Chapter 289

【Martial Dao Longevity Points: 176】

Among the series of notifications, the one with the highest point reward was surprisingly not the Pure Origin Finger-Splitting Technique, but the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Great Art, which is used to burn one's lifespan to fight for one's life.

"It really is spirit iron!"

What delighted him was that the panel helped him confirm that the item, which he had been unsure about, was indeed spirit iron.

The harvest was most gratifying; the Martial Dao Longevity points were only a little short of reaching two hundred. Once the matter of the Earth Vein Spiritual Fire was over, and after collecting a few more cultivation methods, perhaps in less than three months, he would be able to learn the Qi Gathering Pill.

……

"The Blazing Blade Guest has appeared again?"

In the morning, Lu Ren pushed open the door and heard people in the same courtyard discussing the Blazing Blade Guest.

Zhu Tao, who was in the same courtyard, nodded and said, "Yes, I heard he appeared at the black market last night and killed Wu Nanshan, who had achieved Minor Success in Gang Qi, with a single blade strike."

Wu Nanshan was slaughtered by the Blazing Blade Guest?

Lu Ren snorted coldly, "He got lucky!"

Wu Nanshan had mocked him at the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion auction, and he had been determined to kill the man given the chance. He hadn't expected the mysterious Blazing Blade Guest to cut him down before he could even make a move.

"One day, I, Lu Ren, will also become a powerhouse like the Blazing Blade Guest, so that no one will dare to judge me anymore, and they will only feel fear when my name is mentioned."

Secretly clenching his fists, Lu Ren left the courtyard.

He had passed the selection for Fire Peak, and he had heard that this selection offered great benefits, such as tempering the physique and condensing Gang Qi. Once he returned from the mission, his strength would surely advance further, which would be the perfect way to resolve the drawback of his martial arts foundation being unstable due to taking a large amount of elixirs during this period.

After walking for a while, he saw Xu Yang and Zhang Yong walking out of the courtyard, and the three of them bumped into each other.

The three youths selected from the mud of the Huang family were speechless for a moment.

Xu Yang glanced at Lu Ren indifferently and walked away.

His relationship with Lu Ren had never been good, so he felt nothing, but Zhang Yong, who had been abandoned by Lu Ren, was still full of resentment to this day.

Rushing all the way to Fire Peak, Xu Yang had a bad feeling.

Last time, there were only two geniuses from the Ten Elites, and it had already provoked the Blood Lotus Sect to send people to kill them; this time, half of them had come.

Su Zhe, ninth of the Ten Elites; Lu Ren, eighth; Chen Yu, who replaced Wen Hao as seventh; and Xie Zhan, sixth on the Ten Elites list.

Plus himself, the last five of the Ten Elites list had all come.

"Li Chuyang, Jiang Fan, and these people have strong enough backgrounds, so they weren't used as bait?"

Xu Yang's expression was somewhat ugly.

His gaze continued to scan the crowd, and he saw some other people from the Ten Elites list, as well as some disciples from the previous batch; there were not many people who had not achieved Minor Success in Gang Qi.

As for the five who had survived three times, except for him, Shen Liang, Guo Huai, and the others had not come at all.

"Is he Xu Yang?"

"He still hasn't achieved Minor Success in Gang Qi after so long; he really is a disgrace to the Ten Elites list."

"I don't know who made the list; why haven't they removed his name?"

"It is said that he bought a Grade One Ten-Complete Great Tonic Pill at the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion; he should be trying to take this opportunity to temper his physique, condense his Gang Qi, and break through to Minor Success in Gang Qi in one go."

"His talent is actually not bad, but he has no status and no resources, which is why he has fallen so far behind the Ten Elites geniuses."

……

Many eyes looked at Xu Yang, whispering and discussing.

"If you could remove my name from the Ten Elites list, I would thank you."

Xu Yang's expression remained unchanged. Looking at these people who were being used as bait to lure the Blood Lotus Sect without even knowing it, he couldn't help but sigh that ignorance is bliss.

These people were still fantasizing about using the Earth Vein Spiritual Fire to improve their cultivation, not knowing that they might not come back after this trip.

Soon, Gao Lin appeared. His gaze swept over the crowd, and finding that all eighteen people had arrived, he immediately led everyone to the valley where the Earth Vein Spiritual Fire was located.

When they arrived at the location of the Earth Vein Spiritual Fire, just like last time, there were already two inner sect disciples from Fire Peak guarding the place.

Apart from these two, Xu Yang did not see anyone else.

"Could it not be a trap, or are the experts of the Profound Heaven Sect hiding nearby?" Xu Yang wondered.

He couldn't figure out the specific situation, so he could only stop thinking about it, try to be as careful as possible, and run if the situation looked wrong.

He did not participate in the competition for the forging platform and directly chose the outermost position.

For the time that followed, he refined spirit iron while cultivating.

Although the Earth Vein Spiritual Fire had very little effect on him, it still had some use, and the cultivation speed of his Diamond Body Technique had increased a bit more.

【Stepping on Gang and Chasing the Wind reached Major Success, points +5】

【Martial Dao Longevity Points: 189】

This day, he woke up and received another point reward.

Although he didn't have a place to practice Stepping on Gang and Chasing the Wind, he still relied on his powerful comprehension to reach the Major Success realm in Stepping on Gang and Chasing the Wind yesterday.

As the day began, everyone entered the stone room to refine spirit iron.

In less than an hour, Zhang Yong was the first to be unable to hold on. Feeling a stinging heat in his dantian and meridians, he quickly ran out of the stone room to practice his technique and force out the fire poison.

After another while, Xu Yang also pretended that his fire poison had flared up, ran out of the stone room, and sat down to practice his technique.

It looked like he was forcing out fire poison, but in reality, he was cultivating.

With the Diamond Body Technique at its current realm, the Earth Vein Spiritual Fire didn't have much effect on him, and there was no problem with him enduring the invasion of fire poison for an hour or two.

But his cultivation on the surface had not yet reached Minor Success in Gang Qi, so he couldn't act too outrageously.

This time, he also didn't buy any Meridian-Protecting Pills or Ice Spirit Pills. Having just spent a fortune at the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion, if he still had money to buy these things, he would inevitably be suspected.

Moreover, the Earth Vein Spiritual Fire didn't have much use anymore, so there was no need to spend such wasted money.

Zhang Yong, on the other hand, really had no money. The small family he had married into could no longer support him, and he couldn't afford Meridian-Protecting Pills or Ice Spirit Pills to fight the fire poison.

After the two of them practiced for a while, Lu Ren ran out with a painful expression and sat down to practice.

He was also out of money, having spent it all at the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion, and likewise could only rely on his body to endure the fire poison.

Soon, the disciples in the stone room walked out one after another, took an Ice Spirit Pill, and cleared the fire poison in less than a quarter of an hour.

"How miserable; without Meridian-Protecting Pills and Ice Spirit Pills, they can only rely on their bodies to endure it."

"In such a treasure land, time is wasted on forcing out poison; it's simply a waste of heaven's gifts."

"If they can't even afford Ice Spirit Pills and Meridian-Protecting Pills, I don't think their martial arts path will go very far."

The disciples who had finished detoxifying made all sorts of comments about the three of them, then returned to the stone room in style to continue receiving the tempering of the Earth Vein Spiritual Fire.

The three of them seemed to have returned to the time when they had just joined the Weiyuan Hall; they were mud-legged peasants digging for food in the fields, while everyone around them was a young master from a wealthy family.

Xu Yang had no waves in his heart. He wanted to maintain his peak state to deal with any sudden situations at any time, and the refining of spirit iron was not calculated by labor, so there was no need to spend more than a hundred taels of silver every day on fighting fire poison.

Zhang Yong and Lu Ren were not as calm as he was; the two of them almost broke their cultivation several times, their fists clenching secretly.

In a treasure land like the Earth Vein Spiritual Fire, they had no money to buy Ice Spirit Pills and Meridian-Protecting Pills, and a large amount of time was wasted on forcing out poison; it was indeed a waste of heaven's gifts.

They hadn't expected that even at this stage, they would still be mocked by others because of money.

Finally, the fire poison in his body was forced out. Lu Ren opened his eyes and said in a low voice, "It hasn't been easy for us to get to this point; it's time to truly join forces.

I discovered a treasure land in the Yunling Mountain Range last time, but because my strength wasn't enough, I didn't dare to go deep. Once the matter here is over, we will join forces to break in. I can guarantee that there must be spiritual herbs inside.

By then, we will make all these things that look down on people shut their mouths."

Zhang Yong opened his eyes, his face full of sarcasm: "Join forces? So you can backstab me again?"

He had been squeezed by the Sharp Wind Hall, but Lu Ren, a friend who had come out of the Huang family with him, had chosen to hide in Qingyang City. He had long been disappointed in Lu Ren and no longer held any hope.

Even if Lu Ren spoke with flowery words, he could no longer trust Lu Ren.

Lu Ren shook his head and said earnestly, "I fought for you, but my words were light and had no weight. I know you don't believe me, but I really argued with Yun Feng and Cao Rong for you.

And these things are not important; there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests. The spiritual herbs in that treasure land are definitely not just one or two stalks.

As long as we get one stalk, with your talent and mine, we will soon be able to cleanse our marrow.

If it weren't for the fact that we walked out of the mud together, I wouldn't have told you about such things at all."

Zhang Yong sneered: "I believe you! If I believe you again, I'm an idiot. You're just abandoned by everyone now, with no one to use, so you found us.

If you, Lu Ren, were still infinitely glorious, would you look down at me and Xu Yang?"

As he spoke, he didn't want to listen to Lu Ren's nonsense anymore and strode into the stone room.

Having his scars exposed by Zhang Yong, Lu Ren's face turned somewhat livid.

He looked at Xu Yang again and said, "Xu Yang, how about you and I join forces? Look at you; you are clearly a Ten Elites genius, but because you have no resources, many pieces of trash with less talent than you have surpassed you in cultivation. Are you willing to accept this?

A group of trash inferior to you mocks you every day; can you stand it?

As long as you and I join forces, I guarantee that in the future, when they see you and me, only fear will remain, and no one will ever dare to mock you and me again."

"Not interested!"

Xu Yang said calmly. He didn't believe a single word of Lu Ren's.

Even if what he said was true, he was still not interested.