Fire Virtue Immortal Clan

The Devouring Dao Technique is extremely difficult to cultivate. Lu Cheng'an spent nearly twenty years in arduous practice before he finally succeeded in cultivating it.

After that, he spent another twenty years digesting all the books he had read about the Nascent Soul realm.

"I now have a very good understanding of the Nascent Soul realm. All I need to do now is to focus on some adjustments before I can attempt to break through to the Nascent Soul realm!"

Inside the cave, Lu Cheng'an exhaled softly and stood up from the meditation cushion.

A moment later, Lu Cheng'an left the cave.

At this moment, Shi Ningyu also came out of the cave, and the two of them walked together toward the cave of Xuanmiao Zhenjun.

"Fellow Daoist Liu, my wife and I are bidding you farewell today. Thank you for your care over the years!"

Lu Cheng'an smiled at Xuanmiao Zhenjun, then took out a palm-sized, light blue stone from his storage ring.

This is a top-grade fourth-tier Sunflower Water Essence Stone, which can be used to refine top-grade fourth-tier water-attribute magic weapons.

“I heard that Fellow Daoist Liu is searching for this item. Before we part, let this Sunflower Water Essence Stone be our way of thanking Fellow Daoist Liu for all these years!” Lu Cheng’an said with a smile.

The Sunflower Water Essence Stone was a spoil of war that Lu Cheng'an obtained from the White Dragon. The White Dragon had quite a few of these fourth-grade top-quality materials.

Although the fourth-grade top-quality Sunflower Water Essence Stone is precious, it is nothing to Lu Cheng'an, who is now wealthy and powerful.

"Fellow Daoist Lu is too kind. I haven't helped you much over the years. This Sunflower Water Essence Stone is too precious for me to accept!" True Monarch Xuanmiao waved his hands repeatedly.

Lu Cheng'an and Shi Ningyu had only been staying at her Wanxia Villa all these years.

Lu Cheng'an's strength is undeniable. For Lu Cheng'an and Shi Ningyu to reside in her Wanxia Villa is an act of respect for her, something that all cultivators in Yuan and Lian states would be eager to obtain.

"Fellow Daoist Liu, there's no need to be so polite. This Sunflower Water Essence Stone is of no use to me. If you don't accept it, Ningyu will definitely blame me when we get back!"

“Chixu, my husband is right. He still has quite a few Kui Water Essence Stones on him, so losing one won’t make a difference. But you happen to lack Kui Water Essence Stones to refine the Mist Cloud Pouch. If you don’t accept it now, who knows how long it will take to find Kui Water Essence Stones!” Shi Ningyu advised from the side.

"This Sunflower Water Essence Stone is indeed of great use to me, so I won't stand on ceremony with you!" After hesitating for a long time, Xuanmiao Zhenjun finally accepted Lu Chengan and Shi Ningyu's kindness.

Soon after, Lu Cheng'an and Shi Ningyu left Wanxia Villa together and sped towards Qingzhou.

Yuanzhou and Qingzhou were originally two adjacent states, separated by the Netherworld River.

The Nether River Domain is extremely harmful to cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage and above, but Lu Cheng'an is able to ignore its damage.

He now has the ability to protect Shi Ningyu and ensure her safe passage across the Netherworld River, so he did not use the Haoyang Sect's teleportation array to return.

After Lu Cheng'an and Shi Ningyu left, Xuanmiao Zhenjun immediately informed Qinghe Shangren of the news.

When Master Qinghe learned that Lu Chengan and Shi Ningyu had left, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Nearly a century has passed since the demonic threat of the boundless Black River was resolved.

For the past few decades, Lu Cheng'an had traveled among the three sects to study the classics related to the Nascent Soul realm. After that, Lu Cheng'an had been in seclusion in Wanxia Villa and had never appeared again.

Although Lu Cheng'an did not do anything, his long stay in Yuanzhou still aroused bad thoughts in Master Qinghe and True Lord Dao'an.

Lu Cheng'an's strength is too great, and the cultivation resources in Qingzhou, where Lu Cheng'an is located, are too scarce, which makes him feel that Lu Cheng'an has designs on the cultivation resources of Yuanzhou.

Even though Lu Cheng'an never showed any such thoughts, his overwhelming strength still made them feel worried.

Of course, this is also closely related to the resolution of the monster scourge in the boundless black river.

Since Lu Cheng'an killed the powerful fourth-order perfect realm demon beasts such as the White Dragon, the power of the demon beasts in the Boundless Black River has been greatly weakened.

Even now, nearly a hundred years later, the power of the monsters in the boundless black river has not yet recovered.

Now, relying on the strength of Yuanzhou and Lianzhou themselves, they are able to easily suppress the monsters of the Boundless Black River. They no longer need Lu Cheng'an's help to deal with the monsters of the Boundless Black River.

After learning that Lu Cheng'an had left Wanxia Villa, Master Qinghe breathed a sigh of relief, but still sent a message to Lu Cheng'an to express his desire for him to stay.

Lu Cheng'an did not reply after seeing the message from Master Qinghe.

After leaving Wanxia Villa, he and Shi Ningyu quickly arrived at the Netherworld River.

Over the years, the Nether River region has remained largely unchanged.

The Netherworld energy in the Netherworld River Basin has not increased, and the cultivation levels of the ghosts living in the Netherworld River Basin, such as Black Sand, have not improved.

Although Hei Yang's cultivation level had reached the fourth rank, he rarely returned to the Netherworld River Basin from the Netherworld.

After all, the Netherworld Qi in the Netherworld River is too thin, and its quality is far inferior to that of the Netherworld World.

If he stays in the Nether River for too long, it will greatly affect his cultivation.

As Lu Cheng'an led Shi Ningyu through the Netherworld River, the Netherworld power within the river continuously invaded their bodies.

However, the Netherworld power that tried to penetrate into Lu Cheng'an and the other person's bodies was blocked by Lu Cheng'an's magic.

The Nether River Basin is not particularly vast, and Lu Cheng'an and Shi Ningyu quickly passed over it.

Soon after, Lu Cheng'an and Shi Ningyu arrived in Qingzhou. At this time, they were not far from the Hong'e Mountains where the Lu family was located.

Lu Cheng'an and Shi Ningyu had not returned to their families for a long time. After arriving in Qingzhou, they did not linger on the road and went straight to the Lu family.

Several hours later, Lu Cheng'an and Shi Ningyu arrived at the Lu family's mountain gate, where Lu Wenxing was already waiting for their return.

"Cheng'an, Ningyu, you two have stayed in Yuanzhou for far too long this time. I'm really worried something might happen to you!"

When Lu Wenxing saw that Lu Chengan and the other person appeared in front of him unharmed, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although Lu Cheng'an had already informed Lu Wenxing of their situation in Yuanzhou beforehand, Lu Wenxing still couldn't help but worry.

"It was our fault. We stayed in Yuanzhou for too long and worried the clan leader!" Lu Cheng'an admitted with a smile, then asked, "Has anything changed in the clan while we've been away for so long?"

Because he and Shi Ningyu were both busy cultivating in Yuanzhou, they did not inquire too much about the family's situation.

Over the years, he has maintained contact with his family, and Lu Wenxing has not sent any messages saying that there are any problems in the family.

"No problems have arisen in the clan during the years you've been gone. The clan's strength has been steadily increasing, and the cultivation levels of the clan's cultivators..."

As they spoke, Lu Cheng'an and Lu Wenxing walked deeper into the Lu family's mountain gate. The three of them used magic to hide in the clouds, thus not attracting the attention of the Lu family cultivators.

After the Lu Family Mountain Gate moved to the Hong'e Mountains, its area expanded significantly, and now it can accommodate several times more cultivators than before.

In the nearly one hundred years since Lu Cheng'an left Yuanzhou, the Lu family has developed rapidly.

The Lu family now has 22 Nascent Soul cultivators, nearly 200 Golden Core cultivators, 8,000 Foundation Establishment cultivators, and over 100,000 Qi Refining cultivators.

Among the twenty-two Nascent Soul cultivators, Lu Chengping and Lu Jingkun reached the late Nascent Soul stage, while Lu Yonghui and other cultivators with good cultivation talent also surpassed them and broke through to the mid-Nascent Soul stage.

However, the time it takes for the Nascent Soul cultivators of the Lu family to break through to the Nascent Soul realm is relatively short. Even with a sufficient supply of cultivation resources, their cultivation level remains at the early Nascent Soul stage.

The number of Nascent Soul cultivators in the Lu family now far exceeds that of the Nascent Soul sects in Qing, He, and Taizhou, and the number of high-level Nascent Soul cultivators is no less than theirs.

However, there is still a considerable gap between them and the Nascent Soul sects in Yanzhou and Yuanzhou.

However, cultivators at the Golden Core, Foundation Establishment, and Qi Refining stages are no weaker than powerful Nascent Soul sects like the Heavenly Flame Sect and the Qinghe Sect.

The Lu family's strength is rapidly increasing, and the strength of the Nascent Soul sects in Qing, He, and Tai states, such as the Desolate Ancient Sect, is also increasing at a rapid pace.

This is because the three provinces of Qing, He, and Tai have been very peaceful in recent years, and there has been no war.

Meanwhile, the Nascent Soul sects like the Ancient Desolate Sect benefited from the previous battles, using the resources they obtained to train the cultivators within their sects. This allowed them to significantly enhance their strength in a short period of time.

Lu Wenxing, Lu Chengping, and other Nascent Soul cultivators from the Lu family also built a giant immortal city, Tai'an City, in an area tens of thousands of miles away from the Lu family's mountain gate.

The city of Tai'an was encircled by numerous array formations set up by Lu Chengping and Lu Wenxing. The power of these formations alone was enough to withstand the combined attack of several Nascent Soul cultivators.

After the Immortal City was established, Lu Wenxing and the Nascent Soul cultivators of the Lu family discussed and then put out a number of fourth-tier treasures for sale in Tai'an City.

Afterwards, they even put some fourth-tier high-grade and top-grade treasures up for auction.

After the auction, Tai'an City's reputation spread far and wide, attracting many cultivators to spend money in the city.

Over the past few decades, Tai'an City has become increasingly prosperous, and this celestial city brings the Lu family a substantial income every year.

"The family now has eighteen fourth-order spiritual veins. According to Chengping and Jingkun's calculations, these eighteen fourth-order spiritual veins can definitely condense into one fifth-order spiritual vein."

"For some unknown reason, no matter how hard Chengping and Jingkun tried, they couldn't transform the fourth-order spiritual vein in the mountain gate into a fifth-order spiritual vein!"

Lu Wenxing frowned deeply. Although there was only one rank difference between a fifth-order spiritual vein and a fourth-order spiritual vein, there was still a huge gap between them.

Cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage can only rely on the spiritual energy nurtured by fifth-order spiritual veins for cultivation. If they cultivate by refining the spiritual energy released by spiritual veins of grades lower than fifth-order, it will be much less effective.

This is because the spiritual energy nurtured by the fifth-order spiritual vein is of a higher quality and is suitable for cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage to absorb.

Lu Wenxing knew that Lu Cheng'an would definitely be able to break through to the Nascent Soul realm in the near future, and they couldn't help Lu Cheng'an much in this matter.

However, they wanted to do their utmost to cultivate a fifth-order spiritual vein in the family's mountain gate when Lu Cheng'an's cultivation broke through to the Nascent Soul realm, so as not to delay Lu Cheng'an's cultivation after breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm.

The Lu family's mountain sect is now able to cultivate eighteen fourth-order spiritual veins, all thanks to the Spirit Interception Array.

The Hong'e Mountains are vast and boundless, and their spiritual energy is extremely rich.

These places rich in spiritual energy were basically all intercepted by Lu Chengping and his companion using spirit-intercepting arrays, which extracted all the spiritual energy and brought it into the Lu family's mountain gate.

Despite Lu Chengping and Lu Jingkun's many efforts, they still failed to cultivate a fifth-order spiritual vein.

“Tell Chengping and Jingkun not to waste their time on this. Fifth-order spiritual veins are basically naturally formed. To artificially cultivate a fifth-order spiritual vein, you can’t just rely on the power of the array. You also need to use a treasure like the spiritual vein bead. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to artificially cultivate a fifth-order spiritual vein!” Lu Chengan said.

Lu Cheng'an saw this news while reading a book about the Nascent Soul realm.

The Spirit Vein Bead is a fifth-order spirit vein, which can only be formed from spirit veins of the fifth order or higher.

Moreover, only spiritual veins with extremely rich spiritual energy can nurture spiritual vein beads. If a spiritual vein bead is removed from a spiritual vein, it will cause a significant reduction in the spiritual energy contained within the spiritual vein, and may even cause the spiritual vein's grade to drop.

Whether it's the three states of Qing, He, and Tai, or the three states of Yan, Yuan, and Lian with even richer spiritual energy, they all now possess fifth-order spiritual veins.

Sects like Qinghe Sect do not possess fifth-order spirit vein beads. If they did, they would certainly try every means to cultivate fifth-order spirit veins.

After all, cultivating in a fifth-order spiritual vein is extremely beneficial to Nascent Soul cultivators, as it can increase their chances of breaking through to the Divine Transformation realm.

The Flood Dragon Palace, where the White Flood Dragon resided, possessed a fifth-tier spirit vein bead. When the Flood Dragon Palace was destroyed, some fourth-tier flood dragons were sent out by fifth-tier experts from the Flood Dragon Palace, and some of these fourth-tier flood dragons carried fifth-tier spirit vein beads on their bodies.

Even for a demon clan power like the Flood Dragon Palace, the Spirit Vein Pearl is an extremely rare treasure.

Although Bai Jiao's strength ranks among the top of the fourth-tier dragons in the Flood Dragon Palace, he is not the strongest, as he was not allocated a fifth-tier spirit vein bead.

Lu Cheng'an quickly told Lu Wenxing the method for cultivating fifth-order spiritual veins, which made Lu Wenxing feel extremely regretful.

"If you can't cultivate a fifth-order spiritual vein, then when your cultivation breaks through to the Nascent Soul realm, won't your cultivation level stop improving?"

Lu Wenxing frowned deeply, feeling extremely worried about Lu Chengan's cultivation progress after breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm.

"The clan leader need not worry. I have already accepted the invitation of the Green-Faced Ghost King. Once my cultivation breaks through to the Nascent Soul realm, I will enter the Netherworld to help the Green-Faced Ghost King deal with the ghosts of the Myriad Rivers Palace."

"Then I will be able to leave this cultivation world through the passage connecting the Netherworld to the mortal realm!" Lu Cheng'an said with a smile. (End of Chapter)