Chapter 634: Beast Tide Riot, The Coiling Dragon Bloodfang Rice!

Nighttime.

Afterward.

Lu Changsheng and Hong Lian discussed Xu Ruoyin’s plans, seeking her opinion.

“Since Xu has her heart set on venturing out for training and searching for the opportunity to break through to Core Formation, let her experience the world first,” Hong Lian suggested.

“If she encounters danger or fails to find the right opportunity, I’ll step in and help her when the time comes.”

Hong Lian’s voice was soft.

In her past life as a Nascent Soul True Monarch, she’d seen too many geniuses who were formidable in their early years, only to crumble later on when faced with setbacks, leading to their demise.

That’s why she believed there was no need to rush breakthroughs when one had the luxury of time. Consolidation and training were far more important.

Xu Ruoyin was only in her nineties, there was no rush for her to reach Core Formation.

After all, with each breakthrough in cultivation, the challenges and dangers would increase as well.

Without sufficient experience early on, it would be easy to suffer from it later.

Just like how she used to guide the Lu family disciples in their cultivation.

For those with potential, Hong Lian always advocated for a slower pace, encouraging them to focus on their mental cultivation, combat techniques, and discovering their strengths.

“I still have a Condensing Crystal Pill. If necessary, I can give her one.”

Lu Changsheng knew that deep down, Hong Lian wanted to help Xu Ruoyin.

With her abilities, given time and effort, Hong Lian could likely obtain a Condensing Crystal Pill easily.

However, she’d spent the last few years focusing entirely on her cultivation.

Her progress had been extraordinary. Now at the peak of the fifth level of Core Formation, it wouldn’t take long for her to reach the sixth.

At this rate, she might even catch up to Lu Changsheng.

“Thank you, husband.”

Hong Lian understood that Lu Changsheng was helping her repay a favor and softly added, “But it’s not the right time for Xu Ruoyin to break through yet. She’s cultivating the ‘Beast Art,’ and her spirit beasts need time to grow as well.”

Although the ‘Beast Art’ enhanced both the cultivator and the spirit beasts, there was still a limit.

Xu Ruoyin had reached the ninth level of Foundation Establishment, but her three spirit beasts were still lagging behind.

In Hong Lian’s eyes, rushing to give Xu Ruoyin the Condensing Crystal Pill now would only be a hasty decision. She needed more time to consolidate her progress. Only when the beasts’ latent potential was unleashed should she attempt to form a superior-grade Golden Core.

After that, she could even use the core’s essence to boost her spirit beasts, awakening their bloodline abilities.

“Alright, I’ll leave it to you to handle.”

Lu Changsheng nodded slightly, indicating that if she needed any resources, she should just let him know.

With the income of Immortal City, Lu Changsheng seldom concerned himself with such matters—Ling Zixiao and Hong Lian managed everything.

If Hong Lian wanted to spend resources to cultivate Xu Ruoyin, he had no objections.

A few days later, Lu Changsheng helped Ling Zixiao upgrade her Dao-Comprehending Artifact.

Meanwhile, Hong Lian guided Xu Ruoyin in her cultivation, taking her into Da Mengze to hunt demonic beasts and test her training results over the years.

“Husband is quite soft-hearted. You don’t need to be overly reserved around him.”

“He’s already prepared your cultivation resources, including some for your breakthrough to Core Formation. I turned them down for now, but it’s clear he plans to support you.”

Hong Lian saw how uneasy Xu Ruoyin seemed around Lu Changsheng and decided to offer some advice.

“I understand, Senior Hong Lian.”

Xu Ruoyin felt a warmth surge in her heart, and she responded softly.

From her son Lu Chensha’s experience, Xu Ruoyin was already aware that Lu Changsheng didn’t hold grudges. It was her own mindset that needed time to adjust.

“You have a strong personality, much like I did when I was younger. You’re too hard on yourself.”

Hong Lian understood that this wasn’t something that would change overnight.

All those years ago, Xu Ruoyin had been imprisoned for eight years. After reaching Foundation Establishment, she returned to the Xu family, with no one by her side for support, leading to a more extreme and distrustful outlook.

Without pushing her further, Hong Lian simply offered more guidance on techniques, spells, and combined arts.

Unfortunately, Da Mengze’s endless waters didn’t suit Xu Ruoyin, and her spirit beasts’ attributes didn’t align with the local demonic beasts.

Otherwise, it would’ve been a perfect opportunity to raise her three spirit beasts.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

Lu Changsheng successfully upgraded Ling Zixiao’s Heavenly Godly Descent Diagram to a mid-grade magic treasure and also enhanced his own Yin-Yang Diagram to a top-grade artifact.

He had long gathered the necessary materials, but upgrading a top-grade treasure consumed far more energy, so he delayed the process.

“Sigh, so broke.”

Looking at his now almost empty Storage Belt, Lu Changsheng couldn’t help but let out a sigh before heading out to the deeper parts of Da Mengze atop his Golden-Winged Roc.

After extracting blood from five demonic kings and raiding their lairs for some minor fortunes, he returned to Immortal City and collected a few more resources from the city’s treasury before entering seclusion, determined to cultivate his Brahma Demon True Form to the next stage.

Years ago, when he’d gone to retrieve his daughter Nangong Yaoyao, by the time he reached the Jin Kingdom, she had already grown into a young adult with a fixed personality.

If he delayed any longer, his son would soon come of age as well.

He couldn’t imagine trying to teach his son if he became a full-fledged cultivator of the demonic path.

Meanwhile.

In the Jin Kingdom, atop the Heavenly Spider Peak of the Five Poisons Sect.

Inside an opulent palace.

“Minghuang, how are you finding this cultivation technique?”

Nangong Mili looked at the young boy in front of her. Adorned in a robe of purple and gold, his delicate features were enchanting, like a fox spirit.

“It’s much like the last one.”

Though he was only ten years old, Lu Minghuang’s handsome face exuded a natural authority with his pair of golden, majestic eyes.

“Alright then, pick one from these few. I’ll keep searching for more suitable options later.”

Nangong Mili sighed softly.

Her son, Lu Minghuang, had been nurtured with heavenly treasures since birth, and at ten years old, he was now ready to begin cultivating.

Yet, he instinctively rejected the techniques from the Five Poisons Sect, or any demonic and poison-related cultivation magic. His natural aptitude as a supreme-grade Spirit Root meant cultivating such methods would only hinder him.

Left with no other choice, she’d begun searching for righteous path techniques for him.

She wasn’t sure which one would suit him, so she allowed him to pick them himself.

“I’ll take this one.”

After contemplating for a moment, Lu Minghuang pointed to a technique.

“The Flame Sun Forges Gold Art.”

“It seems Minghuang is inclined toward metal and fire attributes.”

Nangong Mili’s long, slender phoenix eyes showed no surprise.

From her observations over the years, she knew that her son had a natural affinity for fire-type heavenly treasures, so it wasn’t surprising that his cultivation method would align with them as well.

“Very well, then begin cultivating this one.”

She smiled gently, but her thoughts spiraled inward. When would that damned Lu Changsheng come to finally meet them?

Despite having relative freedom these past few years, and being able to come and go within the Five Poisons Sect freely, the sect leader never let her truly leave unsupervised.

If they ever left the sect, the leader would most certainly ask questions.

It wasn’t hard to guess that the sect leader was waiting for the True Lord of Yangming to appear.

Although the sect leader claimed there wasn’t any enmity between him and Yangming, Nangong Mili, as the Heavenly Spider Emissary, knew things weren’t that simple.

“Knowing that man, he’ll never come easily. When he reached late Core Formation, he finally came to see Yaoyao.”

“At this rate, will he wait until he’s reached Nascent Soul to come?”

Though Nangong Mili knew it was typical behavior for Lu Changsheng not to visit.

Just thinking about the possibility of him waiting until after reaching Nascent Soul rank made her fume.

Moreover, with their son about to start his cultivation, while it wouldn’t be a problem during the early stages, if they didn’t find a suitable top-grade cultivation technique before Foundation Establishment, switching paths later on would cause permanent damage.

“That damned man!”

Nangong Mili couldn’t help but curse him inwardly.

Just then, an old woman appeared and bowed respectfully, “Heavenly Spider Emissary, the Sect Leader requests your presence.”

Half a year later.

Lu Changsheng, deep in secluded cultivation, received a message from Ling Zixiao and emerged from his cave dwelling.

“Zixiao, what’s going on?”

Lu Changsheng was a bit surprised.

On a daily basis, Ling Zixiao and Hong Lian managed the city’s affairs. It was rare for them to ever bother him.

“Husband, something strange is happening in Da Mengze lately.”

Ling Zixiao’s face grew serious.

“Oh?”

Lu Changsheng raised an eyebrow.

“Recently, we’ve noticed many spirit fish, spirit prawns, and even demonic beasts swimming out into the open waters. Many of the independent cultivators and beast-hunting teams have reaped good rewards because of it.”

“On top of that, several top-tier second-rank demonic beasts have been appearing in significant numbers.”

Ling Zixiao continued, “Based on the records in our city’s archives, such signs typically suggest one of two things: either a top-tier demonic king is battling for territory and upsetting the ecosystem, or one is driving the beasts out intentionally…”

“Are you saying… a beast tide?”

Lu Changsheng immediately understood the implications.

The cultivation world was no stranger to beast tides. Places like the Beast-Taming Sect near the Myriad Beasts Mountain Range and Green Luan Immortal City had faced the onslaught of beast tides before.

Da Mengze, with its vast waters, had been relatively stable, but such tides still occurred occasionally.

Should a beast tide break out, even though Immortal City might not bear the brunt, it would still suffer severe consequences.

Moreover, one of the primary responsibilities bestowed by the Heavenly Sword Sect upon Immortal City was to suppress any potential beast tides.

“It’s been over a hundred years since the last beast tide in Da Mengze. Why would one occur now out of the blue?”

Lu Changsheng frowned. Something didn’t seem right.

Typically, new beast tides arose when a top-tier demonic king appeared.

However, the dominant rank-four Sea Demon Whale King had been taken by Dreamless, and his wife long ago.

“I’m not sure either,”

Ling Zixiao shook her head, also puzzled.

But considering how her husband earned part of his income, she ventured a guess, “Could it be that you’ve agitated the demonic kings by hunting them in Da Mengze over the years?”

“…???”

Lu Changsheng was stunned. Was that really possible?

Back when he hunted in the Myriad Beasts Mountain Range, he’d nearly triggered a demonic king uprising.

Chu Qingyi had even warned him afterward to avoid that kind of reckless behavior.

Since taking charge of Immortal City, he’d exercised more restraint. Aside from the Spirit Roaming Whale and the Void Kun, he’d hardly hunted any demonic kings.

But recently, as part of his efforts to cultivate the Brahma Demon True Form, he had indeed drawn blood from several demonic kings. Three years ago, he had even sent Lu Quanzhen to Starry Sea to extract blood from the Golden-Winged Roc and hunted two more demonic kings.

Under those circumstances, it wasn’t entirely far-fetched that his actions might have sparked a revolt among the demonic kings…

“I’ll go check it out.”

Without wasting time, Lu Changsheng decided to investigate.

He was confident in his ability to fend off a rank-three beast tide.

However, allowing a disaster to unfold because of his own actions was something he couldn’t accept.

While many loose cultivators might celebrate such a beast tide for the opportunity to hunt more demonic beasts and gather valuable resources, for the lower-level cultivators and commoners, it would be an absolute catastrophe.

“Whoosh!”

Riding upon his Golden-Winged Roc, Lu Changsheng sped towards the deep seas of Da Mengze. Along the way, he noticed many rank-one demonic beasts swimming out towards Immortal City.

The deeper he ventured, the more second-rank demonic beasts he saw.

At this rate, within a month’s time, a full-fledged beast tide would inevitably form.

“I hope it’s just a rank-three demonic king acting up. If a rank-four demonic king from the Starry Sea gets involved, it’ll be a disaster.”

Lu Changsheng’s expression grew serious as he signaled his Golden-Winged Roc to fly even faster.

“Roar, roar, roar—”

Soon, deep, thunderous roars of demonic beasts filled the air, sending terrifying shockwaves outward. The demonic beasts within a hundred-mile radius were forced to flee from the oppressive aura.

Sensing Lu Changsheng’s approach, the demonic king abruptly stopped roaring and attempted to flee deeper into the ocean.

“Boom!”

But Lu Changsheng and the Golden-Winged Roc smashed into the water, his Yin-Yang Qi extending out in a massive grip, pinning the beast down tight.

“Human! Your greed knows no bounds!”

The immense demonic king was held in place by the massive handprint, unable to break free, and it bellowed in rage at Lu Changsheng.

“Are you the ones stirring up a beast tide?”

Lu Changsheng recognized this demonic king; it was one he’d previously extracted blood from.

“You’ve stolen our blood, our riches! Your greed is insatiable!”

The rank-three demonic king, endowed with a certain level of intelligence, roared in fury.

“So, I might have overdone it a little recently.”

Lu Changsheng wasn’t exactly angry.

After all, thinking it over, he had been drawing blood from demonic kings at an unusually high rate these days.

Given that, it was no surprise if the demonic kings of Da Mengze were upset.

“Let it end here, and I’ll spare your life.”

Though he could’ve used this as an opportunity to eliminate all the demonic kings in the area, that would’ve been a shortsighted move, depleting the local ecosystem permanently.

He then headed to the resting place of the Abyssal Sea Whale King, awakening the beast and using its formidable presence to impose order across Da Mengze, subduing the rebellious demonic kings.

And just like that, the beast tide was quietly averted by Lu Changsheng.

This incident, however, served as a wake-up call for him. Unless absolutely necessary, he should refrain from drawing too much blood from demonic kings at once.

“It seems that war campaigns are still the most profitable, after all…”

Lu Changsheng thought to himself, recalling the time when the Jiang Kingdom waged war on the Myriad Beasts Mountain Range.

If they wanted to start a similar campaign in Da Mengze, it would be much more difficult though. Ordinary cultivators simply couldn’t survive in the deep sea or seabed environments.

After eliminating the beast tide threat before it even began, Lu Changsheng returned to Immortal City and briefed Ling Zixiao, instructing her to monitor any unusual activities in the region.

Then, after helping Hong Lian and Ling Zixiao with their training for several more days, Lu Changsheng returned to his seclusion.

Not long ago, three demonic kings had put up significant resistance, forcing Lu Changsheng to kill them.

With his upcoming trip to Jin Kingdom in mind, he decided to offer one of the demonic kings to the Golden-Winged Roc, while he used the essence of the others to further refine his Brahma Demon True Form.

A year and a half passed.

Inside his cave, Lu Changsheng opened his eyes. Behind him, the silhouette of a three-headed, six-armed figure had gradually taken shape. Its body, covered in dark golden scales resembling those of a dragon, was etched with intricate Brahmic texts and twisting demonic symbols.

Thanks to a combination of divine materials and demonic king essence, Lu Changsheng had managed to cultivate his Brahma Demon True Form to the small completion stage in record time.

The next steps would involve consolidating the illusionary bones, meridians, and blood vessels, before finally achieving full mastery of the true form.

For that, he would need even more divine materials to refine the body. However long it would take, he wasn’t sure. But for now, having attained small completion, he was ready to make his journey to Jin Kingdom.

After all, this trip wasn’t meant to pit him against the Sect Leader of the Five Poisons Sect, but rather to visit Nangong Mili and their son, Lu Minghuang. He wanted to avoid fighting if possible.

“System, initiate a lottery draw.”

Lu Changsheng quietly muttered to himself.

During his seclusion, his household had gained a tier-two master brewer, and his family’s descendants had reached five thousand, earning him two chances to draw rewards.

Though he’d become somewhat indifferent to the rewards as of late.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining a Six-Eyed Bodhi Seed!]

[The reward has been delivered to the system storage. The host can access it at any time.]

“Six-Eyed Bodhi Seed?”

Lu Changsheng remembered that his son, Lu Quanzhen, had a Bodhi Seed as well, gifted to him by his uncle, Qu Changge, to help with his cultivation.

His son’s ability to master the ‘Kunpeng Swallows the Heavens Demon God Technique’ with the insights gained from the Xuantian Spiritual Vine was, in part, due to the Bodhi Seed.

“But Quanzhen’s Bodhi Seed had nine eyes, didn’t it?”

Lu Changsheng had seen it before, though he hadn’t really delved into it too much.

After all, Lu Changsheng never needed Bodhi Seeds to understand cultivation techniques.

[Six-Eyed Bodhi Seed]

[Class: Tier Three]

[Description: Helps the user gain insights into themselves, calming the mind, and boosting focus during cultivation. It also offers a chance to enter a state of divine enlightenment.]

“Enlightenment? Not bad. I could leave this at home for the younger disciples to use when cultivating their techniques.”

Lu Changsheng nodded in satisfaction as he examined the Six-Eyed Bodhi Seed.

Then he initiated the second lottery draw.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining a bag of Coiling Dragon Bloodfang Rice!]

[The reward has been delivered to the system storage. The host can access it at any time.]

“Spirit rice?”

Lu Changsheng was a bit taken aback. He hadn’t expected the system to reward him with spiritual rice, and for a moment, he didn’t quite know how to react.

Curious, he decided to check out the quality of this newfound spirit rice from the system.

The Lu Family of Bihu Mountain had its own spirit rice, but at most, it only reached tier-two high-grade.

Even Immortal City’s best spirit rice only went up to tier-three.

But tier-three spirit rice would hardly benefit someone at his level.

And if they converted all the family’s tier-two spirit rice to tier-three, the resulting costs would skyrocket.

[Coiling Dragon Bloodfang Rice]

[Class: Tier Three]

[Description: A tier-three top-grade spirit rice cultivated by the Coiling Dragon Sect, nurtured through Jiao Dragon blood. Continuous consumption will refine the body, enhancing vitality and nourishing both spiritual power and divine sense.]

“A tier-three top-grade spirit rice.”

Lu Changsheng was impressed.

To his knowledge, Immortal City only had tier-three high-grade spirit rice, and even that was in limited supply.

In part, this scarcity was due to the lack of high-quality spirit fields.

In addition, nurturing this grade of rice required elite Spirit Planters for proper care and cultivation.

Immortal City certainly had talented individuals, but elite third-tier Spirit Planters were few and far between.

He glanced at the system inventory, where a full five hundred pounds of the rice awaited.

“Five hundred pounds… If this rice lives up to its description, it might actually be even more valuable than a bottle of tier-three elixirs.”

Lu Changsheng thought back to the Zifu Pills he’d drawn years ago, which could purify the soul and refine the body.

Yet, judging by the description, this Coiling Dragon Bloodfang Rice seemed to focus more on enhancing blood and vitality.

Without dwelling too much, Lu Changsheng left his cave, planning to ask Ling Zixiao if anything had happened while he was in seclusion.

If nothing major required his attention, he would return to Bihu Mountain and begin his journey to the Jin Kingdom.