Chapter 940: Unprecedented Spoils

Five Nascent Soul True Lords stormed the Immortal City of Damengze to demand answers from Yangming True Lord. He stepped out of seclusion and the affair ended in a rush.

There was no earth-shaking duel.

Only a one-sided crush.

Both fights together took less than half a quarter-hour.

First Yangming True Lord seized and suppressed Yin Lei True Lord and True Lord Qingcang.

Then it was True Lord Jinfeng and Madam Yulan.

As for True Lord Luo Yu, no one saw the Turtle Immortal Patriarch act, so everyone assumed he got away.

Even so, capturing four Nascent Soul True Lords in one go was enough to shake the Northern Region, making every power take notice and pushing the Immortal City of Damengze and Yangming True Lord’s fame to a new peak.

During the battle the Northern Region’s top titan, the Lord of Luofu Mountain, showed up and likely went Beyond the Heavens to fight Yangming True Lord.

No one saw it happen, and no one knew how it went.

But when Yangming True Lord returned to the city and suppressed True Lord Jinfeng and Madam Yulan, the result spoke for itself.

Even the Lord of Luofu Mountain could do nothing to Yangming True Lord.

He might even have lost to him.

For every top force in the Southern Desolation this landed like a depth-charge of a bombshell.

Back in the Liang-Yue War Yangming True Lord made his name in the Northern Region.

Yet in the eyes of top powers like the Yan Yang Sect and Luofu Mountain he still fell short, just a newly risen giant.

Now that he could stand against the Lord of Luofu Mountain, maybe even defeat him, his strength was beyond what they imagined.

He stepped straight into the ranks of the top titans, one of the very peak cultivators of the Southern Desolation and Northern Region.

No one, no power, would dare look down on him.

As the news raced across the Northern Region, inside the City Lord’s Mansion in the Immortal City of Damengze, within a cave residence.

“Thin spiritual veins really are a pain.”

Two high-grade Spirit Stones turned to dust in Lu Changsheng’s hand as he slowly opened his eyes.

These days he had mainly been recovering spirit and focus.

But with poor spiritual veins even sitting in meditation felt all wrong.

“We need to move to Yangming Mountain soon.”

He planned to move in with Hong Lian in a few days.

As for the Immortal City of Damengze,

he would leave it to the “Changsheng True Lord” and the family’s children to manage.

He let out a long breath, flipped his palm, and several Spirit Treasures and spatial tools from Luofuzi appeared.

He sent his Yin-Yang magical energy into the Nine Peaks Agarwood Beads to scour away Luofuzi’s imprint and see exactly what the treasure could do.

But this strand of prayer beads was a mid-grade Spirit Treasure with a budding spirit that resisted his energy.

“Since you have a spirit you should know your master is dead. I am your new master. Keep resisting and I will erase your spirit.”

His Taiyi Spirit surged and pressed down with vast might on the Nine Peaks Agarwood Beads.

The beads thrummed. Their spirit was far beneath that of Ah Wu, a Celestial Treasure. Sensing Luofuzi was not around, it still refused to recognize Lu Changsheng.

“Ah Wu!” The Sun-Moon Yin-Yang Mirror rose from his chest and cast a beam of profound light, as if to shatter the strand of beads.

Already damaged by the Lunar Profound Light and the Turtle Immortal Patriarch’s assault, the beads held out a moment then let out a wail and stopped resisting.

Moments later Lu Changsheng washed away Luofuzi’s imprint and branded the bead spirit with his own.

At once he grasped the treasure’s functions.

First, with power injected it could form a mountain shield that blocked a mid-Nascent Soul strike.

Second, the beads calmed the mind and nurtured the body.

Worn long-term they benefited both spirit and flesh.

Third, their main ability was to manifest the Nine Peaks Agarwood Barrier.

This barrier not only isolated arts, divine abilities, and poisonous miasma, it also amplified the power of a cultivator’s magical energy, domain, and divine abilities.

“What a treasure.”

No wonder Luofuzi was a top Northern Region giant. This Spirit Treasure was no worse than the ones he had drawn from the system.

In their duel it likely helped him counter Lu Changsheng’s soul secret arts and block his invisible poison.

Sadly it took damage in the fight, its power down by roughly thirty percent.

He slipped the beads onto his wrist. He would refine all its restrictions later, then find time to repair it.

Luofuzi’s robe was ruined beyond use and could only be melted down for materials.

His soft armor was damaged as well, somewhere between repairable, reforgable, and barely usable.

Lu Changsheng had the Nine Abyss Black Tortoise Armor and did not need it. He planned to reforge it for the Turtle Immortal Patriarch later.

He broke the restrictions on Luofuzi’s Storage Ring and sent in his divine sense.

A cursory sweep told him this Northern Region giant’s wealth far surpassed Nascent Soul cultivators like Ming Sha, Tiancang, and Qianren.

“Ten-thousand-year Darksteel, a versatile high-grade material for artifact refining and puppets.”

“A fourth-rank Longevity Fruit, taken directly extends life by a hundred years, also a main ingredient for Lifespan Extension Pills.”

“A Fourth-Rank Breakthrough Pill to help an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator break into mid-stage.”

“Tsk, worthy of a Northern Region giant. Loaded.”

He skimmed past spirit stones and common pills or materials, focusing on the high-value natural treasures and rare elixirs.

Even he could not help clicking his tongue at some of these.

Fourth-rank Longevity Fruit and Fourth-Rank Breakthrough Pill were strategic resources with price but no market.

Especially the Breakthrough Pill.

Out in the world it was enough to make many Nascent Soul cultivators risk their lives.

Beyond that his ring held many rare treasures, like top-tier Nascent Soul spirit items, heart-tribulation items, a fourth-rank puppet, a longbow Spirit Treasure, and several Spirit Treasure embryos.

“What talisman is this?”

He found a stack of fourth-tier talismans and a Jade Box sealed around one talisman.

A closer look showed it was similar to a Descent Spirit Charm.

He could not be sure of its exact effect without using it.

But using a talisman like this once might waste it.

“Good thing I had the Spring and Autumn Cicada and A’Gui. Otherwise if he caught his breath those treasures and tricks would have made him impossible to kill.”

He studied the many methods and natural treasures in the ring and felt it again.

Without the cicada’s interference and the Turtle Immortal Patriarch’s ambush, they never would have stopped him from fleeing.

Now though all those gains became his foundation.

“He said he had a top-grade wonder for refining an External Incarnation. Why don’t I see it?”

He had no interest in refining an External Incarnation for himself.

But Qian Zhuyan often studied Lingbo True Lord’s body and Qi, so he could find her a related wonder.

After all, those wonders could be used to reshape a body and Qi.

Like Hong Lian’s Peachwood Spirit Fetus.

Far better than seizing and reincarnating, with fewer side effects and greater potential.

“One cannot take every word at face value, though it is possible he has such a wonder hidden elsewhere.”

Most Nascent Soul cultivators kept several secret stashes so they could rise again after mishaps.

Something like an External Incarnation wonder would never be carried on the person.

“If so, I need to find where he kept it fast.”

From the duel and this wealth Lu Changsheng took Luofuzi very seriously.

The man was one of the strongest cultivators he had fought since he set out.

“Hong Lian.”

He left the cave residence and asked Hong Lian about the spoils she tallied.

While he rested he had tossed the spatial tools of Yin Lei True Lord, True Lord Qingcang, and the other three to her for inventory.

“Husband.” Hong Lian gave him a summary and handed over several rare items.

One hundred twenty-two high-grade Spirit Stones;

eleven thousand forty upper-grade Spirit Stones;

seven low-grade Spirit Treasures, four Spirit Treasure embryos, thirteen top-grade Dao-Comprehending Artifacts;

one Heavenly Infant Fruit; eleven Nascent Soul Spirit Items, two of them high-grade;

a number of fourth-tier pills and talismans, plus various natural treasures.

Hong Lian said the rarer pills included a bottle of Iceheart Pills that induced a subtle state helpful for cultivation and comprehending arts.

There was also a Spirit-Settling Pill that calmed the mind, bolstered spirit a little, and reduced heart-demon intrusion. Taken before forming a Nascent Soul it eased the process a bit.

Good materials included Void Crystal, a segment of fourth-rank Golden Thunder Bamboo, and a fourth-rank beast horn condensed from a rhinoceros Demon King’s essence.

No need to explain Void Crystal. Years ago Lu Changsheng got seven pieces. It can help sense and grasp the power of the void or draw it in to speed up domain condensation.

Golden Thunder Bamboo is a wondrous bamboo that releases pale gold lightning and wards off evil and demons.

Long ago the “Evil-Warding Golden Lightning” he drew from the system was a derivative of Golden Thunder Bamboo.

This fourth-rank bamboo could refine into a fourth-rank warding treasure.

The fourth-rank beast horn could refine into a solid offensive Spirit Treasure.

“Not bad.”

Looking over the haul he smiled.

In natural treasures and top-grade items these five could not compare to Luofuzi.

But their wealth far outstripped the Liang-Yue War group.

Frankly, of those six back then, True Lord Incinerating Wither, the Holy Maiden of Beast God Mountain, the Flood Dragon Holy Son, and True Lord Tiancang dragged the average down. Their wealth did not match a Nascent Soul’s title.

And to win over True Lord Nine Spirits, True Lord Incinerating Wither, and the Holy Maiden, he never touched their rings, so the total take was far below this wave.

“Hong Lian, take the Spirit-Settling Pill. See if you need anything else.”

He was always generous to his wives and children.

He rarely burned resources for his own cultivation. He was the type to graze yet give milk.

Right now his resources and natural treasures overflowed.

Even supplying him and Hong Lian for one or two hundred years would not drain them.

Thinking back on his seven years since breaking through, his biggest expense was driving the Misty Dust Banner.

To reach the Starry Sea, during the Liang-Yue War, and on this rush back, he burned spirit stones to travel and teleport.

“Thank you, Husband.” Knowing his nature, Hong Lian never stood on ceremony. She even picked out a high-grade Nascent Soul spirit item.

“Tsk tsk. Once a single Nascent Soul spirit item was hard to find. Now they’re everywhere.”

He eyed the Heavenly Infant Fruit and the Nascent Soul Spirit Items and sighed.

In the early days he poured effort into gathering them.

The city spent decades purchasing and gathering with almost no leads.

Now unless both Heavenly Infant Fruits refined into three Huaying Pills each, he had more spirit items than he could use.

In short, most strategic resources in the cultivation world sit in the hands of Nascent Soul True Lords.

Defeat them and you seize the rare resources you seldom see.

“And this is just what they carried. True Lord Qingcang, True Lord Luo Yu, True Lord Jinfeng, and Madam Yulan each command a faction.”

He had not killed the five because they still had value.

Like other assets and industries.

More importantly, he wanted information out of them.

With his spirit restored he took the four from the Divine Maiden’s Furnace, used the Six Desire Heart Demon Technique to entrance and interrogate them, and asked why they came.

Like True Lord Luo Yu, they were enticed and coerced by Luofuzi.

The bait was a Fourth-Rank Breakthrough Pill.

Though that pill squeezes latent potential and basically cuts off hope of late-stage Nascent Soul afterward,

for early-stage cultivators stuck for years, breaking into mid-stage is already heaven’s favor.

Who would still dare dream of late-stage.

From Yin Lei True Lord he learned of Qingluan True Lord.

Luofuzi had once hunted her. She escaped only by losing most of her Qingluan Dao soldiers.

Afterward he invited a friend, the Great Awakening Abbot of the Great Awakening Temple, to continue the hunt.

As for the result, Yin Lei did not know. He thought Qingluan True Lord likely met a bad end.

“Qingluan True Lord’s whereabouts are unknown and the heavenly secret is hazy, but she is definitely alive.”

“Judging by timing, when Luofuzi invited that abbot was about when Mu Que was born.”

Lu Changsheng’s face darkened. He faintly understood why his daughter Mu Que’s Heavenly Phoenix Bloodline was so thin at birth.

If Qingluan True Lord was pregnant and being hunted, her state must have been poor.

Mu Que’s birth could even have been early or forced, so she was born lacking.

Otherwise with his and Qingluan True Lord’s situation, their child would not have been so ordinary.

“Luofuzi. Great Awakening Abbot.”

His eyes turned cold. He meant to kill them both.

“When Mu Que’s bloodline rose before, did she meet Qingluan True Lord? If so, then Qingluan True Lord has not fallen to Luofuzi.”

Three years ago the system showed Mu Que’s Heavenly Phoenix Bloodline upgrading.

He tried to divine her situation.

But her heavenly secret was much deeper than before.

A mist covered her fate so even as her father he could not read the details.

He guessed she met Qingluan True Lord.

So the latter helped mend her innate bloodline and veil the heaven’s secrets.

“Hong Lian, do you know anything about this Great Awakening Temple and the Great Awakening Abbot?”

Lu Changsheng did not know the powers of the Southern Desolation and Northern Region well. He had not even heard of them.

Hong Lian had spent time studying such matters. “Husband, the Great Awakening Temple was founded by the Great Awakening Abbot. It lies east of the Endless Desert in the Cheqi Kingdom at the Flying Sand Chasm.”

“How does he compare to Luofuzi?” Lu Changsheng asked.

“Reports say he is mid-Nascent Soul, far beneath Luofuzi.”

She added, “But I only know so much. I will send people to gather more.”

“No rush. Now that I’m back, you can go to the Heavenly Sword Sect to break through. Leave this to Zixiao or Lingxiao.”

He spoke softly. First he would see to Hong Lian’s advancement.

The Heavenly Sword Sect had almost finished its move and could host her breakthrough.

“By the way, where is the mysterious cultivator you mentioned? I’ll go meet her with you.”

Hong Lian had told him a mysterious female diviner visited with a warning that danger was brewing in the Immortal City of Damengze.

He had time now and should pay her a visit.

Cultivators good at divination were rare.

If he could win her over, it would be another helping hand.

“She’s staying in the city. I’ll ask.”

Hong Lian produced a Jade Talisman and contacted Bai Zhaozhao to see if she was free.

A reply soon came. The three would meet at the Cloud Dream Inn.