Walking alone with a sword, slaying ghosts and gods

Chapter 61 Confusion
"Mom, you left too early, otherwise Dad wouldn't be like this!"

Yuan Xiaodie felt full of grievances and stumbled out.

My dad has always spoiled me since I was a child. He would give me the delicious food first and use the spiritual stones and elixirs first.

Fearing that his foundation in Taoism was not as good as others, he went to work as a miner in a spiritual stone mine, just to get himself a better foundation-laying technique.

But everything changed after meeting Lin Chuanli.

My father was wholeheartedly trying to get me to be the wife or concubine of Lin Chuanli, and wanted to climb up the high branch of the Lin family in Ranmu Mountain, without caring about my feelings at all.

"It turns out that all the time he treated me well was just because he wanted to get a good price."

When people are angry, their minds will inevitably become narrow-minded.

Especially since Yuan Xiaodie was in this underground cave, the surrounding environment was dark. Through her tearful eyes, she seemed to see waves of black and gray smoke spreading and rolling all around, swaying lightly with the breeze, and vaguely seemed to be a human figure.

Yuan Xiaodie wiped the tears from her eyes and looked again, only to see a middle-aged, beautiful lady in blue clothes, smiling at her tenderly.

"...Mother, mother?"

The nun smiled and nodded slightly, but the next moment, she flew out like a wisp of smoke.

"Mom, don't abandon Xiaodie. Mom, take Xiaodie with you."

At this moment, Yuan Xiaodie was completely confused and ran after the black smoke. In her eyes, that was her long deceased mother.

On the other side, in the stone chamber where spiritual energy was gathered, Lu Cheng and Lin Chuanli were practicing breathing exercises.

Cultivation is a very personal matter. Many cultivators’ secret practice rooms in their caves are not allowed to be entered even by their fellow cultivators and their children, as the secrets of their cultivation are hidden there.

However, the monk from the Lin family who built this underground cave probably considered that most of the people here were monks from the Lin family, so he did not separate the place.

As a result, Lu Cheng and Lin Chuanli sat cross-legged at the two ends of the stone chamber to practice martial arts, and each of them focused at least half of their attention on each other.

You don't want to reveal your own secrets, but you also want to peek into the other person's secrets.

Lu Cheng sat cross-legged on the cushion, practicing the Chiji Heart Method. Normally, when a cultivator in the Qi training realm reaches the ninth level, the meridians in the body are basically saturated, so he needs to break through the foundation-building realm, remove the hair and cleanse the marrow, and compress and transform the nature of the magic power.

But Lu Cheng is different. His predecessor Lu Cheng paid with his own life to help him cultivate the Qi training realm's innate magical power Qi sea. In addition, in recent years, Lu Cheng has successively cultivated two sword skills and devoted all his efforts to purifying his own magic power.

Even though he had already reached the eleventh level of Qi training, his meridians were still quite empty. It was foreseeable that even if he cultivated to the twelfth level of Qi training, this state would not change much.
The speed at which mana increases for Qi-cultivating monks and foundation-building monks is different.

Contrary to most people's instinctive intuition, a monk's practice actually gets faster as time goes by.

The speed at which a Qi-training cultivator accumulates mana is much slower than that of a foundation-building cultivator. Although the time required to complete the ninth level of Qi training is much shorter than that required to complete the ninth level of foundation-building, in fact, the total amount of mana at the first level of foundation-building is already much higher than that at the ninth level or even the twelfth level of Qi training.

Therefore, unless the practitioner himself has infinite lifespan, it is theoretically impossible to reach the 1,000th level of Qi training, even if the practitioner's physique and meridians can bear it.

So, Lu Cheng began to practice the speed of the circulation of his magic power, making the circulation speed of the Chiji Qi in his body far exceed the normal speed, but he was very cautious in his revisions. The martial arts method was created by Chi Shen Zi, who was at the Jindan Zhenren realm, and Lu Cheng did not feel that he, a latecomer in the pursuit of the truth, was qualified to modify it at random.

Therefore, this acceleration of operation is mostly reflected in the "use" aspect rather than the "body" aspect.

The Jian Yuan Lu Meridian-Severing Sword Qi was created from this, allowing the advantages of one's own wide and powerful meridians to be maximized.

While Lu Cheng was sitting cross-legged and practicing Qigong, he turned his hands around and pressed them toward the center. Suddenly, Lin Chuanli, who was sitting opposite him, opened his eyes and looked at the young Taoist in front of him.

There was a faint red aura on his face and his Taoist robe fluttered. The more he practiced, the more fierce and powerful he looked.

As Lu Cheng's practice slowed down, Lin Chuanli also closed his eyes and continued to practice his family's profound skills silently.

As Lin Chuanli's hand gestures changed, circles of invisible and tangible ripples seemed to appear on his body under Lu Cheng's gaze.

Moreover, the hand gestures for practicing the Duotian Hualing Dafa were extremely exquisite and complicated. When the skill was practiced for nine times, a suction force seemed to form in the body. His whole body seemed to form a whirlpool, sucking in all the spiritual energy in the secret room and swallowing it up.

A moment later, the two people in the secret room opened their eyes at the same time, looked at each other, and smiled at each other.

"Brother Lin's martial arts skills seem to be very exquisite, and the magic power is deep and powerful. I have never seen it before. I wonder what school or sect it is from?"

There are twelve sects of good and evil, and sixteen evil sects. No matter which sect or school, the inherited skills are all advanced and exquisite, so Lin Chuanli's question is not considered rude.

"Ha, this is the inheritance I found in a cave of a casual cultivator in the Southern Wilderness in my early years. It is a Taoist book and a sword technique. At that time, I was being hunted by my enemies, so I simply ignored everything else and devoted myself to practicing swordsmanship in the deep mountains and old forests. This is what happened 20 years later."

Retreat seems to be a good word in the Tongxuan world. But in fact, many cultivators drive themselves crazy after years of hard practice.

Sitting in a cave for years, with no one to talk to or communicate with, and only a few Taoist books and the circulation of magic power in your body, is not easy to endure.

However, a ruthless person who can calm his mind and practice in the Qi training realm for twenty years must have gained a lot. Lu Cheng's words also indirectly explain the origin of his swordsmanship.

"In this case, Brother Lin must be over 40 years old. You really can't tell from his appearance."

"...Haha, maybe the Taoist profound skills have the effect of keeping one's youth."

"Speaking of which, my sister Qingyue is only in her early twenties. If Brother Lin wants to marry my sister Qingyue, he can marry into my Ranmu Mountain to learn the Soul-Snatching Technique or even the Five Palaces Forging Divine Art. Brother Lin's last name is also Lin, so marrying into my family won't be considered a disgrace to our ancestors."

While saying this, Lin Chuanli stared at Lu Cheng, but he did not see anything unusual in the expression of the man in front of him.

Calm and calm, without any fluctuations.

"You are younger than Miss Lin?"

"Oh, that's not the case. Actually, I'm a few years older than her. It's just that she has a higher seniority in the clan. Logically, I should call her little aunt. But it's not appropriate to call a girl old when we're out, so I call her Sister Qingyue." During the conversation, Lu Cheng understood. This Lin Chuanli in front of him was probably also a core member of the Lin family of Ranmu Mountain. Not only was he only at the ninth level of Qi training at a young age, but his behavior was also obviously taught by the elders in his family since he was a child.

Although he is a member of the evil sect, he makes people feel close to him during the conversation. His previous incarnation was completely inferior to him.

At this moment, a gleam of light flashed in Lu Cheng's eyes. He suddenly stood up and drew his sword.

Clang.

Along with a ray of sword light, the Chunjun sword that was originally placed next to the cushion had been nailed to the wall beside Lin Chuanli by Lu Cheng.

On the stone wall, there was a hazy black smoke shadow that twisted until it completely disappeared.

At the same time, after being startled at first, Lin Chuanli frowned slightly, sat upright on the cushion with his right hand spread out, forming a suction force in the center. All the black and gray smoke that had poured into the secret room at some point was sucked into his palm, and turned into nothingness in the blink of an eye.

"Ghost?"

“Something is a little different.”

Lu Cheng started out practicing the Taoist Heavenly Soldiers and Divine Generals Method. He could sense the difference. From a cultivator's perspective, the work was simply too rough, but it gave him a feeling of being natural.

At the same time, Lin Qingyue, who was meditating and regulating her qi in the central stone chamber of the cave, Lin Qingxue, who was processing monster materials in the underground ice room, and Yuan Wuwang, who was pacing back and forth in his room, were all attacked by the black and gray smoke at the same time.

Lin Qingyue frowned slightly and cast a second-level thunder talisman. After a burst of electric current rolled through, the smoke dissipated without a trace.

Yuan Wuwang was an old cultivator after all. After realizing something was wrong, he quickly calmed down and then vigorously circulated the magic power in his body. With a burst of ochre-colored spiritual light surging around him, the smoke was expelled.

Lin Qingxue, who had the weakest cultivation among the six, only had the fifth level of Qi training magic power. However, when she found herself surrounded by black and gray smoke, she was startled at first, then she picked up the sword beside her to calm herself, and then suddenly opened her eyes and slashed with the sword.

Her eyes were cold and sharp, and the smoke that had been surrounding her suddenly dissipated.

At the same time, Lin Qingyue has sent out the talisman:

"Everyone be careful, there is an alien invasion. I just used the spirit mirror to observe the cave and found that the door was opened. Who went out at this time?"

This underground cave has a defensive formation, but it is for external use only and not internal use. If someone inside wants to get out, the restriction will not be triggered.

Soon, everyone gathered towards the central position of the cave where Lin Qingyue was. At this time, Lin Qingyue had already activated the cave's fossil-turning-gold magic array, transforming the soil and rocks around the entire cave into gold and iron in a short period of time. In this way, even third or fourth-level monsters that were good at earth escape would not be able to break into the cave for a while.

However, despite such meticulous arrangements, it failed this time. Black and gray smoke still lingered on the walls of the cave from time to time, as if there were shadowy figures in it.

Seeing Lu Cheng, Lin Chuanli, Yuan Wuwang and Lin Qingxue had all arrived.

The moment she saw Lin Qingxue, Lin Qingyue's expression was obviously relieved, and then she said:

"To protect me, set up a mirror array in this cave. I can check the situation nearby and find out what is going on."

"Miss Lin, my Xiaodie is missing. She might have run away because she was angry with me. We have to go out and look for her!"

Yuan Wuwang was obviously a little confused at this time. There were monsters everywhere outside the cave. Who would get out and how to find them?
"Uncle Yuan, calm down first. This mirror array can detect up to several miles away. As long as Xiaodie hasn't run far, we will definitely find her. This is better than us going out and searching randomly now."

"Yes, yes. Then Miss Lin, please activate the mirror array!"

Lu Cheng and Lin Chuanli stepped forward to protect Lin Qingyue upon seeing this. During this process, Lu Cheng noticed that Lin Chuanli consciously stood beside Lin Qingxue, and at the same time, the iron ring on his left hand was faintly aimed at Yuan Wuwang.

Lin Qingyue waved her hands to circulate the magic power in her body, then raised her finger and shot out a purple light, which landed on a wall with pictures and texts engraved on it.

With a click, the wall opened, revealing a white jade mirror wall. As Lin Qingyue continued to inject magic power into the mirror wall, many different images gradually emerged on it.

Seeing this scene, Lu Cheng's expression changed slightly. He never expected that such a remote cave of the Lin family would have such an exquisite design.

This seems to be a fusion of formations and mechanical techniques. As long as the cultivator has the magic power of the Qi training realm, he can control it freely and monitor the movements near the cave.

"Exquisite, right? This is the legacy left by an elder of the Lin family. It is said that he has a very high talent for formations. He is almost a fourth-level formation master when he is still in the foundation-building stage, just like your talent in swordsmanship, Brother Lin."

Lin Chuanli, who was standing aside, seemed to see Lu Cheng's surprise and said this.

"Brother Lin, you are really too kind. I don't have the confidence that I can cultivate sword skills of the Condensation of Evil and Refining of Gang realms in the Foundation Establishment realm. Haha, most of those who can cultivate to the Foundation Establishment realm are geniuses in the Qi Refining realm. After cultivating to the Foundation Establishment realm, their potential is often exhausted and they are lost in the crowd."

Lu Cheng's words almost made Lin Chuanli, who was originally somewhat proud, depressed.

Yes, among the cultivators who can cultivate to the foundation-building stage or even higher levels, which one of them was not a genius in the Qi training stage?
At least one is diligent and hardworking or has inner talent. No matter how talented one is in the Qi training realm, what does it matter in this lofty and endless path?
At this time, Lin Qingyue had already pushed her own magic power to the extreme, and several purple lights were shot out. The light on the white jade mirror wall flickered, and finally Yuan Xiaodie's back was reflected in hundreds of images. At this moment, she was running in one direction with all her strength.

"what is that?"

At the same time, the others present also discovered that among the hundreds of images on the jade wall, apart from those of migrating monsters, there was a more eye-catching image:

A tiger that is several times larger than an ordinary brown bear is lying on the cliff or in the mountain stream, licking its paws.

Several people present were cultivators, their bodies cleared by magical powers, and they could all see that the tiger was surrounded by a thick layer of black and gray air, and there seemed to be human faces rolling and crying in it.

"It turns out that it was the evil spirits that were responsible!"

The art of ghost-accomplices is a magical power that tiger-like monsters generally awaken. It is said that the tiger king has a pure yang body and uses pure yang to control yin. Therefore, as long as a person is killed and eaten by the tiger monster, their instinct can refine their souls and turn them into ghost-accomplices.

These ghosts dared not leave the tiger, but instead helped the tiger, they transformed into the appearance of living people and relatives, and led people to the tiger to be eaten by the tiger. Then, more and more ghosts emerged.

"A tiger demon that can activate its innate magical power must either be extremely gifted or a third-level demon beast. This tiger demon can control so many minions, so it is obviously a third-level demon beast."

(End of this chapter)