The Immortal Clan begins with deductive intelligence.

Inside the stone chamber, jewels gleamed and spiritual energy permeated the air.

Boxes of neatly stacked low-grade spirit stones emitted a faint glow, while various unrefined spirit ores and well-sealed jade bottles of pills were on display.

In the center of the stone chamber, there was a warm jade cloud bed.

An old man in a gray robe was sitting cross-legged on it.

His face was withered, his eyes were sunken, and his long gray hair was casually draped over his shoulders.

His eyes were closed, his hands were forming a mudra, and a rather powerful spiritual energy was swirling around him.

It was Zhang Shilu, the third elder of the Zhang family.

"Cough... Uh!"

Zhang Shilu suddenly frowned, and his previously steady spiritual energy suddenly became chaotic.

His old face twitched violently, veins bulged on his forehead, and he let out a painful groan as he forcibly cut off the flow of his cultivation technique.

He gasped for breath, then suddenly opened his eyes, his cloudy eyes filled with malice and resentment as he stared intently at his withered and shrunken right leg.

"All the meridians are severed... This crippled leg, this crippled leg!"

Zhang Shilu gritted his teeth and slammed his fist hard on the white jade couch, causing the entire stone chamber to tremble slightly.

In his early years, in order to break through his cultivation level, he forcefully practiced unorthodox fire-based techniques, but ended up suffering from qi deviation.

Although his family saved his life with a miraculous medicine, the meridians in his right leg were completely severed.

His cultivation stagnated from then on, and he was placed in this dark and damp underwater vault.

The path to enlightenment is arduous, and the pain of severing one's life force is like cutting off the bridge to immortality—how cruel!

"It'll be soon...it'll be soon..."

Zhang Shilu coughed violently a few times, took out a pill from his pocket and put it in his mouth. His rapid breathing gradually calmed down, but a near-mad hope ignited in his eyes.

"My elder brother has already sent me a message that the family is working to establish connections with the upper sect and has found the 'Southern Frontier Secret Medicine' for me."

His withered hands trembled slightly, as if he had already grasped the legendary elixir that could rebuild his meridians.

"Once the secret medicine from the Southern Frontier arrives, restoring my severed meridians and eradicating the fire poison, I will be able to regain my glimpse of the Great Dao!"

Zhang Shilu raised his head, his gaze greedily sweeping over the boxes of spirit stones around him.

These are all assets that the Zhang family has accumulated through generations of exploitation and plunder.

Once he recovers from his injuries, why worry that he won't be able to soar to great heights?

He was so engrossed in the fanatical dream of rebuilding his foundation that he was completely unaware of the gazes coming from the shadows.

Xu Changqing held his breath and listened intently to all of this insane rambling.

Now that a great calamity is imminent, this old dog is still indulging in pipe dreams of rebuilding his foundation.

Take advantage of his illness and kill him.

At this moment, Zhang Shilu's mind was in turmoil, and coupled with the backlash from the fire poison, he was at the critical juncture where the circulation of spiritual energy in his body was most sluggish.

Xu Changqing's eyes sharpened, and he no longer concealed his intentions, his killing intent rising suddenly.

His sleeves moved without wind, and between the middle and index fingers of his right hand, he held a "Sharp Gold Armor-Piercing Talisman".

The spiritual energy was released secretly, and the talisman spontaneously combusted without fire.

"go!"

A blinding golden light tore through the dim stone chamber, carrying the sharpness to cut through metal and stone, like a thunderbolt, heading straight for Zhang Shilu's face on Wen Yuyun's bed.

"Who goes there?!"

Zhang Shilu was, after all, a seasoned cultivator at the seventh level of Qi Refining. Although he had been stationed in the secret vault for many years, his vigilance had not been completely extinguished.

His eyes widened in anger, and his withered left hand slammed down on the white jade couch. A small red bronze bell flew out from his sleeve, growing to three feet in size as it was raised, blocking his way.

"clang--!"

The resounding sound of a great bell echoed throughout the stone chamber, deafeningly loud.

The golden light slammed into the bronze bell, and the sharp metal energy collided violently with the powerful fire elemental energy.

Although the red copper bell was a mid-grade first-tier defensive magic weapon, it immediately trembled with spiritual light under the premeditated attack of the superior-grade armor-piercing talisman.

Zhang Shilu was struck as if by lightning. The fire poison that was already pent up in his chest was shaken by this powerful force, and his blood rushed to his head. He spat out a mouthful of foul-smelling black blood.

"How dare you, you brat!"

Zhang Shilu's eyes were bloodshot, and he endured the excruciating pain in his heart, making a hand seal with his right hand.

"Crimson flames surge to the heavens!"

A crimson fire serpent as thick as a water bucket materialized between his palms, baring its fangs and unleashing a torrent of heat as it lunged at Xu Changqing.

The stone chamber was already sealed off, and when the fire serpent emerged, the rocks on all four walls were bathed in a fiery red light.

Faced with the furious attack from the late-stage Qi Refining cultivator, Xu Changqing's eyes narrowed slightly, and he raised his right hand, causing a lightning seal to appear.

Then it suddenly lit up, and a bolt of purple-white lightning shot out.

"Thunder magic?!"

Zhang Shilu was greatly alarmed.

"Sizzle—Boom!"

Xu Changqing soon realized that he had overestimated Zhang Shilu.

The seemingly ferocious crimson fire serpent, upon touching the lightning, was torn apart as easily as if it were made of paper and mud.

Zhang Shilu's fire poison had seeped into his marrow, and his spiritual power was already extremely mixed and disordered.

In contrast, Xu Changqing, after consuming several drops of jade liquid, had a level of condensation of his green wood spiritual energy that far surpassed that of others.

"How could this be!"

The lightning bolt continued its relentless advance, piercing through layers of heat in an instant and striking Zhang Shilu's chest with tremendous force.

"Bang!"

Blood and flesh flew everywhere, and the stench of burning flesh filled the air.

Zhang Shilu's body was knocked away, crashing into the stone wall behind him before sliding to the ground.

A charred, bloody hole appeared on his chest, and his meridians were being destroyed inch by inch by the domineering lightning force.

He vomited mouthfuls of blood mixed with pieces of internal organs, his cloudy eyes fixed on Xu Changqing.

Xu Changqing stepped forward, his eyes showing no pity whatsoever.

With fingers drawn as if wielding a sword, a flash of blue light pierced through Zhang Shilu's brow.

The Third Elder of the Zhang family, who was dreaming of rebuilding his foundation, suddenly stiffened, his eyes wide open, and he died with his eyes wide open, unable to close them in peace.

"Bang! Bang!"

Just then, a series of chaotic footsteps and the sound of weapons being drawn came from outside the stone chamber.

"Third Elder! What has happened?!"

The commotion finally alerted the Zhang family's henchmen stationed outside.

Several people, holding ritual implements and looking terrified, rushed into the stone chamber.

What came into view was a scene of utter devastation and the tragic death of the Third Elder.

"The Third Elder...the Third Elder is dead! Enemy attack—"

The leader, a cultivator at the third level of Qi Refining, was terrified and was about to crush the communication talisman.

Xu Changqing flicked his hand, unleashing several streaks of cyan light.

"Well……"

The Zhang family henchmen froze on the spot, each with a bright red bloodstain between their eyebrows.

"Thump, thump..."

Several bodies fell to the ground one after another, and there was no more sound.

Xu Changqing exhaled a long breath of stale air, feeling a sour and astringent sensation in his meridians.

He dared not delay in the slightest. Zhang Shilu was an elder of the Zhang family, and such a key figure must have left his life soul tablet in the ancestral hall of the main family on Ling'ao Island.

With the soul tablet shattered at this moment, the Zhang family is probably on their way.

"Time is of the essence."

Xu Changqing tilted his head back and swallowed a "Rejuvenation Pill". The pill entered his stomach and transformed into a warm and mellow torrent of spiritual energy, which quickly filled his parched meridians.

He then stepped deeper into the stone chamber, and with a series of sweeping gestures, threw out three storage bags.

"receive!"

The neatly stacked boxes of low-grade spirit stones, the spirit ore raw stones radiating multicolored light, and the dozen or so sealed jade bottles of pills all transformed into streams of light and were all put into Xu Changqing's storage bag.

The entire treasure trove of over four thousand spirit stones was looted in an instant, leaving the white jade chamber completely empty.

He glanced at Zhang Shilu and casually pulled off the storage bag from his waist, also taking the bronze bell that had lost its spiritual power, stuffing them into his sleeve.

Xu Changqing took one last look around the empty stone chamber, making sure he hadn't missed anything, then turned and darted into the passageway.