Qingcang Immortal Clan: Starting with Farming to Increase Luck

Chapter 122 The Dragon Trapped in the Secret Realm (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

The stone lion beast's eyes were slightly closed as it inhaled and exhaled the spiritual energy of heaven and earth surging forth from the waterfall. In Lu Yang's view, the concentration of this spiritual energy was probably at least that of a fourth-grade top-quality spiritual vein.

It could even be a fifth-grade one, after all, this waterfall looks quite spiritual, a characteristic only found in fifth-grade spiritual veins.

The phantom of the demonic infant appeared and disappeared above the stone lion beast's head, creating a mysterious resonance with the rushing waterfall.

Just then, a small boat drifted by with the current, and an old man with white hair and beard sat at the bow.

Well, even an ordinary old man, like a boatman making a living at the docks in Cangbei County, would probably be more energetic than this old man.

Yet this old man, with a casual wave of his hand, caused the damp mist on both banks to instantly solidify, transforming into two crystal-clear jade chessboards that fell to the ground.

The stone lion suddenly opened its eyes, a golden light flashed in them, and roared!

The roar caused the heavens and earth to pause, the thousand-foot waterfall stopped flowing, the wind and rain ceased, and silence reigned. The stone lion beast rose and transformed into human form.

It was a young cultivator with handsome features and a hint of naivety in his eyes. He reached out and firmly grasped the stone pillar chess piece that the old man had condensed in his hand.

"Discussions are fine, but if it comes to betting, you old devil, I'm afraid you can't afford to lose."

The sound had a simple, honest quality to it. The stone lion boy tapped the stone table, the sound crisp yet also somewhat lazy.

The old man stroked his beard, chuckled, and lightly tapped the chessboard in front of him with his fingertips. The chess pieces sang on their own. "This old man isn't betting on chance."

You cultivate an indestructible body and absorb the vital energy of all rivers flowing into the sea; you should have a long life and a lasting legacy.

But beneath this waterfall lies a trapped dragon.

Before he finished speaking, the old man placed a piece, and the situation changed drastically in an instant. The mountains and rivers that had been stagnant suddenly began to flow freely.

Lu Yang originally thought that the abundance of spiritual energy was already at its peak, but after the old man placed this chess piece, Lu Yang seemed to hear the jubilation of the spiritual vein.

The boy stared at the chessboard, remaining silent for a long time. Just when Lu Yang thought the boy was about to give a strong rebuttal, the boy slowly spoke.

"But I am a stone lion."

what!

Lu Yang was stunned. The old man's smile froze, his eyes became deep, and he looked at the still surging waterfall behind the boy. He then burst into laughter again, "You, you, how can I rest easy about you?"

In the depths of spring, horses trampled the icy river, shattering it; on the stone, chess pieces lay withered, their blood pooling over.

Whether human or demon, the one thing you can't fight against is fate. It's like this chessboard; every piece has a predetermined path. No matter how much you struggle, you can only move within this chessboard and can't escape even a fraction of its boundaries.

Looking at the two people on either side of the chessboard, for some reason, Lu Yang had the feeling that he was seeing a grandfather and grandson chatting idly in the courtyard.

But Lu Yang knew this wasn't idle chatter. As the two played chess, their bodies emanated a profound Daoist aura that was deeply moving. Unfortunately, Lu Yang couldn't understand it; it was too profound.

At this moment, Lu Yang finally understood why the Dao Ancestor only referred to people as Great Luo Golden Immortals when he preached; those with lower cultivation levels simply couldn't understand it.

Just as Lu Yang was considering whether to use his luck to help him understand something and gain something from it.

As soon as the old man finished speaking, the entire small boat transformed into a beam of light and disappeared into the mist in the blink of an eye.

Beneath the thousand-foot waterfall, only the stone lion remained, standing motionless in place.

It looked down at the newly emerged lines on its palm, faintly oozing blood, and at the chess piece that had just been placed on the board, which seemed to exude an ominous, blood-red hue.

"In the depths of spring, horses trampled the icy river, shattering it; on the stone chessboard, the pieces withered, their blood pooling. Is this fate?"

Snapped!

The waterfall roared like thunder, and the mist swept over the green stone cliffs.

The stone lion beast slammed its paw onto the chessboard, the blood-red pattern on its fingertip faintly burning. Looking down at the chessboard again, it was clear that the white jade chessboard where the old man had placed a piece had been stained with a dark red stain, resembling a seeping bloodstain. Indeed, the dignified Nascent Soul demon beast could not damage the chessboard in the slightest with its paw, only staining it with a touch of blood red.

Just as the old man said, fate is the most irreversible thing.

The boy reverted to his stone lion form, his massive stone body lying on the edge of the cliff, with the phantom of the demonic infant hovering above his head. Golden light washed over his body again and again, as if trying to suppress the ominous feeling in his heart.

Despite his youthful appearance, Shi Shi has cultivated for three thousand years and has been guarding this waterfall's secret realm for a thousand years to comprehend the Dao. His nascent soul is stable, and his Vajra body is impeccable. He believes he has already foreseen the calamity and has never taken a single prophecy to heart.

"In the depths of spring, horses trampled the icy river, shattering it; on the stone chess pieces, blood pooled like withered leaves—"

But the old man was different. The old man's image flashed in the stone lion's mind. The old man was an elder in the clan. The clan members abandoned and hated him, but the old man would take care of him from time to time.

Although the stone lion found this secret realm on its own, it knew that this opportunity lay with the old man's chessboard.

Now the old man is telling him to leave, but does the old man really know what a home means to him?

Having guarded this secret realm for a thousand years, he had long regarded it as his home, and could not easily leave it.

Just as the stone lion said, "He is a stone lion, not a stone dragon, and is ultimately different from other people of his race."

The stone beast murmured softly, thinking the old man was just being mysterious.

The glacier has long since melted away. He was originally a member of the Rock Spirit Clan and had no connection whatsoever with the withered chess piece blood pool. How could there be a pool made of withered blood from a chess piece on a rock?

For the next hundred years, the stone lion continued to guard the waterfall, breathing in the spiritual spring every day. Its cultivation became increasingly profound, and its Nascent Soul stage was almost complete. It was only one step away from knocking on the door of the Divine Transformation stage.

As time went by, spring turned to autumn, and he gradually forgot about that prophecy.

Until that year, a hundred years later, in the deep spring of the Bingwu year.

The cultivation world is a place where one person rises and another falls; what is a hero of the times? The world is never short of geniuses who create their own era.

A young swordsman bearing the bloodline of a steed emerged out of nowhere in the past century. He was arrogant and ruthless, and his name was "Treading Horse Guest".

The journey of the strong is never smooth sailing, and to become a strong person, countless corpses must be buried in the mountains and seas.

The horseman traveled far and wide seeking secret realms and opportunities, slaying mountain spirit beasts to seize their original cultivation. He was invincible all the way. Although the stone lion was low-key, the horseman had a way to find secret realms. Even if the stone lion secret realm was hidden in the mountains, so what?

At that time, spring was in full bloom, and the mountains were covered with flowers in full bloom, seemingly fulfilling the prophecy that spring was in its deepest stages.

The horseman arrived on his sword, the spirit patterns of the Thousand-Mile Horse flowing beneath his feet. His sword intent was as sharp as a blade that could pierce ice, and with a single strike, he cleaved open the outer layer of the mountain-protecting array of the secret realm—truly living up to the saying, "The horse tramples the icy river and shatters it."

The glacier was not a real river, but a secret barrier guarded by the stone lion for thousands of years. It was as solid as ancient ice, and even a Nascent Soul cultivator could not damage it in the slightest. Yet, it shattered in an instant.

The stone lion beast cultivating in the secret realm suddenly awoke, its Nascent Soul power erupting forth. Its stone body rose like a mountain, and its roar shook the waterfall backward. "Intruder, trespassing into the secret realm! You're courting death!"

The stone lion activated its Vajra Dao Body, its stone scales were incomparably hard, and its Nascent Soul Dharma Form suppressed all directions, confident that it could easily crush younger cultivators.

Stone Lion could tell that although this horse-riding guest was powerful, he had not been cultivating for long. He might have the path to enlightenment, but he lacked the foundation to do so. However, the power he had accumulated by breaking through mountains and veins along the way was truly terrifying.

However, as long as the stone lion dampens its arrogance, this mere junior can only be manipulated by it.

But Shi Shi never expected that the horse-riding knight cultivated the Soul-Devouring Sword Dao, which was specifically designed to counter mountain and sea spirit beasts. With a single sword strike, he locked Shi Shi's original spiritual veins.

A fierce battle erupted before the waterfall, causing rocks to crumble and the mist to turn murky. The stone lion beast's supernatural powers, honed over a thousand years, shattered layer by layer, its nascent soul bound by sword intent, unable to break free. It retreated to the blue stone cliff where it had once played chess with the old man, the old chessboard beneath its feet now covered in dust and riddled with cracks.

After a long and fierce battle, their spiritual power was exhausted, their physical bodies cracked, and their blood soaked the entire blue stone chessboard, flowing slowly along the grooves of the chess pieces and accumulating into shallow pools of blood—the blood pools on the stone chessboard were a prophecy fulfilled.

The chessboard, cracked and decayed, stained with beast blood, had become a place of sacrifice destined by fate.

On its deathbed, the stone lion gazed at the spring scenery covering the mountains and the cold eyes of the horse-riding traveler, and only then did it understand the profound meaning of the old man from a hundred years ago:

Prophecies are never meant to frighten, but rather to offer compassion and guidance.

He was obsessed with guarding his territory, arrogant and complacent, and failed to understand the vicissitudes of life. In the end, he could not escape the death he was destined to face.

Just as the horse-riding knight was about to crush his nascent soul and seize his thousands of years of cultivation with a single sword strike, a wisp of clear light suddenly emerged from the depths of the waterfall, which was the illusory remnant soul of that old man from back then.

The old man's voice was calm, yet still clear and melodious, just like the lone figure in his small boat back then.

"The calamity has arrived, but the original heart has not died, and there is still a glimmer of hope. Abandon the source of the secret realm and abandon the obsession with guarding the Dao, and you can retain your remaining life and cultivate the Great Dao anew."

Abandon the path! Save your life!

Ah!

He was originally the young master of the Rock Spirit Clan, and after the clan leader passed away, he should have inherited the clan's legacy.

However, because he was not a stone dragon, the thirteen clan elders seized his position as young master, took his bloodline and spiritual seed, and banished him from the clan.

Stone Lion couldn't understand why this old man, as a clan elder, had shown him mercy, preventing the clan's undercurrents from killing him and giving him a chance to live.

If it weren't for this secret realm, the stone lion would never have been able to have its bloodline reforged and achieve its current glory.

This secret realm gave him hope. The spiritual veins of the secret realm are about to advance to the fifth level, and the secret realm will also transform into a blessed land. This is not only an opportunity for the stone lion, but also an opportunity for the secret realm.

The secret realm gave the stone lions hope for a rise and the hope of reclaiming their clan's position. The stone lions guarded the secret realm for thousands of years, but in doing so, they also gave the secret realm the opportunity to advance into a blessed land.

They complement each other and rely on each other; neither can be missing.

If Shi Shi were to abandon the secret realm now, it would be to abandon the Great Dao. While it might save its life, it would incur the debt of gratitude owed to the secret realm and lose its chance to become a Nascent Soul cultivator.

"I don't want it, hoo!"

The stone lion roared, determined to fight to the death even if it meant death, to repay the debt owed to the secret realm. In this life, he owed no one anything.

Ugh!

Ugh!

Two soft sighs rang out at the same time. The first one was from the old man, who was an elder of the Rock Spirit Clan. He had to consider the long-term plan of the Rock Spirit Clan, so even though he pitied the Stone Lion, he could only keep it alive and prevent it from rising to power, because if the Stone Lion rose to power, disaster would befall the Rock Spirit Clan.

He is complex; when he last came, he was nearing the end of his life.

Holding onto a sliver of conviction, they came to the secret realm, both to give the stone lion a chance and to give their clan a chance.

Even in death, he wanted to leave behind a wisp of his soul to fulfill this obsession.

Unfortunately, they couldn't save the stone lion in the end.

Until the second sigh appeared, the thousand-foot waterfall roared, and the spiritual veins of the secret realm surged, "You have not betrayed me, and I will not betray you."

The phantom of a child formed from the spiritual veins of the secret realm appeared and disappeared. Looking at the stone lion in front of him, his eyes were full of pity, but when he looked at the horse rider, his eyes were full of anger.

What good are prodigies? Only living prodigies can create a world.

boom!

A near-fifth-order secret realm spiritual vein crashed directly into the stone lion's body, instantly opening the gate to the Divine Transformation Realm that had been blocking the stone lion.

not good!

The horse-riding man had never taken the stone lion seriously, but his expression changed. He dared to claim that he was a Nascent Soul cultivator, but when facing a Divine Transformation cultivator, he was still just an ant.

boom!

Another palm strike, the lion's paw that couldn't shatter the chessboard back then, shattered this prodigy with a single blow today.

A wisp of resentment spread, permeating the entire secret realm.

A prodigy is born, confident in the destiny of heaven and earth, but now his path has been severed by a stepping stone. In this world, fate is indeed terrifying, but there are always some things that are beyond the calculation of fate.

boom!

The stone lion's body could no longer hold on and turned into pieces of strange rocks, which suppressed the resentment.

A smile remained on the stone lion's face: "If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening."

Before dying, he took a prodigy with him and witnessed the glory of the Nascent Soul stage; it was all worthwhile.

All that was before him vanished. Before Lu Yang's eyes, there was no longer any Peach Garden Secret Realm, only a stone forest and miasma.

At this moment, Lu Yang was lost in thought as he stared at the miasma-shrouded stone forest before him.

It turns out that none of it was a legend. The stone forest was transformed from a stone lion, and the miasma was not miasma at all, but rather the resentment of the horse-riding traveler.

Moreover, it wasn't a Nascent Soul Stone Lion Beast, but a Divine Transformation Stone Lion Beast.

"Master, Master, I think I smell something good."

On Lu Yang's shoulder, Shi Ri sniffed, its eyes full of excitement and longing, waking Lu Yang up.

After all, it was his own spirit beast. Even though it couldn't speak, its thoughts could be transmitted to Lu Yang's mind through the spirit contract.

Before Lu Yang could say anything, he saw the Sun-Eating Beast leap out of his body and head forward.

Without stopping them, he went straight after them. After understanding the whole story of the Chaotic Stone Forest, Lu Yang felt much less of a sense of crisis. Whether human or cultivator, what people fear most is the unknown. Once they truly know everything, that's all they need to fear.

"Master, this is it, this is the place."

Ding ding ding————

Beside the blue stone cliff, drops of water fall, landing on one of the pebbles in the ground.

Stone lion eggs!

Lu Yang's eyes were somewhat confused. He never expected that among the four of them entering the natural formation together, he would be the first to find the stone lion egg!

and many more!

Lu Yang suddenly looked at the Fate-Breaking Pearl. Sure enough, the Fate-Breaking Pearl was as black as charcoal at this moment. No wonder he was the first to find the stone lion egg. It was the Fate-Breaking Pearl that was overdrawing his luck and forcibly exerting its power.

Fifty years of good fortune just vanished like that, and it even turned into a liability for him.

Most importantly, despite the enormous cost, Lu Yang still dared not retrieve the stone lion egg he had obtained, because wisps of dark miasma swirled around it.

If it weren't for everything he had seen before, Lu Yang would have thought it was just ordinary miasma.

After seeing it, how could Lu Yang not know that this was the resentment of that prodigy, the Horse-Riding Guest? The resentment of a Nascent Soul Peak cultivator, the essence of which was probably all here.

If Lu Yang gets involved, he probably won't even know how he died.

The Sun-Eating Beast was also pacing anxiously, but dared not go forward. It had a premonition that the stone lion egg would be of great benefit to it.