After the witch ripped out his heart, this mortal body began to lose control.

At the beginning of the hour of You (5-7 PM), at Changfeng Village.

Qin Lie had just received intelligence from the scouts who had come down the mountain.

"What is this Shen family son-in-law up to? Instead of focusing on mining spirit ore, he's running off to help mortals in Chengnan Village."

When he relayed this news to the other leaders, they were all completely baffled.

Only Liu Ruyan's eyes flashed with an unusual light.

Since ancient times, cultivators have always regarded mortals as worthless, but this son-in-law of the Shen family has become an exception.

interesting!

-----------

As the sun set, the heavy rain temporarily stopped.

Lu Changsheng sat cross-legged on a clump of weeds in a thatched hut, closing his eyes to regulate his breathing.

After pondering for a long time and placing all kinds of life-saving pills in front of him, he took out a blood-red pill, gritted his teeth, and decisively swallowed it.

This red pill is no ordinary elixir; it is made from the essence of earth fire, combined with calcined gold vine and various precious herbs.

After taking it, circulate the method again, and you can complete the second level of body refinement.

The expected excruciating pain did not occur; after taking the pill, he only felt a warm and comfortable sensation throughout his body.

An hour later, he slowly opened his eyes, only to find that his whole body was sticky and had an unpleasant stench.

These should all be impurities and toxins expelled from his body. After they were expelled, he felt relaxed and had inexhaustible energy.

The door of the thatched hut was opened, and he rode his sword along the muddy path toward the east end of the village. There was a small river two miles east of the village, and he planned to take a bath there.

He had just stepped out when a figure appeared beside him.

"Butler Li, I'm just going to take a shower; you don't need to come with me."

"You think I want to come along? If it weren't for the young lady's orders, I wouldn't care whether you live or die." Li Quan said, still sharp-tongued.

Lu Changsheng glanced at him; his perpetually aloof expression was truly unpleasant.

At this moment, Zhang Decai appeared in front of the two and pointed at Li Quan, asking, "Li, you have been disrespectful to your son-in-law again."

"Can't you tell who's the master and who's the servant anymore?"

"How could I dare!" Li Quan's reply was still infuriating.

The two then engaged in a verbal sparring match.

Lu Changsheng had gotten used to it over the past few days, and he was too lazy to listen to the two bickering anymore, so he flew to the riverbank on his sword.

After taking off his clothes, he jumped into the river and dove several times before he was satisfied.

Just then, the clouds that had been obscuring the moon dispersed, and a gibbous moon hung in the sky, almost full except for a slight sliver on the left, its clear light shining down upon him.

The oppressive feeling from the two days of heavy rain vanished, and he felt incredibly comfortable soaking in the river.

At one moment, his eyes suddenly turned fierce, and a long sword abruptly flew out of his storage bag by the river and shot straight at a bush on the bank.

Ah ~

A scream rang out.

Two breaths later, Lu Changsheng walked to the bush.

A pool of blood remained on the spot.

The bushes nearby made a continuous rustling sound.

Lu Changsheng didn't give chase. Instead, he took out a communication jade slip and said, "I've already injured him. I'll leave the rest to you! Follow him. I want to see who sent him to spy on us."

The person on the other half of the audio transmission jade slip simply replied, "Understood!"

-----------

When he returned to the village, he saw Chu Feng waiting for him at the village entrance with more than 30 people.

"Brother Changsheng, I've brought all the brothers from our village, including myself, a total of thirty-six people."

The numbers are quite auspicious; they're just enough to gather the thirty-six Heavenly Spirits.

Lu Changsheng looked at these faces that were all too familiar and asked only one question:

"Have you all passed the adult trials?"

In their Yunshan Village, there is an unwritten rule that any cultivator must reach the thirteenth level of Qi Refining and pass the trials of their elders before they can venture out into the world.

Everyone nodded upon hearing this, except for one person who seemed to be just there to make up the numbers.

He thought he could blend into the crowd and get away with it, but he didn't expect that he couldn't escape Lu Changsheng's eyes at all.

"Zhao Hu! You passed too?" Lu Changsheng asked.

The latter did not answer.

Without needing to answer, Lu Changsheng understood everything from his evasive eyes.

That brat must have sneaked out on his own.

"The rest of you go into the village first, Zhao Hu stays behind."

Seeing this, Zhao Hu knew that Lu Changsheng wanted to send him back to the village, and quickly spoke up:

"No, Brother Changsheng!"

I'm here to help you.

My father said that you're just starting out and you desperately need a reliable confidant, so he sent me here.

"Did Uncle Zhao really send you?" Lu Changsheng asked with some skepticism, taking out a communication jade slip and sending a message directly to Zhao Si.

As expected, Zhao Hu had indeed sneaked over without the elders' knowledge.

However, Zhao Si did not let Zhao Hu return to the village. He felt that his son would not amount to anything if he stayed in the village, so he should follow Lu Changsheng to make his way in the world.

As dusk approached, Li Quan, who had been tracking the escaped man in black, returned.

He followed the man all the way to Changfeng Village, fifty miles away, but did not enter rashly; instead, he turned back immediately.

Zhang Decai and Li Quanshu, as stewards of the Shen family, naturally knew about Changfeng Village.

Only after the two explained it to Lu Changsheng did he gain a general understanding of Changfeng Village.

The other party clearly had ill intentions and was probably targeting him.

Could it be that they found out I possess an ancient treasure?

Thinking of this, Lu Changsheng felt a chill run down his spine.

This won't do. We must make thorough preparations before the enemy makes a move. I have already reached the second level of body refinement, flesh refinement. My body can absorb and circulate spiritual energy more smoothly, and my physical strength has increased more than tenfold compared to before.

Even without using his spiritual power, he can still force back a late-stage Qi Refining Peak cultivator with a single punch using only his physical strength.

If only I could reach the third level of Body Refinement, Bone Forging, before the enemy arrives.

As he spoke, he took a golden pill out of his storage bag.

This is made by fusing millennia-old jade marrow liquid with the essence of earth fire and several precious herbs.

Taking this pill would allow him to break through to the third level of body refinement, but he was troubled by the pill's appearance.

Simply taking this golden pill won't be enough.

Bone forging, as the name suggests, means forging bones like forging iron. Only through forging can the medicinal effects be fully integrated into the bones of the body.

Simply put, it means getting beaten up, constantly getting beaten up, and it's best to find a pure body cultivator.

Where can you find such pure body cultivation techniques?

It seems that Uncle Zhao is a body cultivator. Should I go back and let him beat me up badly and crazy?

------------

March 20th,

In the morning, the thin mist was dispelled by the rising sun.

The sky has finally cleared up.

Chu Feng had gathered all thirty-six people from Yunshan Village to Lu Changsheng's resting courtyard.

Lu Changsheng stood in the center of the courtyard and spoke calmly:

"Recently, a force called Changfengzhai has been eyeing us, and they will definitely try to take our next step."

We cannot sit idly by and wait to die. From this moment on, the entire village must prepare for war.

One sentence clearly analyzes the current situation, and the other expresses future plans.

He then took out thirty-six storage bags.

They were distributed to the thirty-six people one by one.

Each storage bag contained a set of defensive inner armor worth two hundred spirit stones, which could withstand a full-force attack from an early Foundation Establishment cultivator without dying. It also contained a communication jade slip worth one hundred spirit stones, fifty low-level defensive talismans, fifty fire explosion talismans, some spirit-devouring powder, and ten bottles each of various healing and spirit-restoring pills.

These were all the belongings he sent Steward Zhang back to the Shen family last night to prepare overnight.

The supplies in each storage bag were worth nearly five hundred spirit stones.

This directly consumed most of the Li family's compensation money.

He spent so many spirit stones just to save their lives; these were the precious treasures of their Yunshan Village.

He has to bring them all back safely.

"Keep the storage bags to store supplies. The equipment, talismans, and pills inside are for survival. Keep them safe."

Next, you will split into two teams. One team, led by Chu Feng, will be hidden within 30 miles of the village and responsible for the covert defense of the outer perimeter.

Make sure to eliminate all the enemy scouts around the village!

One team, led by Manager Zhang, was responsible for the village's defense.

Li Quan, you are responsible for monitoring the movements of Changfeng Village from a distance all by yourself.

I will be notified immediately via a communication jade slip as soon as they make any move.