Chapter 1066: Blood and Sweat Hard Farming Spirit Grain, A Blade from Beyond the Heavens Slaughters Pigs and Dogs

This manor outside Chang'an city was an excellent industry for the Xue clan, even within the Xue clan!

Because it relied on Chang'an, the Xue clan carefully selected several spirit medicines that were particularly difficult to preserve and planted them in the manor, relying on the huge number of alchemists and other practitioners of external arts in Chang'an to obtain profits far exceeding those of spirit grain planting.

Such as Morning Dew Grass and other spirit plants, the spirit medicine used is the dew point that dots the tip of the grass before the morning sun every day.

It looks like dew, but it is actually a spirit liquid wrapped in a transparent gelatinous substance close to the surface of the grass leaf.

It has special uses for combining elixirs!

But it is extremely difficult to preserve.

It especially cannot see sunlight, but it needs moonlight to nurture.

Therefore, ordinary merchants transporting Morning Dew Grass need to collect it with the grass roots, insert them one by one into special jade bottles loaded with spirit springs, and transport them in large carts with cloaks.

Whenever it is daytime, the cart must be covered tightly, and whenever it is a moonlit night, the cloak must be removed to expose the spirit plants to the moonlight.

And the spirit fields opened on the plains near Chang'an can order Yin-grid girls to hold jade bottles to collect spirit dew under the moonlight, and then send them into the city's elixir workshops before dawn!

In this way, each Morning Dew Grass can collect forty or fifty times of spirit dew per season. Compared to the hard work of transporting from beyond the pass, the profit is more than ten times higher.

The great steward who stayed in this manor for the Xue clan was actually a Core Formation middle-grade cultivator.

The huge profit here can be seen.

The great steward was fair-skinned and slightly fat, his ten fingers like short garlic, thick and tender, flipping through the account books flexibly, scanning the complex accounts on them one by one.

He ordered: "Force those dozen households that plant spirit grain a bit more. They are still living too well! In recent years, the quality of spirit grain has been too poor. You must know that spirit grain requires hard farming..."

"Hard farming, hard farming, if it's not hard, how can it be farmed out?"

"Top-grade spirit grain requires the blood and sweat of people, hard irrigation, and meticulous cultivation. Don't think that sufficient spiritual energy is enough! I tell you, no magic technique is as good as hard work, and no spirit spring is as good as blood and sweat."

"If the people below don't use blood and sweat, how can the master eat good grain?"

"Also, don't let them have money to send those children to school. After all, growing up at the feet of Chang'an, they have some spiritual energy. If they return to the fields early to use their spiritual energy to plant grain, if they read the scriptures and make their hearts wild! It is very difficult to manage!"

"But..." the steward below hesitated: "After all, it is Chang'an. If you force them too hard, they will simply abandon the fields and go to the city to be loose cultivators!"

"And people who have studied scriptures serve spirit grain well."

"That is irrigated with wisdom... not the same path." The great steward frowned: "Doesn't Chang'an forbid refugees from entering the city?"

"Although Chang'an has city bans, these people who have farmed for generations at the feet of the city have all found ways to have a background, and it is not difficult to enter the city to be a servant!"

"No wonder Chang'an is becoming more and more difficult to plant grain! I heard that in the Southern Jin, noble families directly grab people, surround lakes to dig spirit veins to create fields, use people instead of oxen, and squeeze out their spiritual energy with endless hard work to support top-grade spirit grain, and the quality of the rice produced is especially good!"

He pondered slightly and turned his head: "In this way, you tell them that the Xue clan still needs a few concubines."

"Let them bring their own daughters to measure their bone roots and fate. If it is a Yin fate, they can participate in the 《Pure Yin Breaking Jade Technique》."

"That is a top-grade magic technique, with the hope of achieving a First Rank Golden Core. Once the Core is achieved, it is not impossible to become a legal wife. The Xue family's noble person will have their inferior bloodline! What kind of luck is this!"

The steward below turned his eyes: "Can they really climb up to the young master of the main family?"

The great steward glanced at him and put down the account book: "Why, do you also want to send your daughter to climb up to a future? Does your daughter also have a pure Yin fate?"

"She doesn't have such luck, but it's not bad to be a concubine if she can't be a legal wife!"

"A concubine has face? A concubine is used for harvesting and dual cultivation... They are sent back and forth between noble family young masters. If they don't meet a good person, they won't even have enough to harvest, and they will be harvested to death early. Many people disperse their cultivation before they die, let alone beautiful looks! You would have nightmares if you saw them!"

The head steward, perhaps taking a liking to him as a capable subordinate, smiled and explained: "In previous years, the mistress, feeling sorry for the young master and seeking to compensate for the harm the military malevolent qi caused to his health and longevity, sought out over a dozen women with yin-attribute constitutions and sent them to the manor to cultivate. Aside from one with a Pure Yin Constitution who was reserved for the position of concubine—to use her red pill to assist the young master in breaking through the barrier of merging martial arts and malevolent qi—the others could all be used to offset the ferocity of the military malevolent qi."

"In the past few years, I let these pure Yin virgins collect spirit dew from Morning Dew Grass with their tongues, blowing out a reputation of pure Yin condensing dew. Unexpectedly, this method of pure Yin collecting Taiyin is quite useful. Several elixir workshops that are good at refining explosive Yang Qi elixirs are willing to raise the price to purchase."

"The profit from pure Yin condensing dew alone has been able to cover the cost of cultivating them..."

"This is a great achievement of mine. Now the mistress intends to continue this practice of recruiting and cultivating people. Think about it, giving the people below a hope is also good. Selecting Yin-grid girls from among them and letting their fathers and brothers pay a sum of money to raise them for cultivation can further reduce costs."

"Wonderful! Master, wonderful!" The steward flattered: "When the time comes, the young master of the main family will have a dual-cultivation maid in every hand, and Master will be able to reach the sky..."

"How can it be cheap for them? The mistress is going to sell them all."

The great steward sneered: "When the time comes, just say they were sent to an immortal sect for cultivation. As for whether they end up in a brothel, or are accepted by a noble family, or are simply harvested by the demonic path... what does this have to do with me? Hehe, having practiced the 《Pure Yin Breaking Jade Technique》, they are destined to be furnaces for a lifetime. They have no qualifications to come to me again!"

"And that pure Yin girl, it seems she is still a small clan's fallen family, called Liu... the mistress gave her the name Ruyu."

"Today the young master is going to accept this girl. You go and watch, she has no parents or brothers, don't let her ruin the matter!"

Liu Hedong held a cold, icy jade in her mouth, struggling to suppress the surging, feverish heat within her body; the matrons beside the Xue family mistress, all high-level cultivators at the Core Formation stage, had long since given her a Phoenix Bathing in Fire Pill.

It is used to urge the original Yin, turn all essence, blood, and magic power into phoenix Yang fire, and nurture the original Yin.

Once taken, it also has the effect of urging desire.

Not only did it make it difficult for her to lift her magic power, but she had to constantly swallow the jade liquid in her mouth and urge the 《Pure Yin Breaking Jade Technique》 to operate constantly to maintain her sanity.

For millions of years, noble families have long been skilled in these aspects, and for the people below, they peel their skin and bones, making people despair.

Liu Ruyu had read scriptures for a few years, and over the years, she saw more clearly, but seeing clearly only made her more desperate!

On the school field in the manor, Xue Jinu's long halberd was like a dragon, rolling up the dust on the ground.

The 《Eight Styles of Holding the Halberd》 is divided into four internal refining styles: Yin-Yang Style, Horse-Driving Style, Startling Dragon Style, and Shocking Thunder Style, step by step, from internal refining of Yin-Yang changes to the eruption of thunder energy, and then to the Army-Breaking Style, Seven-Kill Style, Greedy Wolf Style, and the last style is called Thunder Dragon. When achieved, the iron halberd in his hand is like a startled dragon, carrying thunder, sweeping across a hundred miles.

It is a high-level military technique, originating from the method of the Great Halberd Soldiers of the Yuan clan in the late Immortal Han era!

"Startling Dragon!"

Xue Jinu remembered what the old military soldiers raised in the clan said; the Startling Dragon style is to make the long halberd in his hand come alive.

Only by pouring essence, Qi, and spirit into it, making the iron halberd feel like it has really turned into a big python or flood dragon, trembling and difficult to control, can it be considered to have entered the door.

And this style must be turned into Shocking Thunder!

Only by smelting one's military malevolent qi and the external scene divine Lei Gang into one could one subdue the Startling Dragon, achieve the unity of law and martial arts, and truly enter the superior lineage of the military path.

Just as he was refining the iron halberd Startling Dragon to be more unruly, fierce, and difficult to suppress, and was preparing to stop his work and turn back to harvest the furnace that his mother had prepared for him for a long time, and completely refine the Shocking Thunder style today!

"Whistle! Whistle! Whistle!"

Whistling sounds suddenly rang out from all directions outside the Xue family's manor.

Accompanied by the shrill sound of whistle arrows, a faint "thud" sound, a wolf-tooth arrow nailed to the courtyard wall, and soon dozens of hooks were thrown over, hooking the fence.

In the manor, several white-haired old men woke up from their dreams and shouted: "The Hu people are coming!"

They rolled off the bed in embarrassment, feeling their way in the dark to hide in the narrow places of the house...

And those young women who were holding jade bottles and waiting for the Morning Dew Grass to condense moonlight were even more at a loss.

At this time, those hooks and iron locks tightened one by one, and under the horizontal pulling of dozens of dragon horses, no fence built by any formation could stop them.

Chang'an has been peaceful for a long time, and this newly built manor has no blockhouses or docks.

Dozens of figures rode horses and leaped in.

Each of them had their faces covered with black cloth that blocked spiritual sense, dressed as Hu people, but Xue Jinu only saw how spirited the war horses under their crotches were, and he knew that they were not as simple as Hu tribes who moved into the pass and were restless and secretly snatching.

"Who are you! Give the Xue family some face... otherwise, if it gets noisy, it won't look good on anyone's face!"

The tall Hu person at the head shouted in Xianbei language: "The little lady of this family is quite beautiful, everyone snatch her and go!"

Xue Jinu snorted angrily, and the "Startling Dragon" iron halberd in his hand turned and entangled with the leading Hu person.

At this time, the Xue family's great steward also came out to meet the enemy, but it was just one encounter, a slightly thin, but riding a horse silently, and the most skilled "Hu person" suddenly clamped the dragon horse under his crotch, and the Qi of the seven or eight partners beside him connected into one, the battle formation turned, and a blade slashed down.

The Great Steward Xue's elixir Qi was like a flying spring, striking out a Five-Wheel Flowing Fire Divine Gang Qi.

Five huge fire wheels flew and rotated with the Five-Fire Divine Gang!

Carrying the power of splitting mountains and cracking stones, melting gold and scorching iron, they flew toward the group of "Hu" bandits.

But the blade condensed by the thin Hu person's magic power was actually as flexible as a living thing, rolling and turning, shaking away four of the flying fire wheels, and the last one was combined with the person and the blade, the blade light rolled like a silk ribbon, actually splitting it! 【1066-

Head Steward Xue also practiced with copper, iron, and tin wheel magic treasures, which, when coordinated with his Five-Wheel Flowing Fire Divine Gang, were quite formidable.

But after this strike, he actually dared not intervene again!

Xue Jinu cleaved a man down with the iron halberd in his hand, only to see a white horse like a dragon; the rider atop it carried a long spear that also bore the sound of wind and thunder. He saw the white horse leap, crossing several dozen zhang to arrive before him.

The iron halberd flipped, and two crescent hooks braced upward, attempting to lock the newcomer's long spear.

But that spear carried the momentum of the horse, the spearhead kicking up a trail of flying frost. As the spear tip flickered, it was as if countless points of cold light bloomed and snowflakes drifted down. That terrifying cold qi pierced to the bone, but once it seeped into the internal organs, it exploded like thunder.

Xue Jinu's hands, gripping the iron halberd tightly, felt as if needles were piercing into his bone marrow, then turned into thunder and exploded; he barely managed not to loosen his grip.

He gritted his teeth and held onto the iron halberd, not daring to take another strike!

"If you heroes have taken a fancy to anything, feel free to take it; why make things difficult for me, Xue?"

The leader of the Hu people laughed loudly: "I want the beautiful concubine you haven't yet taken into your door!"

"Fine!"

Xue Jinu agreed instantly: "It's just that she is related to my cultivation; you heroes may leave your names, and after I have enjoyed her, I will present her immediately!"

"Haha... Turtle-headed Xue... what we want is your furnace; our boss has just come out of seclusion, the Immortal Dao is in sight, and he needs your concubine to celebrate..."

Xue Jinu's expression changed: "You all..."

He had realized something.

Although still looking unwilling, he did not strike again.

The masked Tuoba Xi unhooked a rope from his saddle, following that trace of pure yin energy. He spurred his horse past the small building and cast the long rope inside.

The rope slithered into the building like a swimming dragon, followed by a scream from within.

Tuoba Xi then held the long rope and spurred his horse toward the manor; a woman with disheveled clothing was caught by the long rope, screaming as she was dragged out.

He rode his horse, dragging the woman along the ground, circling Xue Jinu once as if to show off.

Xue Jinu's face was livid, his hands gripping the iron halberd turning white, but he did not strike again.

"You kind of person, what is the use of holding a halberd handle?"

Tuoba Xi mocked him wantonly.

The Hu cavalry who had rushed into the manor and scattered to drive away the Xue family servants also discovered the women in the small building who were holding jade bottles and preparing to collect dew. They threw their lassos one after another, pulling those women out of the building and driving them over like livestock.

"Stay obediently!" Tuoba Xi looked down from above, mocking Xue Jinu: "We are withdrawing!"

"Woo-hoo... loo-loo-loo!"

The group of evil youths let out strange whistles and left after snatching the people. Dozens of women were dragged behind the horses, screaming and wailing as they were pulled into the darkness; the sound alarmed the entire plain and seven or eight nearby manors.

But not one person dared to step forward.

The Xue family could only watch helplessly as these people carried the people away.

But Li Xiuzuan became increasingly uneasy.

These people were indeed deliberately making a scene; it was agreed they would only snatch one person, but those Hu people ignored everything once they saw women.

Seeing those women being dragged along the ground, leaving trails of blood, Li Xiuzuan rode forward, one slash for each, cutting all the ropes!

The evil youths stopped their horses in confusion, hearing him say: "If you drag them any further, people will die!"

"It was agreed to only rob one person, why make such a big scene?"

Tuoba Xi sneered: "With such a cowardly person, why do you still hang around with us... get back home! The brothers are having such a good time today, is it your turn to spoil the mood?"

"It is not I who hang around with you..." Li Xiuzuan said coldly: "But you who tried every possible way to mix in!"

"I am giving the Zhou Liulang a big gift, what are you in a hurry for? Or, why don't you give that horse?" Tuoba Xi pointed at the Green-Eyed Jade Dragon horse under Li Xiuzuan's crotch and sneered: "If you are willing to part with it, I will ride this horse away, and leave the woman to you!"

"I told you not to make a big scene!"

Li Xiuzuan said: "If the matter becomes big, it won't look good for the Zhou Liulang... since it is his joyous occasion of forming the pill, it is better not to cause any deaths!"

Wei Jun smiled and persuaded: "We are having fun today! Why must the Second Young Master of the Li family make things difficult for everyone?"

Yin Shisun pulled Li Xiuzuan and said: "Forget it, A-Zuan! Forget it!"

Whether intentional or not, the two of them only revealed Li Xiuzuan's name.

"Hahaha..." Tuoba Xi pointed at the women: "Would the Zhou Liulang care about these pigs, sheep, and fruit trees? Back then, we made a pact outside the frontier that after entering the pass, money and women could be taken by our people upon sight. Now we are only taking a tiny bit; this is the pact between Great Wei and us, what are you in a hurry for?"

"Let them go!"

Li Xiuzuan said: "Today's matter ends here!"

Tuoba Xi just sneered and took a bow from his saddle; the women whose ropes had been cut were already screaming and beginning to flee in all directions.

Tuoba Xi drew his bow and aimed at the back of one woman.

Whoosh!

Tuoba Xi tilted his head and body, dodging the long spear thrown by Li Xiuzuan. The chill from outside the frontier carried by the Green-Eyed Jade Dragon followed the spear as it plunged in, and white frost spread out.

"You dare!"

"Take him down..."

Tuoba Xi ordered those beside him, and several Hu cavalrymen immediately leaped out.

Among the evil youths of the noble families, some were eager to move, wanting to step forward to stop the Hu cavalry.

But Wei Jun stopped them, saying: "How could Young Master Li be taken down by a few Hu cavalrymen? Let Great King Tuoba vent that anger first!"

Tuoba Xi switched to armor-piercing heavy arrows, aiming at the fleeing women.

He licked the corner of his mouth excitedly, but could not see that in Changancheng, a woman in white had an increasingly cold expression.

As her hand gripped the void in front of her, water vapor condensed into ice, and she drew out a bright, snowy ice blade bit by bit.

In the courtyard, Li Chong felt that trace of chill and opened his eyes abruptly.

An armor-piercing arrow could even penetrate the heavy armor of the Chang'an Imperial Guard to some extent.

Let alone these women who had only cultivated for a few years?

Tuoba Xi could already imagine those delicate bodies exploding with flesh and blood, and Li Xiuzuan's angry appearance behind him, making him even more excited.

But he did not see Li Xiuzuan behind him backhanding his blade, cutting down the Hu cavalryman who was pouncing over.

The yin energy accumulated by the rolling clouds in his body's qi sea finally turned into yang energy under this slash, and a point of thunder light split the Hu cavalryman, horse and all, with blood splashing everywhere.

No one thought Li Xiuzuan would dare to strike abruptly this time. Wei Jun said: "Xiuzuan, calm down first!"

He then spurred his horse forward, blocking Li Xiuzuan.

But at this moment, Li Xiuzuan had already thrown the long blade in his hand.

Over there, the extremely angry Tuoba Xi also shot the armor-piercing heavy arrow; the arrow light flew forward, wanting to line up those several women and nail them to death!

The long blade cut the long rope behind Tuoba Xi's horse, Liu Hedong...

No, it should be Liu Hedong, stretched her bound hands forward, using that blade qi to cut the rope.

With a hoarse scream, she gripped the blade handle and backhanded a slash toward Tuoba Xi behind her.

At this moment, just as the armor-piercing heavy arrow was about to touch the scarred back of that woman.

Li Chong felt a fierce blade qi rushing toward his face.

The entire residence seemed to be shrouded in a blade qi, and everything around seemed to be torn apart in the blade light.

He seemed to see the sea of clouds above Chang'an split open a gap...

But looking closely, it was empty, as calm as ever, as if everything just now was his hallucination.

The family general, Uncle Zhuang, bowed and asked: "Why did it alarm the master?"

"A blade!"

Li Chong frowned and said: "I saw a blade!"

If Li Xiuzuan were here, he would definitely tell Li Chong that he had not seen wrong.

That blade light emerged from his heart.

Everyone within his line of sight had frozen!

It was as if time and space had frozen here, and as if the blade light had solidified everything!

The body of Yin Shisun beside him split open...

This cousin of his still maintained the posture of wanting to pull him, but his body separated as if dismembered by the blade light.

At the tear, the traces of frozen flesh and blood indicated that his soul had also been torn apart along with this blade.

And the further away, the denser the blade light.

Wei Jun was submerged by countless blade lights, almost like being sliced into pieces, obliterated inch by inch by the blade light!

And Tuoba Xi, along with the arrow he shot, were split open together.

There were also several deep-to-the-bone wounds on Li Xiuzuan's body.

That numb, icy coldness passed through the wounds, making his heart feel icy and trembling.

He almost clearly saw how the blade light slashed out from his heart; the endless sea of clouds in his qi sea was swept away, and snowflakes as large as mats flew and rolled, turning into a long blade that slashed through the sea of clouds and flew out.

Wherever it went, everyone's soul was obliterated.

Everyone's body collapsed inch by inch, turning into specks of ice, and when blown by the wind, it was like snow scattering!

But it didn't even hurt the hair of the horses under their crotches.

Among the noble families and powerful figures of Chang'an, the most arrogant group of youths was silently obliterated in this small forest.

Humble like ants... or worse than ants, just like air.

Disappeared!

Li Xiuzuan knelt before Yin Shisun, his hands trembling as he touched the flesh and blood of this cousin, which was already as cold as snow and frozen into ice.

Li Xiuzuan knew that the only reason Yin Shisun's corpse could be preserved was because he possessed the blood of the Li family!

Beside his ears, the words of that uncle seemed to echo again.

"Knowing not to provoke the strong is very clever; knowing not to provoke the weak, then one has a human heart!"

"So... take care of yourself!"

Liu Hedong held the blade, looking at all this in almost disbelief.

She lowered her head, looking at the long blade, and then turned back to look at Li Xiuzuan: "This blade... this blade was not slashed by me!"

Li Xiuzuan silently packed up his cousin's flesh and blood, glanced at her, and walked up.

Liu Hedong swung the blade again.

But with a scream, she was disarmed by Li Xiuzuan, picked up, and placed on the back of the Green-Eyed Jade Dragon, head facing the horse's rear, hanging together with his cousin's corpse.

Li Xiuzuan rode Yin Shisun's horse.

Carrying the corpse and the woman borne by the Green-Eyed Jade Dragon, he rushed toward Chang'an...

?? Not wanting to keep everyone waiting, I will update after twelve o'clock.

? (End of chapter)