Walking alone with a sword, slaying ghosts and gods

Chapter 211: Ten years of practice, promoted to the peak of the ninth level of Lian Gang (Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to all readers!)

In the Tongxuan Realm, men who have achieved success in their cultivation can have many wives and concubines and enjoy all the tenderness, and the same is true for women.

Xiao Huarong is such a female cultivator. She is over 600 years old, but her skin is as delicate as white jade, flawless, slender and soft, breathtaking. She wears a white Taoist robe, walks gracefully, with a slender waist and unparalleled charm.

She likes men but never forces them. She either seduces them with her beauty or promises them money and magic. But if they are unwilling, she will just give up. Therefore, although her actions are between good and evil, she has a wide circle of friends and has friends in both the good and evil worlds.

On Zhiguan Mountain, Grandmaster Xiao came to visit.

Because the other party was also a good friend of the master and his wife, Lu Cheng had to receive him politely. When he arrived at the reception room, he saw Xiao Huarong coaxing a handsome boy.

The young man's appearance was like a bright pearl and beautiful jade, and his eyebrows and eyes were just like a fairy in a painting. Even when he was angry and acting like a spoiled brat, people would still want to be close to him when they saw him.

"Okay, okay, my dear little ancestor, the honey you want is here. No matter how much he offers, I will buy it for you."

After saying this, Xiao Huarong, with a doting and sad expression on his face, turned around and was stunned to see a handsome Taoist priest with a bit of aloof beauty walking in.

Although she was good friends with both Huang Longzi and Madam Baoxiang, and had met and known most of their disciples, Lu Cheng was the last to join. Most of them were either in seclusion or traveling outside. By chance, this was the first time she met Lu Cheng.

"Greetings, Senior Xiao."

Lu Cheng was very polite; he already knew the purpose of Xiao Huarong's visit.

The jade bee jelly of the auspicious jade bee is a rare treasure. Even the golden elixir immortal would love to enjoy the fourth-level jade bee jelly.

The fifth-level jade bee nectar is a secret treasure of the Jindan Zhenren cultivators. It can remove inner heat, ward off evil thoughts, break up evil spirits, nourish the body, and restore vitality. It can be said to have infinite benefits.

However, the auspicious jade bees in Lucheng almost occupy half of the insect world, so even the fifth-level jade bee syrup is produced quite a lot.

He enjoyed part of it himself and his concubine, gave part of it to his teachers, and even his teacher Chi Shenzi and his third uncle Mie Hongzi offered theirs.

Even so, there is still some left.

Master Huang Longzi didn't care much about these things. When Madam Baoxiang found out, she decided to find some wealthy relatives and friends for Lu Cheng and let them bid the highest price to get the property.

Ordinary Jindan Zhenren cultivators would keep their possession of fifth-grade jade bee syrup a secret, but Zhenren Huang Longzi and his wife were top cultivators in this world, so there was no problem for Lu Cheng to sell jade bee syrup through them.

Some of them have been sold over the years, which has helped Lu Cheng expand his network and earn him a lot of money.

But looking at Xiao Huarong and her lover in front of him, Lu Cheng frowned secretly: "Master's wife was a little careless this time. How can such a person keep a secret?"

It would be fine to sell it on a small scale in exchange for precious spiritual objects, but Lu Cheng did not want to let everyone know that he possessed fifth-grade jade bee nectar.

If someone comes to you asking for help, will you give it to them or not?
If you give, people will come to you in an endless stream; if you don’t give, you will create unnecessary hatred.

But the next moment, Lu Cheng knew why his master's wife, Madam Baoxiang, did this.

Xiao Huarong took out a piece of dark gray iron stone from his Qiankun bag, and blew it into the air to Lu Cheng with his magic power.

"I will use this item to exchange for your high-quality jade bee nectar. I wonder how many years it will last?"

"Meteor from the sky?"

Lu Cheng picked up the spiritual object, looked around and checked it, and confirmed that it was correct. He couldn't help but smile bitterly. If Master's wife knew that Xiao Huarong had obtained this treasure, it would be no wonder.

To survive in this world, you always have to make trade-offs. You can't want benefits while trying to avoid all dangers.

"For twenty years, I have been the one supplying Uncle Xiao's Jade Bee Jelly."

Hearing this, Xiao Huarong smiled and nodded.

In fact, transactions between acquaintances at this level would not easily let the other party suffer losses. When they have cultivated to the top level in this world, ordinary interests are not enough to destroy the relationship maintained for hundreds of years.

As a disciple, Lu Cheng didn't dare to use the favors of his master and his mistress to make deals.

"If you have some free time in the future, why not stay at my Diling Temple for a few days?"

When the two sides parted, Xiao Huarong's eyes were full of affection, her voice was as gentle and sweet as a silver bell, and her smile was charming, beautiful like a flower, and sweet like honey.

Finally, amid the reluctance of the man beside her, she left with a big laugh.

He was romantic and indulged in sensual pleasures. Although Lu Cheng did not like him, he could not help but admire him a little.

"Huarong Road is dangerous! Dangerous! Dangerous! I'm afraid I'll have to avoid this Diling Temple from now on."

Meteorite iron of better quality is often a rare material for sword-making in the Tongxuan Realm, because it contains spiritual energy from outer space, and perhaps it can be used to forge a flying sword that is very different from that in this world.

So we have to do this deal even if it involves risks.

Half a year later, on Mount Zhiguan.

In the wooden house in the mountains, there were still three masters and apprentices.

"Hua'er, this is half-year-old jade honey, which you are to deliver to the Earth Spirit Temple. In fact, this honey is easy to store and is extremely difficult to spoil, but Senior Xiao is picky. If it weren't really troublesome, she would have me deliver new honey every month.

Senior Xiao is a friend of your master, so you must be polite when you meet him."

"Yes, I will follow Master's orders."

Situ Hua took the Qiankun bag and nodded in agreement.

During this period, he practiced the contents of "The Demonic Treasure Record of Demonic Writings and Ghost Seals" in "The Secret Demonic Dao of the Universe", and his magic power continued to grow, and his temperament became more dignified.

Those tricks in "Baolu" were originally created by Deng Dongyuan for his own disciples, and they are almost perfect in terms of taking all factors into consideration.

"Chu Yun, this is a letter from my master and some gifts. Send it to your fifth senior brother and ask him for the magical Immortal Binding Rope."

The Immortal Binding Rope was only a fourth-tier magical weapon, but Lu Cheng needed help now, so of course he had to exaggerate and call it a magical weapon. To Miao Chuyun, this was also a courtesy from the younger generation to the elders.

"Okay, go your separate ways. Go early and come back early."

"Take care, my dear teacher."

After both Situ Hua and Miao Chuyun paid their respects, they left in their respective vehicles.

More than a month later, both of them returned safely without any problems.

……

Inside the quiet and cold retreat room.

Lu Cheng used his own blood and fire to connect his own vitality. After repairing his internal injuries, he began to practice in seclusion again, but this time he was much more careful.

It was still the golden corpse that was summoned by Lu Cheng with a wave of his sleeve, but this time it fell directly into the fourth-order inverted five elements formation that Lu Cheng had purchased.

Last time, it was indeed Lu Cheng himself who was careless, because he had collected the golden corpse in the Jiuli Cauldron, and he could definitely call it back with a wave of his sleeves. Therefore, although Lu Cheng was cautious about the Seven Saints' Secret Magic, he was not careful enough about the golden corpse in front of him.

As a result, his mind was breached by the demons, and he was almost beaten to death by the golden corpse in front of him.

This time, Lu Cheng rested for half a year and spent a lot of money to buy a fourth-level formation flag, and also prepared a fourth-level magic weapon, the Immortal Binding Rope. With the combined efforts of the two, he would not be as embarrassed as last time.

Lu Cheng first reached out and threw out the golden rope. This magic weapon of Fifth Senior Brother Niu Meng was extremely mysterious. Once it was really entangled around the body, even a Jindan Grandmaster would find it difficult to break free for a while.

Then Lu Cheng shot out magic power with a finger, activating the small flags on the ground to glow.

The Five Elements Formation is inverted and not good at changing. It uses overbearing magic power to defeat the enemy. However, once a cultivator has mastered the changes in this formation, the power of various methods will be greatly reduced.

But this is exactly what Lu Cheng needs to suppress the golden corpse. This guy also uses force to control people. As for the changes in the formation, Lu Cheng doesn't believe that a zombie can understand it. "Gather souls to control ghosts, change into life and death, go."

Once again, he sacrificed the Seven Sacred Magic Lamps and practiced magic once again, but this time, Lu Cheng was more determined and cautious than last time.

A faint purple flame flew out from the glazed magic lamp, landed on the Baihui acupoint on the golden corpse's head, and burned into it.

As time went by, just like last time, a rotten stench gradually overflowed and became more and more intense.

At the same time, one's inner demons began to arise and all kinds of illusions began to appear.

Lu Cheng sat on the stone bed and meditated, and his hand gestures were perfectly correct.

One hour passed, then two hours passed. After Lu Cheng's mind was exhausted to a certain extent, the strange fragrance came to his face again.

But this time, Lu Cheng opened his eyes immediately after being immersed for a moment.

Sure enough, the golden corpse in the formation began to struggle again.

However, the Immortal Binding Rope and the Five Elements Formation have been activated together. The Immortal Binding Rope is like a golden snake, emitting light and entangling the golden corpse. You advance and I retreat, you retreat and I advance, unloading the tremendous and fierce force.

At the same time, the huge pressure of the formation also fell on it, causing it to roar angrily and rush forward, but it was blocked by the light of the formation and bounced back as if it had touched a wall of fire.

While Lu Cheng was holding a seal with his left hand to resist the various attacks of the inner demon illusions, he was waving a small flag with his right hand to unleash the full power of the inverted five elements formation.

A huge hand seemed to appear in the void, but under Lu Cheng's exquisite control, he did not use brute force, but listened and unloaded the force. He did not confront it head-on, but just prevented the golden corpse from breaking out of the formation.

But this time, Lu Cheng was well prepared and his method of dealing with the situation was correct, but he overestimated his own mental strength and underestimated the golden corpse's almost endless physical strength.

As time went by, his mental strength was gradually exhausted, but the golden corpse was still roaring and screaming vigorously. Lu Cheng knew that this training method had failed again.

However, Lu Cheng just waved his sleeves, and the ferocious golden corpse in front of him suddenly turned into a golden stream of light and was taken back into the Jiuli Cauldron. Lu Cheng then sat cross-legged in meditation to recover his mind:
"Fail once, fail twice, fail ten times, fail a hundred times, will it fail a thousand times, ten thousand times, or a hundred thousand times?"

Compared with the power of the Seven Sacred Secret Magic itself, Lu Cheng was more concerned about the tempering of his body and mind in the process of practicing this magic.

Take the right path and your inner demons will change into different forms.

The righteous path is to constantly refine one's own essence, energy and spirit, so that they can gather and disperse, change, and merge into one. The more you practice, the stronger you become, and finally one day you will have an epiphany and soar into the sky.

The devil takes advantage of the situation and cleverly evolves countless illusions. If a cultivator falls into it, he will feel infinite benefits, but if he sees through it, the power will be greatly reduced.

Five years later, still in the stone chamber, Lu Cheng had already returned the Immortal Binding Rope, the natal magic weapon of fifth senior brother Niu Meng.

However, he has now mastered the use of the Reversed Five Elements Formation to the extreme. Within the Five Elements Formation flag, a translucent giant hand with five-colored light appears, stretching and changing in the void, sometimes contracting and sometimes pressing. The golden corpse within the formation, despite its continuous roars, was always pressed down in place.

Finally, after more than a month of tug of war, although the golden corpse was still violent, its body could no longer withstand it.

Eventually, it was refined by the magic fire of the Seven Saints' Secret Magic Lamp, and its body suddenly began to crack and shatter from the inside out, just like a broken pottery figurine, breaking into pieces, and finally turning into a piece of purple flame, and flew into the Seven Saints' Secret Magic Lamp.

"Huh... I finally got it done."

Looking at the corpse oil and souls growing in the Seven Saints Secret Magic Lamp, Lu Cheng let out a long sigh.

What is even more surprising is that when Lu Cheng sensed the corpse oil in the magic lamp, he found that it was enough to summon three Golden Core Dharma Bodies. This is a realm that Deng Dongyuan had barely reached after practicing the Seven Saints Secret Magic for a lifetime. As for Lu Cheng, it was because the golden corpse he refined, the physical body and the soul generated by the resentment of heaven and earth were many times stronger than those of ordinary Golden Core cultivators, which resulted in such an effect.

If Deng Dongyuan were to be resurrected from the dead to refine the golden corpse, he would be able to achieve the effect of summoning the golden elixir body five times.

Lu Cheng was drowsy at this moment. After mastering the magic, he meditated on the stone bed and fell asleep.

Although cultivators at the innate, Qi training, and foundation building levels have magical powers, they are not much different from ordinary mortals and still need to sleep for a long time to avoid damaging their bodies.

After reaching the realm of Condensing Sha and Refining Gang, the cultivator's magic power increases dramatically, and he gradually begins to nourish his soul. As his soul becomes stronger, he no longer needs a lot of sleep to maintain energy.

Only one hour of sleep a day is needed to maintain a normal life. Even if you don't sleep for a month, you can still be full of energy and your body will not be damaged.

Lu Cheng was so exhausted because he had been fighting the golden corpse non-stop for the past month, and the energy consumption was certainly not comparable to normal life.

Completing the minor success of the cultivation of the Seven Sacred Secret Magic was like a piece of iron stone being tempered and hammered in a raging fire for Lu Cheng.

Impurities are removed, making it tougher and harder.

Discover your own weaknesses, correct and improve them to turn them into strengths. Not only did Lu Cheng teach his disciples in this way, he also practiced in this way himself. He did not indulge in the convenience of magic skills.

After achieving minor success in the Seven Saints' Secret Magic, Lu Cheng began to practice the ninth level of the Great Sun Divine Gang after many years.

Condense the Gang and Sha into one, and temper the true form of the body.

The two realms of Condensing Sha and Refining Gang can be achieved in five to ten years if the cultivator's character is tempered enough, the skills are complete, and the land veins filled with Sha Qi are found. Then, condensing the Tian Gang atmosphere and integrating it into one's own magic power can be achieved in five to ten years.

However, Lu Cheng's training time is much longer than this number.
Just because at this level, he strives for perfection. He can accept imperfections, but cannot accept not trying his best.

Strive to achieve the unity of Gang and Sha and lay the deepest foundation for the Tao, rather than stopping at the path of alchemy in this life.

That’s why it has been delayed for so many years.

The sky was clear and the air was bright. The Taoist stood in the air. Above the nine heavens, golden-red sunlight poured down on him like a waterfall.

Lu Cheng's hands were stretched out as if embracing the sky, and at the same time he changed his magic gestures. His clothes danced in the wind, and an invisible and tangible aura burst out from his body.

Above the nine heavens, rays of strong solar energy gathered in his palms and body like dragons attracted to him, lingering and condensing.

Today, Lu Cheng has become a peak cultivator at the eighth level of the Refining Gang realm after years of training and polishing his skills. He is adept at using the Great Sun Divine Gang.

Therefore, as time went by and the spells changed, the color of the sky gradually became deeper, as if being pulled by his power. The clouds dispersed, and a condensed golden beam of light shot straight towards Taoist Lu Cheng.

Lu Cheng's whole body was wrapped in golden light, as if he was in an endless golden ocean.

As time went by, subtle changes began to take place in the Taoist's body. The nearly red-golden qi merged with the evil magic power in his body, like two turbulent currents colliding in his body, making a roaring sound.

Under the tempering of the strong energy, Lu Cheng's skin gradually revealed a jade-like luster, and every muscle seemed to be reforged, becoming tighter and harder.

The air around him in the sky became scorching hot because of Lu Cheng's practice, and even the clouds above the nine heavens began to distort, as if they were about to be swallowed by this force.

However, Lu Cheng's figure was like a solitary peak, standing firmly between heaven and earth, allowing the powerful forces to rush through his body. In this constant tempering, his body was gradually tempered and condensed into the true form that best suited his own path.

Why did Lu Cheng stop practicing and accumulating magical power after returning from the East China Sea?
Because he vaguely felt that this final step to break the deadlock was crucial, he would rather wait for twenty-four years to adjust than rush for success.

Just waiting for an opportunity, now that the Seven Saints' Secret Magic has achieved a small success, the opportunity has come. At this moment, when practicing the ninth level of Refining Gang, the body, spirit and true form will reach the most perfect state that one's own Taoist foundation can achieve.

Finally, as the operation of the Taoist techniques was completed, a golden light brighter than before burst out from Taoist Lu Cheng's body. At this moment, his figure seemed to merge with the world, and he had perfectly refined his energy and achieved his true form.

It took about five years to practice the Seven Saints Secret Magic, and another five years to accumulate the energy to practice the ninth level of magic power.

Now, Lu Cheng is 124 years old and has reached the peak of the ninth level of Liangang. He is already a master in this Tongxuan realm.

"The storm is brewing. I may be promoted to the Golden Core Realm at any time. I only need an opportunity to break through. But this opportunity may be in the next moment, or it may be one or two hundred years later. But Master, I am afraid he can't wait."

Lu Cheng turned sideways and looked in the direction of Canglong Peak in Guizang Mountain. His master had practiced Taoism for hundreds of years and was in charge of the Northern Sect's lineage. How could he have no enemies?

Normally these people keep their heads down and dare not show their heads. However, as the Master’s life span is drawing to a close, he will inevitably have to go through the fourth and forty-nine tribulations, and many demons and monsters are beginning to stir.

After all, even for Huang Longzi, facing the fourth forty-ninth calamity would inevitably involve eighty to ninety percent of his mental energy.

(End of this chapter)