Chapter 1: Brother and Sister

  Everywhere filled with crisis, the vast and desolate forest of Honghuang cannot stop the pursuit of immortality in the hearts of cultivators. On the edge of Honghuang, there are always groups of three or five people coming and going. The outermost area of Honghuang has many cultivators, almost every hundred meters you can see some. And under such circumstances, the deeper into Honghuang, the fewer people there are, but although they are few in number, the size of the groups that make up the population is getting larger and larger.

  It was as if in this area where Lu Chen cultivated, he could always see small teams of four or five people cultivating here. Lu Chen didn't have the time to remember their appearance, or who they were, but on the contrary, these people had already taken note of Lu Chen and Jin Xiu...

  "It's Hei Bai Double Killers, they seem to have been here for a long time..."

  "Ah, it's been almost over a month now..."

  "What's more, our four-person squad has been here for two months already. We can always see the two of them, at least for two months, they definitely haven't gone out..."

  "It's too weird, we're already very close to the interior of the Desolate Era, and only two people have been here for over two months?"

  "That's right, you don't even look at who they are, those are the Black and White Twin Killers. I reckon in these two months, the two of them have hunted down no less than eight hundred lone Fire Wolves."

  "Maybe more."

  "What?"

  Someone's eyes suddenly shone brightly, and with a profound tone said: "The last time our Five Sword Immortals squad stayed around here, even at night we could hear the shouts of the Black and White Twin Evils. This shows that they don't even rest at night."

  "Is this really happening?"

  ……

  Rumors like this, as well as discussions that have been circulating, had already begun to spread more than a month ago. It's just that the person involved didn't know about it. The name "Black and White Double Demons" seems to be related to the Ghost Sect and the Demon Dao, but in reality, those who are aware of the inside story have a deep respect for this title...

  Because they were the only two people from head to toe who dared to hunt and kill the lone wolf near the edge of the vast wilderness.

  The strength of the Black and White Double Calamity is unknown to anyone, and various rumors are not entirely true, but no one will care about this so-called qualitative boundary division. However, through the wind that has been passed on from here, it has been confirmed that the Xuan Gong Xian Fa of the Black and White Double Calamity has already reached an extremely subtle degree, which is beyond doubt...

  Mystical powers are formidable, hunting and killing demonic beasts comes naturally easy. Even if the realm has its highs and lows, as long as they don't differ greatly, it's fundamentally hard to distinguish...

  So, no matter what, the name of Hei Bai Shuang Sha is now resounding in Xian Meng City... It's just that until now, there hasn't been anyone who dares to go forward and take a look at the true appearance of Hei Bai Shuang Sha. As a result, nobody has linked Hei Bai Shuang Sha with "Yu Hu", the rising star who made a name for himself in Xian Meng City two months ago. If someone were to find out that one of the members of Hei Bai Shuang Sha is actually Yu Hu, perhaps they would be even more shocked.

  Because of Jade Lake, many people now know that his strength is only at Qi Refining Fifth Layer...

  ……

  "Ahhh..."

  The desolate and eerie forest of the vast wilderness, a lone horned fire wolf let out its final mournful howl before falling to Lü Chen's sword.

  "Hmm..."

  Lu Chen let out a long breath and looked at the corpses of the lone horned wolves scattered all over the ground, his mouth finally curled up into a satisfied smile.

  He looked down at the several claw marks on his chest, revealing a faintly sparkling, yet still smooth and flat golden cicada shell pattern. He muttered to himself: "The Golden Cicada Shell Pattern is indeed formidable, as long as I ensure that my injuries are only on the upper half of my body, heh heh, I can save up on talisman paper to make more Demon-Subduing Talismans and Immobilizing Talismans."

  Lu Xun picked up something from the ground and sat down cross-legged.

  The Great Expansion of the Immortal's Secret Art revolves thirty-six large cycles, the inhalation and exhalation of breath flowing like white cotton between the mouth and nose, after a while, finally recovering to seventy-seven or eighty-eight.

  "Now I can face eight single-horned fire wolves with Jinxiu, it's already enough, but the front wolf pack is estimated to be in the tens or twenties, it seems that we must reach the sixth layer of Qi training to enter... The Xuanyuan sword technique has been cultivated almost to perfection, just wait until the sixth layer of Qi training is reached, and then I can unlock the sixth style sword technique's incantation. Heh, at that time, Jinxiu and I should be able to take on tens of single-horned fire wolves, who knows, we might even be able to venture into the intermediate demon beast territory."

  It has been two months since the last time Lu Chen met with Xue Yang and others, and his strength has been continuously improving. Two months ago, he and Jin Xiou were still struggling to deal with eight lone fire wolves. Now, after more than two months, the two of them can easily kill eight lone fire wolves, and even once successfully hunted a pack of nine fire wolves...

  This is the surprising result of the proper use of Xuan Gong Miao Fa...

  At present, Lu Chen is already extremely close to the sixth layer of Qi Refining. For him who has a thorough understanding of the Great Evolution Scripture, as long as he reaches the sixth layer of Qi Refining, he can completely face off against mid-level demon beasts at the eighth layer of Qi Refining.

  "But... thinking of this, Lu Chen found it difficult: "The low-level demon beasts led by the intermediate demon beast are at least a dozen or twenty, and more can reach a terrifying fifty or even hundreds. This is a bit troublesome. If Jin Xiu's cultivation can be improved to the eighth layer of Qi Refining, with his Indestructible Body, he won't have any problem surviving, but if he wants to kill them... unless the demon beasts don't run away... But it's not possible to always rely on Jin Xiu's help, he still needs to improve his own strength..."

  Lu Chen carefully pondered and analyzed the pros and cons, thinking to this point, he looked at the symbol armor on his body, then looked at the ancient-colored sleeve cloud arrow on his wrist, sighed: "Alas ~, the sleeve cloud arrow can wound the foundation period of the demon beast, unfortunately, there is only one, if there are several sleeve cloud arrows that can be used continuously, it would be great, even if the power is smaller, as long as it can threaten mid-level demon beasts, the chances of winning will be much greater."

  "Huh?" The thought flashed, Lu Chen's eyes lit up, and he rubbed his chin, muttering to himself: "Since there's such a thing as Symbol Armor, naturally there must be Symbol Devices too. Attack-type Symbol Devices can also be made into arrowheads, and when paired with Gold-series Symbol Incantations to enhance their attack power... that should do it. Right..."

  Thinking of this, Lu Chen hastily took out Lin Hongjin's transmission talisman and transmitted his thoughts over. Previously, in order to facilitate contact, Lin Hongjin had given Lu Chen over a hundred transmission talismans; these things were considered consumable items at the Immortal Alliance auction house and were essentially worthless.

  After a while, the transmission talisman ignited, and Lin Hongjin replied: "The symbol device is naturally available, but the attack-type symbol device is rare, especially the arrow-branch type. It needs to be custom-made, and the symbol device that can hurt high-level demon beasts is invaluable. Among them, a small amount of cold iron powder needs to be fused."

  Lu Chen received Lin Hongjin's message and cursed secretly: "It's really black, Han Tie is the main material for refining low-grade artifacts by high-level cultivators in the foundation period. That thing is extremely expensive, otherwise, his own Golden Cicada Symbol Armor wouldn't have required 4000 spirit stones."

  Lu Chen thought for a moment and then burned another transmission symbol to ask: "How much cold iron is needed for the six-branch symbol arrow?"

  "A few grams of cold iron powder is worth 200 spirit stones, and if you want to hurt a high-level demon beast with an arrow-branch artifact, each branch requires at least five taels, which is 1000 spirit stones. Six branches would be 6000." Lin Hongjin replied.

  "I'm going to die." Lu Chen was so angry he wanted to strangle Lin Hongjin: "This is too damn expensive, the Golden Cicada Symbol Armor only needs less than 10 taels of Frost Iron Powder, but six arrows cost 30 taels, that's 6000 spirit stones. Even with a 10% discount, it would still be 5400, these six arrows are even more expensive than the Golden Cicada Symbol Armor."

  Lu Chen's spiritual awareness delved deep into the Qian Kun bag and checked: "Ah, 1200 single-horned fire wolves can be exchanged for less than 5000 spirit stones. If we calculate the 10% discount, plus another month of hard work in the Hong Huang, it should just about cover it, and there will even be some spirit stones left over."

  "With a gritted teeth, Lu Chen replied: 'Alright, I want six.' He added: 'No need to give me Ling Spirit Stones, I want the highest quality Frost Iron Powder, add as much as you can, it should be able to hurt high-level demonic beasts. The spirit stones are not a problem.'" Then, Lu Chen transmitted the information about the size and shape of the Symbolic Treasure Sleeve Cloud Arrows.

  In the Xianmeng City auction house, Lin Hongjin received a letter from Lu Chen and immediately felt a chill run down his spine. He thought to himself: "What is this kid trying to do? Is he going to charge into the mid-level demon beast territory or even the high-level demon beast territory? This is simply inhuman! He's only at the fifth level of Qi training, if he reaches the sixth or seventh level, what kind of state will he be in? Spirit stones are no problem for him? Dammit, this kid must have made a huge profit again..."

  Lin Hongjin suddenly shuddered again and immediately put down the work he was doing, turned around and walked out of the auction house...

  No way, Qi Xianghai had already made arrangements, and whenever Yu Hu had something to do, he had to take care of it first. In fact, Lin Hongjin also admired Qi Xianghai's keen eye: "How did Qi know that Yu Hu would come to us for a deal again, and in such large quantities? Damn, just listening to him say he wants six Symbol Arrows, this kid must have made another haul. 6,000 yuan, and it's only been two months, much faster than last time when we hunted the demon beast. However... Heh heh, we'll get some kickbacks again this time. Tsk tsk, not bad, not bad... Yu Hu, I hope you can kill more demon beasts, so I can exchange for more spirit stones... Heh heh, heh heh..." Someone started daydreaming.

  As soon as he stepped out of the door, he happened to meet Qi Xianghai coming over. Lin Hongjin hurriedly went forward and bowed his head in a salute: "Your subordinate has seen Qi Xianghai..."

  Zi Xianghai stroked his mustache and smiled: "Hm, has there been any news from Yuhu recently?"

  Lin Hongjin said: "Just received his transmission, Yu Hu Daoist friend plans to customize six symbol arrows."

  "Oh? It seems that Yuhu Dao friend has made another gain recently." Qi Xianghai is a clever person, the value of six ordinary symbol arrows is second only to the symbol armor, and being able to customize six at once, it's clear that Lucheng's gain is not small.

  Lin Hongjin respectfully said: "That's right, these six symbol arrows all need to be mixed with cold iron powder."

  "What?" Zhi Xiang Hai was shocked when he heard this. He had thought it was just an ordinary arrow shaft, but he didn't expect to have to add iron powder to it.

  "Phew..." Qi and Hai let out a sigh of relief at the same time, saying: "Looks like we underestimated him after all..."

  Lin Hongjin didn't say anything, and Qi Xianghai reminded him: "You must handle this matter properly, don't let Yuhu Daoyou lose confidence in our Xianmeng Auction House."

  "I understand."

  "There's another thing. Qi Xiangdao said: 'Recently, a duo called Hei Bai Shuang Sha appeared in the Hongyuan, with extraordinary strength, always lurking on the edge of the Hongyuan to hunt down demonic beasts. Although our Immortal Alliance Auction House is the largest in the Immortal City and doesn't need to go out of its way to find goods, it's still beneficial to gain the trust of a small team. Hong Jin, you go investigate this matter, and try to bring Hei Bai Shuang Sha under the Immortal Alliance's wing. If you succeed, I'll give you credit for one merit.'"

  "This is a beautiful difference." Lin Hongjin was relieved and quickly responded: "Director Qi, please rest assured, I will definitely do my best to handle this matter well and not disappoint you."

  "Uh-huh." Qi nodded and left.

  Lin Hongjin stood there with a pleased smile: "Ever since I met Yu Hu, brought him to the Xianmeng auction house, my luck has been incredibly good, could it be that Yu Hu is my benefactor?"

  ……

  Far away in the depths of the desolate land, more than a hundred miles outside, Lu Chen finished transmitting with Lin Hongjin and sat quietly in contemplation: "The six-branch arrow will probably take some time to complete. My strength is already close to the sixth layer, I can look for opportunities to break through. For now, I'll focus on upgrading my realm first, then venture deeper inside to find more solitary fire wolves or other demonic beasts to cultivate."

  The place Lu Chen is in now can no longer give him enough pressure to make progress, so he starts thinking about going deeper into the Hongyuan, and before that, he must improve his own strength, otherwise it will be difficult to cope. Thinking of this, Lu Chen has a plan...

  "It's too dangerous to break through here, let's go outside instead, find a tree hole or something, as long as it's hidden, with Jin Xiu guarding us, we shouldn't be disturbed. Yeah, that's what we'll do..."

  Thinking of this, Lu Chen slowly stood up, swept a glance at Jin Xiu sitting under the tree not far in front of him, and called out: "Jin Xiu, let's go..."