Chapter 140: The Heart-Devouring Old Demon

"Th-this is a Phoenix-Crying Pill, it sh-should be two hundred, no, three hundred years old!" Seeing the two three-hundred-year-old Phoenix-Crying Pills Xia Daoming handed over, Lu Ziying's breathing became rapid.

Given her status, although the clan would distribute some Qi Refining elixirs to assist her in cultivation,

a three-hundred-year-old Phoenix-Crying Pill was something she didn't even dare to dream of.

Occasionally being able to get a one-hundred-year-old Phoenix-Crying Pill, some spirit stone fragments—that is, spirit crystals—and a fixed supply of five catties of spirit rice every year was already considered quite good.

Even so, a significant portion still had to be embezzled and diverted by the family head's lineage in Jinxiu Valley to Lu Chengtian.

Lu Ziying reached the third layer of Qi Refining at only seventeen. Truth be told, a large part of the resources were earned and scavenged through her own efforts over these years; it was truly not easy.

"Are Phoenix-Crying Pills very powerful?" Seeing Lu Ziying's shocked and excited expression, Lu Ye and his wife swallowed with difficulty and asked softly.

Xia Daoming looked at Lu Ye and his wife, speechless.

"Of course they are powerful. A three-hundred-year-old Phoenix-Crying Pill would probably sell for about ten spirit stones in the market. Generally speaking, for a Qi Refining disciple of a family like me, the various miscellaneous cultivation resources given by the family every year add up to only two or three spirit stones; everything else has to be earned by oneself," Lu Ziying replied.

"Ah!" Lu Ye and his wife were dumbfounded.

"An extra bit of strength is an extra bit of self-preservation ability," Xia Daoming said indifferently.

"Grandmaster Xia, rest assured, Lu Ziying will certainly repay you heavily in the future!" Lu Ziying quickly steadied her emotions and bowed solemnly to Xia Daoming.

Xia Daoming glanced at Lu Ziying's tower-like tall body and felt a chill for no reason. He hurriedly said, "Then I will take my leave first. You all should seize the time to cultivate and strive to improve your strength as much as possible before going to Cold Star Valley."

Having said that, Xia Daoming turned and left very decisively, with the demeanor of a high-level expert.

Halfway up Jin Guifeng, Seeking Immortal Cliff.

The Lu Clan's family council hall.

Lu Jinglong, with hair like silk and a round face that always seemed to carry a hint of a smile, sat high in the Clan Head's seat. His face was gloomy and livid, and he exuded a terrifying aura.

Besides Lu Jinglong, four men and two women, six clan elders, sat in the hall, each with a face filled with either grief and indignation or gloom and lividity.

In the middle of the council hall, two corpses were laid out.

One had already lost its head.

The other had its chest torn open by some unknown sharp claws, and its heart was missing.

A Qi Refining cultivator walked in and said, "Reporting to the Ancestor, Li Li Zhishi Wei Shusheng, the second disciple of Elder Luo of the Spirit Ba Dao Men, has arrived."

"Renfu, you go out to welcome him," Lu Jinglong said.

"Yes!" An elderly man in grey clothes with a gaunt face stood up and hurried out of the council hall.

Soon, the grey-clothed elder, who was Clan Elder Lu Renfu, accompanied a middle-aged man in black clothes as they walked in.

This man was Wei Shusheng, the second disciple of Elder Luo of the Spirit Ba Dao Men, with a cultivation base of the ninth layer of Qi Refining.

Wei Shusheng's appearance was ordinary, with nothing unusual, but his eyes inadvertently revealed sharp glints, giving people an incredibly sharp feeling, as if he could pierce through their lungs.

"Greetings, Clan Head Lu," Wei Shusheng bowed slightly.

"Sorry to trouble Li Li Zhishi Wei to make a trip personally!" Lu Jinglong stood up to return the salute.

"It's nothing!" Wei Shusheng replied indifferently, then squatted down to carefully examine the two corpses, especially Lu Weiwen's corpse. He examined it carefully for a long time before standing up.

"There are almost no other wounds on the body. It should have been an ambush, killing with a single strike, then opening the chest and digging out the heart! This is already the fifth incident of chest-opening and heart-digging in Wanluo Immortal Mountain in the past half year. It seems nine times out of ten, it's the Heart-Devouring Old Demon again!"

"It's just a bit strange why your other clansman was only decapitated and not had his chest opened and heart dug out. This doesn't quite look like the Heart-Devouring Old Demon's style. However, being able to kill Elder Weiwen with one move and perform such beastly acts of opening the chest and digging out the heart, besides the Heart-Devouring Old Demon, there shouldn't be anyone else," Wei Shusheng said after standing up.

"The Heart-Devouring Old Demon!"

Some of the clan elders in the hall revealed a look of terror, while Lu Jinglong's face became even gloomier and more livid.

It really was a case of it never rains but it pours.

In the struggle for the Cold Star Valley mineral vein, the Lu Clan's manpower was already stretched thin, and now two more Qi Refining cultivators had been killed by the Heart-Devouring Old Demon.

One of them was even a clan elder at the eighth layer of Qi Refining, and the other was an up-and-coming talent at the fifth layer of Qi Refining. This was definitely not a small loss for the Lu Clan.

"Clan Head Lu, please accept my condolences. The Heart-Devouring Old Demon has been committing crimes in the west and south for the past half year. Now that he has suddenly come to the north, our Spirit Ba Dao Men has to be on guard. I must rush back to report to my master now," Wei Shusheng said, cupping his hands toward Lu Jinglong.

"Li Li Zhishi Wei, please stay. You also know that our Lu Clan and the Yan Clan have been fighting quite fiercely recently. Relying on the support of the Xie Clan, the Yan Clan has become increasingly rampant and aggressive during this period."

"Originally, I sent Weiwen to visit your master and also sent him a four-hundred-year-old Dragon-Pattern Purple Blood Ginseng, asking him to help come forward and greet the Xie Clan to communicate. I didn't expect the Heart-Devouring Old Demon to appear out of nowhere. Look, can you please ask Elder Luo to..." Lu Jinglong said, a hint of pleading appearing on his face.

"As for my master's affairs, how can we disciples interfere? Furthermore, the Xie Clan is not easy to deal with! Alright, that's all I'll say. I'll take my leave!" Wei Shusheng cupped his hands and strode away.

"Bang!" After Wei Shusheng left, Lu Jinglong, feeling stifled, smashed the armrest of his chair with one palm.

"We contribute to the Spirit Ba Dao Men every year, but at the critical moment, they still want to hold us back and won't come forward for us! If it weren't for sending the Dragon-Pattern Purple Blood Ginseng to old man Luo Li this time, why would Elder Weiwen have lost his life?"

"Now the life is gone, and the item is gone, but they don't have any sympathy or gratitude. It's truly hateful! Hateful!" Clan Elder Lu Renwei, who was burly and had the most explosive temper, was so angry that his beard and hair stood on end.

"Now is not a question of whether it's hateful or not. The question is, if Elder Luo doesn't come forward, and the Xie Clan ignores the rules and secretly helps the Yan Clan, what should we do?" Unlike Unlike Lu Suyun asked with a worried expression.

"Hmph, don't you know old man Luo Li's character? He's a typical person who won't release the eagle until he sees the rabbit. If we don't give him benefits, will he come forward to negotiate with the Xie Clan for us?" Lu Renfu sneered.

"If it really doesn't work, we'll withdraw from Cold Star Valley and stop fighting with the Yan Clan," another female clan elder, Lu Sanxia, sighed.

"Now is not a question of whether to fight or not, but once the Yan Clan gets Cold Star Valley and quickly becomes powerful, appearing with a Foundation Establishment cultivator, the first thing they will certainly do is annex our Lu Clan."

"And with the Yan Clan's current momentum, once my time limit arrives, the Lu Clan probably won't last many years before still being annexed by the Yan Clan."

"Therefore, we cannot give up the opportunity of Cold Star Valley this time. We can only fight for it, at least to reach a balance in the benefits each side gets."

"Originally, I wanted to ask Elder Luo to come forward to stabilize the Xie Clan first, and we should still be able to compete well with the Yan Clan. I didn't expect to encounter the Heart-Devouring Old Demon!" Lu Jinglong sighed, his whole person seeming to have aged a lot, no longer having the fierce momentum of smashing the chair just now.

"Then what should we do now?" Unlike Unlike Lu Suyun asked.

Everyone turned their eyes to Lu Jinglong upon hearing this.

Lu Jinglong felt the gazes of the crowd, calmed his heart, and a powerful and confident momentum erupted from him again.

"Send more manpower to Cold Star Valley and increase the mobilization of our Lu Clan's martial arts forces in the secular world! Show our momentum, let the Yan Clan understand our Lu Clan's determination, and force them to negotiate with us!" Lu Jinglong said in a deep voice.

"That's right, what are we afraid of? Is our Lu Clan easy to provoke?" Lu Renwei's voice was like a booming bell.

That night, in the Seeking Immortal Cliff family council hall, the lights did not go out all night.

In the valley, that night, Lu Ye, Lu Ziying, and Lu Huiyun seized the time to take medicine and cultivate. In their room, the lights also did not go out all night.

As for Xia Daoming, who caused these people to stay awake all night, he slept exceptionally soundly that night because he was nourished by the large piece of four-hundred-year-old Dragon-Pattern Purple Blood Ginseng he had gnawed on during the day.

The sun rose slowly from behind the eastern mountain.

Xia Daoming arrived in front of Lu Ziying's house. Just as he was about to knock on the door, the door creaked open.

"Daoming, I was just about to go find you!" Lu Ziying said, looking pleasantly surprised when she saw Xia Daoming standing at the door.

"Looking for me?" Xia Daoming was slightly startled, then his eyes narrowed slightly, and he blurted out, "You didn't break through, did you?"

"That's right, I broke through. I am now a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator. From today on, I am qualified to have a courtyard at Seeking Immortal Cliff," Lu Ziying said excitedly.

This woman actually broke through!

Xia Daoming was stunned.

From the third layer of Qi Refining to the fourth layer of Qi Refining, it just happened to cross the threshold between early-stage and mid-stage Qi Refining, which was considered a relatively large threshold in the Qi Refining realm.

Xia Daoming had originally thought that two Phoenix-Crying Pills would not be enough for her to break through, at least not in the short term; they could only help her improve her cultivation base somewhat.

As a result, he didn't expect that only on the second day, this woman would actually break through.

This was truly a bit beyond his expectations.

"I actually had already comprehended the true meaning of the fourth layer of the Qi Refining realm long ago, but I had no resources on hand, and I wasn't qualified to cultivate at Seeking Immortal Cliff, which is filled with spiritual energy. In a place like Jinxiu Valley where spiritual energy is thin, no matter how hard I tried, the amount of heaven and earth spiritual energy I could collect and absorb every day was very limited."

"Last night, I took two Phoenix-Crying Pills one after another. In an instant, my true Qi and magic power surged, and I broke through the bottleneck in one go, stepping into the fourth layer of the Qi Refining realm." Seeing Xia Daoming staring at her in a daze, Lu Ziying, who had a rugged personality, felt a bit embarrassed and explained specifically.

"Hmm, let's go inside. I have something for you!" Xia Daoming nodded and said.

This breakthrough had to do with Lu Ziying finally getting the nourishment she had been lacking in her cultivation, but it also at least showed that Lu Ziying truly had talent on the path of immortal cultivation.

In this way, Xia Daoming felt it was necessary to add more investment.

"Please come in." Lu Ziying turned to invite Xia Daoming into the house.

As Lu Ziying turned to enter the house, Xia Daoming reached into his bosom and quietly took out a small bag of spirit stones from his storage bag.

"So many spirit stones!" Lu Ziying was almost blinded by the small pile of spirit stones in front of her.

Seeing Lu Ziying looking shocked just because he took out ten spirit stones, Xia Daoming couldn't help but feel a little smug secretly.

Small change!

My brother has a mine at home.

The annual output of spirit rice from just one field can easily sell for three or four hundred spirit stones!

"You just broke through to the fourth layer of Qi Refining, and this is the time when you need to take advantage of the momentum to fill your meridians and stabilize your realm. Take these spirit stones and use them first!" Xia Daoming thought smugly, but his face was sincere.

"Grandmaster Xia, I won't say much about thanks. Anyway, Ziying will certainly repay you heavily in the future!" Lu Ziying quickly put away the spirit stones and said solemnly.

Xia Daoming's heart trembled for no reason. He didn't dare to stay any longer and hurriedly gave Lu Ziying some instructions, saying he had to go to the market again this morning, then hurried away.

Today's update is finished. I continue to beg for monthly ticket support. Thank you.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 141 =====

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