The 5th layer of the 89th Refining Qi Period!

  Qingshan Lake, one of several tall mountain peaks.

  Two young men of noble birth, clad in magnificent attire, sat together in the twenty-fifth hut, both being masters of the Luojia sect.

  Outside the hut, more than a dozen Qi Refining cultivators of the first and second layers stood with their hands behind their backs and their chests out, all of whom were trusted relatives of the two.

  Among the dozens of large families in Tianyun Xianyuan City, there are frequent intense competitions and intrigues between them. Except for families with long-standing relationships or marriages, it is rare for young masters from different families to gather together.

  They were Wang Zhuo and Kong Xi.

  Wang Zhuo is the 25th hut owner, and Kong Xi is the 30th hut owner. Both are very young, Kong Xi is only 16 years old, and Wang Zhuo is just 17 years old. The two families of Wang and Kong have intermarried, and their relationship is also quite close.

  "Ye Chen was ranked number one a month ago, but now he's ranked fiftieth. If he continues to challenge from the fiftieth position, it's likely that he'll either take your twenty-fifth spot or choose my thirtieth! Ye Chen's strength has been widely recognized, and many sect masters are discussing him, saying his strength is fully capable of entering the top thirty. I've calculated that with his current revealed strength, if he were to challenge me, it would likely be a closely matched battle, with victory or defeat hanging in the balance at fifty-fifty odds."

  Kong Xi anxiously awaited Wang Zhuo's arrival.

  "Hmph, just a loose cultivator, how can he have such strength? I'm afraid it's those loose cultivators from Qing Shan Lake who are exaggerating. But I do hope he comes to challenge me! Let him get a taste of his own medicine and he'll know that the young masters of the immortal city aren't so easy to deal with."

  Wang Zhuo's elegant face revealed a scornful and cold sneer.

  "Brother Wang, if we win, of course, I'll be delighted! But what if we lose? There's no medicine for regret in this world. Although our loss in one battle won't prevent us from entering the Nine Great Immortal Sects, where would the face and reputation of the Wang and Kong families go? Why don't we send someone to talk to him, offer him a sum of spirit stones, and get him to give up his idea of challenging you and me? He's a loose cultivator, he won't care as much about family face and reputation like our clan's juniors do! As long as the price is right, I believe he'll consider it!"

  Kong Xi knocked on the table and said in a low voice.

  Compared to Wang Zhuo's confidence, Kong Xi was worried a lot, his strength was slightly inferior to Wang Zhuo.

  "This matter of buying and selling, if it gets out, will similarly damage the reputation of both our families!"

  Wang Zhuo furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before speaking.

  "It's better to keep a low profile. If this matter can be settled with just one stroke of the spiritual stone, it would be far more desirable than suffering losses from a challenge."

  Kong Xi smiled and said.

  He saw Wang Zhuo did not object and loudly called out a capable old family servant from the Kong family outside the hut.

  Have this old clan servant bring a piece of spiritual stone and go to communicate with the master of Hut No. 50 on another mountain peak, Ye Chen, to dispel Ye Chen's idea of challenging him. A piece of spiritual stone is equivalent to one year's salary for an ordinary Qi-refining cultivator in the early stage, which is not a small amount, but for the young masters of the Wang and Kong clans, it is a trivial matter, just a month's pocket money.

  The old servant obeyed orders and slowly left, it wasn't until half a day later that he returned to report back.

  "How?"

  Kong Xi Dao.

  "Young master, Ye Chen did not take the spirit stone."

  The old clan servant shook his head and said.

  "Oh, so what did he say? Was it that the Ling Stone was too little or has he made up his mind to continue challenging the top thirty Luoshes?"

  Kong Xi raised an eyebrow.

  "He just said he was going to retreat and cultivate, and didn't mention anything else. This old slave has seen countless people at my age, and I'm also quite good at observing people's words and expressions. From what I've observed, this young master doesn't seem to care about these spirit stones at all - the ones that were sent over, he didn't even glance at them. He also didn't reveal any intention of continuing to challenge! Could it be... that he has no intention of continuing to fight for the sect?"

  The old servant reported back with a bow.

  "That's strange!"

  Kong Xi furrowed his brow deeply, and the more Ye Chen remained unmoved, the more uneasy he became.

  "Kong, maybe he never intended to continue the challenge, why are you so worried! Let the Kong family prepare a set of mid-level defensive robes against lightning spells. As long as Ye Chen's lightning spell can't be used, he's not that difficult to deal with. In terms of cultivation, magic, spiritual beasts, spiritual instruments, and divine sense, are we two still afraid of him? Instead of worrying about these things, it's better to prepare for the Demon Tower in two months."

  Wang Zhuo smiled and said.

  Time is passing day by day.

  On the same day that Ye Chen took over the 50th hut, a young, cold-faced, knife-wielding cultivator rode his horse to Qing Shan Lake. He watched Ye Chen and Chen Rongyuan's battle among the crowd of thousands of cultivators on the middle-sized mountain peak.

  "Ye Chen's cultivation and strength have improved so quickly! He is already at the fourth layer of the Refining Qi stage!"

  Severe cold in the heart of surprise.

  He watched the end of the fight and didn't bid farewell to Ye Chen, tightly grasping the hilt of a damaged xuan iron sword at his waist, and turned away indirectly.

  "Even without a hut, on the green mountain and lake shore, one can still cultivate!"

  Yan Han found a place by the lake in Qing Shan, set up a temporary camp for one person, and began to practice his "Tiger Leaping Knife Method", with each move of the knife. The already rolled-up Xuan Tie knife edge shot out a layer of golden sharp edges.

  His cultivation in the second layer of Qi Refining was at the bottom level in Qing Shan Lake, and it was almost impossible to attract any attention from other cultivators.

  But what's the use!

  No matter where he is, he will inevitably stand out and change everything.

  Yan Han had always firmly believed in this. In the past few months, his cultivation speed was also very fast, and he had already reached the second layer of Qi Refining stage. This was absolutely a stunning cultivation speed among loose cultivators.

  Of course, compared with Ye Chen, it's still much duller.

  More than a month had passed, and Ye Chen's 50th hut had been quiet, without issuing any challenge letters to any other hut owners. The shock caused by Ye Chen becoming the owner of the 50th hut slowly subsided with time, until he was rarely mentioned again by the disciples of the major sects.

  The matter was mediated by Wang Zhuo.

  "It seems that I was worried for nothing! Ye Chen thought he could stay in Tianyun Xianyuan City, but he wouldn't dare to offend me, a member of the great tribe!"

  Kong Xi sighed in relief, a heart that had been hanging in suspense finally found peace.

  Just Ye Chen, this suddenly emerging loose cultivator, didn't challenge anyone. The other small family disciples of the Immortal City generally wouldn't dare to offend a large clan and wouldn't easily go challenge the top thirty disciples of a large clan. His position as the 30th hut master was finally secure.

  In the following last month, all twenty-six houses in Qing Shan Hu were safe and sound, without any more incidents of arson.

  Less than twenty days are left in the last month, whether it's seizing or changing the hut, it won't have any obvious effect. The twenty-six hut owners have almost all put their minds into full-force cultivation to enhance their strength and prepare for the assault on the Demon Tower.

  While by the lakeside of Qing Shan, those tens of thousands of Qi Refining initial and intermediate stage cultivators without cottages also stopped disturbing these twenty-six masters of Ling Quan Cottage, tacitly ceasing their challenges.

  Because in this last month, nearly ninety masters will be promoted and enter the nine major immortal sects.

  Immediately, more than 90 Luoshu will be vacated automatically, and there is no need to compete with the current powerful Luozhu. Only then can it be the best opportunity to seize the Lingquan Luoshu.

  Every year at the beginning of the year, the competition for the position of Lu Zhu will be extremely fierce. Many monks are polishing their fists and accumulating strength, preparing to compete for the position of Lu Zhu next year.

  At this moment, there are only more than 20 days left before the storming of the demon tower in Chong Town.

  Zeshan Lake finally entered its rare tranquility.

  But this was just the last calm before the storm of Chongxian Town's Tower of Demons.

  Once the battle for the Tower of Wickedness begins, all twenty-six pavilion masters and thousands of cultivators will go all out to fight for the extremely limited ninety spots, only then will it be a truly great war.

  Under the quiet night sky, dozens of peaks in Qing Shan Lake are silent.

  Inside hut number fifty.

  "It's been a full ten days since I reached the fourth layer of Qi Refining, and I still haven't broken through!"

  Ye Chen practiced his fist and footwork as well as his tiger-leap knife technique outside the hut, loosening up his entire body's qi and blood.

  He then returned to the hut, sat quietly on a mat beside the spiritual spring, took a Yuanqi Dan and swallowed it, slowly refining and absorbing the yuanqi.

  "I don't know if I can break through the fourth layer today!"

  Ye Chen said quietly.

  His entire body was surrounded by a thin layer of spiritual mist, which was the mist brought up by the Spiritual Spring's water. The spiritual mist seeped into his body along with his skin's breathing, slowly nourishing Ye Chen's physical body.

  A faint wisp of vital energy flowed through his meridians.

  Muscles are tempered and strengthened in silent tremors.

  Ye Chen's entire being entered a state of emptiness, feeling his physical body tempering slowly with each breath.

  His muscles were fine and dense, with a bloody glow, his flesh was solid, and his skin was tough and elastic.

  As the yuan Shen is cultivated, the flesh body of the practitioner also becomes increasingly strengthened.

  Under Ye Chen's slight tremble, his muscles and bones emitted a crisp crackling sound, and his muscular strength was also rapidly increasing.

  The first to ninth levels of Wu Zhe period, the force path can be clearly divided from one catty to nine catties, with catty as the unit.

  Once they enter the first layer of Qi Refining, a cultivator's power officially breaks through to the thousand jin level, with thousand jin as the unit.

  The growth of a cultivator's physical strength is extremely crazy. A first-level Qi Refining cultivator has 1,000 kilograms of strength, and for every level they advance in their cultivation, their body undergoes tempering, causing their strength to increase by another 1,000 kilograms.

  In the later stages, the power of cultivators is enough to move mountains and seas. However, the attention of cultivators is almost all focused on the cultivation of their yuan god, with fighting skills as the main focus, and their physical body is placed in a relatively secondary position, so it is also rare for people to distinguish the strength of cultivators by their force.

  Ye Chen has been cultivating to the fourth layer of the Qi Refining stage, his physical body tempered by the primordial energy, and his arms have grown strong enough to exert a force of four thousand catties.

  The primordial spirit suddenly expanded several times with a contraction and an expansion.

  Ye Chen's body, which had been sitting cross-legged, suddenly shook violently, and a flash of external divine light flickered across his eyes.

  "The fifth layer of the Refining Qi period, Yuan Shen, has finally broken through!"

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