I am evergreen in the world of cultivating immortals

Chapter 423: Three Gates, Four Stages, Beast King Counterattacks

Three years later.

Lu Chang'an is 419 years old and has been back in Daqing for seven years.

Due to geographical separation, most of the monks from the Wei Dao League were unaware of the death of a Nascent Soul elder from the Qianji Sect.

Neither the Weidao League nor the Beast King Valley had much interest in the evil land in the Far East where the two religions were located, and they lacked attention.

The two sects were in opposition, with many forces, and wars between immortals were common. In every era, there were Yuanying Zhenjun who fell. Even if other regions knew the news, they didn't care much, or guessed which powerful water-based martial arts master it was.

……

On this day, at the Changqing Peak Dojo.

In the secret room, Lu Changan finished practicing Changqing Gong for the day.

"Compared to the rapid progress of the Thousand Machines Divine Art, the Changqing Art has no follow-up exercises, and the efficiency of cultivation is really too low."

Lu Changan slowly finished his training and sighed in his heart.

When he was in Dayuan and Yunxia Sect, he was able to make up for it with the help of Fairy Zixia who was in the Nascent Soul stage.

The training efficiency is low and takes up a lot of Lu Changan's time every day. He has to practice skills such as refining puppets and drawing talismans, so he doesn't have much free time to tackle tough problems.

This is because Lu Changan's body cultivation is stuck at the quasi-fourth level, unable to break through the bottleneck, so he did not waste time on this.

Lu Chang'an has a long lifespan, and it would be fine if his cultivation efficiency was low, but the key is that he will not be able to advance to the middle stage of the Nascent Soul in the future.

Fortunately, it is still a long way to go to reach the peak of the early Nascent Soul stage, so there is plenty of time to plan the subsequent exercises.

Over the past three years, the practice of "Thousand Machines Divine Art" has progressed rapidly.

The previous puppet inheritance and puppet-controlling secrets mainly came from the Qianji Sect, and they are passed down from generation to generation.

Therefore, the initial transition to cultivation was smooth and seamless, and he cultivated to the fourth level of the Jindan stage of "Qianji Yanshen Jue".

Even so, Lu Changan's progress was beyond common sense, far surpassing Wei Guishi, the puppet-refining genius.

And Master Wei Kui is faster than Elder Teng.

In terms of puppet refining aptitude alone, Lu Changan may not be as good as Master Wei, but his spiritual talent is much stronger.

In actual practice, Lu Changan has two major advantages:
First, gain experience and insights directly from Elder Teng’s memory and avoid many detours.

Secondly, when the previous life comes, the soul is more powerful, which can enhance the effect of practicing "Thousand Machines to Evolve the Gods" and prolong the practice time.

The secret art of the soul causes great damage to the mind after each practice, and the recovery speed is much lower than magic power.

Lu Changan can break this shackle by coming down from his previous life, and the effect and time are greatly improved.

Even if it comes to the second life, there is still a promoting effect, which may be related to the reincarnation characteristics.

After practicing "Thousand Machines Divine Art" to the fourth level, Lu Changan's spiritual awareness has been enhanced by nearly half.

It may not seem like much, but compared to the soul foundation of a Nascent Soul cultivator, this improvement is already considerable.

From the fourth level onwards, most of the early basic knowledge has been transformed, and the speed of cultivation is not that exaggerated, but it is still enough to make the elders of Qianji Sect envious.

The most difficult part is above the seventh level, which corresponds to the Nascent Soul stage. Elder Teng was stuck there for nearly a hundred years.

Lu Changan speculated that it would be easier for him to break through the bottleneck.

In addition to his outstanding spiritual talent, after the fourth life, Lu Changan's spiritual talent was comparable to the peak of the middle stage of the Nascent Soul, with great strength and it was easier to break through the bottleneck.

Moreover, when he reaches the peak of the sixth level, there is still room for slight improvement in the strength of his spiritual awareness.

……

End your daily practice.

Lu Changan took out a communication jade pendant with flashing spiritual patterns and received the message from Zhang Tianfeng.

Without hesitation, he came to the Tianfeng Mountain Dojo.

Inside the main hall, the two men sat opposite each other and talked, but the topic was not about the Wei Dao League.

"I am not surprised that the Seven Nations Alliance Demonic War has broken out again. However, the Mingquan Sect, the leader of the six demonic sects, has provided some support, which shows their determination to overcome this tough challenge."

Lu Chang'an looked thoughtful as he looked towards the direction of the Seven-Nation Alliance.

Several years ago, he returned from the territory of the Seven Nations Alliance.

The space formation node of Tinghai Pavilion is also within the territory of the Seven-Nation Alliance.

“If the Seven Nations Alliance is completely conquered, even if the Beast King Valley does not take action, the people in the Guardian Alliance will probably be in a state of panic and lose their will to fight.”

There was worry in Zhang Tianfeng's eyes.

The Dark Spring Sect can support the Blood Spirit Sect and the Magic Palace, and in theory it is also possible to assist the Beast King Valley. The difference is that the Beast King Valley's strategy has basically been achieved and it has taken control of the situation.

Once the Seven Nations Alliance is conquered, the survival space of the Defenders Alliance will be very small. At that time, the Blood Spirit Sect and the Magic Palace will also be able to free up their hands and bring huge pressure to the Defenders Alliance from the side.

"According to the information we have received so far, the six sects of the Demonic Path have reached an agreement on the distribution of benefits in the rear territories they occupy in the Eastern Region, and the rectification is almost complete."

Zhang Tianfeng looked solemn and paused:
"Fortunately, the Mingquan Sect manages a large area, so they can't spare all their efforts. The support for the Seven Nations Alliance currently consists of two Yuanying Zhenjun, a dozen Jindan Zhenren, and some high-level technicians."

"I hope the Seven Nations Alliance can hold on, or at least not collapse."

Lu Changan looked far away and murmured.

In fact, the Seven-Nation Alliance was already beginning to struggle a hundred years ago.

Fortunately.

"Master Qingmu" emerged as a dark horse and suddenly came to the Seven-Nation Alliance, killing the demon's Nascent Soul and changing the regional situation.

Otherwise, the Seven Nations Alliance would probably lose a large amount of territory and would not have the time to recuperate in the years ahead.

"By the way, Master Lu. The materials for refining the quasi-fourth-level puppet that we agreed to a few years ago have been secretly prepared."

Zhang Tianfeng took out a storage bag.

"it is good."

Lu Changan counted the materials and confirmed that they were correct.

Previously, Zhang Tianfeng helped to refine and transform the magic weapon, and Lu Changan had materials on credit, so he gave him this quota as compensation.

Zhang Tianfeng instructed that the creation of this puppet must be kept secret.

The future situation in the Daqing East Region is uncertain. A quasi-fourth-level puppet can enhance the sect's foundation and strategic reserves. It may be able to cope with crises at critical moments and reduce a lot of losses.

……

A few months later.

Lu Changan created a quasi-fourth-level puppet that met Zhang Tianfeng's needs.

This time, Lu Changan worked alone, and Master Wei Gui did not participate in the whole process.

Perhaps due to his practice of "Thousand Machines Divine Art", Lu Changan felt very comfortable with it, and the quasi-fourth-level puppet he created was of higher quality than expected.

"Friend Lu's puppet refining skills have basically entered the fourth level."

Master Wei Kui commented objectively.

As a fourth-rank puppeteer, he could not find any obvious faults with the final product.

In order to hone his puppetry skills, Lu Changan used the suitable precious materials he had acquired in previous years to upgrade the alien peacock puppet and fill in the gaps in the puppet army formation.

The original puppet army formation is almost complete.

If it weren't for the killing of two Nascent Soul monsters, Shen Laoxie and Elder Teng, the progress would not have been so fast.

Puppet is actually a consumable.

If a fight is lost, the puppet will often be severely damaged, its quality will be downgraded, or even destroyed on the spot.

For example, Elder Teng had previously self-destructed eight puppets. Lu Changan narrowly won the battle of sealing the demons, and half of the puppet army was scrapped.

In a fierce fight between evenly matched opponents, the puppets will also be damaged and need materials to repair them.

Unless a very high winning rate can be guaranteed and the spoils of war are greater than the losses, the puppet can continue to improve.

But just one disastrous defeat or one major disaster can ruin all previous efforts.

Therefore, even for the Qianji Sect, it is impossible to accumulate and pass on a large number of fourth-order puppets.

In the short term, Lu Changan did not have enough fourth-level treasures to build a new fourth-level puppet. The upgrade of the Peacock Spirit to the fourth level, the upgrade of [Nail Head Arrow] and [Black Sky Wing] consumed too many precious materials for Lu Changan.

In addition, too many puppets would exceed Lu Changan's control limit.

In a fight, puppets and magic weapons will occupy the cultivator's spiritual consciousness, and the more they have, the stronger they are not necessarily.

As a puppet spirit, Master Wei controls a true fourth-level puppet. Under special circumstances, he can help Lu Changan save some of his spiritual burden.

However, the puppet army and the alien peacock cannot avoid a certain amount of spiritual load.

The current puppet configuration is close to the limit, and having more will not be conducive to performance.

Lu Changan's future direction is to enhance the quality of puppets rather than pursue quantity.

……

In addition to puppetry, Lu Changan's other fourth-level skill will also soon enter the fourth level.

In the decades since he was promoted to the Nascent Soul stage, Lu Changan has accumulated a lot of materials for talisman embryos of fourth-level talismans.

Some came from monsters and demons, and some came from fourth-level spiritual wood. There were both harvests and trades, with the former accounting for a higher proportion.

This is a training opportunity that other talisman masters cannot even dream of.

Under the possession of the fourth life, Lu Changan's spiritual consciousness became powerful, and the quality and success rate of the fourth-level talismans he drew in recent years just reached the standards of a fourth-level talisman master.

Once "Thousand Machines Divine Art" advances to the next two levels, Lu Changan's control over his spiritual consciousness will be even more refined, and his talisman-making skills will be able to stand firmly at the fourth level.

Unfortunately, Lu Changan did not inherit the talisman of level four or above.

However, spiritual talismans and precious talismans have some similarities in their origins.

The talisman with the fourth-grade spiritual wood as the talisman embryo can also be nourished in spirituality using the previous method of "Evergreen Art", but the improvement of quality and power is very slow.

It can be cultivated into a fine product of the same grade, but it is difficult to improve the grade.

Unless the talisman embryo of the spiritual wood is of the fourth-grade middle quality, it would be easier to refine it into the fourth-grade lower quality.

Lu Changan speculated that when spiritual talismans and treasure talismans reached the fourth level and above, their skills continued to overlap and gradually became a system.

Due to the scarcity of fourth-level talismans, each one is equivalent to a treasure that can be inherited, and has similar properties to treasure talismans.

Lu Changan also gained very little from the Yuanying monster he killed.

……

half year later.

Lu Changan used the fourth-grade medium-quality Tianshan wood to make the talisman embryo and refined several fourth-grade low-quality talismans, leaving them for slow nurturing in the future.

At this moment, he possesses three fourth-level skills.

Even among Yuanying Zhenjun, this is an incredible thing, and it is difficult for Yuanying great monks to do it.

Due to the low efficiency of practicing Changqing Gong, Lu Changan did not have much time to consolidate and overcome difficulties.

His puppet-refining and talisman-drawing skills have barely reached the fourth level.

Especially the skill of talismans, which gave Lu Changan a feeling of barely breaking through, reaching the upper limit and unable to go any further.

"The time is right. Fairy Xia should be almost ready."

Recently, Lu Changan plans to go to Fengguo.

He has a complete opportunity to form a baby in his hands, but it would be of little use to him if he kept it.

After hundreds of years of cultivating immortals, most of the old friends and younger generations who once had close ties with him have passed away, or have been limited by their talents and lifespans and have lost their potential to make further progress.

Apart from Xia Wenyue, Lu Changan had no more suitable choice.

From a public perspective, if the Weidao League could have one more Nascent Soul cultivator, it would be beneficial to the overall situation.

……

On the eve of Lu Chang'an's departure, shocking bad news came from Fengguo.

This is sad news.

This is bad news for Lu Changan.

"Chu Tianfeng's direct disciple 'Situ Lan' was assassinated on the way to the auction."

"According to gossip, Situ Lan has resolved his worries and has been secretly preparing to have a baby in recent years, but his whereabouts were betrayed by an insider."

"After Situ Lan's death, the evil sect 'Wu Jian Men' claimed responsibility for the incident."

"The Beast King Valley claims that this is a revenge against True Lord Changqing for violating the peace trade agreement, beheading True Lord Heiyu's body, and refusing to hand over the [Black Sky Wing]!"

After receiving the information, Lu Changan frowned and remained silent for a long time.

A few years ago, Beast King Valley threatened during negotiations that it would take "countermeasures".

At that time, Lu Changan subconsciously didn't take it too seriously, thinking that it might just be empty talk.

As a fourth-rank master of divination, his whereabouts were difficult to determine, and he had no companion or offspring, so he was not afraid of retaliation from the Beast King Valley.

Lu Changan had looked at the physiognomy of Zhao Tan'er, a junior who was close to him in the sect, and had calculated the fortune, but had not found any signs of a calamity.

Unexpectedly, the counter-retaliation that the Beast King Valley had been planning for several years would eventually fall on the disciples of Alliance Leader Chu.

It seems to have nothing to do with Lu Changan personally, but it actually has a huge impact.

"As expected of the Demonic Camp, they counterattacked as soon as they said they would. This move by the Beast King Valley can be said to kill three birds with one stone."

Lu Changan sighed, realizing the negative impact of this matter.

Firstly, Situ Lan’s death strangled a potential infant-forming talent of the Wei Dao League, and once again shattered the hope of the Wu Ya Palace to produce three Yuan Yings.

Secondly, the assassination of the disciple of Alliance Leader Chu was a blow to the prestige of the leader of the Weidao Alliance and the pro-war faction.

When Lu Chang'an killed the physical body of Lord Black Feather, didn't Alliance Leader Chu reward him and strongly support him?

The Beast King Valley directly slapped Alliance Leader Chu in the face, killing his own disciples in retaliation, making him feel sad.

Third, alienate the relationship between Lu Changan and the Wei Dao League.

In order to counter this incident, the peace-loving faction of the Weidao League would become dissatisfied with Lu Changan.

If Lu Changan had made appropriate concessions at that time and handed over the [Black Sky Wing], he could have eased the relationship between the two major camps.

Situ Lan was assassinated and implicated by Lu Changan. Many monks in Wuya Palace inevitably had prejudices against him.

Who can be sure whether this incident will make Alliance Leader Chu have some thoughts and feel regretful.

After all, Situ Lan was once a disciple valued by Alliance Leader Chu, and the relationship between master and disciple was deep.

Once a gap between Chu Tianfeng and Lu Changan appears, the Beast King Valley’s counterattack will completely win!
If Chu Tianfeng is the number one cultivator in the Wei Dao League, then Lu Changan, who possesses a fourth-level spiritual pet, is the second most powerful fighter in the Wei Dao League.

"Brother Situ, the true cause and effect of this matter has little to do with Lu."

"You can only blame yourself for not being careful when going out. The sect was infiltrated and the secrets were leaked. Why did you go out when you don't have the ability to protect yourself against a Yuanying old monster?"

Lu Changan shook his head and after some calculations, he came to some conclusions.

In preparation for the birth of a baby, leaking the news is crucial.

Lu Chang'an's behavior gave the Beast King Valley a legitimate reason to take revenge.

In fact, Situ Lan was older than Xia Wenyue, and was no longer in the best stage for forming a baby. Of course, he was not old, and his hope was slim, but he was just not in his prime.

If Lu Changan had not received the news from Xiao Niyue, he would not have known that Situ Lan might have resolved his knot in his heart and was still firmly preparing to conceive a baby.

Chu Tianfeng also seemed willing to give his disciple a chance.

……

Not long after, Zhang Tianfeng visited Changqing Peak to discuss countermeasures with Lu Changan.

Zhang Tianfeng said sternly, "An unfortunate incident occurred in Wuya Palace, and it has something to do with our sect. It would be best for Master Lu to go to Fengguo to mourn the deceased on behalf of Jinyun Valley and handle the relationship with Wuya Palace and Alliance Leader Chu."

"Well, Lu is going to Fengguo."

Lu Changan nodded, agreed to the matter, and left Jinyun Valley that day.

(End of this chapter)