Chapter 1: Siblings

  Along the original road back, Lu Chen didn't look for trouble with those single-horned fire wolves, but instead went around the road, trying to get the attention of the single-horned fire wolves. After a half-hour detour, he finally arrived at the edge of the Desolate Expanse.

  The true edge is the vast wilderness, although this region under the strict control of the seven sects and the Xianmeng will not have any danger, but it is also impossible to find a hidden place for quiet breakthrough. Therefore, Lu Chen put his destination in the newly entered Hongyuan edge zone, where there are fewer single-horned fire wolves...

  There are few demon beasts, and naturally there will be more cultivators, but that's not the problem. After all, the vast wilderness is very large, so large that it can't be imagined. Lu Chen only needs to find a relatively remote place, such as a tree hole, mountain valley, or stone cave, and he'll be fine...

  After wandering for a while, the mountain valley appeared in front of Lu Chen's eyes.

  "This place is not bad, the surrounding trees are relatively dense, and the three directions of the mountain valley are very high. Down below, there are several thick fallen tree trunks stacked up to form a natural tree cave. Only one direction faces the forest, and as long as you put up a few stones or something, it should be quiet enough for meditation..."

  After a careful examination, Lu Chen busied himself... Before long, a natural and artificially repaired tree hole appeared before him. Lu Chen was very satisfied and patted his hands, letting Jin Xiu out and arranging for him to hide behind a nearby tree. He then entered the tree hole and began to cultivate...

  Here's a mention, although Jinxiu is the Ghost Sect's artifact, it has never had a gloomy and terrifying ghostly aura all along. On the contrary, if not for Lucheng always using his black cloak to hide his figure, that dazzling brilliance comparable to gold would have made countless people's eyes shine brightly...

  Sitting cross-legged in the tree hole, Lu Chen took a deep breath, calming his mind and slowly recalling his spiritual consciousness into his Purple Mansion. The Great Expansion Heavenly Technique began to circulate, and Lu Chen's five hearts faced upwards, with each of his two palms pressing against an inferior spirit stone...

  The spiritual energy on the Xianling continent is mixed and dense, but not easy to forcefully absorb for cultivation. The Qi-practicing cultivators aim to stabilize their foundation, and spirit stones have become the primary object of cultivation. Compared to the scattered miscellaneous spiritual energy in the air, the spiritual energy in the spirit stones is naturally much purer, and during the absorption process, as long as one does not forcefully go against the boundary differences, there will be no danger.

  Lu Chen deeply understood its principles and felt that the Great Expansion of the Immortal's Secret had reached a new level, and that layer of window paper was about to be pierced.

  Facing the imminent arrival of the six-layer realm, Lu Chen was neither sad nor happy, only reminding himself to let everything happen naturally, and if it didn't work out, he would just consider this attempt as another opportunity for the Purple Mansion to condense its power.

  Mental state is important, Lu Chen has always been very particular about his mental cultivation...

  The true yuan fa li was like a warm current, under the guidance of the Da Yan Xian Jue, slowly flowing in Lu Chen's limbs and hundred meridians. According to the Zhou Tian Yun Zhuan Gong Kui, this flow is naturally circular, opening the Tian Du Di Ren two meridians, circulating like a stream, endless...

  Lu Chen was very careful, the yellowish-brown earthy aura around his body was hazy and bright, indicating that he was gradually entering a state of perfection. Although this brightness did not seem particularly dazzling at first glance, it was actually something precious that Lu Chen had obtained after undergoing several months of hardships in blood and fire.

  Lu Chen was different from ordinary cultivators, his spiritual power was extremely pure and precious. In Lu Chen's eyes, perhaps only a small thread, when using the Kongyuan Sword Technique, Liusha Finger Method or the Three Gates Dao Technique, as long as it was slightly appropriate and grasped the initiative, it could produce enormous power. Therefore, he carefully controlled every thread of spiritual power to operate the Zhou Tian ability...

  "Full force to open up the Zifu space, accumulate as much Fa power as possible, and when the day of completion is near, it will naturally break through...". Lu Chen silently recited the main points of the Danyuan immortal method, constantly reminding himself not to be impatient.

  For several months, or even since the moment he could cultivate the True Yuan Method, Lu Chen had been fully opening up the Purple Mansion space, and also accumulating as much true yuan as possible. And after this not-too-long-or-short process, it was already time for things to happen naturally.

  So, Lu Chen's breakthrough is not difficult, but it can also be said that it is very difficult, because he doesn't need to do anything, just circulating the Zhou Tian will do; but isn't another kind of degree waiting for the moment of that breakthrough to appear in the unknown long river of time?

  "Come on, Dao Ye is waiting..."

  ……

  These days, the torrential rain has been a bit too much, and from time to time, it would pour down again. Lu Chen sat down in the central position of the border area, and after only two hours, another small rain poured down from the sky... Originally humid and rarely sunny forest, after a while, was filled with mud everywhere...

  "Damn it, what kind of freaking weather is this? It's been raining non-stop, I'm so unlucky..."

  In the sound of the pouring rain, a curse was heard, apparently this person's mood had reached its worst point, and only then did he utter such a sentence.

  In the misty rain, a group of four people walked from outside the Honghuang, led by a man with a sly and cunning expression, who occasionally looked up at the dense clouds in the sky, pointing and scolding. Judging from his tone, it seemed that he was also the one who had just cursed. And he was Li Tao, who had met Lu Chen once in Xianmeng City.

  Behind Li Tao were three monks, all of whom had cultivation at the seventh layer of Qi Refining...

  At this time, one person came forward and said to Li Tao: "Tao brother, we have been searching for two months and still can't see Yu Hu, did he go inside?"

  "It's impossible." Li Tao turned his head, glared at that person and said decisively: "Others may not know the details of this kid, but I'm clearer than anyone else. He only has a cultivation base of five layers, being able to kill one or two single-horned fire wolves is just luck, how could he possibly enter the Desolate Expanse?"

  That person obviously disagreed and said, "Peach brother, I've already asked around and found out that on that day, Yu Hu sold a thousand materials for the solo horned wolf to get the Xianmeng jade token. A thousand of them! How could you have gotten it without going inside?"

  Li Tao heard this and smiled mysteriously: "You don't understand, do you? Do you want to know the reason?"

  The three nodded as if they had received a lesson and listened quietly.

  Li Tao said: "I'm telling you, Yu Hu must have hit the jackpot and picked up some master's qiankun bag, that's why he dared to claim it was his own catch."

  "Oh!" The three of them suddenly enlightened, immediately began slapping their thighs with a loud "pa pa pa" sound.

  "Still, Peach Brother is formidable, he saw through the whole thing at a glance."

  "Yes, I said how can the five layers of Qi Gong walk in the vast wilderness? It must be like what Tao Ge said, picking up some unlucky guy's Qian Kun bag around here."

  "Hmm, only this explanation makes sense. Hmph, outside they're spreading rumors that Yuhu is so formidable, but it's all just a bunch of nonsense."

  Li Tao was flattered by the three people, one sentence after another, his nose turned up, and he said proudly: "So, this time we can find him, we must be able to get a lot of spiritual stones from his hands, wow, at least 4000 pieces, heh, and there may be more treasures on his hand."

  "Right!" One of them patted his own head, and exclaimed: "Peach Brother is awesome, how did I not think of that? Being able to hunt down over a thousand lone wolf beasts, that person must have even more treasures."

  The other two people flattered again.

  At this time, Li Tao was even more pleased and immediately promised: "Alright alright, you three work hard to find it. If we succeed, your share will not be less."

  "Yes, Peach Brother..."

  "Taoge, this rain is really annoying. Let us handle finding people, you just rest for a while and hide from the rain over there by that tree hole..."

  Three followers, each one more skilled at flattering than the last, with one of them discovering Lu Chen's tree hole and hurriedly coming over to fawn all over him.

  Li Tao looked at him with great appreciation and said, "Well, you're the most sensible one. Alright, find it for me carefully, and if you do, I'll give you an extra share."

  "Thanks, Peach Brother..." The man's eyes lit up and he quickly thanked him. The other two people looked at each other with resentment, actually they also saw the tree hole, but didn't have this kid's cleverness, being robbed of the first opportunity, naturally they had to take less, the two men each slapped their own mouths...

  Li Tao ignored all that and urged on, then stepped towards the tree hole.

  Three followers turned around and started searching, but before they scattered, a loud noise suddenly came from the direction of the tree hole.

  "Hmm..."

  "Ah~"

  Then there was a scream, and the three of them turned their heads to see that Tao Ge had been knocked into mid-air by some unknown object. His thin body, as weak as a reed, crashed with a loud thud onto the trunk of a giant tree ten meters away.

  "Wow!"

  A mouthful of fresh blood spurted out, and Li Tao was obviously seriously injured.

  "Brother Peach?"

  The three of them were shocked at the sight, especially the one who had just suggested that Li Tao go to the tree hole to rest, and he was the first to rush over with cold sweat.

  "Brother Peach, Brother Peach, what's wrong with you?"

  "Damn it......" Li Tao stood up and saw that it was him, suddenly furious, and kicked him away with one foot.

  The other two followers immediately understood what was going on: "I guess there's someone in that tree hole, or else something is inside. Luckily we didn't say too much earlier."

  The two of them took a look at the fallen subordinate and involuntarily shuddered, also secretly rejoicing.

  At this time, Li Tao finally struggled to get up, wiped the blood from his mouth and cursed at the tree hole: "Which bastard ambushed me, come out!"

  "Hehe, hehe......"

  Two consecutive bursts of icy laughter sounded, and a white figure slowly emerged from the tree hole. When this person's smile appeared in front of Li Tao and the others, Li Tao was stunned.

  "Jade Lake?"