Chapter 1: Brother and Sister

  It was already late at night when he left Xue Yang's house, but the Xianmeng City was still brightly lit. With less than half an hour before the city gate closed, Lu Chen thought for a moment and decided to leave the city immediately.

  Arriving at the West City Gate with ease, he handed over his iron token and, under the scrutiny of two Qi-practicing seventh-level cultivators who gave him a few strange looks, Lu Chen slipped out of the Immortal Alliance City under the cover of night.

  "What's gotten into this kid, sneaking out of the city in the dead of night?" a puzzled city guard asked.

  The night wilderness is several times more dangerous than daytime, ordinary cultivators rarely go out at night...

  Another city guard who had seen Lu Chen's iron badge said, "Do you know who he is?"

  "Who?" The man exclaimed in surprise.

  "He is Jade Lake."

  "Is this kid that Jade Lake cultivator who obtained the Xianmeng jade token in just a few short months?" The city-guarding cultivators from before were clearly taken aback.

  Now, Yu Hu's identity is no longer a secret. His arrival time and cultivation have long been spread out by the city-guarding cultivators through rumors. Not long after, the name "Yu Hu" shone brightly in Xianmeng City like a new star.

  "Ah, I just checked the iron token and can confirm his identity." The guardian of Yuhu said after checking the iron token: "Tsk, with a cultivation level of Qi Refining 5th layer, he dares to do this. This person must have a powerful Xuan Gong Xian Fa (Mystical Cultivation Method), not an ordinary person."

  "No wonder he was able to obtain the Xianmeng Jade Token! He doesn't even rest at midnight, and still goes out to hunt and kill demonic beasts. He's really impressive! I reckon his Xuan Gong is already extremely proficient, otherwise who would dare go out at this time?" someone exclaimed in admiration.

  "This is what it means to cultivate with one's life on the line."

  Under someone's envious gaze, Lu Chen's figure disappeared into the vast moonlight...

  ……

  All the way west, Lu Chen's horse galloped wildly, rushing into the vast wilderness. Looking at the familiar scenery around him, feeling the eerie and terrifying atmosphere, listening to the low roar of the demonic beasts echoing in his ears. There was no fear in Lu Chen's eyes, only vigilance and an unknown excitement, just like a child who had been away from home for a long time returning to his hometown, filled with joy.

  The desolate land was fraught with crises, and even if someone dared to cultivate here for a long time in pursuit of longevity and continuous improvement, there was no one like Lu Chen who regarded the Desolate Land as his home.

  Everyone feared the desolate wilderness, even felt a chill down their spine. But Lu Chen was delighted to see it, as if he had returned home. It has to be said, this kid really didn't seem like a human being...

  It may be precisely because of this that Lu Chen was able to rise in power without advancing in realm, all under the guidance of Jin Xiu. Perhaps it was also due to his own constant pressure on himself that forced his Dao techniques, swordsmanship, finger techniques, and body techniques - the four basic foundations of his cultivation - to become increasingly refined.

  Taking advantage of the moonlight, Lu Chen entered the edge of the Desolate Expanse and encountered a group of three or four lone-horned fire wolves. With a sweep of his arm, he killed them with a gust of wind that sent leaves flying. By now, he was all too familiar with the lone-horned fire wolves' methods of attack, and a group of four was hardly worth mentioning, nor were they capable of exerting enough pressure on him.

  Kill him and continue west...

  Not far away is the activity area of a group of 5 or 6 single-horned fire wolves. In such places, it's necessary to bring gold repair, although there's some trouble, but it's not a problem, kill again, and head west...

  Finally, Lu Chen returned to the area where he had killed eight single-horned fire wolves. After standing still for a moment, Lu Chen thought to himself: "Eight single-horned fire wolves were already my limit, and Jin Xiu's help was crucial. I'll stop here and focus on cultivating my skills, striving to bring my sword, finger, body, and technique to the extreme. Ideally, I want to be able to face five single-horned fire wolves without losing, which would give me hope of venturing deeper into the true wilderness of Hongyuan and hunting more demon beast materials to earn more spirit stones."

  A pack of eight single-horned fire wolves was still considered the edge of the wilderness, and a true hinterland would have at least ten or more single-horned fire wolves, with even a leader among them...

  Lu Chen sat down at this point and used the method of absorbing the spiritual energy in the Ling Stone to operate the Taiyi Xian Quan, recovering his physical strength.

  "Tomorrow morning, start cultivating, reach the sixth layer of Qi Refining, and then leave the Hongyuan."

  After resting, Lu Chen took out the brocade map that Xue Lin had given him as a thank you gift and unfolded it to take a look.

  The map annotation, Lu Chen had already combined with the Hong Huang map to study, on which a small red dot marked with bloodstains, was actually the truly dangerous region where at least dozens of single-horned fire wolves existed within the range of activity in the depths of Hong Huang. There was a skull drawn there, annotated with the presence of the leader of the single-horned fire wolf, whose strength was slightly below that of a mid-level demon beast. He had already reached the cultivation level of an 8th-layer Qi-refining practitioner.

  "Having reached the sixth layer of Qi cultivation, I'll tidy up the Hongyuan and take a look around to see if there's anything here..."

  Lu Chen vaguely remembered the expression on Xue brothers' faces when they handed him this fabric, their eyes had a faint heart palpitation. Lu Chen was certain that this place was not simple, and as long-term residents on the edge of Hongyuan, the Xue brothers were naturally more familiar with the terrain than he was.

  "The Xue brothers dare to risk their lives to investigate this place, there must be something good here." Lu Chen thought firmly.

  The whole night passed so quickly, and on the second day at dawn, intermittent footsteps began to come from outside the forest. It seemed that some monk troops had begun to enter the forest to hunt down the demon beasts. Lu Chen woke up from his meditation, sorted out his thoughts, checked all the immortal methods and treasures he possessed, searched around, and finally found a group of eight single-horned fire wolves.

  "Alright, it's you guys then. Jin Xiu, get to work..."

  Spirit stirred, law power surged out, Lu Chen raised his hand and a golden light flashed as he took the stage...

  Lu Chen finally embarked on his second long and arduous journey of cultivation...

  ……

  In the forest where flames and sword shadows intertwined, two human figures were moving back and forth at an extremely strange and fast speed, with one black and one white being distinctly different.

  Lu Chen wore a white robe, and Jin Xiu was wrapped in a large black cloak. The two stood back to back, with sword lights and knife shadows flashing out from time to time, and the sound of sharp objects piercing the ground rising up, while at other times the ground was soft like a sandy beach, and sometimes the earthen walls inside the arena collapsed...

  "You demonic beast, behold my sword..."

  "Hmph!"

  Lu Chen's sword swept across Hu Lang's abdomen, and a large amount of fresh blood splattered through the forest...

  "Good, this sword is not bad. The fire of the fourth move of Kongyuan has reached its peak and can be used to severely injure Huolang with just a small amount of spiritual power..." Lu Chen quickly summarized in his mind after executing the sword move.

  It has been three months since Lu Chen entered the vast wilderness, and unlike other cultivators who mostly used high-level swordsmanship to control flying swords to kill monsters, he could only continue to practice a few basic techniques. However, even so, Lu Chen's physical toughness, his use of Xuan Gong, and most importantly, his subtle manipulation of Fa Li had already reached an astonishing level.

  It was just like that one sword, perhaps others couldn't see anything, but a true master would know at a glance, the amount of magic power used in this sword wasn't much, nor was it particularly powerful, yet the injury Lu Chen inflicted on Huo Lang was fatal.

  And this is exactly the embodiment of a solid foundation...

  ……

  "Whoosh..."

  The gleaming claws left three four-inch-long scratch marks on Lu Chen's chest, and as they grasped his chest, a burst of dazzling sparks shot out. These were the sparks produced by the friction between the claws and the Golden Cicada Symbol Armor.

  "Get out..."

  "Peng......" Lu Chen's face showed a hint of anger and dissatisfaction, he kicked Huo Lang away with one foot, Jin Xiu quickly stepped forward...

  "Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh......" Several knives had temporarily cut Huo Lang into several segments...

  "Wrong, this move should be a bit more to the right, and Huo Lang would have been dead. Or I could use Wu Luo Liu Yun Bu's flowing water step to replace the previous dark ghostly shadow... En, next time I'll pay attention..."

  ……

  Lu Chen fought and summarized, his strength constantly improving, the coordination of swordsmanship and finger techniques becoming more and more exquisite. Even many times, he completely forgot about fixed sword moves, finger moves, and even footwork, and relied solely on instinct to respond under the siege of several fire wolves. Countless times, seemingly extremely dangerous situations were unknowingly turned into opportunities by him...

  "To deal with more of these lone wolves, one must have a profound grasp of the mystic arts. My mastery of the Grand Primordium Incantation allows me to possess a foundation of at least seven layers of Qi, and if used properly, I can keep this up indefinitely... Ah, this should be the true purpose of cultivating the Grand Primordium Incantation..."

  The application of Taoist skills, swordsmanship and finger techniques has given Lu Chen unparalleled confidence. Moreover, he knows that the more he does so, the faster his absorption of spiritual energy from spirit stones will be when he rests and cultivates. When cultivating the Great Evolution Heavenly Secret, the Purple Mansion space he opens up will become even more vast...

  "Then let's cultivate like this..."

  Lu Chen is a person who will walk to the end of the road, no matter what. Once he decides on something, he'll keep going, even if there's a wall in front of him that he has to crash through, and he won't stop until he reaches his goal.

  At this moment, Lu Chen had not yet discovered that when he was truly immersed in the pleasure of cultivating, upgrading, polishing, re-cultivating, and re-upgrading in an endless cycle, the playful and mischievous nature on his body suddenly disappeared. The Lu Chen revealed to these lone wolf eyes was no different from a ruthless and cunning demon...

  The dust is rising, and Jinxiu is no exception...

  This little skull cultivator was originally not weak in strength, and with a body of copper skin and golden bones, he was tireless. The unknown knife technique and mysterious skills in his hands were advancing day and night... Many times, even Lu Chen didn't notice that after beheading the lone fire wolf, Jin Xi's upper and lower teeth would always emit an extremely excited roar under the gold teeth. Although this roar didn't seem like a big deal, but his mood was indeed so...

  ……

  Day and night...

  Day and night, whenever Dan Fan was hungry, Lu Chen would use the roasted meat of a single-horned fire wolf to fill his belly. When he was tired, he would immediately use a spiritual stone to recover his strength. He would cultivate the Great Evolution Sutra when he was sleepy, as Lu Chen had already discovered that cultivating the Great Evolution Sutra recovered his energy much faster than sleeping or doing nothing...

  Lu Chen had fully immersed himself in the pleasure of this cultivation, but he didn't know that as time passed, another new star combination's name was making a big impact on the Xianmeng City border.

  Black and White Double Killers...

  Today the power is out at home, so I had to take a half-hour drive to find an internet cafe. I'm late with my post. Given how diligent I am, please recommend, click and support me.