outside, but they didn't see a single corpse puppet or vengeful spirit, let alone make any gains. They could only slink back to Worry-Free City.

……

Inside a cave south of Wuyou City.

Outside the cave entrance were hundreds of cultivators dressed in various styles, but they all had one thing in common: their faces were ashen, their eyes were pitch black, they had no trace of life, and there was a white prismatic crystal between their brows.

Inside the cave, a dozen or so deacons of the Holy Heaven Sect were discussing matters.

"Hmph! This Ye Wuyou is so generous, actually offering a huge reward for our capture." Xiao Zhixing, the deacon of the Holy Corpse Hall of the Holy Heaven Sect, was extremely angry.

"Yes, and they even have prices listed, ranging from one spirit stone to thousands of spirit stones. Those cultivators who used to be afraid of us are now like madmen, attacking the corpse puppets without caring whether they can win or not," another deacon added.

"That's right, I've lost more than 40% of my men, not to mention the corpse puppets I painstakingly crafted." The others also complained.

"I heard that the people at the Holy Spirit Church aren't much better off than us; their losses are even more severe."

"The Holy Spirit Hall and our Holy Corpse Hall have always been close. After we capture cultivators, we refine their corpses while they refine their souls. There is no conflict between us. We help them as much as we can when they are in trouble."

"So what do we do now? We can't just sit here and wait to die, can we? There are several Core Formation cultivators stationed in Wuyou City."

They dare not act now for fear of an ambush. If they find out that we don't even have a single Core Formation cultivator on our side, it will probably be our death.

"We have orders to create chaos in Wuyou and await the arrival of the Holy Son or Holy Daughter."

"I wonder who came this time? What is their strength? How many Golden Core cultivators are accompanying them? I hope they aren't too weak."

"Yes, this time the leader sent out the holy sons and daughters of the sect to gain experience in order to select our sect's divine envoy. I wonder who will be chosen in the end."

"A divine messenger? Wouldn't that mean the next leader? I heard our leader used to be a divine messenger."

"Of course, we must perform well this time. If we can help the Holy Son or Holy Daughter become Divine Messengers, there will definitely be many benefits, and it will be possible for them to break through to the Core Formation stage in the future."

"However, we also need to be alive to enjoy it. I suggest that everyone do more of the superficial work."

"You mean to say it's all bark and no bite, just to make our Holy Heaven Sect sound more impressive?"

"Of course, let the disciples of the various sects cause disturbances everywhere, but don't get too entangled with them."

"That makes sense. We just need to wait for support from the church."

The dozen or so people quickly came up with a solution.

That evening, Qing Hualian didn't play the game of "Great Immortal" with Lu Yan anymore, and stayed alone in the courtyard with a worried expression.

"Is something on your mind, fairy?" Lu Yan walked to her side and asked with concern.

"Yes, I miss home a little. With the Holy Heaven Sect causing trouble now, I wonder how my family is doing." Qing Hualian's face was somewhat worried.

"If the fairy is so powerful, her family must be extraordinary as well. Dealing with the thieves from the Holy Heaven Sect will surely be a piece of cake," Lu Yan comforted her.

"I hope so." Qing Hualian shook her head slightly, believing that Lu Yan did not have a deep understanding of the Holy Heaven Sect, which was why she said that.

"If the fairy needs help, I will do my duty without hesitation." Seeing that she was still so sad, Lu Yan patted his chest and made a promise.

"Thank you, you lecherous scoundrel, you're such a good person," Qing Hualian said sincerely upon seeing Lu Yan's reaction.

Lu Yan: ...

Fairy, you may not know this, but the word "good person" has more negative than positive connotations, and when a girl says it to a boy, it usually means she's rejecting him.

The next day, Qing Hualian went out alone early in the morning and returned in the evening, not only in a disordered state but also covered in injuries.

But now she has a beautiful bracelet on her wrist.

Next, Qing Hualian told Lu Yan that she was going into seclusion, and that this seclusion would last for quite a while.

Lu Yan seemed to realize something, and stopped joking with Qing Hualian as usual. Instead, he silently prepared a sumptuous meal for her.

Then he began refining elixirs and making talismans, striving to improve himself.

This went on for a month. During this time, Lu Yan learned from Zheng Qu and the others that the Holy Heaven Sect was growing stronger and stronger and had destroyed many mines outside the city, but not many cultivators had lost their lives as a result.

Lu Yan also went out with Zheng Qu and the others to hunt corpse puppets and vengeful spirits.

Corpse puppets are puppets made from living people; they are immune to pain and will only attack relentlessly.

It's better when someone is controlling it, but it becomes a bit clumsy and easily kited and killed when no one is controlling it.

The thing that controls them is the corpse crystal between their eyebrows. After killing the corpse puppets, cultivators would take the corpse crystal between their eyebrows and exchange it for spirit stones in Wuyou City.

Lu Yan was fortunate enough to kill two Tier 1 low-level zombie puppets. To put it simply, they were slightly higher-level zombies. As long as they cooperated well, they were much easier to kill than Red Claw Rabbits. They could be easily dealt with even at the first or second level of Qi Refining.

There are also vengeful spirits, which usually appear after dusk.

Its body is in a semi-illusory state, allowing it to directly attack the souls of living beings, making it impossible to defend against.

The thing that controls them is roughly the same as the Corpse Crystal, called the Soul Crystal.

However, it also has many weaknesses, namely its fear of yang objects. A single yang talisman can severely injure or even kill a low-level first-tier vengeful spirit.

As a result, Wuyou City is very lively at night, and the profession of spirit hunter has even emerged in order to capture these vengeful spirits.

Through their cooperation and the use of talismans and masculine artifacts, they repeatedly succeeded, causing a sharp decrease in the number of vengeful spirits outside the city.

Unfortunately, there were far too many monks and too little porridge. There were far too many cultivators in Wuyou City, while there were only so many corpse puppets and vengeful spirits outside the city, which made them scarce and sought-after items.

The once evil-sounding name of the Holy Heaven Sect has been greatly changed by cultivators, since many cultivators have earned a lot of spirit stones from them.

But this didn't last long. After another ten days or so, the number of people from the Holy Heaven Sect outside the city suddenly increased.