The Longevity Family: Starting from the Foundation Establishment Ancestor

Three days later, at dawn, Han Mu quietly left Yanling Fort.

He didn't alert anyone, only telling Han Changqing that he would be in seclusion for a few days, while in reality he flew straight to the Blood Fiend Mountains on his sword. To avoid attracting attention, he still wore the illusionary mask, disguising himself as an ordinary middle-aged rogue cultivator.

The Blood Fiend Mountain Range is about two hundred miles away from Yanling Fortress. With Han Mu's Foundation Establishment Level 5 cultivation, he could fly there in half an hour.

Following the map in the Blood Fiend Token, he arrived at a secluded valley deep within the mountains. The valley was shrouded in mist and miasma, making it impossible for mortals to approach. But for cultivators, all they needed to do was raise their protective spiritual light.

"This is it."

Han Mu landed in front of a steep mountain wall. The mountain wall was covered with dark green vines, which seemed ordinary, but when he probed with his divine sense, he could find faint fluctuations of an array behind the vines.

"System, scan the formation ahead."

[Scanning in progress...]

[Formation Type: Illusionary Mist Concealment Array (Tier 2, Low Grade)]

[Function: Creates an illusion to hide the real entrance]

[Method to break the formation: Activate with the Blood Fiend Token, combined with the Blood Fiend Seal Technique]

Han Mu took out the Blood Fiend Token, formed a hand seal with his right hand, and condensed Blood Fiend runes, pressing them onto the token.

hum-

The token emitted a blood-red light, shooting towards the mountain wall. The array behind the vines rippled like water, revealing a cave entrance just wide enough for one person to pass through. The cave entrance was deep and dark, with a faint, eerie wind blowing out from within.

Han Mu did not rush to enter, but first cast several probing spells.

After confirming that there was no immediate danger, he activated the Five Elements Protective Aura and slowly walked into the cave.

The cave passage led downwards, its walls inlaid with glowing fluorite that barely illuminated the path ahead. After walking about a hundred paces, a heavy stone door appeared before them. The door was carved with grotesque demonic faces, and dried dark red bloodstains clung to the cracks.

"The founder of the Blood Fiend Sect certainly knows how to create an atmosphere," Han Mu thought with a cold smile, activating the Blood Fiend Token once more.

The stone gate slowly opened.

Behind the door was a stone chamber, about ten zhang in diameter. In the center of the chamber was a stone platform, upon which sat a skeleton dressed in a blood-red Taoist robe, holding a broken sword. Scattered around the skeleton were several jade boxes and jade bottles.

But Han Mu's gaze immediately fell on the two sides of the stone chamber.

There stood two humanoid puppets, about eight feet tall, entirely black, made of some unknown metal. The puppets' eyes were closed, but Han Mu could sense that powerful spiritual energy was sealed within them.

"System, scan for the puppet."

[Scanning in progress...]

[Item: Blood Fiend War Puppet]

[Grade: Tier 2, Low Grade (equivalent to early Foundation Establishment stage)]

Quantity: 2

[Status: Pending activation (Trigger condition: Entering a three-zhang radius around the stone platform)]

[Weakness: Core rune on the chest]

Sure enough, there were guardian puppets, and two of them were at the early Foundation Establishment stage.

Han Mu did not rush forward, but instead took out twelve small black flags from his storage bag. These were "Soul-Locking Array Flags" that he had been refining over the past few days, specifically designed to suppress Yin spirits.

He placed the array flags at specific locations at the entrance of the stone chamber and activated them by infusing them with spiritual power. Instantly, a light gray curtain of light enveloped half of the stone chamber.

After doing all this, he stepped into the stone chamber.

The instant he stepped into the three-zhang radius of the stone platform—

Click! Click!

The eyes of both puppets simultaneously lit up with a blood-red light!

"Intruder...die!"

A mechanical, stiff voice came from the puppets' mouths, and they moved simultaneously! One of them threw a punch, the wind from which brought forth a bloody, malevolent aura; the other opened its mouth and spat out several jets of blood, aiming straight for Han Mu's vital points.

Han Mu was prepared and dodged the attack with a swift movement.

"Five Elements Sword Formation!"

Five-colored sword light flew out from his body, instantly forming a sword array. The "True Explanation of the Five Elements Sword Array," after being deduced and optimized by the system, was 50% more powerful than before, while its spiritual energy consumption was reduced.

Dangdang Dangdang!

The sword light struck the puppet, producing a metallic clang. Only faint white marks remained on the puppet's surface, demonstrating its astonishing defensive capabilities.

"As expected of a Foundation Establishment stage puppet." Han Mu's eyes narrowed.

He changed his incantation, and the sword formation rotated through the five elements: metal generates water, water generates wood, wood generates fire, fire generates earth, and earth generates metal. With the power of the five elements generating each other, the sword light's power was layered upon layer.

laugh!

A golden sword light finally pierced through the chest of a puppet, hitting the core rune!

The puppet froze, the blood-red light in its eyes dimmed rapidly, and it collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Upon seeing this, the other puppet actually took a few steps back, clasped its hands together, and its body shone with a bright blood-red light!

"Self-destruct?" Han Mu's pupils contracted.

The self-destruction of a Foundation Establishment stage puppet was as powerful as a full-force attack from a mid-Foundation Establishment stage cultivator. Given the limited space in this stone chamber, it would be difficult for him to completely evade it.

"Soul-Locking Array, trap!"

Han Mu pointed to the ground, and all twelve array flags lit up simultaneously. The pale gray light screen instantly contracted, trapping the puppet that wanted to self-destruct.

At the same time, he activated the sword formation with all his might.

The five-colored sword light merged into one, transforming into a five-colored rainbow that pierced the core of the puppet just before it self-destructed!

boom!

The puppet's spiritual energy was in disarray, but the self-destruction process was forcibly interrupted. It only made a muffled sound before turning into a pile of fragments.

Silence returned to the stone chamber.

Han Mu breathed a sigh of relief. Although these two puppets were only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, they cooperated perfectly and were fearless. If he hadn't been prepared, it would have been quite troublesome.

He walked to the stone platform and bowed to the skeleton, saying, "Senior of the Blood Fiend Sect, I apologize for the inconvenience."

Only then did they begin to count the spoils.

The broken sword in the skeleton's hand was made of excellent material, but it had lost all its spiritual power and was of little value. However, a storage bag tied to the skeleton's waist was still intact.

Han Mu opened the storage bag and probed it with his divine sense.

The first thing that catches the eye is a mountain of spirit stones. A rough estimate suggests nearly ten thousand low-grade spirit stones and over two hundred mid-grade spirit stones. This Blood Fiend Sect founder is certainly wealthy.

Besides spirit stones, there are a few other things:

A blood-red jade slip records the complete cultivation method of the "Blood Fiend Demon Art" from the late Foundation Establishment stage to the Core Formation stage.

The three bottles contained "Blood Fiend True Essence Pill," "Essence Condensation Pill," and "Soul Nourishing Pill." Han Mu recognized the first two, but the third, the "Soul Nourishing Pill," was a rare item, specifically designed to nourish the soul and greatly benefit Foundation Establishment cultivators.

A fist-sized, blood-red crystal exudes a dense aura of bloodlust. This is the "Blood Fiend Crystal," a top-tier material for crafting demonic magical artifacts.

Finally, there was a palm-sized bronze box with intricate sealing runes on it.

Han Mu put away the other things and focused his attention on the bronze box.

"System, analyze the seal on the box."

[Analysis in progress...]

[Seal Type: Blood Soul Seal (Requires essence blood combined with a specific incantation to open)]

[Solution: Use the spiritual power of the Blood Fiend Demon Art to simulate the aura of blood essence, combined with the Blood Fiend Seal Technique]

Han Mu pondered for a moment, then did as instructed.

He circulated the spiritual energy path of the Blood Fiend Demon Art—although he didn't cultivate demonic arts, with his fifth-level Foundation Establishment cultivation, simulating its aura wasn't difficult. At the same time, he formed the Blood Fiend Seal and pressed it onto the box.

Click.

The box opened automatically.

The box was lined with soft velvet, upon which lay a blood-red bead the size of a pigeon egg. Inside the bead, liquid seemed to flow, emanating a chilling aura.

[Item: Blood Fiend Seed]

[Grade: Special Treasure]

[Efficacy: Contains the essence of the Blood Fiend Sect's founder's lifelong cultivation, which can help those who cultivate the Blood Fiend Demon Art to quickly break through bottlenecks]

[WARNING: Those who do not practice the Blood Fiend Demon Art may be harmed by the fiendish energy and turned into killing machines if they consume this product.]

Blood Fiend True Seed?

Han Mu's eyes flickered slightly. This thing was a priceless treasure to those who cultivated the Blood Fiend Demon Art, but to him it was like a chicken rib, or even harmful.

but……

"System, can you deduce a method to transform the Blood Fiend Seed into pure spiritual energy?"

[The deduction requires the complete version of "Blood Fiend Demon Art", "Five Elements Evil Transformation Technique", and "Purifying Spirit Pill Formula" as references]

[Deduction complete]

[Transformation Method: Use the Five Elements Sword Formation to extinguish the evil energy, and then refine it with the Purifying Spirit Formation to obtain "Five Elements True Essence Liquid"]

【Five Elements True Essence Liquid: Condensed from pure spiritual energy of the five elements, it can enhance cultivation during the Foundation Establishment stage without side effects】

Han Mu smiled.

Sure enough, the system wouldn't let him make a wasted trip.

He put away the bronze box, checked the stone chamber again to make sure nothing was missing, and then turned and left.

At the cave entrance, he thought for a moment and then set up several more concealment formations to completely seal the place off.

"Once we return to the family, we can slowly refine the Blood Fiend True Seed."

Han Mu took off on his sword and flew towards Yanling Fortress.

This exploration was very fruitful; he not only obtained a large amount of resources but also discovered a method to quickly improve his cultivation. Once he refines the Five Elements True Essence Liquid, he might be able to break through to the sixth level of Foundation Establishment in a short period of time.

"System, display your current cultivation progress."

[Host: Han Mu]

[Realm: Foundation Establishment Level 5 (True) / Foundation Establishment Level 1 (Surface)]

[Cultivation Progress: 55%]

[It is estimated that after fully refining the Blood Fiend True Seed, one can advance to the sixth level of Foundation Establishment.]

well.

A look of anticipation flashed in Han Mu's eyes.

Once their cultivation advances further, the current state of Yanling Fortress will need to be reshuffled.