With that, he cupped his hands and turned to head back to his quarters.
"Ancestor, what was that all about—?" Zhu Qing’s face was filled with confusion.
Not long ago, when the Ancestor t with Lu Chang’sheng, their interaction was as bland as stale water; why was it so friendly all of a sudden?
What on earth happened between them?
Seeing Zhu Qing’s slightly questioning look, Zhu Er felt a bit annoyed inside, but didn’t show it. He just said, "He has connections to Fuyun Mountain. For our Zhu Family, that makes him a person worth investing in."
The Spirit Realm is anything but simple; cultivators clash far more often than mortals, so many families also consider building their networks.
"Fuyun Mountain?" Zhu Qing looked completely shocked.
Since they’d be heading to the Spirit Realm soon, Zhu Er had given him a crash course in the main powers of the Guangnan Domain and surrounding regions, including Fuyun Mountain.
Compared to local sects like the Supre Profound Sect, Fuyun Mountain was much more powerful—those immortal sects have far higher entry requirents, naturally.
"He’s a native of Great Yuan—how could he possibly be connected to Fuyun Mountain?" Zhu Qing was skeptical.
"It’s his wife, Li Nangua. By the way, you’re the ruler of Great Yuan, have you ever investigated this person?"
Zhu Er asked.
Zhu Qing shook her head.
Ever since she ca to power, Great Yuan had spent most of its ti in turbulence. Of course, she did investigate the supposedly number one Innate Martial Artist of Great Yuan. But Lu Chang’sheng was too strong, and with power deeply rooted in Black Mountain Prefecture, most attempts to look into him were disrupted by outside interference almost as soon as they began.
To avoid provoking Lu Chang’sheng further, she had no choice but to drop the idea.
Right up until now.
"That person has the right temperant for cultivating in the Spirit Realm. Pity his talent is just too poor."
After learning about Lu Chang’sheng and Li Nangua, Zhu Er expressed his regret.
Zhu Qing nodded, fully agreeing.
She herself was already preparing to start immortal cultivation, and was increasingly aware of how vital talent was.
"Still, with Fuyun Mountain backing him, we can overlook those flaws."
Zhu Qing nodded again.
"Did you co to for sothing?" Zhu Er suddenly recalled, asking.
"Indeed, I need Ancestor’s advice on sothing." Zhu Qing took a deep breath, her expression solemn.
Thinking of Lu Chang’sheng leaving just now, she suddenly felt bad for him, wondering how much this news might affect him.
"Today, my people uncovered so intel—a certain Evil Cultivator was spotted at Lu Family Manor, and had several encounters with Lu Chang’sheng."
This news was honestly lethal.
Now that Zhu Er was in a standoff with the Evil Cultivators, this would definitely make him hugely suspicious of Lu Chang’sheng.
Maybe—he’d even get rid of the threat in advance.
Even with that Li Nangua connection, who knows?
But this ti, Zhu Qing saw a strange expression flicker across Zhu Er’s face.
"That matter—Lu Chang’sheng spoke to about it just recently."
Zhu Qing instantly understood why Zhu Er looked so odd.
For a mont, neither of them knew if this was a coincidence, or if Lu Chang’sheng was deliberately preempting them.
If it was the latter—then the guy handled things with incredible finesse.
"How many shares of spiritual resources from Great Yuan are left?"
Zhu Er suddenly asked.
He calculated one "share" as the resources needed to send one person back to the Spirit Realm; it made things easier to keep track.
"About twenty."
"Set aside three for him."
Zhu Qing was stunned. They’d barely scraped together enough resources to send twenty people back, and now Zhu Er was handing out three extra shares for Lu Chang’sheng. It spoke volus about how much he valued the guy.
But she didn’t object; after all, connections to a Fuyun Mountain disciple were worth the investnt.
······
anwhile, Lu Chang’sheng, who’d just gotten back, was practically drenched in cold sweat.
He’d found a letter on his own bed, and when he opened it, the sender turned out to be Zhao Xing.
Inside, Zhao Xing stopped pretending and flatly ordered him, within a month, to assassinate Zhu Er—or else he’d expose their connection.
"Absolutely diabolical,"
Lu Chang’sheng cursed silently.
He was beginning to see the true nature of these cultivators.
"Cultivators live longer than regular martial artists. Even soone newly starting Qi Cultivation can live to 150."
He ant a true 150 years—no fine print. Unless sothing went terribly wrong along the way, you’d get your full span.
Once you beco immortal, your body undergoes a transformation—almost like being reborn. All those hidden maladies that cut mortal lives short get wiped clean.
Rinse away the gri; you’re basically restored to the health of a newborn.
So, if you just go step by step, you’ll reach your full limit of 150 years.
To die old and still not let go was almost criminal.
Compared to those who’ve slogged it out in the Spirit Realm for decades or centuries, he was frankly still wet behind the ears.
Thinking back to his earlier eting with Zhao Xing, everything about how the guy operated left Lu Chang’sheng astounded.
"No wonder he’s an Evil Cultivator—his disguises are almost impossible to see through."
"Good thing I went to Zhu Er about this beforehand. Otherwise, even with Nangua’s connection, he’d still have plenty of reasons to distrust ."
"You can’t afford to get sloppy when dealing with Evil Cultivators."
Lu Chang’sheng got up right away, and had Hong Yuan send a letter by Cang Ying back to Lu Family Manor, telling his relatives to hurry to Black Mountain Prefecture.
Besides that, he also found Zhu Er and gave him a heads-up.
"Those Evil Cultivators actually think their pathetic sches will work? As if. Once I recover, I’ll take their heads myself, just to vent on Fellow Daoist Lu’s behalf."
Zhu Er said coldly.
Afterward, Lu Chang’sheng made so arrangents, disguised himself, and slipped back to Lu Family Manor to escort his family.
Two days later, the Lu Mansion household mingled with so rchants and slipped quietly into Black Mountain Prefecture, settling in the Shi Mansion.
With those worries off his back, Lu Chang’sheng threw himself into crafting Biyun Pills, and used the opportunity to make a knockoff Body Tempering Pill as well.
Of course, now Lu Chang’sheng understood: among all his knockoff pills, only the Longevity Pill barely passed for a real pill—the rest were just glorified tablets.
"Since it’s an imitation of the Body Tempering Pill, might as well call it the Body Refining Pill."
Out with the old misleading nas—let pills be pills, and tablets be tablets.
And if he’d managed to make the knockoff Body Tempering Pill, it was mainly thanks to Zhu Qing and Zhu Er.
"I’ve never seen these spirit dicines in Great Yuan. So they’re probably not native—they must co from the Spirit Realm."
"Looks like Zhu Er probably also handles so procurent for the Zhu Family."
The quantity was staggering.
There were literally hundreds of stalks.
The main ingredients for Biyun Pill were just as abundant.
Everyone knows alchemy eats up insane amounts of resources.
So Zhu Er threw all his leftover dicine stock at Lu Chang’sheng—he didn’t know what exact ingredients alchemy needed, and Lu Chang’sheng wisely chose to keep so cards close to his chest. After several rounds of testing, he slipped most of the Body Refining Pill ingredients into the mix.
The main dicine was delivered by Zhu Er; the rest of the herbs ca from Black Mountain Prefecture’s storerooms.
These past few years, ever since Zhu Qing got exposed to the Spirit Realm, she’d deliberately tracked down all sorts of herbs and wrangled up stock from other mansions. That ant their hoard was richer than it had ever been.
This was how Lu Chang’sheng managed to craft the Body Refining Pills.
"When it cos to technical stuff, tricking outsiders is almost too easy."
Staring at the freshly made Body Refining Pills, Lu Chang’sheng couldn’t help but sigh.
Zhu Er probably suspected sothing, but didn’t seem to care too much, so Lu Chang’sheng just kept at it.
Once he got ho, he swallowed one Body Refining Pill and dove into cultivation.
In no ti, a whole month had gone by.
The next morning, Lu Chang’sheng opened his eyes from ditation and looked outside.
A fresh day had arrived. Who knew what kind of storm was coming his way next.
Sure enough, that very afternoon, a rumor spread across Black Mountain Prefecture.
Scholar Lu from Black Mountain Prefecture had ties to Evil Cultivators and secretly practiced an evil technique to rapidly boost his Martial Dao cultivation.
The news exploded—shocking everyone in Black Mountain Prefecture.
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