Chapter 1 Brother and Sister

  The withered and worn-out small bamboo forest still looked lush and green, as if it were about to drip. The morning dew was crystal clear and transparent, slowly gathering on the leaves until it fell onto the damp ground, nourishing the earth. The fragrance of mud, wild grasses, and other scents wafted gently under one's nose, and with just one sniff, one would feel refreshed and comfortable all over. Following the winding stone steps covered in green moss, he walked up through the small bamboo forest path and directly into the depths of the earth. Lu Xun returned to his small wooden hut after finishing breakfast.

  He had just pushed open the door, and a familiar figure stood with his back to him, hands clasped behind his back. Lu Chen was startled for a moment, then realized that the figure was actually Leng Xue, and he couldn't help but feel delighted.

  "Master~, when did you come back?"

  He dusted himself off and suddenly revealed a gentle smile: "Just arrived, take a seat!"

  "So mysterious? Won't you think of another way to train me again?" Lu Chen's heart was a bit apprehensive, always feeling that the old man's smile wasn't a good thing.

  "Do you know why your master values you so much?"

  A sudden sentence made Lu Chen stunned for a moment, thinking for a while, his head shook like a rattle drum.

  He snorted, his tone suddenly rising by an octave, and shouted: "There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world. I raised you to bring glory to our family, got it?"

  Lu Xichen nodded slightly, then thought for a moment and shook his head again.

  "Alas..." Lu Chen didn't understand, so he let out a long sigh and said: "When our Qian Yu Men was first established, it was to create a new sect of True Cultivation. Our sect's goal is to become one of the seven major sects in Dong Zhou Xian Men. For this purpose, since the founding ancestor, each generation of masters has been diligently cultivating, but until now, we still haven't achieved this goal."

  When he said this, Lu Chen could hear a hint of melancholy and vicissitudes in Dust's tone, so he quietly listened on.

  "To be considered a top-notch sect, it's not easy. The seven major sects of the Taoist school, which one is not a large gate with countless high-ranking cultivators? If I really want them to acknowledge that my Qianyu Gate has the strength of a first-rate sect, first and foremost, our sect must produce a Yuan Ying stage cultivator."

  "It was for this purpose that your ancestors... every generation has been working towards this goal. And at the beginning of Qianyu Gate, the most promising person to achieve Yuan Ying period cultivation was my master, your ancestor, the Daoist who had the power of Jindan later stage, Zhenren..." Liedu said, his expression becoming somewhat agitated.

  "Where is Master Ancestor now?" Lu Chen asked.

  "He's dead." Dust suddenly fell down.

  "Dead? Could Jindan's late stage be so strong and still die?" Lu Chen was shocked.

  "How could it not be?" Dust raised his head, with a hint of killing intent flowing out of his eyes: "You think the Golden Elixir later stage is very powerful? Ha ~, too ridiculous, the Golden Elixir later stage is nothing, just fart. When encountering a Yuan Ying period master, one comes and one dies, there is no room for resistance at all. My Master was killed by a Yuan Ying period master from the Return to Origin Sect of the Seven Sects of Taoism. I witnessed that battle with my own eyes, the Yuan Ying period master waved his hand, and my Master didn't even have time to take out his magic weapon before his soul was extinguished. Yuan Ying period ah, if only Master had more time, he would also become a Yuan Ying period master."

  The Daozong Qimen is considered a top-notch immortal cultivation sect because it has masters at the Yuanying stage sitting in formation within the sect.

  The dusty words were sorrowful and desolate, as if they were avenging their own master's injustice, and the hatred in those words was revealed without any concealment.

  "The Golden Dan period masters are indeed very powerful, but they are not invincible. Just like our Great Zhou, it seems prosperous, but compared to those truly top-notch countries under the protection of the Seven Gates, it's nothing. A Golden Dan period master can influence the rise and fall of a country, but a Yuan Ying period master can destroy a country. Now you understand why we've always wanted to join a first-rate sect, right?"

  "A master in the Golden Elixir stage can influence the rise and fall of a country, while a master in the Yuan Infant stage can destroy a country. This is too terrifying."

  Lu Chen was shocked, he knew that a country like Dazhou was not small, with a population of hundreds of millions. And to be able to destroy such a country with just a wave of one's hand, what kind of power was that? That was an enormous power!

  Liu Chen looked at Lu Chen's shocked expression and burst out laughing, saying loudly: "So, my Qian Yu Men must become a truly top-notch sect. Your senior brother, Yu Yang, is a waste, I taught him with all my heart for many years, but he still remains in the initial stage of Jindan, looking at the current situation, it's too difficult to rely on him to take on the heavy responsibility of carrying the torch. So I chose you."

  "Me?"

  "Is it you?"

  "Why?" Lu Chen asked involuntarily.

  "Because you are sly enough, slippery enough, shameless enough, ruthless enough..." Dust gritted his teeth and said word by word, with a sharp gaze.

  Lu Chen heard this and couldn't stop laughing, thinking: "Is he praising me or mocking me?"

  Hehe, with a sly smile, he continued: "In the past year on the mountain, I secretly set up a gambling den and cheated your little mistress out of dozens of spirit stones..."

  "Huh?" Lu Chen was taken aback and exclaimed: "You know about this too?"

  Ling dust did not reason, sneered: "Yun Ning Temple test, you for the sake of Qi Yan Yu, Qing Yun, pretending to have achieved cultivation, this move is extremely disrespectful, but you still did it."

  "You actually dare to sneak a peek at Princess Da Zhou's bath in the depths of the mountain stream? You clearly took advantage of someone else and yet you let them make a poisonous oath... Isn't this shameless?"

  "The capital of the Great Zhou Kingdom, you designed a brutal beating for the noble's son..."

  "The majestic Nine Lotus Holy Sect's first great gate, its disciples were deceived by you with the Five Thunderbolt Curse, this matter will not be let go..."

  "Do you want me to rummage through your Qiankun bag and see how many Ghost Sect treasures are inside?"

  He spoke every word and sentence as if he had been a pair of invisible eyes following Lu Chen all the time, watching everything he did without missing a single thing.

  Lu Chen listened on the side, beads of sweat rolling down his face, and he thought to himself: "Master is too ruthless, actually knowing everything... even that I saw Murong Yu Xi taking a bath, does this old man also have a share in this treat for the eyes?"

  Lu Chen wiped the sweat, but no matter how hard he wiped, it wouldn't come clean. Seeing that terrifying gaze of Dust, Lu Chen turned his head and thought for a moment, feeling something was off. With a sudden movement, he stood up and angrily shouted: "Great! You were there when we were killing the demon path, why didn't you help? Do you know how dangerous it was at the time? If not...

  "Help you? If I were to help you, why would I have gone through the trouble of transferring you to the capital of Great Zhou?"

  "Huh?" Lu Chen was taken aback and asked: "Was that demon a friend of yours?"

  "Nonsense." Leng Chen glared at Lu Chen and said, "Am I not qualified to face a mid-stage Foundation Establishment demonic path head-on? Did you have the opportunity to obtain so many treasures?" Leng Chen pointed to Lu Chen's Qiankun bag with his hand.

  Lu Chen didn't speak, and then Lu Chen said: "Originally, I didn't think to give you such a big problem. Coincidentally, that demon cultivator was blind and ran into the territory of the Great Zhou. I just took advantage of him, but I didn't expect to actually bring out your potential. The fact is, my eyes are still not blind, you little guy are a material that can be cultivated."

  "Hmm..." At this point, Lu Chen had nothing to say. His unpredictable behavior was no less than that of the Ghost Sect's people. The key was that his grasp of every step was just right.

  He glanced at Lu Chen with a dust-raising gaze, as if everything was under his control. "I don't care what you did in the past, nor do I ask about any treasures you obtained. Now, all you need to know is that your master just wants you to bring glory to our sect and make Dry Jade Sect one of the top seven sects in the world."

  "Me?" Lu Chen helplessly spread his hands and bitterly said: "Master, don't tease me, you and Shixiong have reached the Golden Elixir stage, but Qianyu Gate is still a second-rate sect. How can I bring glory to the sect?"

  "Who told you that you have to be strong to shine at the gate?" Dusty White glanced at Lu Chen.

  "What does that mean?" Lu Chen asked in confusion.

  Dust Dao said, "In three years, there will be a grand competition in the eastern part of Dongzhou. This grand competition is a grand gathering of several second-rate immortal sects in the eastern part of Dongzhou, and it is very important. Only disciples under the age of 25 can participate, so you only have three years to cultivate to at least the eighth level."

  "Three years? Cultivating Qi for eight layers?"

  Lu Chen was shocked by the words. He clearly understood that after the third layer of the Qi Refining stage, each subsequent layer would increase in difficulty at a geometric rate. Although he had only reached the fifth layer in just a few months, it was with the help of the mysterious jade pendant. In the Qi Refining stage, advancing to the seventh layer was already extremely difficult, not to mention the eighth layer. This was related to innate talent; some people might be able to achieve it in three years, while others might need ten years or even a lifetime to reach it, and that was just how innate talent worked.

  Inside the Qianyu Gate, disciples who can reach the 7th layer within three years of entering the sect are considered geniuses. This is because everyone knows that advancing from the 5th to the 6th layer takes at least a year, and advancing from the 6th to the 7th layer takes twice or even thrice as long. One can only imagine how long it would take to reach the 8th layer...

  "What? Can't do it?" Dusty eyes coldly stared at Lu Chen.

  Lu Chen exclaimed: "Master, isn't this making things difficult for others?"

  “...no motivation…” Dust wiped his mouth and said loudly: “That's right, the cultivation path is indeed not easy. From the fifth layer to the eighth layer, three years is a bit short, but you're different. You have this thing besides your innate stone pulse...” As he spoke, Dust took out an object and slapped it onto the table with a "pa" sound.

  The dust settled and cleared, revealing a small booklet...

  "What is it?" Lu Chen hesitated for a moment, picked up the small booklet with his hand, and took a closer look...

  "Ta Yuan Xian Jue?"

  "Exactly, it's the 'Great Expansion of the Immortal's Secret'!" Dust was shocked and shouted loudly, pointing at the small booklet: "Five hundred years ago, the Eastern State was in chaos, and the Western State's Ghost Sect launched a large-scale invasion of the Eastern State. The mortal world suffered countless deaths and injuries, and my Eastern State Taoist school learned about it and joined forces to resist the Western State's Ghost Gate. However, the Western State's Ghost Sect had overwhelming military power and numerous cultivators, and we couldn't withstand them. Just when all hope seemed lost, a powerful expert appeared, wielding a powerful artifact and killing in all directions with his own strength, destroying six gates and ten high-ranking experts of the Ghost Sect, ultimately forcing the Ghost Sect out of the Eastern State's territory. This person was precisely the one who cultivated the 'Great Expansion of the Immortal's Secret'."

  "With one's own strength, can you destroy the six gates and ten numbers of the Ghost Sect's top masters? Is it that powerful?"

  The prenatal high-ranking cultivators are indeed an existence that defies the heavens. This person can single-handedly kill so many prenatal high-ranking cultivators, it's clear that their strength is boundless. Although I didn't see it with my own eyes, just hearing Dust God's excited account made me feel like my blood was boiling. How could Lu Chen not be shocked? And the key point is Lu Chen's last sentence - this person actually cultivated the "Great Evolution Sutra" to become so formidable. This means that the "Great Evolution Sutra" is indeed a rare and precious treasure, right?

  He nodded and continued, "My ancestor also participated in that great war. He was one of the few who survived. The Dao Sect suffered heavy casualties during that battle. If it weren't for that mysterious person's intervention, our sect would have been destroyed long ago. However, that mysterious person also exhausted himself after the war and eventually died after using his last ounce of strength to destroy the Ghost Sect's experts with a self-destructing yuan yin. Before he died, this 'Great Evolution Sutra' was left behind on his body. My ancestor was fortunate enough to pick it up, but at that time, no one knew what cultivation method that mysterious person had used. It wasn't until after my ancestor obtained the sutra that they discovered the person's identity. To prevent this treasure from being stolen, my ancestor found a secluded place to establish our sect and cultivate the 'Great Evolution Sutra'."

  Lu Chen listened and took a deep breath, sighing: "It must be that the cultivation wasn't successful, otherwise, Qianyu Gate would have been a top-notch sect by now, right, Master?"

  He nodded, and said with a sigh: "That's right. The ancestors made a mistake, they didn't think that the 'Great Expansion Immortal Formula' would be so difficult to practice, you can open it up and take a look to understand what I mean."

  Lu Chen heard the words and hurriedly opened the first page of "Da Yan Xian Jue". He took a closer look and indeed, there was a small paragraph that stated the conditions for cultivating "Da Yan Xian Jue".

  "If you want to cultivate the Great Expansion of the Immortal's Secret, you must first have the root of the Pre-Heavenly Earth Spirit; otherwise, you will surely die..."

  "Hmm..." Lu Chen let out a long breath and muttered to himself, "No wonder... it turns out that our ancestor wasn't the root of the primordial earth spirit after all, no way to cultivate it. However..."

  "But then, shouldn't there be at least one person with the First Earth Spirit Root, even if they are very rare?"

  Dust Dao said: "It's not that serious, I've had my ancestors find many people, and Master also found many earthly spirits with heavenly talent, but none of them succeeded in cultivation."

  "Why is this?"

  "Look down!"

  "The Great Expansion of the Immortal's Secret, should use the earth spirit's energy as the foundation, solidify the body and stabilize the energy. The most taboo is to rush for achievement. If one practices steadily, when breaking through the Golden Elixir's great path, open up the second elixir field, and recreate the second golden elixir..."

  "Open the second dantian? Reforge the second golden elixir? Looks pretty impressive, what does it mean?" Upon reading this, Lu Chen became confused and turned to ask Dust.

  "With a patient explanation, he said: 'We cultivators of the truth first cultivate our breath, then build our foundation. After reaching the later stage of building our foundation, we will face the Great Tribulation of the Golden Elixir. Only after passing through this tribulation can we condense the Golden Elixir in the Purple Mansion's elixir field and ascend to the great Tao... These three stages of cultivating breath and building foundation are just the basics; only the Golden Elixir's great Tao is the threshold for cultivators of the truth. One must cross this threshold to become a true immortal, able to move mountains and fill seas, fly through the air, and be all-powerful. And this 'Great Evolution Sutra' mentions a second Golden Elixir, which is opening up another space in the Purple Mansion's elixir field to store a second Golden Elixir. You should know that the strength of a Golden Elixir cultivator depends on the true yuan law power contained within their Golden Elixir. Think about it: if a cultivator with only one Golden Elixir can be so powerful, what would happen if they had two?'"

  "Hmm~" Upon hearing this, Lu Chen finally understood. A person cultivating two Golden Cores wasn't equivalent to the combined strength of two Golden Core experts. Although Lu Chen had only cultivated for a little over four months, he wasn't stupid enough not to understand this calculation. Two Golden Cores weren't simply 1+1=2; that was an exponential increase in power!

  "This is nothing..."

  "What's this?" Lu Chen was shocked.

  Dust Dao said: "If from Golden Elixir cultivation to the Yuanying realm, one Golden Elixir transforms into a Yuanying, two of them are just two. You should know that when the Yuanying stage reaches a certain level, it is possible to use the Yuanying for battle. Once you reach the point where the Yuanying can exit the body, you can drive two great Yuanyings to fight. At that time, even if there are two high-level cultivators of the same rank, they may not be able to defeat you."

  "Is it that fierce?" Lü Chen's words were shocking, but Lü Chen himself was astonished and couldn't help but continue reading.

  At a glance, Lu Chen was slightly stunned, and then he was shocked, muttering to himself: "......then this move is extremely dangerous, the rate of condensing the elixir is less than one layer......, the cultivator must be cautious and careful, and also need to add the indispensable manipulation of Qi, in order to successfully refine the elixir..."

  This sentence is easy to understand, even Lu Chen, who has only recognized a few words for years, can understand it.

  "The success rate of cultivating the 'Great Expansion Heavenly Secret' is less than one layer... It's clear that the success rate is only about one layer, and maybe even less. Although it doesn't say what will happen after failure, it probably won't be anything good, otherwise Liedust wouldn't have a helpless expression on his face."

  "Ah~" I thought I had obtained a treasure, and my cultivation path would be exceptionally glorious and limitless. But now it seems that this is like rolling on the tip of a knife.

  Lu Chen seemed to be avoiding the plague, throwing "Da Yan Xian Jue" on the table and pouting: "It's only one layer, who can refine it, I won't practice anymore."

  With a sly smile, he said: "You can't stop practicing now. The Clear Mind Incantation you've been cultivating is the introductory mental technique of the 'Great Expansion Immortal Incantation'. Even if you don't practice it now, in the future when you make no progress, the Clear Mind Incantation will still take your life."

  "What?"

  Lu Chen exclaimed, Lu Chen's strange smile, the stick is considered to be finished, Lu Chen can't practice anymore. Next is sweet jujube. Lu Chen smiled and said: "Actually, you don't have to be afraid, as your master sees it, you only need to double your efforts, and the possibility of success is still very high. The most important thing is that you must know that if you cultivate successfully in the future, you will enter the path of longevity. Longevity, aren't you tempted?"

  "Long life?"

  Lu Chen's eyes lit up as he listened. To be honest, the two words "long life" would make anyone's heart skip a beat when mentioned in their ear. However, Lu Chen still didn't understand what degree of "long life" could be achieved with that method. So, he asked: "Master, at what speed can one achieve immortality?"

  He smiled and explained, "As a master in the Golden Elixir middle stage, I can live for two hundred years. If I reach the Nascent Soul stage, I can live up to five hundred years. If you can achieve Nascent Soul emergence, you can even seize another body, even if your strength cannot progress further, you can seize someone else's physical body before the end of your lifespan and continue cultivating, which is also a form of longevity."

  "Immortal life?" Lu Chen's heart was clearly moved.

  Ignoring Lu Chen's astonishment, the cunning Lao Dun waved his hand and hummed: "Alright, you've already known what you should know. Go prepare for a night, tomorrow I'll send you out for hellish training. Get out!"

  As expected, he's a master of the Golden Elixir stage. After Liedust finished speaking, with a wave of his hand, he sent Ludust out of the wooden hut.