Chapter 223: Luck Power Reappears, Yin Corpse Mountain Range

For most cultivators, half a month is nothing more than the time it takes to take a nap.

During this period, Lu Yuan quickly grew accustomed to the identity of Bai Qianfeng. While happily utilizing the rich spiritual energy environment of this Upper Realm in his cave dwelling, he also quickly discovered something extremely astonishing.

That is, even though he had ascended to the Upper Realm, there was unexpectedly a power of Qi Luck slowly gathering in the dark, and its source seemed to come from the Lower Realm!

This discovery undoubtedly left him both surprised and delighted.

Although this wisp of Qi Luck accumulated slowly and meagerly, much less than when he was in the Lower Realm, it amounted to only about one thousand units per month.

However, this also proved that his many years of management in the Lower Realm had not been in vain, and at the same time, it proved that the Heavenly Book in his mind could absorb Qi Luck while ignoring time and space, which could be called the artifact of artifacts.

Lu Yuan was also exceptionally expectant; if he were to develop and manage things here in the Yuanling Heaven of the Upper Realm, would he obtain more Qi Luck power than in the Lower Realm?

Harboring such questions.

Lu Yuan adapted to his identity, not only dealing with his concubines and family, but also taking the time to take a tour of the Longshan Immortal City Main City.

The Main City belongs to the essence area of Longshan Immortal City; not only is it quite close to the core of the Spirit Pulse, but it is also entirely shrouded in the city-protecting array, the Nine Thunders Demon-Suppressing Array, with nearly one hundred thousand low-level cultivators living within the Main City.

Among them, those with specialized skills can be allocated housing in the Main City for long-term residence after passing an assessment to join the Immortal City, enjoying the rich spiritual energy environment for cultivation; if they do not have specialized skills, then they need to pay a hefty rent, or respond to the summons of the Immortal City's War Hall to rush to the front line to resist the Corpse Tide, and after meeting a certain number of years and Merit, they can also be allocated housing in the Immortal City.

The Spirit Pulse beneath Longshan Immortal City was once a Four-Tier medium-sized Spirit Pulse in the ancient era, and was even qualified to serve as a dojo for a Transformation Spirit Giant. Although tens of thousands of years have passed and the Spirit Pulse has degraded to a Three-Tier superior Spirit Pulse, it still possesses great temptation for the millions of Qi Refining stage low-level cultivators, and those coming to join and seek refuge are endless.

This trip, Lu Yuan went to the Main City alone.

Ordinary cultivators, even Foundation Establishment masters, must walk in this Main City area and accept identity verification by the law enforcement team, but high-level Golden Core Real Persons like Lu Yuan naturally have privileges; he flew into the Immortal City leisurely, with no one checking and even less anyone blocking him.

The Main City is shaped like a Bagua, and the outer perimeter is a dense residential area composed of small courtyards as orderly as tofu blocks; the conditions look quite simple, clearly the dwellings of the lowest-level cultivators;

Further inside, the various courtyards are clearly much larger, and the spacing and environment are also much better, clearly the dwellings of cultivators with a certain amount of strength and financial resources.

As for the very center of the Main City, besides an empty square, there are buildings that look either shrouded in immortal light or magnificent and golden; this is the trading area of the Immortal City.

The trading area of Longshan Immortal City is divided into three grades. The first is the mutual exchange market for low-level rogue cultivators, where some unranked alchemists, talisman masters, or bandit cultivators set up stalls to sell various cultivation resources and stolen goods of the Qi Refining stage. Of course, some relatively rare things appear occasionally, but they are relatively rare.

And the next grade up is the many shops in the central area, where all kinds of Pills, Dharma Artifacts, Dharma robes, cultivation techniques, spirit beasts, and so on are all available, basically all opened by major cultivation families.

The quality of things sold in these shops is relatively better, and the prices are also much higher. The low-level rogue cultivators living on the periphery naturally cannot afford to consume them; at the very least, one must be a cultivator above the middle stage of Qi Refining to be qualified to come here and look around.

However, the various Talismans and Dharma Artifacts sold here are at most at the Foundation Establishment level. If a cultivator at the Golden Core level like Lu Yuan wants to obtain items he fancies, he still has to rely on Immortal City auctions or even small-circle secret trading meetings composed of Golden Core Real Persons.

Because time was tight, Lu Yuan did not encounter any auctions or secret trading meetings for the time being, so he could only wander around the highest-end shops in the city, focusing on patronizing some shops that sold Pills, Dharma Artifacts, and even various types of Spirit Materials for refining.

As for cultivation techniques and Secret Techniques, he has Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Supernatural Powers and does not need them at all. In terms of Pills, he also rarely relies on them after having Nine Breaths Serving Qi. However, Alchemy, Artifacts, Talismans, and Arrays are the four arts of cultivation that are most popular and most profitable for cultivators in Yuanling Heaven. He happens to have mastered the Boiling Stone Technique and can refine various types of gold and stone great pills, so he took the opportunity to understand the market for Pills, as he might be able to use them later.

As for searching for various Dharma Artifacts and Spirit Materials for refining, it was naturally prepared for his Sword Pill.

The Refining Sword into Pellet technique in the 【Sword Technique】 Supernatural Power, besides being able to refine a Dharma Artifact into a natal Sword Pill, can also extract the sharpness and metal Qi from various Dharma swords and metal Spirit Materials to improve the quality of the Sword Pill.

When he was in the Lower Realm, Lu Yuan had already melted Bai Qianfeng's Red Fire Burning Heaven Sword into the Seven Star Longyuan Sword Pill, making the power of the Sword Pill go up a level. This Sword Pill is currently his most powerful killing method, so if there is an opportunity, he naturally wants to continue to improve it.

As a Golden Core Real Person, Lu Yuan's arrival caused every shop to welcome him respectfully. After he stated his requirements, he quickly obtained two types of quite rare metal materials.

One was Gray Nether Gold, and the other was Star Meteor Iron Essence; both belong to Three-Tier metal Spirit Materials and are of great value.

For this, Lu Yuan paid a full four thousand Spirit Money, causing Bai Qianfeng's inheritance to suddenly shrink by a chunk.

It wasn't his own money, so he didn't feel any heartache spending it. He didn't care about this at all, and leisurely returned to his cave dwelling with the materials, starting to extract the metal Qi from them using the Refining Sword into Pellet technique to strengthen the Sword Pill.

However, it was only a few days.

Lu Yuan, who was in the quiet room, received news from the Communication Talisman left by Qin Ruoning, and left the cave dwelling the next morning to head to the Flying Immortal Platform on the east side of the Main City.

When his figure drifted over and landed on the Flying Immortal Platform in the east of the city, Qin Ruoning was already waiting with a team of cultivators. The total number of these cultivators was about one hundred, divided into several small teams, and each team had a Foundation Establishment cultivator leading them. When they saw Lu Yuan arrive, they immediately bowed and saluted:

"We pay our respects to Elder Bai!"

"No need for formalities."

Lu Yuan smiled and waved his sleeves, then looked at Qin Ruoning:

"Fellow Daoist Qin, I have kept you waiting."

Qin Ruoning said meaningfully: "There has been no news for half a month; Fellow Daoist wouldn't have fallen into a bed of pleasure and forgotten to return, would you?"

Lu Yuan shook his head solemnly and said:

"Of course not. I keep myself clean and self-disciplined; how could I engage in such degenerate acts? Fellow Daoist Qin is truly overthinking it."

Qin Ruoning pursed her lips and smiled, appearing quite happy:

"That is good. I trust you, Fellow Daoist. The time is about right, let us set off now."

The front-line defense is tight, and this time their External Affairs Hall is going as support, with no room for refusal. Lu Yuan had no further words; he immediately nodded and set up his immortal light, flying toward the east outside the city. Qin Ruoning and the group of War Hall cultivators temporarily assigned to them also followed along.

The front line for resisting the Corpse Tide is only seven or eight hundred miles away from Longshan Immortal City, which is but a moment for Lu Yuan and Qin Ruoning. However, because they brought a group of Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment subordinates, they only arrived at the front line after more than half an hour.

One could see that the front was a vast, dead, and boundless mountain range, also covered by thick dark clouds. Under the cover of the dark clouds, an extremely intense Yin Qi, death Qi, and even the stench of corpses filled the space between heaven and earth.

And outside the exit of this mountain range, one could faintly see from high above that a huge abyss crack had been cut out, stretching for dozens of miles. It did not look like it was caused by natural forces such as an earthquake, but rather by a single strike from some powerful cultivator.

The fact is indeed so. Many years ago, the Corpse Tide in the Xiyan Continent region completely erupted and spread to this place. Everywhere it passed, countless living beings turned into corpse demons and Corpse Demons. The leader was even a Heavenly Corpse King comparable to a Transformation Spirit Giant, with monstrous ferocity, and the situation was extremely critical.

Therefore, the Immortal Alliance invited a Transformation Spirit Giant to come to Longshan Immortal City to assist in resisting this demon. This Transformation Spirit Giant exerted great Dharma Power and Supernatural Power to fight the Corpse Demon for several hours, finally killing it completely. The huge abyss crack on the ground was created by the other party's Supernatural Power.

Soon, Lu Yuan and his party arrived with a roar and landed outside a camp stretching for several miles outside the mountain range, and were then welcomed in by the cultivators stationed on guard on the periphery.

Arriving before the main tent, three middle-aged cultivators with powerful auras and bodies wreathed in baleful Qi walked out to welcome them:

"Fellow Daoist Bai, Fellow Daoist Qin, you have come."

Seeing these three, the corresponding memories surged up, and Lu Yuan and Qin Ruoning bowed together:

"Greetings to Hall Master Xing, Deputy Hall Master Wang, and Deputy Hall Master Guo."

"On the orders of True Monarch, we have come specifically to await your dispatch."

Xing Tianding, Wang Chuyi, and Guo Chaoshan; these three are the Hall Master and Deputy Hall Masters of the War Hall, respectively. They have deep qualifications, and their cultivation and strength are among the best among the many Golden Core Real Persons in Longshan Immortal City.

The War Hall is originally the most important hall in Longshan Immortal City. Among them, Hall Master Xing Tianding is already at the Jiedan Late Stage, and the other two Deputy Hall Masters also have the cultivation of the Jiedan Middle Stage. They have been leading cultivators to resist the Corpse Tide on the front line and have made great contributions to the Immortal City. Comparatively speaking, the status of latecomers like Bai Qianfeng and Qin Ruoning is indeed a head lower.

Xing Tianding had a majestic face and nodded slightly:

"Thank you both for coming to support us. In these two months, there have been frequent unusual movements in the Yin Corpse Mountain Range, and many tyrannical Corpse Kings have appeared, increasing the pressure on the defense line significantly.

High-level Corpse Kings possess residual intelligence, and many of them will drive the Corpse Tide to secretly bypass the blockade at night, climbing over mountains and ridges to kill their way out. Not long ago, two of our Elders were ambushed by a high-level Corpse King that could burrow into the ground and were seriously injured on the spot. If we hadn't arrived in time, I'm afraid they would have become that beast's rations."

A high-level Corpse King that can burrow into the ground?

Lu Yuan's heart stirred upon hearing this.

Over the thousand-year-long resistance against the Corpse Demon Catastrophe, cultivators have long since categorized powerful Corpse Demons into different ranks, from low to high: Corpse Soldier, Corpse General, Corpse King, Heavenly Corpse, and Heavenly Corpse King.

Among them, once they reach the Corpse King level, they are comparable to the Golden Core stage; whether they are Corpse Kings transformed from cultivators or demonic beasts, although their intelligence is incomplete, they are ferocious and cruel, with bodies like refined steel and no fear of pain, making it extremely difficult for ordinary means to inflict fatal damage upon them.

Furthermore, some even evolve and mutate while devouring living beings, birthing all sorts of strange Supernatural Powers; burrowing and sneaking underground is merely one of them, which often poses a huge threat to the cultivators on the front lines.

Xing Tianding continued:

"After the two of you arrive here, you will be responsible for the defense line previously held by those two people. Given the current situation, small Corpse Tides may appear at night at any time. Once there is a situation you cannot handle, you may activate the communication talisman at any time, and we will arrive to support you at the first opportunity."

As he spoke, he tossed out two Jade Talismans; Lu Yuan and Qin Ruoning immediately caught them and said:

"We understand."

Xing Tianding did not say more and immediately arranged for a capable subordinate to lead Lu Yuan and his group to another defense position several dozen miles away to set up camp.

While it was called setting up camp, in reality, this area was filled with simple cave dwellings already built by cultivators; one only needed to choose an unoccupied spot to move in.

After settling in, the hundred or so cultivators who followed them set up warning arrays around the camp, while Lu Yuan found Qin Ruoning and said:

"Fellow Daoist Qin, I will leave things here to you. I plan to go to the outskirts of the Yin Corpse Mountain Range to look around and will return shortly."

Qin Ruoning immediately put down the task at hand:

"I will go with you."

Lu Yuan did not refuse, and after the two gave instructions, they immediately flew out from the camp, flying toward the dark and dead Yin Corpse Mountain Range ahead, which looked like another world.

During the day, the Yang energy is flourishing and the power of the great sun is abundant; no matter where they are, most Corpse Demons will hide during the day and only become active at night. At this time, as long as one does not go deep into the Yin Corpse Mountain Range, it is basically safe.

After a few breaths of time, Lu Yuan arrived at the edge of the mountain range. As his gaze swept across, he saw that the mountains were dark, everywhere filled with heart-palpitating death energy and stench. Many trees had already withered, and the surviving branches and leaves were tinged with dark red or oily green, as if they had also been polluted by corpse energy.

With a sweep of his gaze, he could not see a single living creature across the mountains and plains; there were only a large number of human corpses or beast corpses with missing limbs wandering aimlessly, each one green-faced and fanged, hideous and ugly, with thousands upon thousands of them at a rough glance!

"Good fellow, this really is a cultivation version of Resident Evil, and it's even worse."

Seeing it in Bai Qianfeng's memories was one thing, but witnessing it with his own eyes was another. Seeing such a bizarre scene, Lu Yuan could not help but sigh.

When a biohazard occurs in a modern city, those zombies are as weak as moving targets, and organized mechanized troops can easily wipe them out completely with firepower coverage.

But Yuanling Heaven is a world of cultivation; besides countless mortals and cultivators, there are also a vast number of various demonic beasts and exotic beasts in the world, which can also breathe in Spiritual Machine and even the essence of the sun and moon to cultivate, possessing the powerful ability to burn mountains and boil seas.

Under the sweep of the Corpse Demon Catastrophe, besides the human race, various demonic beasts and exotic beasts were also largely transformed into powerful Corpse Demons, running rampant; this is also the reason why the two great continents of Dongxuan and Beihao completely fell.

Qin Ruoning drifted over at this time and said:

"Fellow Daoist Lu, it is enough for us to just look here. High-rank Corpse Kings exist within the Yin Corpse Mountain Range, and there are even Heavenly Corpses comparable to the Nascent Soul Realm. If we were to alert such—"

Screech!

Before her words were finished.

From the thick, dark clouds above the Yin Corpse Mountain Range, shrill and hoarse cries suddenly rang out. Lu Yuan only needed one glance to see a hideous Corpse Bird with rotting wings and body, its size comparable to a house, leading dozens of slightly smaller but equally bone-exposed Corpse Birds as they excitedly swooped down toward them!